Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Moonwalk: Cancer



© 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

 
A new moon teaches gradualness, and how one gives birth to oneself slowly. ~Rumi


The moon is calling me! I’ve never felt much pull until now to write about the Moon. I figure we have plenty of astro-experts who have already covered it well from Donna Cunningham and her classic Being a Lunar Type in a Solar World to Dana Gerhardt and her MoonCircles. Several of my astrologer friends do monthly New Moon updates, including Larry Skybear’s New Moon Astro-Alert and up until recently, Johnny Mirahiel’s New Moon LA for people living in California’s Southland. There is continuous coverage of the Moon and the lunation cycle in the astrological community, much like the 24/7 news on CNN.

But Spirit is tapping me on the shoulder, reminding me why I probably have something unique to say about the Moon. I’ve lived in lunar overdose all my life with Moon out-of-bounds. While I’m no expert in declinations, I was intrigued by Steven Forrest’s article on the subject in The Mountain Astrologer (June/July 2010). I was especially fascinated to learn some of the common characteristics of people with out-of-bounds (OOB) Moon. For us OOBies, at least one planet, in my case, the Moon, is located at a declination greater than 23-degrees, 28-minutes North or South. I resonate to all nine characteristics Steven mentions for people with Moon out-of-bounds, but I think the ones I like best are being a bold, groundbreaking genius, a theological outlaw, and a zany character. (He said genius; you know a Virgo hates to brag.) From my personal experience with OOB Moon, I’ll offer a poem:



Moon Out-of-Bounds

Big silver breast,
You suckled me dry

I cannot imagine
a planet
with a pair of you.



© 2010 by Joyce Mason
joycemason.com

Lunar Issues/Voyages

All my “life issues” are about mother, mothering, abandonment, nurture, food, emotions and all the things you’d expect from a Capricorn Moon square Neptune, Venus and Sun, sextile Chiron. One thing I’ve learned under all this lunar pressure is to trust my Moon, even though I can honestly say she didn’t feel very trustworthy in the beginning.

The Moon is my directional device, my God/dess Positioning System (GPS). This lunar GPS operates through my feelings, sensations, inklings and sense of “just knowing.”


My GPS has led me to reunite with all my lost loves and to embrace everything meaningful in my life. Now it’s asking me to write about the Moon and it’s influence on us—whether or not I feel like it, regardless of whether or not it scares the sap out of me! To be so “out there,” talking feelings! Come with me on a journey of radical trust! Fly me to the Moon.


How This New Feature Works

I’ll write the Moonwalk monthly near the New Moon, usually a few days ahead, giving you plenty of time to contemplate things I “channel” about each Moon sign or features of this particular lunation. Since I’m following feelings as my rudder, the format will be flexible. I’ll cover the sign, starting appropriately with the Cancer New Moon on July 11, 2010—the Moon “in its own sign.” Other than that, there may be poems, metaphors, mythology, references to other great Moon resources, synchronicity and surprises. You’ll be the first to know, along with me, as we step out of the lunar module for our monthly exploration.

New Moon Rituals

First, this is a great time to reacquaint readers with Dana Stone’s New Moon Manifestation Ceremony. My goal is to do this ritual or some form of it on every New Moon, and when I can get from intention to action, the results are always transformative.

Second, I look at where the New Moon falls in my astrology chart every month. The July 11, 2010 New Moon is at 19 Cancer 24. I note which house it’s visiting and any aspects to natal planets. I take this into consideration when setting my monthly goals for the current Moon cycle.

I would love to hear your New Moon rituals! Now, let’s launch this first Moonwalk with another poem. (I love the synchronicity that the actual first walk on the Moon was a Cancer event—July 20, 1969 at 9:30 pm Houston time.)


Moon Rising

Inner life is nocturnal
a cat who comes alive
when ink blobs the sky
star mice twinkle in catnip galaxies
cattin’ ‘round the universe
while we sleep, a trance
perchance to spin dream reals
in our night movies

Then light fall
cat goes comatose
finds a large patch of light
through a window
to charge its solar panels
while it sleeps through its day/your night.


To really understand yourself
you must be reborn
on the cusp of catnip
and capture sunlight
in your fur.



© 2010 by Joyce Mason
joycemason.com

The Sun/Moon Relationship

“Moon Out of Bounds” and “Moon Rising” are poems from a new book I’m writing. I think “Moon Rising” offers a visceral way of experiencing the New Moon when the Sun and Moon are in their most intimate embrace at the same degree during the birth of the new moon cycle. A cat is feminine, lunar, and nocturnal, but she recharges herself while she sleeps, absorbing the Sun through her fur. Her absorption of light represents the relationship of our Moon to our Sun. We feel our way through life and experience its daily rituals, small cycles of ups-and- downs and our moods through our Moon. Yet, we need to absorb our Sun, as if it were light penetrating our skin. We must do this in order to have the energy to do what can sometimes be extremely draining—to live by the light of the Moon. That’s why cats sleep so much, and why Moon-emphasized people eat so much—to refuel as much as to comfort. To live by instincts and moonlight is very physical from an energetic standpoint. There’s nothing like the Sun to replenish it. When this poem came to me, it spoke to me of yin/yang balance, of why men and women and the masculine/feminine need each other. The complements of these two energies power the world.

