The Full Moon in Cancer is the last lunation of 2023 and it culminates on December 27th at 00:32 (UT) at 4˚57′ of that sign. Falling between Christmas Day and the forthcoming new year, it’s known as the ‘Cold Moon’, as it’s also the closest full Moon to the recent winter solstice. Traditionally, the winter solstice marked the beginning of the winter season, the astrological Capricorn month, with that sign’s cardinal qualities making the point that this is the beginning of a new phase in the year. Yet, here we are at the end of the year; it seems incongruous that we are beginning something as something else reaches the end – but that’s how life works.
The cycle of life involves endings and beginnings. Sometimes the there’s an overlap, and sometimes the division is a crystal clear as the sky on a cold winter’s night. And, to complicate matters, there are numerous cycles – and cycles within cycles. Lunations remind us of the eternal movements of the universe. There are wheels. and there are cogs within wheels; we are minute component parts of a greater universal order. As you stand under the light of the Full Moon in Cancer, let its moonbeams connect you to a truth more ancient and everlasting than any of us can begin to know.
Full Moon in Cancer: The Essentials
A Full Moon reflects the light of the Sun; arguably, it makes us equally reflective. One of the things we need to be reflective about at this time of year, are those events or occurrences that led us to where we are now – and I mean that in the most personal sense. All full moons represent a culmination – and the lunation cycle means that a full moon follows a new moon, like day follows night. So what’s reaching a conclusion? It’s not the things that were seeded a couple of weeks ago when we experienced the New Moon in Sagittarius; those seeds will reach fruition in 2024.
You need to look back in time, to a previous new moon, the new moon in Cancer that occurred on July 17th 2023. I didn’t write a lunation report for that particular new moon – but I recall it was intense, aspecting both Neptune and Pluto (with Pluto on the anaretic degree in Capricorn), so here was a lot of serious stuff lurking beneath the surface, coupled with an inability to see what was right in front of your face. If your natal chart was impacted by that new moon in Cancer, you may have be feeling sensitive about anything in your life that put its roots down in the Summer of 2023.
However, we are all going to be sensitised to this full moon, because that is what a Full Moon in Cancer is about. Cancer is the sensitive sign; it contains all of those things we need to make ourselves feel contained – home, homeland, family, attachment – and it’s ‘attachment’ that is probably the most powerful concept associated with the sign of Cancer. Attachment, in a psychological sense, means having a deep emotional bond with another being. It endures outside of the confines of time and space. It persists beyond death and any form of earthly separation.
A Full Moon in Cancer serves to remind us of our attachments. As the crab clings fast to the rock, this lunation will remind us of what we are most attached to in the most deeply personal sense; Wherever it falls in your natal chart will be the place you feel sensitive about the things you have accumulated over the years – often for no reason other than they make you feel safe, secure or sentimental. Valid as those feelings may be, sometimes our attachments serve little purpose – or they may even be counter-productive. The Full Moon in Cancer may help you to identify whether your attachments are working well for you – or not.
Full Moon in Cancer: The Chart
Full Moon in Cancer: The Aspects
This Full Moon in Cancer belongs to an aspect pattern that is the most symbolically appropriate aspect pattern for a full moon in this sign – the Cradle. The Cradle (on this occasion) is formed by the Sun and Moon in opposition (the Full Moon ) with that opposition connected by three sextiles: a sextile from the Sun to Saturn, a sextile from the Moon to Jupiter, with Jupiter and Saturn in sextile aspect – and at a critical juncture of their own cycle.
The Cradle aspect pattern contains its own particular meanings or associations. It’s generally regarded as a supportive aspect pattern, as is opens up a process of dialogue between two opposing sides. While it’s tempting to think of things like ‘opposition’ and ‘dialogue’ in some form of external capacity, it’s important to remember that they are just as applicable to an internalised process – and, at a personal level, that’s often how moments of realisation ( or culmination) occur.
Internal dialogue is the process of inner commentary on the world around us – our thoughts and observations fall in that category. However, there are moments when it needs to go deeper than that and connect our conscious self to our unconscious, emotional base. The Full Moon in Cancer represents one of those moments; your conscious self confronts the subconscious about habits, behaviours, people (whatever or whoever that may be) that are not good for you – but you hide that fact under cover of need.
