"Teachers need to be comfortable talking about feelings. This is part of teaching emotional literacy – a set of skills we can all develop, including the ability to read, understand, and respond appropriately to one’s own emotions and the emotions of others."—Daniel Goleman

This New Moon in Cancer brings a chart of deep emotion, with a strong undercurrent of power being used effectively in the material world. True power, like a sun, radiates outward from an inner core. Control that is seized or imposed is not power, though it is often mistaken for such. Control ties you to what you are controlling. Power lets you take action in freedom and create what you will.

We’ll see a lot of attempts at grabbing power this month, but hopefully we will also see people of wisdom stepping into their own power and making changes in the world. Like you, perhaps.

Let’s see how that might play out given the focus of this chart.

Every Water sign is occupied now, which indicates that we will be working — or struggling with — our emotions this month. Some people feel that emotions are annoying vestigial responses of the brain, and should be controlled and occasionally indulged, but must eventually be superseded by “pure reason”. Nothing could be further from the truth, as any effective magician knows, because emotion is the power source of magic and creation.

Emotions are subjective states that drive behavior, fuel intention and affect the body, but their subjectivity does not make them any less real than the objective reasoning mind. Emotions are an integral part of our human consciousness. Objective reasoning alone does not lead us unerringly to desired outcomes — emotions are a necessary part of our decision-making processes, and they must be understood and freed from prisons of the unconscious where they walk the hamster wheels that drive our destructive behavior.

We need both emotions and reason to navigate effectively in the realms of Time and Space. This month, reason will be harder to access than emotion. We’ll want to remind ourselves to think things through carefully before making any major decisions. We also have a great opportunity to explore the depths of our emotional resources, and to “read, understand, and respond appropriately” to the emotions of others.

If we haven’t done the work to release or integrate negative childhood emotional patterns, we find ourselves replaying them in our adult lives. And if we’ve worked hard to repress those patterns, then we have probably lost touch with the playful, healthy child that lives inside us all, which means our psyches are fragmented. Under this month’s sky, previous repression and avoidance is likely to be brought to the surface by what a friend of mine calls A FOG — Another Friggin’ Opportunity for Growth.

Take that opportunity, reclaim the healthy child, release the old patterns, and you’ll look back on this time with gratitude, even if it initially seems difficult. There is tremendous power for magic and growth released when you face and work through the deeply-imprinted emotional states of reincarnational and childhood issues.

The emphasis on Water also gives us an opportunity to expand and deepen our emotional reserves, which can help us find calm and acceptance when we are in a stressful situation . If things are getting on your “last nerve”, then your emotional reserves are running low. A hot poker in a small cup brings to a boil what is in the cup. A sword at the forge is plunged into enough water to cool and temper it. Do your emotions easily come to the boil, or is your emotional reservoir deep enough to absorb and transform the fires of conflict and confrontation?

If your emotional reserves are running low, you’ll “boil over” easily in response to stress. If your emotional reserves are deep, you’ll use stress and challenges to create strength, sharpness, and just the right amount of flexibility. Take some time this month to nurture yourself in ways that feed your emotional reserves, and to allow yourself some time to do the work of healing childhood wounds.

What you don’t want to do is go into avoidance mode and numb yourself by falling into habitual, destructive behavior patterns.

(And yes, the childhood imprints, tendencies toward habitual patterns, and the timing for changes and experiences of growth and development all show up in your horoscope, but they do not determine your life. How they play out depends on you. The strengths and challenges in a chart can be developed and/or minimized once they are understood.)

On the national stage this month, the chart rings a patriotic bell long and loud. This can manifest as courage and loyalty, or xenophobic nationalism. There is an emphasis on public health (this will be true through August as well), institutions of seclusion and separation (hospitals, prisons, etc.) and major power struggles within the realm of the military, public service, and labor. Sudden events in the executive branch of government are likely, and we’ll need to look at the way we ensure the safety and appropriate education of our children. Unfortunately, there is a strong signature of violence and oppression in the area of the chart ruling children, creativity, sports, and entertainment.

For astrologers: Find the chart here. First notice the New Moon, attended by Mercury and Venus, forming a stellium in Cancer opposed by Pluto, the opposition trined/sextiled by Jupiter. Pay attention to that Jupiter-Pluto trine. While the trine is not an aspect of action, it can set the underlying belief system that will drive the behavior activated by the more challenging aspects (like the opposition to the stellium), and Pluto-Jupiter can indicate a belief system based in an overweening pride and sense of entitlement. It can also bring new, expansive perspectives and resources.

The presence of Mars and Saturn in the 5th, even though they are not yet in orb of a conjunction, is disturbing. This is a problematic combination at the best of times, and Mars is strong in its own sign, inconjuncting Uranus in Aries, which it also rules. Saturn, of course, is in a tight square to Neptune still. Keep your bullshit meter calibrated, and expect that people will hold on to their opinions and beliefs with all the fervor of a drowning person holding to a raft.

If you have any questions about the astrology, please either comment here, or bring them to my Facebook page. If you’d like information on a consultation, contact me here.