Of water element and Cardinal Mode, Cold and Moist – Phlegmatic

Cardinal, feminine and ruled by the Moon

Body Parts – Breast, lungs, ribs, stomach and spleen

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One is not too sure how the Crab became the symbol of Cancer or what symbolic animal is was meant to portray.

To the Greeks Cancer was initially represented by a turtle or tortoise and there are many similarities of the Crab to the tortoise. Both have hard shells and soft interiors, both crawls back into their shells when frightened and both move at a slow but constant pace.

In Greek mythology Cancer was represented by the tortoise because of its link with Mercury who shortly after his birth this precocious child emerged from his cave with the shell of a tortoise. Being very clever he got some cow gut and fashioned this shell into the famous first Lyre a stringed instrument which later became associated with Apollo.

During the Hellenistic Era Cancer became associated with the crab and the moon, as after Alexandra the Great died we had the merging of the Mediterranean cultures, they came out of the dark like a crab. The Greeks associated this rulership with trade and business, the moon controlling the rising and falling of the tides of the oceans which brought forth trade and made travel possible. Cancerians have been described as cold hearted and penurious merchants, greedy for money – not really an image we like to associate with Cancer. Though Cancerians are known to have the ability to make a buck or have something stuffed under the mattress.

By Chaldean order Cancer is the sign the naturally rules the fourth house. The fourth house is the father the merchant who needs to go out there and make money in any manner so to secure his home.

In Classical times the Greeks worked Cancer the Crab into the twelve labors of Hercules. While this hero was engaged in battling a gigantic sea serpent called Hydra, a huge crab emerged from the sea and fastened its pincers on his heel. Hercules turned around and crushed the crab, then continued with his fight. The goddess Here (Juno) his arch enemy placed the crab among the stars as a reward for serving the goddess in her struggle to overcome Hercules.

Cancer marks the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere, where the longest day and shortest night occur. We attribute the moon to this sign because this is the time where the solar force is at its peak and where the Sun starts to turn back beginning its progress into the world of the Nightforce or collective humanity which is the yin or feminine component of consciousness and civilization. The solar force or ego has reached its limit and unbridled individuality; it must now give way to the needs of the collective humanity.

During the age of Cancer in archaic times, the summer solstice was when the sun god – or his earthly representative – was ritually slain or sacrificed to the Great Mother. He began his way into the underworld just as the ego consciousness begins its journey towards universal consciousness. Cancer represents one’s home and family, in this small collective unit we as individuals begin to allow a little bit of the consciousness of the other into our lives.

During Cancer the Sun is at its greatest power, yet the sign is ruled by the Moon! The symbols of Sun and Moon, masculine and feminine, are united in one archetype. Cancer is the sign of the mystic marriage. Cancer is the nadir point of the zodiacal circle, the point at the bottom of the chart. This is the part where the hero having travelled into the other world, representing the depths of the collective mind, meets the fairy princess, the sorceress, the magical bride and is united with her. In primitive ritual, the sun god was often the consort of the Divine Mother and the priest who played the gods role ritually coupled with the Divine Mother before his symbolic death. It is through this union with the feminine or collective principle that the masculine ego or consciousness reaches its limit and begins to be absorbed by something different. It is also why males feel both an attraction as well as a fear of merging with the female. At the point of merger the male or ego consciousness loses control and is swallowed up and symbolically dies in order that consciousness, yang, and unconsciousness, yin, can be united.

This why so many Cancerians are said to be psychic, they are particularly open to the influx of vast universal forces, which can channel themselves into the confines of one’s individual consciousness whether or not they choose to be a channel or not.

The four phases of the moon are related to the signs Taurus, Cancer, Virgo and Scorpio, in the first two phases the Moon is exalted in Taurus and in its dignity in Cancer. The Taurus aspect of the goddess deals with the fertility and abundance of mother earth, the miracle of conception and the woman’s ability to bring life from her body into the world.

Cancer is the relationship between the mother and child that is honored and celebrated. This relationship begins once the egg has been fertilized. A relationship is established between the fetus and mother during the nine month prenatal development, it is this relationship that can have dramatic long lasting effects from birth to adulthood. It is a time where the mother establishes a bond to her child and the child is receptive to all input both emotionally and physically. This is where the umbilical cord is established and in some cases does not necessarily get cut after birth. In some this psychic cord remains linked to the mother throughout life, whether this is due to the reluctance of the mothers’ unwillingness to let go or the child’s inability to let go, or both.

