working with resistance & learning from Saturn on this Full Moon in Capricorn
The Full Moon in Capricorn arrives on Monday, July 3rd. For this Full Moon, I am using this energy to support the chipping away and dissolving of what resistance blocks me from making it out to the other side of the beginning of achieving my most precious goals. What support does Capricorn provide us under a glowing and nourishing Cancerian Sun? Let’s unpack this Full Moon, its energetic healing themes and how it’s abundant and ripe for the pace of little by little…
The Full Moon is for Letting Go & Celebrating Your Wholeness
Many of us use the Full Moon as a checkpoint for releasing what no longer serves us. This is traditionally supportive because during a Full Moon, the Moon has reached its peak point of illumination in its cycle.
A Full Moon represents the season of Summer - where we harvest the seeds we planted during the New Moon. It’s also a time where we can express our gratitude for the lesson or lessons we’ve learned since setting our intention and can choose to move ahead and stay the course, or, we can shift and change direction with the new information we’ve gathered about ourselves and our experience with the world around us. Either way, the Full Moon represents a fullness, brightness and illumination. It can also represent movement, choice and a reclamation of sorts.
When a Full Moon is on the way, I begin to think of all the things I’ve learned, how I got here and how I am whole inside - no matter what. I think of how in each and every cycle in my journey so far, I’ve become more and more embodied in loving myself and taking care of myself and my commitment to living a fuller life. This is a big part of what I celebrate every Full Moon.
The Gifts of Capricorn
This Full Moon will pass through the sign of Capricorn, the 10th sign of the astrological year. In numerology, the number 10 represents completion. If you try to reduce it down, it brings us back to the beginning with the number 1 (1+0=1). It is towards the end of our journey of the self and at this point we’ve learned a lot and integrated many of our lessons. We now have wisdom blooming inside of us to carry forward into a new phase of being in this life.
Capricorn is an Earth element representing a balanced, slow and methodical approach to completion of goals and projects in the material world. I believe this is the core wisdom of Capricorn as its archetype is represented by a creature that is half mountain goat and half sea animal. Its embodiment stems from its ability to skillfully move on land and through water. If you’ve ever seen a mountain goat climb up the side of a narrow, steep and tall mountain - you might have found yourself staring in amazement. They are ambitious creatures! Their slow and steady pace with precision ensures that they make it to the top victoriously.
Capricorn is also able to wade in the water with ease given its fish-like body. This means it’s highly skillful at navigating emotions that arise during the sometimes long and arduous process of completing a goal. Mastery of a skill is what Capricorn is after and they have the determination, will and inner balance to attain it.
Navigating Resistance & Saturn Influences
While Capricorn is well suited to support us through helping us get the hard things done, it’s difficult to ignore our own inner experience of the challenges and feelings we face while we’re on the journey to completion.
That’s all thanks to the planet Saturn.
As a cardinal sign in astrology, Capricorn is here to initiate structure. It is ruled by Saturn - a tough love teacher that is all about responsibility, restrictions, boundaries, rules and discipline. So it makes sense that we might encounter feelings like frustration when we think things aren’t working. We might struggle to set boundaries or set aside time to focus on our goal or we might feel like there are too many restrictions and not enough freedom to support us. We might even feel like we want to give up before we’ve given ourselves a chance to begin. These are the core teachings of a Saturnian experience. And if you’ve been through your Saturn Return or are going through it now, you know exactly what I mean.
Because Saturn is a rigid teacher that teaches you over time. It takes about 7 years for Saturn to complete a quarter turn in its orbit. So, the lessons we learn end up being an accumulation of years of experience. Saturn will force you to confront exactly what is keeping you from your own success. It will show you again and again until you get it right - remembering that “right” isn’t about achieving perfection, but about making sure your foundation is in impeccable shape to build your house. Saturn helps us to find the cracks and crevices that need smoothing over so we can continue to feel supported in becoming and building who we want to be in this world.
How the Sun in Cancer Supports this Full Moon
What I love about this Full Moon is that it feels like a renewal in a way. Not like the New Moon with planting seeds but with releasing something deep that’s keeping you in a state of resistance to achieving or meeting a goal in the tangible plane.
We can look to the current astrological season we are in (Cancer), for support during this Full Moon and releasing resistance towards moving along our path and achieving our heart’s goals and desires. We can feel into what seems tender for us in our devotion to showing up to our work or that step-by-step plan of meeting our goals. And in this process, we could discover what we might need around nurturing ourselves and getting our needs met so that we can achieve success. We might even take it further to look at what support is there for us (in other people or our environment) so we can come out of our shell for a bit and be vulnerable enough to ask for help.
One of the best skills I’ve ever learned is to ask for help. For many of us, it wasn’t safe to ask for help when we were younger so we evolved into believing that if we reached out, no one would be there to take our hand. This might have hardened our approach to moving through the world with receiving support when we genuinely needed it.
