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Cancer Full Moon: The Awakened Heart

By April Elliott Kent

Some years ago, I discovered that I had to have a tooth pulled. Big deal, right? Yet I was astonished at the intensity of my reaction. Most nights I found myself awake at 3:00 a.m., tormented by thoughts of mortality. My poor old tooth prompted fears that growing older would mean a future in which I drop limbs like a diseased tree. Before long I’d be old, old and frail, old and alone!

I mentioned these nocturnal worries to a friend, taking care to present the subject with humor so I didn’t seem like an hysteric. Metaphysically minded, he mused that perhaps I had manifested this tooth trauma. I wondered, is he right? Could a better mindset have saved my tooth?

Well, maybe (though I strongly suspect it would have been easier to avoid the bad dentist who failed to cap it after a root canal). But even so, it seems to me that we miss something in trying to inoculate ourselves from life’s difficulties—it’s a bit like believing in a false Santa Claus, groaning beneath the weight of unearned gifts.   Alone with my sundry tooth terrors in the wee hours, I eventually found something else in my heart–something better, stronger, more life-sustaining than fear:  compassion.

I found a lot more empathy for people coping with pain, loneliness, and troubles much more profound than my own. Pema Chodron calls this compassion “the awakened heart,” akin to the bodhichitta. Feeling what we feel, the negative as well as the positive, is a doorway to the complex hearts of others.

My poor tooth is long gone, but my early-morning mind still finds plenty of worrying thoughts to obsess over. The truth is, these are tough times. Lots of us are scared, and angry because we’re scared. Where is the extended family who will look after the dying aunt? How will the new graduate pay off his student loans, or the recently laid-off 55-year-old woman find a new job? Will our newly-elected leaders lead us straight off a cliff?

It may sound strange, but whenever my 3:00 a.m. self taps into this atmosphere of shared fear and pain and hopelessness—really surrenders to it—I’m immediately calmer. Suddenly I’m sharing in the world’s fear and pain and hopelessness, not just dealing with my own lonely messes. In those moments, I glimpse an alternate vision of end-of-year divinity–not a claymation Saint Nick with a bulging bag of toys–but a kind, accepting, glowing Buddha.

Sometimes we’re fortunate enough to encounter these luminescent, warm-hearted, Buddha-like souls in real life—the avuncular elder, the wise grandfather, the fun-loving friend who never met a stranger—and it’s as healing as a comfortable nap in front of a roaring fire. Interestingly, these are never people whom life has spared from difficulty and fear. In fact, it’s because they’ve faced life’s problems and retained hope that they reassure us we can do the same. “We all get older, we’re frail and afraid,” their manner implies, “but it will be okay as long as we help each other out. We just have to be there for one another.”

Maybe my friend has it right, and I attracted that sad, wrecked tooth into my life—not as a punishment for thinking negative thoughts, but as a gift of knowing. At this Full Moon, I hope you feel genuinely happy, loving, and at peace. But if you find yourself tangled in the odd moment of sadness, regret, or loneliness, I wish you the confidence to let your own pierced heart awaken. Feel everything that you feel, even negativity and fear. When our lunar hearts are opened at this Cancerian Full Moon, let’s leave them open and let them teach us, soften us, and bring us closer to one another. Our awakened hearts can draw us, gracefully and naturally, into the joyful light of the Moon, setting us aglow with the comfort, hope, and merriment of our own Buddha natures.

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About April Elliott Kent

April Elliott Kent is the author of Astrological Transits (Fair Winds Press), The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology (Alpha/Penguin), and Star Guide to Weddings (Llewellyn). She has contributed articles to The Mountain Astrologer and Dell Horoscope magazines and Llewellyn's Moon Sign, Sun Sign, and Sabbat annuals. April is member of ISAR, NCGR, and OPA and is a past President of the San Diego Astrological Society. Her weekly Big Sky Astrology Podcast with co-host Jen Braun can be found on iTunes and wherever you listen to podcasts. Read more of April's articles at BigSkyAstrology.com

Comments

  1. Lynn Harbaugh says

    Dec 29, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    Guess who just went digging online to see if there was some phase of the Moon or SOMETHING, maybe a CME that would explain the ache in my front tooth. And I find your article, echoing my 73 yr. old fears of it all ending, ill and alone… anticipating dental pain in the wee hrs. as it is almost time for bed. Thank you so much for this. I cried. I love how you write. Just what I needed. Am blessed. Ty.

    Reply
  2. Nicole A Alexander says

    Dec 29, 2020 at 4:57 pm

    Beautiful. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Laura Fellows says

    Dec 29, 2020 at 3:41 pm

    Right On the nose.

    Reply
  4. Leah says

    Dec 27, 2020 at 5:44 pm

    So lovely. I read all of the moon articles. I was particularly touched by this one. Thank you!

    Reply
  5. Elke Finley says

    Jan 11, 2017 at 11:28 am

    Beautiful article and love the expanded view of Jupiter. I also wake up almost every night and call it my awaken hour. It so feels like something in me wants to wake up… Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Majie says

    Jan 10, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    April, that was a deeply insightful article that reminded us that despite all the seeming divisions in the world right night, the truth is we are all connected and profoundly connected through the things of the heart. Thank you. Namaste.

    Reply
  7. Robin says

    Jan 10, 2017 at 10:49 am

    Thanks so much. Perfect timing, of course, to remember to step out of our own lives and be in touch with the world

    Reply
  8. Karen Wheeler says

    Jan 10, 2017 at 10:21 am

    Great take on it, We are much in common. WORD.

    Reply
    • Nancy E. Wood says

      Jan 10, 2017 at 11:11 am

      Absolutely beautiful, April! Such perfect wisdom to be shared in a 1 Universal Year, where we’re meant, I think, to be integrating a balance of 1 as self and 1 as Wholeness, an ultimate duality for us humans to mull over… You closed your piece with the most lush fecundity of wishes and encouragements! Thank you so much.

      Reply
    • Catriona O'Curry says

      Jan 11, 2017 at 11:11 am

      Loved this very much. Just FYI: It’s Pema Chodron.

      Thank you again.

      Catriona

      Reply
      • April Elliott Kent says

        Jan 11, 2017 at 1:19 pm

        Thank you! Fixed. 🙂

        Reply

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The Moon is in its
First Quarter Phase

in the
Sign of Taurus


Today's Lunar Aspects:

  • Moon conjunct Uranus, 8:36am  Jan 21 2021
  • Moon conjunct Mars, 9:08am  Jan 21 2021
  • Moon square Jupiter, 10:15am  Jan 21 2021

Venus is currently
The Morning Star

in the sign of Capricorn


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