“Full Moon from Memory,” chalk pastel by Maria Theresa Maggi
The moon is full at 4 degrees Cancer of the tropical zodiac at 4:34 PM Pacific standard Time on December 26, 2023. As I begin writing this newsletter, Dear Subscribers, I ask that the forces of love and light surround us and bless our communication.
For the last full moon of 2023, the moon resides in its natural home, the sign of Cancer. Cancer is the fourth sign of the tropical zodiac and the first water sign. It’s time of day is midnight, and in keeping with that dark and often dreamy time when one day ends and another begins, Cancer rules the deep self, the source of our emotions, and the self we show only in private, sometimes when we think no one else is looking or will know. It is also the birthplace of our emotional instincts, both those that rule our private selves and the way we feel and connect to the push and pull of public emotional tides. Cancer energy is also adept at affecting these tides
At a time when developments in our lives and in the world at large seem to be advancing and unfolding often at disturbing breakneck speed, this full moon slows us down and invites us to come home to ourselves, to what really matters to us. We might get a chance to see that the fulfillment of our deepest desires is connected to how things turn out in public life, that living an authentic emotional life that connects us to our soul is actually a way to change the world.
Even though Cancer is always connected to the way of the world at large, this full moon may have a very private or solitary feel to it. Even if we are spending time with family or immersed in a work or career situation, there is a feeling of separateness from what’s going on outside of the sphere we are in. It is as if where we are is all there is, or becomes emblematic for what really matters. It could be both a time of a uniquely personal emotional peak while also being one that squares the circle of a larger concern, or grounds us in our own emotional family history.