Cancer Szn Self Care Kit <3
Anchor yourself in self love...
Happy Cancer Season! Here’s your zodiac-themed Self Care Kit to support you through this sunny & nourishing season of care & compassion.
This year, Cancer Szn stretches from June 20th to July 21st.
Cancer season helps us establish boundaries, balance, & emotional fortitude following the active & busy social butterfly vibes of Gemini season. Cancer energy is all about feeling all the feels, nurturing relationships, practicing compassion, & navigating the waters between being in control & going with the flow. This is an excellent time for embracing vulnerability, developing a strong sense of emotional intelligence, deepening your relationship to your intuition, & finding that sweet spot between protecting time for self care while simultaneously extending love & care towards others.
Some fun facts:
Cancer energy is associated with The Chariot card in tarot. It symbolizes willpower, control, moving forward in the right direction, & embracing your inner warrior to triumph over obstacles in order to conquer personal goals.
Cancer is known as “the feeler” & is symbolized as “the crab.”
Cancer is ruled by the Moon- our luminary known as the “ruler of emotions.”
Cancer is a water sign, which accentuates emotions, dreams, the subconscious, intuition, psychic ability, spirituality, emotional security, family, home, ancestors, forgiveness, metamorphosis, & transcendence.
Cancer is a cardinal sign that holds initiative energy. Cardinal signs are great at helping you begin new projects & endeavors.
Cancer is one of the first four signs in the zodiac, making it a personal sign. These signs help us understand ourselves as individuals.
Cancer attributes: nurturing, moody, maternal, empathetic, family-oriented, clinging, loving, romantic, warm, sincere, & gentle.
Cancer interests: cooking for friends, volunteering, long baths, staying home, collecting, starting new traditions, self care rituals.
Cancer vibe: “I FEEL.”
Cancer motivation: to nurture.
Cancer affirmation: “I nurture myself.”
The Cancer Myth: This passage comes from the book “The Stars Within You ~ A Modern Guide to Astrology” by author Juliana McCarthy…
“According to Greek myth, Cancer was a giant Crab named Crios, who guarded the sea nymphs of Poseidon’s kingdom. He was enormous and immortal, and took his role of protector very seriously. One day, a few sea nympths escaped, and Crios sent a giant squid named Vamari to retrieve them. The squid devoured them instead, and when he returned, Crios fought him to death. Afterward, the Crab was crippled and in terrible pain. To repay him for his heroism, Poseidon relieved Crios of his pain by placing him in the sky as the constellation Cancer. From the sky, Cancer reminds us of the dear Crab’s protectiveness, care, & vulnerable strength.”
Famous Cancers: These folks embody some serious Cancer energy & they deserve recognition for it. May I present, The Cancer Awards…
Best at Embodying Water Sign Energy- Michael Phelps
Best at Crying on Cue- Margot Robbie
Most Likely to Get Emotional While Thanking His Wife in an Oscar Acceptance Speech- Tom Hanks
Most Likely to Feel Bad for Winning Too Many Oscars- Meryl Streep
Most Likely to Still Sing the Praises of Their Exes- Ariana Grande
Best at Dysfunctional Relationships- Courtney Love
Best at Using Personal Trauma to Advocate for World Peace- Malala Yousafzai
Most Likely to Win a Nobel Prize for Writing Love Poems- Pablo Neruda
Most Lovable LGBTQ+ Icon- Megan Rapinoe
Politician Most Likely to Earn Votes with Comforting Mom Energy- Elizabeth Warren
Best at Sticking to Core Values & Bravely Fighting for What They Believe In- Ida B. Wells
Best at Standing Up for Others & Bringing People Together- Nelson Mandela
Most Toxic & Controlling- Clarence Thomas
Best at Balancing Being Sexy, Sweet, Compassionate, & Good at Cooking- Pamela Anderson
Most Likely to Get Away with a Crime of Passion- tie between Lizzie Borden & O.J. Simpson.
