Luna Time vs. Chronus Time: Cancer & Capricorn
Happy Full Moon in Cancer <3
Hi loves,
The sun just entered the sign of the sea-goat, and the moon is shining bright across the sky in the sign of the crab; today’s nourishing full moon is highlighting the axis of Cancer and Capricorn.
In this immediate wake of holiday celebrations and family gatherings, a good theme to consider for this new moon is parenting and re-parenting. I hope you can take some time today or tomorrow to give yourself the care and nurturance that you know you deserve, whether you recieve/d that type of care from your literal parents and caregivers or not. Hot baths, self massage, deep rest, and having boundaries with your time- so you can do you- are the order for this moon.
The Cancer-Capricorn Axis: Two types of care
On the Zodiac wheel, the Cancer-Capricorn axis is unified through the theme of care and nurturance. Good parenting is a mixture of both providing comfort and setting boundaries, both tending to a safe home and setting goals for the future.
In that same vein, Cancer/Capriorn is an axis of shape-shifting and versatility. Both the crab and the sea goat can live in the water and on the earth. The Crab is more local in nature, tending to the land and water of the shores, while the mythical, mermaid-esque Sea Goat covers more ground, from the bottom of the sea to the top of mountain peaks.
Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, known as Chronus or Kronos in the Greek pantheon- the etymological root of chronological. He was the god of structured time, karma, and boundaries. Until telescopes were invented, Saturn was the furthest and slowest-moving “wandering star” that people could see out in space, and so it represents the boundaries of our solar system, the boundaries of our concept of long-term time. I don’t like to attribute gender to the planets, but in the lens of traditional parenting, Saturn and Capricorn are symbolic of the father, big-daddy energy.
Cancer, on the other hand, is ruled by the moon, our closest luminary, reminding us in her daily movement of the ever-changing nature of time. The moon’s is associated with the feminine, with water, with emotionality, with the 28 day revolution around the earth syncing up with women’s 28 day menstrual cycles, and with motherhood.
Water and Earth, Mothering and Fathering, Moments and Plans
I write to you soaking wet, sitting poolside at the Aria hotel in Las Vegas. As I just floated on my back in the silky, turquoise oasis on this Cancer full moon, I gazed upward, past a cluster of structured palms, to a monolith of metal and glass cutting through the winter sky intersected by multiple jetstreams. The structures, symbols of the achievements and successes of so many human’s ideas, struck me as so Capricorn.
Sin City wouldn’t be my top choice to spend the Holidays, but I find myself here and am also struck by how fitting my current situation is for this last full moon of the calendar year.
Cancer, as the sign symbolizing the mother, is the natural ruler of the 4th house of home and family. I am here because my daughter alternates her Christmas holidays between my home and her dad’s, and my ex-husband’s family lives in Vegas. She just turned 5, and with this new arrangement it’s her first year leaving New Mexico for the holiday, and my first year spending Christmas without her. She was having a lot of anxiety about it, so my lovely partner and I decided to book a few nights at a hotel here to be close to her. Even if we don’t plan on seeing her during her time with my ex-in-laws, she knows we are close by.
In some ways it doesn’t make sense to be here, but in other ways it’s the only thing I could imagine doing right now. It won’t always be necessary, but when she’s so little, it felt right. The first couple of days felt like I was literally missing a limb, but now that I’ve face-timed her and seen videos of her playing with her cousins at the playground (and putting leaves all over her hair like a true nature-child), I’m settling into my own body, enjoying sleeping in with blackout curtains and taking dips in the pool, co-regulating and getting some good snuggle time in with my partner, and reparenting myself with some TLC that I didn’t realize how much I needed.
The Cancer/Capricorn axis is also highlighted for me here today because my partner is a Cancer sun, with a stellium of planets in Cancer in the 12th house, and my ex-husband is a Capricorn rising, with a stellium of planets in Capricorn in his first house. They are both helping me parent my little one, and the ways that they show up for her certainly line up with the archetypes of this moon.
