The full Wolf Moon of January 6, 2023, with the Sun in Capricorn and the Moon in Cancer, comes as we’re barely a week into the New Year. It’s still a prime time for making resolutions.
For the Capricorn New Moon of December 23, I wrote that the Capricorn-Cancer axis is parental. Capricorn is associated with fathering, Cancer with mothering, and neither role need be tied to gender. Both have to do with care-taking: Capricorn builds, and Cancer protects.
Psychologically, the Moon in its full phase each month is a call for balance, as the Sun and Moon face each other like two ends of a see-saw. Each Full Moon varies by the pair of signs involved, and you can look to your own natal chart to see the houses—the areas of life—where the Sun and Moon are passing through.
Capricorn’s agenda includes things like status and the kinds of achievements sanctioned by society. Cancer’s methodology is more inner-directed. It’s about feeling good on the inside of the crab shell. Capricorn is not exactly the same as a natal chart’s Tenth House, but there’s an affinity. The Tenth House is the most visible part of the sky at birth, roughly mid-day, the house of one’s mission to the world. Cancer lives more behind the scenes, similar to but not the same as, the Fourth House, the private places of home, where family jewels and secrets lie.
Society now tells us that there’s a virtue in finding something called “work-life balance.” It’s a resonant message because it’s so hard to sustain. This, too, is part of the meaning of the Capricorn Sun opposed by the Full Cancer Moon: the interplay between public and private realms, how to live comfortably at home while also striving to do something important out in the world.
At the January 6 Full Moon, the tightest aspect in the sky is the Sun’s conjunction with Mercury, also in Capricorn, and now in the midst of one of its thrice-yearly periods of retrograde motion. On January 7, Mercury will enter “the heart of the Sun,” fusing with solar light at a moment called cazimi, when Mercury is re-energized mid-way through each retrograde cycle.
Mercury is the planet of perceptions, thoughts, and communiques. Opposite the Moon in Cancer, Mercury’s call now is to acknowledge one’s true feelings and to express them verbally. While in Capricorn, Mercury wants to make thoughts real. This Full Moon is a perfect time to consider how one can do a better job of balancing home and career.
I’ve got a New Year’s resolution that I’ve been practicing since I enjoyed a long December break from my day job. For two decades, I’ve started weekdays with the work I need to do to make a living. Now, I’ve switched my habit, devoting my first two morning work hours to writing, i.e. work that for me is self-nurturing. In my chart, Capricorn holds the Fifth House of creativity, opposite my natal Sun and Mercury, in Cancer, where they will be infused with the light of the January 6 Wolf Moon.
There’s an added encouragement at this Full Moon. It’s the approximately 60-degree sextile between Uranus in Taurus and the Moon in Cancer. A sextile is an aspect of invitation, enlivening the energies of the two planets moving 60 degrees apart. Uranus brings unexpected weirdness, and Taurus is the sign of creature comforts and self-worth. At this Full Moon time, you might go somewhere off the beaten path or do something unusually loving for yourself or another.
2023 promises to be an exciting year, in no small part because of major planetary sign changes, which I’ll be writing about as they get closer. In March, Saturn will move into Pisces, and Pluto will move into Aquarius. In May, Jupiter will move into Taurus. The nodes of the Moon change signs about every 18 months, their symbolism having to do with collective destiny. In July, the lunar nodes will switch to Aries/Libra, the axis of self and other.
But right now, the lunar nodes are still in Taurus and Scorpio, signs of physical and emotional security. Venus, the planet of love and beauty, travels close to the Sun, changes signs frequently, and is currently in early degrees of Aquarius, squaring the Moon’s nodes. Air sign Aquarius, ruled by stoic Saturn, is socially conscious and forward thinking. Venus represents our values and what and how we love.
While thinking about how to balance Cancerian self-care and Capricornian accomplishments, you might think also about how the things you do with love are an offering for humanity.
Blessings for the New Year and the Full Wolf Moon!
~ Sara
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