Cancer
THE CRAB
Birthdays from
21st June to
20th July
Personality Profile
CANCER AT A GLANCE
Element – Water
Ruling Planet – Moon
Career Planet – Mars
Love Planet – Saturn
Money Planet – Sun
Planet of Fun and Games – Pluto
Planet of Good Fortune – Neptune
Planet of Health and Work – Jupiter
Planet of Home and Family Life – Venus
Planet of Spirituality – Mercury
Colours – blue, puce, silver
Colours that promote love, romance and social harmony – black, indigo
Colours that promote earning power – gold, orange
Gems – moonstone, pearl
Metal – silver
Scents – jasmine, sandalwood
Quality – cardinal (= activity)
Quality most needed for balance – mood control
Strongest virtues – emotional sensitivity, tenacity, the urge to nurture
Deepest need – a harmonious home and family life
Characteristics to avoid – over-sensitivity, negative moods
Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Scorpio, Pisces
Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Aries, Libra, Capricorn
Sign most helpful to career – Aries
Sign most helpful for emotional support – Libra
Sign most helpful financially – Leo
Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Capricorn
Sign most helpful for creative projects – Scorpio
Best Sign to have fun with – Scorpio
Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Gemini, Pisces
Best day of the week – Monday
Understanding a Cancer
In the sign of Cancer the heavens are developing the feeling side of things. This is what a true Cancerian is all about – feelings. Where Aries will tend to err on the side of action, Taurus on the side of inaction and Gemini on the side of thought, Cancer will tend to err on the side of feeling.
Cancerians tend to mistrust logic. Perhaps rightfully so. For them it is not enough for an argument or a project to be logical – it must feel right as well. If it does not feel right a Cancerian will reject it or chafe against it. The phrase ‘follow your heart’ could have been coined by a Cancerian, because it describes exactly the Cancerian attitude to life.
The power to feel is a more direct – more immediate – method of knowing than thinking is. Thinking is indirect. Thinking about a thing never touches the thing itself. Feeling is a faculty that touches directly the thing or issue in question. We actually experience it. Emotional feeling is almost like another sense which humans possess – a psychic sense. Since the realities that we come in contact with during our lifetime are often painful and even destructive, it is not surprising that the Cancerian chooses to erect barriers – a shell – to protect his or her vulnerable, sensitive nature. To a Cancerian this is only common sense.
If Cancerians are in the presence of people they do not know, or find themselves in a hostile environment, up goes the shell and they feel protected. Other people often complain about this, but one must question these people’s motives. Why does this shell disturb them? Is it perhaps because they would like to sting, and feel frustrated that they cannot? If your intentions are honourable and you are patient, have no fear. The shell will open up and you will be accepted as part of the Cancerian’s circle of family and friends.
Thought-processes are generally analytic and dissociating. In order to think clearly we must make distinctions, comparisons and the like. But feeling is unifying and integrative.
To think clearly about something you have to distance yourself from it. To feel something you must get close to it. Once a Cancerian has accepted you as a friend he or she will hang on to you. You have to be really bad to lose the friendship of a Cancerian. If you are related to Cancerians they will never let you go no matter what you do. They will always try to maintain some kind of connection even in the most extreme circumstances.
Finance
The Cancer-born has a deep sense of what other people feel about things and why they feel as they do. This faculty is a great asset in the workplace and in the business world. Of course it is also indispensable in raising a family and building a home, but it has its uses in business. Cancerians often attain great wealth in a family business. Even if the business is not a family operation, they will treat it as one. If the Cancerian works for somebody else, then the boss is the parental figure and the co-workers are brothers and sisters. If a Cancerian is the boss, then all the workers are his or her children. Cancerians like the feeling of being providers for others. They enjoy knowing that others derive their sustenance because of what they do. It is another form of nurturing.
With Leo on their solar 2nd money house cusp, Cancerians are often lucky speculators, especially with residential property or hotels and restaurants. Resort hotels and nightclubs are also profitable for the Cancerian. Waterside properties attract them. Though they are basically conventional people, they sometimes like to earn their livelihood in glamorous ways.
The Sun, Cancer’s money planet, represents an important financial message: in financial matters Cancerians need to be less moody, more stable and fixed. They cannot allow their moods – which are here today and gone tomorrow – to get in the way of their business lives. They need to develop their self-esteem and feelings of self-worth if they are to realize their greatest financial potential.
Career and Public Image
Aries rules the 10th solar career house cusp of Cancer, which indicates that Cancerians long to start their own business, to be more active publicly and politically and to be more independent. Family responsibilities and a fear of hurting other people’s feelings – or getting hurt themselves – often inhibit them from attaining these goals. However, this is what they want and long to do.
Cancerians like their bosses and leaders to act freely and to be a bit self-willed. They can deal with that in a superior. They expect their leaders to be fierce on their behalf. When the Cancerian is in the position of boss or superior he or she behaves very much like a ‘warlord’. Of course the wars they wage are not egocentric but in defence of those under their care. If they lack some of this fighting instinct – independence and pioneering spirit – Cancerians will have extreme difficulty in attaining their highest career goals. They will be hampered in their attempts to lead others.
Since they are so parental, Cancerians like to work with children and make great educators and teachers.
Love and Relationships
Like Taurus, Cancer likes committed relationships. Cancerians function best when the relationship is clearly defined and everyone knows his or her role. When they marry it is usually for life. They are extremely loyal to their beloved. But there is a deep little secret that most Cancerians will never admit to: commitment or partnership is really a chore and a duty to them. They enter into it because they know of no other way to create the family that they desire. Union is just a way – a means to an end – rather than an end in itself. The family is the ultimate end for them.
If you are in love with a Cancerian you must tread lightly on his or her feelings. It will take you a good deal of time to realize how deep and sensitive Cancerians can be. The smallest negativity upsets them. Your tone of voice, your irritation, a look in your eye or an expression on your face can cause great distress for the Cancerian. Your slightest gesture is registered by them and reacted to. This can be hard to get used to, but stick by your love – Cancerians make great par...
