Moon Cazimi in Cancer (Rare) – Vitality & Balance

“When she is conjunct the Sun within one minute, then she has the fifth quality, which the Chaldean sages say is better than any other quality of the Moon, and is more powerful than all her other aspects. The sages of Persia, however, say that the power and weakness, increase and decrease of the effects of this fifth quality depends on the nature of the sign in which the conjunction takes place. The sages of Greece and Egypt, meanwhile, agree with what we have already said, that the conjunction with the Sun is strongest, but deny what we have said, that this quality of the conjunction is better; they assign the latter to the opposition between Moon and Sun, that is, when her light is complete.

“All our sages, however, are mutually in agreement that the better quality of the Moon is the aspect she makes when she is conjunct to the Sun within one minute, and they hold that this fifth quality belongs to the Sun and ought to have other interpretations, differing from the interpretations assigned to the other four qualities, because it is better and stronger than them in all their works. That interpretation is as follows: when the Moon conjoins the Sun, she rejoices and is glad, just as a wayfarer rejoices in his journey when he reaches his home or its neighborhood; this will be even more true of the shaper of all things, and most of all when she will perceive their effects beforehand. When she is conjunct with the Sun, she has completed her work, which is to diminish what is in excess and increase what is deficient.

“Our sages say likewise that the virtue of the fifth quality has a similar effect to the effect of the Sun, and this is a very great thing and a noble quality. They say that all composite bodies receive from this the virtues that they ought to have, nor should it be understood from the foregoing that the Moon causes virtues and workings differing from those of the Sun; rather, the Moon reveals the Sun's influence and brings forth works accomplished by the Sun; nor do these appear until the Moon manifests those things that were previously concealed, and illuminates what had previously been in obscurity. (Picatrix, Book 2 Chapter 3, page 67, Greer-Warnock edition)

Source

Picatrix is the largest known compilation of the ancient world’s practice of the Science of Images. It compiles sources from ancient Greece to Central Asia and India and frequently tantalizes the reader by speaking cryptically. One of its most alluring secrets is the use of the Moon and Sun in a brief, perfect conjunction, often called cazimi.

“When she is conjunct the Sun within one minute, then she has the fifth quality, which the Chaldean sages say is better than any other quality of the Moon, and is more powerful than all her other aspects.”

This is arguably one of the Moon’s rarest conditions and occurs in each sign for only a few minutes each month. The Moon must apply to conjoin the Sun within 17 minutes, and according to Picatrix the optimal moment is within one minute. Not only is this required, but all the other factors for an election apply. The effects of this “fifth quality” depend on the nature of the zodiac sign it occurs in.

“The sages of Persia, however, say that the power and weakness, increase and decrease of the effects of this fifth quality depends on the nature of the sign in which the conjunction takes place.”

In other words, all the other factors that affect a Moon election are strongly present as well. If it takes place in Scorpio, then it will have a Moon in Scorpio quality (very undesirable with a few exceptions). Optimally, for a Moon election we want it to be in Cancer, her rulership, or Taurus, her Exaltation and on the Ascendant or Midheaven with no applying square or opposition to Mars or Saturn. For a Moon and Sun conjunction to occur with all of these conditions present is a rare moment.

But what does it do?

“When she is conjunct with the Sun, she has completed her work, which is to diminish what is in excess and increase what is deficient.”

This statement is vague, yet it encompasses most everything when we consider everything that the Moon governs.

The Moon’s four phases (of which the cazimi is the mysterious “fifth”) directly affect nature and the world of matter. Since at least the early Hellenistic era, the Moon was regarded as the force that directly governs not only water, as seen in its effects on the tides, but also the four elements of fire, earth, air and water. These four elements have four corresponding elemental forces in nature, and in the physical body, called the Humors or Temperament. These are choleric (fire), sanguine (air), melancholic (earth) and phlegmatic (water). Each of the Moon’s four phases affects the watery elements in nature and emanates astral rays from the zodiac sign she is in.

Picatrix says,

“They say that the Moon has qualities from which it is possible to know and understand all her qualities and effects. The first of her qualities [New Moon, First Quarter] is her elongation from the Sun, that is, the period from the time she separates from conjunction with the Sun until her first square with the Sun. During that time her power increases moisture and warmth, but she affects moisture more than warmth. During that time her effects appear in the growth of trees and plants, and her power of increase is more apparent in herbs that grow in the ground than in trees that rise above the ground.

“The second of her qualities [Second Quarter] is from the end of the first quarter until her opposition with the Sun. During this time her influence is more apparent in increasing heat and moisture equally. During this time her influence is well shown in the increase of moisture and heat in plants and minerals.

