Cancer
(June 22 - July 23)
The association of Cancer with water dates back to the shadowy dawn of astrology. The image of the crab is Babylonian in origin. In Egypt, this sign was represented by two turtles, and sometimes as an obscure water creature, known as Allul.
The later placement of the crab within the zodiac is related to a minor chapter in Greek mythology, within the Twelve Labors of Herakles. The first labor of Herakles' (Hercules to the Romans), had been to kill the Lion of Nemea, (See Leo). Next in line was the fearsome, many-headed Hydra, a great sea monster, living in the marshes of Lerna. Hera, the goddess who sent Herekles to these tasks, often encouraged his failure. During his battle with Hydra, Hera commanded a nearby crab to attack Herekles and draw his attention away. Without question, the little creature took a claw-hold of a conspicuous toe. This act cost the crab its life, for Hercules abruptly crushed him. Impressed by its loyalty and courage, Hera placed the crab's image in the night sky.
The Hydra had been a favorite to Hera, and was equally honored by the goddess. Not far from Cancer in the sky, lies the vast, chaotic constellation named for the great beast. Cancer itself, is not a brilliant constellation. However, at its heart is a lovely star cluster, sometimes known in astronomy as the Beehive. The name derives from the appearance of a swarm of stars in a dance of activity.
Cancer is the fourth Sign of the Zodiac. After the exploration of Self, the physical world, and the intellectual world by the first three Signs, Cancer people turn to nurturing the family group. They are emotional and traditional, interested in heredity and ancestors, and this is reflected in their desire to care for relatives and propagate the family line. Their lives are generally centered around the home, including hereditary property and "family roots." As the fourth Sign, Cancer also rules the fourth House: the House of Home.
The Astrological Symbol of Cancer is the Crab. Like the Crab, Cancerians go through life with a strong shell around them that is not easily broken. If necessary, they can retreat into their shell until it's safe to come out, but sometimes they become moody and refuse to leave. They can, quite literally, be crabby. In general, Cancerians are the first people to express emotion in any given situation -- the first to laugh and the first to tears. In this way, Cancer exemplifies the Cardinal Quality assigned to it. They are strong willed and persistent, and the rare occasions when their sympathy and kindness doesn't get them what they want they aren't above using emotional manipulation -- tears or sulking -- to get it. Within the Zodiac, Cancer is opposite Capricorn, the Sign of Social Status. While Capricorn is about how the world perceives you, people born under Cancer are more interested in their family and home life. They tend to be very protective of loved ones. They usually aren't ambitious, preferring the gentle and passive side of life.
Cancer is ruled by the Moon. In ancient times, the Moon was perceived as the Great Mother, responsible for nurturing all life. It represents fertility and instinct. The Moon controls the tides and all water on Earth, and it has a strong effect on human emotions. People born under Cancer tend to be more sensitive to the movement of the Moon through the Zodiac than other Signs are, their moods changing with the Moon's passage. They may be brooding or touchy when the Moon is passing through incompatible Signs, but strongly intuitive when the Moon is in a favorable Sign. Because of the maternal aspect of the Moon, Cancerians tend to have a strong need to protect themselves and their families. Generally domestic and peaceful, they have strong emotional drives and won't sit still when loved ones are threatened. Despite their general timidity, they can be patronizing when people cross them.
The Element associated with Cancer is Water. Water Signs are emotional: they tend to respond to the world through emotion, rather than physical action, practicality, or intellect. Cancerians are very intuitive, and emotion is a key part of their lives. They may be sentimental, often becoming collectors of things that remind them of family or the past. They need to be careful not to hoard things, however, and they can be possessive of what is theirs. They are thrifty, and dislike wasting money on frivolous things. Because of their strong emotions, people born under Cancer may tend to live in the past. They are easily hurt, so they attempt to protect themselves from the emotional stress of the present by rehashing the past instead. Their warm and caring nature is very sensitive to other people's harshness. It is important for Cancerians to learn not to jump into self-protective mode at the first sign of trouble, because their need for security can prevent them from discovering new things.
Because they are the nurturers of the Zodiac, people born under Cancer have a strong association with food. Additionally, they are very imaginative and sensitive, making many Cancerians excellent amateur chefs. Some go on to make a career out of cooking! They also tend to be more patriotic then other Signs, largely due to their strong emotional attachment to the place of their birth.
