What the Cancer New Moon Means for Each Rising Sign

The Cancer New Moon calls you back to what feels essential: your home, your roots, and the soft undercurrent of your emotions. It’s a reset point that helps you tune out the static and reconnect with what makes you feel secure. This is the moment to set intentions that nurture you and to lay down the groundwork for quiet resilience and deeper self-honesty.

Here’s what it means for each of the Rising Signs and the house it is activating:

ARIES (4th): Your roots are calling. Dust off old photo albums and plant new intentions in the soil of home, family, and emotional safety.

TAURUS (3rd): The way you speak, write, and reach out is due for a warm refresh. Start the conversations that have been lingering behind your teeth.

GEMINI (2nd): Money doesn’t grow on trees, but new values do. Reassess what’s worth your time, your energy, and your hard-earned cash.

CANCER (1st): You’re molting. Let the version of you that’s too tight fall away. A new self is emerging with more feeling and more fight.

LEO (12th): Pull the blinds, shut the door, and listen inward. This moon is a balm for old bruises, quiet work, and spiritual recharging.

VIRGO (11th): Plant intentions that ripple outward — toward friendships, collaborations, and longhaul dreams. Your people are part of your purpose.

LIBRA (10th): Something public is shifting. Whether it’s a promotion, a pivot, or a deeper commitment to your calling, show up with care and conviction.

SCORPIO (9th): What you believe shapes where you go. It’s time to rewrite the story, stretch the borders, and follow the pull of curiosity.

SAGITTARIUS (8th): Your underworld could use a sweep. Dive into your fears, your debts, your trust issues — what you compost now will feed your growth later.

CAPRICORN (7th): You’re being asked to soften in love. The mirror of relationship is polished and ready — what do you want to see reflected?

AQUARIUS (6th): Start small. Refresh your habits, clean out the fridge, walk the long way to clarity. Your rituals hold quiet revolution.

PISCES (5th): Romance, creativity, play — all things you’re good at, but now’s the time to take them seriously. Make something just because it matters to your heart.

Every month I release a printable calendar + planner specific to the current year’s Cancer New Moon — check it out here.

Venus Retrograde Explained by a Silversmith

Jewelry and love are more connected than we usually admit. Sure, it’s obvious when you look at engagement rings, heirlooms, or gifts etched with a date. But even the simplest adornment can be an act of affection. When you pick something that goes beyond what’s necessary, you’re adding to the story you tell about yourself. And inviting connection through it.

Of course, love nor jewelry are an essential part of human life; we can exist without them. Yet most of us choose to add beauty in some form, despite it being frivolous. We hold on to pieces of jewelry from folks long gone, even though there’s an even mix of joy and grief attached. Jewelry is just one metaphor for love. In my classes, people often show me their favorite pieces of jewelry and are sheepish about how lived-in they look. They show me bent rings and bracelets followed by some version of “but I love it so much that I never take it off.” It’s all part of the character that makes life interesting. I try to bring myself back to these thoughts on days/weeks/months when art (or love, for that matter) seem impractical.

As some of you may already know, Venus, the planet of love, beauty, and value (arguably all things jewelry), is retrograde in the part of the sky corresponding to the sign of Leo. Venus is the planet that retrogrades (appears to move backward in the sky) the least. It occurs every 18 months or so and repeats in the same sign every 8 years. It lasts for about 40 days and nights. Many people find recurring themes within those cycles. Often dreaded, retrogrades are best used as a time to think about the themes of the planet and sign. It also hits a different part of an individual’s life depending on their time of birth. (To find out where that is for you, plug your birth time info into a natal chart calculator.

Reflect on your value, decide what love looks like, assess your finances, try out some accessories. Or buy your self or your sweetheart a piece of jewelry. (Maybe I’m biased!)

If you want to dig deeper on the idea of mixing astrology with jewelry, check out what I have to offer.

Born During Mercury Retrograde? 3 Tips to Thrive

Mercury Retrograde is the butt of so many astrology jokes. It has become everyone’s favorite scapegoat, but what can you do if you were born during one of these frantic time periods?

The technical term for this is natal mercury retrograde and it’s not that uncommon. Mercury “retrogrades” about 3 times per year for a couple weeks each time so chances aren’t that slim that this could be a placement you have. Does it mean you’re doomed?

Nope. Nothing in the stars does. It simply shows you where you have a bit of work to do.

I have this occurrence in my own chart so I’m going to go through what it means and some of the ways I’ve coped in my 30-some years. Keep in mind that everyone has a different chart with different placements as well as a different set of circumstances growing up. Take the advice that resonates with you and leave the rest!

When a planet is retrograde, it simply means it appears to be traveling backwards in the sky. In astrology that might mean that planet’s influence is muted or changed in some way. If your interest in astrology is budding, you might look at someone’s chart with mercury retrograde and say they’re bad at communicating. While this could be true, it isn’t always.

For example, I have Mercury retrograde in Pisces (arguably Mercury’s least favorite place to be). I’m much more eloquent when I write than when I speak. The more important my words are, the more I like to edit them in my brain first. I’ll practice an important conversation in my head over and over until I’m confident enough to spit it out of my mouth. And usually, it doesn’t go as planned. If at all possible I’ll choose text form, but sometimes that’s not appropriate. Eventually I figured out (and admitted) that, even though I’m super laid back, I wasn’t as great of a communicator as I thought. It takes practice and effort to improve but it’s not impossible. It’s just an aspect of my life (and my chart) where I have to work harder.

