Have you been feeling a little extra emotional lately, and wondering if it's related to the pandemic or there's something in the universe that might explain it? Astrology expert Kirsty Gallagher has the answer. The author of Lunar Living: Working with the Magic of the Moon explains how the Cancer new moon solar eclipse could be making you more emotionally delicate – and why that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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Kirsty says: "Cancer is the watery sign of emotions, so don’t be surprised if you feel overly sensitive for a few days around this moon. The moon rules Cancer, and so just as she affects the tides, you may experience this same ebb and flow in your emotions, going from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.
"These emotions are surfacing for a reason though, and there is no way to hide under a Cancer moon. Anything and everything you have suppressed, are unwilling to see or hear or address or have been avoiding will come bubbling back up to the surface for you to deal with, learn from and, once and for all, release.
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"Rather than get caught up in this emotional turmoil, the moon in Cancer gives you a real opportunity to create change. This is an important moon for reflecting on the stories you have created for yourself, the emotions you allow to be triggered by certain people and situations, the illusions you’ve formed about your life, where you’re feeling stuck and your deepest, darkest insecurities."
Kirsty went on: "Cancer represents the feminine, the mother energy and is associated with home, family and feeling safe and grounded. This moon calls you into taking care of your inner home – your heart and soul – and ensuring that you don’t put the needs of others way above your own."
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Explaining how best to look after yourself while the moon is in Cancer, the astrology expert adds: "You may find you are called into your shell to tend to your own needs during this moon. Please listen to this and act on it. This moon is one that gives you the courage and power to gently set boundaries and make necessary changes so that you can begin to put your own needs first and focus more on self-love and self-care."
Kirsty's tips for self-care in this time:
1. Uncover your emotions. Journal on what you are feeling and see if you can get to the root cause of where these emotions come from. You may find that the feeling you get when your boss ignores you comes from a deeply ingrained feeling of not being good enough. Or when your partner doesn’t understand your point of view it compounds a lifelong story you tell yourself that you are never heard or listened to. Cancer doesn’t like small talk and so cuts through to the emotional centre, right to the heart of the matter. And it’s from discovering these truths and their root causes that lasting healing can take place.
2. Self care. Cancer is ruled by the moon, represents the feminine, the divine mother and is associated with home, family and feeling safe and grounded. This moon calls you into taking care of your inner home, your heart and soul and ensuring that you don’t put the needs of others way above the needs of yourself. You may find you are called into your shell to tend to your own needs during this moon, please listen to this, as it will set the tone for this second half of the year and eclipse cycle.
3. Set boundaries and take back your power. Cancer has a motherly energy and wants you to feel safe and protected, nurtured and loved, and you may find this moon calling you into taking back your power in any areas of your life where you don’t feel this way. This moon will help you set boundaries with people who take too much, to say no to situations that don’t make you feel comfortable, to walk away from uncertain or unloving relationships and to take care and protect yourself the way a mother would a child.
As Cancer is the sign of intuition, self-care, feminine power and deep nurturing, this new moon, more than ever, is a time to put yourself first, especially if you spend all your time putting everyone else’s needs before your own. Set aside some quality time under this moon to take care of yourself – perhaps take a day off work to do something you’ve been meaning to do for months or block out a weekend to spend time alone or with old friends.
4. Shed your shell and get vulnerable. Allow this moon to show you what you keep under lock and key. Listen to your heart and soul and be completely honest with your- self. Speaking up is so important under this moon, so open your heart and share with those close to you your needs, your desires, your fears and, most of all, your vulnerabilities. Your intuition, insight and inner guidance will be at their absolute peak under this moon, so listen to, trust and believe them. They will never be wrong.
5. Review 2020 so far and make any necessary changes. Nature has opened the door to the second half of the year, so use this moon to help you plan for it and to open that new chapter in your life. If you look back over the (how ever many!) weeks we have been in this current lockdown situation, what have you learned from it? What has this time show you about what you do/don’t want from your life anymore? What do you no longer want to go back to doing? What do you want to change and how do you want to live as we begin move back out into the world?
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