Mary Jo Wevers

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Blending Neighboring Signs: Cancer into Leo

Each succeeding sign of the zodiac in the astrological chart provides the means to rectify or redirect the energy of the previous sign, thereby providing a new avenue for its expression, a new area for its application, or a new way of being in the world. When a planet changes sign by transit, we have an opportunity to integrate the energy of the previous sign into its following sign. 

Merging one sign into the subsequent one is not an easy task. This is because two adjacent signs have nothing in common. They are of different polarity, element, and modality. Therefore they have difficulty “understanding” each other. It takes awareness, creativity, and work to combine, integrate, or blend one sign with the next.

For example, the energetic expression of Cancer is of negative polarity, meaning it is inwardly directed, reflective, or introverted. Cancer is a water sign, and represents emotional sensitivity and attunement. The sign of Cancer is of cardinal modality. It initiates action and creates new beginnings from a caring heart-centered place when it feels protected and secure. The subsequent sign of Leo is energetically of positive polarity, outwardly directed or extroverted. Leo is a fire sign: spirited, enthusiastic, commanding and active. A sign of fixed modality, Leo has the determination and will to stick to its desires and objectives, and remain focused until it is completely satisfied. As we move from the sign of Cancer into Leo, we are challenged to find ways they can complement each other or work together. 

We have all the signs of the zodiac in our birth charts, and so it is important for us to learn how to skillfully use and express them all. It can be difficult to find ways to transition successfully from one sign to the next, or to blend their energies, or find ways their expressions can work simultaneously or side-by-side in our life. We want to experience the energy of the new sign without leaving the useful and favorable qualities of the previous sign behind.

Two adjacent, unrelated signs can best be integrated and used together when each are expressed in their highest and most productive ways. When a sign is expressed in problematic ways its energy spirals downward, and becomes very difficult for it to work expansively and interactively with another. 

Some of the highest and best expressions of the sign of Cancer include emotional sensitivity; gentle vulnerability; providing support and protection; valuing family, home and community; and being devoted to meeting the needs and caring for others. Examples of highest and best expressions for Leo include loving life, being joyful and fun loving; heart-centered and generous; encouraging and inspiring; confident and courageous; creative and spontaneous. These beneficial and productive expressions of Cancer and Leo do not necessarily negate each other, or make it difficult to express the energies of each other. Rather, they complement each other by adding other dimensions of energetic expression, thereby enriching our life experience. 

As planets in transit this month segue from the sign of Cancer in Leo, we too can bring emotional understanding and sensitivity for others into play as we courageously act from a heart-centered place. Our devotion for providing for the needs of others in our community and being a nourishing presence feeds our enthusiasm for life, and being a confident, commanding leader who respects the sovereignty of others.

“There is no instinct like that of the heart.” ― Lord Byron

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Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence can be defined as having understanding and insight into our feeling experiences. The sign of Cancer is devoted to creating a safe haven to experience emotions in their purest and most direct form. It understands emotions are an integral part of the human experience that provide richness, depth and color in our lives. Cancer intelligently nurtures their healthy expression, application and management, and encourages us to appreciate and master our inner emotional realm.

In her excellent book The Language of Emotions, Karla McLaren explains that emotions contain valuable information and guidance for us. They are our first, pre-verbal information channel to the world, connected to our inner truth and intuition. They continue to inform us, if we honor and pay attention to their messages, after our rational mind develops around age three. 

Cultural conditioning, however, encourages us to value the rational mind and disregard emotions as troublesome, or as annoying inconveniences, especially emotions that we label as “bad.” Yet as Daniel Goleman explains in his groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence, the rational mind cannot control our emotions. Rather, our primal emotional nature can harness the rational mind to justify its association of emotions from the past with present experiences, distorting our perceptions and ability to respond appropriately in the moment.

Emotions, like the element of water, are fluid. They are ephemeral, usually lasting less than a minute, and are continually changing. They arise from our inner depths, shift, ebb and flow into one another. Emotional agility requires welcoming the changing nature and flow of feelings, and allowing ourself to fully feel an emotion in the moment. When we pay attention to our emotions without judging them, we become the neutral observer. Then we can acknowledge the personal information an emotion is conveying to us, and employ the rational mind to guide our response.