Honorable mentions: Princess Di, Ginger Rogers, Elon Musk, Mike Tyson, Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams, Julian Assange, Harrison Ford, Hunter S. Thompson, George Orwell, Frida Kahlo, Helen Keller, June Carter Cash, Angela Merkel, David Hasselhoff, Medgar Evers, Cyndi Lauper, Jean-Paul Sartre, Post Malone, Lana Del Rey, Will Farrell, Neil Simon, Frances McDormand, Woody Guthrie, Larry David, Jean Cocteau, Alex Morgan, Bob Fosse, Audra McDonald, Marina Popovich, Debbie Harry, Missy Elliott, Derek Jeter, Julius Caesar, Kristi Yamaguchi, Cormac McCarthy, Edward Snowden, Emma Goldman, Sufjan Stevens.
This Self Care Kit is a curated collection of resources to help you work in collaboration with all this Cancer energy. Below you’ll find:
Your personalized tarotscope reading, based on your Sun sign.
A yoga playlist with practices that center around themes that align with the current astro energy.
Some card pull prompts for you to try with your own deck at home.
A tarot deck recommendation.
Some book recommendations.
A music playlist recommendation.
& a homemade recipe for something healthy & delish to make sometime during the season.
Use this Self Care Kit throughout Cancer Season to help you harness this powerful Cancer energy & use it for good. Let it support you through all the ups & downs of the days ahead, & feel free to share this amazing resource with others. Enjoy!
Your Cancer Szn Self Care Kit:
Your personalized tarotscope reading- a tarotscope reading is structured similarly to a horoscope. I wanted to pull a card for each zodiac sign to offer you specific guidance meant especially for you & your energy. Follow the link to learn more about tarotscopes, & scroll down to find your personal reading. Make sure to do your tarot homework in order to fully benefit from the wisdom your card is offering to you!
Your yoga playlist- I curated this youtube playlist to center on themes that align with Cancer energy. All of these videos are from the Yoga With Adriene youtube channel, & you can access them all for free. They are a great fit for beginners, as well as seasoned yogis. I suggest doing one practice each day of the season, & going through the playlist chronologically. (The first day of Cancer Szn was June 20th, so if you’re starting on the 28th, for example, start with vid number nine down the playlist). These practices also sync up with the energy in each lunar phase, as well as popular holidays or culturally significant events. I included a full month of yoga videos in this Self Care Kit because yoga is the one movement practice that has helped me not only stay physically fit, but also mentally strong & resilient. It keeps my nervous system feeling grounded in challenging moments, & that translates into my day to day life quite often. If you’ve been meaning to start, or get back to, a yoga practice- this will help you ease into it in a free, fun, no pressure kind of way.
Card pull prompts- If you have your own tarot deck at home, you can pull cards between our Card for the Collective readings that are sent out in each weekly newsletter. This will add more clarity & depth to your tarot practice. Use the prompts below that resonate with you the most & challenge you to explore questions you don’t already know the answers to. You can use these as individual daily card pull readings, or do a bunch all at once as a larger spread. Stay focused on what seems most useful & helpful to you. Remember to give yourself an action step to take following your readings in order to integrate the messages you receive into your daily life.
What is my main intention, goal, or theme I should focus on during Cancer season?
What does the Universe want me to know about allowing myself to embrace vulnerability?
What is currently blocking me from fully acknowledging & processing my real feelings?
What will help me let go of trying to control the emotions & actions of others?
What inner strength will help me avoid being passive-aggressive during uncomfortable confrontations or conflict?
What affirmation will help me focus on fortifying my emotional intelligence, instead of taking things personally when navigating conflict?
What hidden truth do I need to know about my connection to self worth, emotional security, & co-dependent tendencies?
What energy will help me create & maintain healthy boundaries?
What illuminating inner truth will help me heal relationships that are currently feeling fractured or fragile?
What energy will help me balance self care with caring for others this season?
What affirmation will help me reprioritize self love & real self care?
What does my highest self want me to know about clarifying my core values & expressing compassion & empathy for others through my actions?
What supportive reminder will help me feel good about myself & my values as I stand up for myself & others?
What action step can I take this season that will help me listen to, trust, & follow my intuition with more ease?
