Black Moon in Cancer: The Dark Mother Protectress

 

Photo by Beatriz Mariano

Black Moon in Cancer:  The Dark Mother Protectress

Moon conjunct Sun – 6/28/22 @ 9:52pm CDT

 

New Moon Aspects-  Moon-Sun-Black Moon square Jupiter, trine Vesta, semi-sextile Venus

Dominant Outer Planet Theme-  Neptune Station Retrograde

 

In Astrology, the Black Moon is the lunar apogee (apo = ‘away from’, gee = ‘Gaia’).  It is the farthest point from Earth in the Moon’s orbit, when Moon is visibly smaller from our Earthling perspective of the sky.  That is, if Moon is visible at all.  At this New Moon in Cancer…she is at her apogee, but we cannot see her because she is joined with Sun.

Moon’s apogee is called Black Moon because it is not a celestial body, and it cannot be seen.  There is nothing physically there, unless the Moon is there and visible.  But the void of this place does not blacken the Moon by sight, only by expression.  And what is the expression of Black?  It is timeless, endless, infinite.  It is…space.

And space has been crowded by Earthling men for some time now…in every way we Earthlings witness the myriad meanings of ‘space’ (if we have any concept of it at all).  From actual Space Junk, to fortresses upon Earth, to stripping privacy from people…the Male Gaze has seen enough through a distorted, domination perspective.  Nothing of any of Earth’s cosmic neighborhood, body, or children can be owned, controlled, or dominated.  To think so is faulty man-made law.  As we begin this Cancer Lunation, we return to Natural Law…which, at its core, is of Creatrix/Destructress energy.  At this Black Moon Initiation, we withdraw our bodies, our freedom, our wise and wild souls from the encroaching Male Gaze of the Dominator Culture.

Feeling the Dark Mother

The closer Moon is to her apogee, the farther she is from us.  We Earthlings feel that separation…which can manifest as feelings of rejection, exile, or restriction…or, in more healthy expression, an objective emotional outlook on earthly experiences.  And all of those things at once, and more.  But as pushed to her limits as she is…as faraway as she is now…we still feel her.  She still plants the seed intention of her monthly beginning, as we do with her.  But she plants it outside of any untrained gaze…outside of the walls that falsely enclose Earth’s Gardens.  As do we. 

Art by Iren Horrors

Black Moon is often called, by many Astrologers, Black Moon Lilith…as Lilith was one of the original feminine outcasts from the patriarchal worldview that runs rampant in human societies today.  But Lilith is one of many archetypes of the Dark Mother that express from the Black Moon.  All stories of the Feminine we are aware of, and all those we have yet to re-member from our Ancients, are stored within the womb of this space.  

Each Goddess meets with her dark side there…whether it is Inanna in the Underworld to meet with Ereshkigal (a story that mirrors Venus’s journey through our sky), or Eris uninvited to the party, or Demeter’s actional grief for Persephone…or Lilith, cast out from the Garden and deemed impure to Man.  It is all one larger story of the Dark Mother.  She is Mama Tuta, Baba Yaga, Kali, Hecate, Nyx, the Morrigan, and so many others.  Every archetype of maiden, daughter, sister, wife, mother, queen, warrioress, priestess, grandmother, crone, witch…the dark side of any of these has been dismissed, cast out, oppressed, vilified, or objectified by the predominantly male worldview.  The illusion is that we are separate from her, but we are not.

Photo by Daniel Vasquez

The Masculine having a dark side is familiar to Men…commonplace, even.  It’s come to be more acceptable in society…to the point where nothing interruptive is really done when young men massacre women and children, or adult men sexually or physically abuse women and children, or governments dominated by older men allow man-made laws to restrict and control the private health matters of women and children.

But what of the dark side of the Feminine?  It’s the most fearsome thing to those who would seek to dominate and control women, and keep the Divinity of the Feminine far from view.  Can they look at the darkness of Feminine with anything other than misunderstanding, contempt, hostility, blame, shame, disgust, rage, fear, banishment, or the desire to control her unknown wildness?

Yes.  They can look straight into the vast darkness of her with honor, respect, and love for her Great Mysteries without having to steal them from her and change them to suit their comforts.  Unlike what we see most from men, the Dark Mother is a Destructress but her destruction is not purposeless.  She does not destroy just to destroy or dominate.  She destroys to create.  And, in her cycles of growth, death, and rebirth…there is powerful wisdom that has been mostly hidden from the dominating worldview.  

As we sleep and dream something new into being during this faraway New Moon, may it strengthen the re-membering of the Dark Mother in our world.  She is Creatrix and Destructress…and, wholly, she is Protectress.  May more and more of us learn to trust her and invite her into our lives with gratitude for her wisdom.  And May we, together, evolve the stories of her for our children to re-member.

 

Art by Barrett Biggers

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi