Cancer New Moon
for June 28-29th 2022
Hoping the last full moon in Sag helped you re-prioritize and hone in on what’s really important to you, because this new moon sure feels like a challenge for you to keep holding on to it.
I grew up with this popular metaphor in my culture that “holding firm to your faith my feel as hard as holding a piece of ember in your hands,” but I’m taking faith out of it and replacing it with whatever it is that’s most important to you. (and I mean your real values that are most authentic to you, not the ones you feel you should have.)
Sticking to your values, and defending the rights of others to do the same, in a world that seems to be making it harder and harder will most likely raise all kinds of anger issues within you, and however atrociously guilty others look to you, it remains your responsibility and no one else’s to manage your own anger. You’re walking the tightrope of protecting the sacred while avoiding turning into the same self-righteous, angry mob that are threatening it. And you’ll probably be accused of being the same threat, on top of it all.
That doesn’t mean you can’t direct your anger toward constructive action that preserves your values. You can stay angry, and remember that it’s a good emotion, albeit frequently misdirected. It’s only an indicator that your boundaries have been violated. Painful but simple. In this sense, anger is the best way to know what really matters to you, if you let it tell you.
Reflecting on not only Mars, but his sister Eris too and her golden apple of discord and alternative ways to “wage your war” can definitely clue you in on ways to pull a pretty badass “power move” rather than simply react or fall into the victimhood trap. Hell, you might find yourself to be the mean bitch in some scenario this week, and it might not be a bad thing at all. We all meet Eris as some mean bitch at some point in our lives and actually end up learning a lot about ourselves.
You can stay angry and nurturing at the same time. You can stay angry without losing control or lose track of where you’re heading. It doesn’t mean you can’t stay vulnerable where you need to be.
This is one of my favorite things about astrology, is to remind you even when you’re so angry you’re seeing red, and it feels like that’s all you are now and there’s nothing else to you, there are still a thousand other parts in the chart that are also you. You’re never just one aspect even when it seems to take over completely. You have so many resources at your disposal. See where these current aspect points land in your chart and make your own connections to them. If you have a magical practice, this is a great time to connect to these planets and archetypes and see what they have to tell you, especially as you find it harder to defend your values that constantly feel violated. An even better conversation would be with these very parts of you that are being most violated, as they’re in most need of your presence right now.
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★ Contextual Energies ★
Mars @ 25°Aries40’ sextile Saturn @ 24°Aquarius47’ (while conjunct Eris @ 24°Aries58’): Dealing with anger in the face of challenge and restriction of your boundaries
Sun & Moon @ 7°Cancer22’ square Jupiter @ 7°Aries18’: another opportunity to hone in on your most fundamental values and possibly learn more about yourself
Venus @ 7°Gemini16’ sextile Jupiter @ 7°Aries18’ expressing ideas around said values, tapping into your own wisdom and expanding it to the external world. possible challenge to moderation.
🌕 Moon Aspects 🌕
Moon @ 7°Cancer22’ conjunct Blackmoon Lilith: There’s this oddly relevant connection Lilith has with abortion rights and all things related to the darker themes of pregnancy-- the freedom and agency to create as well as to destroy. Give this article from 2020 a read. I found it even more relevant now and pretty insightful.
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☀ Journal Prompts ☀
Thoughts worth considering through your work or practice this week and especially around the new moon on Tue-Wed
:: The Personal Values game (pdf guide here):
If the idea of values still sounds rather general, nebulous or vague to you, playing the Personal Values game may help clear some up for you. Try spending some time arranging them, so you free up much needed RAM by letting go of the ones in your “least important to me” box and only dedicating your time and energy to the ones in your “most important” box. You don’t really need to print out each value on a card. you can just type them into a table using any text editing app and swap them around as appropriate. The key here is being radically, shamelessly honest with yourself, and looking at the actual reality, not the theory, of what’s been important to you.
Eris at the Party:
:: Have you found yourself in a situation recently that particularly angered you? Do you remember your response? Your visceral sensations? (it’s okay if you don’t, some of us get so angry we practically black out)
:: If you think about how you felt then, would you have described yourself as Eris in this situation? (the one not invited to the party, marginalized, “othered” due to qualities intrinsic to you)
Or were you one of the three goddesses who fell for the apple of discord? (baited, victimized, manipulated, pitted against an ally, had your power or values used against you)
Did you respond like Zeus, who despite having the authority, wanted nothing to do with the situation and passed the buck? Or chose placating the desires of those you hold dear over asserting your personal values?
(Like myself, you’ve probably felt like all the above at one point or another)
:: With a more lucid vision of the values most important to you, do you think you would have behaved differently, having prioritized them over immediate justice or placation?
dealing with anger:
If we were to define anger more simply as an indication of a boundary being crossed, or a value being challenged...
:: Do you think you’re able to sense your reaction during a similar situation, including the same visceral sensations you noted above, and catch yourself before spiraling too quickly into mindless reactivity? Do breathing techniques work for you? Are you able to remove yourself from the situation and come back more collected? Are you more likely to vent to a friend in private, or face the offending person first?
:: How much of your anger is empowered and how much feels like powerlessness?
:: How much of your anger-management depends on changing a situation that’s unworkable? like changing another person’s mind or view on something, or being excluded, disempowered, rejected or dismissed by a group or individual.
:: How much of it can be resolved by focusing on the workable aspect of the situation? (your own response, casting your own vote literally or figuratively, using your own resources magical and otherwise or seeking alternative solutions from others)
:: If you’re at a point in your life where you feel you’ve befriended your anger, what has it taught you that you can use and share right now?
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as always, stay safe and mindful of your own energies so you can better enjoy your week, and happy journaling.
