Honoring the Sacred Feminine and Sacred Masculine

The Full Moon in Cancer, on January 3rd at 5:03 AM EST, is inviting us to heal our inner feminine and masculine. It is pointing to harmonizing these seemingly dualistic parts of ourselves, so they may dance and weave together in coherence. For it is through the joining of the two that forms the one, and it is through this union that creation is birthed.

This Full Moon sets the energies in motion for the coming year. There are some powerful aspects at play that are guiding us to release and heal wounded parts of self. These are tied to our ancestry, our relationships, and the dynamic between our own inner masculine and feminine.

Each section comes with reflective prompts you’re invited to journal and meditate on. I’ve included quite a bit of information, so pay attention to anything that stands out to you. Trust that whatever sparks a resonance in your body and heart is the energy you are most called to work with during this Full Moon in Cancer.

Full Moon in Cancer Overview

Full Moons represent a culmination of energy initiated by the previous New Moon, but also the New Moon in Cancer in July. It may be beneficial to reflect on that time and see if there is anything you are now ready to release or fully realize based on that New Moon.

Along with those dynamics, Full Moons are illuminating. They shine a light on what we are meant to see or know. This Full Moon is at 13 degrees Cancer, with the Sun in direct opposition at 13 degrees Capricorn.

The Moon is in her home sign in Cancer, and this placement intensifies the natural energetics of the Moon. This means you could experience increased emotions and heightened sensitivity, intuition, and psychic awareness. You may feel more loving and nurturing toward your family and home. These energies are amplified by Jupiter, which is conjunct the Moon at 21 degrees Cancer during this Full Moon.

Cancer also represents our ancestry, past-life lineages, and the subconscious. It symbolizes the deepest part of our psyche. Thus, it is our foundation in life that we may only be partly conscious of. Jupiter is expanding this depth and pulling our ancestral wisdom to the forefront.

Together, Jupiter and the Moon are not only opposing the Sun, but also Venus (12° Capricorn) and Mars (14° Capricorn), who are sandwiching the Sun. In astrology, the Moon, Sun, Mars, and Venus represent the major feminine-masculine polarities. With them all in tight relationships to one another, these energies are asking us to reflect on these polarities internally and externally.

Along with the opposition between these five planets, they are also all squaring Chiron and the asteroid Eris in Aries. This configuration creates a cardinal T-square, and it is here that we find the key to what this Full Moon is asking of us.

Reflective Questions:

• What was initiated for me during the New Moon in Cancer in July that feels ready for completion—emotionally, relationally, or internally?

• What was awakened within me during the previous New Moon, and what am I meant to fully realize from that time? 

• What is being illuminated in my inner world right now? What emotions feel heightened, and what might they be showing me?

Chiron T-square: Becoming a Shaman to Our Wounds

Chiron and the asteroid Eris are the focal point between the Moon + Jupiter, and the Sun, Mars, and Venus. T-squares require balanced activity, meaning we must work with the focal planets (Chiron + Eris), but not become imbalanced in their energy. As such, we are invited to consciously work with the wounds between our inner feminine and masculine.

Interestingly, this points back to the dynamics created at the start of this lunar cycle. The New Moon on December 19 was all about humanity going through an initiation, individually and collectively. This initiation was a birthing process; we are simultaneously being reborn into something new and being called to birth something of our own from within.

This act of creation requires our feminine and masculine to come into union; to work together harmoniously rather than oppose one another. Many, if not all of us, have feminine and masculine wounds both inwardly and outwardly. These not only come from our families, childhood, and experiences in this life, but also from our ancestry and past lives (Cancer).

These wounds are also held in our genetics and collective psyche, as the toxic masculine has dominated and abused the feminine for centuries. The feminine has been suppressed, and much of her wisdom and teachings have been buried and forgotten.

But there has been a stirring, set in motion years ago in the undercurrents of reality, and this stirring is rising from deep within the Earth. We are at a precious moment in our human history where we are witnessing the feminine rise once again. Sacred feminine lineages are coming back into our consciousness, reminding us of the missing half of the story of creation—the Divine Feminine.