“When she recedes from opposition to her second square with the Sun [Full, 3rd Quarter], at that time her power increases moisture and heat, but heat more than moisture. Her influence appears more in increasing the bodies of animals, vegetables, and those minerals that grow in all their parts; this is why at this time she works more by heat than by moisture.

“From her second square to her combustion by the Sun [Last Quarter], the effects, motions, and results of her heat appear much abated, so much less than those of the three previous periods that the result is opposite in all its effects, being moderately drying and strongly cooling.” (Chapter 3, page 66)

But what is the Sun’s role aside from providing the main source of light for the Moon? Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in his Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 32, says that they are the primary governors of all things in the natural world, the mind and eyes of the World Soul, and that when they are conjoined, the Moon is replenished with vitality.

“The Sun, and Moon have obtained the administration or ruling of the Heavens, and all bodies under the heavens. The Sun is the Lord of all Elementary virtues, and the Moon by virtue of the Sun is the mistress of generation, increase, or decrease.

Hence Albumasar saith, that by the Sun and Moon life is infused into all things, which therefore Orpheus calls the enlivening eyes of the heavens. The Sun giveth light to all things of itself and gives it plentifully to all things not only in the Heaven, Aire, but Earth and Deep…..

“But the Moon, the nearest to the Earth, the receptacle of all the heavenly Influences, by the swiftness of her course is joined to the Sun, and the other Planets and Stars, every month, and being made as it were the wife of all the Stars, is the most fruitful of the Stars, and receiving the beams and influences of all the other planets and Stars as a conception, bringing them forth to the inferior world as being next to itself; for all the Stars have influence on it being the last receiver, which afterwards communicates the influences to all the superiors to these inferiors, and pours them forth on the Earth; and it more manifestly disposes these inferiors then the others, and its motion is more sensible by the familiarity and propinquity which it hath with us; and as a medium betwixt both, superiors and inferiors, communicates them to them all.

Therefore her motion is to be observed before the others, as the parent of all conceptions, which it diversely issues forth in these Inferiors, according to the diverse complexion, motion, situation, and different aspects to the planets and others Stars; and though it receives powers from all the Stars, yet especially from the Sun as often as it is in conjunction with the same, it is replenished with vivifying virtue…”

“Vivifying virtue” is rejuvenation, vitality, or giving life to something. “Anima” was the Latin phrase for the spiritual source of organic life that animated living things, similar to the concept of Prana or Qi in eastern thought. This occurs every time the Moon is in the heart of the Sun once a month, and in Cancer this emanates an even stronger influence.

The distance between the Sun and Moon are what determines the placement of the Lot of Fortune and the Lot of Spirit, the two most important Lots that strongly influence the mind and body. In a Sun-Moon cazimi, both of these Lots become conjoined on the ascendant. Conversely, during an eclipse which is a highly destructive influence, these two Lots conjoin on the descendant. The cazimi is a positive counterpart to the eclipse in some sense.

Elsewhere, Agrippa elaborates further on the special properties of the Sun and Moon conjunction in Cancer. In Book 2, Chapter 36, he says,

“Also, that Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, because they constitute the watery and Northern Triplicity, do prevail against hot and dry fevers; also against the Hectic, and all choleric passions….. and they report that the image of Cancer is most efficacious against serpents, and poisons, when Sol and Luna are in conjunction in it, and ascend in the first and third face; for this is the face of Venus, and the Decan of Luna, but the second face of Luna, the Decan of Jupiter. They report also that serpents are tormented when the Sun is in Caner.”

The sign of Cancer has special qualities for both the Sun and Moon.  Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius was a Roman philosopher who wrote two important works on the esoteric lore of the ancient world around 430 AD, Saturnalia and Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. Both are incredibly valuable because they are uncensored commentaries on subjects that suddenly found themselves suppressed by the newly empowered Roman Catholic Church. Saturnalia remains the most vivid account of the famous Roman festival. The Dream of Scipio is an influential work by Marcus Tullius Cicero (101 BC – 43 BC) a famous Roman Senator and philosopher who was educated by the Middle Platonists in Greece that vividly describes the ancient view of dreams and the spiritual world being inextricably linked.

In Saturnalia, Macrobius says that Cancer is not only the sign that the Moon rules, but also a special “gateway” for the Sun.

