Of Love, Equilibrium and Wisdom
 
 
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
 
 
 
The Moon rules the sensitive and possessive sign of
Cancer, whose element is water and which can love as few do
 
 
 
The sign of Cancer, or Crab, starts around 22 June and expands in human beings the intensity of emotion and personal sensibility. It stimulates the ability to fight for that which one loves.
 
In this sign the soul tries to develop concentration and firmness, and success is achieved up to a certain point.
 
Just like the crab, a small animal living in the immense Ocean, the Cancer pilgrim has a shell or psychological carapace for his protection. His inner emotional world is rather secret: he shares it with some special beings. When someone who has access to his confidence disappoints him, the experience is painful because there are no mechanisms of emotional defense or safeguard.
 
The sign of Cancer is ruled by the Moon. This makes it more vulnerable than could be desirable. The lunar cycle, which strongly influences all life on Earth, lasts some four weeks and includes four phases: the new, the waxing, the full and the waning. The vitality of Cancer-sign persons inevitably oscillates according to the pattern of lunar cycle, and needs to “start again” from time to time. The life of the “crab” individual is very much a wave motion. It evolves as a constant process of waning, of dying, of being born again, and then waxing or gaining strength until he gets to a certain plenitude – a fullness of life – and wanes while he gets ready to be born again.
 
The Constant Reorganization of Persistence
 
Belonging to the Water element, the soul rises and goes down with the inevitable movement of the vital tides. The person of Cancer sign is constant and persistent, although his or her persistence needs to be organized again and again, as the watery scenario changes.
 
In the northern hemisphere, it is in the emotional environment of Cancer that the summer attains its highest point. The “airy” and flexible state of mind of previous weeks – which form the territory of Gemini – is now replaced by the search for stability, by the need of intensity and warmth, and for the pleasure of building constant circumstances in which life can unfold in peace, as it approaches a culmination. In the Southern hemisphere, symmetrically, the whole nature gets ready to winter, a time when that which is of supreme importance will be preserved. 
 
In the crab territory the experience of sacrifice constitutes a central lesson. Caring about the other is a basic form of expressing love. The husband cares for his wife, a woman cares for her husband, the two watch over their children. Friends protect each other, brothers take mutually protective actions. An individual respects trees, animals and the environment and feels protected by them. You often fight over what you love and what you wish to defend. There is a need for a safe haven in the face of what is immense and unfathomable. The dream of love is seen as a supreme factor in life.
 
In situations when sincere love is ridiculed and loyal friendship does not exist, the sign of Cancer can be sullen and grumpy like no other. All you have to do is to have patience, put constructive sincerity and true kindness on the table and see the difference: the natural goodwill that results from the crab’s inclination to love will return to its fullness. Resentment will seem to have never existed.
 
This principle applies to the three water signs – Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio -, yet it is especially strong in the case of the Crab.
 
Pisces is impersonal and tends to ignore conflicts. Neptune, which rules the last sign of the zodiac, transmits abstract cosmic love, which reduces one’s ability to take fights seriously. Scorpio, on the other hand, is a sign of warriors and can derive a personal satisfaction from fierce struggle. For Cancer persons, however, fighting is inherently unpleasant. It is disappointing. The Moon presides over the sphere of intimate, personal and intense love. Self-surrender is present in this dimension of life. Attachment and dependence emerge. Separation and separativeness hurt. The need for the other dominates, and saying farewell to the dear ones is a torture. For Cancer persons, home can be an unconquerable kingdom, a sacred refuge, a castle and a fortress. Crab needs a sense of quiet and safety. Although it knows how to start over from scratch whenever life cycles change, it has a possessive care for his present resting place.
 
In any sign of the zodiac, the efficiency of human action depends on the quantity and quality of the experience gathered by the soul in recent incarnations. With each round of the life energy across the zodiacal cycle, some aspects are improved.
 
Aries inaugurates the new annual journey. Taurus, the second sign, gives you persistence.  Gemini expands the variety of forms and attitudes. Cancer works to build trust and confidence, which will be achieved in Leo. [1]
 
Under the guidance of the Moon, the Crab sign is both motherly and fatherly. A child needs care from the mother (or a maternal figure), and from the father, or a fatherly figure. Kind love and solid limits are equally necessary. Capricorn, which builds structures, and Cancer, which generates life, are opposite and complementary signs in the astrological sky. They need each other. The influences of Saturn and the Moon make a perfect combination.
 
