Personal thoughts on the sign Cancer

The Sun moved into Cancer at the Summer Solstice, and I have been thinking a lot about that sign.  I have a client who used to say “don’t call me a cancer!!” so I am now very politically correct, calling people born under that sign “Cancerians” rather than “Cancers.”  And this is somewhat representative of the Cancerian sensitivity.

I was raised in a family of Cancerians.  My sister and my mother share the same birthday (or did up until my mother’s death in 2012) in the early degrees of Cancer.  My father was born at 29º45′ Gemini, which is pretty darn close to Cancer, and anyway he has five other planets in Cancer.  So this was a very Cancerian bunch, especially for someone born with three planets in Libra and a Leo Moon and is mostly air and fire with a bit of fiery water (Scorpio/Pluto) thrown in.  I always felt like the odd man out, like there was some emotional handbook that they all had but which I was never given.  It wasn’t until I started doing client consultations that I began to understand these mysterious crabs.

If you watch the movement of crabs at the beach you will get a good sense of the Cancerian personality.  They can be somewhat fearful, especially when they are younger and their vulnerable shells are still soft.  I know they are delicious at that stage, but they are also extremely sensitive and if wounded while their outer shells are soft they become hard and crusty and it can be nearly impossible to break through.  Crabs don’t approach anything directly – they sidle up slowly when you’re not looking and are very easily spooked.  However, once they are ready to grab the prize they will not let go.  They can be tenacious and protective of what is theirs.

I never understood why my mother and sister were so deeply affected by events in the world, taking global tragedy so personally that they experienced these events as though they were occurring in their own family.  Later I discovered that this is a Cancerian trait – there is a connection to the world at large that is unparalleled in the rest of the zodiacal realm.

Cancerians are nurturers, but as cardinal (leadership) signs they are more comfortable when they are the ones in charge.  It can be difficult to try to take care of a Cancerian person and you may be fooled into thinking that they do not crave the kind of nurturing that they give to others.  But that would be a highly erroneous assumption to make!  The more vulnerable a Cancerian person feels, the harder that exterior shell becomes.

Cancerians are deeply rooted to their home and crave a connection to their history.  They are not always family-oriented, but they long for a sense of belonging – a tribal affiliation.  They are well known for their love of food and cooking, and there is no better way to the heart of a Cancerian than through their stomach.  If you can get to the kitchen, that is, because they are more likely to be cooking for you.

Tomorrow is my Cancerian sister’s birthday.  She has had a hell of a year.  I’m excited about her Solar Return chart, which shows 0 degrees of the cardinal signs on the angles (ascendant and midheaven), suggesting that she is at the verge of some new beginnings, and her Sun is right at the Midheaven, a placement which is generally fortunate for career decisions and potential moves which she is looking into.  One thing I’ve learned, or am trying to learn, is that the more she appears to not need or want any help, the more she really does need and want it.

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