Full Moon in Cancer: Feeling All Of The Feelings

This week, let the watery Full Moon in Cancer spotlight your deepest, most honest feelings. Your emotions are messengers and must be honored now.

Today, we welcome the full moon in the cardinal water sign of Cancer, the Crab. What is interesting, and challenging, about this lunation is the stark showdown between this most sensitive of Moon signs and her tight opposition to Pluto and the Sun teaming up in Capricorn. The healthy way through this face-off is to feel all of the feelings.

It is a week of being open, honest, truthful about what is in our heart of hearts concerning these tougher days, weeks, years. We must not hold back to try to further control ourselves or repress in order to please or dominate others. Our souls have had enough controlling and domineering, whether internally or externally, and this Cancer Full Moon is begging us for a little softness, tenderness, and intuitive understanding.

If you are stressed or ruminating over next steps in your external world – your career, finances, the kids’ schooling, the calendar, the illusory future, time management, the government, etc. – it is highly likely that you won’t be able to make decisions rationally right now. The energies at this time are asking you to slow down, to drop deeper into your feeling awareness. It is there – in your soul’s privacy, and perhaps expressed through tears of anger, joy, or grief – that you will find your answer. In your emotional body – your soft underbelly, feeling your way like a little animal scurrying on the forest floor on a snowy winter day – you will tune into the truth of what is needed, next.

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

 ~ from “Wild Geese,” Mary Oliver

It’s important to remember that feeling one’s feelings takes a great deal of physical energy. It’s hard work to plumb the depths and dig for the alchemical gold hidden in the soul. But with the preponderance of All Things Serious and Capricorn of late, the only way out is through; we’re in an unprecedented collective metamorphosis. The personal planets Venus, Mercury, and Mars (as of January 24) are all in the Underworld Capricorn conference room consulting with Pluto about questions of power, authority, and transformation.

Heavy stuff! When do we get a break, a breather? What is life without a little bit of love and sensitivity, after all? This is where Cancer comes in right now. The mothering Moon, ruling our heart and soul, and the public, says, Let it flow... Tell me your woes, sweet child, so that I may offer succor and nourishment to guide you through this difficult hour.

Support for Super Sensitivity

In order to support this sensitive heart opening, a few things may be helpful:

1.       SLEEP. As mentioned above, emotional processing requires energy. In addition to eating healthy meals to fuel the body, the psyche and physique need more sleep to heal and integrate all that is being revealed and worked through. If you are able, get to bed by 9pm. Even earlier! And, don’t be dismayed if, after a full night of sleep, you wake up feeling tired. It’s a sign you’re on the right track, getting into even deeper layers of healing in the brain and in the bones.

Sleep hygiene is a beautiful act of self-caring. Things you might consider adding to your life:  blackout blinds and/or curtains (game changing!), eye mask, ear plugs. Cozy flannel sheets. A kitty or doggy. A sweetheart to snuggle with. A hot bath or shower before bed. Lavender oil. Sage smudging. Prayer. Meditation. And of course, exercise during the day helps a ton.

2.       SOBRIETY. This means different things to different folks, and it can change from week to week, month to month, year to year. For some, it means cutting back the cocktails for a while, or eliminating alcohol entirely, in order to unmask feelings that are buried underneath getting a bit high from “spirits.” For others, it consists of a social media or news fast in order to declutter the mind and nervous system from the onslaught of images and information and – quite literally – programming that one has to consciously or unconsciously filter and/or process.

Another form of sobriety is emotional sobriety. Not stirring up drama or buying into the story or intriguing with others as a way of engaging, gossiping, getting high off involvement, meddling and controlling, and so forth. Becoming emotionally sober is an important developmental part of maturation; many folks need counseling or recovery support to learn tools and discover one’s blind spots. Intriguing emotionally can be a form of addiction just like anything else. Emotional sobriety can, at first, feel boring in contrast to the ups and downs of drama; but don’t confuse boredom with serenity, with peace. It’s quite nice!

3.       SPACIOUSNESS. Another radical act of self-care, spaciousness can look like not adding more and more and more on the plate. It can, of course, include more time outside, in Nature, in fresh air. It can include staring off into space without having to be entertained, without having to small talk, without having another item on the calendar. It can also look like Not Knowing. Not knowing what the future looks like, next spring, next summer, the next vacation. Not knowing anything at all. No need to know. Turning within, trusting the Great Unfolding, and resting in the Eternal Now.

Remember, sensitivity is a gift. Your emotions – when honored, felt fully, given space – are messengers. This doesn’t mean we need to act out on every single feeling, but it does mean we have to feel it consciously, and in the physical body, without attaching more story to the sensation.

This week, let the watery Full Moon in Cancer spotlight your deepest, most honest feelings. Feel what is out of alignment. Allow your deep losses to bubble up, witness that part of self that is disconnected. Become aware of any pain of separation from what is needed.  Here and now is offered crystalline clarity to see what is in the way of truth, of ease, and of love.

Note that, as we become more aware, awake, embodied, we become even more sensitive. As one of my psychic colleagues likes to say, “The whiter the wall, the darker the dust.” Meaning, when we become more aware and attuned, we notice the tiniest bit of misalignment in our systems. This includes personal, and collective incongruousness. The energy body knows when something isn’t quite right – when we’re headed in the wrong direction. Yes, sensitivity takes a bit of getting used to, but eventually, we come to realize that it’s a wonderful, natural tool. One that won’t ever let us down, for it points us to true care of the Soul.

Erin Reese, M.S. is a contemporary non-dual spiritual teacher, author and guide. Erin also offers non-dual meetings and retreats on embodied liberation and Divine Feminine transmission. She is the author of the memoirs Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation and The Adventures of Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India.Visit erinreese.com for more information.