Moon in Cancer

MOON

Where the face of the Earth is turned away from the light of the Sun, there the Moon shines, reminding us of solar purpose by brilliantly reflecting the Sun's light. The Moon moves about 12 or 13 times faster than the Sun; it travels through the zodiac once every 27 and 1/3 days. The Moon is thus the trigger mechanism of the solar system. It conjoins the Sun once each month in the Sun's zodiacal sign.

In their subsequent cycle together the Moon waxes and wanes. As it waxes, it symbolically carries out the unifying purpose of the Sun and conveys it to all the other planets, including the earth. As the Moon wanes, it symbolically gathers in the harvest of experience and stores it as memory, precedence, and tradition. As the Moon waxes and wanes it also regulates the tides on Earth, and as feelings are symbolized by water the Moon's motion represents the rhythmic ebb and flow of public moods.

The motions of the Moon around the Earth also carry it alternately inside the Earth's orbit toward the orbit of Venus, then outside the Earth's orbit toward the orbit of Mars. This is a symbol of regular flux between introversion and extroversion, between objective activity and subjective reflection.

Thus the Moon represents our capacity to respond to life in a rhythmic way, to our day-to-day and hour-to-hour capacity to flow with, indeed to dance with, what life brings.

Leyla Rael

MOON IN CANCER

Keynote: Feelings are attuned to the requirements of a situation.

Symbol: A mother nurses her baby.

The well-known natural defensive system, which is such a prominent characteristic of those with a Cancerian Sun sign, will be equally - if not more powerfully - present. Defensiveness will be the immediate reaction, not only when the subject is challenged but also in less threatening situations.

The emotional and intuitive levels are second to none, and those with this placing should learn to trust and rely on them - their instincts will not let you down.

In addition to a powerful intuition, there is plenty of imagination that if triggered in a negative way can be expressed through worry. When worried, they will tend to think that the very worst has happened. They may not necessarily have a depressive outlook, but apprehension over loved ones can cause these powerful responses to build up out of control.

The past is a frequent subject for reflection and nostalgia, and the childhood background may be allowed to dominate the outlook on life. Coming to terms with the attitude and treatment received from parents, whether that was beneficial or difficult, may take longer than for other Moon sign placings.

The Cancerian tendency to hoard is another strong instinct for someone with this placing. As a result, clearing out the resulting clutter can be a chore that is avoided at all costs, perhaps because hoarding such items adds to their much-needed sense of security.

There may be quick changes of mood, which can frequently be disconcerting for loved ones to witness. Women with this placing may suffer in an above average way from premenstrual tension, but should try hard not to let it dominate their lives.

In Cancer the Moon, which rules the sea, is in its own watery element and therefore very powerful in a passive way. A preoccupation with the maternal parent can indicate a desire to be nurtured and sustained by a solicitous protector, and can even give rise to the ‘world owes me a living’ syndrome of the oral personality.

At a more mature level, the same mothering impulse inspires practical assistance based on the sympathetic urge to feed and care for all who are in need.

The responsive Moon in the sign of sentiment imparts a fluid receptivity to environmental conditions. The mold into which they have been cast in early years often stamps lunar people for life, giving a tendency to dwell upon the joys and the sorrows of the past and to brood over old injustices and disappointments.

Moon-children are profoundly aware of the hidden currents that swirl below the surface of events and need to beware lest they become caught in undertows of emotion that sweep them beyond their depths.

These hypersensitive individuals are impressionable even to the point of being unconscious mediums. The Moon is nearly always prominent in the charts of psychically inclined people, especially of those whose responsiveness to the lowest as well as the highest vibrations subjects them to the most ‘lunatic’ forms of madness and the most etherealized expressions of mysticism.

They may swing between extremes of voluptuousness and asceticism, or combine both at once with no sense of incongruity. They can be flagrantly histrionic in their ability to be moved by the role they are playing, fleeting though the mood may be. Like hollow reeds, they resonate to whatever melody is piped through them.

Therefore, they must exercise discrimination in selecting the music to which they attune their lives.

Moon/Cancer people may be peculiarly self-abnegating and resigned to the vagaries of fate. In extreme cases, they deliberately court martyrdom. This willingness to immolate themselves for a cause often thrusts them into the spotlight, even though their hypersensitive nature makes them ill-fitted to stand the glare of critical attention notoriety is bound to incur.

While insisting that all they crave is peace and solitude, they can behave in a manner calculated to bring them into the public eye, as though driven by some contradictory compulsions to forgo the protection afforded by the domestic sphere.

The weaknesses and strengths of lunar Cancerians depend upon their capacity for relinquishment. They may be merely inept and inert, or they may follow the line of least resistance in order to conserve their energies for more important work.

At their worst, they are too timid to take action. At best, they possess an abiding conviction of being a beloved child of Mother Nature and, therefore, feel they have nothing to fear.

Evolved lunar types can endure whatever comes to pass because they submit to the cyclic ebb and flow of events and know that as part of this ceaseless life-process, they will eternally be reborn. Like waves of the sea, they may be dashed on every rock and shoal, yet eventually the fluid sea wears away the solid rocks.

The philosophy of conquest through surrender - characteristic of Cancer in all its phases - is expressed in the following quotation from the ancient Chinese poet Lao-tzu:

Nothing is weaker then water

But when it attracts something hard

Or resistance, then nothing withstands it,

And nothing will alter its way.

Everyone knows this, that weakness prevails

Over strength and that gentleness conquers

The adamant hindrance of men, but

Nobody demonstrates how it is so.

From a physical point-of-view, the digestive system may become upset by worry, and it is frequently the case that those with this placing have very sensitive skins, whatever their ethnic coloring.

Protection from the sun, and additional care over cuts, insect bites and so on, is advised.

Astrology, the Divine Science

Mindfire