THE 2018 CANCER WANING MOON WANTS YOU TO FIGHT FOR YOUR FEELINGS

As Venus prepares to travel retrograde, the 2018 Cancer Waning Moon marks a powerful moment to integrate our feminine and masculine, and embrace the fierceness in putting our feelings first, says Jennifer Racioppi
2018 cancer waning moon jennifer racioppi ruby warrington the numinous material girl mystical world timothy paul smith
Photo: Timothy Paul Smith

Waning Quarter Moon / October 2 2018 / 5:45am EST / 9 degrees Cancer

The 2018 Cancer Waning Moon invites a poignant pause. With Venus moving towards her retrograde station and descent into the darkness, the Cancer Waning Moon asks everyone, regardless of their gender orientation, to adopt the feminine qualities within.

This can be an aggressive position for Venus when she embraces her warrior aspects, and this Moon’s relationship to Venus profoundly amplifies our powers of intuition, empathy, and feminine moxy. As we prepare for her retrograde journey by surrendering what is no longer aligned, feminine values and voices will rise … 

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//The Cycle//
The Waning Quarter Moon falls at the halfway point between the recent Harvest Aries Full Moon and the upcoming Libra New Moon. This halfway point asks us to actively release our blocks to success. What’s standing between you and the fruition of your most heartfelt intentions and goals? Consider what you can let go of, and burn it, baby.

From a long-term perspective, this Waning Quarter Moon brings intentions set with the Cancer New Moon on July 4, 2016, to fruition. What are you cultivating in your life now that relates to what you hoped and prayed for on the New Moon in July 2016?

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//The Transits//
This Moon occurs just three days before Venus, the planet of love and beauty, stations retrograde. Venus will travel retrograde from October 5th- November 16th. Unlike Mercury, who goes retrograde 2-4 times per year, Venus only travels retrograde once every 18 months. As one of the most potent transits of 2018, this brings with it strong and necessary medicine. Her retrograde periods support realignment with feminine values.

This Waning Cancer Moon forms a perfect manifestation trine to Venus at the degree of her station, 10 degrees of Scorpio. The water trine deepens emotional introspection, and supports inner alignment in preparation for the upcoming retrograde cycle. And with Mars simultaneously clearing his retrograde shadow (finally) at 6 degrees of Aquarius, he makes an air trine to the Libra Sun.

This combination offers us profound resources that we can use to harmonize the masculine and feminine, both within ourselves and for the collective. 

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//The Square//
This cardinal square between the Libra Sun and Cancer Moon instigates an in-depth look at personal values. Fairness (Libra) squares safety and security (Cancer). As you prep for both the Venus retrograde station, and October 8th’s Libra New Moon, let the cardinal focus empower you to stand strong in your values. Now is not the time to let old limiting beliefs and insecurities stand in your way.

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//The Opportunity//
This Waning Quarter Moon amplifies feminine prowess. The Sun in Libra, who is ruled by Venus, prepares us for Venus’ descent into her underworld. Venus, who represents love and beauty has two sides— she the goddess of love and the goddess of war. The feminine, after all, protects what she loves.

We can expect this lunar moment to elicit deep emotional connection. Use it to your advantage. Prepare yourself for the upcoming Venus station and Libra New Moon by standing up and fighting for what YOU believe!

For more Moon wisdom, or to book a coaching session with Jennifer visit Jenniferracioppi.com.

VIRGO SEASON 2018: WORK YOUR PERSONAL MAGIC

Virgo Season 2018 will teach us the meaning of hard-earned, earthy worth. Bess Matassa introduces the key aspects of the season … PLUS Numinous resident astrologers Bess and Sandy go deeper on the themes in our all new Astrocast podcast

The Numinous Virgo Season 2018 Bess Matassa
Photo: Lorraine Steriopol

Step into the witchy sanctuary of your inner knowing. Virgo Season 2018 invites you to move to the rhythm of a more private dance, and wed yourself to an unshakable code that gives nothing away for free. It’s a subtle, soft-lit season for exploring your most elemental self, for divining your personal emotional weather patterns, and for rising to meet the moment with whatever resources you have on hand.

With Saturn and Mars stationing direct in Capricorn, and a tasty Grand Trine happening between the zodiac’s earth Goddess power trinity (Sun in Virgo, Saturn in Capricorn, and Uranus in Taurus), it’s a moment for embracing magical realism. How can you reframe the constraints and contours of the right here, right now, as the solid gold containers that support your creative liberation?

Venus also begins a slow roll through the leather and latex of intimately intense Scorpio this month, bringing a reminder that pleasure and pain don’t have to be polarized. That when we release judgement about our carnal cravings, a dose of friction can feel really good.