In their leisure time, Cancerians tend to enjoy physical exercise, finding that sweat helps them counter the stress inherent in their emotional natures. They often enjoy team sports because of the feeling of family within a team. Water sports also appeal to them. Artistic endeavors, written or on canvas, allow them to channel their swirling emotions into productive output. In love relationships, Cancer is caring, devoted, and romantic.
The great strength of the Cancer-born is in their devotion to family. Their emotional orientation to life help them understand the difficulties their loved ones must work through. Their affectionate natures make them among the most caring characters of the Zodiac.
The Cancer Woman
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The Cancer woman is a sensitive one, and tends to emotional bruising easily. She, like her male counterpart, may have strong ties to the family, especially with her mother, and looks forward to being a mother someday - expects to be a mother someday.
Sensual as well as changeable, Cancer women tend to be buxom, with a certain delightful timidity or shyness which makes them attractive to many kinds of men.
She may seem magnetic and mysterious, like her ruling Moon, especially on the first date, but her sensuality will show through before the evening is out. However, it is not wise to view the Cancer woman as a one night stand. She needs security and sensitivity in her men.
Because of her changeability, her mate may think he is living with twelve different women. Be prepared for emotional outbursts and confessions of love, for these she has in plenty. Don't be too sohcked at her mercurialness, for her temper may flare, and she may hold a grudge if a spat isn't resolved straight away.
Her many-sided-ness makes her a complex woman, one who needs a good protector, much reassurance and sensitivity; she is a woman who has a certain sentimental liking for old-fashioned etiquette, and she wants her permanent mate to be a good provider.
Cancer women tend to seek lasting relationships, and would probably feel unfulfilled if children are denied them. Because of their ties to their parents, especially their ties to their mothers, Cancer women will expect their lovers and husbands to extend themselves for her parents in times of need.
The Cancer Man
The male Moonchild is overly sensitive and takes off-hand comments about himself too personally. How he loves to fondle and be fondled! Yet how important it is for him to have the right atmosphere and a sensitive love partner. He is the person in the Zodiac who most fears rejection; he needs a great deal more reassurance and emotional support than any other sign.
A taciturn expert at circumlocution he is. A scatterbrain and a chatterbox he is not. Don't expect this man to bare his soul when he first meets you. Cancerians never confide in strangers, and there are certain things even their best friends don't know. It will take a long time and a fair amount of patience to really know him. If you catch him in one of his cantankerous moods, you may not be very anxious to really know him, but try again. Don't give up so easily. He can be flirtatious and fickle, but he can also be sensitive and loyal.
Appearing formidable and thick-skinned, the Cancer men have an unemotional demeanor, appearing uncompromising and obstinate. This is the facade they use to mask an insecure nature. Their intimates, however, may see a different character, one with sympathy and sensitivity to other people, especially those they love. Cancer is a tenacious, purposeful, energetic, shrewd and intuitive type. Sometimes wise, with a philosophical view on life. They are able to identify with others because of the keen sensitivity of their nature. They are over-imaginative and prone to be a victim of fantasy. They have a flair for the dramatic, and may possess literary or artistic talent. They tend to absorb their environment and have a talent for mimicry.
In their personal relationships they are a mixture of toughness and tenderness. Emotional, romantic and sentimental on one side, and tenaciously possessive and loyal on the other side. Even when they have affairs, their first loyalty is to their partner and family.
They are rather close minded and opinionated. 'Live and let live' is rarely spoken by a Cancer man. They have a retentive memory, and rarely forgive slights and hurts. With a tendency toward chronic complaining, a Cancerian will never let you forget an error. They are driven by their emotional nature, and, in this respect, can be the best and the worst of friends.
Cancer men are strongly influenced by childhood memories, and have a tendency to live in the past. By nature, very giving and selfless, they need to be aware of falling into the role of martyr in certain situations.
They can be sulky, devious, moody, and inclined to self-pity. They respond foremost to the urges and dictates of their feelings. One of the interesting contradictions in their nature is that they are prone to a sense of personal inferiority on one hand, and on the other they believe their views, opinions and behavior to be impeccable, and beyond question or criticism. Strange!
The overall nature of Cancerians is deeply emotional. Although private and reserved, they possess sensitivity and sympathy. Rarely will a Cancer stand on pretense. What appears to be a front is nothing more than a protective shell. Within this tough armor often resides an intuitively compassionate individual yearning for a deep exchange of love and understanding.
