The week starts off with an innovative sextile between the Sun in Cancer and Uranus in Taurus on July 5th.
Cancer is a sign that knows how to nourish, nurture, and create a sense of security. Planets in this water sign aren’t necessarily poised to be experimental, but the positive influence coming from Uranus creates an opening.
What does radical care mean for us at this moment, familial and societal norms be damned? When and where does adherence to the status quo interrupt our ability to honor our needs, our calling and even our life’s work? Solely focusing on others is a sure way to avoid our own development.
Try worrying about yourself this week instead.
On Tuesday, July 6th some trails turn into quicksand as Mercury in Gemini makes its third and final square to Neptune in Pisces. Then the skies turn a little gloomy as Venus in Leo opposes Saturn.
Mercury has been in Gemini since early May, in and out of squares with Neptune before, during, and now after its retrograde. As the messenger makes this last pass through Neptune’s Bermuda Triangle, some part of our message might get lost at sea, but some aspect of our ongoing miscommunications also comes to an end.
Because Mercury is wrapping up this slushy battle, it offers us reasons and maybe resolutions for our miscommunications.
Mercury is also leaving its post retrograde shadow. By Wednesday, we are officially free to make our own mistakes again.
As Venus opposes Saturn, we may face off with a disappointment, a lackluster first date, or a delay in our gratification.
It’s not you, it’s them.
But it’s also you.
Venus in Leo’s diva nature doesn’t like being shunned. With its pride and its heart on its sleeve, any feelings of rejection tend to run deep — follow them.
Most likely the day will feel a little slow or stuck, but if it stops us in our tracks, raising an issue about our desirability, we’d be well-served to take note of the lessons. Because Saturn makes things unmistakably obvious, we can now get a grasp on what usually eludes us.
On Thursday, July 8th, Venus goes on to square Uranus. What felt like a cold shoulder turns shockingly direct. Uranus, the revolutionary, may have been helpful to the Sun at the beginning of the week, but it acts like a heckler in the crowd now.
This week, our relationships get checked, but we’re given the gift of getting honest. If radical care is the theme of the week, let the ways we relate be unmistakably honest. Kind, but honest.
Friday, July 9th at 6:17 pm PT, the New Moon in Cancer arrives. This lunation is in touch with all the outer planets. Separating from a sextile to Uranus, approaching a trine to Neptune and an opposition to Pluto, it feels like a transformative new beginning.
In Cancer, the Moon is at home, strong, and able to nourish the seeds we plant.
In a sextile to Uranus, the New Moon encourages us to understand the roots of our (co)dependency; in a trine to Neptune, the New Moon is infused with a dreamy encouragement; and in an opposition to Pluto, the New Moon carries with it a cathartic confrontation.
Wanting to be needed is human and natural. Depending on others needing us for our sense of self is another story. Evading the work that is ours to do because we are overly focused on the emotional turbulence of those around us can become a copout for living our own life.
Cancer’s waters are the amniotic fluid where all life begins. This sign is a pro at nourishing, not so much at letting go. Given the opposition to Pluto, however, there’s great benefit in our ability to release something we’ve clung to.
The week ends with Mercury joining the Cancer pool party on Sunday, July 10th. Finally out of Gemini and its retrograde/Neptune haze, in Cancer, Mercury initiates conversations that stir memories and emotions.
Not necessarily forthright, the sideways scuttle of this sign will elicit less direct communication, more inference, and entice us to sob at sentimental commercials and the beauty of freshly baked bread.
Your New Moon horoscopes are written affirmation-style and are meant to be read as inspiration. If you know both your rising sign and sun sign, please read both horoscopes. You’ll know which one resonates more for you from week to week. Take what works for you, and leave the rest. If you want to share this work, please credit the source by quoting it and providing a link to this post and website. Thank you for your support and for spreading the work around. We really appreciate it and you.
Aries & Aries Rising
With this New Moon, I make room in my home for what I want more of. I know that creating space in my inner life for what I want to manifest is an act of magic.
