CANCER : BELLY LISTENING!

The Sun enters Cancer: Tuesday June 21 at 1:16 pm EDT

"Cancer knows when you’re hungry before you do. Her eyes are kind but vigilant, watching you like a pot that might boil over. Into summer’s landscape, she carries safety pins, a damp cloth for soothing brows, colored band-aids, and a miracle cleaning fluid from her grandmother. Her people always live by water. She learned to run, eddy and pool, like a stream going down a mountain, soothing all the hard edges, finding every secret, blessing the roots of nearby trees. For a long time I was suspicious of her power. I felt safe in her presence, but wondered. Would her sweet blessings evaporate once she disappeared? I’ve since learned that she means business. Don’t be fooled when she sits so calmly next to you, like a mother by a sleeping infant. She’s feeding you, with quiet spoons of strength, protection, and the knowledge that wherever you are is your home. If you accept what she offers this cycle, it will nurture you for months to come."  ~ Dana Gerhardt


The Work of the Season

Cancer’s question is "Where do I belong?" You need to answer it by refreshing your commitments. The first month of the summer is the time to redraw your boundaries, to name what protects you, to identify who and what encourages your growth. How deep are your roots? If they are shallow or spread too wide, are you running from something, or searching for a richer soil? How nourishing is home? Does it hold a sacred space where you can renew your spirit daily? Who do you call your true family? Touch into the deep inner knowing that flows like a wisdom river in your soul. Recognize that time is always changing and you need to keep current. Let go of the past. Ask: What am I nurturing now? This season you may find a bright acorn in your fingers. It needs you to commit to the great oak it can become.

Moon Watching

I've been moon watching through the Moon workshops of Astrologer Dana Gerdhart for the last 4 months. And it is a wonderful goddess journey that has been very instrumental in deepening my connection with the divine feminine source, as well as with my own personalized female essence - my breasts, my womb, my vagina, etc. I am learning and experiencing more and more the rhythms and rhymes, while cultivating a deeper relationship with grandma moon and her direct play on the womanly force in me and all women (men too of course). She uses the personal chart of each participant so as to determine and create a package with great information, monthly moon charting & transits as well as tasks and assignments that are uniquely in sync with one's own energetic blue print.

I was washing the floors of my home yesterday during the Summer Solstice and knew that with the moon in Pisces they would not dry easily. When the moon is in a fire sign the floors dry up much faster. I have learned that it is best to fast during the full moon because we are energized and this makes it difficult for digestive assimilation. There are better days and time of the month to eat certain foods and our digestive system is well connected to the monthly moon dance.


If there’s ever a time to take a long, luxurious scented bath, it’s during a water sign Moon - Cancer, Pisces or Scorpio. Water can be far more soothing and nourishing now, in ways your senses will slowly start to name. Water days can help to open intuition; too much water and we might drown in self indulgence or apathy.

I've learned that when the moon is in a fire sign - Leo, Sag or Aries - it’s fruit eating time.... the hot/dry qualities of fire signs promote the development of fruit and seeds. Fruit trees planted now may thrive, but little else will, given the day’s dry, infertile quality. It’s a better time to dig, hoe, or weed—or ponder the miracle of seeds rather than planting them. Everything a sweet pea needs to know is written in its seed.

When the moon is traveling through an earth sign - Capricorn, Taurus or Virgo - it's a fertile time of the month because Earth signs are generally fertile, but not so much in Virgo (some summer flowers and climbers can do well). It’s a better day to organize your tool shed, plan your garden, take care of soil and weeds, or rid your garden of pests—aphids, snails, and parasites. These are root times when keeping your feet on the ground, close to the earth is wise. A time to enjoy the stabilizing influence of a good routine.

And when the moon travels through your 8th House it brings up deep and complicated things—
sexuality, transformation, death, rebirth, the flow of metaphysical energy and power, as well as
money, particularly the money you merge and share with another person.

We are rhythmic people! Connecting to the rhythms of nature but especially women connecting to the moon cycles is nature's recipe for a smoother, more beautiful feminine journey.

Belly Listening



Our Cancer practice during this transit is...... BELLY LISTENING!! The surest way to monitor your Cancer function is to check in with your belly. Cancer speaks through gut feelings. I had a Cancer girlfriend who became bulimic as her she suffered severe gastric and digestive pain in silence. She was in a relationship that did not nurture her and was not in her highest good, but she ignored it and endured unnecessary pain and sickness. When we listen to our belly (gut feelings), we might drop anchor or shift direction, choosing the course that resonates with our highest good. When we don't listen to our emotions our belly rebels and the choices we make wreaks havoc on our stomachs. And what we eat can no longer nurture us! If television commercials are a clue, the number of people who don’t listen to their stomachs has reached epidemic proportions. Instead of taking the latest pill for “acid reflux disease” or “stomach upset,” we might instead, especially this month, commit to being more attentive to our feelings. Most times its a call from within to listen to and clarify what we are feeling so that we can act accordingly.

As the Sun transits Cancer (June 21 - July 21), notice whenever you or a loved one begins a sentence with “I feel…” Before the next sentence, pause. Breathe deeply into your gut. Then ask what this feeling wants you to recognize. All feelings – anger, shame, fear, joy, love – have an energetic truth that needs to be honored. Anger tells us that our boundaries have been breached. Shame is a signal to restore our integrity. Anxiety is often intuition gone haywire – it’s mixed with a memory wound that wants healing. Welcoming these emotions rather than resisting them is the best way to take care of your beautiful belly this summer. And of course adding sprinkles of belly dancing throughout this month and during Cancer Moon times is a wonderful way to celebrate the power of your feelings and honor the space in your body where we house them.