As life calls us to evolve, both personally and collectively, we’re faced with a paradox, currently mirrored by the planetary energies. Whilst expanding our consciousness into unknown spheres of the Mystery, we are also called to take better care of our humanness. This stretch of consciousness & humanness encompasses both roots and wings. Being grounded yet free to explore and express. Honouring the temporary security of physicality yet knowing life is constant change. As the world as we know it falls apart, discovering what ‘being at home’ truly means is the quest – in this body, on our beautiful Earth, with the people around us and yet also, in the Mystery of what Life is.
The word ‘home’ conjures up many images, impressions, and meanings for each of us. At its most simple, ‘home’ is where I live, it’s where I root my physical life. Yet look deeper and it’s clear that home encompasses much more: loved ones, perhaps a place other than where I live, aspects of life that provide a sense of comfort, safety and belonging.
The zodiac sign Cancer is the realm of comfort. It represents our basic human needs of food, warmth, care & connection. The first water sign, it’s where we feel, where we experience tenderness & vulnerability, where we know through our gut feeling, where we learn to find refuge & care. Where that’s not available, Cancer is where we may disconnect & suppress, feeling insecure, unsupported by the embodied knowing of stability within myself.
For every human being, security is initially rooted in ‘mother’, for the womb is our first physical home. Mother is potentially the first comfort after the struggle & pain of birth, through connection to her breast and loving arms. Yet as many of us can testify, the security of ‘mother’ is not guaranteed. We may be unrooted through lack of her presence (physical or emotional), or life circumstances. Without secure attachment, our first sense of home in this body may be shaky. We do not receive the feeling-knowing that this body is a safe place to be, or that we are held & safe.
As we mature, whatever our foundation, experience requires that we learn to mother ourselves. The basics such as feeding ourselves along with qualities of self-support – or we find others to fill those roles. It’s a lifetime’s journey.
Ruled by the Moon, Cancer is where we learn how to do this, to navigate the tides of life’s changing rhythms and our moods, feeling responses or reactions to those tides. We detach from mother as provider & must discover her energy elsewhere, ultimately inside our self – both loving and unloving. With maturity, the potential is we develop an inner ‘good mother’: unconditionally loving, kind & understanding, ever-present to our changing needs, awake to both our uniqueness and shadows.
To me, ‘good mother’ is present when I’m relaxed with myself, at the centre point of meeting what I need physically and emotionally without self-indulgence yet awake to my responsibilities as a mature individual. ‘Good mother’ allows fluidity & flexibility with the demands of life. She takes the pressure off what I grew up with – the demand to always be and do more, especially for others. She’s always present & available, even when, especially when, I’m not feeling good. Don’t we all need that self-kindness in our changing world?
What does ‘being a good mother’ mean to you in your life?
What mothering qualities, physical and/or emotional, do you most need to bring to yourself?
These questions provide a strong focus for the next year as the planet of expansion, blessings, opportunity & growth, Jupiter has just entered Cancer. This shift from airy Gemini, sign of information, communication, learning, fun and sociability, moves us from an active (perhaps over-active) mind field into gentler possibilities, reconnection feelings, to nourishing ourselves, tending what makes us feel good. This might manifest on the surface as a need to change your diet, move house, have a baby, decorate your home, connect in new ways with family members. At deeper levels, it calls in an exploration of what ‘home’ truly means to you. This is true of family also. This exploration can be complex, multi-layered. We all need the security of a comfortable place to rest our heads, people to feel ‘at home’ with. Yet that feeling of ‘home’ in oneself is so much more in my experience.
Where do you feel you belong?
Where is the feeling-knowing of security rooted in you? Can it go deeper?
Where is deeper self-understanding needed?
What do you need to act on to self-connect, self-nourish, create self-love?
A key pointer as Jupiter makes its home in Cancer for the next twelve months is to trust your gut about what you most need now, and to keep flowing with that. The planetary energies are paradoxically focusing our attention on our personal worlds through the signs of Aries & Cancer – in many ways we’re being informed ‘It’s up to you!’ – and yet the frequencies of collective change are intensifying through Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus’s upcoming shift into Gemini. That intensification is full of high-frequency inventive & scientific potential, including its application for environmental change. Without rootedness in our humanity, we can be spun out by rising consciousness, full of inspiration & good intentions, but without agency in simply caring for our humanness. It’s a fine balance.
Our lack of care of ourselves, however subtle, is a mirror for our relationship with our ultimate Good Mother, Gaia, Earth. She gives us everything we need and more, does She not? Right now, there’s an emerging gift in quietening down, listening deep, being receptive to our own needs. When we truly care about our state of self, we are naturally receptive to the needs of all life. We become a living transmission of caring. We must start with self though, or risk becoming unbalanced.
Giving from a full cup is where it’s at with Jupiter in Cancer, living the flow of receiving/giving naturally. ‘Home is where your heart is’ then becomes a living reality. When we’re consciously awake, we’re always homeward bound. Deepening home in our self, in our lives, our relationships, and home on the Earth.
