Sign of the Month: Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

Sign of the Month: Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Cancer is the sign of the Crab, a creature fully equipped to handle the crashing ocean waves with the help of an unbreakable outer shell. Your shell is your protection, your home and your comfort, and behind it is where you often keep your feelings safe from the outside world.

You use your claws to hold onto the past, which means it’s hard for you to let go of people close to you. Therefore, you want to nurture and protect your loved ones within your shell — just as much as you protect yourself, if not more. If you’re not careful, you can be overbearing.

Your motto could be, “A good defense is the best offense.” While others may see your tendency to retreat from problems and issues, you use it as your special defense mechanism, hard-pressed to reveal your true emotions in fear of getting hurt. This can lead to resentment later down the road, however, so it’s important to be honest and open about your feelings.

Cancer, influenced by the Moon, shows in the personality through cyclical and fluctuating moods. Morbidly sensitive, they are easily bruised by life and succumb to their insecurities. As a sign, Cancer is defensive and self-protective, they wear a protective shell. Beyond these defenses, however, is where you will find a fertile imagination, intuition, and maternal love. Here the domestic life is also important, but sometimes there is an overly possessive nature and a difficulty in letting go of the past.

Here the domestic life is important but sometimes there is an overly possessive nature and a difficulty in letting go of the past. Lunar emotions show a vulnerability to life, fear of loneliness and, most of all, a need to be needed. The world of emotions, family, and place of birth, help them to keep continuity with the past. Instinctively they take care of others and need close, emotional bonds in order to feel safe. It is difficult for Cancer to get away from “the womb of the past.” Preserving things with sentimental value is extremely comforting to them. When they feel insecure, needy and lonely, they reflect back to more comforting times.

The Chaldean astrologers called Cancer ‘the gate of men’ and had a tradition that this was the region of the stars through which, when humans were born, the spirit about to be incarnated must descend from heaven to earth to animate new bodies. Cancer is the sign of the  summer solstice, from which it will be nine months before Aries (beginning of the Zodiac) comes around again and, for this reason, is regarded as a symbol of fecundation and conception.

The crab, overall, has great tenacity, strength, and respect for the past. They never forget those that have touched them emotionally. When Cancer is feeling afraid or insecure and in need of support and reassurance, they look to others to protect them. In turn, they also nurture and love others, especially when they’re in need. In the horoscope, look to the zodiacal sign of Cancer, the Moon, and 4th house in order to understand the past, emotional ties, and relationship with the family. Remember that in Cancer, one must have time alone in privacy to withdraw from life.

The Cancer element is Water

The habitat of the Crab is water and the changing tides that surround it. While the water provides food and nurture, on the surface it appears smooth and still, without movement. Underneath the surface, however, an active life exists.

Astrologically, the Water element symbolizes deep emotion, an endless cycle of feelings that connects the present with the past. Sometimes the waters are so deep that we cannot put those feelings into words.

Horoscope house is 4th

The 4th house is related to the nurturing mother, especially early in life. This is the house of childhood surroundings. It is where we retreat from the noise of the outer world.

Cancer’s key planet: Moon
As the key planet of Cancer, the Moon symbolizes our basic needs — how we need to be nurtured and how we nurture others. The Moon is always changing, not even the same two nights in a row. It races around the earth once a “month,” and as such we are familiar with her regularly repeating patterns. Women’s menstrual cycles are naturally tied to the lunar rhythm, putting them in closer touch with the subconscious realms of the Moon. But to man and woman alike, the Moon is the key to our feelings and our emotional cycles.

Your greatest strength:

You have an innate ability to nurture others

Your possible weakness:

You fear the past repeating again in the future

Cancer in Love

Oh, the Cancer. Sensitive, emotional and protective, this Crab will defend a lover to the end, comfort when comforting is in order, offering complete and utter support. On one hand, Cancer’s high level of sensitivity can be very endearing and reassuring; on the other, it’s important to watch what is said around them, because one slight move in the wrong direction could leave a Cancer feeling hurt, left out or incredibly insecure.

Cancers love to be at home with loved ones, which is great for a romantic relationship. They don’t need the glitz and glamour of love to feel satisfied. Imagination in love and intimacy in romance definitely won’t be a problem to maintain, and they are very accepting of others’ differences. But before committing to a Cancer, it’s most important to make sure they’ve cut all ties with past relationships, or else they may still be emotionally stuck there. For them, the past is hard to break from due to their attachment of what was.

The Crab insists on feeling self-protected at all times, so trust and comfort must be built before they can pop out of their shells for someone else. While it may take a little more time for Cancers to open up and express their deeper feelings, once they do, they have a heart to call home.