I never thought, when I had a baby, that I would make two men into fathers, but as Jackson thanked me for making him a dad this morning, I welled up with tears. He is an exemplary Cancerian, the person with the deepest understanding of care, nurturance, support, and emotional comfort that I have ever met. The way he has shown up, cared for, and created a loving ocean of home for my daughter (and myself) to float in is truly amazing, and I am beyond grateful to get to learn more about the beauty of Cancerian unconditional love through his dedication and care.
As we traveled through the airport on Christmas day together, appropriately enough we were carrying with us an inflatable stand-up paddleboard (for floating on the Cancerian sea in San Diego, where we’re going to take a little family vacay for New Years after this)…..and also my ex’s briefcase, which he left in Santa Fe when he was picking up our daughter. When we returned the case to him in the lobby of our hotel here in Vegas, he gave it a big hug- one like I plan to give my daughter when I see her in a couple days. “Ahh my life’s work!” he said.
A briefcase is a pretty solid symbol for Capricorn, which is the sign that naturally rules the 10th house of career, social status, success, authority, and purpose in the outer world. The briefcase hug was certainly not a surprise to me; my ex- is also my former business partner. We met at a party in 2011 and our second date after that was a business meeting where we pitched our startup ideas to each other. Five months after we met, he and I escaped a major house fire together- a fire that resulted in a major injury and him being in a coma for over a week. When he finally woke up, right after giving me a hug, the first thing he did was ask for his laptop so he could jot down some business ideas he’d had while unconscious.
We founded and led our nonprofit fundraising company, Flipcause, together for almost a decade. Since we broke up in 2020, he’s founded and is at the helm of at least two other corporations. Hashtag #workaholic is definitely an understatement, and a Capricorn stellium in the 1st house of self makes a lot of sense! Despite everything that’s gone down between me and him, I continue to be grateful for the way he continues to show up by working hard and creating innovative systems to support both his family and people who traditionally haven’t have access to resources, which is a shared value that brought us together in the first place.
Erupting Earth, Erupting Water: Cardinal Signs
Ahh, motherhood. Ahh, the many lives we live in a single lifetime. Ahh, the many ways we can experience care. Ahh, the many eruptions. I sit here and look up from the cool water at the trees, metal, and glass towering above me. Cancer, Capricorn, Crab, Sea-Goat.
Cancer is is a Cardinal Water sign, and I see it as a mountain spring, a nurturing, bubbling stream of water coming out of the earth with healing fluidic energy. On the other hand, Capricorn is a Cardinal Earth sign, and in my mind there is no better symbol than a volcano, the initiating lava flows of new earth being formed. Watching videos of the recent eruptions in Iceland has been a beautiful way to visualize the nature of Capricorn this season. Metal and glass are formed from the same elements, and even the palm trees towering above me, with their perfect earthen structure, are the types of trees that can survive in the Mojave desert- or on volcanic lava.
Both Cancer and Capricorn are signs that erupt, begin, start things, and take initiative, whether in an earthy form or watery way. Capricorn season begins with the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the coldest time of year where we must look ahead and plan for the long term, relying on the systems and structures of storing fruits of the harvest. Capricorn’s initiative is strategic, forward looking, the Saturn/Chronus version of time. Cancer season begins with the Summer Solstice, the hottest and sunniest time of year when we must ‘make hay while the sun shines’, a time where it is beneficial and necessary pay attention to the moments as they pass by, the lunar version of time.
On this Cancer Full moon, with the light of the Sea-Goat Sun shining on the Cancer Moon in the opposite side of the sky, take a momentary break from the plans, goals, structures, and ideas of this season’s Saturnian, chronological-focused time. of year Although the over-culture encourages taking this week between Christmas and New Years to think about resolutions and how we should better ourselves for the future, I’d take advantage of Cancer’s lunar message, and find beauty in the now. Think of this moon as a momentary reminder of summer solstice, and go about as if it were a sunny, long July day spent tending to the ripened fruits in your lush garden, the warm evening breezes.
On full moons, we can always find beauty in opposites, and this one is no different. Dare to mother and father and parent yourself and your loved ones with the boundaries and the comforts that you long for.
Happy Full moon, beauties.
Until next time, the new moon in Capricorn on January 11th, 2024 (!)
<3 <3 <3 and care,
Alison
Beautiful meditation on the Cancer-Capricorn axis!