CANCER: JUNE 21 - JULY 22 | Ruler: Moon | Natural House: Fourth | Duality: Negative | Element: Water | Polarity: Capricorn | Quality: Cardinal | Tarot: The Chariot | Metal: Silver
“In the zodiacal chart the crab rules the fourth house, that of the home environment. The sign of the crab hovers over needful aloneness as well as convivial sharing, and the memory of resources. But it also evokes fierce self-protection from perceived intrusion, and an unconscious ‘watchfulness’ and deep sensitivity that anticipate the shifting currents and hard surfaces of experience.”
- The Book of Symbols, 2010
Originally called Scarabaeus by the Egyptians in honour of the sacred scarab, this star group is one of the faintest of all zodiac constellations. A Babylonian star catalog includes the same constellations as “the crayfish,” and other sources through the years list it as a crab, snapping turtle, and even a lobster. Whatever the case, the creatures share certain traits; most are marine crustaceans with hard exoskeletons that have a mythic association with immortality and the underworld. Such association again allies the crab with the Moon, who herself remains forever in a cycle of renewal, disappearing into the dark monthly and reemerging in a perpetual rebirth.
As a water sign, Cancer’s feelings run deep; they are sensitive, both emotionally and intuitively. An essential quality of this sign is the need to care and Cancer’s domicile is the fourth house, the house of home and family. There’s an association between the sign and a mother’s love for her child, which contains both the need to protect and the loss of ego and self that comes with such caregiving. The crab is a natural caregiver, be it of children or other people, but pushed too far, this nurturing aspect can veer into overprotectiveness. Another danger in Cancer is that with the manifestation of such devoted love, the self can get lost, overwhelmed by the intensity of its energy.
This though, is what life is sometimes like in the deep ocean of our emotions, and the crab has the strength to protect itself in the changing tides of time.
Reference: Work by Andrea Richards
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