Karla McLaren’s book describes messages specific emotions provide us. For example anger informs us a personal boundary has been breached. Fear is our intuition telling us  something is dangerous. Sadness signals something must be released so we can move forward. And shame alerts us that we are out of integrity with our values. Disregarding this information, or allowing the rational mind to explain it away, separates us from important inner truths. 

In his book Daniel Goleman outlines four domains that constitute emotional intelligence. Self-awareness is the ability to observe our internal state and recognize our emotions. Self-management is handling an emotion appropriately by self-regulating our response. It requires adaptability and striving for emotional balance. Social awareness is the ability to recognize emotions in others, having empathetic understanding. And relationship management is the ability to work with the emotions of others in productive ways, of having social competency in the world.

The archetypal energy of Cancer rules our emotional foundations in life. Its wellspring nourishes our security, well-being and creativity in our “inner home.” It guides us with care, concern and compassion to embrace our emotional nature and learn to use it skillfully in the outer world. 

“The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.” – Baruch Spinoza

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Exploring Emotional Intelligence through the Sign of Cancer

Tuesday June 20th the Sun leaves the curious and interactive air sign of Gemini and enters the emotionally sensitive and protective water sign of Cancer. Each succeeding sign of the zodiac provides the means to rectify or redirect the energy of the previous sign. Cancer shifts our awareness from the realm of the mind and tunes us in to our feelings. A cardinal sign, Cancer initiates activity and creates new beginnings from a feeling, nurturing, heart-centered place.

Cancer rules emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the awareness of our own feelings, their depth and complexity, as well as being able to perceive and understand emotions in others. We develop emotional intelligence when we pay attention to our emotions and allow ourselves to feel them, just as infants and small children do naturally. Rather than distracting ourselves from our feelings, or burying and repressing them, or projecting them outside of ourselves onto others and re-acting impulsively, we can allow ourselves the private internal space to healthily process them. The more we practice this, the stronger our inner emotional foundation becomes. Then, instead of looking for safety and security in the external world, from places or people who will protect us, we can tap into our own inner emotional strength, regardless of external circumstances.

“The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.”

– Baruch Spinoza

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New Moon conjoins Retrograde Mercury in Cancer

Yellow_moonToday we are at the midpoint of our current Mercury retrograde in the sign of Cancer. Mercury stationed retrograde on June 26th at 23 degrees. Mercury will continue moving retrograde until July 20th when it stations direct at 13 degrees.

Mercury retrogrades are times for us to slow down, reflect and reconsider recent events and experiences. It is time to be more internal, rather than pushing ahead in the world with our projects. Delays and problems in the areas of communication, travel, and technology force us to pay attention to our surroundings, take our time reviewing details, and take extra care in our movements and activities. The gift of Mercury retrogrades is they give us an opportunity to discover what we have overlooked, what information has been lacking, or what pieces we have left behind as we have been moving forward in life.

With Mercury retrograde in the watery sign of Cancer, this has been a time to pay attention to our feelings and sensitivities. What emotional pieces have been left behind, that need processing and healing? What emotional information have you been missing, repressing or ignoring? How well are you using your intuition?

Last night we had a New Moon in Cancer at 16 degrees, conjoining retrograde Mercury at 18 degrees. During the New Moon the gravitational pull of the Moon is at its strongest, pulling on our emotions just as it does on the ocean tides. The New Moon is the “darkest hour” of the monthly lunar cycle, the most internally experienced and sensitive.

Coupled with the Mercury retrograde, this New Moon is a potent time for us to get in touch with our deepest emotional stirrings. Do you honor your emotional nature? How are you feeling? What emotional information is surfacing that needs your attention? What steps can you take to understand your unconscious self?

As serendipity would have it, I am presenting a workshop on the last day of this Mercury retrograde. In this workshop you learn about old emotionally based patterns of behavior and attitudes towards life, represented by the Moon North and South Nodes.  See below for details. I hope you can take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and join us!

