Guest written by Colin Bedell (aka @queercosmos). Colin is a gay Gemini Twin from the South Shore of Long Island, New York. He is reverenced by astrology’s ability to bestow clarity and peace to people’s hearts.

Permission to feel the full spectrum of human emotions...

After the somatics of Aries, the sensuality of Taurus, and the linguistics of Gemini, the Sun enters Cancer on June 20th so the zodiac can integrate the wisdom of the head AND the heart until July. Cancer, as the second cardinal sign but the first water sign is the leader of all things water. With Cancer Season, we’re all about to swim in the emotion ocean. This month is all about the permission to feel the full spectrum of human emotions, to accept our emotions without labeling them as good or bad, should or shouldn’t, and see emotions as data and a function of being fully alive! 

Cancer, as the zodiac’s introduction of water through the nurturing and fiercely protective Crab, is the one and only cardinal water sign. Ruled by the Moon - the luminary of the subjective emotional experience, emotional exposure, home, family, and belonging - Cancer points us to the heart as the truest definition of home and the people we choose to see as family as the those we feel safe with. Given our culture of stoicism, denial, disengagement, and pretending, Cancer Season helps us frame emotions as an invitation to feel fully connected to ourselves and our chosen family.

There are countless ways to explore Cancer Season and together I’d like to explore how we can use Cancer transits to frame our relationship with home and family. If we examine the deepest meaning of “home”, I would argue it is a product of self-acceptance. Home, of course, can be a place and we know the space where home is found as well. I think Cancer Season wants us to investigate what it means for us to accept ourselves so fully, completely, and without exception, that we are at home within ourselves first. From that Cancer Season invitation, how true is it that we can and will find meaningful belonging to places and with others because we’re at home with ourselves? 

I love imagining Cancer Season - and all transits, truly! - beginning with a question. I think Cancer Season is asking the question: What do I need to accept within myself in order to cultivate emotional security? When we’re not pretending, performing, denying, or false-compartmentalizing, we’re owning our emotional nature, maybe even naming it to others who need to hear it, and giving ourselves the space to feel. From that level of a trusting emotional embrace, I think we can build a home within ourselves that allows us to withstand the storms outside. 

Like we’ve discussed before in our time together, Astrology readers are aware that we are not just our sun sign. We all have our individualized Astrological story written from our birth date, time, and location and it holds the specificities of ascendant, planets, houses, aspects, and more.  

Our Natal Chart and all it possesses tells a story of what’s possible for each of us in this lifetime. Of the twelve houses in the chart, the one Cancer Season wants us to understand is house number four. Our fourth rules our relationship with self-acceptance and emotional security. 

Aries: You’re more emotional than you lead on, Aries! With Cancer as the ruler of your fourth house of emotional safety, you feel your feels big and deep. If you feel your emotions with radical self-acceptance, you’ll feel that much more true to yourself and you can keep it all the way real with others. You’re also fiercely protective of and loyal to your home and family!

Taurus: Home is where your heart is, Taurus! Open-hearted Leo rules your fourth house of emotional security, so you only reveal yourself with those who feel like family and who’s hearts also feel like home to you. When you’re safe and secure with others, you’re the first to lead with courage and vulnerability, deep loyalty, and meaningful, beautiful self-disclosure. 

Gemini: You see everything, Gemini! Analytical and observant Virgo rules your fourth house of emotional safety and so you feel safe when other people clock the details. You offer safety through your ability to see the divine in the details of others. When you and your loved ones feel seen and understood, you create feelings of home and family wherever you go.

Cancer: Mutuality is your bottom line, Cancer. Reciprocal Libra rules your fourth house of emotional safety, so you feel secure with others who give with the same depths as you do. Just pay attention to the time, talent, and treasures of others which may be different than yours. As long as it’s given with mutuality, you’re right at home with them. 

Leo: Your inner world is earned, Leo. Privacy-regulating Scorpio rules your fourth house of emotional safety so you’re a slow revealer of your inner life, your family relationships, and vulnerability. The balance between privacy and self-disclosure is key, since one can be both open-hearted and only disclose carefully to those who have earned the right to hear it. 

Virgo: Imagination is everything, Virgo! With vision-loving Sagittarius ruling your fourth house of emotional security, you don’t want to get caught in the weeds of the circumstances. Your imagination, longing, and vision is what gives you the highest level of safety. Move from the head to the inner eye for a home that will keep you and your loved ones protected and safe. 

Libra: Anchor down, Libra! With grounded Capricorn the ruler of your fourth house, you want to feel stabilized, emotionally grounded, and cared for. A paradoxical sign, could you self-accept “home” as structure so you can discover your freedom too? Try to accept the balance you need from both the anchor and the wave in order to feel at home within yourself and honest with others. 

Scorpio: Belonging is a paradox, Scorpio. With Aquarius ruling your fourth house, you have to know what it means to belong with others and what it means to stand alone. Can you self-accept negotiating for community and also standing courageously alone in order to belong to yourself? You never have to abandon your principles in order to secure connection with others! 

Sagittarius: You got soul, Sag! With spiritual Pisces ruling your fourth house, you feel at home with the divine. You have a natural sense of the transcendent, inspiring, and empathetic. You also have a deeply sentient, emotional side that ought to be more self-accepted so you can communicate your feelings in real time with those you trust and who want to keep you safe. 

Capricorn: Choose desire too, not just compliance Capricorn! With passionate Aries ruling your fourth house of emotional safety, you’re allowed to want, not just strive! So self-accept your desires - especially the messy, sometimes irresponsible ones - so you can stay centered in the truth of who you are and express your desires to the people who you’re in agreement with!  

Aquarius: Listen to your body, Aquarius. Sensual Taurus rules your fourth house of emotional safety so you’ll want to self-accept your embodiment, somatic, and physical responses to your world experience. An extremely intelligent person, you’ll be even more holistic if you accept the wisdom and instruction of your body which is guiding you to safety and security.