Cancer New Moon

On July 17, 2023, a new moon occurs at 25° Cancer at 2:32 pm EDT. The sign of Cancer, the Moon, and the 4th House astrologically correlates to the emotional body. This archetype is the repository of all the emotional experiences that are the underlying determinant of our sense of safety and security. What is familiar feels safe. The root of the word familiar is family. For most of us, family is sanctuary, though unfortunately, this is not always true. There is a sense of safety in these instinctive emotional responses, which unknowingly pattern our behavior. Often it is ancestral patterning learned in early childhood from our parents and grandparents. Our early childhood emotions are the reliving from the past. They are the “memory” of what came before, what is carried forward into this current lifetime.

At this lunation, the lunar nodes, the trajectory of our evolutionary development, rest at the final degree of an 18-month journey through Taurus and Scorpio. Venus has been the ruler of the lunar north node through this nodal transit. Venus, in its inner Yin expression, formatted the lunar north node through this transit.

Taurus teaches us about self-reliance and what is essential for our survival. Taurus correlates to our relationship with ourselves. Astrologically, Venus is magnetism. The quotient of our self-love is the magnetic center for what has been called the law of attraction. The lunar north node is the potential promise of the future. We are developing new potentials for our relationship with ourselves.

Pluto rules the sign of Scorpio. Planet Pluto is the engine that drives evolution forward. For the last 18 months, it has been the ruler of the lunar south node. The lunar south node is the composite emotional patterning of the most recent lifetimes.  Pluto empowers us or disempowers us. We stand in our power or surrender it. Pluto takes no prisoners. At this lunation, Pluto is retrograde, temporarily back in Capricorn, and faces off against the Sun and Moon at 29° Capricorn. The last twenty-ninth degree of a sign is the “ring not pass” that requires resolution of whatever still “hangs fire” regarding that archetype. The shape of the new moon chart is a locomotive with Pluto as the lead planet driving the energy forward with tremendous force. 

Perhaps we can mark our current time as “BC, before COVID,” and AC, After COVID. This current nodal transit that is ending correlates to the genesis of what has transpired since COVID. A transit of Uranus in Taurus has underscored the last five years. These Aquarian/Uranian energies have shaken to the ground what has become outmoded and crystallized. We have been saddled with the crises generated by the irreconcilable truths of the past. 

According to the Theosophical Society, “ring not pass” is,

“A profoundly mystical and suggestive term signifying the circle or bounds of frontiers within which is contained the consciousness of those who are still under the sway of the delusion of separateness….It is a general term applicable to any state in which an entity, having reached a certain stage of evolutionary growth of the unfolding of consciousness, finds itself unable to pass into a still higher state because of some delusion under which the consciousness is laboring, be that delusion mental or spiritual.”

—Occult Glossary, G. de Purucker

Pluto and the Sun-Moon conjunction square the lunar nodes at the Cancer New Moon. In Evolutionary Astrology, this is known as a “skipped step.” It is a mostly fixed grand cross. A grand cross is a highly dynamic configuration. It correlates to a “locked and loaded situation,” primed to unleash pent-up energies. This is especially true in fixed modalities.

The Sun is the self-actualization process. When the Sun squares the lunar nodes, it is not a “skipped step’ per se; however, it generates potential “skipped steps” during this next lunation cycle. The archetypes in play include the need for justice and fairness (asteroid Astraea in Taurus), the activity of rogue personalities (Eris in Aries), self-wounding (Chiron in Aries), and mass delusion (Neptune retrograde in Pisces).

We can navigate this energetic implosion by harnessing the nourishing and nurturing qualities of the sign of Cancer. Connect to your balanced power source, whatever that might be. Express your authenticity with your innate talents. Take refuge and safety in family and what is familiar. Honor your sense of justice and right and wrong. Express your authenticity and allow others the same. The Wheel of Fortune is spinning. Find your center of balance and breathe.