THE CURSE OF CANCER AND ITS CURE

This is an important article, an outcome of years of struggle with my own demons and moon placement. Hope this helps all those with a Cancer Moon, Cancer Sun or Cancer Ascendant.  

I will share a secret of astrologers with you today, while it is common knowledge that all astrologers have a favourite sign, there is another side to it, we also have one sign that we hate. And in most cases that sign plays a strong part in our chart. We suffer first hand from the highs and lows of that sign. But, we know it well enough to justify our hatred. 

It is no secret that my favourite sign happens to be Capricorn (I am a double Capricorn and a typical Saturn child), I value all things Capricorn represents right from realism, strength, maturity, reverse ageing, and toughness. Don Corleone of “The Godfather” was one of the best examples of a Capricorn,

He has has been one of my all time favourite movie characters. His clam soft spoken and down to earth persona masking the gutter toughness and business genius makes him a typical Capricorn personality, and I could identify with him a lot. 

However, there was another sign that had a strong part in my chart and often put the Joker inside the Don,

It is the ONLY SIGN THAT HAS A DISEASE NAMED AFTER IT…CANCER…!

Yours truly has a Moon in Cancer (or as I like to say my Moon is suffering from Cancer ? ). That too in the 7th house and I was born on a full moon day, further intensifying the impact of moon in my chart. If I could change one thing in my chart, it would be the placement of moon, seriously….!

While conventional wisdom says that Moon is debilitated in Scorpio (many believe that Scorpio is cursed). However, in my experience, a Cancer moon is often a bigger trouble to handle as compared to Scorpio moon. 

Scorpio is a tough sign and gives a certain intensity and maturity to the native. Moon in scorpio is often depression prone but in a broody serious way. It also gives the native tools like a stoic exterior, deep insight and no-nonsense attitude. Whereas Cancer moon has little or no upside and often creates the most trouble for the native. 

For starters… the Cancer Moon native is more of a drama queen, often a glutton, hopelessly romantic, and most of all, frequently indulgent in his/her favourite hobby, SELF-PITY. This applies to Cancer ascendant and Sun in Cancer as well, albeit to a lesser degree. But whenever you see a heavy cancer in a chart you can assume the below to be true up to a considerable degree. 

1. Touchy Feely: If you know a girl or guy who can well up tears at even a small memory of something that happened 25 years ago, chances are that you are dealing with a strong Cancer. These people are the ones who can be hurt by anything and everything. They can stick to the hurt for a long time despite it being a non-issue. I remember the kids who bullied me in in class V and which cousin was mean to me at my 9th birthday celebration. 
2. Drama Queens: Okay we will cover this one in part 2 in detail when we talk about the problem with Cancer women. But men are also not far behind. These guys can give a passionate speech, while they themselves genuinely choke up. They can be theatrically angry or affectionate at whatever occasion. And God help them if there is alcohol around. If a man drinks and cries, you bet he has a strong cancer or at least a very heavy moon in his chart. These guys practically invented drunk dialling and alcohol induced depression.  
3. Gluttons and drunks: Oh boy, do I hate this about this sign. Finding a cancer person who is fit, is like finding an honest politician, they do exist but only as an exception. Either they worry themselves sick to the point that they can’t eat and look like sticks. Or, as happens in majority of cases, they eat drink and make merry to the point of embarrassing themselves and put on pounds of flesh. Water signs are fond of their drinks, while Cancer leads the pack in drinking, they also adore their food with equal ferocity. They are fond of dairy and sweets and anything that would taste rich. PRO TIP: They cant sleep if they don’t have food near by.    As a result they are often the chubby sweet round kids and then grow up to be fat men and women who go to gym (occasionally) and then cry they can’t lose weight and would order beer and pizza to soothe their worries away. They progressively move from sipping beer to guzzling it down and nibbling pizza to gorging over it to the very last crumb, often extending their help to anyone who cannot finish their portions. Watching them eat is a treat for the eyes or a disgusting display of human depravity, depending upon what kind of mood they are in. If someone tries to stop them, it is taken as a personal attack and they can react with irritation, or if they are in a really bad mood, then with unprecedented anger. Throwing away a plate of food is one of the most dangerous display of anger a cancer can show. And he would remember it for. years. As often happens, he might take out the anger on a bottle of rum. Touchy feelings, strong livers, and big bellies never makes a good combination. Cancer people tend to have all three.
4. Never grow up: Okay this one is a given. Their mood fluctuate like the Moon itself. One day they can be a chatterbox, next day they can be quiet as a Zen master, and be a mess on both days on the inside. Of course women have it much worse here because of biological reasons, but men often behave like children. I always say that a Cancer moon stops growing emotionally at the age of eight. Behind all the clam and powerful exterior, there is a messy 8-year old ready to spill the beans, crack the joke, or throw a tantrum. 
5. Care too much: I often quote this couplet of poet Ameer Miani to my heavy Cancer clients. 

“Khanjar Chaley kisi pe, tadapte hain hum Ameer…

Saarey Jahan Ka dard humaarey jigar mein hai…”

Loosely translated to 

“No matter who is wounded by a knife..o Ameer, it is I who suffer, for the pain of the entire world resides in my heart…”

Cancer people are fond of taking care of others (especially children), they are the “Mothers” of the zodiac. I must admit that most soup kitchens and orphanages are running on the money, ration, and support provided by these natives. If these guys could, they would send food to every starving child in Africa. Their biggest problem is that they feel overwhelmed by those problems, they can actually feel that pain in their heart. They can literally worry themselves sick thinking about he problems of others. These people should stay away from daily news, as it can be quite depressing for them. 

