The Full Moon in Cancer is a time of remembering home, family, and our roots. The conjunction of Jupiter to this Full Moon prompts us to think about how far we’ve traveled from our first home ~ and not necessarily in miles.
I had a look at this Moon last night, standing in my back yard on a crisp winter night, almost a thousand miles from my childhood home. A cookbook definition of a Moon/Jupiter conjunction is of one who settles a far distance from their birth place. I’m not a traveler. I’m a homebody, so being even this far away from my roots and family is an enormous distance. It’s not the miles that are important, though. It’s the other kind of distance that I’ve traveled ~ the kind with steps that are difficult to retrace ~ that make getting “home” almost impossible. It’s the distance and detachment from family that I, like many of you, have experienced.
When I pull out old photos of family from when I was a child, they seem quite foreign to me, almost as though the people and places were from a past lifetime, not this one. My family and I are not estranged. There are no hostile feelings or horrible events to get past. We’re just not…close.
Some of us find Cancer to be a difficult sign simply because “family” can actually mean “wound.” Even if you are close to your family, there is a tender scar somewhere doing its best to cover a wound received from a family secret, or a disagreement, violence, or pressure to be not who you are, but who they needed you to be. There’s something. We never fully recover from those wounds, even when the scar begins to fade.
“Time Heals All Wounds”
They say that cliches are cliches because they’re true, but I’m not so sure I believe that time heals all wounds. We have a trine to the Moon from Saturn in Scorpio. Saturn is the planet of time, endurance, and longevity. Scorpio is the wound. The daily message I sent for this Moon today is:
Full Wolf Moon conjunct Jupiter howls mightily at the door.
Sensitive spots beg for balm. Exaggeration, or deep wound?
Jupiter does exaggerate at times. He likes embellishment, you know? But I feel that wounds that rise to the surface with this Full Moon are no exaggerations. They may even have been the catalyst that set us on our journey away from home. The trine can help us work through any wound that we have with less pain and suffering than Saturn is known for dolling out.
“All You Need is Love”
The Sun in Capricorn opposing this Moon is conjunct Venus. While she is retrograde, she can remind us of all the reasons we can love ourselves, but have forgotten. Venus with the Sun endows us with self-value and self-love, two necessary components of a healthy ego.
Ceremony for the Full Moon in Cancer
This ceremony is meant to be great fun and make you feel really good about yourself. All you need are about a dozen slips of paper, a pen or pencil, a bowl (silver if you have it) and the good Mother Moon. Cut the slips of paper into star shapes or circles to represent the Moon.
Imagine that you are a little child sitting with the good Mother Moon. You are nestled in her lap in the biggest, most comfortable armchair that the universe could ever create. Mother Moon holds up her finger to the stars, points to one, and tells you, “This star was placed in the sky because _______________________________.”
You fill in the blank with something wonderful about yourself, something a very loving mother would tell you…and mean it!
Write your sentence on a slip of paper and place it in your bowl. Keep the bowl in a place that you pass often so that you can randomly pull out a slip of paper at any time to remind yourself of what a magnificent child of the universe you truly are.
Don’t poo-poo this exercise. It’s awesome.
- Astrological Picture Book ~ Third Decan Cancer, The Mystic Crab
- Astrological Picture Book ~ The Chariot as Cancer, the Crab
- Cancer ~ Is Your Mom a Bitch?
- New Moon in Cancer ~ Food, Glorious Food
Auntie Moon 
thank you. cancer moon must be a double whammy for a Cancer girl like yourself!
Yes, it’s doing its thing, that’s for sure, mimi. The Moon is sitting right on my Sun and I’m a little nutty today. Full Moon effects last a couple of weeks, so I have some slips of paper to fill out.
Astro-cartography-wise, my present location is influenced by Family/Home in these ways: Jupiter/IC Line, Crossing Chiron/Uranus, and Crossing Mercury/Chiron.
I feel being here is so, so strong in Past, and yet, straining towards Now. Towards healing of some type.
Thanks so much for these Full Moon tips, CJ.
You’re welcome, ej. xo
I turned 65 December 26. My 4th house includes my Sun conjunct IC followed by Mercury/Jupiter/Mars. Scorpio Moon in 2nd house sextiles, whilst Saturn in 12th house trines. I returned to my childhood home 3 weeks ago. I am recovering from physical and financial challenges. I have healed in so many ways these past weeks. This Full Moon in my 10th inspires. Pluto and Venus transits to my 4th house remind me that I thrive on challenges. It is a marvelous night for a moon dance.
It certainly is a marvelous night, MRich. Happy belated birthday. The New Moon in Cap on the 1st and this Full Moon are certainly highlighting the home issues for you! It’s wonderful to hear that you are healing, and hope that you are feeling loved and cared for.
Moon is on my Sun too, in the first house. I have been thinking a lot about moving, but can’t seem to really pull my roots out of the ground. I think a lot about getting closer to friends and family. But, leaving my home of 34 years is also hard to imagine. I do understand the leaving home and not feeling a closeness to the people I grew up with. It bothers me, but in my family it is out of sight out of mind. Cancer doesn’t understand that feeling.
Awesome post CJ, thank you so much! As I do at each full moon, I did my Cancer and Capricorn movements out under the full moon last night. Wonderful experience. Thanks for some exercises to really nurture my tender, growing parts…