New Moons are new beginnings—new births. It takes a man and a woman—male and female energy—to give birth to a baby. Some goes for the embrace of Sun and Moon, representing male and female, in the monthly lunar cycle. When eclipses are involved, it’s a birth of major significance. Perhaps you are giving birth to a king, queen, prince—or a future President of the United States! Metaphorically speaking, that is, but for some people on earth, it may even be literal.



Need a visual? There’s a nice tutorial on Molly’s Astrology about eclipses, complete with an animated sketch showing how lunar and solar eclipses are formed.


July 11 New Moon in Cancer/Solar Eclipse

Here's a fantastic article on eclipses from one of my favorite astrologer/writers, April Elliot Kent. It’s called Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse in Capricorn: Eclipses and the Narrative of Change. While it refers to the last eclipse and the Cardinal Climax when the Cardinal T-Square temporarily “got Cross,” it’s a great read, if you haven’t seen it already, on several scores. First, to talk about where we’re going this month, it always helps to know where we’re coming from, where we’ve been. (You know how Cancer loves history!) Second, April offers some deeply insightful thoughts on eclipses in general and she delineates how an eclipse might feel when it aspects the various planets in our charts. Third, April has other lunar articles that complement this post.


Solar Eclipses. Any eclipse makes a lunation more powerful. Solar eclipses are a seeding time, when we plant important intentions that “set” till the Full Moon, over a period of about two weeks. These particular intentions tend to be important, and their significance is palbable for six months or more. How the seeds sprout and flourish becomes increasingly obvious. Solar Eclipses are a time to set important, major personal growth goals.



If there’s something you ache to achieve or set right, the Solar Eclipse may pack the wallop to be your magic wand of manifestation.

July 11 Solar Eclipse. This Cancer eclipse calls for seeding in the areas of family life, popularity, the public, women’s issues, safety, security, roots and heritage, emotional issues, food and comfort. In this string of lunar subjects, what resonates to you? Or is there another one I haven’t mentioned? Take a moment to meditate on it. When you know, write one or more simple affirmations of what you want to manifest this month that will reverberate for the next half year. These are your seeds. Keep them somewhere you can be reminded of them often. At the Spring Equinox each year, my Solsisters group and I actually put our strips of papers in seed packet envelopes to keep on our altars or desktops as a reminder of what we’re up to on the emotional front of our co-creative process.

Cancer Moon

In High Signs 1: Living on the Upside of the Zodiac, I identified containment as the key Cancerian issue. Cancer Moon must find a safe container for all her feelings. This invisible bowl or goblet is the Holy Grail of our inner life, regardless of Moon sign. If you have Moon in Cancer, this container is of utmost importance. The bigger the emotions (water signs or aspects to Neptune, for example), the bigger, safer and more secure your vessel must be to hold all your feelings.

The container is what makes it safe to express emotions. For anyone to express him- or herself optimally, whether in relationship or that juicy relationship to All That Is we call creativity, a sense of boundary and containment must be firmly felt.

While Moon is considered traditionally in “detriment” in Capricorn, it’s my Capricorn Moon that taught me the lesson of containment. With my Moon out-of-bounds and under siege by several squares, the Saturn rulership of my Moon, famous for providing structure, is the only thing that keeps me off street corners bawling my eyes out and making a fool of myself in public. (That Neptune square Moon makes me wish I had invested in Kleenex, because I cry at the drop of a hat—a sad newspaper story, over my TV characters, and let’s not talk about how it triples if I have even one glass of wine.)

The right partner, home, friend, or down comforter—a precious cat or dog—all can act as containers.

During this kicker, Cancer, Solar Eclipse New Moon: Learn about your container. What holds you? What makes you feel safe? Where do you lack the Holy Grail in your inner life?


Maybe one of your seeds to sow is to find a pot to bliss in.

