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As we end Cancer season, it is worthwhile to reflect on the lessons that this time has offered us. As the sun moves through each of the zodiac signs, we get brief but important insights into that particular zodiac sign’s energy. Ruled by the moon, Cancer energy beckons us to explore our emotional cycles, and the importance of coming home to ourselves to obtain the security that is sought through family, home, and the experience of being nurtured and cared for. Read on to discover more about Cancer’s lunar lessons for us all.
What Cancer Teaches Us
As the first water sign of the zodiac, the Cancer journey offers us the opportunity to come home to ourselves. We are born in the sign of Aries. We learn about forming foundations and the significance of the five senses in the sign of Taurus. Through the Gemini experience, we learned the importance of communication. As we move into Cancerian energy, it is here that a connection to the emotional realm is established. It is for this reason that Cancer is often considered the emotional crybaby of the zodiac. While Cancer is known for its emotionalism, there’s nothing wrong with this because emotions are a part of the human condition. Cancer is the one sign that will cry because crying and other forms of emotional expression are more than okay. It is through the Cancerian journey that we understand the importance of honoring the spectrum of our emotions. Ruled by the moon, Cancer is often considered moody which can be expected given that the moon changes signs every two and a half days. Honoring the changeability of our emotional realm is what allows us to understand who we are at deepest.
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Emotions Are Okay
If there’s any lesson that we can garner from the Cancerian experience is that emotional expression is valid. Too often we are taught in certain cultures that emotional expression is a weakness. This is particularly true for those who are masculine aligned. Everyone experiences emotions from happy to sad, and all expressions of emotions are valid. Under the energy of Cancer, will learn not only how to identify our emotions but consider how we express these emotions with others. In fact, emotional security is one of the hallmarks of the Cancer experience. Despite the reputation Cancer has for being overly emotional, this particular energy indeed needs to know that they are safe and secure to fully express emotions without reserve. It is by using intuitive guidance that Cancer gauges the right circumstances for authentic emotional expression. Under the energy of Cancer, we are all urged to consider our relationship with emotions and whether or not it is healthy.
The Importance of Family, Home & Roots
It is through Cancer energy that we get the opportunity to delve into our experience of home, family, and our roots. So many of us live our lives on autopilot, and we don’t really understand just how much our roots impact us throughout the duration of our lives. Whether we are fortunate enough to have supportive families or we have incarnated into this experience with less than desirable familial bonds, there is something for all of us to learn from our familial lineages. It is through truly taking the time to understand who we are in relation to our family units that we can understand what we need to feel at home in this physical realm as well as within ourselves.
Exploring our relationship with our families specifically, the maternal lineage is exceptionally important from the perspective of Cancer. Our relationships with maternal energy especially the mother are important because this is one of the first bonds that we create with someone outside of the self in this physical realm. The mother-child bond plays a significant part in the types of relationships that we have with other people. Thus, it is significant for us to understand our connection with maternal energy. Also, when considering how to move forward in building our own families, the conscious work of understanding our relationships with our roots allows us to heal the generational traumas and issues that we unconsciously pass on. This is only possible by taking the time to explore the emotional realm and resist the urge to push off that which makes us feel uncomfortable for the sake of presenting as if we have emotional control. True emotional fortitude honors the ability to sit with those messy emotions and find clarity to use the cardinal, changeable energy of Cancer to make the emotional changes that allow us to live a more emotionally fulfilling life.
Everyone Needs a Bit of Nurturing & Care
In a world that is constantly telling us to grow up, be more, and do more, Cancer energy allows us to take a step back and be something for ourselves. It is difficult to go out in the world and become something when our home base is unsettled. It is for this reason that Cancer energy is so important because it allows us to be something for ourselves so that we can go out into the world and build which is the realm of Capricorn…Cancer’s opposite. Have we allowed ourselves to truly know who we are? Do we know and truly understand the base from which we operate? Do we actually know what we want and need for ourselves before we try to go out into the world to be “somebody?”
This is where the importance of nurturing ourselves is significant. Cancer energy is known for its ability to make others feel deeply cared for, and it is truly one of the most admirable traits of this sign. However, it is also important to know that before we are capable of nurturing and caring for others we must also be able to do this for ourselves. For example, for a mother to care for her child, she must be able to care for herself. This is especially true when considering the experience of providing nurturance and sustenance. It is through a mother’s breast milk that a child is nourished, but if the mother is not properly nourished then her children will not receive proper sustenance. Cancer energy beckons us to take time to fill ourselves up just like the moon fills itself up so that when we are full we’re able to shine our nurturing, caring light unto others.
The Cycles of Life
Last but not least is the significance of the lunar cycle as it is associated with Cancer energy. The Cancer-Capricorn axis deals with the realm of time in its own respective ways. Capricorn, Cancer’s opposite, focuses on the limitations of time and how time is to be used in a practical, responsible manner. Cancer also considers time but in a cyclical manner which is experienced through the lunar cycle. It is through the lunar cycle that we are reminded of the various stages of our lives. From the newness of the new moon, the build-up of experience through the waxing phase, the brightness of our fullness at the new moon, and the inner wisdom and introversion of the waning moon, there is always a season of becoming in our lives. Every 28 days the lunar cycle offers us an intricate understanding of the cycle of being and becoming. Similarly, there is the experience of what is known as the Triple Goddess, the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone which represents the cycles of womanhood. It is through the Triple Goddess experience that the feminine experiences the naivety and youthfulness of the Maiden, the fullness of the experience of birthing and creativity as the Mother, and then we are if we are fortunate, the opportunity to be the wise gray-haired woman imparting knowledge to others. In a world that tells us that certain time periods are more preferable to others, it is through the Cancer experience in alignment with lunar energy that we are shown that all phases of our lives are significant.
Ultimately, Cancer energy invites us home to ourselves. It is through connecting with our inner selves on a deeply emotional level that we can navigate and appreciate the ebbs and flows of life and the significance of the phases of our lived experiences.