“Moreover, of these two signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are known as the Gates of the Sun, each is so called because, just as the crab is a creature that goes backward and sideways, so on the same principle the sun always begins its sideways, backward path when it is in that sign.” (Book 1, Chapter 17, page 125)

In the Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, he reiterates:

“At this point we shall discuss the order of the steps by which the soul descends from the sky to the infernal regions of this life. The Milky Way girdles the zodiac, its great circle meeting it obliquely so that it crosses it at the two tropical signs, Capricorn and Cancer. Natural philosophers named these the "portals of the sun" because the solstices lie at the sun's path on either side, checking farther progress and causing it to retrace its course across the belt [ecliptic] beyond whose limits it never trespasses.” (Chapter 12, 1)

Macrobius then provides a fascinating bit of ancient lore regarding the solstices. He says that Cancer is the “womb” for souls entering the earthly sphere via the summer solstice and that Capricorn, the opposite sign in which the winter solstice occurs, is the “exit” for souls leaving the earth. This is especially interesting because ancient societies as far back as the Stone Age carefully aligned henges and megalithic tombs with the solstice. He also says that the nearby constellation of Crater the Cup emanates an intoxicating influence on the descending souls, causing them to have amnesia at birth.

“When the soul is being drawn towards a body in this first protraction of itself it begins to experience a tumultuous influx of matter rushing upon it This is what Plato alludes to when he speaks in the Phaedo of a soul suddenly staggering as if drunk as it is being drawn into the body; he wishes to imply the recent draught of on rushing matter by which the soul, defiled and weighted down, is pressed earthwards.  Another clue to this secret is the location of the constellation of the Bowl of Bacchus (Crater the Cup) in the region between Cancer and Leo, indicating that there for the first time, intoxication overtakes descending souls with the influx of matter; whence the companion of intoxication, forgetfulness, also begins to steal quietly upon souls at that point.” (Chapter 12, 4)

The Image – Vesica Piscis

Neither Picatrix nor any other source specifies an image for this election. Presumably any lunar image is suitable, which I used in addition to engraving the Vesica Piscis. Technically speaking, this is not directly from a traditional source but on closer inspection, it fits perfectly. The discs of the Sun and Moon are perfectly symmetrical and their conjunction births a geometric pattern that encompasses everything in existence.

The sacred mathematical properties of the circle and sphere can be understood through its contemplation. The circular grid pattern found carved the Temple of Osiris at Abydos that has become popularly termed the Flower of Life can be verbally illustrated as a birth process of two circles. As the pattern repeats, it becomes an all-encompassing lattice.

(Carving in the Osirian pillars at Abydos, Hellenistic period)

Visica Piscis is Latin, meaning “Bladder of a Fish”. A symbol of a fish can be derived from the intersection of the first two circles and it is commonly seen in Christian iconography today. As the circles multiply they form a “net” like a fisherman’s net.

As the properties of the symmetric circle patterns are examined further, the five Platonic Solids can be found contained within. These are the very building blocks of reality, according to Plato.

Left to right: tetrahedron, cube, hexahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron.

When we examine the ecliptic and the cosmos as an immense circle containing infinite combinations of geometric patterns, the Sun and Moon conjoining takes on a whole new meaning as it gives birth to a new lunar cycle.

According to Pythagorean theology, the circle embodies the Monad or primordial One. The triangle embodies Three, the perfect number which is created by the Monad creating a copy of itself, making Two or the Dyad. The Dyad is opposition and by these two opposing forces a third replica is birthed, a harmonious trinity from which all creative acts emanate.  The eye is a universal symbol of consciousness. By placing an additional circle inside of the Vesica Piscis, a perfect image of an eye is formed.  These images were chosen for the talismans, along with some more traditional lunar images.

Who Is This For?

Anyone who wants the best qualities of both the Sun and Moon from an exceptionally rare occurrence in the skies. A similar election will likely not be available again for decades. Picatrix says that this special union of the two lights brings balance in all things and Agrippa says that it provides a “vivifying” influence, an influx of physical and mental vitality.

Election Standard

The Moon in Cancer separates from exalted Jupiter and applies to conjoin the Sun within one degree in 4’06” Cancer in the Ascendant, 5 Cancer. There is an applying sextile to Mars which has some reception by Term, and a wide sextile to Venus with mutual reception. 

How They Were Made

According to the Book of the Treasure of Alexander, the moment that a talisman is first engraved is its inception or birth and the image must be completed before the next sign rises, in this case before 0 Leo rose in the ascendant. Technically speaking, cazimi is a conjunction of 17 minutes applying or separating, but this appears to be a protection against combustion and not the “fifth quality of the Moon” which Picatrix says is within one minute.

“All our sages, however, are mutually in agreement that the better quality of the Moon is the aspect she makes when she is conjunct to the Sun within one minute”.

This extremely narrow time window was feasible to engrave the sigils of Cancer, the Sun and Moon on each talisman. After this brief window had passed and each image was begun while the Moon was conjoined the Sun within one minute, I completed all the images while Cancer was still rising in the ascendant. Sterling silver, selenite, and lapis lazuli were used.

The Chart

25 June 2025, 0630