Everyone needs a little rest, even those of us who aren’t very good at it. Or should I say, especially those of us who aren’t very good at it? Rest that is so close to hibernation that when we awaken from its deep slumber, we are refreshed and renewed in a way that enlivens us for months to come. Rest that leaves us so revitalized that we almost feel younger than when we first began it. Rest that has us greeting our lives with an animated presence that we carry with us in each moment, one that keeps us aware and able to enjoy the grand play of life we are an intricate part of. And this, truly, is what Winter is meant to be — a reprieve from the days of back-to-back appointments, those that are filled to the brim with obligation and responsibility, that have us hustling from dawn till dusk (or somewhere thereabouts) with barely any time to gather ourselves in between. Yet so often in our modern world, the standards to which we hold ourselves keep us tasking until there’s no tomorrow, drained by the daily routines that perhaps come to feel more confining than invigorating, constrained by the self- or societally-imposed structures that life has seemingly become.

But the luminous being that we see peering through dense clouds or perhaps glowing brilliantly in the clear night sky, the first Full Moon of Winter, reminds us that gentle nourishment is essential to our overall well-being, and the more we offer this to ourselves in just the right moments, the more we are able to thrive in a world that may have us forget the importance of taking our sweet time to do whatever it is that allows us a reset and a bit of deep replenishment.

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Quite simply, the Cancer Full Moon invites us to take care of ourselves. Even as the Capricorn sea goat climbs to the most epic of heights, one step at time, its Cancerian counterpart reminds us that the only way to actually get anywhere is by tempering our pace to gain access to a deeper space, one that has us doing more feeling than thinking, more sensing than speaking. Conjunct Mars retrograde, this moon encourages us to nourish ourselves in all the ways we’re meant to, reclaiming our capacity to be still, to listen inwardly, and to connect with the place within where dreams are born as an inkling and eventually become known in the world of form, but not just yet. For in nurturing what lives within but has not expressed itself fully, we get to bask in an inner landscape that knows more than our minds alone, a place of quiet sensitivity that gives birth to, well, everything. And the more time we spend connecting with this Creative force in the inner recesses of life itself, the more supported we feel, and the more held by the grace-filled fabric of life we know that we are.

Squaring Chiron and Eris in Aries, the sign of the (spirit) warrior and the leader, this Full Moon reminds us that taking the time we need for ourselves allows us to courageously face what we must in our inner lives, if only so that we can bring this same bravery into the world we share. For sometimes what we find within is the most daunting thing of all, and turning within to meet it square on gives us more sustenance than we ever could have imagined.

Trining Neptune in Pisces, the sign of the mystic and the dreamer, this Full Moon welcomes time spent connecting with the “spirit that moves in all things,” and meditation that reminds us of who we truly are — not just on an identity level, but on the level of the soul. Tuning into the remembrance that we are a divine being having a human experience allows us to access our own ability to co-create with the magic of the Universe, helping to forge an even more brilliant world than the one we inherited. The time spent in the dreaming is as important as the time spent in the manifesting, for it allows us to connect with the infinite potential of reality and to know that we are here to sing its song and dance its dance in all of the ways that we are meant to be moved, offering our own music as part of the great wholeness that is life.

Sextiling Uranus in Taurus, the sign of the earth spirit and musician, this Full Moon whispers to us that we must always choose to care for ourselves in the most authentic ways possible, for we are our own unique beings, and when we honor who and what we know to be true within, we resource ourselves with exactly what we need in our lives, resulting in tranquility and calm in our nervous systems and a feeling of stability and security within.

May this first Full Moon of Winter bring you the sweetness and tenderness, the love and care, the nurturance and nourishment that you need most. And may you bask in the rich inner landscape from which all of life is created, breathing into what you know to be true so that when the time is just right, these dreams can be brought forth into the world in the ways that only you can bring them.