Each sign of the Zodiac is represented by and animal. Each culture has filled them with meanings, magic, rituals and symbols. When we get this information we enter into the sign’s psyche that rules the period and we understand our own mind better. Let’s remember that our mind is a compendium of behaviors, thoughts, emotions, archetypes, etc. represented by the 12 signs of the Zodiac. This month I invite you to swim with those of the hard shell.
Cancer has been associated universally with the animals of hard shell like lobsters, beetles and turtles and all of them have in common the emblem of immortality.
The Crab is one of the most complex symbols within human history, meaning physical force, the resurrection of the soul and ruler of the moon. One says that the sky was like an empty prairie when, very slowly, a huge crab placed the lunar disc in it. One says that this crab kept its food for its young in the moon far from the predators. From this moment the crab would be the emissary of the moon. The eternal Mother can be luminous and loving and also dark and devastating.
The symbol of the crab has been compared many times to an ovary and also with a fertilized ovum. The clamps of the crab were related to breasts, supporting the idea of protection and nurturing that this sign has. The symbol of the feminine energy.
In Feng Shui the crab is associated with success and improvement, if you want to scale positions within your company, place a figure of a crab on your desk.
Beetles are another symbol referred to Cancer. The Egyptians used it to replace the heart of their dead in the embalming process, this way the spirit would have the opportunity to reincarnate on the other side of the bridge of death. Beetles, like crabs, were able to pass the tunnels of darkness. For the Egyptians, the beetles symbolized that divine part of the human nature.
For Buddhist, both animals represented the dream of death, the period between the different reincarnations. For Incas, crabs represented the threatening aspects of the Great Mother, the declining moon.