Feeling Archives - the Numinous

Tips and practices to help understand and work with your Cancer Moon sign from Ash Bonelli. Artwork: Prince Lauder via Behance.net

The Moon represents the inner subconscious world that we usually only share with those we love and trust. It can show us our needs and how we care for others—and as such, our Moon sign (where the Moon falls in our birth chart) shows the style in which we express this softer side.

Work out your Moon sign, when you do you chart for free here.

The inner world of the Cancer Moon sign is a gentle, vulnerable and emotional landscape. The Moon rules the sign of Cancer so she feels quite at home in this sign making it easy to fully express her archetypal nature. When we think of the crab itself (the symbol for Cancer), we see the hard protective shell on the outside but know there is nothing but softness on the inside. A small being that carries its sanctuary on its back so it can feel at home wherever it goes.

These themes symbolize the Cancer Moon sign. You can put on a brave face, but deep down you feel EVERYTHING. You usually cry easily and really experience the emotions of any particular situation or environment you happen to be in. This Moon is very in tune with its intuition, thoughts and feelings—so much so you sometimes forget that not everything is always about you. Being sensitive is great, until it isn’t and you become resentful and hide away in your shell. There is a fine balance to be found with the Cancer Moon sign.

Taking care of others usually makes you quite happy, but when it goes unappreciated or the care isn’t returned you can get quite hurt. And so Cancer Moons are often working on expressing their needs. Working on being vocal about this is really important, as you can get so lost in taking care of others that you end up with the short end of the stick.

Fear of getting hurt is very real for you for you, mainly since being hurt in love, for example, you may feel it more deeply than others. Honestly, unless you live under a rock, you will be familiar with this pain and what it can do to you. So this is a genuine fear, but not one that should stop you from receiving love.

Often times the Cancer Moon sign is associated with the mother, and rightfully so—since both Cancer and the Moon represent this energy. But not every Cancer Moon sign wants to be a parent. The mother archetype is actually about nurturing and caring for others, offering tender love and support, and this can be applied to anything in life. Your career, your pets, your friends, your home or your hobbies. You can channel this inner need to love into anything and it will be fulfilling, just as long as you let others love you back so there is a sense of balance in your life.

Below are some suggestion to connect more to your sweet Cancer Moon sign, and make the most of its intuitive expression…

:: ACTIVE LISTENING ::
The Cancer Moon sign has a tendency to feel first when engaging with others. This can go badly if you what you intuitively pick up about someone is incorrect, which can shape the relationship in the wrong direction. You can get your feelings hurt because you feel you know what they “really meant.” But assumption is really dangerous, since it can lead to un-founded resentment which can turn into distance.

This can be easily avoided if you work on listening to what they are actually saying, rather than simply feeling into their energy. If assumption-based feelings occur take the time to ask questions to gain further insight. Use your nurturing nature to engage in a more open conversation. This way you aren’t incorrectly just reading (or rather feeling) between the lines.

:: SANCTUARY ::
All Cancer Moon signs need a place to retreat. They need a space to feel safe and secure where they can let all of their emotions out without judgement. This doesn’t need to be an entire home or apartment either. It could be one room, or even a space within a room. Maybe a meditation pillow with a small altar if this practice speaks to you.

It could also be a certain location, such as your favorite park or beach. For some it could be a place from your childhood. The Cancer Moon sign can be very nostalgic so places that awaken happy memories really warm your heart.

:: NURTURE ::
Find something to nurture in your life that isn’t another person. The need to express care is innate, but you can get burned out if this means attracting energy vampires. Needy people love the sweet lunar crab, for you will always try to help solve the problems they should be dealing with on their own. And so learn to be selective.

Finding a hobby that will reward your nurturing with feelings of worth and accomplishment is such a good idea. Think gardening, or cooking, working with animals, or becoming a beekeeper. What do you want to be good at that requires time, nurturance and patience? Find something that makes your heart feel good and you will bring some emotional balance back into your life.

:: INTUITIVE PROTECTION ::
Being that you are such an intuitive, maybe even psychically gifted person, you need to work on protecting your energy. Otherwise it’s likely people will energetically take from you until you are totally drained. This can make you feel vulnerable in an unhealthy way.

Begin by taking time each morning to visualize yourself being cleansed by white healing light. Just a simple shower before (or even during!) your regular shower. Then imagine a bubble of light surrounding you, which people can only enter into when invited by you. It can be any color that you love.

These are your mental and energetic guards for the day ahead. You could also burn some sage in your space before your start your day or make a healing spray with essential oils to mist yourself with. Anything that creates an energetic boundary between you and the world will help.

Also, be present to when you feel depleted. What was going on? Who were you around? Sometimes the best defense is creating literal space between you and the people or situations that take advantage of you.

Above all, may you find comfort in your innate ability to be vulnerable—and use it to show others the strength in letting down our guard in a world that needs it more than ever before.

Getting the most from an intuitive reading is all about learning good psychic hygiene, says Elyssa Jakim.

As a medium, a channel, and an intuitive (yes, some like to use the word “psychic”), I have received my fair share of readings. I went through a period of being obsessed with getting readings, in fact: psychic, tarot, astrology, you name it. Looking back on it, this phase helped me innumerably as a reader, but more than that, it helped me to be okay with the process of life itself. So, I talking about good “psychic hygiene,” I do not mean clearing your energy field or removing stuck spirits (we could talk about this another time) – I actually mean being a good receiver. Having good reading receiving mind will enable you to feel like the true mistress of your destiny – which of course you absolutely are.

