This Season
by Dana Gerhardt

At the end of the world a great wonder is supposed to appear in the heavens:  A woman clothed with the Sun, the Moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. I don’t know about the end-of-the-world part, but I do recognize this goddess as a teacher of natural time.  Wearing the Sun and scaling the Moon, crowned with a zodiac tiara, suggests an intimate knowledge with the cycles of Sun and Moon through the signs.  They represent our inner and outer seasons.  May we live them wholly now! 
 

Deepening

I always think of P.D. Eastman’s children’s book Are You My Mother? in Cancer.  Here’s what happens:  A mother is hunting worms when her baby bird hatches alone.  It falls from its nest and wanders the town confused, asking every creature it meets -- a dog, a cow, an airplane, even a steam shovel -- “Are you my mother?”  Something like that occurs for us now too. 

What’s confused and needy cracks out of its shell and goes looking (quite naturally) for comfort and safety.  It begins as rising insecurity, more clinginess, fear of rejection, or timidity about acting on our goals.  It starts this way because whatever we want to grow—whether a new habit or an ambitious project—is at first vulnerable.  It can’t feed itself.  It needs a mommy.  The search usually starts in the wrong places, with the refrigerator, our boyfriend, maybe a lottery ticket.  But what we really want is spiritual nourishment and positive mirroring.  After infancy, these things are rarely found in outer sources, though we do need to anchor ourselves properly in the outer world. 

In the story the baby bird finds its mother and his happy childhood begins.  Our projects will also start their happy childhood when we make Cancer’s necessary discovery: We are the baby and the mother we’ve been seeking.  New strength pours in during Cancer’s season whenever we approach ourselves as a mother would her child:  tender, cautious, protective, nurturing, full of sensitivity and commitment.  How we treat our feelings can become the model for how we treat our goals.  Cancer’s journey from insecurity to strength is something we do every year, a cyclic maturing from lost child to confident mother again and again. 

Annually identifying our mommy is critical to keeping ourselves on course.  It’s a fundamental acknowledgement of who we are and what we can become.  It’s a way to commit, making whatever future we want to accomplish possible.  Study how you approach the work of this season.  If you can, remember how you played it out in previous years.  Knowing what you know now about natural time, next Cancer will be even deeper.

Your Personal Season

In addition to the collective cycle, each of us has an individual expression of the season, described by the circuit of the Sun through our birth chart and (of course!) the different particulars of our lives.  Follow whatever natural inclinations you feel to nest and nurture now.  Also look to the house where Cancer falls -- there is work here yearly, a field of life scheduled for annual attention.  Clues to your unique Cancer approach are found in the sign and ruler of your Fourth House. 

Offering to the Personal Collective

Psychologists suggest that each of us has a “sympathy group” of around 12 people, those individuals whose death would leave us truly devastated.  Psychologists also suggest we each have a larger group (around 150 people); these are ones we have social ties with, people we wouldn’t feel shy about joining if we bumped into them at Starbucks.  These groups represent your family and your tribe.  Think of them when you make your Cancer group offering. 

Be a positive vision holder for your circle.  In a meditative state, experience the feeling of being nourished and safe, and then send this energy into the web of people you know, starting with your family and extending it to your tribe.  Feel everyone surrounded by this protective and strengthening energy.  As a cardinal sign, Cancer is about taking action, in this case, committing to one’s greater growth.  Allow the images of individuals from your family or tribe to come to your awareness and one-by-one see them moving into their best.  Throughout the solar month, as you meet these people in daily life, listen for how they’re nourishing their own efforts.  Honor and acknowledge the commitments they are making now.