cancer-astrology-horoscopes-zodiacCancer Horoscopes, June 21 – July 22, belong to great artists and designers of the Zodiac. Hard outside, soft and sweet inside, astrology’s crustaceans are creative with a wonderful imagination, and share traits with the Chinese Zodiac’s Goat.

Cancer is ruled by the Moon with Water as its element. Swinging from one extreme to the other, “Lunatics” will often “go with the flow”. Feminine (Yin) and Cardinal, its color is silver and birthstone is the lustrous Pearl.

The Moon Child is often over-imaginative and prone to fantasy, sometimes trying to shape their lives to fit some romantic ideal. The ancient Egyptians viewed this constellation as the sacred scarab, the symbol of resurrection and immortality.

Crabs are average to below in height, with a fleshy body and short legs. Their faces are usually round, their complexions pale, their foreheads prominent, their eyes small and blue or gray in color, their noses short, perhaps upturned, and their mouths full. Cancer rules the stomach, diaphragm, upper liver and breasts. The Crab is subject to coughs, indigestion, gas, gallstones, general problems with stomach, liver and intestines, plus emotional disorders such as depression, hypochondria and hysteria.

The Gemini stage of life teaches us to not get bogged down in anything for too long. Let’s not try to nail material security to the floor in hopes of enjoying it forever, since we live in an ever-unfolding Universe where change is the only constant and change permits ou rawareness to expand, even while it periodically shakes us up. It’s best that most life conditions do not remain permanent, forever unaltered by time. Gemini enables small, continuous changes to occur, life’s little detours, that eventually result in large-scale, evolutionary innovation.

The time comes when DNA finally gets restless from boredom and decides it’s just not going to faithfully reproduce what has predictably come before. Gemini instead encourages life to juggle something different, for once, something that puts the cosmic zing back into living.

Now, if the zodiac process were to abruptly quit after this stimulating Gemini phase something the Twins even once suggested the Cosmos consider, since they couldn’t imagine what else could be missing from life that would be more exciting than an active intellect, we could still survive, but without any real sense of deep connection to one another. The human race certainly wouldn’t seem like one big family, and nobody would feel in their gut that they just had to go home for the holidays.

Even worse, television soap operas would fail miserably due to a lack of sympathy in viewers (or maybe because the characters and subplots would seem on the dry side).

Friendly Gemini helps us interact with one another, although not intimately so. Smiles, handshakes, and even witty remarks abound as everyone’s talking up a storm. Still, this air sign prefers to keep a healthy emotional distance from others while it shares its mental energies. Of course, Aries and Taurus are not convinced they even want to share what they’ve got with smiley, chatty strangers.

Unknowingly, Gemini sets the stage for Cancer to emerge, by demonstrating how much fun it can be to intermingle with those we find interesting. The concept of informal sociability is thus born in Gemini. Legend has it that Gemini even first taught Cancer how to hug and kiss. This was something the Twins spontaneously came up with as an odd but amusing way to pass the time. Lets hug and kiss, kiss and hug, ha ha! (The Twins love to dream up silly stuff to do when bored.)

But then when they each tried out this routine on the lonely-looking Crab, who was tightly clutching strands of seaweed on some desolate beach, suddenly the poor crustacean burst into tears. At first, the Twins nervously thought the Crab had sprung a fatal leak – what else could it be? But teary-eyed Cancer later confessed that it cried because it had never been shown such kindness and concern, leaving the clueless Twins to scratch their heads in puzzlement. Whatever! they muttered, as they realized their little hug and kiss game was now getting too intense for them to enjoy.

It’s no longer a kick for Gemini if someone becomes too choked up to talk. Anyway, what Gemini innocently started turned out to be one of the most powerful forces ever to take hold of humankind, raw, gut emotion. This was something beyond mere instinct, as all three previous signs concluded. It was even a little scary to behold, yet it was also a very compelling power that seemingly came from deep within. Cancer is the zodiac’s first sign to put us in contact with our soul, which is a different entity than the fiery spark of spirit that Aries embodies.