Similarly, the unconscious and emotional part of your nature may prick holes in your conscious self – or it’s defence systems , the ones you use to keep emotional marauders at bay. It’s at times like this, that your emotions will demand to be recognised and integrated into your conscious self. And the reason it happens at moments of culmination, is that there will be a few issues you will have chosen to ignore – for far too long. The Full Moon in Cancer represents that moment – perhaps better than any other full moon – and this one does so constructively, as the aspects will affirm.
Sun sextile Saturn / trine Jupiter
I’m going to begin with the Sun, as this represents the conscious self. It’s trine Jupiter – and that’s a good optimistic, expansive aspect in the full moon chart. But it’s also an aspect that indicates complacency – it’s easy to overlook things when the Sun trines Jupiter. Everything seems okay, so why look for trouble if you can’t see it already? With the Sun and Jupiter in Capricorn and Taurus – earth signs – there is a material feel to this aspect. It’s concerned with reality, so how in touch are you with what’s going on in your life?
If – six months ago (under Neptune and Pluto’s influence) some seeds were sown that are going to transform your life for the better – than all may be well. however, you need to interrogate yourself. Ask yourself some honest and difficult questions, because that is what the Sun sextile Saturn is giving you the opportunity to do. It’s not something to shy away from; honest self-reflection is going to be the right thing to do at this moment – and if you find yourself externalising that discussion and establishing where you are in your relationship or attachment to someone – or something – it will be a valuable use of your time.
Full Moon sextile Jupiter / trine Saturn
This may seem like to polar opposite of the conscious process I described above – and in many ways it’s exactly that. The Full Moon in Cancer is trine Saturn – and this can make you reticent about putting your feelings on display. But it’s something you must do. The relationship between the full moon and Saturn is an easy one, but ‘easy’ can be a misleading label. What it means – in astrological terms – is that there is nothing forcing your hand, no push to make you wake up to whatever it is you need to confront. It’s easy to be emotionally resistant or defensive – and that will inhibit your progress.
The issues you face will relate to wherever this lunation makes contact with your natal chart – and the full moon’s sextile aspect to Jupiter will present you with the opportunity to look at those issues from another perspective. Sometimes, when we are so closely bound to an issue, or attached a belief, a person or a deep-rooted need, it can be difficult to gain the distance you need to be able to view that attachment in a wider context. Putting things in perspective is the gift of Jupiter – accepting that shift in perspective lies within the remit of the Moon. Fortunately, the Moon is capable of that emotional adjustment.
Jupiter sextile Saturn
Why is this process so important? The answer lies in the Jupiter – Saturn sextile. It not only provides the baseline for this Full Moon in Cancer, it also represents a major background influence in the astrology of late 2023 and early 2024. This sextile is an important staging post in the new Jupiter-Saturn cycle that began in 2020-2021 with the Great Conjunction. Jupiter – Saturn cycles are concerned with building structures through the principles of expansion and limitation. Together, they represent how we learn to grow, develop – and live within – the structures that we create for ourselves.
And that’s what makes this full moon important. This is an opportunity to evaluate and assess where your life is at right now. As you approach the new year, you will – inevitably – be thinking about and making plans for the year ahead. If you’re going to be able to grow, develop and expand your life in a constructive manner, you need to be honest about anything that’s holding you back. You have an opportunity to re-set, get back on course and make progress in a way that is both meaningful and durable.
This is not a time to ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’ (as the old saying goes) but it is a time to proceed with caution, take a long term view – and envision a future that is grounded and achievable. To achieve that you’ll need to let go of a few things – but you’ll also need to be receptive to whatever the future holds in store. The past is a good resource – as long as it doesn’t drag you down – and the future is best when it is something you can not only touch, but hold in your hands. Whatever the Full Moon in Cancer reveals for you – let it reveal a happy 2024.
Further Reading
The Sign of Cancer: Holding Fast To Life
Cancer Rising: The Cancer – Capricorn Axis
The Big 2024 Horoscope: The Year Ahead
Jupiter Conjunct Saturn: The Great Conjunction
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© Sara Shipman 2023
picture credit: Image by yousafbhutta from Pixabay