So plunge your hands into the rich chocolate earth, and bow at the altar of your own flesh and bones. Remember that your beautiful body is made of exactly the same stardust and precious stones that built the whole Universe, and that when the conditions are precisely right, there is magic to be mined in every moment…

Listen to the full Virgo Season 2018 report from Numinous resident astrologers Bess + Sandy HERE and get more on the season’s 4 key astro events from Bess below …

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Selfie perfume signature scent The Numinous Virgo Season 2018 Bess Matassa
Photo: @dearperfumerie

Sun and Mercury in Virgo (Sun in Virgo 8.23-9.22; Mercury in Virgo 9.5-9.21) // Signature Scents

After the over-the-top glamorama of Leo Season, Virgo Season 2018 reminds us that divinity is in the details. While Virgo’s ability to parse out and assess can sometimes come across like crystal-cut critique, in its highest octave of expression this season urges us to embrace the full range of the tastes and particularities that make us human. Explore your own distinctive essence and sport it close to the skin with a signature scent. What is it that only you can contribute to this scratch and sniff world?

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Cheap Monday dress shoulder pads The Numinous Virgo Season 2018 Bess Matassa
Dress: €35, Cheap Monday

Mars and Saturn station direct (Mars direct in Capricorn 8.27, enters Aquarius 9.10; Saturn direct in Capricorn 9.6) // Shoulder Pads

Mars and Saturn’s forward movements mark a moment of cosmic mojo, as we power up to face what frightens us and get schooled in the sweaty sweetness of the long haul. With Mars also entering Aquarius mid-month, braving your body against the bedrock of limitation will liberate future visions that are built on solid ground. Let constraint feel creatively juicy, as you play with shapes fit for ruling your personal corporate kingdom.

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The Numinous Virgo Season 2018 Bess Matassa Jayne Mansfield

Grand Earth trine between the Sun in Virgo, Saturn in Capricorn, and Uranus in Taurus (8.23-8.26) // Classic Hollywood Sirens

Virgo Season 2018 hosts a majestic meet-up between the zodiac’s luscious earth babes, and the invitation is to lotion up your life, and feed your senses with second and third helpings of everything delicious. In this energy, you have nothing to prove, so allow yourself to move more languidly through the world. Pamper yourself silly, be perpetually ready for your close-up, and channel the fine art of receiving with a nod to Classic Hollywood Sirens.

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Venus enters Scorpio (9.9) // Björk’s Human Behaviour

As Venus begins its long sojourn through the Scorpionic underworld (where it will remain until October 31st, after stationing retrograde on October 5th), we’re asked to get ripe and real about our carnal cravings and our desire for intimacy. This transit plunges beneath the surface of superficial love affairs to rock us to the red-hot magma core. Think soul-shaking, transformative partnerships, to a soundtrack of triple Scorpio Björk’s classic crash course through the human experience. Welcome to the romantic jungle.

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Read more from Bess on the styles, scents, flavors, and sounds of Virgo Season HERE.

POLITICAL CLIMATE CHANGE: A COSMIC OVERVIEW

We’re living through a time of intense political climate change, as reflected in the Cosmos. Five of our favorite mystics unpack the signs of the times…and weigh in on the way ahead. Artwork: Sammy Slabbinck

political climate change artwork by sammy slabbinck on The Numinous

Here on The Numinous, astrology is not a tool for “predicting” future events, or explaining things away while abdicating our role in shaping how our lives play out—both individually, and as a society.

Rather, we see astrology as a language of symbols that speaks to our collective human experience on Earth, offering valuable perspective and allowing us to examine the bigger picture—especially useful at times when emotions are running high, clouding our judgement and making it difficult to choose the next right course of action.

As in the case of Britain’s recent referendum to leave the EU, the shock results of which have seen a nation spiral into panic and chaos. Made all the more vertigo-inducing against a backdrop of unrelenting terrorist attacks, and an emotionally fraught US election campaign.

Last month, in an eerie foreshadowing of the central issues to Brexit, New York magazine described the Clinton-Trump race as: “kind of a civil war. It’s a referendum on the country’s feelings about inclusion, about women, people of color, and their increasing influence…how it edges out the white men who have long held an exclusive grip on power.”

In short, it’s safe to say we are living through a period of intense political climate change—as written in the current movements of the celestial bodies. Skeptical? Since the political polls leading up to the Brexit referendum were woefully misleading (echoing the last general election in the UK), the wisdom offered by our resident astrologers below—including commentary on what will be needed of us moving forward—feels as relevent as anything the political scientists have got to say…

PLUTO IN CAPRICORN by Ash Bonelli
We are in unstable times, and have been financially since 2008 when Pluto, the planet of wealth/power, moved into the structural sign of Capricorn—and the extent of financial corruption in the world began to come to light. We’re currently half way through this cycle—during which we have seen a growing divide between rich and poor with the emergence of a super-elite, as well as major differences in values between the generations. (NB. “Even eerier? The last time Pluto was in Capricorn was 1762-1778, the exact time when the U.S. was fighting for its independence from England. It was also during this transit that Thomas Jefferson sounded the rallying cry for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and helped author the U.S. Constitution.” – Ophira Edut)

SATURN SQUARE NEPTUNE by Ameila Quint
The Saturn-Neptune square, currently occurring November 2015 through September 2016, is shifting cultural philosophies on a global scale. To give you the big picture, this alignment has caused ideological clashes for centuries in a looping cycle that goes back as far as the Salem Witch Trials and the Crusades!

