Welcome to the Cancer Full Moon, the time in the lunar calendar when the spotlight is on home and family, roots and foundation. Ruled by the Moon, Cancer is a sign that has a deep memory. It has an emotional instinct to care and nurture, It supports our lives. The full moon is exact on January 13, 2025 at 5:27 pm ET, 24 degrees Cancer-Capricorn. That’s 2:27 pm Los Angeles, 10:27 pm London, 12:27 am Johannesburg (January 14), 3:57 am New Delhi, 9:27 am Sydney, and 11:27 am Auckland.
Full moons are decision points, a time when an area of our lives may demand our attention. Under the light of the full moon, we may see something that we haven’t seen before. Events of the new moon two weeks before may come to fruition. There may even be personal events to navigate.
If you recall, we had a Capricorn New Moon back on December 30, 2024. Both Capricorn and Cancer are cardinal signs. They align with the four directions and four seasons. The Cardinal signs are the four pillars of life — they hold us up. If Capricorn is maturity and responsibility, something that comes with time and hard work, then Cancer is what supports and nourishes us. It’s the very foundation of our achievements.
Cancer also reminds us of the importance of having a place to call home. And often it has us ask, “Where is home? And who is home?” As you can imagine, these questions can touch on a tender spot within, from poignant memories to a longing or a searching of a place to put down roots.
For some of us, this full moon is literally about family, from navigating a family matter to dealing with less tangible themes around a sense of family and belonging. It may be full moon to also prioritize the home and invest time in our living situation. For others, the Cancer Full Moon gets into existential questions about where home is. Or how to create time for the people, places, and experiences that really matter.
Then again, the full moon is conjunct Mars Retrograde in Cancer, a less than subtle zing to our experiences in the days around the full moon. Mars in Cancer runs hot. It can be both inspirational and impassioned as well as cranky and short tempered. There’s an instinct to rush forward, but with Mars Retrograde, we need to rework the past and take action in a way that elevates us above our usual instincts.
With a trine to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, we have an opportunity to open our hearts, to find compassion, and have a deeper sense of understanding. With a square to Chiron in Aries, this full moon may hit on a nerve, but a reminder of the knots of the past that still may be holding us back. We can use Neptune to untie them.
The full moon is also a showcase for the Lunar Nodes, recently arrived in Pisces-Virgo. The Lunar Nodes are called the Lunar Nodes for a reason … they connect us back to the Moon. As a result, there’s a lot of memory with this full moon. Our experiences ripple outward and thread back to other times in our lives and perhaps even other lives. We may also be reflecting on the past.
That said, we can’t forget that Cancer and Pisces are water signs. Water is the element that transports us to new beginnings. And that movement may be emotional. But whatever we are navigating, allow the water to carry us someplace new.