Cancer

Cuddle and caress a Cancerian you know, today! Crabs need to feel safe and secure, and to know that they are adored and amoured.

This is the sign of Moons and Junes literally! Leo is led by the Sun, but Cancer is ruled by the other leading light of the zodiac, the Moon. Throughout history and legend, the Moon has always represented motherhood, and she rules the tides, menstruation, and everything else associated with the 28-day cycle. (No, it's not a new form of transport!) The Moon is the peaceful, passive, defensive drive within us, and in the natal chart she shows our maternal instincts, habits and childhoods. And whether we love or loathe our mums.

Generally speaking, Cancerians are ultra-protective, and that can mean they protect themselves as well as others. (Well, aren't crabs encased in shells?) A very good friend of mine says that if you think of a rocker, clad in chain-mail and leather, looking fearfully ferocious, then try to imagine taking all that chain-mail off, you'll find a very ordinary person underneath. And you can say exactly the same thing about Cancer the Crab. There they are. with that solid shell, that concrete coating, waving their pincers about provocatively, and pretending to be pugnacious. But get out the crab cracker and you have the main ingredient for a rather nice crab sandwich sweet and soft! (Slap two slices of brown bread around them, quick!)

When you first meet a Cancerian, you will sense a hardness, tetchlness, and moodiness, as Crabs are always on the defensive! These are the folk who rush into the room and slap you round the face, just in case you're going to be nasty!

On a positive level, this is a devoted sign. Grabs have a fierce family feeling, can get quite clannish, and put their kith and kin at the centre of their universes.

Many Cancerian men tie the nuptial knot. but can't untangle the apron-strings that bind them to their mums and dads. This can cause fantastic flare-ups within their marriages, because their wives feel upstaged by their mothers-in-law. And lots of Cancerian women spend almost all their weekends at home in the bosom (what a nice Cancerian word!) of their families, even when they've got a husband and six kids at home. (Maybe that's why!)

Crabs can remember what they had for breakfast on their second birthdays, but they can also remember when you last let them down. They will hurl back past slights, which happened many moons before, in the middle of a row. They also like to live in the past (ever seen a Crab in a crinoline?). and they're very traditional, and tremendous collectors of bits and bobs, especially if they are full of memories. (They call them mementoes. Other people call them tat.) And they hoard letters like madi (A true Crab will have kept all the letters he or she has ever received from the age of six months onwards.)

You see, they hate to throw things away. (Just in case they come in handy.) A Cancerian friend of mine once went whizzing off to a jumble sale at eleven in the morning loaded with the memorabilia (another good Cancerian word) she was chucking out. At half past three she bought the lot back for ten bob. She couldn't bear to part with a single sock!

Being a Water sign, and ruled by the Moon, Crabs are powerfully psychic, and they will have incredibly intuitive instincts. (When they say they're tuning in, they're not talking about the radio!) Crowds of Cancerians can walk into a room and instantly pick up an atmosphere. (And I don't mean the sultry scent of Saturday's supper sprouts and stew either.) Their superb sensitivity also means they can be hurt far too easily, and often over nothing at all. Some of them are hypersensitive, and should realise that when they are told something, it's not always meant as a criticism, or an out-and-out rejection.

Cancerians should try to toughen their soft skins which sit beneath their shells, and not harbour hurts or supposed slights. When they do take umbrage, they become changeable and crabby, mean, moony and moody, hufly and hostile. and almost unapproachable at times. They should use their highly developed instincts in a positive manner, and trust them and live by them. (Very intense Crabs will tune into their teapots, saying at about four in the afternoon, 'I feel I should put the kettle on'. If you're there, try saying you can sense a custard cream hovering in the biscuit tin.)

Security is of vital importance to Cancerians; often if they feel down and depressed, and are doddering about in the doldrums, it's because they don't have a real base to go home to. They need the emotional security of having their own four walls about them, whereas Taureans need nests for material security.

If you're married to a Cancerian, or have a chum who's a Crab, you have to behave like a cuckoo clock, and at every half hour pop your head round the door and say 'I love you!' (You must mean it. though.) Then they'll feel safe and secure. (Go on, give 'em a kiss!) They can be so gruff that they take you by surprise sometimes. So, if you know a Cancerian who is being crabby, just remember the rocker with the chain-mail, (If you're a Bull, you'll remember the crab sandwich!) Underneath that hard shell shimmers a heart of pure gold, which is Just waiting to melt as the first words of love cascade from your lips!

Now, of course, there are some cantankerous, cross and cranky Crabs about! They'll be mean and moody, and will scowl like scallops. They'll click away with their pincers, sounding like a couple of castanets on a package holiday, but they will still be soft and sweet underneath.

Cancerians really do need to be needed, and know that they're loved. Otherwise, they can't function fully. Remember this is the polar sign of Capricorn, and most Goats are frightened of rejection. Crabs can be just the same. If they do have particularly firm filial feelings, especially for a matriarchal mum, they'll prefer to hide at home than go out into the big wide world and face whatever it may have to offer them. And when they do scuttle out from under a rock to test the waters of life, if they're used and abused, they'll sound a furious fandango with their perpetually pirouetting pincers, and then rush back to the boulder as fast as their pins can propel them.

Babies are a must for this sign. Whereas procreation is important for Leos, who love children and like to be proud of their own cubs. with Cancer it is much deeper, and more a case of carrying on the family name. Cynthia Crab. Cyril Crab .. .