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