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“Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.”<\/em> -Rumi<\/em><\/p>\n I moved out to California, my home for almost two decades now, shortly after graduating from college and my mother\u2019s death.\u00a0 San Francisco proved to be far foggier and colder than I thought. <\/span>The saving grace of that first home I lived in was its close proximity to a lush forest of eucalyptus trees and California lilies, providing a sacred space where I could be alone with my swirling thoughts, feelings and grief. The elegant\u00a0lily called my name, asking to be painted. Though I have a degree in art, I\u2019d never painted, but as I painted the lily, and eventually other flowers, I found the act of painting created a container for my grief, a way to connect to the loss of my mother. So I painted, my sadness pouring into the beauty, the act of creating beauty purifying my sadness.<\/p>\n Cancer New Moon touches our taproot: our home, feelings, how we nurture our self and others.<\/strong>\u00a0 How are we caring for our self? If we have a flock of dependents relying on us, are we remembering that we must tend our basic needs, first?\u00a0How do we feel?<\/em>\u00a0Cancer connects us to the watery sea of our emotions, and just as with the ocean, our emotional tide is always changing. Life flows, an unstoppable river.\u00a0The emotional residues we experience in life, from daily disappointments and stressors to larger traumas can accumulate, like silt falling to the bottom of a pool. Cancer reminds us that\u00a0to heal, we must feel. Sometimes the walls we build around us, to\u00a0keep the sadness out, to keep the pain out, can keep out the joy, too.\u00a0During Cancer season, emotional expression and release guides us to deeper healing and allows life\u00a0to more fully nourish us.<\/p>\n Along with your New Moon wishes, take a cue from Cancer and muck around in your emotions with the intention of releasing any emotional backlog.<\/strong> Claim some private space and time to honor your feelings; reflect on any self-care or heart needs you have been putting off for a rainy day. This quiet instinct\u00a0may\u00a0run counter to the Cancerian impulse\u00a0to spend time with and\u00a0care for others, but\u00a0we\u00a0need both.<\/strong>\u00a0We need the family gathering, with people\u00a0who root us and root for us, and people we enjoy caring for and healing, and we also need our own\u00a0secret\u00a0escape\u00a0–our own separate\u00a0sanctuary. This sign\u00a0is always busy creating something; there are cupboards to be cleaned, interior spaces to explore, and others’ needs to attend to… but how many\u00a0personal needs, dreams, wishes and desires have been\u00a0sacrificed on the altar of family?<\/p>\n What dream or desire, need or nagging feeling have you been putting\u00a0aside for a rainy day?<\/strong> It’s time to\u00a0listen to that small, still, voice. Where will you do this? You need a container. Safety and privacy are\u00a0essential for this most delicate inner work, and so the natural space to do this work is at home. In the kitchen, a cooking session, a cup of tea shared with your friend, the journal,\u00a0can be therapy. The dining room table can easily double as a desk for writing, or a\u00a0craft space. If you don\u2019t have a home that inspires you, feels nurturing and good inside, at this New Moon why not brighten up your haven? Right now, the domestic world has protective, healing and regenerative powers to offer you.<\/p>\n Sorrow can be sweet. Years later I still have these paintings, and the feelings that jump out of the paintings swirl with the deepening of a soul steeped in life\u2019s changes. Reflecting, I’m so glad I made a\u00a0container to honor the sacred and difficult experience of grief. Instead of having all that heavy emotion\u00a0weighing me down, the\u00a0healing waters of life found and freed\u00a0me.<\/p>\n image: The Charmer by John William Waterhouse<\/p>\n The post Cancer New Moon: Healing Sanctuary<\/a> appeared first on Moonkissd by Jessica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.” -Rumi I moved out to California, my home for almost two decades now, shortly after graduating from college and my mother’s death. San Francisco proved to be far foggier and colder than I thought. The saving grace of that first home I lived in was […]<\/p>\n The post Cancer New Moon: Healing Sanctuary<\/a> appeared first on Moonkissd by Jessica<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n