While Cancer may not be all too clear about what soul means, it nonetheless senses that something potent inside itself moves it to want to protect all in life that is vulnerable and in need of shelter. Thisis also the first zodiac sign to poignantly feel both love and sadness for the human condition. Cancer worries that the often indifferent outerworld, which cannot easily fulfill our inner needs, doesn’t even have a notion of who we really are deep down inside, plus, we’re typically reluctant to show others our most private selves.

It didn’t take much time before Gemini observed touchy Cancer in action and sighed, Life’s gonna get messy – no more fun. Now we have to watch what we say. Cancer is a cardinal-water sign, and so it is very active and sometimes pushy in the expression of its feelings. Just as Aries cannot easily turn off its dynamic, fiery energy and rest for awhile, Cancer has difficulty shutting off its emotional faucet. The water always seems to be running forcefully. This is a highly reactive sign driven by its surging feelings.

The Crab was born with an amazing sensitivity that allows it to absorb what’s going on inside others – stuff thats kept hidden from surface exposure (all three waters signs have this ability). Cancer, always alert to the unspoken feelings of others, somehow thinks it is obligated to offer its sympathetic support to those in need. People’s neediness arouses its maternal instincts. The problem is that it doesn’t always wait to be asked to help. It feels compelled to mother people once it picks up on their distress signals, and thus intrudes on their emotional space.

Yet the Crab sees itself more as being timid and shy, though this is not so (remember, cardinal energy can be quite assertive). Actually, how Cancer responds to its surroundings is as varied as the phases of the Moon, its planetary agent. Some see such changeability of temperament as moodiness. The Crab would instead say that it’s only reflecting the invisible currents in the psychological atmosphere of the moment.

Cancer readily sponges in the environment, and often without using protective filters. Its typically only after theCrab has taken in too much negative emotional discharge from others that it learns to build a hard shell to ward off further invasion. Along with such armor comes a crusty, crabby disposition that belies Cancers softer, gentler side. It’s a needed defense that keeps antagonistic forces at bay. Learn to snap at others and be grouchy, and then maybe the world might back off and leave you alone. Note how real, live crabs on the beach have that one huge claw they love to thrust out at whoever approaches uninvited as if to menacingly say, Ya see this?

Apparently, Cancer can already start off with a bad attitude when feeling insecure about dealing with new situations. Sometimes Cancer’s mood swings are how it deals best with its own feelings in flux, its internal high and low tides. Nonetheless, the Crab is the first sign to introduce a warmer kind of caring that goes deeper than the comforting energy of Taurus. Cancer envelops others in its protective aura as it tends to their needs, although it attaches itself in ways that feel suffocating at times. It’s not objective enough to realize how oppressive this can be to others. It doesn’t pull back and create healthy, needed space.

The mothering side of Cancer also unconsciously refuses to let anyone it loves grow up and exercise independence. Should they no longer need to be parented, loved ones might one day say goodbye and walk away, leaving Cancer all alone, and being left alone is one of the Crabs worst nightmares. The fear of abandonment wouldn’t be such a big theme for Cancer if it weren’t able to connect with others as deeply as it does. There’s little that is shallow about the Crab, although Cancer can be preoccupied with the immediate, surface reactions of others. lts too quick to let itself be triggered emotionally by someone elses body language, especially facial expressions. For example, you can drive Cancer crazy by remaining stone-faced and still. This sign thrives on active human response. Laugh, cry, get angry, but show something.

The Crab will try to look for even the subtlest of signals in people that spell rejection. All this can often make Cancer a temperamental sign to live with unless you enjoy walking on eggshells, never knowing if your actions will be taken the wrong way .Actually, Cancer has more emotion invested in creating and sustaining a calm and peaceful home, one where all relationships reflect deep and sensitive bonding. It’s not a sign that handles fights and disagreements well, which is one reason why it receives a frictional square, often an aspect of blockage or resistance from both combative Aries and potentially argumentative Libra.

