New Year Full Moon Super Moon: Our Capacity for Love
FULL MOON IN CANCER MONDAY, JANUARY 1 6:24PM PST
Our first full moon arrives in a wonderfully divinely-timed fashion: on the very first day of this bright new year of 2018. And on a Monday, ruled by the moon herself.
It is deeply auspicious to have the beginning of the year start out with such natural fireworks. Wherever you are, take time to stand outside under her glow, and take in her energy.
This moon is also a super moon – the moon is closer to us, and so she appears much brighter than usual. This is the second of three super moons in a row this year!
This January moon is also called the Old Moon, the Cold Moon, the Cooking Moon, the Snowdrop Moon, and the Pine Moon, depending on who you are asking.
This full moon is in Cancer, and the sun is in Capricorn.
This full moon is also opportune as it is the first full moon of two in this month, the second being a full Blue Moon Lunar Eclipse. To make these first few months even more exciting, this is the first of four full moons in the next three months, as we have two full moons in March as well.
This is also a gentle warning: emotions and illuminations alike will be coming up in a crescendo for the first part of the year. If we’ve been doing our internal work, there may be the possibility for swift changes in our lives. If we haven’t been as conscious, the next three months may be rocky. Let’s all use this beautiful, reflective energy for our own highest self’s power and benefit.
Suggestions for Heart-led Magic
Full moons are times when all magical activities are supported, so take this time to be extra magical. Define and connect with what magic means for you. Take this time to embody this magic, as well as cast a spell.
Be really clear about your intentions: let them be heart-led, and let your subconscious know without a doubt that you will be carrying out the work of your desires in the next six months. (Make a mental note to work backwards from next July: the new moon in six month’s time will be also be in Cancer.)
How will you nurture yourself towards growth during the first half of the year?
What baseline standards will you keep in place as you continue to point towards the North stars of your personal definitions of success, your life goals, and the external benefits of your internal attention?
Where do you need to show up for your magic? How can you focus more on ritual? How will you create more space for your intuition to unfold?
A Moment of Yin: Working with Earth & Water
The sun is Capricorn, a Cardinal Earth sign.
The moon is in Cancer, a Cardinal Water sign.
Both Capricorn and Cancer are Cardinal: they instigate, they initiate, they innovate. Both of these signs need a strong emphasis on nourishment, on the ability to give and receive love and recognition, and on making love and hard work manifest.
We can examine what is strong and what is lacking in our lives through the lens of these archetypes and elements.
From a Tarot perspective, Earth corresponds with stability, structure, building, definitions and perceptions of value and worth, long-term plans, external goals and manifestation, the body, and the work of life.
From a Tarot perspective, Water corresponds with love, intuition, spirituality, service, creativity, dreams, intimate relationships, emotions, and feelings.
Both these elements are Yin, or receptive. Both these elements have the capacity to morph, to change, and to hold and nourish. This moment of Yin will be fleeting in 2018, surrounded by the Yang elements of Rooster and Dog. Find out more here!
At this time, we can examine how are we being steadfast through our storms. How are our everyday activities linked to building and carrying out our internal love and values through the gestures of consistent actions?
We can ask ourselves questions around these themes. How does what we love and what we value show up in our lives, especially around our most precious relationships, and around our career? How much are we listening to our intuition, our own particular manifestation abilities? How are we mothering our desires, how are we nourishing the seeds of our goals?
Our capacities for giving and receiving love, for recognizing the work of love, can only gain strength with the attention we give them.
At this full moon, allow your capacities for holding love, nurturing your heart, and carrying out the work of your love take up space. This is a New Year, and all successful manifestation work begins with sturdy self-love, with recognizing all that you are and all the work you do.
Suggested Full Moon Tarot Spread
This suggested Tarot spread uses the same archetypes of the elements present at this full moon: the Moon, the Queen of Pentacles (Earth), and the Queen of Cups (Water).
Get comfortable and cozy. You may wish to do this on or by your altar, and light incense and a candle beforehand.
Take out the Moon card, and put it in the center.
Take out the Queen of Cups card, and put it slightly below and to the left of the Moon card.
Take out the Queen of Pentacles card, and put it slightly below and to the right of the Moon card.
Shuffle the cards and breathe deeply into yourself.
Ask: What is this full moon bringing to me that I can work with; what are the gifts?
Pull a card and place it below the Moon card.
Shuffle the cards again and ask: What does my heart need, what does it wish to tell me? What are my watery gifts?
Pull another card and it place below the Queen of Cups.
Shuffle the cards again and ask: What do my desires wish to tell me about the work involved? What will ground me through my process?
Pull another card and place it below the Queen of Pentacles.
Shuffle the cards again and ask: What must I release in the next few weeks in order to gain more intimacy with my goals?
Place this card at the bottom center of the spread.
Take time to notice any symbols that pop out at you, and any cards that create a reaction from you.
Pay attention to any patterns.
What resonates?
How must your capacity for love grow?
How must you carry out the work of your desires?
Happy full moon!
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