Tending to our Soft Center

Happy July, and Happy Cancer Season. This month, we’re turning inwards to tend to our soft centers. The start of the astrological year is marked by fiery initiation (Aries), resource gathering (Taurus), and intellectual expansion (Gemini). This outward energy finally turns inward with the beginning of cancer season, and the focus becomes our inner landscape, emotions, home life, and ancestral past. Cancer season, ruled by the Moon and the Ocean embodies the energy of reflection and introspection.

Cancer Season

Consider the vastness and mystery of the ocean. Water represents the parts of us that aren’t always visible: our intuition, our inner feelings, our shadows, and our fears. While Gemini season encouraged us to build varied connections with the new and unfamiliar, Cancer season invites us to become more deeply connected to all aspects of ourselves, even the parts that we hide underneath our protective shells. Water is also cleansing and purifying, and this season is a good time to strip away the external expectations to get in touch with your core beliefs, feelings, and identity. The task is to understand who we are without external pressures or influences.

Bodies of water, especially salt water, are our allies this season. In modern society, so many of us struggle with discerning the boundaries between our external environment and our inner landscape. We absorb and inherit most of our beliefs, customs, and norms from our families and societies. While many of our inherited and shared beliefs can be generative and affirming, Cancer season invites us to reflect, interrogate, and remove that which is not aligned with our core identity. Gentle cleansing practices help us physically and energetically wash away anything that is not in agreement with our inner selves.

Herbs for Cancer Season

Turning inward to our emotional landscape requires mental stillness. When we over-rely on our rational thinking brain, our emotional brain gets tuned out. Butterfly Pea and Lemon balm can both help quiet a restless rational mind so that we can listen more deeply to our emotional and intuitive minds. Our rational minds can be heavily influenced by external forces, like societal expectations, laws, and cultural norms. When we can access our rational and emotional minds, we can notice incongruences between what we think, what we know, how we act, how we’re expected to act, and how we feel. Lemon Balm and Butterfly Pea can also support us as we cleanse away any thought patterns or beliefs that do not agree with our inner landscape.

Bath Soak

This bath soak helps detox and nourish the skin, relax tense muscles, and promote mental stillness.