Happy Birthday, Cancer!! -- It's time to celebrate your time of the year! -- Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

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Cancers take care of everybody.

One doesn't have to be an infant or infirm to need this kind of connection from time to time. We've all had moments where we just couldn't talk about what was happening with us ... but it was such a blessed relief to know we were not alone in our confusion and disturbance.

This is why Cancers sometimes attract an extended family circle around themselves. They don't necessarily confine themselves to just blood-and-marriage relations when they define their kin.

They tend to wind up caring for a huge variety of pets, strays, friends, colleagues, the friends of their children and relatives, the friends of friends -- and pretty much anyone or anything that needs the proverbial helping hand. And there you see the necessary emphasis on protection, security, maintenance, and defense.

Cancers are homebodies at heart.
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Everyone is treated like family ...

Cancers care for those who cannot care for themselves. Cancers consider that their job. These mended souls become "part of the family" ... and Cancer's sense of responsibility and clannishness in these circumstances is fierce and unshakable. That's the public Cardinal quality of Cancer -- the openness that attracts this circle of "family" in the first place and then the chutzpah to stand fast in the face of threat.

Put a Cancer soul, especially a Cancer mother, in this position ... and she's as fierce as any Fire Sign every forged. Cancers are possessive, loyal, and extraordinarily well suited for the role they fill. Mothers-of-the-world (and Cancer men often make fabulous "mothers") need to be all the things I've just described and more.

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... and family is precious.

There is a devoted, domestic, tribal quality found in Cancer energy that displays itself in men and women alike, and which dissolves in those emotional qualities I've mentioned (extensively!!) into sentiment, nostalgia, attachment to memories, respect for history and traditions, and a sense of connection that bridges the past and the future across the present --in the ties of the generations Cancer is determined to preserve.

To Cancer, these concepts of family and continuity are literally sacred, and their special blend of qualities are those needed to keep things going. Only a fool would disagree.

As its reaction against the intense intellectualism of Gemini, which can be brittle, superficial, detached, restless, inconstant, insensitive, and impersonal, Cancer energy is approachable, passionate, expressive, fertile, profound, consoling, intimate, patient, and understanding.

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The other side of the story ...

But under too much stress, this lovely energy becomes childish, clinging, resentful, compulsive, obsessive, anxious, fretful, complaining, insecure, paranoid, depressed, and unstable. It can be smothering in its attentions. Self-pitying in the extreme. Indecisive, changeable, reclusive, touchy, and paranoid. None of the signs has Shadow energy that's easy to deal with, but it can be especially hard to pull Cancer back onto the positive side of the scale once it gets on a roll with its lamentations.

The polarity sign -- the "other side of the scale" for Cancer is Capricorn, the Cardinal Earth sign ruled by Saturn which deals emphatically with physical reality, structure, and one's professional image and pursuits. And there you have the classic dichotomy between home and family and career and public pursuits. Cancer keeps the home fires burning; Capricorn earns the living that keeps the rent paid and the lights on.

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... the two halves of the whole.

Cancer is soft, pliant, gentle, and deeply invested in family connections. Capricorn is stern, exacting, disciplined, and deeply invested in prestige and social reputation. They are the parent figures of the Zodiac.

Cancer the archetype of the doting, sentimental mother, Capricorn the authoritarian paterfamilias. Theirs is one of the easiest polarities to see ... and the push-pull between the two of them and their interests is a classic dilemma of every life.

Together they usher the successive generations into the world, each offering succor and support in its fashion. Both are necessary to a balanced background and a balanced life ... despite the dangerous and unfortunate trend that continues toward widespread single parenthood.

Cancer spirits who've made their mark on the world include: Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Ross Perot, Phyllis Diller, George Orwell, Diana: Princess of Wales, David Brinkley, Ann Landers, Ernest Hemingway, Red Skelton, Mary Baker Eddy, King Henry VIII, Pearl S. Buck, and Helen Keller.

Thank you for stopping by!

If you've always known there was more to Astrology than Sun Sign material and the three line daily horoscope in the newspaper, climb aboard and follow this blog. You'll find a world of wisdom detailing how you were designed to work with life ... and why you are the way you are -- all in quick-to-read, easy-to-digest-and-remember, written-in-plain-English essays that offer plenty of food for thought.

Little by little, I'm doing a set of articles that talks about all the elements in your horoscope and what they have to say about you. If you "know something" about Astrology -- or know something about your chart placements, that will help you get more from this material.

If you don't ... well, this is one place you can learn. We all have to start somewhere ... because we aren't born knowing this stuff. Meanwhile, if you've never seen your horoscope ... and don't have a clue how to work with it, maybe it's time to find out. There are lots of "chart services" on the internet -- some of whom produce decent, readable charts "for free" and some are so awful and confusing that even I can't read them easily -- and I've worked with charts for decades.

One extremely user-friendly chart site is here: AstroLabe. I recommend them if you want a simple, easy-to-read chart. I think they even give a reasonable little interpretive reading of your horoscope as part of the package. You'll need to know your birth information -- day, month, year, time and geographical place. Without all that your chart will have limited accuracy.

Or, if you want to get serious and really talk about this, upvote this post and start a conversation in the comments section sometime in the next six days from the time of publication. We'll go from there depending on what you want to know.

Questions about any of this? -- Upvote this post and talk to me in comments. It's a terrific way to build value for yourself and the community ... and it will give me ideas of what to write about in future posts. Believe me there is lots to say about the way The Sun, The Moon -- and all the other elements in a horoscope, all the other components of Astrology -- work together to interpret you and your story -- and what it all means to the person you've become.

This is who I am.

About the art in our visual essays ...

Although sometimes the background pictures in our visual essays support the topic and text, they don't always. Sometimes the connection is clear. Sometimes it's symbolic and subtle. Sometimes, there's no connection at all.

The scenes depict landscapes and natural features, buildings and wildlife. They were chosen because they show something lovely or interesting ... or simply because the photo appealed to me.

Our spectacular and remarkable planet is changing at astonishing speed. Rarely are these changes for the better. Few people seem to know ... or care ... or have the will and power to do anything about this. It may not be long before the world humans have known and lived in for centuries is forever lost. We certainly won't be able to make repairs as fast as we destroyed it.

So a few years ago I began collecting pictures of the way things were ... and still are for now, a record of the beauty we have while it is still ours to love and honor.

The photos here are part of that collection, with sincere thanks to the artists who saw these moments ... and with their cameras ... preserved them. All of us at Enchanted Spirit are profoundly grateful to them for their generosity and skill ... and for the added grace, depth and dimension their art brings to ours.

Original images used under this Creative Commons license or this Creative Commons license and modified by added text.

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