Compatibility With Other Signs
Cancers are most compatible with Virgos and Taureans.
The VIRGO - CANCER Relationship
They found. the dinghy, and went home in it…
When their voices died away, there came cold silence over the lagoon, and then a feeble cry. "Help, help!" Two small figures were beating against the rock…
You may wonder what a Crab might do with a Virgin — besides snapping on occasion, or perhaps contemplating a firm grip on the Virgin's tempting bare toe. Just as you may wonder what a Virgin might do with a Crab, other than running swiftly away — or maybe deciding to take the Crab home as a pet.
At first thought, it's difficult to imagine that a Crab and a Virgin have anything in common — but technical virgins are, after all, said to be somewhat crabby (unfulfilled, or whatever) and real crabs do possess a certain timidity one normally associates with actual virgins — which brings us a little closer to linking these two. One of them is a nocturnal creature of the sea. The other also tends toward the nocturnal Night Forces, although not especially toward the element of water — unless one counts the still and quiet pools into which astrological Virgins gaze to see their Narcissus images reflected to them, sometimes rippling just a bit but, on the whole, clearly defined. Nevertheless, Earth does contain Water — or lacking it, becomes dry and parched. There's no argument that an association with the Water Sign of Cancer greatly enriches the character and personality of the Earthy Virgo man, woman or child.
Most Virgos are much happier when they're alone with themselves than when they have to bend their somewhat measured and rather precisely patterned life-styles to those of other sloppy, strange, silly and impulsive humans, which makes them nervous and uncomfortable. Somehow, at least in the beginning, the Virgins don't feel this sort of discomfort when they pal around with the Crabs. There's something soothing to Virgo about the Water Element of Cancer. The Cancerian gentleness and mildness of manner often cause the Virgo to feel as though he (or she) is floating on a quiet lake, now and then reaching out, dreamlike, to pluck one of the lovelier lilies, or playfully tease a passing school of mermaids and water babies. Frequently the Virginians feel freer and more relaxed with a Crab, less fearful of being restricted, bossed around, possessed — or of having their own personalities overshadowed to the point of disappearance. (Poor, unsuspecting Virgins.) Also, Virgo is easily enchanted by the Cancerian's marvelous Looney Bird humor, which is not too loud or clownish, not too sophisticated, nor yet too vulgar either — just the right kind of recognition of the ridiculous that allows Virgos, with their exquisite sense of critique and satire, to join in with some amusing observations of their own.
Isn't it wonderful? These two have hopped into their pea-green dinghy and sailed down the river of happiness together, just like the famed Owl and the Pussycat, except that they are a Crab and a Virgin. But no matter, because the whole purpose of the sail in the moonlight in a pea-green boat is harmony, whatever the astrological or otherwise identity of the occupants. You can be sure they'll take along some honey (and honey cakes) for Cancer to nibble on — a small guitar for Virgo to strum while the Crab sings crazy limericks to mournful songs of yesterday — and definitely LOTS OF MONEY — not only to rhyme with honey but also because Cancerians consider a stash of cash — whether "wrapped up in a five-pound note," securely tied inside a paper bag, combination-locked in a safe, buried in a bank or in a sandpile in the backyard — an absolute necessity of life, having a slight priority edge over air to breathe, but not necessarily over things to eat and drink. The latter run a neck-and-neck race with money for the attention of typical Crabs during their entire lifetime. Tagging along as a close third are babies and children of assorted ages and sizes.
The Virgo in the pea-green boat won't mind the mellow mood music. But as for the jars of honey and honey cakes Cancer brings along on any trip these two might decide to risk together, Virgo will probably nag and complain that the space taken by the Crab's goodies doesn't leave any room for Virgo's Vick's salve, Tunis for the tummy, Excedrin and Pepto Bismol -let alone Virgo's vitamins and wheat germ.
