How Astrology Helped Me Accept Being Highly Sensitive

When I first started studying astrology I felt like my outward life was a total mismatch with my inner world. I was a connector and people frequently commented on my great networking skills. I am extremely ambitious, which matched what I knew about my Capricorn Sun from a very young age. 

But there was always another part of me. Outwardly, I was confident, organized, and career motivated. Inwardly, I was extremely sensitive, craved isolation, and felt like I never had enough time to be in my imagination. As a child and teenager I often spent long days in bed reading novels and closing my eyes to allow my imagination to take me away to dream worlds and dream places. 

While I was always mature, I struggled in the transition to adulthood. I felt like this sensitive and imaginative part of me needed to stay in childhood. There was nothing about these experiences that would help me in my career or in my success in life. This is what I believed, so I shoved down those parts of myself to the best of my ability and projected as much fun and confidence as I could to the world. 

I was so wrong about that belief. 

accepting my high sensitivity through astrology 

In my mid to late-twenties, after I already started to realize that this imaginative and sensitive part of me would never disappear (and if it did it would be to the detriment of my mental health) I began studying astrology. I was at a spiritual shop with my mother when the astrologer who owned the shop offered to print off my birth chart for me. 

“Did you know that you’re a double Cancer?” she asked. 

While I’d looked at my chart previously and knew that I was more than just a Capricorn sun, I wasn’t able to hear how prominent my intuitive, sensitive Cancer traits were until this moment. I realized that I had ignored a huge part of me for years. I decided to learn more about what it meant to be a Cancer. 

In astrology, Cancer is ruled by the Moon. The Moon moves through the entire Zodiac over the course of 28 days, which means she changes signs roughly every 2.5 days. Armed with this knowledge, I started to track the mood I was in when the Moon was in each sign. After doing this for a couple of months I started to notice definite patterns. 

I noticed that when the Moon was in Aries I felt stressed by the demands of people needing immediate responses from me and that when the Moon was in Pisces I wanted to paint all day. 

When the Moon was in Virgo I was more likely to voluntarily (and anxiously) work a 12-hour day, but by the time the Moon rolled into Scorpio I was exhausted. 

Through noticing and understanding these patterns I was able to understand the ways my sensitivities supported or interfered with my life. I stopped feeling like I had to do the exact same thing every day to be a real adult and opened myself up to the flow of life. 

tracking the moon for hsp’s

While every highly sensitive person’s astrology is unique to them and not every HSP is a Cancer or ruled by the Moon, we are a sensitive bunch. Our emotions play a huge role in our lives and we are also more likely to be free flowing than the folks around us. We are more likely to feel ashamed about what we need to be successful in life because it is not what we are socialized to believe is the “right” way to live. 

Working with the Moon signs is great for anyone, but I think highly sensitive people in particular might benefit from this practice. If you’ve ever woken up in the morning filled with dread for the one meeting or task that you must accomplish that day, you can understand how feeling into the energy of any given day might help you. 

It’s easier to know in advance if I might not feel up to something, like a big meeting or event, when you know about your Moon sign patterns. Sometimes that meeting is unavoidable, but I find it easier to curb the existential dread when I can tell myself, “Today the Moon is in Libra and I need to focus on building relationships. That means this meeting is important for today so I’m going to show up. Later I will reward myself with time to draw because I know that the creative and inspiring part of Libra fills me up.”

As I’ve used this approach over the years, I’ve found that it’s actually made me better and more adaptable at work. I can use my knowledge of astrology to guide my energy flow so that I’m not working so hard energetically and I can extend more compassion to myself when I feel a dip in stamina. Most importantly, this not only helped me embrace my sensitive nature but allowed me to integrate it into my life and my work. 

Discover Your Personal Rhythm with the Moon 🌕

It must be the Moon...  

Have you ever caught yourself saying this when you're feeling some kind of way? If you are a sensitive person you might be more aware of the energetic shifts created by the moon every few days.

What would happen if you were intentional about tracking your moon moods?

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