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Cnc
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Cancri
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the Crab
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9
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+20
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506
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31st
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0
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&beta Cnc (Altarf)
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35
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Delta Cancrids
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Leo_Minor" class="copylinks">Leo Minor (corner)
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90
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60
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March
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In
Astronomy and
Astrology , (
Latin for ''
Crab '', symbol ,
Unicode ♋) is one of the twelve
Constellation s of the
Zodiac . Cancer is small and dim, and to many it does not resemble a crab. It lies between
Gemini to the west and
Leo to the east,
Lynx to the north and
Canis Minor and
Hydra to the south.
Cancer is best noted among stargazers as the home of
Praesepe (
M44 ), an
Open Cluster also called the ''Beehive Cluster'' or the ''Gate of Men'', which contains the star ε Cancri. The smaller, denser open cluster
M67 can be found here as well.
The early
Sanskrit name of this constellation was ''Karka'' and ''Karkata'', in
Kannada "Karkataka" or "Kataka" ,the
Tamil ''Karkatan'', and the
Cingalese ''Kathaca''. The later Hindus knew it as ''Kulira'', from ''Κολουρος'' (''Koloyros''), the term originated by
Proclus .
Aratus called it ''Καρκινος'' (''Karkinos''), which
Hipparchos and
Ptolemy followed, the ''Carcinus'' of the ''
Alfonsine Tables '' being Latinized form of the Greek word.
Eratosthenes extended this as ''Καρκινος'', ''Ονοι'', ''και Φατνη'': the Crab, Asses, and Crib.
''Litoreus'', Shore-inhabiting, is from
Manilius and
Ovid . ''Astacus'' and ''Cammarus'' appear with various classic writers. ''Nepa'' is from
Cicero 's ''De Finibus'' and the works of
Columella ,
Plautus , and
Varro - all signifying Crab, Lobster, or Scorpion.
Kircher said that in Coptic Egypt it was ''Κλαρια'', the ''Bestia seu Statio Typhonis'', the Power of Darkness.
Jérôme Lalande identified this with
Anubis , one of the Egyptian divinities commonly associated with
Sirius .
The modern symbol for Cancer is the
Crab , but it has been represented with various types of creatures, usually those live in the water, and always those with an
Exoskeleton .
Peter Jensen claimed this sign had been a
Tortoise in
Babylonia , and it was so figured there and in Egypt
4000 BC ; although in the Egyptian records of about
2000 BC it was described as Scarabaeus, the sacred
Emblem of immortality.
In the
12th Century , an illustrated astronomical manuscript shows it as a
Water Beetle .
Albumasar writes of this sign in the work published in
1489 as a large
Crayfish .
Bartschius and
Stanislaus Lubienitzki , in the
17th Century , described it as a
Lobster .
As the constellation vaguely resembles a crab, it may, together with the
Hydra constellation, form the basis of the myth of the
Lernaean Hydra , one of
The Twelve Labours of
Herakles , with which it is associated.
Cancer is said to have been the place for the
Akkadian Sun of the South, perhaps from its position at the
Winter Solstice in very remote antiquity. But afterwards it was associated with the fourth month ''Duzu'' (June-July in the modern western calendar), and was known as the Northern Gate of Sun.
Showing but few stars, and its
Lucida being less than a 4th-
Magnitude , it was often considered "Dark Sign", quaintly described as black and without eyes.
Dante , alluding to this faintness and position of heavens, wrote in ''
Paradiso '':
''Thereafterward a light among them brightened,
''So that, if Cancer one such crystal had,
''Winter would have a month of one sole day.''
The Western
Astrological Sign Cancer of the
Tropical Zodiac (
June 21 -
July 22 ) differs from the astronomical constellation and the Hindu astrological sign of the
Sidereal Zodiac (
July 21 -
August 9 ).
In some cosmologies, Cancer is associated with the
Classical Element Water , and thus called a Water Sign, forming Watery
Trigon with
Scorpio and
Pisces . It is also one of the four
Cardinal Sign s (along with
Aries ,
Libra , and
Capricorn ).
It is the
Domicile of the
Moon or "House of the Moon", and this concept might originate from an ancient belief that Moon was located here at the creation of the world. Cancer is also the
Exaltation of
Jupiter , and the traditional astrology claims it is the
Triplicity of
Mars , one of the three lesser dignities which the modern astrology does not recognize.
Since Cancer is the opposite sign of
Capricorn , which is the domicile of
Saturn and the exaltation of Mars, Saturn naturally becomes
Detriment in Cancer, and Mars, although has the dignity of triplicity, becomes fall.
Many modern astrologers consider it to be significant that
Pluto was discovered on the
Longitude of 20 degrees Cancer and the first
Atomic Bomb was detonated at the moment when
Saturn reached this longitude. Saturn is said to become particularly malefic in Cancer and
Leo , for they are opposed to Saturn's own domiciles.
Richard Saunders writes in ''Astrological Judgement and Practice of Physick'' (
1677 ) that
Black Plague of
1593 has been caused by transiting Saturn in Cancer, breeding "Flegm, thin Water, and Melancholy mixt".
Each astrological sign is assigned a part of the human body, viewed as the microcosmic counterpart of the heavenly signs. Cancer rules the breasts and belly.
Caesius likened the sign to "the
Breastplate of Righteousness" in
Ephesians VI:14.
Elsbeth and
Reinhold Ebertin extended this concept to that every single degree of 360 degrees of
Zodiac correlates to a specific part of human anatomy. In their ''Anatomische Entsprechungen der Tierkreisgrade'' (''Anatomical Correspondences of the Zodiac Degrees'',
1949 ), the section about Cancer starts with the 1 degree of Cancer correlating to the sixth
Rib , ends with the 30 degree of the sign correlating to the twelfth
Dorsal Vertebra .
In the
1970s there was a proposal to rename the zodiac sign, as some astrologers felt that an imagined association with the disease
Cancer was off-putting. Some people with the sun sign of Cancer refer to themselves as "
Moonchild " instead, the sign being ruled by the Moon in astrology.
In the symbolism of
Alchemy , Cancer is related to the process of
Dissolution , i.e., a process by which a substance is dissolved in a liquid like an
Acid .
Source:
The Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed.,
The Hipparcos Catalogue, ESA SP-1200
- ''Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning'', by Richard Hinckley Allen, Dover. ISBN 0486210790
- ''Dictionary of Symbols'', by Carl G. Liungman, W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393312364
- ''Astrological Judgement & Practice of Physick'', by Richard Saunders, Astrology Classics. ISBN 1538101122
