In Fire we go, run, act
in Earth we stop, eat, build
in Air we think, consider, plan
in Water we bathe, sink, swim, heal.
Water signs are always the final step in a cycle, the digestion of Fire-Earth-Air. Water processes energy, experience, thought in a way that is felt. Water abstracts. It dissolves, it transforms. The Air Thoughts that work will be used as nutrients, the rest dissolved. The Earth Foods will be digested to their emotionally resonant parts. The Fire Actions will be quelled, reflected upon.
Cancer is the first water sign. It is the first stab of feelings in the zodiac. I am not going to talk about the overblown motherly and crybaby stereotypes of Cancer here (though I will note that I think a lot of the stereotypes of Cancer come with misogynist undertones). I want to speak of Cancer in its role as the first step of digestion. The matter hits the stomach, the nutrients are sought. Traditionally associated with the stomach, we have the phrase gut feeling which is a deeply appropriate method of navigating the world for a Cancerina person. Cancerian types have a great sensitivity to environment, their feelers feeling out so much, absorbing so much of the emotional energy of a space. Cancer is the first water sign, it is the first wave that crashes on the beach, it is the slow solvent wave crashing against the rocks over time. It is ruled by the Moon, forever in cycles, marking time. The body of water I most associate with Cancer is the top of the ocean, the waves, the visible, the feelings on the surface. Cardinal Signs (Aries, Cancer, Capricorn, Libra) have a special tenacity and sometimes-turbulent flow. There is an excitement to them.
Cancer does not do well to bend and fill moulds, to shapeshift---even though that's the kind of imagery you might expect as I speak about water. Cancer is a solvent, it actually shapes moulds, shapes things around it in salty sea water. When I get to Pisces (the final and mutable water sign), we'll talk about the strength of shapeshifting. But with Cancer, we have to consider that the body of water is the waves of the ocean. It does not want to be kept, it wants to live in its tenacious flow. The tenacity of the visible waves obscures and protects the depths of the ocean. Cancer is the protector, and we see a bit of the mother-energy there, but if we de-gender the protective mother archetype and just say protector, there is a broader sense to the Cancerian energy. It is Mother and Father, it is Guardian, it is Artemis with her Bow, goddess of the moon, protector of children. It is more a warrior on behalf of the ocean depths. Cancerians will always do well to define the difference between Actively Protective (yes) and Passively Overprotective (no.) You'll often see Cancerian people called to action in an intense way when a loved one is threatened yet be able to "take it" when they are threatened. This may end up as seeming like they're a pushover and it doesn't feel like "I'm a powerful shapeshifter" (even though they may tell themselves that---a Piscean might actually harness that power)---it is more like "I've been punched in a wound". Cancerian people come to full power when they don't concentrate on the wound of their own so much as they learn to tenaciously fight for the people in the world who share the same wound. Acting like a victim when victimhood is not present can be a defense mechanism for Cancer. But it will trap them. Accepting their deep sensitivity and understanding that they're gonna feel it deeply even if it isn't personal or isn't an attack---is a strength. Cancerians who try to be "all shell and claws" and no tender meats will grow hard, grow into denial flows trapped within themselves.
The trick is to feel the wound while protecting it. Protect the creatures of the ocean depths dutifully. Feel for them and yourself and use your considerable strength to feel the flow and tenacity of the ocean waves. Peace is in Turbulent Flow for Cancer, not necessarily stillness. Turning Turbulent Flow inward is a risk for Cancer.
The dynamic between Tenacious Warrior and Tender Frail Mortal Creature is a difficult one to balance. It can sometimes look like "one step forward two steps back" because a wave needs to CRASH TO SHORE and then do its quiet withdrawal before it can crash again. In this world I think we measure people by the tenacity and not the quiet. But it is impossible for Cancer to crash a wave boldly to shore without some time of withdrawal. And Cancers love to withdraw, love to "go into the shell", love to dream that being in the shell can be forever. That sense of going back to the womb. But Cancer cannot stay there. It needs outward expression. The crab is soft meats protected in hard shell. The crab is also claws and it is the shell itself.
Every zodiac sign's symbol contains contradictions like this and the challenge is always to integrate both.
Pisces can teach Cancer about the depths in a way that is more than "withdraw here and hide". So if there is Pisces and Cancer in your chart, that Trine can be a very wise relationship. And the Pisces people in a Cancerian's life might teach a style of depth that is replenishing for Cancer, rather than just being about "hiding in the shell for protection". I think Pisces takes Cancer on an adventure in the depths. And Cancer gives Pisces protection to dive deeply. Cancer brings an energy and tenacity, gives Pisces an aliveness. Pisces teaches about mortality, and can give such meaning to Cancer's sense of the frail meats of the human body. A Pisces, ruled by Jupiter, can help a Cancer see a bigger picture, a more connected humanity, something more philosophical and spiritual than Cancer's acute and sometimes solipsistic body awareness.
Scorpio can teach Cancer about the shell, the claws. Scorpio is Fixed. It is Mars-Ruled. It is alchemical. Mars plus Water = very fierce water. Scorpio's feeling senses go deep and concentrated. They're not visible and vulnerable the way Cancer's waves are pulled by the moon. Scorpio isn't afraid of something hurting, it has an alchemical process to transform the discomfort. Scorpio being fixed means it has experimented and found a way for water to stay still, to CAPTURE something of water and in that smaller captured vial of water, they find depth and detail. Scorpio can investigate with its feelings. Cancer can teach Scorpio to multiply their creations and to trust the ebb and flow and move with the world in order to shape it. If they were artists, Scorpio might be obsessed with learning about and feeling out the perfect materials for a sculpture and Cancer would be eager to begin the work of carving and shaping the stone. It's a dynamic and intense creative team.
