Full Moon in Cancer December 2020

The Full Moon occurs at 03:28 (UT) on December 30, 2020 at 08°Cn53′.

I woke this morning long before dawn. The skies were heavy with snow and just as the sun began to peek across the horizon, the flakes began to fall. Despite my fear of slippery ground, the beauty of the moment won out and I threw on my shoes, pocketed my phone and walked to the park at the end of my road. Although early morning traffic hummed nearby, in the park, there was that special kind of silence that only snow can bring. I stood with my head tipped up to the sky, watching the snow fall. And in that moment, I was a child again, lying in a field, watching the snow fall all around me, a fairy in a snow globe. A sob arose inside of me, for something unnameable that seemed lost. Something precious, timeless and eternal. In the park, I stood and cried soft tears, overwhelmed by beauty, comforted by winter angels.

Photo by Leah Whitehorse – all rights reserved

This is how the Full Moon feels to me. With the Moon in home sign Cancer, emotions are heightened. Issues connected to home, family, belonging, roots, history and childhood are illuminated during this lunation. The soft Moon opposes the Sun and Mercury in hard-line Capricorn so there is tension between the emotional need to stay close to all that is familiar and safe and the worldly need to go out there, earn a living and make hard choices. What we feel and what we think seem to be at odds. Maybe there are difficult conversations to be had or we don’t feel heard. We want to curl up, make it go away, retreat to the sea or the womb.

There’s a tenderness in this chart with a background square between Venus and Neptune which perfects on the same day. This aspect brings up a sense of ethereal wonder. It stirs the heart, whispers stories of beautiful places and people, floats mirages on the horizon and ends in disappointment when the vision fades. Venus square Neptune is idealistic in love, spends money like water, believes in something ‘better than this’ so hard that whatever is in front of us seems pale in comparison. With the nostalgic and sentimental Cancer Moon in play, the opposing Capricorn energy could seem even more cold and dreary.

The Moon and Sun also form a square to Chiron, creating a T-square pattern in the chart. We’re easily triggered, wounded, hurt, afraid of rejection. It’s like the Moon is saying, “I’m scared to go out there, I might get hurt. I don’t want to grow up, adulting sucks.” With the hard-outer shell of the crab removed, we feel raw and exposed.

And yet, there is an abundance of magic all around us. Maybe we just need to change our perspective, look with new eyes. The Moon is sextile to Uranus who turns things on their head, steps back, takes the emotion out of it, consults the higher mind. It invites us to be more objective instead of wallowing in hurt feelings and old wounds. Venus conjunct the South Node tells us that this is also a time of release. Let go of the pain around relationships that didn’t work, the old fears of being unworthy. We are all connected, nothing is lost. The more we let the heart lead, the greater the chance that we experience the oneness we are looking for. We are all family.

I recorded a 30mins astro-tarot reading for this lunation over on my Patreon. Click here to join and listen.

Painting – Riverbank in Moonlight by Charles-Francois Daubigny