They may also quarrel a bit querulously over Virgo's grumbles that honey cakes are not as vital a Life Preserver as pure bee pollen, since the latter is good for anything from promoting no cavities to the prevention of baldness, gaining and losing weight (both) and, in general, for keeping fine and fit in every sense. Therefore, the Crab may have to leave a few dozen honey cakes behind, so there'll be a sizable niche on the dinghy to contain Virgo's "imported" pure pollen from the buzzing Wyeth honeycombs of New England — or the Wilton, Connecticut, Edward Weiss colonies of cheerful, thriving bees, who happily hum on Whipstick Road. Most Virgo pure pollen freaks know about Wyeth and Weiss because, when it comes to such serious matters, the Virgins are more than a mite choosy, even downright fussy about where they obtain the P.P. for their P.H. (Perfect Health). They demand the best. They may be stingy about other things, but not when their own personal well-being is concerned. If they should happen to become ill, they might be unable to go to work, for which inexcusable behavior they'd punish themselves with a heavy fine and six months of solitary. Most Virgos have a sense of responsibility toward their jobs that nearly amounts to an obsession (although Crabs are apt to see this fetish as a shining virtue).
However, as already noted, Virgo won't mind plunking the guitar to harmonize with Cancer's serene solos under the Full Moon. Also, despite these few possible squabbles over honey cakes versus the pollen, neither will Virgo object to the Crab's taking along of "plenty of money" anywhere they may be heading as a team. In fact, the Virgin will quite likely bring along a few duffle bags of the stuff himself (or herself) because the fear of financial ruin — the specter of poverty — is almost perfectly matched in Cancer and Virgo. It's a toss-up which one of them values money more. Or rather, which one of them values more the assurance that it will never be lacking.
Virgo and Cancer together create a powerful healing vibration. These two, when they join their auras, hands and hearts in any sort of mutual venture, possess the magic cure to many of the mental, emotional and physical ills that plague all Earthlings. Except their own. Alone, both of them are inclined to brood themselves into severe depression or chronic sickness. Together, they can be very helpful by way of preventing and curing in each other such emotional and mental gloominess, as well as all their mutual assorted aches and pains and other complaints.
This is a markedly friendly Sun Sign Pattern influence, allowing the Virgin and the Crab, however amusing and odd they may appear to others, to feel perfectly right and natural to themselves, as they stroll along the seashore or through the woods to Grandma's house (Virgo's Grandma — then they'll stop by to chat with Cancer's Mummy). The symbolic image is kind of giggly. Imagine the Crab, slightly waddling (all Crabs have a faint waddle to the walk), crawling first sideways, then backward, then skipping merrily ahead, scattering jokes like little berries on their path. Picture then the slim (usually) and modest Virgin, dressed lightly and unostentatiously, clear-eyed, graceful and lithe, humming a lovely melody…while below, the Crab hastens to keep pace, making funny faces, drawing looney pictures in the sand…and crankily gripping the Virgin's ankle or leg when the latter goes too fast and the Crab is weary, wanting to rest for a spell.
When the waning of the Moon causes the Cancer man or woman to weep over haunted memories of the past — or nightmarish fears of the future — the tender Virgin (whether male or female) will be sweetly sympathetic and consoling. Virgo will probably have a nice, clean hanky to hand the tearful Lunar friend, relative, business associate, lover or mate — which will be accepted, between sobs, with touching gratitude.
Both these Sun Signs are noticeably dependable and reliable workers. Barring a severe affliction to their natal Suns, or other negative planetary configurations in their birth charts, Cancer and Virgo take their duties and obligations seriously. They both are more inclined to enjoy work than to look upon it as a burden. Virgo enjoys work because a job well done, to the Virgin, is its own reward. Cancer enjoys work because it provides the means to build a large savings account for protecting against such terrible potential catastrophes as flood, fire, earthquake, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, hurricanes, war, siege, the bubonic plague, a stock market crash, muggers, rapists (even boy Crabs get jittery at the thought of rape), vandalism, socialism, communism and famine. Virgo is no slouch in the savings department either. If there is anything in this world Virgo absolutely abhors, it's the thought of possibly being dependent upon others in some way later on in life. This is why the maternal (or paternal) Cancerian silently projects such comfort to the typical Virgo. The Virgin feels somehow secure within the protective presence of the Crabs, who are so solicitous of Virgo's welfare, so genuinely concerned and affectionate. Likewise, the Crabs feel comfy-cozy floating around in the cool calmness of Virgo, such a haven from the noisy outside streets, all cobblestoned with people, and demanding. Virgo — so clever, bright and witty, so nicely conventional, who can pack such a neat picnic basket, never forgetting the salt or napkins — always remembering a small Surprise, like chilled grapes and Brie.
