Inner Cancer - Creating a Space for Your Truth

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #106 - June 20, 2005

Happy Summer Solstice! Today is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day in the Southern Hemisphere. At each Solstice the energy of the planet shifts. Up North the days become shorter, marking the yearly shift from active yang energy to receptive yin energy. Down South the days become longer, marking the yearly shift from receptive yin to active yang. Lunar energies begin to dominate in the North. Solar energies increase their influence in the South.

At each Solstice and spring and fall Equinox, our bodies are impacted by the earth changes. We can feel more tired or as if we are cleansing. If you don't feel your normal active self, just relax and let your body adapt. Pushing yourself during these times is counter-productive. Surrendering to the rhythms of Mother Nature is your best strategy.

Moon Events

The Sun moves into the Mother's womb just before midnight June 20th at 11:46pm PDT (June 21st at 06:46am GMT).

There are two Full Moons in Capricorn! The First Full Moon is June 21st 9:14pm PDT at 0° Cancer and Capricorn (June 22nd at 4:14am GMT).

The Second Full Moon in Capricorn is July 21st at 28° Cancer and Capricorn, 4:01pm PDT (11:01pm GMT).

The Cancer New Moon is July 6th at 5:03am PDT (12:03pm GMT).

Relating to Our Emotions

At the end of our San Diego Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training course, we were evaluating our successes in terms of our astrological signs. What is a Cancer success? A major Cancer success would be to be less emotionally reactive to situations - to be able to feel our emotions, but not let them throw us off balance. Actually we don't have to be a Cancer to relish the power and pleasure of being able to be present to the flow of our emotions, without having them pull us into experiential spaces, that sabotage our peace of mind and our emotional cool.

Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is an emotional sign. Cancer is all Yin. The water signs are the most feminine signs of the Zodiac. Cancer is the first water sign. Associated with the fourth house, its home is at the lowest, most inner part of our birth chart.

Our emotional Moon energy usually defies direct understanding and immediate interpretation. Being a Cancer myself, I find that it takes a long time to access the meaning behind what I am feeling. I am aware I am feeling something, but it may take hours, days or even weeks for the message to come to the surface of my consciousness. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Deep emotional energy connects us to the authentic richness of our soul. It is critical, however, to know how to relate to this type of energy in a soulful, non-emotional manner.

Awareness and patience are required. The more we are mindful of our emotional energy, the more it relaxes. The more attentive we are to HOW our emotional energy operates, the easier it is to understand its messages. The more patient we are, the more accurate the information. When we are impatient and demanding, emotional energy hides out in our unconscious and accumulates as fear, sadness or anger in the subconscious. Emotions absolutely must be treated with care and kindness.

We relate to our minds through words and thoughts. We speak to our minds, but mental talking is not the appropriate way to communicate with our emotions. We FEEL our emotions. We ALLOW our emotions. We LOVE our emotions. If we communicate with our emotions with anger and fear, our emotions compute intimidation. Our message is received as some form of disapproval. Our emotions need approval. It is our MODE and our MOOD which impact emotions negatively or positively. To relate to or change our emotions, we have to interact from a compassionate heart.

The Cancer/Capricorn Sky

Saturn completes its two year tour through the sensitive womb of Cancer on the 16th of July. Both the two Capricorn Full Moons and the Cancer New Moon this month provide the energy to assess and consolidate our Cancerean successes. Our progress, of course, is never the end of the road. Each step simply, yet powerfully, moves us forward. The Cancer Sun supports us in proceeding gently and lovingly on our inward journey.

Saturn shows us where we imprison ourselves, where we create limits and fall into ruts. The extent to which we confront our self-imposed limitations, and take responsibility for creating our own reality, is an important measure of our willingness to be sincere and authentic. When we can live in integrity with ourselves, we can create from love rather than fear. When we can create from love, we can drink from the nurturing Infinite waters, and enjoy the sweetness of our soul.

While the Sun is in Cancer our journey is personal and private. It is time to open our awareness to the subtle energies of the mystery and magic of the sacred feminine. Use these four weeks to get in touch with and nurture your inner space, where you connect with the Universal Mother, and the Cosmic Womb from which all creation is born. Those in the Southern Hemisphere will have the advantage of the winter season, which supports inner work.

Both Capricorn and Cancer are feminine, receptive energies. The yin receives. Are the information, food and energy that you are ingesting bringing you health, happiness and aliveness? Or are you taking in harmful, toxic and numbing substances?(1) Yin energies make it possible to attune ourselves to the power and messages of our feelings and emotions. The more we do so, the more we can discriminate between what serves us and what sabotages us. The more we follow our inner wisdom, the more we claim the power of our soul.

The more profound our inner connection, the more energy we have for outer successes. The inner feminine and outer masculine must not only be balanced; they both must be authentically expressed. When the feminine is denied, misunderstood or suppressed, the expression of the masculine is equally limited and distorted.(2)

Kundalini Yoga - Sound Penetrates Emotions

Mental, verbal communication is illusive and inaccessible to the emotions. Sound itself, however, speaks to the emotions. Chanting divine mantras is a very effective way to relate to our emotional body. It is actually an advantage that our rational mind does not compute the meaning of the mantra sounds. When we can bypass the rational mind, we can move into direct relationship with our emotional energy.

Our emotional body defines the quality of our space. The quality of our space determines what and how we manifest. That is why we can repeat affirmations forever and not change a thing. That is also why we can speak the truth resonating in divine mantras and still not be able to act from that truth. To be able to act from our truth, our mind and emotions have to be aligned and congruent. We have to feel the vibration of the mantras in our physical body to impact the emotional body. We have to chant with heartfelt feelings, not just mental intention.

It is the emotional intensity, awareness and engagement that penetrates the emotional body, and causes a shift in emotional programming. There are many musical versions of mantra meditations. The important thing is to choose a version that lights your emotional fire. It is the activation of the emotional fire that creates deep transformation. It is through our emotional body that we touch our soul.

Creating Your Inner Space

We open our inner space in our mind. We color our inner space with our emotions. We expand our space with our heart. This all sounds good, but how do we clear the thoughts and the confusion enough, to create a space that both supports us and that we can enjoy? The practice of Kundalini Yoga is a powerful tool for aligning our physical, mental and emotional bodies. Mantra meditation infuses our space with attributes of the Infinite. Gong meditation, i.e. listening to the sound of the gong (3) is a powerful tool for dispersing thoughts, nurturing the emotions and opening the space for the mind, body and emotions to vibrate as one.

It is wonderful to listen to the gong, Tibetean bowls, or the pure sound of other soothing instruments at the end of your Kundalini Yoga practice and meditation. Let yourself be absorbed into the purity of the sounds. When the actual performance or the gong CD is finished, sit silently, and simply listen and feel the vibration in your physical and emotional bodies. Use the special moments after each exercise and meditation, and at the end of your practice, to savor your space. Enjoy it. Then consolidate your space by being present to every sensation in your awareness all at once.

Creating our inner space is an on-going aspect of life. Our inner space is what makes it possible to feel stable, whole and content. While the Sun shines in Cancer, cultivate and hold a sacred space for your truth. From the space of your truth, let your life effortlessly and lovingly flow.

References and Footnotes

"Capricorn Full Moon June 21-22, Cancer New Moon July 6, Capricorn Full Moon July 21", Stephanie Austin, The Mountain Astrologer, #121 June/July 2005, pp. 102-4.

1. Austin p. 102.
2. Austin p. 102.
3. Yogi Bhajan's wonderful gong CD is available from Yoga Technology - Gong - The Nucleus of Sound.

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