The feminine is rising within us, and with her rising, the masculine is being healed and drawn into her magnetism. This is occurring within each of us and within the collective.

We are birthing a new humanity, but for this to occur, we must heal the wounded parts within our feminine and masculine. Through healing these parts of ourselves, we can come into Sacred Union within. It is through the Sacred Union that creation is formed—our own rebirth and what wishes to be born through us.

Because of the Moon and Jupiter in Cancer, I want to highlight ancestral and family wounding. Pay special attention to memories, dreams, triggers, and emotions surfacing at this time. These are arising for a reason, and they are calling for your inner shaman to tend to them.

Chiron reveals our deepest wounds, but he also holds the wisdom of a shaman, a wise and ancient healer. Chiron is an archetype that lives within us, guiding us to the wounds we are ready to witness, heal, and release.

A shaman is ever-connected to the Great Spirit, and it is through the guidance of their helping spirits that the shaman knows how to heal. When old wounds, patterns, or emotions arise, don’t fight them or push them away. Seek the help of the Great Spirit, your Higher Self, and/or your helping spirits. Call upon the wisdom and healing of your ancestors, and allow them to help guide you in releasing or healing these wounds.

Eris, a fierce warrior goddess, demands honesty, equality, and inclusion. She will whip up chaos and discord in the name of truth. If there are parts of yourself you are consciously or unconsciously excluding—such as parts of your feminine or masculine—she will demand their inclusion and integration.

Pay attention to any upheaval or chaos in your life, and be curious about what it may be teaching you about the parts of yourself you suppress or deny. Be careful not to get caught up in the mire, but stand in the eye of the storm, anchored to your center, and allow the truth to reveal itself.

With the dynamics of this Full Moon, Chiron and Eris are pointing to the discord and imbalance between the masculine and feminine, both inwardly and outwardly. This is a powerful moment in time in which the astrological forces at play are supporting us in healing and releasing these wounds. There may be external relationship dynamics that need tending, but most importantly, it is the relationship between your own inner feminine and masculine that holds the greatest significance.

Reflective Questions: 

• What wounds or old patterns feel most activated in me right now? What might they be showing or teaching me? How can I best tend to this part of myself? 

• What does “balanced activity” with my wounds look like, neither avoidance nor fixation?

• In what ways do I sense myself being initiated into a new chapter of being?

• What am I being asked to birth from within, even if I don’t yet know its final form?

• What family patterns or ancestral themes are asking to be acknowledged now?

• What parts of myself have I excluded in order to feel safe, accepted, or in control? What would change if I allowed all parts of myself a seat at the table?

Honoring our Inner Masculine and Feminine

In order to honor, heal, and integrate these parts of self, we must be able to recognize them. It’s also important to note that masculine/feminine isn’t strictly related to gender or biological sex. “Masculine” and “feminine” are simply ways of categorizing different threads of energy, so we can better understand them.

We all have both of them within us, though we may express one more than the other. And in truth, although we separate them, they are inseparable from each other, for there cannot be one without the other.

The masculine represents our action-oriented, “doing” self. Its qualities include willpower, assertiveness, structure, direction, containment, focus, purpose, logic, decisiveness, and rationalization.

The feminine is our receptive, “being” self. Its qualities are cyclical, rhythmic, sensual, soft, open, intuitive, nurturing, creative, irrational, emotional, loving, and interconnected. The masculine is often associated with consciousness, and the feminine with life force energy.

When there is a masculine imbalance, it may manifest as rigidity; lack of emotions or emotional sensitivity to others; coldness; need for control; trusting logic and rationalization over emotions, body wisdom, or intuition; and prioritizing achievement and busyness over rest and presence. In these individuals, there may be a sense of dullness, as if something is missing. There is typically more mind-centered than heart-centered consciousness, and they may feel disconnected from their bodies, the earth, and the life and people around them.

