It is winter magic and the full moon in Cancer has taken over from the new moon in Capricorn. The circle is complete, or a story is ending, events culminate, emotions are heightened. The moon card appears again. This time the moon has extra powers. It is in its rulership, as the moon rules the sign of Cancer. The moon, in other words, is in its own house during this lunation. It trines Neptune in Pisces, the unbounded water element. And it sits, not just opposite the luminous Sun, as all full moons do, but also opposite dark Pluto. The full moon takes place on 17 January, 2022, at 27 degrees and 50 minutes of Cancer, and at 23:48 UK time.
An overflow of energy is upon us, and it’s abundant and subterranean. It comes out from within (or from underneath). The Ace of Cups makes it clear that these energies are in the realm of emotions. Feelings is where we should be looking to for answers. Not in a violent way, but with calm and recollection. We are sitting with our feelings, really feeling our feelings, and are connecting to our subconscious, the deep spirit within us. The Ace of Cups brings into the forefront the great significance our feelings have to help us judge situations and take actions. Forget the noise. The knowledge is within that tell us what is that we really need. It’s the gut feeling that speaks the truth. And in the form of The Ace of Cups, it is a gift. Let us not discard it. In the Dante Tarot deck the Ace of Cups is truly oversized.
Things from below are coming up to the surface and become visible. But not by the direct rays of the sun. Rather, things are illuminated by the reflective intuitive light of the moon. What gets illuminated is those small things that have been kept secret or ignored, hidden under cover or obscured. We are asked to face them and it feels uncomfortable. All sorts of aspects of our life, personal, social or professional that we have been trying to ignore, or problems we have been reluctant to face, will be brought to us in no uncertain terms. We almost do not need to go out looking for them. They will crawl out by their own accord.
The nurturing nature of Cancer doesn’t like to be challenged by fear, and it is ready to hide in danger. Cancer has the instinct always to protect. And Cancer wants to grab on to things, which is complicating things even further, in terms of our ability to let go of unhealthy and damaging situations. But it is an initiatory cardinal sign, as is Capricorn opposite. So this ending is also a beginning. A new story is coming together out of the release of the old and outdated one. The Moon card in the centre means we can not ignore what is coming out. Regardless of how long we’ve been trying to let go of a situation or a person, and unable to do so, now the power is within us. We are going to have to deal with it, not because we want to, but because we have to. And we will have the power to do it. With Venus opposing the Full Moon, on top of Pluto, and in retrograde, we are not even going to like it. But the drive is overwhelming, the feeling are running high.
The Full Moon is in harmony with the nodes, putting more emphasis on value and in showing us more clearly what matters to us. What stays and what goes. Mercury is retrograde as well. The situation makes for tension and nervous moments. Rational expressions is in retreat. Next to Saturn, and in Aquarius, it won’t encourage optimistic thinking, or frivolous decision making. So, while Saturn represents the past and the authority of structure, it can also bring that strength and resilience we need to build on in the future. The King of Coins tells us to detach from emotions, romance and dreaming, and instead ground our actions and ourselves in our beings in the material world by being pragmatic. He is the authority. His rulership is absolute. He is serious and unassuming. Even as our truth and values are based on our emotions and intuition, our actions and our future should be guided by connecting to the real world of things and the environment around us. The King of Coins has everything and is in charge of everything. He rules the material world of things and objects; from a donkey for transport (humble but both efficient and resilient), the palace as his dwelling (indicated by the column), the wild animals representing exotic luxuries, the snake alluding to both poisons and medicine, the mountains suggesting opportunities in the outside world, is directing us to a Saturnian outlook. Under the pressure from Saturn, or what we recognise to be restrictions, responsibilities, heavy work load but also authority, maturity and long term gains, we can assume a more practical and accepting attitude, to get what we need. To find nourishment for our emotions and creativity, we need to face reality and organise the world around us with method and order. We are still preparing for the new moon in February. With Venus and Mercury in retrograde, the change of the moon’s nodes, and so many planets in Capricorn, representing the past, we are not taking action yet. For now the Full Moon is churning up and showing what we’ve ignored and cant ignore any more. We are tapping into our emotions to connect with our deepest values. What we do with it comes next, with a clear mind and a practical action plan looking into the future. This is time to reconnect to our origins and our emotions, reevaluate rules and structures we live by, plan our future without any wastage of time and resource, and become our own authority in slow deliberate steps.
Flavia