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In Praise Of Sun In Cancer

Of all the animal symbols in the Zodiac, none (according to the fossil record) are older than the crab. That seems entirely appropriate, because Cancers can survive a lot. A lot.

The Water Signs are the ones most commonly associated with “feelings.” They are the Signs that, when you read a basic description of how they function, “emotions” are most likely an important part of the first paragraph. If it’s true that the Water Signs are somehow more “feel-y” than the others, then keep in mind that “feelings” can be a real nuisance.

Each of the Water Signs deal with their excess emotional overloads in different ways. Scorpio has the capacity to fight back when overwhelmed. Pisces has the ability to more or less go limp and float along with it. But Cancer? How does Cancer deal with the waves of emotion that often pound against it?

It’s the shell. Seriously: how many foods can you name that require a hammer and/or pliers to eat?

Cancer does compassion well. Too well for its own good, sometimes. That can lead to an interesting dynamic where Cancer can ping back and forth between heartfelt outbursts of affection, quickly followed by defensive side-stepping. Odds are very good that if you’ve been ghosted by a Cancer at some point in your life, it wasn’t for a lack of emotion on their part. More likely, there was a real issue and that Cancer couldn’t cope with the flood of emotion he or she figured they’d unleash by actually telling you that things weren’t working for them.

Of course, some Cancers are just jerks. But there’s no one Sign that has a monopoly on those, believe me.

When the Sun enters Cancer, regardless of what Sun Sign we may be, it’s a chance to reflect on both how much we are ruled by our emotions and how much we need to embrace that fact. And maybe most of all? It’s a chance to be kinder to ourselves and to others.

The constellation of Cancer looks somewhat like a crab — but not as much as you might think. But if you were re-imagining that constellation for the first time, today? Maybe it would be better to think of it as a kitten, lying stretched out in a sunbeam with its tail sticking out.

Be nice to the kitty.