New Moon in Cancer | July 2024

We’ve been in Cancer Season for the past two weeks, and we now get to enjoy a New Moon in Cancer July 5 and 6. With the Sun and Moon sitting in Cancer, we’re given the gift of guilt-free time to nourish and comfort ourselves. It also brings forth a heightened focus on our emotions, intuition, and our soul.

Key Characteristics of Cancer

Cancer is a water sign ruled by the Moon, embodying qualities such as sensitivity, nurturance, and emotional depth. It’s a sign that governs the home, family, and our emotions. Under the influence of Cancer, we are encouraged to connect with our inner selves and prioritize emotional health and wellbeing.

Significance of the New Moon in Cancer

A New Moon is when the Sun and Moon are sitting together in the same astrological sign. We have at least one New Moon per-month as the Moon makes its way around the signs. New Moons are a great time to go inward, reflect on what’s happening currently, and set intentions to better our lives.

This New Moon in Cancer offers a powerful opportunity to realign with our emotional core and nurture the aspects of our lives that need care and attention. It’s a time to reflect on our relationships, home environment, and how we can create a nurturing space for ourselves and our loved ones. On a broad spectrum, you may experience the following during this New Moon:

  • Heightened Emotional Sensitivity: This New Moon can bring our feelings to the forefront encouraging us to acknowledge and address them. Notice what emotions you are feeling. They are usually a key to understanding something deeper within.
  • Intuitive Insights: Cancer is known to be very intuitive to help us align with our inner wisdom and our soul. Pay attention to any gut feelings or dreams that come up during this time as they can provide insights into your deeper desires.
  • Focus on Home and Family: Cancer values home and family, and this New Moon brings an opportunity to set intentions surrounding your home and family life. You could potentially use this time to ensure your home environment is supportive for your emotional well-being. Consider ways to create a sanctuary for yourself and your family that fosters peace and comfort.

Harnessing the Energy of the New Moon

New Moons are a great time to set intentions. To help set an intention for this New Moon in particular, ask yourself what you want to nurture in your life. Maybe you want to nurture yourself more, your family, your relationships, or something else entirely. You don’t need to get super specific. Remember, intentions are not goals. Intentions should focus on an energy or feeling that you are wanting to cultivate – so keep them broad. Though if you feel called to set goals, no one is stopping you. In this sense, what are some intentions you can set surrounding the idea of this nurturing and caring energy?

I would also encourage you to tune into your soul’s desires. I’ve seen people say Cancer rules the heart. Technically speaking, Cancer rules the stomach and the breasts, not the physical heart of the body (that’s Leo). But it does rule our inner most desires – which you could call our soul’s desires. This is because Cancer, ruled by the Moon, has governance over our emotional body, and our emotions tend to be a key to what we’re wanting and desiring in our life. So what is it you truly want? What are you desiring right now? If you aren’t sure, then pay extra attention to your emotions. They will help guide you over time, even if you don’t get a concrete answer right away.

Other Energies Influencing this New Moon

Saturn, the planet of discipline, structure, and stability, is in a trine to this New Moon. A trine is considered a harmonious aspect, one that brings ease and support between planetary energies. With Saturn trining this New Moon, you can expect our emotions to be grounded and more stabilized, allowing us to navigate our feelings with greater ease and maturity. It can also help us become more disciplined regarding any intentions we set on this New Moon.

We’ve also got Venus sitting nearby the Sun and Moon, adding more focus on relationships, aesthetic appreciation, and a desire for emotional harmony. We are likely to feel more loving, compassionate, and inclined towards nurturing connections with others. On the flip side though, this could intensify any emotions surfacing this week.

How to Work with this New Moon

You should hopefully have a good idea of how this New Moon will feel, so how, exactly, do you work with it? Technically, you don’t have to “do” anything if you don’t want to. But if you want to harness this energy a little deeper, here are a few things that could help:

  • Create a sanctuary in your home: Where in your home can you create a comforting space that you can meditate, journal, or simply unwind? It could be a corner in your bedroom, your backyard, your closet, or even your bathroom. Do what you can to bring comfort to that place by placing comforting objects such as candles, crystals, pictures of ancestors or family, or plants to help enhance a nurturing energy.
  • Self-Care Rituals: What can you do to take care of you first? Since Cancer is a very nurturing energy, Cancers can get into the bad habit of putting everyone else first before themselves. But the higher energy of Cancer is learning that you can’t nurture others unless you nurture yourself first. So what activities can you participate in that promotes emotional and physical wellbeing for yourself? This could include a soothing bath, a sauna, practicing yoga, spending time in nature, or even just taking a nap. Allow yourself time for self-care the next few days to help you recharge.
  • Connect with Loved Ones: As stated before, Cancer values home and family life, so finding time to spend with family over the next few days would be ideal for this New Moon. Even if you can’t spend time with them physically, just reaching out to them via phone or FaceTime will do the trick. Invest time in nurturing these relationships. And remember, family doesn’t have to mean your blood family.
  • Watch Inside Out 2: This is not only one of those feel good movies, but it’s such a great movie in understanding how our emotions work. Seriously, kudos to Pixar. And a Cancer New Moon is a perfect time to watch it!
  • Move your body: Ok, this one will always end up on the list, but when it comes to an emotional moon such as this one, movement is key. Movement in water would be most beneficial (think swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking, etc.), but if you don’t have access to those things then any movement will do. Take a workout class, go for a walk, dance, anything to help you move!
  • Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate: Similar to moving your body, this will also always be on the list, but with a double water moon, making sure you’re drinking plenty of water and staying hydrated will keep you and your body well balanced.
  • Take a bath or long shower: Since Cancer is a water sign, connecting with water would be beneficial. If you have a bathtub, make yourself a luxurious bubble bath. If you’re more of a shower person, enjoy a little extra time under the spray.
  • Cry: If emotions are too much, full permission to cry it out. Also, you don’t need a reason to cry. If you feel like it, do it. Crying is a release for the body and will help you in the long run.

