New Moon in Cancer: Ebb, Flow, Change, Grow

For this new moon, I’m serving up a witchy brew of insight

from the astrology of the moment, mixed with a generous helping

of wisdom from my life as a plant mama.

So many of the ways plants can struggle are mirrored in our own lives.

But with enough gentleness and care they thrive, and so can we.

Subscribe! Apple | Google | Pandora | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | YouTube

Mentioned:

Mind Witchery episode 106: Aries New Moon / Libra Full Moon Feat. Alejo López

Make Magic:

The keys to accessing these planty vibes are self-knowledge AND self-kindness.

Give yourself grace when thinking about the places you’re not showing up in full,

and ask what change to the situation could allow you to flourish in the way that you want to?

Transcript: New Moon in Cancer: Ebb, Flow, Change, Grow

NATALIE MILLER: Welcome to Mind Witchery. I’m your host, Natalie Miller, and I’m so glad you’re here.

Hello, my friend. Here we are, in the middle of July, somehow. I sort of can’t believe it. To me, this summer is flying by. But here we are, middle of July, and here comes a New Moon in Cancer. The New Moon in Cancer is on July 17th, Monday. I’ve subtitled the episode today “Ebb, Flow, Change, Grow.” And that really is what I want to talk about. I’ll give you a little bit of my perspective on the astrology of this New Moon, but really what I want to talk about is this ebb, flow, change, grow business.

A New Moon in Cancer is like the mooniest of moons, because Cancer is a Moon-ruled sign, and the Moon and the Sun are together in basically the Moon’s house, right? The Moon is having the Sun over. And the Moon, for me, is above all a reminder of changeability. When you are a human on the Earth watching the Moon, you see that it waxes and wanes, that sometimes it is invisible and sometimes it is so bright that it lights your way. You also notice that where it is in the sky changes, month to month, so you never—or I’ll say I never—know quite where I’m going to find the Moon, until I look for it.

The Moon makes its way around the zodiac in 28 days, so it’s shifting from sign to sign to sign to sign. And, the nodes of the Moon, the north and south node, which tell us where eclipses will be, in which signs eclipses will happen, those also shift about every 18 months. In fact, for this New Moon, the nodes have just shifted, from the Taurus-Scorpio axis, so eclipses in Taurus-Scorpio, to the Aries-Libra axis, eclipses in Aries-Libra.

So the Moon’s positionality changes, and also the changes in the Moon have measurable effects here on planet Earth. So, the gravitational pull of the Moon creates high and low tides in our oceans, and those high and low tides are always shifting and changing. There’s something to—we don’t know exactly what—but there’s something to the effect of a Full Moon on humans, also. This is fascinating. I’ve mentioned it before, but I will mention it again. The data surrounding emergency room traffic and new and full moons doesn't really show a lot of change. That is, an emergency room isn’t busier at a Full Moon. However, again and again, surveys of the people who work in and around emergency rooms show that people do believe that there is a higher emotional intensity, that like things are wilder, that emotions run higher at the time of a Full Moon.

I am certainly humble enough to say, I don’t understand how it all works, but I am definitely a believer that everything is connected, we are all connected, we aren’t separate from the Moon and its influence. So, that’s why I do these lunar episodes of Mind Witchery, and that’s why I really want to talk about this kind of key lunar feature, this ebb and flow, this change, this dynamism. That’s what I want to talk about today.

You have probably heard me say, or have read me write before—everything is always changing, and so are we. And, we are always changing, and so must everything else. I was really thinking about this a lot over the last couple of weeks, as I was doing all kinds of interior garden maintenance. I’m a huge fan of houseplants. I have more than a hundred of them, at last count. And I have them set up in basically every available window in my house.

I guess my plant motherhood kind of came into being under two influences. One was the pandemic. And I know I’m not alone in this—the pandemic had us, a lot of us, bring the outdoors inside, and gave us something that we could do to connect with life force [laughs] in a time that was so scary, and so dark. I also think my plant motherhood blossomed when my father passed away. My dad was a really avid outdoor gardener. He had multiple gardens going at all times. And when my dad died, I don’t know, it really was shortly after that, that I kind of felt this impulse to go and bring some plants into my life. So, I like to think that there’s some kind of inheritance there.

Anyway, I’ve got all of these different windows that are full of plants. And, you know, it's now 2023, so several of these window gardens have been set up for a good long while. And what I started to notice at the end of the spring is that many of my plants weren’t thriving. It’s like some of them just didn’t look as, I don’t know, lush and abundant as they had. Some of them weren’t growing as fast anymore. And some of them had sections that were brown and crispy.