Domestic tranquility is vital to Cancer, since, besides shelter, a home is a place where our ability to nurture ourselves and others can be developed. Being able to nourish all living things is important to this tender-hearted sign. Water is an element that wants close, human contact. Yet Cancer can be aggressively attentive (cardinal) in how it cares for whatever it looks after. Such smothering attention could be misread as being bossy and controlling. It’s just that Cancer holds on too tightly due to its insecurities and its fear of loss. However, the Crab would instead say that its only protectively watching out for the welfare of others, and won’t hesitate to do what has to be done to ensure their ultimate safety.

The perfect home environment allows Cancer to retreat happily into its private world, although cardinality can also motivate the Crab to secure a safe haven in society as well, most so regarding one’s professional interests. As the Crab has a need to feel at home wherever it goes, it thus tries to quickly establish an emotional rapport to help it adjust to new places and new faces. This doesn’t mean Cancer is overtly friendly, but it does look for signs of receptivity in others. When traveling to parts unknown, some Cancer types may even bring their family photos to share with others they meet, just to feel more comfortable when far away from their home turf.

Cancer is the first zodiac sign to activate imagination, although Gemini also pokes around here a bit. The Crab is able to draw upon unconscious resources that tie into humankinds collective memory bank. This is one reason why Cancer is so rooted in the past and is comfortable with the strangely familiar world of times long ago. It’s a sentimentalist at heart, one who loves to reminisce about bygone days. Of course, selective memory is at work here, since many not-so-pleasant things make up part of everyone’s past. Cancerian nostalgia chooses to dwell only on the good stuff that happened. However, the unconscious can also be home to the dark side of being human.

Cancer can suffer from a brooding, negative kind of imagination that allows fears to loom too largely. It is the fraidy cat of the zodiac, the one who’s scared that it may bump into its own shadow. No wonder Aries has trouble respecting ol chicken-hearted Cancer, at times, since this water sign worries too much about the threat of a potentially shaky future.

The Crab can sometimes be so spineless. Worse than that, an emotionally out-of-sorts Cancer tends toward pessimism, a general distrust that the world is basically a selfish and cold-hearted place. Cancer types who get like this are too easily discouraged when their lives take a bad turn and things seems to fall apart. Suddenly, everyone else is at fault and Cancer is the poor victim, that’s how the Crab sees it.

Nobody seems to be able to help Cancerians gain the perspective needed to feel better, once they start to go loony like this. They willfully insist (cardinal) on creating much overblown, psychological drama for both themselves and whomever else they latch on to in desperation. No other sign can drown in its own sorrow as intently as Cancer. After the rainstorms of life have passed and the sun comes out again, assuming Cancer has survived the ordeal, the Crab is ready to build a new foundation for itself as it once more starts to feel that i tbelongs to the world and is needed by many.

Luckily for Cancer, life is full of people who are hungry for this sign’s soothing, reassuring energies. Still, the Crab has a memory like a steel trap, and can never innocently begin its life anew if past disturbances have not been completely forgotten or forgiven. It will feel like it still has to watchout about getting hurt again by similar life disappointments. Cancer will thus remain guarded and self-protective (and can physically gain a lot of insulating weight, a buffer zone of fat and retained water as a result).

A formerly wounded Crab tends to build protective walls around its heart, and only traffics in safe relationships that cannot cause much emotional damage. These relationships may not be intimately fulfilling, but they do allow Cancer to give deeply of itself in ways that can feel healing to all parties involved (as in doing volunteer work for the disabled). If Cancer has suffered repeated abuse and rejection, it can seem coldly remote for a while (as it is symbolized by a cold-blooded creature, it can expertly turn off its feelings). Yet, its truer nature is to be warm and maternally giving, for that’s when it comes alive most and feels empowered.

Cancer can be cranky, irritable, and capable of lashing out when its feeling stressed. It may seem odd to discover that its also terrified of losing its temper, for fear that doing so will permanently drive loved ones away forever (it anticipates isolation as its punishment for venting conflicted feelings). Ironically, when Cancer does get angry, it can go ballistic with a totally blind, irrational rage that can be destructive in its full release. This overwrought display of fury happens because the Crab lets its emotional tension build and build to levels of dangerous, pressure cooker intensity, and then it blows like Mount Etna. The floodgates open wide, as a river of boiling emotion rushes forth.