What message do my ancestors have for me about celebrating myself & my own unique magic?
Deck recommendation- The Sasuraibito Tarot was a deck I wanted for a long time. It was the second deck I added to my collection after being fully devoted to my first tarot deck for many years at the beginning of my practice. Funny story… my partner gifted me this deck for my birthday the first year we started dating- right after I had finally bought it for myself. So, I kept the deck Andrew gifted to me with love, & passed along the one I purchased for myself to a beloved client & friend when I finally visited her in Boise after years of online friendship <3 This deck holds a very special place in my heart, & reminds me of loving relationships of all kinds, making it a perfect recommendation during Cancer season. Stasia Burrington is the local Seattle-based artist behind the creation of this deck, & I absolutely love her aesthetic. If you’re also a Seattle resident, I’m sure you’ve seen her artwork around town- on enamel pins, mugs, cards, stickers, patches, or art prints in indie bookstores, galleries, or kitchy coffee shops. What I love about her work, & what reminds me of Cancer season energy so much, is that it’s deeply emotional & also whimsical. It’s sometimes dark, honest, raw, & relatable in a way that feels fresh & revealing. At other times, it’s just straight up adorable, magical, cottage core vibes. The deck itself is only loosely based on the traditional Rider-Waite Smith imagery. If you’re not a total noob to tarot, you’ll appreciate some familiar symbolism, but with more diverse human representation & plenty of fresh & abstract visuals to help your interpretations feel more creative & expansive. There’s a lot of homage paid to themes around family & ancestry, & so many cards feel incredibly emotional & just take my breath away- especially within the suit of Cups, which relates to the element of water (just like Cancer Szn energy). This deck helps me feel my way through readings, more than thinking through interpretations, & I love that. Cannot recommend it enough.
Stasia describes the inspiration behind the deck in this way- “The Japanese word: "sasuraibito" most closely translates to "wanderer." It's an old-fashioned literary term that is falling out of use, meant to describe a person ever-seeking, searching for a place of healing and refuge. This deck is designed to aid the curious wanderer, and accompany you on your adventures to come.” Such a perfect fit for a season all about following your heart…
Support Stasia directly by checking out more details & purchasing the deck from her website below:
Book recommendations- Get ready to curl up in the cushy chair at your fave local coffee shop with an iced oat milk latte & a fresh stack, because I have a few book recs for you this season…
To help you understand your feels & embrace vulnerability- Atlas of the Heart, by the Queen of Vulnerability herself- Brenè Brown.
To help you practice self liberation & radical self love- The Body is Not an Apology, by the fiercely honest & empathetic Sonya Renee Taylor.
To help you heal from co-dependency- Codependent No More, by the brilliant leading expert Melody Beattie. You can also check out this podcast episode interview with Melody from her convo with Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, & Amanda Doyle on We Can Do Hard Things.
To help you clarify your core values- Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, & Wear Cows by the beloved activist, psychologist, & educator Melanie Joy. (You should absolutely check out the rest of her books on relationships & social justice issues, as well).
To help you cook all the compassionate comfort foods from scratch, like a true Kitchen Witch- The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples, by the legendary pioneer of plant-based dairy Miyoko Schinner.
Music recommendation- I was going to make you a “Sad Girl Summer” playlist, but then I found a playlist with the same title already existing on Spotify, & it was created just for me by the algorithm gods based on the artists I already love, so it’s perfect… listen for moody tunes by featured Cancer musicians Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, Selena Gomez, Leith Ross, & Ruth B.
Recipe recommendation- I love including recipes in these Self Care Kits because I consider nutritious food to be essential for self care. Since it’s Cancer Szn & we’re all about sentimental, homemade, healthy family food things right now- I wanted to share with you this recipe I made & perfected over the last few months! It checks all the Cancer theme boxes. It’s sweet. It’s delish. It’s comforting. It’s healing. It’s good for your bod & your soul. I call them…
Maddie’s PB & Cocoa Recovery Cookies:
I created these to nom on after I work out. They’re high in protein & so super satisfying after a long run. If you’re hitting the gym this summer, it’s best to eat your cookies about 20-40 min after your workout to help your muscles repair. If you’re not Down Bad Crying at the Gym & just want some sweet treats, these are perfect to pack as picnic or hiking trail snacks, or just gobble them up as dessert. No matter how you savor them, they’ll make your body & your spirit healthy & happy!
