Cancer's Flowing New Moon Amidst a Backdrop of Fire & Air
The New Moon takes place at 22° Cancer on Tuesday, July 14th, at 2:44 am Pacific and 5:44 am Eastern.
The cool, nourishing waters of Cancer have arrived, and not a moment too soon—or late, for that matter. For amidst a celestial ambience that brings both inner and outer intensity coupled with fast-paced change, our souls are invited to pause for a few moments to bask in the soothing calm that the sign of the Healer invites.
Mercury moved retrograde in Cancer, who holds the archetypes of the Mother and the Nurturer, on June 29th. It will regress from 26°15’ back to 16°19’, then move direct again on July 24th. We’ve been swirling in a mix of emotional currents, riding highs and lows until the wisdom of each is revealed, the messages they carry are deeply understood, and the feelings they offer are fully felt. When the planet of perception is in the first of the water signs, it slows down to sense reality from a tender place, one that seeks to care for itself and others rather than simply figuring things out from its head. Yet if we greet this retrograde period as though nothing has changed, our ability to clearly discern what life is bringing to our kitchen table becomes perplexing at best, messy on average, and tumultuous at worst. This against the backdrop of a cosmic party that boasts Fire and Air signs as the honorary guests only invites our emotions to grow more cacophonous, unless we honor them properly, which I highly recommend! When we allow ourselves and others the grace of this process, the insights and epiphanies that are often carried during a Mercury retrograde period are more readily available, and we see clearly what we couldn’t before. Information that was hiding beneath reality’s surface becomes visible in ways that it wasn’t even a month ago, made completely apparent in our bodies, minds, and hearts.
Mercury forms a tight conjunction to the New Moon, enhancing our capacity to curiously engage with the depths of our feelings and our own care-giving powers. And what are the best ways to tend to ourselves and those we hold dear? A look at our natal charts and our Moon’s sign and house placement there might give us the clearest answer. So, too, will our own intuitive understanding of what truly nourishes our souls, no matter what anyone else has to say about it. For what is one person’s medicine may be another’s kryptonite, just as what feeds someone may cause an allergic reaction in their friend. Our progressed Moon will also offer insights on the matter, for as we shift through time, the cycles and seasons of life naturally show us what is most alive and healing for us in the moment, and this, we are meant to heed. The Moon in Cancer, the place where it feels most at home, urges us to those invitations and activities that foster a deep sense of well-being and an enduring happiness that carries us when life brings its challenges and hardships.
Because of Cancer’s innate relationship with family, we are welcomed to time with those we hold dear, be they bloodlines, soul family, or animal kin. The point here is that we’re meant to be nourished by spending time with those who honor us for who we are, exactly as we are, without a need for us to be anything other than what is most innate. The belonging that comes from this is something our souls deeply crave. Yet it’s also something that humans have bent themselves out of shape over, betraying what was authentic to their souls, to find. In its truest expression, the family that Cancerian energy refers to is that which holds us dear even, or especially, when we are unapologetically ourselves. We know these beings when we feel them, for they welcome all parts of us without a need for us to look or be any other way. This, then, becomes the healing that the Cancer New Moon provides in one of its truest forms.
Now, onto the Fire and Air signs, many of which form sextiles (60° angles) and trines (120° angles) with one another. Jupiter in Leo forms a sextile with Uranus in Gemini, a trine with Neptune in Aries, and an opposition with Pluto in Aquarius. Uranus in Gemini forms a sextile with Neptune in Aries and a trine with Pluto. Neptune forms a sextile with Pluto. And all of these are within a 1.5° orb of each other—in other words, these aspects are very tight, increasing our ability to feel what they’re bringing our way!
Jupiter ingressed into the sign of Leo on June 30th of this year, where it will remain until July 26th, 2027. Jupiter always wants us to expand into our inherent potential, letting it lead the way, as opposed to the fears and doubts we’ve been socially, culturally, and ancestrally conditioned to hide behind. Opportunities abound when Jupiter is around! Especially in the sign of Leo, anything is possible, and we are meant to shine these possibilities from deep within our own beings, aligning with the creative force of reality to make it so. We are here to be seen, to be inspired and inspiring, and to live into the truth that is our most fundamental nature. We’re here to creatively express what makes us unique and to manifest and share what lives in the depths of our beings.
With Pluto opposing the ‘King of Gods,’ if we are not shining authentically, we will know it. If we’re still needing to go into the deep, unconscious self to reclaim super powers and magical skills that are waiting for us, we’ll know it. If we’re still blaming others for our own inability to step into our innate divinity, we’ll know it. Pluto holds up the mirror of reality, and in Aquarius, he especially shows us all the parts of our authentic selves we’ve been unable or unwilling to bring home into the current version of who we are. And this opposition is the perfect time to go in and do the inner work required for us to embody and express our most brilliant nature. Pluto reminds us that what was most authentic may have been buried deep within our DNA or within the wisdom of our souls, only to be sought out and integrated. Doing so will only allow us to shine more resplendently, as Leo encourages. The next time Pluto opposes Jupiter is in 2038, so there is certainly no time like the present!
Uranus ingressed into Gemini again on April 25th of this year, where it will remain until August 3rd, 2032 (and then one last time from December 12th, 2032–May 22nd, 2033). The ruling planet of Aquarius, this player is considered the planet of astrology, as well as the great liberator, for it shakes up reality in a way that encourages us to inhabit all of who we are, relinquishing the outdated thought patterns, belief systems, and limiting structures that can no longer take up space in our bodies, minds, hearts, and energy fields. When in the Air sign of Gemini, insights and revelations, a-ha moments and bright ideas are its currency, expanded awareness sometimes shocking us into the truth a part of us has always known. We’re invited to stay open to the possibility of embodying our most clear selves, as well as the notions that help us know how to do just that. When we claim this Uranian energy as our own, what we once felt ‘shoulder shrug’ about is now a resonant ‘no’. What we once only dreamed we could do becomes a resounding ‘yes’. Anything else, and we’re left in the confusion (and/or rigid misunderstanding) of our own outmoded ideas that may have nourished a 30-year-old version of ourselves, but certainly cannot sustain the current self. (If you’re now 30, just input 20 to that last sentence!)
Neptune moved into Aries on January 26th, 2026, where it will remain until March 24th, 2039. We are no longer meant to live into our ‘spiritual selves’ in the confines of our homes, temples, churches, or yoga studios—the hidden parts of our lives. We are meant to live this version of who we are fully in the world, claiming this as a fundamental part of ourselves, hands down. Rather than losing ourselves to anger or rage, Neptune in the sign of the Leader and the Pioneer asks us to embody our most true Self, to be a divine being having a human experience, and not just when it’s comfortable. It asks us to do this especially when we are challenged. With Aries, action is required, for non-action is also a statement and a stance. Courage is necessary, for if it were easy, we wouldn’t get to know just what we’re capable of. Fierce grace is prescribed, for if we can’t claim the things in ourselves and lives that are the most challenging to claim, we’ll forever be living in the shadows of our potential selves, wondering what might’ve happened if we’d chosen differently.
I’m sure there are other things we could converse on—the sky is ripe with opportunities! But this seems plenty to chew on, integrate, and live. May your Mercury retrograde and Cancer New Moon bring the ease and nourishment your heart and soul long for, and may the commotion of the Fire and Air elements give you the energy needed for this next phase of your own life. I wish you an abundance of blessings wherever you are on this journey!
