New Moon in Cancer: Navigating a Change of Heart

 

New Moon in Cancer:  Navigating a Change of Heart

Moon conjunct Sun @ 9:30pm, 6-23-17

The Blessing Moon phase begins with our two luminaries meeting in Cancer…the sign of the Caretaker.  On Tuesday night, the Strong Sun entered Cancer at the Summer Solstice (Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) and the waning crescent Moon reflected that light on the shortest night of our year here in the North.  During this solstice each year, we collectively pause and take notice of how far we’ve come since the previous Equinox.  For many of us, we appreciate what we’ve accomplished in those growing days.  We can also see what was necessary to weed out in our lives in order to grow.   

Now, we come to a seasonal quarter in which we shift from one allegiance to another, symbolized by the shift from longer days into longer nights.  The Moon reigns now, until the Winter Solstice.  For us humans, a re-orientation begins in our lives that reflects this shift.  We often begin feeling into where we can be better caretakers…of ourselves, our loved ones, our environment, and our world.  Cancer is all about home and family…not just in the domestic sense, though attention to what is closest to us often comes first.  Home is not just our house, but also our body and our Earth.  Family is not just what we, ourselves, have created…but also the larger family of living beings on Earth as well as our ancestors from the past and our next generations to come.  This New Moon in Cancer provides us with a new beginning where we choose the path that best nurtures and aligns with the directional flow of our soul…the path where we lead with our heart.  In nurturing ourselves, we can better nurture others.

This new cycle begins in the 3^rd Degree of Cancer, illuminating the symbol of “A man bundled up in fur leading a shaggy deer.”  Here, we are moving past what we know and travelling into the unknown.  This symbol evokes the image of the indigenous Sami Noaidi (shaman of the Nordic lands).  The Sami people are the only people who are allowed by law to continue their ancient custom of Reindeer husbandry…as it is integral to both their survival as well as their spirituality.  In my post about Deer Medicine, I mentioned the connection between deer (of all types) and the ley lines of the land. The symbol for this New Moon degree connects us with the Pathfinder archetype, and shows us how to use what is at our disposal to help navigate through life’s challenges.  Since the New Moon after the Spring Equinox, we have reached a state of preparedness through lunar initiations that has brought us to where we are now. Our sacred work lies before us, that which we’ve been building toward for months…and we must venture out into rough terrain with courage and conviction. 

Following a soul calling is no easy task…it is a Hero’s Journey, with all the tests and ordeals that follow.  We’ve all received the call to adventure this year, in some way. Something arose that pulled us out of our ordinary existence.  The call is different for everyone.  The death of a loved one that shakes us to our core, the necessity of career change, a failed relationship, moving to a different land, a health crisis…and suddenly we realize we can’t go on the same as we have been.  Significant changes in our lives have urged further transformation into the next stage of our individual journeys.  In the current astrological climate, where there is almost (*almost*) a respite after some heavy-hitting energetic shifts, some of us may take a step back and refuse the call momentarily.  If you are in that headspace, it can easily hold you back for longer than you intended.  Predictable gets comfortable, after all.  Until you start feeling regretful again. But by then, jumping in looks even more daunting.

Look to a mentor who will train, equip, or advise you to carry on (or, consider what you are reading here is a reflection of that encouraging energy…and the man leading the shaggy dear is showing you the way, if not the writer).  Many of us are already crossing the threshold into unfamiliar territory…and this New Moon will bring us our first test.

While I must remain vague on what is shifting in my own life right now, I can tell you that it has (in recent weeks, especially) triggered “ALL the feels”.  Cancer energy does that to many of us, after all.  I actually feel like I’m going through a grieving process, though no one close to me has died.  “One door closes and another opens” is an accurate description of this month for many of us.  Along with those feelings, confusion sets in as well.  Neptune Retrograde is still reminding us, “you don’t need to know everything right now…quit trying to make sense of it”.  Neptune, instead, keeps bringing us to dreamtime and otherworldly journeys…preparing our collective unconscious for what lies ahead.  Fortunately, I have a harmoniously aspected Neptune Retrograde in my own natal makeup…so the cryptic, symbolic language outside of our conscious understanding is where I often find deeper truths anyway.  Which brings me to the following…which can be considered my own Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Three months ago, I received the 7 archetypes into my chakras through the Harmony Rite of the Munay-Ki.  Each new and full moon since, I have been integrating them one at a time, from root to crown.  This New Moon is my final integration, where I am focusing on Pachakuti in my Crown Chakra.  Pachakuti is the organizing principle and Guardian of the Upper World in Incan cosmology…the Keeper of Possibilities, Transformer of the World.  In the Upper World, the Hanaq Pacha, we step outside of linear time and into circular time.  Pachakuti can make time stand still, bringing heavenly order.  Coming into relationship with Pachakuti allows us to recognize what can be changed and that we can change things before they are born. 