When there is a feminine imbalance, it may manifest as a lack of structure and boundaries; difficulty manifesting or bringing creative pursuits into reality; lack of ambition, direction, or purpose; scattered energy; becoming overwhelmed with emotions and sensations; and being passive or overly accommodating to other people’s desires.

Of course, these energies are hardly ever 50-50, and a harmonious balance between the two will look different for each of us. What’s most important is recognizing if you resonate with one or the other more. You may resonate with both in different circumstances. In recognizing where you may have a masculine or feminine imbalance, you can start to ask, “How may I bring more masculine or feminine energies forward? And how can I nurture these different parts of myself?”

There is often wounding between these two parts, and this can occur from early life experiences with our parents or guardians. If we learned early on that we could not trust the masculine (main father figure) or feminine (main mother figure), then we can have a harder time trusting these qualities within ourselves. In integrating these parts of ourselves, there is often inner child healing and loving re-parenting that must take place.

Because we live in a patriarchal society, we have been taught to value masculine qualities over feminine; logic and reason over feeling and intuition. As such, many of us have been pushed to deny our feminine and to embody more of our masculine. This can lead to burnout and stagnation, as the masculine requires the creative life force—the vitality—of the feminine in order to act and pursue its goals.

We can honor the feminine more by listening to our bodies’ wisdom, emotions, and intuition. We nourish her by giving ourselves time to simply be, as well as full freedom to express ourselves through movement, sound, and art. We can tune into the feminine outside of us by being present in nature and allowing love to unfurl in our hearts.

We can honor the masculine by bringing more structure and focus into our lives. It may look like building a safer container for the feminine to express herself. This container may be a physical space, an intention, or a time schedule. We nourish the masculine by acting on our creative inspirations and bringing our full consciousness and focus to our projects and everyday tasks.

Tune into these dynamics within, and invite them to heal and dance together in harmony. There are further supports during this Full Moon that are guiding us deeper into the wisdom of Sacred Union.

Reflective Questions: 

• How do I personally understand and express “masculine” and “feminine” energy within myself?

• Which energy feels more familiar or comfortable for me to inhabit, and why?

• Does my feminine or masculine feel out of balance? If so, do I lean more into my feminine or my masculine? 

• What did I learn about the masculine and feminine from my caregivers or early authority figures?

• What would it mean for my inner feminine and masculine to come into true union? How might my creativity, relationships, or spiritual path change if these energies worked together?

Mercury-Isis Opposition: Re-membering Our Wholeness

During this Full Moon in Cancer, Mercury (2° Capricorn) is conjunct the asteroid Juno (1° Capricorn) and Hekate (4° Capricorn). They are tightly opposing Isis (2° Cancer) and trining Mary Magdalene (2° Virgo), who is also sextile to Isis.

This aspect connects the mind and our ability to translate energetics (Mercury) with feminine archetypes who connect us with our body wisdom and healing capabilities. This configuration again points to harmonizing the masculine and feminine, for Juno represents partnership and commitment. In her highest expression, she represents devotion to the Sacred Union.

Hekate is the goddess of thresholds and initiations. She is supporting the story of death and rebirth as told in the Isis and Mary Magdalene myths.

In part of Isis’s myth, her lover, Osiris, is killed and dismembered, and his body parts are scattered across the land. With her devotion and love, Isis finds each part and, with her magic, reforms the body of Osiris. She then performs the funeral rite, and he is able to pass on to the next life.

Mary Magdalene is connected to the Isis mysteries, and in her story, she witnesses her love, Jesus Christ, being crucified. According to some beliefs, she stayed with Jesus in spirit for the three days before his resurrection. It is believed that Mary Magdalene’s presence was a key to his rising from the dead. She was the first he appeared to, and she was the first to tell the others.

Both of these stories show a masculine and feminine polarity united through love and devotion, to the point that they are one in spirit. These stories are symbolic of the transition we are collectively going through. This Full Moon is asking us to unite our polarities.

