New Moon in Cancer — July 3, 2008, 02:19 UT

By Kirsti Melto

The Moon feels very, very comfortable in its own sign, the feminine water sign Cancer, surrounded by emotional and nurturing planets Ceres and Venus.

Cancer is the most feminine of all signs: it is the sign of the mother, the house, the home and the family. It is also the sign of the community and the homeland. Patriotism can be strong in Cancer. In this sign there is a need for roots and continuity, and an urge to belong to something. Cancer wants to remember the past. Strong roots and the feeling of being part of something offer a sense of security, which is essential for Cancer.

Protectiveness, nursing and nourishment are important in Cancer. This activity can be channeled not just towards close family members, but also friends, pets, plants and one’s environment.

Personal, emotional planets like the Moon, Venus and Ceres are at home and at their best in Cancer.

The Moon is the ruler of Cancer. The Moon represents our instincts and feelings. The Moon in Cancer is sensitive (sometimes over-sensitive), protective and mothering.

Ceres is the Earth Mother. It is the planet resembling the Moon and Cancer more than any other planet, but perhaps functioning a bit more on a practical level, because it has a strong association with agriculture, cereal plants and food. Summer is the season when the mother and daughter are united, and nature is celebrating and providing its abundance.

Also Venus in Cancer needs to nurture and be part of a family. It seeks security, just like the Moon does. It is loyal to family, friends and home country.

Venus in this New Moon chart is in the same degree with Varuna, one of the water deities, the energy that is too large to comprehend, but which somehow touches us personally. According to Eric Francis, Varuna seems to be “something that works on our own level and responds in a direct way to real human needs. I think of Varuna as a force that we invoke personally; we ask for the help of this seemingly invisible energy, and it responds.”

To me this resembles much support of the loving mother, which carries us through life. The conjunction of Venus and Varuna in receptive Cancer points also to the importance of reciprocation, to give and to receive.

The Sabian Symbols are a degree-by-degree symbolic reference system that helps illustrate and demonstrate the level of astrology that is symbolic. The Sabian Symbol for the degree of this New Moon is Cancer 12, A Chinese woman nursing a baby with a message. According to Dr. Marc Edmund Jones: “When positive, the degree is a gift for bringing the more Godlike resources or superior powers of self to a point of real community service, and when negative, completely unreasonable demands for recognition.”

Jupiter in Capricorn is opposing the stellium of the Cancer planets. (A stellium is an astrological term for a group of three or more planets in conjunction in one sign.) Jupiter expands everything it touches. Jupiter opposed by the Moon and Venus can mean protective and nurturing love, but also overflowing feelings and over-sensitivity. Exaggeration or excess can result, especially in an opposition aspect, which also has potential for extremism. Try to avoid this. We tend to project our own feelings to other people. Awareness is one of the important and helpful keywords of oppositions.

Jupiter in Capricorn can manifest also as responsibility, reliability and sense on duty, which assists the New Moon in Cancer very nicely.

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To the readers in the USA I want to wish you a pleasant Fourth of July!

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