Cancer Myths
Ruler: Moon
The symbol for Cancer as we know it is the crab.
The Egyptians worshiped the ancient symbol of the scarabaeus. This symbol related to death and rebirth and was related to the male, rather than the feminine.
This association with the beginning, and the end of life, also represents Atum (also known as the sun God Ra) as pushing the sun around the heavens until it is reborn at dawn, only to die each night where he/she fights with the underworld to emerge victorious to begin a new day.
Greek Myth.
The sea Goddess male counterpart is Protaras, who is the old man of the sea. He is part lion, part viper stag and is fish tailed.
Protaras was the prophet who helped Odysseus through his turbulent voyage - without his help he would never had made it. Protaras is a shape changer, like a shaman. Odysseus had quite a job on his hands and needed great patience when asking for help, because he had to wait for the prophet to shape change before he was ready to give him an answer.
It is this side which is really evident in Cancerians. The way they maneuver themselves in order not to get caught, and slip into energies, which are around them, not really aware which part of the shift of energy is really themselves. They can later transform as they release their creativity.
Cancer is related to motherhood it is her/his prime concerns, but this sign represents the father figure as well.
The ancients believed at one time that Cancer was the first sign of the zodiac because this was the entrance of life from the heavens to the primal ocean of mother.
But the parents in myth also represent the uroboric, which is the perfect blend of opposites, that was intended at the beginning of time male and female. World parents.
In the Greek myth Hercules battles with the Hydra the nine-headed serpent monster. During the fight all the animals favored Hercules, but a giant crab sent by the Goddess came out of a cave, and bit him on the ankle, and due to this he nearly lost the fight. But eventually he won
The crab had done Hera’s bidding, and she was blessed with a place in the heavens where she could be honored. Hera's dislike of Hercules was because he is a hero and challenges her authority.
The battle to free ones self from both parents can be quite a challenge for Cancerians because motherhood is everything. And father is the seed. for future generations
Cancer has both the means to be self-creative in myth - as the dung beetle protects the seed of creation so Cancer has to really struggle to bring this out.
Sometimes the creative side of this sign doesn’t come out at all, for these people are quite happy for their children to live out this potential, while thinking that their own doesn’t quite make the mark.
The dark side of Cancerians tends to be with supporting their loved ones. Whether this is mother and son, they can tend to undermine them by there protective instincts. This is the representation of the crab biting the hero’s feet and ankles during his fight with the Hydra. Also the male cancer tend to have a problem within relationships to his own sex by not wishing to show his own anger.
Vassoulla written 1999