If you want to get more specific…

Here’s the great thing about astrology: you can make it personalized to YOU. Though we all can feel the broader aspects of this Moon that were mentioned above, seeing how this Moon is affecting you and your chart can give you a greater understanding of what’s coming up for you and how you can specifically work with the energy.

Check your Rising sign below to get an idea of where in your life you could feel the energies of this New Moon. If you don’t know your Rising Sign, you can check it on various astrology sites such as Cafe Astrology. All you need is your birthdate, exact birth time, and birth location. Your birth time and birth location is important in determining your Rising Sign, so check your birth certificate if you don’t know it by heart. If you don’t have your birth certificate, call your Mom to find out! No better Moon to ask than this one. And if you don’t have that option, then there are other ways to find out through some research and digging to get your birth certificate. There are also astrologers out there that specialize in determining your Rising Sign (called chart rectification). Sadly, I am not trained in that, but some Google Searching could give you some direction.

Aries Rising: Focus on Home and Family

This New Moon encourages you to invest time and energy into your home and family life. With a double Cancer Moon hitting your 4th house (the house Cancer naturally rules), it’s an excellent period for making improvements to your living space and strengthening familial bonds. Since this is also occurring at the bottom of your chart, you may feel inclined to cozy up at home and treat yourself to some self-care instead of being out and about.

Taurus Rising: Communication and Learning

This may be a great time for you to reconnect with siblings or close friends. If you’re feeling more introspective, then take some time to focus on learning new skills or improving your communication style. Notice how your emotions affect your communication and vice versa.

Gemini Rising: Values, Self-Worth, Financial Matters

The New Moon highlights your financial sector, making it an ideal time to set new intentions around your financial goals, budget, or income sources. When setting intentions, consider what emotions are coming up around your finances. If you don’t feel called to focus on your finances, then maybe this is a time to focus on your values and sense of self-worth. How do you feel about yourself? Are you aligned with your values? If not, consider taking time to determine what you truly value.

Cancer Rising: Personal Growth

With the New Moon near your Rising Sign, it’s a powerful time for personal reinvention. Focus on self-care, set new personal intentions, and embrace changes that lead to growth and self-improvement.

Leo Rising: Spiritual Retreat

This New Moon encourages you to take a step back and focus on your inner world. It’s an excellent time for meditation, introspection, and healing past wounds. Prioritize your mental and emotional health. Take notice of what is surfacing for you to heal.

Virgo Rising: Community and Friends

This New Moon is highlighting the area of your life surrounding your social circle and community involvement. This is a great time to set intentions related to friendships, join new groups, or contribute to community projects. Let your emotions guide you to the groups and projects you feel good about participating in.

Libra Rising: Career and Ambitions

This New Moon brings attention to your career and public life. Take time to set intentions surrounding your professional goals, seek opportunities for advancement, and align your career path with your personal values.

Scorpio Rising: Higher Learning, Beliefs, and Travel

This is a time for expanding your horizons. Whether through travel, education, or spiritual pursuits, look for ways to broaden your knowledge and understanding of the world.

Sagittarius Rising: Deep Transformation

This New Moon highlights transformation and shared resources. It’s a good time to focus on intimate relationships, joint ventures, and personal transformation through introspection and letting go of past issues. Use the Double Cancer energy to feel into your feelings to allow old emotions and past trauma to heal.

Capricorn Rising: Relationships & Partnerships

Focus on your relationships and partnerships this New Moon. Set intentions to improve your interactions, resolve conflicts, and build stronger, more supportive connections with others. Any emotions coming up for during this time are more than likely related to the relationships in your life, so take notice of what is happening around you the next few days when you’re with others.

Aquarius Rising: Health and Routine

This New Moon encourages you to pay attention to your daily routines and health. It’s a great time to establish new habits, focus on wellness, and create a balanced work-life schedule. With double Cancer energy here, it’s even more worthwhile to focus on your emotional health during this time, especially since your Aquarius energy tends to dissociate from emotions.

Pisces Rising: Creativity and Romance

Focus on your creative pursuits and romantic relationships. This is an ideal time to start new artistic projects, enjoy hobbies, and deepen your connection with loved ones. Let your emotions guide you to what you enjoy.