Instead of feeling like I lack something essential based on what has yet to materialize, I spend my energy imagining it is already here. I put no time limit on when my success should show its face, no pressure on it to arrive on my timeline.
Anticipation is its own thrill.
As an act of radical care, I interrogate the beliefs that I’ve inherited from my family, or absorbed during my upbringing, that told me to put my needs second to everyone else. I interrupt the idea that tending to myself first is selfish.
Reparenting myself requires that I learn how to center what was obstructed, denied, and left to languish — not to become fixated on it, but to become less ruled by it.
The bigger my life gets, the more important it is for me to remember that I am what I most need to cherish, adore, and care for.
The ripple effect of not doing so creates a tsunami of unhelpful outcomes I can otherwise avoid. Besides, I’d rather be making waves with my innovative ideas and head-turning stunts, rather than indulging in temper tantrums or tedious self-pity parties.
Taurus & Taurus Rising
I open each day by giving thanks for all I am about to experience. Whether I am about to live through a thunderstorm of activity or a breezy unfolding of events, the work I get to do within the framework of each 24 hours is a gift.
I know that spending my energy fearing what will or will not happen is a waste of it. Radical self-care means understanding just how insidious the tricks of my mind are and just how deeply I need rest in order to make the whole thing work.
I seek every way possible to outsmart my worst ideas — especially the ones that tell me to keep pushing myself beyond my limits. My life and its possibilities coming to fruition depend on it.
With this New Moon, I interrupt the habits I have that are about keeping up appearances, impressing others, or playing into the status quo’s desires. Such tendencies only stifle my energy and pinch my creativity. Even if it’s subtle, any shift away from my truth is too costly a price to pay for a moment of fitting in.
My days are mine to reclaim from the jaws of respectability. My hours are spent making offerings to the divine and irreverent gods of creativity. I worship at the altars of all that keeps me honest, pledging allegiance to courage, without which I cannot protect, nurture, or bring my dreams to fruition.
Gemini & Gemini Rising
My resources, just like my energy, deserve to be protected, cared for, and cultivated. My resources, just like every other aspect of the natural world, have their own growth cycles. I don’t expect freshly planted seeds to produce on my timeline.
With this New Moon, I buck the systems that center urgency and scarcity. I know that patience helps cultivate connection, its own kind of wealth. Fostering the bonds that nourish me keeps me flush and in the flow. Sharing what I have reminds me of the value it inherently has.
Cultural norms that have me feeling frightened instead of affluent must be made a mockery of. Only in the light can my fears be deflated. I come clear about what I most wish to build, make and earn.
I also get honest about what I am most afraid of happening if I succeed.
Who am I worried I’ll offend if I let my talent take space? Who do I fear will try to bring me down if I let myself soar? What family tradition will I smash to smithereens if I dare be happy, hopeful and abundant?
To answer these questions in all honesty is to allow myself the opportunity to live a little more freely in my power with a little more permission to choose me instead of society.
Cancer & Cancer Rising
I am allowed to begin again. As often as needed and as much as is necessary, I am free to press restart.
With this New Moon I give myself permission to bypass the cultural norms that tell me I am too old, too young, too behind, or too out of my league to get going.
I wait for no one to tell me what I am capable of. The truth is, no one knows what’s possible for me, not even me. But I’m the only person that can give myself permission to find out.
With this New Moon, I remember that whatever I yearn for, yearns for me too. I don’t need logic to tell me whether something is possible, I only need to know how strongly I feel it’s mine to make real.
Whatever secret desire I harbor in my heart pines for me just as much, hoping that I will come to my senses and claim it. Quickly.
The talents, gifts, and blessings that the Universe has buried deep within me want to be known by me. But much like anyone, if they feel like appreciated, esteemed guests of honor they are more likely to stay a while. I take it upon myself to romance, woo, and make sure they know for sure that they are wanted.
