The New Zodiac Signs

Cancer

GROWTH
the cancer lifestyle

The phases of the Moon, the flow of seasons, the cycle of destruction and creation. It represents the flow of emotions, from fear and loneliness, to joy and togetherness. The inexorable circle of natural events, amazing and disgusting-is it really soulless, in complete disregard of all human hopes and ideas? The philosophy of the ant? Human hopes are nothing before the Bell curve of natural return; nature itself is two wildly divergent extremes trying to rectify. It's on Cancer to assimilate, and experience the opposite poles. Cancer reveals the secret nature of what we experience. Cancers represent the unseen side of the dialectic, the majestic and totality of the flux of the Earth, its season, tides and moods.

Cancers can cultivate an understanding of the boundless sea of emotions and the infinite coldness of the ocean. Cancer is ruled by the sea, its tides, its turmoil, and the Moon, which rules over all of them with a mournful autocracy. The Moon can be beautiful fertile and compelling, or lifeless holding death like a bowl full of dread.

THE CANCER CONSTELLATION

The ancestrial home of Cancer, the Crab Nebulae, is known as the birthplace of stars. Many modern-day astronomers believe the sun might have originated from Cancer's fainter star cluster, Messier 67, although this idea is disputed. Still, it looks as if Cancer may be the kernel of the creation story in both myth and science.

Cancer contains two Messier objects - the Beehive Cluster (M44, NGC 2632) and M67 (NGC 2682) - and has two stars with known planets. The brightest star in the constellation is Al Tarf, Beta Cancri.

In ancient Chaldean and Platonic philosophy, Cancer was called the Gate of Men. It was through this portal that souls descend from the heavens above and into the bodies of the newly born.

Around 2700 years ago, the sun passed in front of the Beehive cluster on the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice. Back then, this cluster stood at the apex of the Zodiac, so perhaps it was this heavenly nebulosity that marked the Gate of Men. At present, the sun has its annual conjunction with the Beehive cluster in late July or early August. In a dark sky, the Beehive looks like a tiny faint cloud to the unaided eye. As seen through ordinary binoculars, this nebulous patch of haze instantly turns into a sparkling city of stars. It is an open cluster, one of the nearest to our solar system. The Beehive is thought to contain a larger star population than most other nearby clusters.

The Beehive cluster once served as a celestial weather station. The ancients referred to the Beehive as the Praesepe ("little cloud"). The Roman author Pliny reported that when the Praesepe is invisible in an otherwise clear sky, it's a sure sign of impending storm.

Although Cancer may be the faintest constellation of the Zodiac, its legacy remains intact. On a dark, moonless night, look for Cancer's faint grouping of stars to spring out in between the more conspicuous constellations Gemini and Leo.