Saturn is in Sagittarius, the sign of foreign affairs, expatriates, and immigration—all issues at the heart of the Brexit referendum. Sagittarius also rules expansion, so we’re being called to open our hearts and minds to new ways of relating and thinking. Unfortunately, this change won’t come easy with tough Saturn in play.

On the other hand, Neptune is in Pisces, his home sign. This magnifies the energies of compassion, healing, and spirituality. It’s a call from the Universe to ask, on a societal level, what you believe and why. The Brexit referendum did just that. It’s also interesting that Saturn and Neptune are both associated with karma in their own way, because the reverberations of this vote have certainly been karmic in scope.

JUPITER TRINE PLUTO by Ophira Edut
The announcement of Brexit also coincided with the June 26 barrier-breaking Jupiter-Pluto trine, a rare meet-up between global connector Jupiter and powerhouse Pluto. Trines are generally positive and harmonious—but they can also cause things to move quickly, and this massive upheaval happened in the blink of an eye, or so it seemed.

Jupiter is an excitable, optimistic planet that can quickly overshoot its mark. The hopeful populists did not wake up the morning after Brexit economically or politically empowered, but rather, to a currency that plunged to its lowest value in 31 years overnight.

Jupiter is also the “armchair philosopher” of the cosmos, whose starry-eyed visions don’t necessarily translate into reality. Stateside, we hear echoes of Trump’s “Make America great again” slogan. Um, perspective please? If anything, Trump—with his Plutonian land grabs and abuses of power—is making America hate again. And that’s the last thing this world needs now.

MARS DIRECT by Hannah Ariel
With warrior planet Mars about to go direct in controlling Scorpio (June 30th 2016) our urge to define, defend and protect boundaries is intensified to extremes. Mars in Scorpio demands that our actions reflect our integrity—and as it resumes direct motion, what we “yes” and “no” to becomes an act of personal empowerment.

This is a period of cutting ties, creating new bonds, and ultimately realizing from whence we draw our power—and what we must do with this power once we feel we have it. Scorpio rules creation and re-creation, so there is nothing being destroyed at this time that cannot be re-created.

THE UNIVERSAL 9 YEAR by Felicia Bender
In numerology, 2016 is a Universal 9 year—the number of completion, of letting go, transition, and transformation. It is a year of surrender, in it’s truest sense—a positive, intuitive way of living, that grows we learn to develop trust.

Trust that’s needed in a time where old paradigms are crumbling, dissolving, going up in flames or coming up for serious review. We can see this everywhere, from Trumpmania, mass violence, and displaced refugees, to the spotlight on rape culture, and the Brexit referendum—to name just a few boiling points. Numerologically, this is right on time.

This is the end of a cycle, and we can’t move into the next phase without a sobering and stark look at what has been (since the cycle began in 2008—the last universal 1 year) and where we’re at. The task at hand is to then let go of all that’s no longer serving all of us. This isn’t easy. It’s terrifying. It incites anger and fear and every other possible emotion.

THE WAY AHEAD…
“We can use this Saturn/Neptune square for the overall good. We must work on building a solid foundation (Saturn) that is created from a place of justice for all (Neptune). A place where everyone has their needs met. A society where equality becomes commonplace. But it will take time, patience, respect and dedication to achieve these Neptunian dreams.” – Ash Bonelli

“Saturn rules authorities while Neptune rules visionaries, and these groups were very much square to each other in the Brexit polling results. Still, the only way to make this transit work is to find a balance. In this case, this means steadying dogma with compassion, and laws meant to protect with laws that truly heal.” – Amelia Quint

“If anything, Brexit and Donald Trump’s shocking success is exposing an inconvenient truth: Despite the gains of social policies such as marriage equality, there’s a hate-filled Orlando shooter, a Brock Turner getting a tiny slap on the wrist in the Stanford rape case, millions of scared and small-minded people who would rather tank their economy than allow a Muslim or a Mexican to cross “their” (in some cases stolen) borders. We can’t sweep this under the rug or look the other way much longer…which, while also inconvenient, is a wakeup call we can’t ignore.” – Ophira Edut

“The key? Understand that what must fall away must do so without a net, leaving behind a liminal space—a gap. Understanding that we must make friends with this vortex of uncertainty while the old is cleared and the new is being created. And despite all of our impulses otherwise, we must enter into this space with optimism and a sense of excitement, because here is the opportunity of a lifetime to create something new on a massive scale. This process is not for wimps. It’s easier to criticize and despair. Yet it’s our challenge and our charge to visualize and create a now and a future that is more evolved and humanitarian across the board.” – Felicia Bender

“Stay tuned for how this plays out, as the Sun in Cancer will come into its yearly opposition to Pluto in Capricorn July 1st, reminding us that what brings us comfort can also at times hinder out ability to grow. No matter how much is perceived to be at stake these days, the astrology of the times reminds us that it’s all for the sake of transformation.” – Hannah Ariel