Cancer New Moon: What The Waters Gave Me.

Share this post:

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
What the Water Gave Me- Frida Khlao- 1938

I feel that for more than a few of us- myself included- this new moon in Cancer has been very emotional. Depending on where we are on the journey to heal our emotional and feeling body, it may have been- and continues to be- a rough one. If that is the case for you, take heart, the waters of Cancer offer a portal into our inner world, a deep balm, and a cleansing baptism. To access this gift of healing we are asked simply to feel. I realise that this is easier said than done, and for many of us, creating ways to avoid feeling has become something of a speciality, whether through an over emphasis on the intellect, addiction, magical escapism, drama, chaos, disconnection, or dissociation…. there are many ways to avoid feeling.

Through feeling and bearing witness to our inner child- likely the one who is suffering- the process of release can begin. Feeling emotional pain is different to interpreting it or trying to make sense of it through the mind. According to psychoanalyst Alice Miller, analysis further betrays the wounded child and what is needed is “empathic witnessing”. If there is no one around to do this for us, a therapist, family member, friend, or partner, the task becomes to provide this witnessing for ourselves. It is the witnessing and acceptance that we never received as a child that causes us to seek it through others in our life. The problem with that is that many- if not most- of the people we encounter are likewise wounded and either consciously or unconsciously project their own unmet emotional needs. These issues often begin in childhood when our parent’s unmet emotional needs, and unlived emotional lives permeated the family psyche and shaped our early conditioning.

In the opening paragraph of “The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self” Alice Miller says,

“Experience has taught us that we only have one enduring weapon in our struggle against mental illness: the emotional discovery of the truth about the unique history of our childhood. Is it possible, then, to free ourselves altogether of illusions? History demonstrates that they sneak in everywhere, that every life is full of them- perhaps because the truth often seems unbearable to us. And yet the truth is so essential that its loss exacts a heavy toll, in the form of grave illness. In order to become whole, we must try, in a long process, to discover our own personal truth, a truth that may cause pain before giving us a new sphere of freedom. If we choose instead to content ourselves with intellectual “wisdom”, we will remain in the sphere of illusion and self- deception.”

Cancer is the Great Mother, the Moon Mother, and the archetypal Mother. She invites us to step into her loving embrace and release our tears into her primordial ocean; Her love is vast. In meeting Her we come as a child, acknowledging our hurt emotions and our suffering- the places where we were rejected, abandoned, abused, or neglected. She helps us to drop down from the mind- too ready with its clever interpretations and stories- into the heart of a child.

If you are in these deep emotional waters this new moon, I wish you courage to feel, even just a little, the unacknowledged child who developed coping mechanisms- often maladapted ones- just to survive. Beneath the survival strategies is the pain- sometimes many decades old- waiting to be felt.

With Venus’ retrograde motion about to happen in a couple of days from now, the invitation is to stay with the descent and review the ways we have constellated these early hurts in our relationships. Venus retrograde is a chance to review the truth of how we relate to others and ultimately to ourselves. Difficult questions may be asked such as:

What we have been willing to compromise in an attempt to try and get the love we never received as a child?

How have we structured our lives so that we don’t have to feel our emotional pain?

Leave a Reply

Join the mailing list for news, updates and promotions.

×
×

Cart

Gnostic Woman Emblem

Astrology Consultation Form.

If you have selected the Astrology Consultation, please fill in this form to help determine your birth chart in preparation for our meeting.