Here are my tips for how to receive intuitive readings in a healthy and productive way:

1. Keep what works
A reading should not feel punishing. A reading should not make you feel bad about yourself. I don’t know about you, but I’ve often gone into readings, heard a lot of great stuff about where I’m at, and then heard about a few challenges. I hold on to the challenges like they’re sad, sticky glue, and forget 95% of the mostly positive stuff! So write down the 95%. Use it to create positive affirmations. Go back to it to keep you going and keep you glowing. It’s my personal belief that the messages that feel like balm to your body and soul are the ones to really listen to.

I talked to a wonderful astrologer friend after getting a reading with some thorns, some challenges. She said that a reading should be up-lifting. If there are things that dishearten you about the information received, just throw them away. There’s no need to be punish yourself with what you hear. When the hard stuff comes up, this is a message to keep doing the best you can, so go gentle. Simply creating awareness around the challenges helps to move them. When in doubt, throw it out, and hold yourself with love. It’s a brave step to even get a reading, so be proud of yourself for showing up for your growth.

2. Don’t be too literal
I once had a reading with an incredibly skilled medium that was very specific. My grandmother came through and her message was: “you need to continue your career as an actress…this healing stuff is keeping you an in igloo of isolation, it’s good for you, but it’s not your path.” I also got the name of a lover (someone I already knew) who was apparently my soul mate, and would become my partner in the next few months. So I threw myself into acting again with gusto – for the next three weeks or so. And it felt really good. But you know what, I ran out of steam. And the man didn’t come in. I tried to connect with him but it didn’t work out. This was also very hard because she had told me “he will contact you.” So my love life was on a weird hold for a few months.

Looking back, I believe that this reading was extremely important and got me to where I am now, even though the details did not come to pass. When it came to acting, I made amends with people I’d had deep wounds with. I made myself open to a passion that I’d blocked off. I also had to claim my desire to be a healer for myself, regardless of what spirit was telling me (it was the advice of a concerned grandmother after all). After this, the pursuit of acting felt less important.

And as for the man? What I learned eventually was that it wasn’t him specifically who was going to come in, but it would be him who woke something up in me and allowed me to feel my worthiness. He made me believe that I could be with an incredible man. The dream of him gave me a sense of how incredible I was, and that’s what I really needed. Vibrationally, that reading catapulted me forward into a different phase. Spirit gave me the information I needed to hear, in a format that was right for me then. I had to let go of the exact details in order to be free enough to enter this next phase. So, don’t take a reading too literally—take it as an event to catapult you into the vibration you’re ready to stand in.

3. Stay in the present
Remember when we called intuitives and tarot readers “fortune tellers?” A reader is reading your current fate – your current vibration. Thus, it’s a reading of your present, not your future. But if you make changes to your present situation, your “fortune” can and will change. That’s why it’s so hard for psychics to read timing. Plus, there really is such a thing as divine timing.

I was getting a tarot reading from a dear friend and intuitive that clarifies this principle. The first cards in the spread opened up a conversation between the two of us about my healing work. The next 30 minutes of the reading became a brainstorming session about what I offer and what I do, and places where I could feel more vibrant, and places where I could shift. This discussion was not “in the cards,” but the cards inspired this. By the time we finished this portion of the conversation, my lovely reader said “well, the other cards are not your cards any more. This reading would have ended with you being stuck. But you adjusted your vibration and now you’re on a different path.”

We literally changed my fate over the course of the reading! This is why it’s important to think of this as a reading of your present. It’s not about fortune or future telling, it’s about reading between the lines on the current page of the book of life, and then encouraging you to choose your own adventure.

4. Find the right reader
Keep in mind that whomever is reading for you is going to have a slant. No one is going to be a perfectly clear channel. So this means it’s up to you to find someone who feels as objective, open-minded and balanced to you as possible. Find someone who does the soul work him or herself. Someone who is truly “OTP” (on the path). The more worldly and open-minded a reader is, the more likely that the times their channel is a tad fuzzy around the edges (we all have our off days!), they are still going to deliver a reading choc full of wisdom and love. Spirit is always loving, always rooting for you, and always wants to scoop all of you up in compassion. Ideally, a reading and a reader should let you feel the well of love and peace that’s always available to you.

5. Be your own psychic
At the end of the day, you must be your own psychic. Everyone is born with four psychic senses (hearing, feeling, seeing, knowing), and everyone can learn to develop them. But beyond this, when you think about it, we’re all practicing our psychic skills all the time. We’re all doing our best to make choices that serve our highest and best, and hopefully the good of others too. At the end of the day, we’ve got to ask, “how much do I need to know all the answers?” and “how much room do I give myself to make mistakes?” Allowing yourself to make mistakes in your life is perhaps the best psychic hygiene you can practice. Know that you are trying your best, and that is always one hundred percent good enough. When given a tough decision: ask your body, trust yourself, and give yourself leeway to not know.

To summarize, the best way to manifest a beautiful future is to enjoy the present and all that it has to offer. So if a reading’s got you feeling down on yourself and your life, throw it away and find a way to dance or laugh or sing and enjoy the richness of life, as it is constantly unfolding around you.

Feeling

SENSITIVE SOUL: WORK WITH A CANCER MOON SIGN

5 RULES FOR GOOD PSYCHIC HYGIENE

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