The new moon in 24° 56′ degrees of Cancer on July 17th (1:32 p.m. CDT) awakens what needs to be resolved within us. Emotional intensity and chaos summon us deeper into ourselves to root into our emotional intelligence and live from our intuitive wisdom.
This energy reminds us of the importance of the laws of co-creation. For something new to be born, something must die. The toxic patterns of others reflect something that’s been left unattended within. What part of this dynamic is familiar, and what patterns are we ready to discard?
This is a crucial time to get clear on what we will no longer tolerate in others and to identify what we need to fully release, allowing what longs to be born to come through us. Whatever seems impossible to resolve from our human experience, we are now asked to surrender and meet with our soul. Only then can we reclaim our true power and connection to life.
This new moon begins a new chapter on our journey, one that requires that we follow our inner compass and deepen our understanding of our emotional body. Leading from our emotional intelligence is revolutionary in a culture that holds disdain for emotional needs. It is the making of a maverick. This is the operating system of the new human and the path to cultivating our wholeness. We are learning how to both nurture and receive nourishment. We are deepening our capacity to practice self-care so that we might feel invulnerable enough to express our authentic gifts.
We are protecting that which is sacred and close to our hearts. The seeds we plant now will continue to build momentum over the next 18 months until January 13, 2025. This dynamic time allows us to transform, begin again, and reclaim more of our power.
Cancer as an Archetype
The archetype of Cancer represents our relationship to mothering, our emotional body and our internal private landscape. This energy calls us home to ourselves and represents our ability to check in and stay connected with what we feel.
The symbol of Cancer is the crab, who lives in the tidal waters where there is always change as the waves are pushed and pulled by its planetary ruler, the moon. Like the crab, we must learn adapt to the changing tides around us and honor the rhythm of cycles that actually have a consistent presence when we are deeply attuned to it.
Cancer is a cardinal water sign that encourages us to initiate new growth. When we are honest with what we feel and are rooted into our intuition and self-awareness, the way forward feels more safe, secure and clear.
Through Cancer, we explore our willingness to be held and deeply cared for. As this sign is powerful caretaker that holds the ability to tune into what others need to feel protected, we must learn to prioritize our self-care and balance what we give and take in our lives. When we are focused on only caring for others, we often neglect our own care and needs.
Through a practice of emotional regulation and self-reflection, we can learn to re-parent ourselves, providing nourishment and compassion, and come into a deeper understanding of ourselves and our foundational experiences, especially the ones that informed how we imprinted in relation to being nurtured (or not). We learn the importance of setting boundaries to protect our peace and honor our needs.
We can call on the opposite sign of the Zodiac, Capricorn, to teach us the balance of this polarity by practicing discernment and honoring healthy limits. We can begin to see boundaries as a nonnegotiable component of our self-care and how we foster healthy relationships.
When we are not emotionally regulated, we may become defensive, frustrated, resentful, avoidant and/or passive aggressive. We may expect others to know what we need and how we feel without being willing to share this information with them. The shadow of Cancer is nurturing in an unbalanced way that is co-dependent or smothering. This can be very manipulative, as it is a way to indirectly connect and get one’s needs met. Even if the intention may be heartfelt, this approach can be messy. We are called to take responsibility for our part in things and break out of old patterns of dysfunction.
“Defensive people aren’t listening while you’re talking; they’re personalizing what you say and crafting a response. Their response has much more to do with them than it does with you. They are focused only on getting their needs met and resisting any change in your dynamic. But healthy relationships are not one-sided. The needs of both individuals are equally important.”
Nedra Glover Tawwab
Cancer is often associated with nostalgia and remembering the past. They can summon a scene from their history by bringing to mind how they were feeling at that moment. Recalling something vividly from our subjective experience can be an extraordinary gift. Still, it can also hold strong emotional attachments, and we can find it hard to let go. Nostalgia can seem like being lost in a daydream, but it can play an important role in our growth if we approach this longing for the past with a neutral curiosity. There can be useful information in this process that helps us connect back to times that evoke what made us happy and what we yearn for. We can bring a feeling or need from moments in our personal history to help guide us to what we might now give our presence to and what we are creating that aligns with who we are and the season we are in now.
This moment asks us to not only release what no longer serves us but also to transcend it and include whatever is the most authentic and will support the version of home we are now building.
This lunation affirms our ability to trust our intuition, and to also trust that our emotional wisdom will inform us of what we need and how to care for ourselves. When we give ourselves more permission to be intuitive and introspective, we allow our emotions to work with us, rather than against us, which then enables us to make more conscious choices. By being honest with ourselves about what is arising, we have a greater capacity to create in a way that is more sustainable and radiates our unique expression.
Honoring the Connection
This new moon deepens our connection to our guides and awakens our faith. We sense our place within a higher cosmic intelligence that operates on our behalf. Our psychic senses and intuitive instincts are amplified. This is a potent time to attune to the messages from beyond the veil. What intuitive impressions are coming to light? What messages are being delivered to us in our dreams?
We have a better understanding of a divine intelligence supporting us and we are also inviting a better understanding of our soul contract. What would we create if you remembered more of who we really are and why we are here? What would we accomplish if we believed in an army of angels that were protecting and supporting our journey? What would change if we unlocked our divine magic?
Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
Princess Diana
We are more attuned to the inner connection and flow state at this time, opening to creative flow, spiritual practice and a trust in how life is unfolding as we show up more fully to tend to our dreams.
This cycle reminds us of the invisible levels of power that are available to work through us and reminds us of the importance of having more access to our spiritual power, as well as the immense responsibility and integrity that comes with it. To awaken to this power and harness it towards what we are initiating in this next chapter will take us far on our destined path.
Energetic Attunement
This lunation asks us to bring more attentiveness to our energy. Where do we need to set a boundary to protect our peace? What frequency are we emanating from? What circumstances and patterns are we drawing in? This is an important time to bring more conscious awareness to what we are choosing to participate in and what we are willing to tolerate.
This cycle beckons us out of our minds and into our intuitive feeling and sensing. We can be honest about what is present, what is draining us, and what weighs us down so that we bring more conscious choices in what we put out and draw in. This is a critical time to practice psychic hygiene, emotional purging and responsibility for what we have created so that we can clearly move towards that which nourishes us at the soul level.
As we learn to root into our emotional intelligence and live our intuitive wisdom, we naturally can flow towards our soul’s intention, which can shift and elevate our vibration. We trust in choices that honor the highest good for all and allow the universe to support us.
As we continue our spiritual journey and evolution, we often are met with periods of disharmony and discord that guide us to the next part of our growth. Confrontation can inform us of what we will take a stand to protect, and moments of restriction can guide us back to what truly matters. Disappointment can help us clarify, trust and honor our needs. We are now at a cosmic crossroads where we can either focus on what others are or aren’t doing, or we can reclaim more divine intelligence. It may feel as though things are out of our control, but all of our experiences are a gift that can enable us to deactivate toxic pathways and reclaim our true spiritual power. We can hold compassion for others but can also make the conscious decision to not take on other people’s pain. We can move beyond the power struggle to call in the light and open to the field of grace that is ever present.
“Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than absorbing the frequencies around you. When you start imprinting your intent on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence.”
Pema Chödrön
Cosmic Weather
This new moon is particularly potent since it aspects all the outer planets. This signifies a powerful personal and collective tipping point, and this energy clarifies what is weighing on our hearts and needs to be resolved, healed and completed.
The new moon is trine Neptune, inviting us to become more aware of the unity consciousness and the collective shift to remember the connection present in all of life. Neptune assists us in dissolving what isn’t needed in order to receive more love, healing and what our soul is calling in.
The new moon is sextile Uranus, guiding us to move into new forms and bring creative solutions to complex problems. We can cut through illusions and break free from the patterns of the past. This energy guides us forward into the new cycle and into our sacred vision. There may be an important opportunity that will require our intuition to inform our actions.
The new moon is opposite Pluto in Capricorn and forms a Cardinal Grand Cross with Pluto and the moon’s nodes. This aspect shows us an emotional pattern where we are stuck or losing power so that we can create a new way forward. We embrace more of what needs to be shed and purged so that we can regenerate and cultivate new growth.
This is the last opposition between Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn—which has been activating our charts since 2008. Any planets you have in the sign of Cancer in your natal chart have been receiving these activations and have been in a process of deepening into emotional maturity. It is an important time to reflect on the Cancer/Capricorn area of our charts and explore how we have grown since this time and what final structures are being asked to be released. There is a rebirth that is commencing with this Cancer new moon.
The moon’s nodes will change signs 90 minutes after the new moon becomes exact, beginning a new 19-month journey and activating new themes in the Aries and Libra areas of our lives.
Venus in Leo and Chiron in Aries are preparing for the upcoming retrograde phases, bringing the themes of these planets into greater focus. The new moon squares Chiron in Aries, offering information about where we are holding pain from our past, what needs to be released and offers accelerated healing and transformation.
“The place you suffer, in other words, is the same place you care profoundly—care enough to act.”
Susan Cain
The new moon is conjunct with the asteroids Shiva and Hekate. Shiva is the destroyer of ignorance and aids us in seeing beyond illusion and in shattering old paradigms. Hekate amplifies our psychic sight and premonition. Her place in the new moon chart helps prepare a path and to be receptive beyond what we may believe is possible and to dive into our intuitive power. We may get a glimpse of this new path or the future role we will play.
The Invitation
This lunation cycle guides us into creating a safe space to reflect and feel. Our feelings, needs and instincts are heightened. We are called to tend to our emotional body with care and compassion and deepen our emotional intelligence. Our feelings are an intuitive compass and are meant to guide and protect us. Life may bring circumstances that seem beyond our power, but they draw us into a deeper interior where we can begin to build space to strengthen our intuitive muscle and trust our ability to evaluate a situation and assess what our responsibility is, what isn’t being said and where we are called to meet life with our compassionate heart.
The world needs people who are willing to practice emotional mastery, live from inner wisdom, use their power to empower others, and who can integrate their shadows and choose to nurture the light.
“On this sacred path of Radical Acceptance, rather than striving for perfection, we discover how to love ourselves into wholeness.”
Tara Brach
This is a potent time to surrender what we can’t control and release old toxic patterns. We are creating space for a whole new chapter and becoming attuned to the new growth that is emerging. We tend to what needs to be purged, healed and forgiven so that we can open up to more grace, source connection and synchronicity. After we discern and release all that we are saying no to, we can be fully present to our soul song and what deeply longs for our full-bodied YES!