An Enduring Base for Peace
 
Many of the failures we see in the present civilization are related to the lack of a healthy day-to-day coexistence between children and a stable father figure, who gives them strength. The widespread phenomenon of “absent father” must be overcome if civilization is to heal itself. The priorities of the crab are home, family, sacrifice and the struggle for what you love. Besides mothers and fathers, it offers profound inspiration to each child, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, every couple in love and all sincere friends.
 
What is in emotional life the greatest source of peace and common sense?
 
Combining sensitivity and austerity constitutes an indispensable paradox. An intelligent balance between them guarantees one’s well-being.
 
In the daily life of the individual who was born under the sign of Cancer, contact with eternal wisdom opens the door to stability. The same occurs to everyone yearly, once the Sun is in the crab’s territory, until about July 22nd. Conscious unity with your own immortal soul allows you to walk on solid ground and to know where your feet are. Antahkarana, the ladder to heaven or the bridge to the infinite ocean, is present in your own consciousness. It is kept safe and preserved by the pilgrim’s sincerity with himself and with others, and expands when there is a wide view of life. [2]
 
Anna Maria Costa Ribeiro writes:  
 
“Cancer is the sea, the origin of all things, the matrix, the primordial conditions of existence which need to be protected in order to be preserved. It is the avatar and the psychic manifestation. ”
 
In the astrological chart of Helena Blavatsky, the Ascendant is in Cancer, which means that the personality and acting style of the founder of the modern esoteric movement were largely of this sign. Blavatsky’s great capacity to love and protect others was shown through a lifetime work caused by a feeling of universal compassion. She defended and preserved the future of humanity.
 
Anna Costa Ribeiro explains:  
 
“Like the animal [crab], the sign of Cancer prefers to make lateral movements in situations or in regressive action, because it knows that it is fragile – although it is persistent in its silent, reserved style. It protects itself and others and is therefore jealous, possessive and absorbing. It is afraid of what may happen if something changes or if it loses the safety of its shelter.” [3]
 
The shelter and safety of the spiritual pilgrim are situated in his higher self, his immortal soul, Atma-Buddhi, the monad.
  
Firmness for Water Spirits
 
Vital energies make the soul of natural world.
 
As Stephen Arroyo discusses the relationship of signs to elements, he quotes Paracelsus, a forerunner of Blavatsky. The nature spirits that correspond to the element Water are the undines, and they can be disciplined through the practice of serene firmness.
 
Arroyo clarifies:
 
“Hence, we can learn that watery people [people of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces] need to be firm with themselves and also that firmness is often the best way to deal with this type of person, especially when their emotions are out of control.” [4]
 
The Earth signs are natural allies to the signs of Water.
 
And one must remember that the alchemy of divine knowledge is mainly internal. Every human being has the twelve zodiacal signs and the four elements in his own essential nature, for in the moment he was born he was surrounded by the entire solar system and the various constellations.
 
The Highest Bliss
 
The energy of the Crab brings us the lesson of parental love and personal sacrifice as sources of happiness.
 
In the Cancer region of the zodiacal wheel the soul sees a basic fact: that the supreme bliss is in making the ones we love happy. An experienced soul works for the good of all. Discipline is not a naturally strong point for life under the sign of the crab, yet in this department, as in every other, success is in trying once and again. It is by patient efforts made with the right intention that one learns. If one does the best he can, great learning takes place.    
 
For humanity and the Earth to renew and purify themselves, Cancer’s emotional sensitivity must be associated with the immutable strength of universal ethical principles, and with the ability to put aside personal attachment.
 
When this happens, the magical richness of the aquatic universe of the crab can flow like a blessing that makes the whole world be born again in peace every day; and makes it easier for the pilgrim to tread the uphill path toward eternal wisdom while his horizon constantly widens.   
 
NOTES:
 
 
[2] A study about the different levels of human action and perception is presented in “The Seven Principles of Consciousness”.  The connection between mortal soul and spiritual soul is discussed in the article “Antahkarana, the Bridge to Sky”.
 
[3] From the book “Conhecimento da Astrologia”, Anna Maria Costa Ribeiro, Novo Milênio Editora, 1996, Rio de Janeiro, 733 pp., ver p. 65.
 
[4] From “Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements”, by Stephen Arroyo, M.A. The subtitle of the volume is “An Energy Approach to Astrology & Its Use in the Counseling Arts”. CRCS Publications, California, EUA, 191 pp., 1975, p. 107.
 
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The article “The Lesson of the Sun in Cancer” was published on the associated websites on 20 July 2020.
 
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Read more on the dialogue between the sky and the earth:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* “The Magic of the Moon”; and
 
 
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