Instructions:
Combine the following ingredients in a food processor & pulse until the mixture starts becoming a fudgy-textured ball of dough. Avoid over-processing if you want some sweet gobs of dates mixed into your finished cookies, like me! If you wanna make them as delish & healthy as possible, go for all organic ingredients. I’ve put links to the products I use below.
10 large pitted medjool dates
10 Tablespoons (TBSP) Peanut Butter (the kind you have to stir with no added sugar, palm oil, salt, or any of that other extra shit. Just dry roasted peanuts).
2 1/2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1 TBSP ground flaxseed
1 1/4 teaspoons (tsp) vanilla extract
1 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp + 1/8 tsp baking soda
Unflavored plant-based protein powder- enough to equal 50g of protein total.
These are my favorites-
67g Organic Unflavored Pea Protein Powder, 365 Whole Foods Market
10 TBSP (82g) Complement Protein Powder
6-8 TBSP cold filtered water (start with 6 tablespoons, & add more if needed to reach the desired consistency. If you use a protein powder that requires more scoops to equal 50g of protein, then you’ll need to use more water).
The consistency should be a bit sticky & fudgy, & you should be able to roll the dough into balls without it crumbling apart in your palms or being too gooey to stay in a sphere shape.
Take the mixture out of the food processor & roll into 15 equally sized balls of dough with your hands. Each ball will be about the size of a golf ball, or about 33-35g each if you have a food scale at home.
For meal prep: Store balls in tupperware in the fridge for up to a week. Makes 5 servings of 3 cookies per serving- 15 cookies total. If using as workout recovery cookies, bake & eat 3 cookies within about 30 min to an hour post-workout.
To bake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper & evenly space your cookie balls out. Dip a fork in filtered water & dip in flour (to prevent sticking. I use oat flour). Press fork into cookies in a hashtag pattern (like your grandma used to do with her peanut butter cookies). Top with one or two chocolate chips per cookie before baking, if you’re feeling extra. I like to use Hu dark chocolate gems. Sprinkle with a pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes to make them extra tasty & fancy. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for just 7 min! They’ll be warm, soft, melty, & totally delish post workout if you eat ‘em fresh out of the oven! They taste just as good once cooled, but they are a bit crumbly & fragile after being baked, so pack your cookies for the picnic with care! Also- you can totally skip baking them & just eat them as protein cookie dough energy balls out on the trail or on the run! If it’s too hot to fathom using your oven, they taste great as cookie balls straight out of the fridge!
ENJOY!
I loved putting together this Self Care Kit for you! If you found anything particularly helpful, have a favorite link or resource from this article, or want to send me any suggestions on what kinds of things to include in next season’s Self Care Kit, leave me a comment & let me know your thoughts! This is a free resource, so go ahead & share this with a friend or two who you think might truly benefit from it. If you want to receive more Self Care Kits at the beginning of each new zodiac season, & if you’d love to receive the weekly newsletter & Card for the Collective reading in your inbox every Tarot Tuesday, make sure you’re signed up as a free subscriber. Consider upgrading to paid to get access to all the amazing content I put so much love & energy into for this rad community <3 Happy Cancer Season! I hope you spend this season following your heart, feeling all the feels, baking treats for your besties, indulging in the occasional shower cry, taking tons of time to rest & relax with loved ones in the sunshine, & pouring so so so much love into yourself <3
xoxo Maddie
PS- All Cancer fun facts at the top of this article were sourced from the following books:
“The Moon Journal” by Sandy Sitron
“The Stars Within You ~ A Modern Guide to Astrology” by Juliana McCarthy
“You Were Born For This ~ Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance” by Chani Nicholas
“Holistic Tarot” by Benebell Wen