Personally for me, having a general sense that it is safe to reach out into the world and not worry if I am rejected, because I know it will work out another way, is something I know I am always working with when it comes to nervous system regulation. (By the way - my daily breathwork practice is really supporting me with this and my spiritual connection to trust and divine support.)
Recently, I was prompted to explore inner child healing on a deeper level than I have in the past. This came up for me during Gemini season and the recent Gemini New Moon in mothering my need to express myself through art. Art is where I find my agency and it’s what frees me. It’s also where I need the most support right now in creating time and space to master my skills and share them with the world.
I know this Full Moon in Capricorn is helping me with conquering fear (a common emotion felt during Cancer season) little by little. Cap is really well suited for this as that half sea creature and land goat due to its emotional and practical mastery. For me, showing up to my art and self expression connects to a need I have around highly meaningful work, contributing to society and having a higher purpose - like the mountains that the cap goat climbs. So this is what I am focusing on more specifically under this Full Moon and releasing my underlying resistance around it.
But what is resistance and how does resistance show up in healing?
And how do we support ourselves through it and allow it to run its course?
—————-
What is resistance?
I would describe resistance as a heavy, challenging and path stopping feeling you get inside. It's really hard to name. Often, resistance shows up because we’ve had a past experience around something that we associate with negativity.
For example, we might have expressed ourselves in some way when we were a kid, through singing freely let’s say, and then told our singing was bad. We internalize that experience as “when I sing or express myself freely, it is bad therefore I am bad and I shouldn’t express myself.” We grow up with this internalized negative belief about ourselves and we avoid expressing ourselves freely. This can affect how we share our free opinions with others, how we express ourselves in our identity and more.
***One thing I will say about my own resistance I’ve noticed is that it’s not always traceable back to an original event or experience. Sometimes it’s just there, it just exists in you and it can feel like an untouchable thing that you can’t rid yourself of. This is what I would label as a more karmic type of resistance. It can be emotional or spiritual in nature and it could be from several events in this life (a result of complex or developmental trauma) and/or a past life experience. Either way, it’s elusive in its origins and feels really stubborn, strong and deeply challenging.
It’s also really important to recognize that when we are dealing with emotional and spiritual resistance, that everything is connected. Sometimes “resistance” is a result of trauma that’s occurred. It can be a result of emotional, mental or physical trauma. So please take care of yourself when you feel like you are experiencing resistance. The examples below are part of my own healing journey and might look very different to someone else’s journey. I also want to note that they only scratch the surface of what it means to experience resistance in the body, emotions and the mind. Either way, I hope they shed some light on the experience of resistance and support you in your exploration.
Above all else, please remember…
Taking care of your mindset and how you view yourself and cope with challenge in your healing is the most important thing
- no matter what.
Ways Resistance Can Show Up in Your Healing
You ignore or avoid what you want to do, even when you know it’s good for you
This can look like saying you’re going to start a new habit to support your wellbeing. For example, you decide to meditate in the morning for 10 minutes everyday but then you don’t support yourself mentally, physically and emotionally in implementing the practice. Instead, you say, “I’ll just start it tomorrow.” Tomorrow comes and goes and before you know it, it’s been a month since you declared your new habit and you haven’t even touched it - not once.
You self-sabotage by performing or acting out habits of perfectionism
With my own experience in healing and resistance, perfectionism has been really sneaky. I notice that sometimes I will have a great idea and then I won’t even start it because I feel resistance to beginning. When I feel deeper into it, I find that my nervous system has been wired to be on high alert for problems to fix. This is mostly for me because I didn’t have adults available to help me when I was younger, I had to fix things myself and endure the consequences alone. When you are hardwired to be on high alert and fix it mode, you don’t realize that mistakes are just bound to happen and it’s part of life. This is what has kept me from starting projects in the past, because if I never begin then I don’t have to take responsibility for the clean ups that will need to happen after I start. Translation = if I can’t do it perfectly, then I won’t do it at all.
You hear a quote or piece of wisdom from another person and for some reason it lands strongly with you, but it doesn’t really make sense
This one is fascinating to me. I once recently heard a quote that I understood intellectually with my mind. The concept made sense and I also agreed with it on some level but for some reason, I didn’t feel that “heck yeah!” I sometimes feel when I hear people say things that are really resonant to my own experience. Weeks later, it will click with me and I will get that connective feeling between what was said and the vibration it makes in my body.
You have intense feelings of rejection or aversion about a certain healing modality or topic
In the past, I have experienced intense feelings of rejection about inner child healing. Whenever someone was talking about it, posting about it on social media or referencing it I would find myself rolling my eyes! I’ve generally learned that if you are rolling your eyes at something on a consistent basis, it’s possible you might need its medicine but just aren’t in a place yet to receive it. I know when I roll my eyes, it’s me dismissing something. I’m saying
”pshaw” and blowing it off because if I reject it first, then I don’t have to feel the pain that comes with admitting there is a wound there. This is the beauty of the ego.
