Cancer

It is impossible to predict, from the birth chart, exactly how planets, points, and houses in Cancer will turn out. Cancer is the energy of beginnings, the place and/or signature of birth and infancy. Like an infant, who grows more and faster than s/he ever will again, the Cancer area of any individual chart can be expected to grow, and keep on growing. It also suggests emergence, as a plant emerges from the soil. It is the place where something which has been gestated in the dark of womb or soil, emerges into the light. The more care it is given, the more love and attention, the healthier the growth. It is from lack of nurture, that certain Cancers become moody and depressed.

Traditionally, Cancer is known as one of the three so-called unconscious signs. This writer believes that they are, more accurately, pre-verbal memories, what might be called subconscious memories.
We usually think of memories as describable. Ordinarily, memories contain both a verbal and an emotional component. Babies are born without (recognizable) language. Memories acquired in this lifetime begin before we learn to speak, which means mostly, perhaps entirely, before we can truly think. They must be recorded in pictures and/or feelings, which are triggered by later events, bringing up apparently irrational emotional responses. It may be important to realize that there is a reason for such responses, even if you do not consciously know it. In the psychological sense, the source of such responses comes from very early in life–occasionally before birth, and nearly always before age two or three. Many, perhaps all, such responses are linked to events which happened before you had language–at least before you had language adequate for describing the event.
On the surface, those with strong Cancer influences in their charts often appear moody–may even think of themselves that way. This may only be the result of their tendency to soak up all the feelings of those around them. All water signs do this to some extent, because water has little or no resistance to have things dropped into it. Natives who have good strong Saturn boundaries will have less trouble with this. One way to use this to advantage would be to imagine/visualize some type of wall–or preferably filter–which will keep out, or at least limit the penetration of other people’s feelings. Make a picture, then summon up a feeling of safety (Cancer has much to do with feeling safe and secure) and comfort.
Spend time at least once or twice daily with this exercise for a (lunar) month. After that, repeat as needed.

In the ordinary sense, Cancer is related to feelings. Feelings are the mind of the body, telling us what we need. Literally, feelings refer only to the basics: hunger, thirst, pleasure, pain, etc. Generally, it is these feelings that Cancer types pick up so easily. One of the great problems in this area is that many people continue to hold on to unmet needs from their earliest years of life. The truth is, that when we have parents–especially mothers–who do not meet our needs, it is a sure sign that we have already evolved beyond the need or more than we were given. We do choose our parents –of course they must agree. As we near the end of an age, many of us are entering into families which lesser-evolved being would not survive. Whatever our reasons for doing so, of one thing we may be sure: We knew that we could survive, and that we could overcome.

Going beyond this level, we find the enlightened Cancer types who are really channels. They absorb material from the higher mind or super-consciousness–the point where mind is neither limited nor linear, where you can remember things from the apparent future. To the degree that it is a Cancer function, this will come primarily as visions, and perhaps feelings–sometimes the feeling of a vision or a vision of certain feelings. Many from this group become artists, especially painters. The artist can only draw what and how s/he sees.

For Cancer types, one of the most important things to realize is your innocence, for it is the innocence of a small child. You came into this lifetime with a clean slate. This is true, at any level, for the cycle of incarnation turns and turns through the Zodiac. In whatever cycle you are living out, you have newly emerged and you are born free–free of condemnation, free of error, free of karma. Take these words from the Master Jesus as your standard:

Permit the little children to come unto me.
Forbid them not,
For of such is the kingdom of God.