Discover Your Spiritual Soul Mission through Karmic Astrology

In this one day workshop learn about the Moon’s South and North Nodes in the astrological chart, their meaning and interpretation. Explore your own South Node soul pattern and North Node spiritual soul mission in life, based on your birth date. No knowledge of astrology is necessary to take the workshop. $100 fee may be made in installments.

Saturday July 20, 2013

9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

The Center for Inner Awareness
2111 Front Street NE
Building 3, Suite 3-209
Salem OR 97302

For more information and to register for the event contact Mary Jo Wevers, mj@maryjowevers.com or phone 541.740.8081

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Cancer: The Emotional Memory of Water

jpeg“But reason has no power against feeling, and feeling older than history is no light matter.”

                                                          – Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Thursday June 20th we mark a power point in the calendar year, the seasonal transition we call the Summer Solstice. The Sun will move out of the inquisitive and communicative masculine air sign of Gemini and enter the sensitive and reflective feminine water sign of Cancer. Each succeeding sign of the zodiac provides the means to rectify or redirect the energy of the previous sign. Cancer asks us to shift our awareness from the realm of the mind and tune in to our feelings. A cardinal sign, Cancer wants to initiate activity from a feeling, heart-centered place.

The negative, or receptive, polarity of Cancer gives it an internal, inwardly directed energy. A key phrase for Cancer is “I Feel.” Cancer is sensitive, intuitive, empathetic, vulnerable and sentimental. Cancer governs our inner sense of self, our instincts and emotional attitudes that form the foundation of our psyche.

Considered the youngest sign of the zodiac, Cancer rules our beginnings: infancy and early childhood. The glyph for Cancer is two gametes, male and female, representing fertility and new life. It is symbolic of the deep, creative, imaginative wellspring of life.

Home-loving and maternal, Cancer values family and its ancestral past. Cancer’s domain includes the home, family history and origins, hereditary traits, and ethnic and cultural traditions. On a broader scale, nations and states, citizens, public opinion, and humankind are Cancerian. Cancer is motivated to seek security in its family, clan, tribe, or community. It fears exclusion and needs acceptance from others. Its challenge is to learn self-sufficiency outside of the confines of home, family and community.

Cancer can be retentive, tenacious and shrewd. It stores early life experiences, especially those that are emotionally charged, deep in the subconscious. It allows these emotional memories from the past to color its present experiences, reacting with unconscious, pre-conditioned responses to events and people. Cancer can be overly sensitive, moody, easily hurt, needy and dependent on others. Its tendency to be passive can lead to emotional co-dependency which interferes with its ability to develop self-sufficiency.

The symbol for Cancer is the Crab, a water dwelling animal with a protective shell. Just like a hermit crab, Cancer retreats into its shell when it feels vulnerable or threatened. It guards its privacy and personal matters. It is evasive, preferring not to confront life directly. Like the crab, Cancer moves sideways, side-stepping to escape perceived danger or attacks.

Cancer shows its devotion and care in loyal, nurturing, protective, supportive and domestic ways. Archetypes for Cancer include the primordial Goddess or Female Principal, the Roman goddess Diana as well as the late Princess Diana, and the Mother and Child. Wet nurses, cooks, kitchen workers, homemakers and women in general embody the energy of Cancer. History, genealogy and archiving the past are Cancerian occupations and activities.

The color for Cancer is calming and soothing watery silver-blue. Silver is its metal. Pearls and coral are its gems. Willows and trees rich in sap are Cancer plants. Parts of the body ruled by Cancer include the breasts and the stomach. Bodily fluids such as tears, saliva, and milk, and fluid flow and retention are governed by Cancer.

Cancer rules the beginnings and endings of all the cycles of our life. We are born from the Cosmic Womb and we return to it when we die. Cancer defines the ways our beginnings and endings play out in our lives.

“It is impossible for emotion not to come on us in thinking of that time now flowed away.”

– Paul Cezanne