Cardinals Bearing Gifts--Full Moon in Cancer on December 25

It will be an interesting Christmas holiday for my family comprised of Cardinal Signs (Cancer, Capricorn and Aries) since the Cancer Full Moon (3 degrees) falls on December 25. Cancer rules nourishment, motherhood, and the home so some of us will feel at home on Christmas, while others might focus on the troubles affecting our home planet.

The December Full Moon chart features a wide Cardinal T-Cross (yes, the Cardinals are back for a final showdown), with Mars in Libra clashing with Uranus in Aries, and Pluto and Mercury in Capricorn. I'm not dragging the opposition between the Cancer Moon and Capricorn Sun into the cross, but some astrologers might which would bring us a Cardinal Grand Square.

Although what you find with the Cancer-Capricorn polarity has to do with mothers, fathers, family dynamics, work verses home, individual verses family, nourishment verses barren, rules, authority, intuition, practicality, home, food, lineages, and traditions. I have this polarity playing out heavily in my Saturn-Ruled Natal chart and in my family so if you require help understanding the themes of this full moon, feel free to contact me.

The Capricorn Sun and Cancer Moon experience flowing aspects with Neptune, the planet of dreams. Jupiter experiences flowing aspects with Pluto and Mercury and Saturn and Uranus bring in a Fire Trine. So this could also be a time of manifesting our dreams. However, we must ask ourselves where we'll place our focus. Many people are going to communicate doom and gloom about troubles facing the world. But where are you going to place your focus? What are your dreams worth to you? Venus at 24 degrees Scorpio sextiles Mercury in Capricorn leaving us feeling sensual and wanting to communicate from our senses. It's not selfish to focus on physical reality and to manifest your dreams. But do you feel worthy of manifesting your desires?

Young Charles Dickens, Wikipedia

I feel like duality is at play here. It's like the beginning of Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities except we're looking at a tale of two realities. Will we focus on peace and the nourishment we have in our lives or are we going to focus on fear and let our egos call the shots? The message I'm getting rather loudly is that we have to stop acting like the stoic John Wayne in the Wild West. And we have to stop entertaining vengeful fantasies whether that's in our personal lives or on a global scale. We are dealing with wounded individuals and collectives now which require healing. When anyone inflicts pain on another whether they can justify it or not (they all can justify it in their own minds), we inflict pain on the collective. We're not doing anyone any favors to keep practicing a rewards and punishment mentality. We've been doing that for centuries and where has it taken us? This isn't about a battle between cowboys wearing white or black hats. There are no good guys or bad guys, there is just us and our wounded egos playing out life dramas on a global stage.

However, you can bet that Mars in Libra wants justice and Uranus in Aries stirs up the embers of frustration and helplessness, but Uranus also could bolster our courage to practice nonviolent communication and stop practicing dualism. With Neptune strong in Pisces, we could finally get the spiritual message that we are ONE and that dualism is an illusion that our egos enjoy holding together. Pluto in Capricorn wears two faces. The first face is of an overbearing authority figure that uses fear to control the masses. The second face is of a magician who brings deep transformation through death and rebirth. Remember that our souls are eternal and even when souls leave the physical realm the gig isn't over. Perhaps, souls have a contract to play out "tragedies" so that we open our hearts and not close them.

Mars, Wikipedia

You can tell the evolution of a soul by how it reacts to so-called tragic events. After the Paris bombing recently, a video appeared on YouTube with a pianist playing John Lennon's "Imagine" on a piano set outdoors in Paris. He is surrounded by a crowd with people taking photographs and videotaping him. The musician appears humble as if giving a gift of love to those grieving around him. And we're also reminded of the murder of John Lennon during an autumn back in the 1980s. But John Lennon's spirit is still with us at peace vigils and on the street corner in Paris where a musician offered his talents to heal those around him. And isn't that the real gift of music to heal us? Lennon wasn't joking when he sung, "Give Peace a Chance."

We also call natural disasters tragedies because of the losses people experiences, but we gain our hearts in the process. Look at the outreach of love that occurs after a disaster. People clean out their closets and donate clothing, they give food or money to refugees or those folks displaced by events or they open their hearts through prayers and meditations. The best way to handle these situations and feel at home is to offer home within our hearts. We could join a drum circle or a prayer vigil and in these activities we gather strength and conviction that we will love our way through the changes and transformation that come upon our shores. I'm not condoning violence of any kind--whether that appears on television or in physical reality.

It's like Astrologer Barbara Goldsmith said in her YouTube video for the Gemini Full Moon for November, it's not just about France, but about all of us because we are part of one world. Whatever views we have about politics or national identities, no one deserves to lose their loved ones because some folks feel so helpless that they cause harm to others to communicate their beliefs--fundamentalist or not. And none of these events can happen if we don't allow it collectively because we're all connected. As long as we repress our shadows and project them onto scapegoats, we will experience these types of tragedies. But if we own our shadows, make peace with them, and then make peace with ourselves en mass, we heal the planet of these type of acts.

So this December lets experience an outpouring of love. Join a prayer circle, meditate, or just pull up your sleeves and get involved in the practical arena of helping those people out who are missing loved ones during the holidays or who have trouble getting their lives back on track. And let's remember the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, "It's not so much to be understood as it is to understand." When we give peace and love, it returns one hundredfold. Jupiter opposite Chiron reminds us that healing takes place when we serve others through humility. Be of humble service this holiday season and join an outpouring of love. Analysis won't get us through this transition, but love will.

Need to make sense of December's transits in your chart? Sign up for a reading on this blog, but read the service page first. Have a safe holiday.