Our egos are so good at protecting us! Our egos don’t want us to feel pain or fear and sometimes when we start our healing work (especially if it’s around deep, deep wounding). It can feel really scary because we don’t know what’s on the other side. We also know subconsciously that it is a vulnerable place to be when we start that healing because we are being cracked open and it can be ugly, painful and hard. But it can also be really beautiful too.
How to work with resistance - 3 ways to support yourself
Admit you are experiencing it
Have you ever heard the phrase, “What you resist, persists”? It’s very true that resistance persists when we avoid or ignore what’s going on at the root level. That’s why the first thing I do when I think I am experiencing resistance is name it. I don’t go digging right away to see where it’s coming from, I just name it and I sit with it and breathe into it. I try to feel in my body where the resistance is hiding out and I invite my breath to soothe it.
Recognizing that resistance is part of being a human experiencing life is a powerful act. Allowing ourselves to be humbled by our resistance sometimes is the only thing we need to release it. Resistance is tension and sometimes we make our own tension worse by holding on too tightly to it. Have you ever tried to hold on to a rope that is quickly sliding through your hands? It burns! Resistance operates the same. So be gentle, compassionate and forgiving with yourself as you surrender to naming your resistance.
Ask for help
At some point in my healing journey, I learned that it’s really impossible to heal alone. Because people make us feel seen, heard and real. This is why asking for help from someone that I trust is one of the ways I support myself when I know I’m experiencing resistance. Asking for help doesn’t need to be literally saying to someone, “Can you help me with this?”. Of course it can, but it can also look like joining a group of like-minded people you can share your experience with. It could also be working with a trusted practitioner that supports your overall wellbeing like your therapist, acupuncturist, bodyworker or massage therapist to address what’s going on.
If you are working on relationships with people and find it really hard to reach out and initiate that touchpoint, don’t forget that you can also ask The Universe or Spirit for help. You can pray or use oracle cards or tarot cards for support. One of my favorite things to do is write a letter to The Universe or a loved one who’s passed on that I know is watching over me. I tell them what I’m struggling with and name what I need help with, if I can. This always helps me feel like I am never in it alone and that I am always being looked after, even when I don’t see it.
Just let it be
A Universal Law that I always think of when I am experiencing turmoil and suffering is the Law of Duality. This law is a core tenet of Eastern philosophy and religion. In Buddhism, it is common to believe that suffering is imminent because joy is imminent. Letting things just be doesn’t mean you are bypassing your pain. It means that you understand that everything, especially two opposing feelings or experiences derive from the same place - spirit. Sometimes just being present with yourself, breathing into the feeling and your body is all you need. Sooner than later, the resistance will move itself and you will find you were always healing, even when you thought you weren’t
Consider the following to reflect or meditate on
during this Full Moon in Capricorn :
What big goal are you currently working towards achieving right now?
Do you feel resistance towards achieving it? Starting on it? Finishing it? What does it feel like in the body? In the mind? What emotions come up for you around exploring this resistance? Use the meditation below to explore this and support your experience.
What emotional support tools and resources do you have that are readily available to you? What tools do you have to support your mind and body?
What ways can you implement a practical plan with supportive structure to aid you in achieving your goal? Where do your tools and resources fit into this plan?
Example: For me, my work style is more fluid in nature for my love of freedom, but I still need a little structure to get things done. For an upcoming project, I mapped out 2 hour long blocks on Mondays, Wednesday’s & Fridays to set aside special time to focus on getting the project done. I also affirm to myself that I can reassess the structure like the time of day or how often I work on it weekly if I need to in the future. My practical support is a group of like-minded folks who are working on a similar project and know what I’m going through.
Full Moon in Capricorn Breathwork & Affirmations
for Releasing Resistance
- The Practice -
Set your intention for this practice to use your breath to help explore any resistance you feel in initiating, supporting and devoting yourself to complete your projects and goals for this Full Moon in Capricorn.
Close your eyes and take three deep breaths inhaling deep into your belly, feeling your sides expand and slowly exhaling all the way out your mouth making a sighing sound of release.
Read each affirmation out loud or to yourself and take in each truth.
To really be intentional with each affirmation, you can take an intentional cycle of breath (one inhale and exhale) before and after reading each affirmation.
Repeat as often as you need to.
XO
Affirmation One
"By the light of the Full Moon, I release what keeps me from deploying my devotion and commitment towards achieving my most precious goals and dreams.
I know my ambitions deserve the reward of being felt and experienced in the material world."
Affirmation Two
"By the light of the Full Moon, I release systems, structures and ways of achieving that don’t support my wellbeing.
When I recognize what I need to support how I learn and create in the world, I celebrate the essence of my will and bask in my agency.”
Affirmation Three
"By the light of the Full Moon, I release pushing my mind and body too much too hard too fast for too long and embrace the gentle shores of balance.
When I allow myself to compassionately grow little by little, at my own persistent pace, I support my inner rhythms and honor my healing journey.”
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