I don’t know how to write about crying.
I’m around tears a lot of the time - my children’s, my friends’, my own - and yet it’s hard for me to find words that fully capture the experience of expelling salty water from your eyes.
It’s true that some sobs are easier to explain than others, that it’s more apparent why we’re crying when we’re hurt, we’re sad, we’re lost, we’re angry.
But then there is the other kind of crying, the kind of crying that comes when life reaches straight into our heart to turn on the waterworks. It was this kind of crying that surprised me this morning when I saw a group of children from our school getting onto a bus for their first overnight trip, their parents waiting outside with bright smiles and words of encouragement. I cried because it was such a beautifully loving moment to witness, I cried because I know that one day I’ll have this moment with my own children, I cried because the years are just passing by so damn fast.
I’m crying again now just thinking about it. And I’m crying even more as I remember how I sat writing at a coffee shop on Tuesday morning immersed in a group of new mothers breast-feeding their infants. I can still hear the sweetness of their coos, I can still sense the gentleness of their caresses, I can still feel the softness of their smiles. It hurtles me back to that time in my own life, those days when I met friends with babies and strollers and talked about all the things we were dreaming.
These sorts of tears aren’t there to respond to an upsetting event or reflect a particular emotion. They are the tears that connect us with time, the tears that wash over us with a poignant awareness of just how ephemeral life is. We cry because our children have grown, we cry because our children are growing, we cry because our children will be grown up. We cry because we are growing, too, because things are - always and inescapably - different from how they used to be.
What’s special about these tears is that I’m not crying them because I want the world to change. I don’t want to turn back the clock and erase all of the wonderful memories I share with my children, and I certainly don’t want to stop them from maturing into the magnificent adults I know they will be. I’m crying because the passage of time is bittersweet, because I am suddenly waking up to just how lucky I am to be here. I’m crying because I want to treasure this brief life I get to live, I’m crying because I want so badly to be here for all of it.
This is what it feels like for me when the Sun settles into the tender, caring embrace of Cancer. The Sun speaks to our purpose, our essence, our very reason for being. And while Cancer is notorious for nostalgia - you can even feel nostalgic for an imagined future, just like I did! - it is also renowned for its capacity to remember what this human experience on Earth is all about. So when the Sun is Cancer, we learn to shine simply by recognizing how precious life is.
Knowing that life is precious changes everything. And the Cancer Sun gives us the confidence we need to become the nourishing, inclusive and expansive beings we are meant to be. The Cancer Sun can also help us to burn away the fear that anchors us to the past - what we know - and holds us back from the generousness of possibility that awaits us in the future. The Cancer Sun knows that we are loving ourselves into existence in every second, and in its highest expression it gives us the power to welcome the heavenly world we already see, feel and live in our hearts.
The Sun enters Cancer tomorrow, where it will stay nestled until July 22. This is a potent time to nurture your life, and I’ve put together a Care Package to help you connect with the power of Cancer on the Loving Astrology learning path. It’s filled with presents (presence?) that will light up your connection with stellar energy. Cancer is here to help you move from fear-based patterns of withholding, overprotecting and emotional reactivity into a balanced, centered and loving state. Living from this place of well-being will enable you to more consciously choose what you experience, and the Care Package contains a Daily Manifestation Exercise to help you create your life with the superpowers of the stars.✨
In Loving Astrology we’ll be following the Sun around the Zodiac as it networks us into the constellations above, and here on Truth Takes Time I want to do the same. So every month when the Sun enters a new sign, I’ll share what it feels like in my heart and give you a roadmap of what our local star will encounter as it dances through the sky. This is what’s in store for the Sun in Cancer1, and here’s what it can help you connect with:
June 22: Sun square Saturn in Aries ☀️
Connect with your dedication to move through self-doubt, and commit to watering the garden of your creative intentions every single dayJune 23: Sun square Neptune in Aries ☀️
Connect with your imagination and let yourself lose enough of the story about where you came from in order to become someone newJune 24: Sun conjunct Jupiter in Cancer ☀️
Connect with your resourcefulness and draw in what you need to help you step forward into something biggerJune 25: Sun conjunct Moon (New Moon) in Cancer ☀️
Connect with your power to nurture life projects into being and notice the possibilities that lay before youJune 26: Sun sextile Mars in Virgo ☀️
Connect with your drive to refine and improve what you create, and give yourself permission to practice until it feels perfectJuly 2: Sun square Moon in Libra (1st Quarter) ☀️
Connect with your ability to consciously channel energy into goals in a way that fosters greater harmony and flow with creationJuly 10: Sun opposite Moon in Capricorn (Full) ☀️
Connect with your appreciation for all that you have worked to bring into being, and celebrate the legacy of what you leave for future generationsJuly 18: Sun square Moon in Aries (3rd Quarter) ☀️
Connect with your capacity to let go of stories, beliefs and patterns that prevent you from taking action to meet your needs
Stay sunny and enjoy the ride! ☀️☀️☀️
Love,
Patrick
PS: I’m running a free 1-hour online workshop on “Doing Business With the Moon” next Wednesday at 7:30 am East Coast/ 12:30 pm UK/ 1:30 pm Europe as part of the Humane Marketing Community Expo! Register here to join.
PPS: If this message spoke to your heart, please share it with a friend and spread the love ❤️
I’m calculating these dates using London time, and I’m looking at major astrological aspects including conjunctions, oppositions, trines, squares and sextiles. When it comes to the Sun’s relationship with the Moon, I’ve included the dates of the New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon and Third Quarter.