The Crab is then aflame with heated grievances and burning resentments (as there is something inherently fiery in cardinal energy). Scorpio has this problem as well, the slow, steamy build-up routine, except Scorpio is usually quite aware that its becoming enraged long before it finally erupts (it can even plot the grand finale). However, when ticked off, Cancer may instead plunge vigorously into heavy-duty housework (or child rearing) and doesn’t suspect it has a growing problem with stored up hostility that needs serious attention.

When its attack of fury is over, the Crab is as stunned as anyone that it let itself get so emotionally out of control. That’s when it wants to go back into its shell and pretend it was all a bad dream. What it really needs to do is to own up to its anger, vow not to turn its fired-up feelings back on itself only to suffer bodily inflammations or infections, and instead face the fact that being human sometimes means confronting those who make us see red. We have to blow off a little steam when pushed to our limit, just to let folks know how we really feel.

Cancer assumes it’s born to play the mamma role in life, but the fact is that it also never got over its quality time in the womb. Thus, the baby within the Crabs psyche is still alive and kicking, almost as if it has prenatal memories of it all. As a result, some Cancer types feel they need a lot of pampering and tender loving care from those they get close to. There may be a degree of emotional immaturity to deal with when the Crab doesn’t get fed what it wants from others. Nevertheless, Cancer enjoys affection (lets play huggy-kissy), and can especially lavish sweetness on young animals and infants (theCrab is aroused by anything that seems helpless and dependent).

Still, when the needy baby is actually a Cancerian adult who’s way past the midlife crisis years, perhaps therapy is in order – primal scream, anyone?

The planet associated with Cancer is the Moon (yes, astrologers know it’s really a satellite of Earth, but from a horoscopic point of view, it operates like any other planetary archetype). Changeable Cancer sounds much like this planet, famous for its monthly mood swings. Both planet and sign instinctively adapt to their surroundings, although insecure Cancer can put up much resistance at times if changes are imposed too quickly or insensitively. The Moon’s power stems from its willingness to protect life by making things feel safe. It thus appears less fearful of uncertainties than does more anxious Cancer. Astrologers don’t usually view the Moon as hiding behind a hardshell for the same defensive reasons that Cancer does. Still, it is a planet that likes to feel insulated from life’s harsher elements.

Insulation also provides a nurturing kind of warmth when the emotional climate starts to turn chilly. Under certain conditions, an upset Crab can even turn stone cold and emotionally distant (as can all water signs). Both planet and sign are responsive to human need. They offer tender care that helps people feel nourished. Both dwell in the world of our subconscious, where a gut-reactive awareness is at work, picking up on subtle information from life. The Moon is just as much a sponge as Cancer, absorbing everything that touches its emotions. Yet, letting things go or even releasing the past can be tricky for both of them.

A maternal streak is another strongly shared trait, although the Moon is more apt to mother others, while Cancer can revert to the helpless baby who always hungers for love and attention. Cardinality drives Cancer to reach out assertively for a support system, while the Moon is more likely to go within to create a secure, inner home base. Wherever Cancer is in our chart points to a need to let our emotions flow more openly into the world. Let’s be upfront with our feelings and deal with them honestly, in the moment.

Water signs, when repressed for long periods, suffer psychological damage, as their injured parts sink deeper within, to slowly fester and become toxic. The results can be very harmful to our physical and psychological health. Cancer, a surprisingly headstrong and willful water sign, thus pays a heavy price when it refuses to exert needed emotional self-discipline. The Crab often gets itself much too worked up over various things both big and small that are beyond its power to control.

Where our natal Cancer parts are found, we need to stop busting a gut over what we cannot change or fix in others. On the plus side, don’t forget that we can be very imaginative in using our Cancerian energies, and should nurture all creative outlets that grab us emotionally. Maybe then we can mother budding talents that we can control, with the blessing of the Cosmos.

The sign Cancer begins the maternal trinity. It is the first of the watery triplicity and the second of the cardinal signs. This sign governs the breast and stomach. It is one of the most sensitive signs of the zodiac, and belongirig as it does to the maternal trinity, it governs all home and domestic affairs in which the feelings play a prominent part. Persons born in this sign are characterised as being slow but sure.

