Full Moon in Cancer: Come Home to Yourself

Everything comes around in time.

The first lunation of 2023 was a full moon in Cancer, which peaked on January 6. It seems fitting that our last lunation of 2023 is another full moon in Cancer.

This one peaks on December 26 at 7:32 pm ET, with the moon at 4º57’ Cancer and the sun at 4º57’ Capricorn.

It’s a lunation that is well-supported, and poised to highlight the abundance, prosperity, and wisdom that we have attained.

Coming in a week when we might already be immersed in a year-end reflection process, this full moon is an opportunity to check in with how far we’ve come, not just since the summer’s new moon in Cancer, but since the full moon in Cancer that started this year.

Full Moon in Cancer

The moon is said to be at home in Cancer, giving it extra potency. It’s sitting in a sextile to Jupiter in Taurus, a supportive aspect that gives it extra lift.

At a full moon, the sun and moon are in opposite signs, pulling focus to one of the six axes of the zodiacal wheel. This lunation brings focus to the Cancer/Capricorn axis.

Cancer Significations

Cancer is the sign that represents family, lineage, safety, and the seeds of our nurturing. It’s waters represent the womb in which each of us is incubated. Cancer is a known for being an emotional sign. It is the sign of care.

And Cancer is the sign of home — both physical and emotional. This is the sign where we learn how to come home to ourselves.

The moon, which represents our physical body and our subconscious feelings, is at home in Cancer. This sign is where we attune to the ebbs and flows of the energetic tides of life, the subtle shifts happening in our bodies and energy fields, and the energy of those around us.

Capricorn Significations

Capricorn is the sign of planning, persistence, discipline, hard work, and the other outward efforts necessary as we strive toward our goals.

While Cancer seeks safety and security in the emotional realm, Capricorn seeks the same in the material realm. This earth sign is about building and creating things that will endure for a long time.

The Lesson of the Cancer/Capricorn Axis

One of the core lessons of the Cancer/Capricorn axis is the need to cultivate a solid foundation of emotional support and care in order to achieve our goals and feel safe to be seen in public.

The Impact of Childhood Experiences

The full moon in Cancer can illuminate the link between our childhood experiences and our emotional responses, fears, and sense of safety in the world.

Without a basic sense of safety, the nervous system stays locked in fear.

In this condition, the brain’s resources are directed to finding safety in the current moment. This leaves it with limited bandwidth for executive function, which is required for decisions, planning, and execution.

When people don’t have a solid home foundation — either physical or emotional — their nervous system is focused on finding that safety.

The habits we develop to seek safety in our formative years can stick with us through adulthood, until we learn how to create our own sense of safety and support.

The Work of Cancer/Capricorn: Root to Rise

The work of the Cancer/Capricorn axis is to reparent ourselves: to learn how to create this sense of safety for ourselves so that we can come home to ourselves.

How do we care for and nurture ourselves while also offering care for others?

This is where we examine the habits that we developed to keep ourselves physically or emotionally safe, and build new support structures that will allow us to release those old habits.

As we create a robust physical and emotional support system, and as we learn to self-regulate and co-regulate, we free up nervous system bandwidth required for planning and execution.

We become more empowered to achieve our goals step into greater visibility in our public life.

Sextile to Jupiter: Harvest the Growth and Wisdom

Full moons are moments of culmination. As the full moon peaks in Cancer, it invites us to celebrate how we have learned to reparent ourselves, seek emotional support, and build the foundations we need to fuel and sustain persistent efforts towards our goals.

The process of reparenting and of building a foundation of emotional security is not a 6-month or even a 1-year journey. This is the work of a lifetime.

This full moon peaks in a sextile to Jupiter — the planet of blessings, growth, and wisdom.

A sextile is a supportive aspect, and this one is made more supportive by virtue of some reciprocity: Jupiter is in Taurus, a sign where the moon is exalted. And Cancer, in addition to being the moon’s home, is the sign where Jupiter is exalted.

This aspect invites us to embrace optimism and a growth mindset about where we are in our process, and to harvest the wisdom we have attained for however long we have traveled this path.

Reflection Inquiries

Here are some prompts for reflection at this full moon in Cancer. You may want to look back to the start of 2023 to consider the full-year timeline as you consider:

• What patterns have you uncovered this year in terms of the ways you seek safety and security? How have you shifted some of these patterns?
• What practices help you find a sense of safety within — to come home to yourself?
• How do these practices help you step into the world with less fear?