The end of the Cancer/Capricorn eclipses
Imagery: Mathew Coyte //@mathewcoyte
Words: Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee
This time last year on the Capricorn full moon I was in a hospital 1000km from home, terrified of going into premature labour alone after suffering an antepartum haemorrhage.
It was a frightening experience that forced me to quit approaching my impending matrescence (transition to motherhood) like a C-suite job with an extensive list of KPIs.
Prior to the eclipse, I had been working at a crazy pace. I was trying to tick off lists and get things finished before my baby was due in early October. I was over-scheduled, anxious, and super run-down.
Lying in the hospital bed, I wondered how things had gotten so out of hand. A year earlier I had stepped away from the corporate world because I was desperate to slow down and stop muddling through life permanently tired-but-wired.
I attribute some of my busy-ness to running my own business. As a freelance creative, I’ve never had more trouble saying “no”. Like most self-employed people, even when business is booming, I was always scared that the work could dry up.
But freelance frenzy aside, with the very real deadline of a due date, I began filling my calendar with work commitments, courses and plans that seemed insurmountable post-baby. Sure, my commitments may have sounded a little less corporate than before (I was frantically trying to finish yoga teacher training, gain professional accreditation as an astrologer and slot in a pre-baby Vipassana for good measure), but my approach was the same: if there’s a free spot in my diary, fill it with work.
What has all this got to do with the end of eclipse season? It’s a very literal manifestation of what this series of eclipses which began in July 2018 have been inviting us to explore. Over-scheduling, overreaching and striving along with softening, allowing and being with what is.
Capricorn is a sign focussed on achievement, discipline, responsibility and productivity. With Capricorn, there are no shortcuts. It is the old-fashioned father archetype who sends you back to your room to check and recheck your homework if you finish it too fast. As a Capricorn rising, this is my M-O. I expect things to be hard. If things comes too easily I am suspicious.
Cancer energy is the opposite. It is the sign of divine femininity, synonymous with the moon, tapping a deep well of strength in its constant connection to emotion. Cancer is sensitive and intuitive and gentle. It is the mother archetype who wipes away your tears and scoops you up, making you feel like nothing can hurt you. Cancer energy is present and responsive in a way children demand you to be – whether you like it or not.
This two-year Cancer/Capricorn eclipse cycle has been inviting us to review the areas of our life where we need more balance between doing (Capricorn) and being (Cancer).
If you have Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn rising, these eclipses would have felt especially potent for you. The good news for those signs is that the pressure will ease, especially once Saturn moves out of Capricorn later this year. Here are the areas of life that have been highlighted by this series of eclipses
CANCER AND CAPRICORN RISING
Your evolving identity, sense of self, physicality, the way you move through the world, how others perceive you and your relationship with your partner (both intimate and business partners).
ARIES AND LIBRA RISING
Your work life, professional reputation and career, as well as your home life, family, your relationship with your parents, ancestral work and connection to where you live (physical home).
TAURUS AND SCORPIO RISING
The way you express yourself, your communication style, education, learning, relationship with your sibling,s and extended family as well as your desire to travel, expand your horizons, broadcast yourself and your spirituality.
LEO AND AQUARIUS RISING
Your everyday routine, immunity, health and wellbeing, acts of service (like charity work), pets, as well as your subconscious, fears, repressed emotions, desire for seclusion, isolation, retreat, grief and loss.
GEMINI AND SAGITTARIUS RISING
The way you relate to money as a form of energy, the way you earn a living, save money, spend money and your sense of self-worth in general, as well as debt, taxes, shared assets (property, shares, cash), inheritances and shadow work.
VIRGO AND PISCES RISING
Children, fertility, artistic expression, time (or lack thereof) for play, fun, sexuality, as well as friendships, community, hopes and dreams.
As this cycle draws to a close, take a moment to reflect on what stories have been developing in your life since July 2018 where this push/pull between material achievement and emotional nourishment have been playing out.
Where have you been called to come back in to balance? Where have you been forced to recalibrate? How can you integrate the lessons you’ve been learning these past two years? There’s no right answer, but like all astrology, becoming aware of the patterns can be the beginning to unlocking major breakthroughs.