6. Manipulative: We would talk about this in detail in the next article about Cancer women. But despite of all the nice and caring nature, these natives are not shy of manipulating other people using subtle tactics. They are adept at “managing” the environment where the other person “suddenly” happens to be in the right place at the right time (for the native that is). They can be downright cunning if they have to. 
7. Insecure: Security word was invented by Saturn people, but insecurity was for sure invented by a Moon child. No matter what they get or how much they get, it is never enough. They can never have enough food, money, love, drinks and so on. In order to feel secure they would need constant reassurances, display of affection, a good bank balance, and a stocked up refrigerator. If their boy or girl gets a little too chummy with someone of the opposite gender, they can launch a crusade to get them back. If they think someone is after their job, they can go to war. God help those who try to hurt their children, in that case Cancer ferocity can put Scorpios to shame. But for most of the time they are worried about non-issues.     
8. Emotionally Clingy: The caricature of possessive, over-emotional, clinging vine girlfriend is totally inspired by the Cancer woman. Anyone who has tried to break up with a Moon woman knows how hard it is. (we will get to that in Part 2 of this series). While guys have it much better, they are not above drunk dialling their sweethearts and crying their hearts out. Boys also play one step forward two step back, just like a crab, driving the object of their romance crazy. 
9. Compulsive Clowning: Even if they appear very proper and sincere, there is always a clown inside them. (Yours truly has been guilty of cracking jokes at funerals.) Their sense of humour is a big blessing, but it often gets them in trouble, they can say something grossly inappropriate for the sheer humour of it. I have cracked jokes with teachers, priests, cops, government employees, and even my super bosses. For the record, not all of them were taken kindly. My mother, boss, and wife often gave me “stern feedback” after my adventures, and while trying to explain my side, I cracked a few more jokes, leading to not so great results. I try to reign in the joker, but hey he is a sly guy. 
10. 10.Self Pity-POOR ME: This is my biggest beef with this sign. No matter how good or great their life is, there is a self-pitying side of them that is ever ready to emerge with a POOR ME narrative, at slightest hit of trouble. Even a flat tire can trigger their poor me response reminding them of all the pains including their break up with the childhood sweetheart to the mean cousin, to a bullying boss. “Poor me…oh why me?” Is their favourite line. They can cry over nothing and can cry entire night playing rewind of all their miseries (real and imagined). Usually they try to drown their sorrows… “Boo hoo hoo and a bottle of rum.” Is what their agenda is when they are triggered emotionally.  Then they wake up with feelings of guilt, shame, and often a bad headache. Talk about a vicious cycle. 

THE CURE OF IT: Hope by now I have proved my point. Now let me discuss the cure of this. 

Yours truly has suffered with these issues for a long, long, long time and has been engaged in finding a cure for it. Tried Geeta (couldn’t make head or tail of it), tried other scriptures (Mahabharat taught me a lot but hey brought tears to my eyes at every strong juncture). I tried Sotic philosophy it did help but the real cure came from Jewish Wisdom. 

In one of the best books I have ever read, THOU SHALL PROSPER, the writer talks about “Having a split personality” in order to keep the foolish side of you in check. Cancer people are often fascinated by psychology especially the whole split personality business. I am no exception. I researched this subject from Jewish wisdom angle and emerged with a formula which proved to be cure of the curse of cancer. Here it is: 

HAVE A SPLIT PERSONALITY WITH ALL CANCER TRAITS (you already have him inside you so there is no denying). You just need to know that he is here and keep a track of him when he tries to take over your mind. He is a part of you and you cannot banish him or erase him, but you can and should keep him away from taking CONTROL of you. If your stupid side takes over your mind, it is like a mad man taking control of the mad house, it never ends well. 

Here is a step by step guide to take back control: 

1. Know that he is there- Acknowledge him: He is a part of you and you cannot get rid of him. So better acknowledge his existence, that’s sure to calm him down. If you try to banish him, he would come out at the worst times. Better acknowledge him and confront him. 
2. Give him/her an image and a funny name: A funny name takes the sting out of his “poor me” bawl. I have nick named my alter ego “Rotadu” (roughly meaning the one who keeps crying over everything). Earlier he would take over me and make me do all kind of foolishness, now the moment he raises his ugly (muscus stained) face, I smile and acknowledge him. But I NEVER IDENTIFY with him.

3. Tell him that you are in charge: I handle Rotadu gently but firmly. I cannot let him takeover.  Like I said, inmate running the madhouse is always a disaster. I talk to him, “All right here you are in your tear and mucus soaked glory. Now that you have done your drama, go to your room and LET ME HANDLE THIS and then my mature (Capricorn) side takes over. Thank God for that. 
4. Rinse, repeat: So you might want to rinse his face and clean the tears and mucus, once you are done with whatever was bothering him, and then tell him that you are in charge. The more you do this, the more power you would have. Remember, the crying alter ego is a part of you but it is not in charge of you. Rotadu can tell me what bothers him, but he cannot make me eat a full pizza or guzzle down tremendous amounts of beer or cry non-stop, or whatever else foolishness is on his agenda. I am in charge, the wise the mature the powerful side of me is in charge. TAKE BACK THE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE. 

The more you do it, the easier it would become. Also, doing the Moon mantra, keeping the Moon Yantra and praying to Lord Shiva would do well in checking the “Cancer” in your chart. 

 God Bless,

G. Vijay Kumar

honestastrologer.com

ph: 7678228364

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