As the first Full Moon of 2025 rises in the tender and intuitive sign of Cancer, it illuminates the night sky with a powerful call to nurture, release, and reconnect with our emotional roots. As the Moon lands in the 23rd degree of its watery home at 2:25pm PST/5:25 pm EST on January 13, 2025, it invites us to lean into vulnerability, honor our feelings, and create space for deep inner healing.
Conjunct Mars retrograde and in harmonious aspect to Uranus, Neptune, and the [newly shifted] Lunar nodes in Pisces and Virgo, this lunation asks that we refocus our energy on finding security within and re-aligning ourselves to our sacred path.
Full Moons are always moments of culmination and reflection. They shine a spotlight on what has been growing within us and encourage us to find balance in the polarity of the signs that the Sun & Moon occupy.
In the watery, emotional sign of Cancer, this lunation carries themes of home, family, self-care, and emotional nourishment. Cancer is the sign of the Divine Mother, offering us the gift of holding space for our most authentic selves to be seen, heard, and loved. It’s a call to return back home to ourselves and the sacred practices and rituals that allow us to feel secure within.
At the same time, the Sun in Capricorn opposes the Moon, reminding us to balance the nurturing energy of Cancer with Capricorn’s discipline and responsibility. This polarity asks: How can we create a structure in our lives that supports our emotional needs? Where can we find harmony between ambition and rest, or between care for others and care for ourselves? Have we been living in the shadow expression of either of these signs? For Cancer, this can show up as overgiving to others to feel needed; while for Capricorn - this can mean being overly focused on our ambitions and responsibilities and refusing to accept help or admit we need others.
Moon Conjunct Mars Retrograde in Cancer
The Moon’s conjunction with Mars retrograde in Cancer adds an intense emotional undercurrent to this lunation. Mars retrograde slows down impulsive actions and encourages us to reassess how we assert ourselves emotionally. Old frustrations or unresolved conflicts may resurface, offering an opportunity to approach them with care and sensitivity. This aspect challenges us to channel our emotional energy constructively, finding healthy ways to express anger, passion, or protective instincts.
In the sign of the crab, the Moon and Mars may illuminate ways we have built hard shells or protective mechanisms to keep ourselves from experiencing emotional pain. It’s likely that these mechanisms have originated early in life - and this lunation may be bringing them to the forefront to illustrate how they may or may not be serving us in obtaining the intimacy we crave.
The Mars retrograde cycle began on October 4th 2024 and it will leave its post-retrograde shadow on May 2 2025. This once-in-a-two-year cycle is an opportunity to reassess how we take action on our desires and what we give our energy to. Mars recently re-entered Cancer after stationing retrograde in Leo on Dec 6th. During its journey through Cancer, it is drawing attention to long-buried emotions and past hurts - asking us to look at them and use the fire of Mars to move this energy, clearing space for new beginnings. Once Mars stations direct in Leo on Feb 23rd, we’ll be encouraged to use this journey as creative fuel into the spring of 2025.