Leo & Leo Rising
With this New Moon, I inspect my inklings. Like a concerned parent, I investigate my feelings with a fine-toothed comb. Getting to the bottom of an upset can be tedious, but tremendously liberating work.
With my values up for inspection, I get the opportunity to refine my understanding of what makes me tick, what I want to center, and what helps me appreciate my struggle.
With this New Moon, I spend a little time writing — emptying myself onto the page. The art of self-excavation reveals all the ways in which I get in my own way, all the ways in which I want to bend life to my will and demand it show up as I see fit.
Anytime I think I’m owed something is a red flag to take heed of.
Just like people, my emotions can only be understood once I care enough to get to know them. Instead of brushing past difficult feelings like strangers on the street, I treat them like old friends that have come bearing just the gift I need now.
This way, they are more likely to be on their way, and I am more likely to be better for their passing through.
Virgo & Virgo rising
With this New Moon, I reconsider the group norms I’ve gone along with to the detriment of my own creativity. It’s understandable to fear rocking the boat, but if I am going to grow, I’ve got to test out my life jacket and my capacity to surf the swells I make.
If I truly care for my community, there will be times where I’ll have to diverge from its standards, times where I’ll have to be the one who pushes us forward, and times where I’ll need to be the contrarian simply because no one else will.
If I love us, I have to want us to evolve more than I want us to stay comfortable.
Healthy friendships need to move through many iterations. If I stop growing I give the person next to me permission to slack on their own self-development. When I summon the courage to face my fears, I encourage everyone around me to do the same.
We are all impressionable beings. One decision to be honest from any one of us can create waves that crash on the shores of our group norms.
I don’t doubt our ripple effects.
I find those that fuel me forward and hang around them as often as I can. Folks that risk upsetting the status quo in order to be true to themselves are my reminders, alarm clocks, and integrity boosters.
I don’t want to be placated, I want to be propelled into the next action that will revolutionize my life, world, and work for the better — and I surround myself with a pack of wild wonder-seekers that want the same.
Libra & Libra Rising
The only way to figure out if I am being true to myself is to throw my identity away every evening before I go to bed. Whatever I want to pick up again in the morning may have some merit to it.
I don’t get too fixated on the titles that hang above my door, the initials that may or may not come after my name, or the engravings on the awards others give me. I’d rather focus on doing what’s necessary to create in all honesty.
The mere mention of professionalism can trap my ego into thinking it’s got to perform a role in order to get a prize. But the truth is, the real win is my ability to make whatever I am doing my own.
Comfort is enticing, acceptance can be a drug, and conformity is always beckoning, offering shiny trinkets and corner offices — but if I want the freedom to follow my bliss I’ve got to be willing to work against the grain.
I go without what’s easy in order to be part of creating what’s revolutionary. In the process, I don’t take my success or my failure to heart. I’ll experience a million moments of both, and rather than get hung up on which is present, I’d rather get on with the show.
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising
If I’m not enjoying the journey, if I’m not learning from it, stretching myself because of it, or opening up as a result of it — reaching my destination won’t fulfill much within me.
I learn to love myself on the way to all the wonderful things I am reaching for because of my flaws and unruly feelings. If I forget this step, I miss the point completely.
I am the goal.
I know that not every day can be a thrilling adventure that serves me up the perfect conditions within which I can effortlessly put all my talents to use — but I want the majority of them to at least be excursions into the truth.
I don’t want anyone else’s life, I just want to be radically awake within my own.
With this New Moon, I dedicate myself to studying the philosophies that keep me honest. I set myself back on track, on the paths that remind me to be present to what is, instead of pining for what I think should be.
I forgo the trails that have been carved out by others to see what I might be able to find for myself. I know that in doing so I will strengthen my resolve, hone my senses, and understand what it is to take ownership for my pursuits and life purpose.
