A Full Moon of Heightened Emotion and Earthy Imagination

The final Full Moon of 2020 graces us with the sweet and swift waters of the sign of Cancer, where the Moon is most at home. Taking place at 7:28 pm Pacific Time on the evening of December 29th, this Full Moon sends us out of 2020 with a sober outlook mixed with a dash of inspired action and imagination, as we face our collective future and the complexity and challenges of our current evolutionary unfolding.

When the Moon is in the cardinal water sign of Cancer it invokes an atmosphere of heightened emotion. It draws our attention to our own needs and the needs of others, as well as looking to the past, both the recent past and further back into our ancestral lineage. The intelligence of Cancer shows us the strength of being willing to experience and move through our feelings, whether that is the height of ecstasy, the depth of sorrow, or anything in between. Cancer the crab lends us the courage required to show our soft inner world to others – as well as the intelligence of our emotional body to distinguish when it feels safe to open, and when it’s time to put up that crab shell in protection. This Full Moon’s medicine may show us where and with whom we feel safe (or unsafe), where we find ourselves in defensive patterns, and how we operate around getting our needs met. Especially as we experience this ongoing winter spike of the Covid pandemic, this time may reveal to us our tendencies around care-taking— both receiving care and extending our care to those we love — particularly between children and parents, with elders, as well as in the community at large.

Beyond the significations of the Moon in the sign of Cancer, we have a number of potent astrological configurations in this Full Moon chart to consider. First, the Moon and Sun are occupying 8º + of Cancer and Capricorn respectively, and in square to them we find Chiron at 5° Aries, and opposite from the new Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) planet Makemake at 7° Libra. Together they form a grand cross in Cardinal signs. Chiron represents wounding and the ongoing process of healing, while Makemake, named after the indigenous Creation God of Rapa Nui, represents a powerful Nature connection. Per Henry Seltzer’s ongoing research, Makemake appears to be connected with a sense of profound respect for all creatures, and with taking an activist stance for protecting nature and our earthly environment.

With these two archetypes being activated by the Full Moon axis, we may feel a heightened sense of pain, loss, and urgency around the many severe environmental issues in our world, and the devastating impact that human activity continuing to have on the beauty and integrity of our planet. There is also a nearly exact square forming between Venus in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces, lending us enhanced contact with the numinous realms, allowing our perception to expand in the Mystery, and for our dreams and imagination to whisper new worlds into our ears as we look toward the coming year. We might tune in at this time to the incredible wild intelligence of Nature, the vast, ancient wisdom that lies within the consciousness of Earth, and the miracle of Life it sustains. With Uranus at 6° Taurus also in connection with the Moon — forming a close trine — and the feminine warrior energy of Eris still prominent as well, we could also experience sudden realizations or epiphanies about our own piece of the puzzle in terms of protecting our precious earth resource; the tangible ways we each can have a positive impact.

With regard to the coming year, we have what is perhaps the most important astrological aspect of 2021 at the beginning of its formation: Saturn in Aquarius square to Uranus in Taurus. This is deserving of its own thorough discussion, but to touch briefly on it now, these two will be dancing in this square aspect closely for most of the upcoming year, and again through much of 2022. This combination of influences speaks to further destabilization of and disembarking from systems and structures that cannot be sustained, and stepping into new innovative pathways for the collective regarding all manner of human affairs. There is also represented here the divide that we are seeing very much emphasized lately here in the US between progressive forces (Uranus) versus those conservative voices (Saturn) concerned more with maintaining the status quo. We are indeed as a society in the midst of an evolutionary leap. The year of 2020 has been emblematic of that, and 2021 will be no exception, either.

While this square aspect concerns the broader areas of society, culture, systems, and collective power structures, we can and should also be on the lookout for what part we each play as individuals within the larger context. We might do this by keeping a keen eye out for opportunities to embrace our own unique sense of innovation and contribution to our community and the society at large. One thing that is notable is recognizing the importance of putting your attention, resources, and power as a consumer towards businesses, organizations and causes that align with your core values, and your deeply felt vision for our world.

In this time of laying to rest what has been a very intense year, and picking up the reigns of our responsibilities for action, in feeling into what is to come, this ending and beginning is a potent time to pause for reflection, consideration, and spiritual inquiry. We are being asked, each in different ways, to stretch and transform, and to heal. I believe within that context it is also extremely important to find ways to replenish ourselves, to rest and nourish our bodies, and our souls, so that we may endeavor to live our lives in a way that is an expression of our own unique and meaningful Truth. It is probably not the time to sit back, but rather to stand up and be counted for what we most sincerely believe. As we face into 2021, may we hold prayers for peace in our hearts, and actively envision a world to come, of beauty, thriving, and wellness for all beings.