A mythic example is the story of Demeter (Ceres) the goddess of agriculture and the earth and her daughter Kore (Persephone), Demeter condemned the world to death when her daughter left her.

Both Taurus and Cancer have a mutual need for security, Taurus in the physical realm and Cancer in the emotional realm. Thinking of the signs both displaying a strong relationship to the life giving functions of birth and the nurturing of an infant, it is no wonder they demand a secure place to be.

The constellation of the crab was placed in the heavens by Here for helping her in her struggle with Hercules and the Hydra. Both Here and Hydra are aspects of the Great Mother while Hercules the solar hero. Deeply embedded in the Cancer psyche is the need to defend and protect ‘mother-right’ the feminine which first gave the crab its life then stellar immortality. When mother, family honor r or the nest is threatened Cancer will respond by pinching the enemy with its claws, as did the crab with Hercules. Cancer types are extremely protective of their young and often cherish the assumption that their young will in turn protect them when they are capable of doing so.

Cancer is represented by the Great Earth Mother, there is often a loving symbiotic bond that begins in the womb and continues to the grave. In a debilitated Cancer individual the mother can overshadow the individual to such an extent that there is no individuation. The Cancer individual can become involved in a guilt ridden dilemma as their instincts dictate that they should honor their mother for giving them life, while their personal needs become stifled and this can cause deep rage and psychological problems, including eating disorders.

Cancer rules the breasts and womb in medical astrology, the two organs that exist primarily to provide a safe home and nourishment to the infant. Nourishment to a Cancer is very important and this is one of the signs that experience the most severe eating disorders when afflicted. In the myth where Persephone went to the underworld both Ceres and Persephone took no food till they were reunited. Strong lunar types may overeat enjoying the full roundness and radiance of the lunar experience, but may use food as a way that is damaging to them as a compensation for the lack of emotional sustenance or to escape emotional control the family exerts over them. Bulimia or anorexia can often be tied to a dysfunctional planet in Cancer or an ill nourished Moon, Ceres or Pluto.

The fourth house or the I.C. which is Cancers home or domicile represents the family and individuals roots as well as the nurturing parent as opposed to the domineering one. Cancer in a chart will show the manner of the individuals’ early family bonding and the effect that such bonding the individual’s ability to individuate. The I.C. or the root of the chart is the most intense point of subjectivity, the center of the universe, so everything out there can affect them in extreme ways on an inner level, this can explain their moodiness. Any afflictions to Cancer in the chart are areas where negative traits of insecurity will surface. At the same time well dignified Cancer planets will contribute to nourishing relationships throughout life.

Another reason why Cancer is known for its moodiness is to do with its relationship with the Moon its planetary ruler. The Moon has a 28 day cycle where it is constantly changing phases as well as changing sign every two and a half days! With so much motion any one can get sea sick. The other difficulty for Cancer is that it is cardinal water, cardinal is about action, and cardinal water is about initiating feelings through merging with others. Because Cancer is so good at merging it can result in a loss of personal identity and can also result in Cancer can carry around everyone else’s emotions totally unaware of who and what it is carrying.

Water is about expressing feelings as well as an outpouring and cleansing process. This process is vital for Cancer due to its cardinal nature, as it constantly absorbs the feelings of the human environment it needs to purge those feelings as well. It is not a simple detaching of feelings as Cancer has claws and has a difficult time detaching from anything. It can be painful to them and others involved.

A Cancerians motto can be “If you take me, you take my Family”

Cancerians are surrounded by water as is the fetus. Water is feeling and sensitivity to the environment as well as being well absorbed. That coupled with the need for a secure place, like the womb, accounts for the overriding need for Cancerians to constantly seek for a place that offers security, in work and for their true home. This becomes their life’s quest.

In the circle of life, the zodiac, Cancer marks the first stage of experience that defines ones relationships with others. With Cancer being the first water sign, it is emotionally dependent upon relationships and being a cardinal sign it is not shy in initiating a relationship when one is not present. In marriage or partnership Cancer looks for someone to mother or someone to mother them. A childless Cancer will look for peers, friends or projects to mother, Cancer has a need to feel needed and in the absence of a child of a child to need it a substitution will be found.