Isn’t the free flow of feelings heaven? And isn’t “heaven” the ultimate safe haven?

~~~



Photo Credits: Solar Eclipse © Argus456  and Cat Enjoying Sunshine © Noonie, both by Dreamstime.com.

Your Comments on this new feature are important to me. I’d love to hear if you find this of value. If yes, I’ll admit my Moon is a good navigator for the 4,865th time! If not, I’ll write about Mars, Mercury—or something else.

Notes:

Opening Quote. Thanks to Lee Abramson  of Rumi Music  (@LeeAbramson) for sharing the opening quote on Twitter. It became the catalyst for this article and series.


Finding Your Declinations. Most astrology software programs offer a report for every chart that indicates the declinations of the planets. I use Solar Fire. Declinations are in the Chart Analysis Report, one of several columns with mathematical information on each planet’s position, along with details like Latitude and Right Ascension. Any planet with a declination higher than 23o 28’ North or South is out-of-bounds.

Time reference for the first Space Walk is from Scholastic Teachers.



Remember! Radical Virgo 
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8 comments:

Ellen Longo said...

Thanks, Joyce. Your description rang a bell and made me look and sure enough, my Moon, which is conjunct my Ascendant, is out-of-bounds. I'll have to check out that Forrest article. I never looked at declinations before - there's always something new with astrology, isn't there?

Joyce Mason said...

Hi, Ellen! One thing for sure. We never run out of new things to learn in astrology! I have known for years, thanks to an observant friend, that my Moon is OOB, but Steven's article is the first one that really gave me a fuller understanding of the "symptoms." :) I think you'll find it fascinating. Glad I could throw some new light on your silvery Moon.

Mary Pat Lynch said...

Thanks for the post, Joyce ... I especially like the idea (and image) of the container.

I've been working with friends setting New Moon intentions for some months now, with remarkable results reported ... being in sync with the Moon works for us!

(http://risingmoonastrology.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-moon-intentions.html)

Joyce Mason said...

Thanks, Mary Pat. The container concept really works for me, too, and it's delightful to hear what success you and your friends are having with your new Moon rituals. Thanks for sharing. Will check out your link!

Sandra Mosley said...

Aloha Joyce,
Thank you for encouraging this Moon Walk.

My Cancer Moon is within bounds and yet, I related to most of the "symptoms" you listed. According to Donna Cunningham's blog post:
How Strong Is Your Moon?
http://skywriter.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/how-strong-is-your-moon-here%E2%80%99s-the-score/ , my score was off the charts. My Moon is septile the Sun; semi-sextile Uranus; conjunct Saturn; opposite the MC (all tight orbs ).

Little wonder my passion for all things lunar, including lunar astrology.

I have a couple of affirmative rituals I do during the New Phase each cycle to reinforce the essential qualities of the new cycle.

Some are simple material things like cleaning the house, replacing the sponges in the kitchen and the toothbrush heads. Some are more visual, like taking photos of things that appeal to me and I create a mandala as a meditation for clearing my mind and centering my spirit. I also begin gathering symbolic items that represent my intentions.

Sometime befor the New Phase is over, I write out my intention in 10 words or less, for placement on a medicine wheel I set during Crescent.

I've been doing this almost continuously for over 15 years and though it undergoes modification from time to time, it always brings me illumination, peace and pleasure.

My insight this morning was the awareness that reviewing a family history this month would be a great exercise for me this cycle.

Meanwhile, I'm still getting clarity on my intention.

I am looking forward to our stroll in the moonlight. Thanks agin for the invitation.

Joyce Mason said...

Sandra, your addition to this post is simply fabulous! There is more than one way to have an "overemphasized" Moon. I haven't taken Donna's quiz on this one, but I've taken her outerplanetary ones. It's always a revelation to in some way quantify a planet's influence.

My New Moon Meditation was very potent but inner. Not much at the conscious level came up yet, but I've yet to do the New Moon ritual (next). Love yours! As a Virgo, you can only imagine how my heart sang over the cleaning parts. :) Cleansing is a part of nearly every ritual in every tradition. How cool to do it in such a practical way.

Love the family history option. I will definitely try it on one or more Moon cycles. Thanks for being such an active participant on The Radical Virgo--especially for your shared wisdom and practical tips on how to celebrate the New Moon.

Sulis said...

Joyce, the last stanza of your Moon Rising poem was especially delightful to me. My current cat companion Marigold Gemini Moon receives the full strength of all the love I have ever given to cats in a life time of cat adoration. I have Sun in Cancer in dream-filled 12th (just on the cusp so in some systems it falls in 11th). That's the cusp of catnip maybe! My Moon does not aspect the Sun but lies beside Neptune in Scorpio in 3rd and up close to the Nadir. Lots of Water in my chart but almost as much Fire. So I'm liking what you say about the relationship of Sun and Moon and the dreamtime paradoxical nature of cats. My own nature so well captured in your poem and so joyfully. I needed that bliss today since bliss has not been with me lately. Will try more catnip. Thank you!

Joyce Mason said...

Sulis, I'm so glad you enjoyed the Rising Moon poem! As I'm sure you can tell; I'm with the Egyptians who revered cats. Without my feline "children," who actually fulfill a multiplicity of roles and relationships, I think I'd have lost it by now. :) Nothing makes me happier than to make someone else happy. You made my day. You catalyzed a chuckle, too (no pun intended). Your line about trying more catnip reminded me of my Pisces ex who always toyed with smoking it. LOL! Bliss in whatever form works for a person is my motto.

PS - Checked your site and I'll be diving deep into those waters soon. So glad to meet a kindred spirit.