They are best described by the crab, whose tenacity is proverbial. This creature moves forward by going backward, and it has come to be looked upon as a sign of retrogression. The main feature, however, of this sign is the power of retentive memory.

The Cancer individual has the most remarkable memory of any given by the twelve signs, and it is not difficulty for them to recall minute incidents of the past. This makes them somewhat antiquated, as they love to dwell on past events, or to go over in their memory through past occurrences, and through this they often become somewhat limited and hindered, particularly where attachment to family is prominent in the life.

Their highly sensitive nature makes them feel very keenly everything that affects the other members of the family, and for them domestic affairs become a kind of brake on their own individual progress.

They yearn for approval and seek sympathy of others. They are timid, reserved, shy and fear ridicule. This makes them somewhat conventional, with a great dread and fear of public opinion that makes them especially conscious of social position.

They are fond of banding together into sects and groups. Men become freemasons and members of occult and secret communities, and women are drawn to mystical and occult meetings. When fully individualised these persons are remarkable for their imagination, but when running to the personal side of their life they become very fanciful, romantic, superstitious, and fond of the unseen. It is difficult to find harmonious persons born in this sign.

As feeling individuals, they are truly wonderful, but these feelings may carry them into the worst forms of emotional sensationalism. Being exceedingly sensitive, their feelings are very easily wounded. They possess a psychic gift to feel the impressions around them.

They are economical and very fond of saving, which trait runs into almost all the details of their life, as the are very fond of saving letters, books, and all kinds of curios. They hoard nicknacks to a remarkable extent, being fond of all that is antique and connected with age and the past.

They can become very conservative and certainly respect age and custom. They are persistent and exceedingly tenacious, and are apt to live more in the personal side of their nature than is good for their well-being and that of those around them, but they possess a certain amount of tact, which assists them considerably.

When fully individualised these persons possess a great love of power, and once having gained it they seem to have the ability to hold it. They are not so ambitious as they are lovers of fame and public recognition, and this they desire, as they seek a world-wide approval.

They can rake up from the past things that others have long forgotten. When acting along personal lines only they are inactive and inclined to be indolent and somewhat grasping.

As this sign governs the stomach, this organ will be a sensitive part of the system, and when the personal element is strong, will suffer from indigestion and other gastric problems. Worry and anxiety with them are frequent causes of constipation, congestion, rheumatism and chronic disorders. They are liable to suffer from fancied ailments, and to become hypochondriac.

They are always nervous when ailing, and generally fear the worst results of any functional disorders, and in this respect they become so morbid that they actually produce the illness they imagine themselves suffering from. Their cure is a healthy imagination and freedom from all anxiety, especially with regard to domestic affairs.

A Cancer person is best adapted in life to those pursuits which embrace the catering for the masses, and should be engaged in professions in which the general public are largely concerned. They make splendid historians, being able to write up the past with a comparative accuracy.

As the Aries types would do well as leaders in the military world, as captains, generals, etc., so will the Cancer types do well as naval captains and in all professions connected with the sea. They make good nurses, caterers and hotel keepers, barmaids, confectioners, actors and actresses, companions, cooks, laundresses, dealers in second-hand clothing, second-hand booksellers, dress-makers, matrons, midwives, researchers, stewardesses, and succeed best in all matters of a fluctuating and public nature, in commodities that change hands often, and in matters of small profits and quick returns.

Cancers are seeking to become perfectly individualised, and for this purpose tenacity is one of their chief characteristics. They are very reserved and sensitive, sympathetic and tenacious, persistent and impatient, impressionable and emotional. It is necessary for them to become at times what the world calls selfish that they may protect their individuality, but when this has been attained they are self-possessed, self-reliant and strong characters, in which power becomes the marked feature.

Famous Cancer types include Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams, Phyllis Diller, and John Glenn.

This sign is compatible with other Moon children, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces and Taurus. Explore Cancer Love Match Astrology.

This sign completes the first four signs in the zodiac, in which the four triplicities, fire, earth, air and water co-mingle. It is symbolic of the “auric egg”, or astral body that contains the whole.

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