I realized that though I had been kind of doing the basic go through the motions care of these plants, I wasn’t really paying close attention to what had changed for them. So, I had several plants that just needed new pots. They had grown as far as they could grow in this particular vessel, and they needed new space. They probably needed fresh dirt. Like, it was time for a new container, for them.

I had several plants that had grown kind of unevenly or haphazardly, and they really just needed some good trimming, to encourage growth that was more like bushy and less leggy, it’s called, when you get these kind of long stems that don’t have very many leaves on them.

I had other plants that, because their kind of like companion plants in the little jungles I have going inside—because their companion plants had grown in such a way, they weren’t getting the same light that they used to get, and they actually needed a whole change of window. I also hadn’t really noticed that a neighbor’s tree trimming made it so that one part of my bay window was receiving way more sunlight than it used to, in these summer months, and so a lot of my little guys that got crispy were crispy because they were just receiving so much more Sun, because of a change that happened across the street.

Okay. So, can you see the metaphor [laughs] that is building here? Can you see that metaphor coming right down the sidewalk at you? Because, you know, here it is; you know me. As I was noticing these shifts and changes in my plants, I was using the vocabulary of it, the imagery of it, the metaphor of it, to talk to my clients about how they were feeling—in their work, in their businesses, in their offers. And I think it was quite helpful to use the metaphor, and so that’s what I want to offer you for this New Moon in Cancer. I want to offer you a bunch of houseplant-inspired questions that will help you to think of yourself as an organic creature, here on this planet, with all sorts of other organic creatures, all of us always changing, all of our co-creations always changing. And we'll use these kind of plant-y metaphors to, I hope, spark some new perspective and also perhaps tap in to a feeling that is perhaps present for you, but maybe not yet understood or explored or expressed.

Okay. So, first I’d love for you to think about a root-bound plant. Have you ever seen one? You should Google. If you haven't seen one and you don’t have an image in your mind, please go find an image, because the image really will convey the feeling. So here’s your first question for the New Moon: Where, in my life, have I outgrown a situation? And according to our friend, the root-bound plant, this is how you know if you've outgrown a situation. You've run out of space, out of room, out of opportunity to expand and grow. You feel confined. That’s why I want you to Google that image of root-bound. It feels confined, tight, constricted. In which situation, which relationship, which association, which offer, which one are you constricted in?

And then finally, I find root-bound plants are so thirsty. [laughs] They are so thirsty! Because they've filled their soil with so many roots desiring water. And so where are you feeling just so—I’m going to use the word “desperate”; it’s maybe an overstatement, but I’m still going to say “desperate”—desperate for infusions of inspiration, of reasons to care. Like where are you energetically, emotionally parched? And I agree with Alejo López, who came onto the show, mm, a couple of moons ago, and he talked about how a New Moon is really not action-taking time; it’s more reflection time. And I totally agree with that. So, as you are sort of acknowledging, “This is a place I’m really root-bound,” I hope you won’t feel pressure to like—escape, or take action right away. It’s just like that noticing and honoring, of the situation as it is—that’s really the most important first step. Yeah?

Okay. So, the second plant-inspired question is: Where are you leggy? Meaning, where are you overextended? Maybe your growth has been confining you, but maybe your growth has been stretching you really thin. Yeah? Again, if you don’t know what a leggy plant looks like, have a Google, and see. These kind of skinny, tendril-y, not particularly integrated growth; that’s what leggy is. And so, where is that for you? And you'll know it by a feeling of a spread-thin-ness, a lack of integration. And plants get leggy when they are under-resourced in the light department. So, in this place that maybe you are spread thin, or that the things that you're doing don’t really feel integrated to who you are becoming or to your core purpose, also where is there growth that is under-resourced? Like, you need more light, you need more support. Maybe you need more courage, and time. Now, here’s what I do with leggy plants. Leggy plants get pruned. Yeah? I cut back what doesn't feel integrous with the rest of the plant, and I also find a place where it can have more of what it needs. Yeah? So this plant doesn't necessarily need a new container, like our root-bound friend. This plant needs focus and more support. Yeah?

Okay. One more plant-inspired question here: Where are you feeling crispy? Crispy leaves on a plant are kind of like brown around the edges. And sometimes it’s the result of not getting really good, thorough watering. Sometimes that’s what it is. Other times, it’s an issue of getting too much exposure, to the Sun. So, I’m going to say, in this metaphor, the place where you might be feeling a little crispy is the burnout place. It’s the place where you are overexposed and undernourished. It’s the place where there’s too much coming at you, and not enough nourishing you.

