It's officially Cancer Season, Sea Witches! Are you ready to feel your feelings??

For the last month, we've been in Air sign Gemini, feeling the heavily social, changeable, and flirtatious forces of the Twins. Under Cancer, though, we may notice ourselves withdrawing a bit, and that's to be expected. 

Cancer is a Water sign, ruled by the Moon. Intuitive, protective, and nurturing, Cancer is tender but guarded, keeping vulnerable feelings inside a hard shell like its symbol the Crab, or like the armor of the figure on its corresponding Tarot card, the Chariot. 

As we move through Cancer, we will all be feeling the effects of the sign. We are intrinsically linked, all of us flung from the same spark that unfurled matter and energy into its infinite fractal clockwork. We are one with the patterns and cycles of this universe, pushed and pulled by its forces, bound by its laws, and moved by its energies. 

So, let's get in sync this season by taking some notes from our friend the Crab. Here are some tips for rolling with the tides:

 

Connect with Water

• Take a Ritual Bath

This season may challenge you with your own internal emotional life, which makes it the perfect time for ritual bathing. In a ritual bath, we allow ourselves to become one with the water, holding space for our deepest, darkest feelings, and letting them be pulled away with the water as the bath empties. Revisit our Ritual Bathing Guide for more information on how to build your own bath ritual. 

• Spend time with Laguz - ᛚ

The Elder Futhark rune associated with Cancer is Laguz. Its literal translation is "lake", but symbolically, it represents the ocean spirit, the subconscious, the realm of dreams, the astral plane, divination, memory, and the evolutionary unity of all life. You are welcome to research it further, and if you feel so inclined, to take it with you into your ritual bath.

• Bond with the moon

All water on Earth reaches out toward the moon, churning entire oceans, warping the sphere of the planet, shifting coastlines by the minute. Consider now that our bodies are 70% water. That our bodies are formed by these very cycles. How might it feel to live in harmony with the waxing and waning of the moon? Start by simply noting in your calendar the dates of the new and full moons, and take a moment to write about your emotional state around those times. In the future, you'll be able to look back and start to see patterns.

• Make moonwater

The full moon is a prime time to perform any spiritual ritual, magic, or manifestation. You may wish to harness a bit of this energy by leaving water out overnight under a full moon. Label it by date or zodiac sign, and keep it for any occasions in the future you may wish you call upon the specific properties of that sign. 

• Steep healing plants into tea

The element of the season, again, is WATER! Water is always a powerful conduit, but using water with intention while we are influenced by a Water sign offers extra potency. 

• Find nearby water with Google maps and go

Open up Google maps and look for blue spots and lines around where you live. Zoom in on them to see if they have names, then search the web for more info on those locations, and choose one for yourself. Take yourself on an adventure, a journey to water, and then put your toes in it for a while. 

• Paint with Watercolor

It's not just a word association! Cancer loves nostalgia, relics of the past, and rejoices in connecting with heritage and traditions. Watercolor is an old and classic form of painting, which is right up Cancer's alley. It's also inexpensive, highly mobile, and the paints can even be made from gathered plant materials. 

 

Nurture the Sacral Chakra

• Embrace the color orange

The chakra associated with Cancer is the Sacral Chakra, and its corresponding color is orange. You may wish to add the color orange into your daily life this season to help open up this chakra. You can wear it, eat it, drink it, paint with it, or even visualize it as you meditate.

• Utilize these plants

Ylang Ylang, bergamot, patchouli, orange, rose. 

• Move!

Your Sacral Chakra, or Svadhisthana, is located just below your navel, and is the center for your sensual, sexual, emotional, and creative energies. The best way to open it is to physically move your hips. So put on music and let your body move! Stretch! Try some yoga poses, or SWIM! 

• Process emotions

An unbalanced or blocked Sacral chakra can manifest in blocked emotions. You can nurture this chakra by intentionally opening up, either in therapy, with journaling, in a ritual bath, or even just by talking earnestly with a friend. 

 

Do This on the Strawberry Moon

Everything about this week compels us to take a ritual bath. We've made the shift from Air to Water, and we're now under the influence of a sign ruled by the Moon, steeped in tidal emotions. Not only that, but on Thursday we will be blessed by the glow of the full Strawberry Moon.

(If it's hot where you are, there's no reason a bath must be hot!)

Conserve water by reserving your ritual baths for special occasions like new and full moons, or whatever days you can comfortably set aside for yourself. Remember, you can always make moon water on the full moon and add it to your bath at any other time of the month!

Now go feel your feelings, Sea Witches.

P.S. Did you know we've curated a gift bundle for each zodiac sign? They make PERFECT birthday presents, or any-time presents that feel a bit more personal. They're also great seasonal gifts for yourself as we all move through the zodiac together! Check out the Cancer Season Gift Set here.