Cancer, The Crab
June 21st - July 20th
Mode: Cardinal ~ Element: Water
Ruler: Moon ~ Mythic Archetypes: Khepra (Egyptian scarab) ~ Demeter ~ Great Goddess & the Divine Consort

The history and mythology of Cancer is a picture of confusion and contradiction. Its age dates back to 8000-6000 BC, the time which many scholars identify as the era of Goddess worship (Moon). It is not clear what this sign meant to the Babylonians, but to the Egyptians, Cancer was the scarab beetle, a sacred totem referring to the soul. To the Greeks, Cancer was initially represented by a turtle or tortoise - (very similar to the crab, Cancer's present symbol.) In Classical times, the Greeks worked Cancer the Crab into the twelve labors of Hercules.

The true meaning of Cancer can best be understood by considering its position in the seasonal year. Cancer marks the Summer Solstice, when the longest day of the year and the shortest night occurs. At this time, the Sun is turning back, beginning its progress into the world of the Nightforce or collective humanity which is the yin or feminine component of consciousness and civilization. The solar force or ego has reached its limit, and unbridled individuality must now give way to the needs of collective humanity. The Summer Solstice was the day upon which the sun god - or his earthly representative - was ritually slain and sacrificed to the Great Mother (Gaia). He began his journey into the underworld, just as ego consciousness begins its journey toward universal consciousness in the Cancerian phase of human life. Thus, Cancer represents one's home and family, and in the establishing of a small collective unit he/she, as an individual, begins to allow a little bit of the consciousness of the other into his/her life.

The Moon rules the sign of Cancer. Since the Sun is at its zenith at the Summer Solstice, the symbols of Sun and Moon, masculine and feminine, are united in one archetype; the mystic marriage. It is through union with the feminine principle that masculine ego consciousness reaches its limit and begins to be absorbed by something different.