With Isis, we are reminded that there is a wisdom within that knows how to unite the scattered or suppressed parts of the self. By calling on her magic within, we can consciously magnetize our different parts back into wholeness. In doing so, we realize it is more of a re-membering of wholeness. We have never been separate; we have simply forgotten our wholeness.

Mary Magdalene supports this remembrance and devotion to our sacred awakening—our own inner resurrection of our Divine essence. Both of these stories show that when we come into wholeness, there is also a rebirth, for we are made new by this remembrance.

She also takes us into the polarity between our humanity and divinity. She is inviting us to unite these parts of ourselves, and to realize that we are both fully human and fully divine. Both can exist at the same time and in the same space.

Mercury, all the while, allows the mind to be grounded in the body (Capricorn) and to consciously translate and recognize the remembrance and unification occurring. With him in relation to these feminine archetypes, it also symbolizes union between the mind, heart, and body, so they are all working in harmony.

Reflective Questions: 

• How may I honor and integrate the parts of myself I deem “unholy?” 

• What does Sacred Union mean to me? How does the idea of Sacred Union feel in my heart? 

• What does devotion to my own Divine resurrection (or awakening) look and feel like? 

• What does wholeness mean to me? How does it feel in my body to know I am already whole? 

• How can I be a loving witness to all that I am releasing and simultaneously stepping into? 

• How would it feel in my body—and how might my life change—if my mind, heart, and body were to come into greater harmony?  

Practice Ideas

There are a few different ways you can experientially work with your inner feminine and masculine. You can play with the raw energetics and allow them to dance and weave together in that way. Or, you can work with specific archetypes to help bring these parts of self into union.

• Raw Energetics Meditation: Begin by softening, opening, and awakening your heart with your breath, sound, and intention. Then, once you feel ready, move to your womb space (it’s okay if you don’t have a physical womb; you can work with the energetics of the womb in your lower belly). Allow your body to move, giving yourself full freedom to activate this area.
  
  Move your hips and lower chakra area in circles, like you’re spiraling the energy there. If you feel called, you can move lower into your root chakra and awaken the energy there with your breath, movement, sound, visualization, and intention. You can go deeper, past your root chakra and down into the Earth. Call on the energy of the Earth to rise up through your root and all the way up to your heart. Allow the energy to move, and let the mind go. You are working with and awakening your feminine energy.
  
  Once your feminine—your body wisdom, heart, and lower chakras—feel alive and awake, transition to a place of stillness. Bring your consciousness to your third eye and crown chakra area. Stir and awaken the energy there. Open up your crown chakra, and welcome a blue light to spiral down into your crown. This is masculine energy. Bring this light down through your throat and into your heart.
  
  Allow it to dance with the feminine energy there, inviting them to become one. Stay with the energy, letting it move throughout your body naturally and intuitively. Invite the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine to heal the wounds between them, bringing them into harmony and coherence. 

• Archetypal Embodiment: You can also work with the specific archetypes mentioned in the guide, such as Mars and Venus, Chiron and Eris, and Isis, Mary Magdalene, and Mercury.
  
  Enter a meditative state, and with your intention, invite the energy of one of these archetypes to awaken within. You can use your breath, sound, visualization, and movement to invoke the energy.
  
  Perhaps for Mars, you deepen into the archetype of the warrior or masculine lover, and for Venus, the feminine lover. You can invite both to awaken and dance, communicate, or make love within you.
  
  For Chiron, you can activate your inner shaman and invite your spirit guides and ancestors to heal and clear you of what you are ready to release. For Isis and Mary Magdalene, you can call upon their energy to assist you in uniting the separate or hidden parts of yourself.

Above all, trust your intuition to guide you in what most supports you during this Full Moon, whether that’s a practice or archetype in this guide, or if it’s something else. 

This moment in time is calling for unity, to move beyond duality, and to remember that we are whole, spiritual beings having a human experience. May you enter this space of Unity Consciousness, and may your feminine and masculine come into greater harmony for your soul’s highest path forward.

With love,

Rhianna Quanstrom
Read my other works here on Substack!

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