#12: cancer season (2024)

nothing more, nothing less

Jul 21, 2024

Hi! Thanks for being here. There’s another full moon in Capricorn today, and the IG astrology girlies say it’s an intense one. How’s it feeling for you? Here’s a collection of takeaways and faves from Cancer season this past month (June 20th - July 22nd). Leo season starts tomorrow, and you can find an overview of the upcoming astrology at the end of this newsletter. If you haven’t subscribed or would like to upgrade your subscription, you can do so below.

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Apparently it’s lez out July? I didn’t know that was a thing, and I felt uncharacteristically ambivalent about it when I first heard. But then I got squirted on a few days later and that made me change my tune. So happy lez out July, folks.

A Cancer season retrospective means I have written a year’s worth of these pieces! One lap around the wheel of the zodiac. I’m enjoying writing these astrology season newsletters partly because of the archive of reflections and favorite media I’m creating with them. I’m also appreciating them for the practice of paying attention that they keep me in. Last month, I noticed that the mimosa trees I can see from my window were starting to bloom as the drone of the cicadas was gradually subsiding. By the time I couldn’t hear them anymore, the treeline was full of pink and white fan-shaped flowers. I also observed something about the moon I had just learned a month prior: that it rises about fifty minutes later each day. I got home after 11 — late for me — several nights in a row, and when I got out of my car I saw the waxing moon higher in the sky each night.

Writing these has been helpful in trying to stay attuned to the ways that astrological shifts affect my day-to-day too. I’ve felt aware of differences from one Sun sign season to the next for a while now, so this format feels natural to me. There are some patterns that unfold differently during an astrological month than in a calendar month. Time is an arbitrary concept anyway but the stars are not!

Here’s the archive of these monthly reflection newsletters if you’re interested in reading more of them. The uniform naming of these pieces kind of obscures the content though, so here’s the links to a few of the topics I’ve written about in them: some gay pride month highlights, using a flip phone for a month, my best red flags, thoughts about sober sex, and my fav and least fav astrological seasons.

Thanks for reading these (and my other newsletters too)!

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It was a difficult month full of incredibly sweet, connective moments. I traveled some, I usually didn’t sleep enough, and I ate the fruits that I can have now and mostly didn’t eat the ones I shouldn’t. Some friends started drifting — or pulling — away, while some got a little closer. I felt more distant from my body in some ways and more grounded in it in others. Is every month actually like this? I felt everything so deeply though and that’s what made all of this stand out to me.

I’ve had several prophetic dreams over the past few weeks too. I like to listen to my dreams and I think it’s worth doing — with discernment of course. In one, someone told me I should try a middle part. That morning, I combed my hair to one side or the other along the center of my head, and by the evening it had grown on me. In a dream last night, someone said I should have caffeine again. I had given it up over a month ago because I felt like I needed to, not because I wanted to. I made myself a cup of chai with oat milk this morning and only drank half of it before I went to work. So far, I haven’t felt like I’m losing my mind today, so maybe I’ll have it more regularly again. I had some pleasant dreams about people I don’t talk to anymore, too, but I resisted the urges to reach back out. I wouldn’t have always, but those You were in a dream I had last night texts have gone both well and poorly for me in the past, and I think I’m better at predicting the likely outcome these days.

This past month, I moved my body plenty and also not as much as I wanted, and I received plenty of touch and also not as much as I wanted. I’m working on letting good be good enough sometimes. I’m trying to let feeling be good enough sometimes too.

A long set of stairs, a hot day, a nice view

faves ♡

🎵 “Already Gone” - Orion Sun

Orion Sun is the artist I’ve probably turned more friends onto than any other. I’m really into this new song of hers — it’s full of feeling, and it has a warmer and more layered sound than the songs on her most recent EP. The sitar is fun too!

🎶 “Add Up My Love” - Clairo

I really like the new Clairo album! I liked Sling as well, but it was an either you get it or you don’t kind of album. I got it, but I wasn’t as inclined to put it on as I have been with Charm. I want to groove in my kitchen to it while cooking up something warm and delicious for someone cute. This is probably my fav song, but the two singles she put out, “Sexy to Someone” and “Nomad,” are also great. I’ve been charmed!

📗 Squelch - Nina Katz

I loved this little book! The subtitle says it’s a memoir of food, love, and uncertainty, and that’s such a perfect description for these essays. I heard about the book in a recent edition of Maddy Court’s newsletter, and I ordered it before I had finished reading her interview with the author. The writing made me hungry for food and for connection, and I really related to their experience of having outsized emotions for someone. To me it’s obvious (in a good way!) that a Cancer wrote this book. I tried their recipe for blistered backyard tomatoes using cherry tomatoes from someone I’m crushing on — so yummy! (the tomatoes and the crush) I’m eager to make their backcountry ramen with salmon recipe too.

⛸️ ice skating

pink heart emoji on ice! At a hair appointment this past week, I was talking to my hairstylist about how I grew up playing hockey and she mentioned a local ice rink that I didn’t know existed. I was there lacing up some lousy rental skates the very next day. Picture me skating cautious loops around the rink, Brat playing in my pink earbuds, getting lapped by ten-year-olds. I’m around the age of these kids’ moms (and I’m checking their moms out), but I skated better when I was their age. I did great though for my first time ice skating in I don’t even know how many years. If you need me, I’ll be at the rink.

🍫 girlfriend brownies

I have made many batches of gluten-free brownies this past month. That’s what I like to call them because they’re GF brownies, and a couple of friends have started calling them that too. (Thanks for humoring me, y’all :) ) They’re also dairy-free the way I make them, with vegetable oil instead of butter. No one’s been able to tell the difference! I add chocolate chips and some vanilla as well. Add vanilla to your brownies if the recipe doesn’t call for it! Add it to your pancake batter too. I won’t gatekeep the recipe for the brownies since they’ve been such a hit: it’s King Arthur’s gluten-free fudge brownie mix, with those swaps and additions above. Some folks are snobby about box mixes and I think that’s bs — all they are is just your dry ingredients conveniently sifted together. Like, you’re mad about that? It saves you time and money, and you’re still doing the work of mixing it in with the wet ingredients and popping it in the oven anyway. Yes, it’s still baking! Don’t sell yourself short because people will be thanking you regardless. Anyway, my GF brownies have not gotten me a gf yet, but maybe someday.

🍉 temporary tattoos

When’s the last time you put on some little temporary tats? For me it had been years, but I went to visit my bestie recently and she had some at her birthday party. I gave myself a little hibiscus flower on my wrist and a watermelon slice on my thigh. They aren’t even that temporary honestly — I still have half of the watermelon on me. It was cute seeing the little tats on other people at the party too. There’s this really sweet picture where her girlfriend, her girlfriend’s cute sister, another bestie, and I are covering the birthday girl in the summer-themed tats. I keep going back and looking at it and missing everyone!