The main obstacle of mounting tension over which the Crab and the Virgin must leap on their way to the cool pool in the fragrant woods is hinted at in the next to the last sentence of the third paragraph of this section. I hoped it might stay there, buried in the sand, but it wants to be remembered, and now it whispers to us that Virgo wilts into yesterday's lettuce left out of the fridge at the first clutch of possessiveness and restriction. The Crabs can't separate possessiveness from warm, affectionate caring and friendly concern. Cancerians clam up and won't even tell you when they last stared at the Full Moon and turned into a frog — yet they'll pry secrets out of others as if they were human corkscrews. Virgo is not a can and does not like to be pried open, turning into a walking worry-wrinkle when he or she feels restricted, third or fourth degreed. After a time, the Virgo man or woman may view the Crab's solicitous manner and protectiveness as possession's prison — and courteously (at first), request parole. This is a signal for the Cancerian to step sideways a while, even backward, allowing Virgo to dance ahead, feeling free and living up to the loner image for an imaginary lifetime, lasting a few weeks or months. Eventually, Virgo will return to gently nag the Moon person once again, sugar-coating criticism with politeness, causing the Crab to snap crankily. Virgo will shed one tiny, perfect tear — Cancer will weep a waterfall, and say "I'm sorry." Then Virgo will apologize for the weakness of such sensitivity.
Cancer stimulates Virgo's imagination, stirs Virgo's mind into a creamy whip of promises that will be kept perhaps…and Virgo makes Cancer feel that the Crab won't be left alone on the beach, ignored…to starve and pine away from loneliness. Earthy Virgo knows and understands, will see that friendship is kept polished and not allowed to rust. These two are lyrically linked by Sun Sign Pattern vibrations, karmically insured of a friendly return to harmony with but the slightest effort. Most of these relationships, even after disappearing, have a way of popping up again to be resumed when least expected.
The TAURUS - CANCER Relationship
I will tell you where they are… they are already in their
home under the ground, a very delightful residence…
Cancerian Crabs love their mothers, their homes, money, babies and food. Taurean Bulls love money, their homes and mothers, food and babies. You can see these two Sun Signs are uncommonly alike, except for a few minor changes in the order of priorities.
One thing that becomes clear right away about both Crabs and Bulls, if you study astrology, is that they both want people to be nice to them. In fact, they desperately need people to be nice to them (though you might not guess it from the way these two behave, at times). The very nicest thing Cancer can do for Taurus is to cook up a big dinner (which they'll both enjoy eating), then sit around and talk about how to make more money (which they'll also both enjoy). The very nicest thing Taurus can do for Cancer is to buy an almanac to keep track of the waxing and waning periods of the Moon, and treat the Crab's changing moods accordingly. Cancerians are ruled by the Moon, and therefore are constantly affected by its fickle, fluctuating influence.
Since the practical Bulls have too much common sense to let the Moon push them around, right away that makes Taurus sorry for Cancer, which will please the Crabs immensely. It's not that they consciously seek pity, but they do like to know that people sympathize with their problems, instead of always accusing them of exaggerating life's daily tragedies. How can you exaggerate a tragedy, for goodness sakes? A tragedy is a tragedy, like a rose is a rose is a rose. And Cancerians take their tragedies seriously.
They're not only serious much of the time, they're cautious too. As serious and as cautious as Crabs John D. Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller, and various other assorted rocks. They have depressed periods of black melancholy that would frighten Edgar Allan Poe's Raven into flying right off the mantelpiece. Then they flash a "funny," and their crazy Lunar humour has everyone giggling. You think a sad-faced, morose comedian is a non sequitur? Image the late film actor Arthur Treacher. (You know, the one who always played the butler.) You say a compulsive wife and mother, full of fears and insecurities, always worrying about her brood, whose career is making people laugh, is a non sequitur? Image American comedienne Phyllis Diller. Both Cancerians. Also, the two of them have managed to pile up quite sizable green nest eggs through their Looney Bird antics, like proper Crabs. (Green for m-o-n-e-y.) Sometimes, Lunar people are silent and timid, and at other times they chatter your ear off. Like I said, they're moody.
Despite their having so much in common, Taurus finds it difficult to understand the moods of the Crab. To the Bulls, it's a waste of time and common sense to weep and moan about a situation. Taureans seldom weep or moan (although they occasionally moo) and they're rarely moody. However, once Taurus men, women or children dig in their heels, and get set for a spell of the blues, rare as it may be, they're not kidding around. They're moping in earnest. When a Bull takes a notion to have a mood, you'd better know it's a good, strong one, that's going to last for months — even years. And it won't be interrupted by silly fits of giggles.
Cancerian moods, on the other hand (is there a Libra in the room?), usually don't last more than a few hours, a few days at the very most — and they cover a wide range of emotions, from tender humour to cranky criticism, from intelligent, vivacious conversation to trembling shyness. They switch from laughter to tears, from faith to cynicism, from bitterness to joy -and then they snap at you, "What do you mean, I'm moody? You're the one who's impossible to get along with." (We won't tell the Crabs that a preposition is a poor thing with which to end a sentence, or even to end a sentence with — until the next mood switch to sweet and submissive. Otherwise, we may be snapped at — I mean, they may snap at us.)
Because Cancerians are so sensitive, they're aware of what's going on inside of people, and are, therefore, usually compassionate. Yet, their sympathy may come and go, especially when they're looking for sympathy themselves, which is frequently — and most especially if the sympathy entails a loan of money. Then the sympathy is much more likely to go than to come. Crabs think twice before they whip out their checkbooks. This is another area where Taureans and Cancerians have a great deal in common. The Bulls not only think twice before whipping out their checkbooks, they stop, pause, and think once again, just to be sure. However, both Sun Signs are truly generous to old people and to children. They're just a little tough on everybody in between. If it will put a hot meal into a child's tummy, or help a relative or loyal friend pay the mortgage on his or her home, Cancer and Taurus will relax their financial caution — or, when either of them have fallen in love. Romance warms their hearts and opens their pocketbooks miraculously.
The reason these two are slow about spending their money isn't because either of them is stingy. They're thinking of the future. There's always a rainy day to save for, right? (I can visualize the Crabs and Bulls reading this, nodding their heads, and asking silently, almost desperately, "Isn't that right?")
Well, yes, astrologically, that's right. There is always a rainy day to save for (for which to save). It's guaranteed to arrive, when you want it that much. I've never yet met a Taurean or a Cancerian who saved for a rainy day and failed to see that rainy day arrive, right on schedule. There's an ancient metaphysical truth, that warns: Be careful of what you want (or what you image) because you will get it. No doubt about that. None whatsoever. If you concentrate on saving for a rainy day, sooner or later you'll get caught in a downpour. How about imaging love and happiness and security instead? That sort of "wanting" and imaging will manifest into reality just as surely, under the very same Universal Law.
Now about that secret worry all Cancerians and Taureans have that they're going to end up in the poorhouse someday if they don't take care of their assets — I have some fantastic good news for them. Are all you Crabs and Bulls who are reading this section paying close attention now? Okay. Here it is: They don't have poorhouses anymore! Honest. They stopped building them years ago. Isn't that great news? So you can all go out and buy the luxuries you've always wanted — pianos, stamps for your stamp collection, antiques, old coins, caviar, gold frames for your baby pictures, cameras and what's that? Now you're worried about all the people who are broke, and the families in the poverty belts who don't have a poorhouse to go to? Oh, good grief.
I suppose, to be fair, Fire and Air Signs should take it a little easier on watery Cancer and earthy Taurus about their mutual tendency to worry. If it were not for the Cancerians, we'd never have had any CARE packages, or orphanages, or foundling homes, or lend-lease (the United States is a Cancerian country, you know). If it were not for Taurus, we'd never have any big empires, or huge industries that employ thousands of people, like the Hearst Newspapers Syndicate, and many, many others (William Randolph Hearst was a Bull) — no real estate companies (mostly Taurus) or banks (mostly Taurus or Cancer) or farms (mostly Taurus). Admittedly, the mutual Cancer-Taurus traits of care, caution, worry and conservatism keep all of us sane and secure. When you think of all the Cappies and Virgos (and some Scorps) they have helping them, it really makes you feel like going to St. Patrick's Cathedral and lighting a candle in sheer gratitude for the way they protect the rest of us from our reckless follies and selfishness. (Or the church of your choice, of course. It's just that not all places of worship offer the beeswax for the ritual, you know?) While we're there, we may as well light another candle for Cancerian and Taurean humour. Humour, like cleanliness, is very definitely next to godliness. Humour on one side, cleanliness on the other, with godliness in the center — like a spiritual sandwich. (Although Crabs and Bulls prefer theirs with an extra helping of lettuce.)
