Balance

I don't know about you but I find myself deeply affected by the current state of our world. The fighting and burning and lack of connection is almost unbearable to witness. Today is the first full moon of 2020 and also the first of four prenumbral eclipses for the year. A prenumbral eclipse means that the Earth, Sun, and Moon are imperfectly aligned, sounds fitting. This particular full moon falls in the sign of Cancer, a watery sign that often times pulls us deep into our emotional body. Yet, we are also currently in multiple planet stack up in Capricorn, an earthy, grounded energy. This particular planetary line up may, maybe not, have us feeling a little more grounded in our emotional body. It is said that three days before and after the full moon we are able to feel the resonance of the particular energies associated with that moon. And so, with the watery Cancer imperfectly aligned fullness upon us I feel called toward balance and the practices that might bring us back into equilibrium when our pendulum sways too far in one direction.

Having just come out of what feels like the longest holiday season in history, we all might be striving to reconnect to our daily practices and schedules in a meaningful and productive way. Often holidays feel like a gap in time where overindulgence on every level is the name of the game. We are out of sync with our normal schedules as work stops, parties increase, and consuming is at an all time high. All of this, combined with any and everything that is happening around us, can absolutely throw us out of balance. Then comes the new year and the resolution to get stronger, wiser, faster, more productive, etc. In reality it's just a swing of the pendulum in the extreme other direction. Eventually, hopefully, that pendulum begins to level out and find it's way back into the center at least for a short period of time before it begins to swing once again.

One of the things I find incredibly helpful in following the cycles of the moon and the energy that a particular phase creates is the context it brings to my own ebbs and flows. This information leads to best practices for attuning to alignment in body, mind, and spirit. As the body is often the instrument that holds the key to our reclamation of attunement, I'd like to speak to it first. In the practice of medical astrology (of which I know very little and am not a certified practitioner in any way) each sign governs a particular part or system of the body. Cancer rules over the chest, breast, and stomach. Considering the emotionality that is often associated with this sign I see how as this Cancer full moon approaches I find myself more attuned to the energies that are moving around and through my chest and stomach. Often, for me, these are areas that tend to become most reactive when I am in my feelings. Cancer also governs family and home life, our roots, and the stories and traumas that may exist there. The full moon is an illumination so we may notice our mind attentive to old wounds that may be called to the surface. Allowing the spirit and the body to come into a soft and gentle sync with the mind and the emotional landscape we may find a little more space for the healing of some of these wounds.

So what do we do, how do we tune in? Whether we know or don't know about, believe or don't believe in, astrology we can all agree that the body responds when the mind is not at ease. What I have come to learn about astrology is whether you believe or not, it's still happening all the time. We are made of the same elements as the stars and planets and space dust so why wouldn't we be affected in some way energetically? Similarly, the moon rules over the tides and the waters of the Earth. Humans are, give or take, 70% water. How then can we not be affected by her waxing and waning? Creating space and time for ourselves to experience and feel what might be happening in our physical, energetic, and emotional bodies is a way to tune in a feel into the medicine this moon might be offering us. I've created a short meditation practice to invite a little inquiry. Check it out and see what comes up for you. Happiest of happy full moons. May this moon illuminate the beautiful light that resides inside of you and may be in turn begin to truly see and acknowledge the light that resides in every creature we come in contact with. And so it is.