Sweet Potatoes, A Tree in Ankara, Grandmothers in the Archives: A Cancer Rising Year for the Books!

A short testimony on my Cancer rising solar return year: the cooking, the quiet, the crying, the Ankara Christmas tree, the ancestors, and the boundaries that saved me.

So, I'm almost 10 months into this Cancer Rising Solar Return (September 2025 to September 2026).

I knew a Cancer rising solar return year would make me emotional. I expected nostalgia. I expected a few soft moments. I expected to cry at something reasonable, like a wedding, a graduation, or a child saying something too pure for this world.

A good friend of mine with Cancer rising and I had a good chuckle about this recently. I have zero Cancer planets in my chart. Cancer rules my natal eighth house, and it has always felt like an empty room where I kept collecting things and avoiding the light switch.

By things, I mean memory, moods, tenderness, grief and my actual family.

This year turned the light on.

It had me baking flourless sweet potato banana brownies, cooking instead of eating out, and doing a solo Ankara Christmas for just me and the dog.

It was asking me to come home to myself.

And then the ancestors started showing up.

Finding old yearbook photos online of my maternal grandmother at NCCU in the 50's (whom died before I was born) cracked open a different kind of tenderness. Not loud. Not dramatic. More like a door opening in a room I did not know I had inherited.

I went looking for one grandmother and somehow found myself helping other people find their people too. If you haven't already, check out Carried, my free ancestral astrology tool. Which will remain FREE to everyone.

Her name was Danielette Patricia Johnson Tucker. Affectionately known as "Gran Danny" by my older siblings and cousins who adored her.

She majored in accounting and was the head auditor for the Government of Liberia. Descendant of Elijah Johnson (one of the fathers of Liberia) and his son Hilary R.W Johnson (the 11th president of Liberia), her great-grandfather.

At NCCU, she was president, treasurer, and active in many clubs. She was deeply involved in student affairs which made it easy to find traces of her.

What a time to come from Liberia to America in the segregated 1950's to attend an HBCU. What a thing to pave the way and plant seeds for my mother, and now, for me.

The Moon in Libra in my solar return fourth house found me in the kitchen. I started experimenting with flourless sweet potato and banana brownies, new plantain recipes, and the kind of meals that made me feel like somebody was taking care of me.

I started feeding myself well.

I preferred cooking at home. I lost an additional fifty pounds to date. I developed a new obsession with sardine bowls, ground beef bowls, vegetables, avocado, and simple food that felt both ancestral and practical.

Maybe this is preparation for my September 2026 Virgo rising year. Maybe the Moon just knew my body needed a gentler language.

Either way, I learned that nourishment is not just food.

I also decided to wrap ornaments on my Christmas tree in Ankara fabric.

It was just me and my dog, but it was warm. It felt like the beginning of a new tradition. I have so much fabric from West Africa that I can rotate it every year, which feels less like decorating and more like remembering in color.

I was born here in Durham, NC (both my mother and grandmother are NCCU alumni).

Three months after I was born, we moved back to Liberia where we lived until the civil war started on Christmas Eve 1989. I grew up in the DMV and that's the place I previously would ascribe to "Home" if anyone asked.

But honestly, I always cringe at that question.

I've lived in so many cities as an adult. I started over too many times. What is home anyway? I'm still adjusting to the idea that "wherever you go, there you are."

This year I also I got deep off into fengshui and started moving around furniture and acquiring plants I suddenly learned how to keep alive.

I nearly became a single foster dad, went thru the training but decided to postpone licensing due to my other commitments. Still, the desire showed up and the question of family in a real way.

This year has taught me Love, but from a safe perimeter.

This has meant new ways of navigating my interaction with immediate family, tenderness without martyrdom, and boundaries without coldness.

While helping my old friend find her Dad on Facebook, I curiously went to see if my Dad had finally approved my FB friend request from last year.

He had not.

But he approved more of my siblings since I'd first requested him.

This one stung for a moment.

Then I remembered something my therapist once said, "His loss. What a cool ass son he never got to know and love."

So I canceled the request and moved on with my life.

I've also changed a lot of my socials to no longer reflect the last name, maybe in my own act of quiet liberation.

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I also found my paternal grandmother’s obituary and remembered that she was the older half sister of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (the first president of Ghana). She was also a distinguished dietician who implemented the first nutrition program in the Liberian prison after her son landed himself in trouble.

I often feel very connected to her in spirit.

And I believe she has been supporting my food and wellness journey since 2024.

I've learned...this Cancer rising year was not just about being emotional.

Home is not just where you live. It is what you protect, what you remember, what you feed, and what you finally stop abandoning.

Home is a recipe, a photograph, a Christmas tree with Ankara decor, your grandmother's face in an old university archive.

Home is the boundary you finally stop apologizing for.

And sometimes, the friend request you finally cancel in peace.

I think I've collected enough family.

I'm home...for now.

If this is your birthday season, schedule your solar return and let's unpack what to expect nd what this solar cycle means for you!

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With love always,

Zy