Solstice and Cancer according to Manilius

Sun in Cancer (Solstice) on Jun 20 at 9:50pm (Lisbon time)

Cancer was considered one of the joints of the heavens. At this peak point (for the Northern Hemisphere) of the annual solar journey, the length of a day is stretched to the maximum and then “bent back”, that is, the night slowly gains terrain in our 24h cycle, little by little. The Sun also slowly lowers from the highest of its reach in the sky towards the earth.

On the other hand, Cancer was once argued to be the beginning of the zodiac circle, the sign occupying the First House/Ascendant of the Thema Mundi (the chart used to study astrology in the Hellenistic period, considered to be the birth chart of the World). It is a water sign, associated with the archetype of fertility and growth. A place where life is breathed into flesh.

But I wonder: why would this sign, so tightly connected to life, be associated with a time of the year where the daylight recedes? I turned to Manilius’s Astronomica for clues and stumbled upon a passage with his description of individuals born under the sign of Cancer. Among other things, he writes:

“Of a grasping spirit and unwilling to give itself in service the Crab distributes many kinds of gain, and skill in making profits; …”

I was surprised at first. This is so far from the nurturing kind of energy we are used to when someone talks about Cancer. It sounded transactional.

But the more I think of it, the more I can see this as a response to what sits in the opposite end of the year: Winter. Although it is the farthest point from Summer, the diminishment of light in a day stirs up the consciousness of what a harsh winter can bring and triggers this prolific, productive side of life as a reflex.

We can argue nowadays that this way of thought is limiting and based on a scarcity mindset. But Cancer takes advantage of the bountifulness of nature when it is there. This is a skill that generates enough to raise ourselves plus other beings. Only by doing so can Life with a capital L prosper in the long run, surviving the literal and metaphorical winters. Only then can nurturing occur.

I also see “making profit” standing for creating more with what one has (the capital). The potential to multiply is fertility. What happens when we plant a seed of a fruit tree and, after some time, reap the fruits from it? We are profiting from nature. From one apple we grow many. And if one apple feed us, many apples can feed many of us. And so nurturing is made possible.

An inspiration I take from this for this upcoming Summer is to first replenish our inner stock by “making profit” of what will feed our body, mind and soul in the long run. We can ask ourselves:

• Who are the people that nurtures us, in the present and in the past?

• What “profits” did they make that supported them to do so?

• What is currently fertile in our lives that we can grow that allows us to nurture others in the future with its fruits?

Happy Solstice everyone and may the Crab show us what to grow and how to nurture!