A crispy plant generally needs a very thorough watering. I’m like, I can’t even water you where you are, my friend, on the shelf. I need to take you into the sink, or into the bathtub. You need some deep, deep nourishment. So that’s one. And then two, the crispy plant definitely needs to be relieved of that super intense contact with the caustic, the burning, agent, and in this case, that’s the Sun.

All right, let’s make this about you. [laughs] So, in the place that you are crispy, it’s the place that you are feeling some burnout. You are feeling overexposure to caustic influence. And, I don’t know, that might be like negative energy in a friend group. That might be lack of integrity in an organization, right? It might be just drama, the caustic agent. And so, if you're feeling crispy, what is it that’s burning you? What’s the energy coming at you that is too much, too intense? And since you are a human and not a calathea [laughs], I will also say this too-much-ness, it also might be coming from within you, in the form of intense pressure that you're putting on yourself, or intense self-criticism, or intense self-doubt. Yeah? So, that might be the caustic influence. So, what’s burning you?

And then, ask your body—ask your body—what do we need to deeply restore? Like, what would be deeply nourishing? And remember, this kind of nourishment is going to require like, some effort. This is not me watering the plant where it sits; it’s me taking the plant and putting it into the sink. And so, it may be that what you really need is alone time, and you'll need to carve that out. It may be that you really need a retreat. Or, every Friday off. Or, a nice, big break between offers. Deeply nourishing, in a way that probably disrupts, a little bit, the status quo. That’s okay.

All right, so, there you have it. Reflections for the New Moon in Cancer, with a very large side order of plantiness today. [laughs] Everything is always changing, and so are you. So where are you root-bound? Where do you feel confined? Where do you need a new situation? A new job, a new partnership, a new friendship, a new relationship, a new coach? Where do you need a new situation in which to grow?

Okay. Number two, where, if anywhere, are you leggy? Where are you overextended in a way that’s not integrated? What do you need to cut or trim in order to be in more integrity? And what kind of bigger, more intense support do you need, to be able to grow in an integrated way? And then finally, and I hope for you it’s nowhere, but where are you feeling crispy? Where is there burnout? Where is there some kind of caustic energy or influence coming at you, from outside or from inside? And then, two things. One, how can you remove yourself from that situation? And two, how can you deeply nourish and replenish yourself?

I hope you will take some time over the next few days, over the weekend, to reflect on these questions, to maybe Google some of these terms—root-bound, leggy, crispy plant—and looking at the picture, just ask yourself, “Where do I feel like that? Where do I feel like that?” And I love this—and I think I offered the imagery in part to engage your senses. Like, yes, I’m speaking to your mind, and at the same time, your mind is not separate from your body. Our minds are parts of our bodies, are interwoven with our bodies. And so perhaps seeing this will give you a deeper understanding and a deeper felt sense of where you are right now.

Maybe even something will happen to you that happened for a woman in my Crucible program in May. Someone in the program asked, “When do I know when it’s time to quit my job and go all-in on my side hustle?” And I used this idea of the root-bound plant. It’s like, when your side hustle has grown to the point that it’s root-bound, like you can’t really expand any further without having more time, more attention, for it, when you need a larger container, then it’s time. And that metaphor helped this particular woman finally to create a new container for herself. And what do you know? This summer, she’s—repotting. [laughs] This summer, she’s moving out of the old paradigm that was choking off her ability to grow, and she’s created a whole new situation for herself. And I cannot wait to see her fully inhabit it, and blossom into it.

I hope the episode today and the reflections I’ve offered are helpful for you. Thanks so much for listening, as always. Bye for now.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Mind Witchery. To catch all the magic I’m offering, please subscribe to the show. Or, if you want a little bit of weekly witchiness in your inbox, sign up for my Sunday letter at MindWitchery.com. If today’s episode made you think of a friend or loved one, your sister, your neighbor, please tell them about it. We need more magic-makers in this troubled world.

Like all good things, this podcast is co-created by stellar people. Our music is by fabulous DJ, artist, and producer, Shammy Dee. Our gorgeous art is by the sorcerers at New Moon Creative. Mind Witchery is produced in conjunction with Particulate Media, K.O. Myers, Executive Producer. And I am Natalie Miller. Till next time.

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