CANCER: The Love of Life
Source: Unsplash/Chandler Cruttenden
I tried to pick a “cute” picture, but echhh, these things creep me out. Giant sea spiders, I say!
This part 4 of a 12-part series. It’s a little meditation on understanding the signs based on the Archetype.
Cancer represents the instinctual drive to preserve life. Continuing our seasonal analogy, Cancer is our initiation into summer (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least), slowing down the frenzied activity of Gemini and giving us direction towards our surroundings. It’s also when most animals move from breeding to raising their offspring, taking advantage of the longer days and warmer weather. As I was putting this piece together, I found this article on the mating seasons of humans that I thought was especially interesting! "Do Humans Have Mating Seasons?"
People with strong Cancer energy can’t help trying to take care of everyone around them. They are the consummate nurturers, which can mean organizing the family holiday gatherings, making sure you have your favorite sweater cleaned and neatly folded, and ensuring the house is warm and comfortable when you arrive for a visit. They instinctually understand connection and tend to be extremely sensitive and sentimental. Their excellent memories can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you’ve treated them. While most would consider this the quintessential “maternal” instinct, women and men with strong Cancer energy can channel this into diverse careers, such as chef, architect, realtor, interior designer, or medical professional, to name just a few.
It's not surprising that Cancer is the sign associated with the 4th house, which represents our home and family, but also, more broadly, our “roots,” including our cultural background and our country. The 4th house is also representative of “old age,” meaning the conditions we’ll find ourselves at the end of life, so it’s a good idea to pay attention to any planets or strong aspects affecting the house or its ruler(s). In the 4th house, we’re using our resources (2nd) and what we’ve learned about our environment (3rd) to create stability. In the Archetype, it represents the ideal way to create a strong foundation, as seen through the qualities and planets associated with it. Cancer is a feminine, cardinal, water sign with the Moon as ruler and Jupiter exalted, with Saturn in detriment and Mars in fall. No planet is considered in triplicity, although Mars is technically in “mixed dignity” due to its rulership of fellow water sign Scorpio.
Cancer may be considered sensitive and moody, but don’t underestimate them. They are still a cardinal sign after all, and their goal is to preserve life. My teacher pointed out that the crab, the symbol of Cancer, is hard on the outside and soft on the inside, a perfect analogy encompassing the strength of their cardinality and the vulnerability of their watery nature. The Moon adds instinct, while “be fruitful and multiply” pretty much sums up Jupiter’s influence on the sign, or as my teacher likes to say, “Jupiter in Cancer is babies, babies, babies…”. Mars and Saturn, the malefics in traditional astrology, can become too cautious or too fearful in the sign and interfere with the continuation of life.
Cancer is the love of life because that’s their ultimate goal – to ensure its continuation through a stable and protective environment.