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Cancer

The astrological sign of Cancer and its personality

You are dreamy, with a psychological nature that is oriented towards nostalgia for things past, towards your mother and your family. Your instinct and your need to protect yourself from the outside world are highly developed.
Your inner life is rich, with a vivid and even unlimited imagination, a propensity to avoid all risks and to pursue security.

You show your true face only to persons you can trust and you need the well being brought about by the nostalgia for the past.

Cancer' sayings and key-words

The words "I feel" encapsulate the character of Cancer, whose need for security and emotions is highly developed.

The sign of Cancer is emotional, sentimental, peaceful, imaginative, sensitive, faithful, resistant, protective, vulnerable, generous, romantic, nostalgic, tender, poetic-minded, motherly or fatherly, dreamy, indolent, greedy, and devoted.

But sometimes it is also timorous, unrealistic, evasive, passive, anxious, dependent, stubborn, moody, passive, lazy, touchy, stay-at-home or inaccessible.

The sign of Cancer and its astrological characteristics

Rulership and exaltation in Cancer

Each astrological sign has traits which are similar to, or different from, those of certain planets. They are known as planetary dignities. The planet having the strongest affinities with a sign is said to rule the sign and to be in its domicile, i.e. at home. It expresses itself with all its might, unreservedly. When a planet does not match a sign too well but remains compatible, it is in its exaltation. It gets its strength and its energy from the said sign though to a lesser extent than a planet in domicile.

The sign of Cancer is in analogy with the Moon, its ruler. It gets along well with Jupiter, the planet which is in exaltation here.

The astrological sign of Cancer shares several features with the Moon: fertility, sensitivity, femininity (in a female chart), imagination and memory (or lack of, depending on the aspects she receives). The Moon is also associated with dreams, the unconscious, subjectivity, moods, the past, nostalgia, but also with laziness, nonchalance and whims.

To a lesser degree, Jupiter's characteristics also influence this sign, i.e. some level of open-mindedness, generosity, the taste for comfort, the facility to become integrated into society, and benevolence, but in the flip side, exaggeration and pretentiousness.

It must be noted that the interpretation of each zodiacal sign echoes the meaning of its House: the first sign and the 1st House, etc. Therefore, Cancer, the fourth zodiacal sign, is in analogy with the 4th House: it represents the native's family, ancestors, roots, and home, both the home he comes from and the one he will set up. This house also describes the real estate patrimony, childhood, and emotions. It is located at the bottom of the chart, and like the Ascendant, it is an angular house. For some authors, 4th house represents the mother instead of the father.

Cancer Elements, Quadruplicities, and Polarities

Water element of Cancer
The twelve zodiacal signs are divided into four sectors matching the four elements: Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. An element includes three compatible signs (triplicity), each element being mutually complementary.

Cancer, like Scorpio and Pisces, is a Water sign: this element rules the world of emotions, the unconscious, sensitivity, and feelings. The natives ruled by the water element are secretive, intuitive and emotive persons who feel what is unnoticed by other people. However, they lack realism and find it difficult to adjust to the tough and materialistic world. Water makes the native fruitful, imaginative, dreamy, selfless, with an artistic bent, but also lazy, irresolute, vulnerable, and hypersensitive. People ruled by the water element display a lot of kindness, empathy, and generosity, but when they are hurt or feel that they are in danger, they become sly, unpredictable, and disorderly.