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising
I know that grieving what happened to me is key to my growth. I know that no matter how deep the wound, there is always a way to mend it or learn to tend to it. I know that each emotion that arises isn’t necessarily a fact in and of itself — but it does carry within it a profound truth.
I aim to be a student of all that I’ve experienced. If I can muster the courage to feel, I can develop the wisdom to heal.
With this New Moon I honor all the ways in which I have learned to carry myself through the losses of my life and what doing so has helped me appreciate and receive.
When I learn to hold what hurts, I am able to be more open to what restores.
This moment also floats me many replenishing remedies, gifts, and blessings. As much as possible, I reinvest them into my well-being. It’s not lost on me that as I take better care of myself, I become a more appealing candidate for others to invest in.
As I learn to give myself what I need, others follow suit.
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising
With this New Moon, I consider all that I’ve been taught about relationships. The norms I grew up within, the dynamics that I witnessed, and the care that was demonstrated or withheld, all compile themselves into a doctrine of what to expect, what I deserve, and what I can hope to have in my life.
It’s time for a book report.
With this New Moon, I tear apart the relationship manuals that I have been given. I vision board with the best passages that I can find. I cut out what is useful, reconstruct it as needed, and recycle the rest.
To wonder what I really want within my unions is to care for them. Deeply.
When I’m honest about what I’ve yearned for all along it’s easier to seek it, source it, and give it. Learning how to meet my own needs is a life-long process, but one that helps me become a better partner, friend, lover, and creator.
I can’t wait around for someone to find me loveable, likeable, or worthy of commitment. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that treating myself the way I want to be treated is the surest way to attract the same from others. With this knowledge comes the instinct to move swiftly away from the opposite when it approaches.
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising
With this New Moon, I review the rituals that keep me feeling on track at work and in tune with my body’s needs. I know that habits are what create my life. I prioritize the ones that are easy to maintain, keep me feeling refreshed, cared for, and enthusiastically content.
Resting is my medicine.
When in doubt, I go lay down. When exasperated, I focus on my breathing. When frazzled, I find any and all ways to get a couple minutes alone to remind myself that I am worthy of the care I need.
With this New Moon, I begin the professional projects that are asking to come forth. I eliminate what irritates my system, and I add what supports it. I know that my sensitivities are just my body speaking to me. I can fight it, ignore it, or give into it. The latter always brings calm.
Peace is my birthright.
As much as possible, I give myself ample amounts so that I come bearing extra to spare.
Considering the reshaping that my relationships, commitments, and unions are undergoing, and the reinventions they are in need of, I take precautions to limit any amount of chaos that I can.
Leaving others to wonder if I’m paying attention won’t help our projects. If my partners don’t feel respected, everything gets distorted. When and where possible, I keep my side of the street clean so that when others visit they aren’t waylaid by having to find their way through my baggage to get to me.
Pisces & Pisces Rising
Every time I take myself too seriously, every time I want to give up on my creations completely, because nothing is working the way I want it to, I remember the sacred prayer of the artist, “So what! Big Deal! No one cares! Take a nap! Throw it away! Start again! Get on with your life!”
I contain within myself every creative impulse that exists in the Universe, but the world will keep turning if I decided to forgo it all by indulging in a self-pity party.
I have been given the divine directive to do what I want with the talent I have access to. But unless I choose to use it, I will lose it to days spent playing it safe and keeping it small.
If I want to refuse my muses and their leadership in my life, I’m free to stay coloring within the lines. If I want security more than I want an honest relationship with my potential, I don’t have to ever take another risk.
But.
If I want to know anything close to the truth of what’s in store for me, I have to learn to laugh in the face of my own bruised ego, de-escalate my inner drama addict, and get back to the drawing board.
Life isn’t about to treat me like I’m special, but it is waiting with bated breath for me to realize how unique this opportunity is to live out my dreams.
The New Moon in Cancer offers a nourishing rebirth. We’ve got a guided meditation to help you attune to these blessings on the CHANI app. Android users, please click here.