Cancer : The Deep Earth Heartbeat, our Home

The Sun entered Cancer on June 21st, opening the solstice gate to Summer. We will gather for the Cancer Archetypal Reel next Sunday, July 4th, at 5pm EST. In this 2 hour class, will explore this Archetype from a variety of astrological lenses: Mythic, Evolutionary, Shamanic and Esoteric.

Please sign up for that here: https://saraeliseastrology.com/payment/class-m9ybl

Not a one of us did not come through a mother, whatever her ability to hold us may have been. Yet the MOTHER PRINCIPLE goes beyond the flesh. Cancer is the great Cosmic Womb or Mother principle, the most generative and creative force in the zodiac. The dreamer who dreams us, the Gaia who feeds us, the Goddess who loves us beyond ourselves.

To tap into HER I consider the ultimate in achievements.

Please, let me share why.

In 1995, I was invited to stay with a friends family on their off-grid homestead high in the Rocky Mountains. Gladda and Vince were the parents names. This beautiful couple had settled at the top of a mountain, at the end of an abandoned logging road, early in the 1970s. The story was they simply picked a road and walked up it, till they came to a flat spot and started to build. All with a 3 year girl in tow.

Together, they created a home with the remaining logs scattered on the land. Having immigrated from Ireland, Vince's knowledge of traditional farming practices enabled him to work the field with horse and plow. Gladda tended greenhouses, cultivating vegetables. For years she hauled water. But by the time I was there, they had built a siphoning system that carried it from mountain spring through PVC pipe, directly to their hobbit-style wooden kitchen. They had a cow who provided daily yogurt for oatmeal and young cheese for pasta. There were chickens who gave eggs. Bees with honey. Berries in abundance. And potatoes! So many.

The two of them were grizzled mountaineers, devoted to sustainable living and organic permaculture, and devoted to each other. Thursdays, Gladda told me with a giggle, were when they met in the forest to make love. Every week, without fail. Their ritual.

Through the summers they bordered young men, somewhat lost and searching souls, offering room in board in exchange for labor.... and apprenticeship. These men knew the value of what they were receiving, this first hand experience with an 'off the path' lifestyle. They toiled with care and respect. Honor. Vince would say "I need to teach as many of them as will learn! Before it's too late."

This small family somehow thrived for decades, in those mountains. TRUE homesteaders, they never held title to their land. They simply worked it. Treated it with respect. RAISED A DAUGHTER IN THIS WAY. Contributed to the community.

I was in blown into a million pieces of amazement. It was heaven.

One early morning, as I lay sleeping in this pristine wilderness temple, I had a dream.

In it I was walked through someone's fancy Vancouver 'house' where a lavish display of 'things' were highlighted for view. In 1995, these 'things' were camcorders, gaming systems, the latest in audio/video technology, material possessions... the best of the best. I was struck with the wealth and frigidity of these symbols of 'success'.

Then I was brought out of this 'house' and dropped into the belly of the Earth. The Gaia herself. A different kind of 'home'.

In this place, I felt calm. I felt connected with the power of regeneration and creation, of safety. It was warm, wet, dark, wild, unknown, unknowable! Mysterious and powerful. Exciting. Alive.

And in this place of earth connection, I was so still that I could literally hear Her heartbeat. I could feel it, as if it were my own. Deep, soft, consistent, real.

It felt so good to be Home, to be so intimately connected with Her. I felt a level of Peace I had never known until that moment.

And then a voice spoke, in the dream, and posed this question...

'Of all you might achieve in life, could anything be more valuable than knowing the heartbeat of your Mother?'

And I awoke.

Wow.

There I lay in that small wooden out-post which was my 'room'. I remember how hot it was inside that structure, in the morning sun. I remember how the sound of bees and pollinators elevated the air around me. I remember how good it felt to breath in the smell of warm wood mingled with mountain crispness. I remember feeling so fully alive.

When I think of Gladda and Vince, my heart breaks for gratitude. I am sure they have passed by now. Perhaps they passed the torch, perhaps their daughter brought them into the city. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. I have no idea.

But I will always remember: They taught me what it means to be Human. They taught me that the deep earth heartbeat is my home. And I will never forget what matters.

Life is so so tender and tenuous. Of this, we are all too well aware. Cancer teaches us to not miss a single breath.

Come and explore her with me! Next Sunday. Can't wait to see you!

Love, Sara

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