It will be an emotional introspection. Following the new moon in Sagittarius, from our previous Giotto post, we know that a lot of emotion is about to accumulate this month. Now, two weeks later, we see the culmination and spilling over of abundance and hope, the fulfilment, as well as the ending of a chapter before everything shifts into the new. A new year and new cycles. From an opposition of otherness to our own sovereign power in Libra, to merging in Scorpio, and expanding in Sagittarius, we are moving into protection and nourishment of those relationships, successfully or not. What we started will carry on but in a new shape and form. The Full Moon takes place on 27 December, 2023, at 00:32 GMT, and at 04 degrees and 57 minutes of Cancer.

For now it is the full moon in Cancer and the last full moon of 2023. It falls right on top of the Christmas holidays, in the western calendar, and a day after Christmas day, in particular. The sign of materialisation, embodiment, home and ancestry, family, our roots and internal emotionality is represented by the sign of Cancer. So the fact that the full moon in Cancer falls just after the most significant religious day in the Christian belief system that celebrates birth, the act of coming to life, makes it an even more extraordinary moment. But also significant for the whole year 2023, when we had two full moons in Cancer. One in January, and one in December.

Cancer themes are highlighted above and beyond others in 2023. But also the Cancer axis where we have Capricorn at the other end. Nurturing and structure, materialisation and limitation, inside-outside, home and the world, fight and protection, care and pain, will be dual themes of opposition that are illuminated during this full moon. The energies are hyper-feminine now. Very different to the expressive and fiery new moon in Sagittarius two weeks ago. Now it’s all feminine aspects of our lives that come into focus, water and earth. Nurturing and materialisation. Cancer a water sign and Capricorn a earth sign – this is where the Moon and Sun are – point to or concerns with authority and survival.

The Empress, The Four of Swords and the Ten of Swords give us the narrative of the last lunation of 2023. The Empress, the supreme representative of the Moon and Cancer, embodies abundance and creativity. An image of fertility and pleasure, she is confident and at ease in the world with an inner calmness. But with the representative of the moon, change is never far away. It is fast and unbounded. That is what we are preparing for. During the Christmas holidays we come together, we reunite with our families and friends, those we consider close to us, we eat, we drink, we exchange gifts and messages of love, and we reminisce about the past, our origins, our childhood. We also sing, attend concerts and visit places of worship. All things Taurus are maximised with Jupiter and Uranus there. And that is what the Empress points to.

The Four of Swords tell us that this calmness and abundance we are experiencing has not come easy or unthinkingly, or even without conflict and antagonism. Our peace of mind and the tranquillity of our surroundings might be something we have had to fight for. This is no time for taking things for granted. We feel the need for self-protection and faith. The desire to be in a sacred space in order to pause and regroup our forces. We are reminded to appreciate both what we have and what we don’t have. This full moon can indeed be a culmination of growth and of a fulfilment of a long standing dream, what we have wished for comes true in real life. We have moved from the pain of the Three of Swords to the stillness of the Four of Swords. It’s a mental card of planning and reorganising, but also a spiritual one where we take stock of what has already occurred, events and people.

The year has been weighing heavily on us with fear and anxiety, possibly with devastating and damaging effects. The Ten of Swords is a truly scary card. A card of reckoning. But, are we not so glad it came up at the full moon rather than the time of the new moon? New moons which are the beginning of a project, a meeting, a decision, of what we are setting out to do, whereas full moons are moments of completion and endings.

And ultimately, with the Ten of Swords we have a total and undisputed ending somewhere in our lives that needs accepting. It’s a full moon that tells us there is no going back. From this point on there is only going forwards. Swords are the element of air. So we are now in that head space, or mental energy of intense thinking of a part of our lives with history to it. We have been through the sequence of the Six, Seven, Eight and Nine of Swords already. That’s a long story. A lot has preceded for us to arrive at this point. We could be feeling overwhelmed and looking for a conclusive answer of how to deal with endings and with change that doesn’t feel pleasant or desirable. So from that perspective and given all the background, this is an encouraging card, especially, in the context of The Empress and The Four of Swords. We are at the point of acknowledging pain and hurt before shifting gears. We are at a point of true realisation. Once this week around the full moon is gone – and it is predicted to be an intense and emotional week for our mental, as well as our physical well-being – the sense of acceptance takes hold, the nostalgia and melancholy of looking back wears off, and all that matters is getting the strength to move on, with a clear head and enthusiasm, to the new chapter of our lives. The new year is upon us. Happy 2024.

Flavia