Real humor stems from tragedy, which is why the serious-minded Crabs and Bulls are often so hilarious, especially when they team up as a couple in business, love, friendship — or within the family circle. During the lulls between their comedy routines, sometimes a Bull will show a stubborn streak, but the Cancerian will usually have a lot of patience with the Taurus pouting. The Crabs have so much experience with it themselves, you see.
Both of these Sun Signs like to eat, and they both love to cook, so there might be some difficulty keeping their diets under control when they spend a lot of time together. If you know a Taurus-Cancer combination, the best Christmas present you can give them is a copy of a book on nutrition. Like Back to Eden, or a gift certificate, good for at least a year, from a health food restaurant. As for indulgence in the bubbly, Cancer is considerably more likely than Taurus to enjoy a sip of wine or stronger spirits, now and then. The Crab is also better equipped (as a Water Sign) to handle the sips. If the Cancerian tempts the Taurean into tasting the grape too often, there will be trouble. The Bull hates excess, and seldom messes around with it in any form, but when he slips, he does it the way he does everything else -on a grand scale. Taurus is better off at a milk bar, since he (or she) has what you might call an empathy with good old bossy.
Taurus and Cancer get along smoothly most of the time. Even when they don't there's not much noise, and seldom any explosive arguments. Both of them normally react to hurt or aggravation by slinking off alone to brood. It doesn't make the misunderstandings any easier to bear, but it does keep things relatively quiet. Of course, there won't always be total silence between them during a disagreement. There will be some soft sounds occasionally, when the Bull sits in the corner like a solid lump of resentment, mumbling under his (or her) breath-while the Crab huddles in the broom closet, crying into several large tissues and emitting periodic choked sobs. Still, the gentle sounds of angry mutterings (Taurus) and sad snifflings (Cancer) are more peaceful than the hollering you can expect with the more volatile Sun Signs. (Not counting the rare and horrifying occasions every ten years or so, when the Bulls fancy they're in a china shop and someone waves a red flag.)
The meeting of a Bull and a Crab is often a fated one, with an element of compulsion on both sides, with heavy karmic undertones. There's more than a casual interest in each other, and the benefits or hurts resulting from the association usually have a long-lasting effect on both lives, if they continue to see each other for more than a few months.
Taurus and Cancer make an excellent team for any kind of business or industrial ventures, stock brokerages, banks, gardens, nurseries, farms, politics or real estate companies. The Bull will build the foundation carefully, organize it sensibly, and the Crab will run it with careful efficiency, making sure their mutual efforts gain the maximum publicity. (Cancerians may not be extroverts but they're surprisingly good at getting newspaper space, and getting their pictures on the front page or the TV screen.) The chances are excellent that any CancerTaurus business partnership will thrive and stay in the black. If there's any red on the books, it's probably from the blood (mixed with sweat and tears) these two pour into any project they're devotedly dedicated to making solidly successful. Assuming the Bull has the Moon or Ascendent in a Water or Earth Sign (except Capricorn) and the Crab has the Moon or Ascendent in a Water or Earth Sign (except Scorpio) — and sometimes even the. parenthesized planetary positions won't stop their mutual achievement compatibility — these two could both end up in Who's Who, and likely find also that their personal relationship is harmonious, and comparatively free of tension. However, without such aid from their birth charts, there could be some pouting, muttering, mooing and sniffling, from time to time. Yet, compromise will usually be easier for them than for most other Sun Sign combinations. They each possess a certain amount of placidity, which often creates harmony from the sheer inner need and desire for peace and quiet.
Because Taurus is Earth and Cancer is Water, it's more probable that the Crab will slowly and gradually grow to imitate the Bull's Fixed habits, than the other way around — even though Taurus is behind Cancer on the karmic wheel of life. Why? Water is flexible, and does not resist, which is the wisdom of Water. It takes the shape of the vessel into which it's poured. When that vessel is a Taurean, the shape is usually symmetrical and pleasing. Considering the Taurus feeling for form, and the Cancer sensitivity for color, they can paint some rather nice pictures on the side of the jug too. Then they'll hang a price tag on it, take it to market, and come home together with a nice fat profit.
"I feel an indescribable ecstasy and delirium in melting, as it were, into the system of beings, in identifying myself with the whole of nature."
- Jean Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712)
