Intuitive Message for the Capricorn Full Moon:
Strong in Broken Places
by Julia Bondi

"Your vulnerability is your greatest strength"…this mantra is the underlying secret of the archetype of Cancer. Many of the key watchwords associated with the sign of Cancer, "feeling, sensitivity, and caring," are not commonly thought of in our modern western culture as strengths but sometimes as weaknesses to be protected. Yet, the strength we assign to Cancer’s opposite sign, Capricorn, derives from Cancer. Without the true foundation of Cancer’s developed feeling nature Capricorn can only display the appearance of strength in an attempt at control and domination.

With the recent passage of the summer solstice nature is now entering the fullness of ripening that is the sweetness of the summer season. This languid time is one to enjoy, slowing down in the heat to relax and take it easy. The summer pictures we most often remember are ones of picnics, vacations, play and summer swims. As children the pressures of the school year behind us summer was the time of year to just be a child, that pure pleasure of games and summer fun. As adults we have less time and ease to bask in the riches of summer but we can all take the time to sit on the porch, to garden, to take a leisurely walk and to vacation with our family.

Family is the domain of Cancer, the solid ground of our home and loved ones with whom we can be soft, quiet, relaxed, open, honest, giving and genuinely vulnerable. It is here that we are meant to find the solace and the training ground for our trust in our capacity and need to relate to other people we care about and who care about us. With that security and acceptance as our foundation we can find the strength to be open, to be revealing, to truly be vulnerable. The security of Cancer is the key to the strength of Capricorn. Home, history, family, tribe, nation are all words that hold powerful, personal and emotional meaning for us humans. We come to know ourselves as related humans through our families as they prepare us to relate to our neighbors, our communities, our nation and our human family.

At this full moon of Cancer as her light shines through the moon in Capricorn take time to feel the warmth of summer, the call of family time, the joy of summer games and trips, the fullness of nature and to be open and vulnerable to your own humanness and need for others. Let this be a time to embrace our family, to be outdoors with Mother Nature and to feel our own need to care for others close to us. The common meaning of the word "vulnerable" is to be wounded and to be scarred by wounding. Here is Cancer’s greatest fear, that we may be wounded by our need to be close and connected. This fear is at the Cancerian root of all of our defenses. We either have been wounded or we will be if we continue to feel, to need, to care and to reach out to others. As Hemmingway put it we will become strong in the broken places as we live our lives. It is the courage to keep caring, to keep loving, to keep needing, to keep reaching out that is the essence of the human vulnerability which despite repeated scarring from the wounded ness of living and loving becomes our greatest strength. At this Cancer/Capricorn full moon we are all called to be willing to soften our defenses and remember that to become a human hero we must remain vulnerable to the joy and hurt and beauty of feeling.

© 2008 Julia Bondi
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