Pachakuti the Transformer

In the void, I asked Mama Tuta for clarity.  I was taken to the realm of the Stone People.  An apacheta (a stone cairn) at the base of a mountain told me to climb up the mountain.  Tall as it was, it took no time at all to climb…there is a certain heaviness of limitations that is left behind with the body while traveling through non-ordinary realms.  I was familiar with this mountain, though my body had never even been near it.  I had climbed to the citidel in the sky of Machu Picchu. 

“Is anyone here to guide me?”  I asked in this Upper World Realm. 

A Stone Giant, which I hadn’t noticed until it moved slightly to face me, answered.  “I am always here.”

“Are you Pachakuti?”

The Stone Giant’s features looked amused by my question.  “Pachakuti is in all of us.”

“I see.  Can you tell me what am I here to learn?”

He pointed the way.  “Go to the Intiwatana stone. You will know it.”

“Thank you.”  I replied, and walked in the direction of a large, terraced pyramid.

At the top, there was a beautifully carved piece of granite that looked like an altar.  As I stood before it, the rising sun projected a triangle of light through the stone and illuminated two concentric circles on the floor. 

It occurred to me that I should place my left ring finger in the center of the circles, since it is my only finger with a concentric whorl print.  When I did, two figures of Tai Tai Inti (The Sun) and Mama Killa (The Moon) appeared on either side of me. 

“We appreciate you paying attention to our dance.”  Mama Killa said.

“I have learned a lot from both of you over the years. Thank you for your wisdom.”  I replied.

“This lesson will be different, as you can see.”  Tai Tai Inti told me.  “The New Moon after the Solstice marks a time when the people on Earth have a choice of many timelines.  The one they have chosen previously is not sustainable.  The people in your country, specifically, are approaching a great change.  Pachakuti awaits their choice.”

“Do you mean the Total Solar Eclipse is the great change?”  I asked.

“Yes.  When you see me glide across and cover his light with my body…your country’s day will turn to night.  Your people’s shadows will have the opportunity to become conscious.  Celebratory as many will seem in being part of this, it will also feel as though long-untended wounds of their ancestors are reopening to be healed.”  Mama Killa warned.

“You must work together to heal those wounds, as they are also the wounds of Pachamama.”  Tai Tai Inti added.

“So this New Moon begins…what, exactly, for us?”  I asked.

“It begins the coming together of your people…all of them, not just the one’s who have already committed to consciously healing.  The intention must be set to reach as many as possible between now and the coming eclipse, to encourage each unique medicine within them as you can.  Too many are in a destructive dream state.  Their illusion is that nothing can be, or should be, changed.”  Tai Tai Inti answered.

“The truth is, everything changes, one way or another.”  Mama Killa said.

“And we have to change it to the best possible outcome.”  I agreed.

Mama Killa smiled.  Tai Tai Inti gestured toward the top of the stone altar.  “Look here.”  He told me.

I placed my forehead against the top of the warm stone.  Visions flooded in.  The globe of the earth from a cosmic view.  The focus zoomed in above where the path of the eclipse would be soon…from Oregon to South Carolina.  Little lights along the path moved closer to each other and brightened the darkness between them.  Lights from north and south moved in as well and joined.  A heartbeat grew louder and louder.

I lifted my head, amazed.  I turned to Tai Tai Inti and Mama Killa.  “You’re bringing them together.  They don’t yet understand the greater reason, but they are being drawn in.”

They nodded in agreement.  I thanked them and returned home.

For more information on the 7^th Gate of Authority, where we reclaim our reconnection to the Divine and to our spiritual Self, check out 7^th Chakra:  Healing the Spirit.