With Winter Solstice pass’d, the Darkness sewn in recent bleeds like ink into the sludge of an uncertain Future. And yet Light returns, an invisible creep towards Spring…
My honor of the Witch’s Wheel of the Year always bends beyond my individual wishes and wants, glimmers we all carry with us and are called to contemplate at the Year’s End. Political unrest, especially where violence and oppression against masses of people is apparent, will always infuse my longings for change. Prayers in the Longest Night and Shortest Day obviously bended towards the people of Palestine, additionally reflected in our Winter Symposium Solstice event, as it did in the previous October edition.
Grief is always a subject during Samhain and Winter Solstice; however, the current genocide in Gaza pointedly focuses the theme with inescapable magnitude.
I’m not alone in the dire disillusionment around Autumn and Winter "celebrations" these past 3 months. In acknowledgement of anxiety and sadness around December consumerism, loneliness, vices, etc, I’ve always held space for the juxtapositions around Holiday-time class privilege and social / financial stress while reclaiming the spiritual practice of Winter Solstice in other ways for myself. The raging pandemic and general dissonance with wellness, disability, food justice and community aid have increasingly compounded in recent years along with the common aforementioned challenges.
As someone who doesn't have religious ties to Christmas but still partakes with family and friends in my own Solstice focus… To think about Bethlehem being bombed on Christmas Day by the IDF wrenches a pit in my stomach re: the irony of Jesus’s birth as a Palestinian Jew, his mother and father refugees seeking shelter while in labor and the irony of the thousands of refugees in Palestine today, especially the horrors that mothers and children are facing, bombed maternity wards and premature babies left to die by the will and terror of the State of Israel. Even Democratic Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson has written about the spiritual disconnect this Christmas that so many choose to ignore.
The lives and families being torn apart and homes being decimated is all I can seem to think about this Winter Solstice, Christmas and especially this Cancer Full Moon.
If anything, today’s Cancer Full Moon calls to us to actually SIT IN OUR FEELINGS. Whether it be soaking in ALL the information we have received regarding the destruction of the Planet and the People on it, as hard as it may be, or focusing it piece by piece, the bottom line is right now concepts like Hope may feel like a shred of desperation amidst the broken pieces. Where we typically love this Northern Hemisphere marker as a pause to reflect on the Past and plan for the Future, all is fraught beyond one moment or prayer.
We recognize it is possible and needed to explore both the macro and micro. And it’s difficult to not be overwhelmed by both.
Many (present company included) are wrestling with structural changes to our families, relationships and other arenas of stability like finances, career and physical health + energy. We eventually will HAVE to find a way to prioritize and amend our approaches and/or seek support. This push is magnified by the Sun stepping into Capricorn on December 22nd with the Mercury Cazimi gifting small clarity surrounding Retrograde subjects. While Mercury goes direct on New Year’s Day, we traditionally have much on our minds about how to navigate a New Year, the blessing and curse of Capricorn Season! The Sea-Goat’s Sun position IS an ideal time to put ideals into action.
In the amplification of our final Full Moon of the year, we typically explore the Duality/Polarity of the Sun Season and the Moon. Cancer-Capricorn is an essential Axis for security and kinship that merges with Winter togetherness and, yes, can emphasize the family trauma that needs to be healed. However, I CAN NOT be business as usual at this time, though recommend a look back at “Knuck If You Buck vs. the Soft-Shelled Sentimentalist” for past musings on this Axis and possible Cancer Full Moon insights.
12/26 FULL MOON IN CANCER
Ruled by the Moon, Cardinal Water Cancer is connected to the Ocean and the Womb and the 4th House of Home and Family.
Cancers are the ultimate feminine dwellers of the Divine. Though her heart may be hidden in a pearlescent protective shell, Cancer gathers treasure of wisdom and conjures kindness within deep celestial caverns reserved for her nearest and dearest, creating space for safety, loving environments and wanting best for all. The Crab is often touted as "sensitive" but within her deep capacity for feeling is an intense intuition, a trait typically tethered to Water Signs.
Cancer's version of sensitivity tends to be highly attached to others. In global or communal unrest, family issues or love splits, heartbreak hits hard. Cancer in direct involvement with heartbreak can lash back but more often than not will retreat into one’s shell, hopefully to collect one’s thoughts then make decisions after cautious consideration. In states of disempowerment where danger can come to the person cutting the cord, this retreat may become a wallow, a lengthy stew in sorrow leading to long-term immobility.
Cancers can sometime submit to drowning in the weight of her sorrows, an energy not unfamiliar to how many of us feel about the world right now. Even so, Cancer’s mightiest blessing is beautiful, bright sound support, a Heart courageously full of care. Even in unimaginable pain, Cancer provides a way to begin to build a sense of Home and Hope again. It’s Cancer’s maternal strengths that give the greatest gift to this Life, as Life itself is to be protected and honored, nourished and loved.
A Full Moon in Cancer, generally, can be a gentle nudge towards nurturing, calling comfort and care as a ritual, embracing physical rest and emotional soothing.
We can be tender with grief, an open honesty regarding those no longer here or parts of ourselves we need to let go of, especially in terms of self-deprecation, jealousy, imposter syndrome or a role we’ve grown out of. This Cancer Full Moon may be a good time to think about how certain difficult decisions, like an ending, may make us feel. It may be a good time to connect with loved ones or think of forgiving someone who hurt us without letting them manipulate our livelihoods. The possibilities are personal but above all, the Cancer Full Moon is a space to really feel it all, come to terms and recharge for what’s ahead.
On a seemingly superficial note, the comfort of quiet spaces is absolutely needed as the end-of-year projections grow, compounded by the Holidaze. I’m admittingly a light sleeper and discovered ASMR through guided meditation channels when it was once known as the “whisper community” over a decade ago. Some of my favorites are no longer active in the realm of ASMR, including one warm-hearted individual interested in witchcraft, herbology, Reiki, spiritual and social wellness. Her New Year’s Eve YouTube from 3 years ago, titled “Perfectionism is So Last Year”, is a reaffirming but kind reality-check on the err of misled pursuits and ideals. Many people, especially femme-identified folks, could use a listen and a gentle learn from this perspective. I’ll leave you with this quote:
“We deserve to acknowledge our efforts, feel proud of all that we’ve done, how far we’ve come, and it’s simply a choice that we’re allowed to make. Instead of seeing our flaws and feeling embarrassed by them, we can see them simply as who we are, part of what makes us human. If these are flaws that are truly holding us back from who we want to be, we can choose to work on them.”
- ASMRtist formerly known as Witch Mountain