While earlier this week we saw the turning of the Gregorian calendar year, astrology and the Wheel of the Year reminds us that the fresh start we often expect as of January 1st isn’t due until March 21st, the Spring Equinox.
Nonetheless, at this time of year, we can’t help but pull back our perspective and reflect on 2022 and cast a vision into 2023. The stock-taking and resolution-setting tradition of the New Year is, astrologically, in alignment. The Sun is currently moving through the sign of Capricorn, a cardinal Earth sign. And the theme here is wisdom, integrity, and perspective.
Many astrologers link Capricorn to the idea of a Father figure – one telling us to get serious, work hard, and take responsibility for our actions and our futures. There is a time and a place for this approach, but I think so often in our patriarchal world, we let a need for constant achievement and guilt supersede our deeper emotional needs.
So, I like to think of the highest vibration of Capricornian energy to be, instead, a wise old grandmother.
The wise old grandmother is not afraid of the turning of time. She knows that endings are beginnings, that this too shall pass, that all of the goals and toils of youth pale in comparison to the deeper cycles of life and nature. She has high expectations, as a Father would, but she also knows that things take time. And that no matter where we are on this journey, we need and deserve to love and be loved in return.
Where the Capricorn within us all tends to take things so seriously at this time of year, the Full Moon in Cancer - the opposite sign - on Friday brings in the balance of the Mother. This moon reminds us that we could accomplish all of our goals and dreams and still feel empty inside. That the real “goal” is not a destination at all, but to appreciate the journey alongside those we love.
This Full Moon in Cancer could have us feeling particularly aware of our emotional needs and desires. With Mercury and Mars - the planets of communication and action, respectively - both in retrograde, we are likely to feel a little frustrated and, perhaps, find it difficult to express exactly what it is we are experiencing emotionally.
These two planets, and this Full Moon, are encouraging us to reframe the way we look at our emotional needs. How can we change the frame of reference so that any anger or resentment that may arise can be met with gratitude, so that we can recognize it for the teacher that it truly is? How can we be more compassionate with ourselves and others? How can we align with the wise old grandmother within, the one who doesn’t let us get away with anything and yet, loves us just the way we are?