January 3: Cancer Full Moon
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping." -Fred Rogers
Relationships and personal motivation undergo a profound transformation at the start of 2026 with three powerful initiations in the first two weeks of January that align our heart with a sense of purpose.
The Moon waxes to fullness at 13°02 Cancer at 5:03AM ET on January 3, 2026, in conjunction with Jupiter and opposite Venus and Mars in Capricorn. This strong, sensitive Cancer Full Moon reveals our need for stability in intimate relationships. Cancer is a shy, private sign that cares deeply for those it is connected to, but has a strong wish to feel held and supported by family and partnership.
The retrograde cycles of Mars and Venus defined the start of 2025. For the first four months of last year, we dealt with backwards motion from three personal planets in the cardinal signs of Cancer and Aries. Thankfully, we begin 2026 with a new cycle that helps us mark how far we've come as Mars and Venus make their superior conjunctions to the Sun on January 6th and 9th.
Cancer is the home of the Moon, which governs issues of private life, home, safety, physical health, and emotional wellbeing. Capricorn season is about legacy and foundations: the bones of our ancestors and the places we root into through living, working, and dying on the land. The Cancer impulse is to create a warm nest where we feel safe and protected to rest, sleep, dream, and imagine. Notice this weekend the creatures under your care be they pets, children, parents, or your own tender heart. What is needed for attachment to feel secure and how can we strengthen those bonds in the service of interdependence?
The Moon supports the growth of its children by nurturing our physical and emotional wellbeing, but in order to do that, Luna wants a commitment that this investment will last. Saturn at 26°18 Pisces is making a trine aspect to the Full Moon and empowering the decisions made as Mars and Venus go cazimi in the week following:
Venus cazimi Sun at 16°22 Capricorn at 11:36AM ET on January 6th
Mars cazimi Sun at 19°09 Capricorn at 6:41AM ET on January 9th
When a planet goes cazimi it is in the heart of the Sun. This is a peak moment when it concludes the journey it's been on since the last conjunction (for Venus that was March 22, 2025), and begins a new one. Venus governs romantic partnership, arts, and pleasure. Mars is our motivation, will, and relationship to conflict. These divine downloads are moments of revelation that can help us start over with solid determination in the Capricorn area of life. Mars pricks at problems and spurs us on to action. Venus wants to find harmony and middle ground.
This lunation, in opposition with Mars in Capricorn, may illuminate tension between what you give to those you love and what you receive in return. There is a call to take responsibility for ourselves by remembering that we always have choices. We can feel obligation, but no one can force us to give too much. Everyone has the right to prioritize themselves first, including the givers. If someone doesn't have support to offer, seek it from a more available source.
The Moon making an opposition to the Lover and Warrior planets as they reach a peak moment seeds this solar empowerment into the Cancer part of our chart as well. There is both pleasure and pain, sadness and satisfaction, the promise of a fresh start and the loss of separation happening all at once. Take time to feel it because such massive transits can trigger root chakra survival issues and destabilize us.
Our survival drives are tied into the subconscious and operate on a latent internal level. It is not until something significant shifts that we gain insight into what is always true and felt, but not fully understood. Mars' journey through Cancer released this kind of subconscious material from September 2024-April 2025. We dove deep so that we understood what needed to be improved when Jupiter arrived on June 9, 2025.
Jupiter is exalted in Cancer because it seeks to increase and improve the quality of life for people on earth. As the divine father archetype, Jupiter supports the development of youth and the wellbeing of the family through an abundance of what makes people feel good–enrichment, nourishment, and entertainment. But Jupiter's benevolence was inhibited over the Summer by Saturn in Aries. The Cancer Full Moon's conjunction with Jupiter, free from Saturn's baneful rays, provides an opportunity to seek solutions.
Water signs reveal our desire for emotional understanding: to be seen, felt, and held. Earth signs, especially Capricorn, want to feel respected and valued. Respect allows for differences while also honoring what is core about each of us. We don't have to agree with someone to respect their need for how they want to live, feed, and nurture themselves. Both Venus and Mars are undergoing purification processes. The start of the new year in the Gregorian calendar is actually a wonderful time to release what has not served you and welcome the new.
The past year was incredibly difficult but there is cause for hope at what 2026 has in store. Capricorn season helps us work productively with the circumstances we find ourselves in. The government began attacking many Cancerian areas of life during the Mars retrograde and have not stopped. They have cut essential social services for food, healthcare, and housing while increasing spending on war. Billionaires greed is unchecked. They hoard resources that belong to working people, especially their employees, while while defunding public education and attacking bodily autonomy. Millions of people are in worse circumstances than they were last year. It is heartbreaking to see so many in dire straits, but there is always something we can do about inequality.
The Moon in conjunction with Jupiter represents our positive capacity to help. Feelings will be FELT over this Full Moon weekend so make space for them. Processing sessions can not be avoided so give yourself over to whatever flow pours forth from you or loved ones. And, most importantly, connect with the care you long to receive and wish to offer the world.
The TV celebrity, Fred McFeely Rogers (yes, that's his real middle name!), known as "Mr. Rogers," was famous for creating a safe and supportive educational neighborhood environment where children could feel seen and heard. Mr. Rogers deep emotional sensitivity is described in his natal star chart by his Venus, Moon, and Sun in Pisces making a trine to Pluto in Cancer. Many babies of the Pluto in Cancer generation were born into the great depression. Their childhood was marked by deprivation, survival struggles, and the horrors of World War 2. One of Mr. Rogers most enduring messages is how he dealt with fear as a young person:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping."
This Cancer Full Moon is illuminating Mr. Roger's Pluto placement reminding us that while we can not immediately stop the terribleness of the world from happening, we can seek to embody the solution and make situations better. Cynicism has been on the rise, which is a natural reaction to depression and despair, but it's also an avoidance strategy. If we can lessen suffering, increase connection, and let folks know that despite the cruelty there are people who are willing to help that that will help us as well.
This Full Moon in conjunction with Jupiter in Cancer reveals the care you long to cultivate. Take time this weekend to explore what you need, what you're asking for from others, and what you have to give. There is much creative change coming in 2026. Mr. Roger's taught us to ask for help when we need it because that allows someone else the opportunity to authentically give. I hope you get everything your heart needs this weekend.