Having Mercury retrograde in your chart often means that communication doesn’t come naturally or you have a very specific way of communicating that works for you. To break out of that box, you have to push yourself.

Research How Your Specific Mercury Placement Plays Out

You can google “birth chart” and if you have the time, date, and location of your birth you can get a lot of astrological details about yourself. I prefer astro.com, but use whatever works for you. Now, even if astrology is total bullshit, you can still glean useful prompts for self-evaluating.

Some factors that will effect your Mercury are:

Sign (which of the 12 signs it’s in)

House Placement (which of the 12 sections of your chart it’s in)

Aspects to Other Planets (which mathematical angles it’s making to other planets in your chart)

Review my article on How to Look at a Birth Chart if you need to..

There are so many combinations that it takes years of study to go into great detail, but let me give you a starting point.

If your Mercury is retrograde in a Fire sign (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) you may lash out with too harsh of a reply when you aren’t given enough time to sort out your thoughts.

If your Mercury is retrograde in an Earth sign (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) you could possibly refrain from saying too much for fear of your words not being quite right yet.

If your Mercury is retrograde in an Air sign (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) you might end up frantically talking too much when you don’t know what to say.

If your Mercury is retrograde in a Water sign (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) the more emotionally charged the topic, the more trouble you might have expressing it.

Challenge Yourself to Communicate in Different Ways

Public speaking always freaked me out. I falter once enough eyes start to fix their gaze on me. A few years ago I was asked to teach at a local arts center (I’m a silversmith by trade). I decided to give it a try despite feeling paralyzed by fear as soon as all of my students sat down on the first day. Eventually it got way easier.

Pick a few small ways that you can push your own boundaries without making it too daunting. Change usually happens on a micro-level, while you’re too busy plugging along to notice.

For example, If you’re bad at starting conversations with someone you’re attracted to, practice by starting conversations with random strangers.

Surround Yourself with Others Who Are Where You Want to Be

I mean this in a very simple way. If one of your friends is, say, great at starting conversations, watch their formula and apply it in your own unique way.

Looking at it astrologically, you could hang around folks who have an element in their chart that you lack. You don’t have to know their birthday to do this, just use the archetypes and keep an open mind! If you have a chart full of fire signs, it might benefit you to hang out with someone with the chill, grounding energy of an earth sign. Maybe you won’t agree on everything, but that’s ok!

As I got older and surrounded myself with more extroverts and socially functioning introverts, the confidence behind my words grew. While I’m not ready for (or interested in) giving a TedTalk anytime soon, having people I can be myself around really helped make me much more outspoken and articulate.

Almost 1/4 of people, including wildly successful folks, have Mercury retrograde in their birth chart. It’s certainly not an indicator of any type of bad luck. In fact, to have this little hurdle to overcome might bring you closer to understanding and explaining the human experience.

If you’d like a personal reading to see how Mercury retrograde shows up in your own chart, or you want help turning it into a strength, I’m here.

How to Read a Birth Chart in Astrology: A Simple Guide

A birth chart is simply a map. It charts the positions of the planets at the exact time of your birth, from the perspective of the location of your birth. If you don’t know what you’re looking at it can seem complicated and confusing. Here I’ll break it down with illustrations in order to help you understand and start you on your path to learning astrology.

The left most point in the circle represents the horizon where the sun rises that day, and the right most point represents where the sun sets that day. Thus, the top half of the circle represents daytime while the bottom half represents night. When you plot the location of the Sun, this will become more obvious. If you were born during the day, the sun will be in the top half of your chart in a similar location to where you would see it if you stepped outside. If you’re born at night, it will be in the bottom half.

In astrology the sky is separated into 12 sections based on the 12 zodiac signs or corresponding constellations. Your exact birth time is needed to determine which section was on the horizon line at the moment you were born. This is called the Rising Sign or the Ascendant and it will tell you which sign is in your First House. From there, you will follow the order of the zodiac to fill in the next 11 houses. Each sign contains 30 degrees and takes about 2 hours to pass over the horizon line. Every day each sign is cycled over the horizon line.

The celestial bodies, simplified as Planets, and other significant points are plotted onto the chart using their zodiacal degrees. Their symbol, or glyph, will be located in the corresponding house with the degree number and the glyph for the zodiac sign where the Planet is located.

Some planets/points will make Aspects to other planets/points in your chart. These are the lines you will see in the center. The closer to the exact degree, the more significant the connection between the two. Some Aspects are harmonious while others are more challenging.

Aspects can be analyzed between two different charts. For example, your birth chart and someone else’s (called Synastry) or your birth chart and the one in the current sky (Transits).

These are the basics of what you are actually looking at when viewing a birth chart. To begin learning how to interpret what you see start by learning about the Signs, Planets, Houses, Aspects, and Transits. Get a good start by buying a couple books and getting your birth chart read by a professional astrologer who has years of practice under their belt. Now that you know what you’re looking at you can follow along with their interpretations. Though often unjustly treated as a religion, at it’s best astrology is a tool for self discovery and introspection.

If you’d like help interpreting your own chart, or want to explore how timing and symbolism can support your creative life, I’m here.