The Cancer Woman by Linda Goodman (excerpted from “Sun Signs”)00:15 May 18 2006
Times Read: 1,183
…Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Cheryl moves under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
There is no doubt about it. In the beginning, you’ll have trouble deciding if your Cancerian girl is a gentle moon maiden or a wild loony-bird. In the end, you still won’t know.
During the rainy season, she’ll drown you in her sorrows. When the sun peeks through the clouds again, she’ll double you up with laughter, and touch you with tenderness. Experiencing her moods is like watching one of those old-time silent movies where hysterical slapstick humor comes on just before the Perils of Pauline thriller, and the entire show is backed by the tinny piano in the pit. Sometimes the tune is lively and gay; then it gets melancholy and blue. The music is variable to suit the occasion, never stagnant or monotonous. So it is with the Cancer girl. She is just a little mad, slightly sad and superbly imaginative. She also knows how to save the shekels.
Naturally, you can’t look under her mattress until after you have married her. Modesty is a thing with her. But you can safely bet she has an old sock there, stuffed with green bills and silver coins (true). She may have an extravagant ascendant or Moon sign, but even so, she’ll have a quarter or two stuck under the potted azalea, or salted away in the folds of that lace tablecloth she got for her birthday ten years ago. Open on of her books of poetry, and a wrinkled dollar bill may fall out, blinking at the light of day. A Cancer female can go on a sudden spending spree when she’s been hurt and needs balm for her injured ego, but most of the time her outgo will lag considerably behind her income (also true). Your saving account may be of interest to her, and money may be a topic of conversation (not so much with me). She won’t look down on you if you don’t have it, so long as you are the kind of man who tries to get it. She’ll help you make it and save it, but you are own your own when it comes to wasting it. Don’t go too far or she see you’ll mutual security slipping away. When you give this girl a terribly expensive gift and she says, “You shouldn’t have done it,” let me tell you she means it.
To take her mind of insurance, mortgages, rent, bills and her bank balance, bundle her off to the seashore at midnight for a walk in the moonlight. That’s when she’ll be at her best. The Moon will pull out all her secret dreams, and the nearness of the water may loosen her four hundred and three inhibitions.
You’re liable to see her whole range of emotions in the space of an hour. Then you can choose the one you like best and encourage her to cultivate it. A strange transformation will take place when you get the typical Cancerian girl alone on a beach under a full Moon. That cool and reserved lady you see in the daytime, or even the outrageous flirt, will suddenly become a creature from another world when the magnetic rays of the Moon shine in her eyes and the compelling sound of the surf fills her ears. She’ll turn into a sea nymph, who can soar with you as far as your imagination can reach. It will work most times and the time it didn’t you probably picked a new Moon. That won’t accomplish the same purpose. She’ll be shy and sweet when the Moon is waning but you really want is a Moon that’s full enough to arouse all her latent talents. Under its spell, at the right time of her personal ebb and flow of her emotions, she can write a poem, compose a song or tear the veil off mysteries the philosophers have pondered for centuries. Naturally, she makes an interesting conversationalist at these times. To say the very least.
As with other Sun signs, few women are perfect. The Aires girl is always running around hailing her own taxis and butting her head against brick walls, the Sag girl is shockingly outspoken, the Scorpio girl can frighten you, Gemini can be fickle, Leo too proud and so on. Cancer women ordinarily have none of these faults.
Nevertheless, there are some “don’ts” to remember with her. She hates to be criticized, she is deeply wounded by ridicule, and she just can’t stand being rejected. One, two, three. They’re basics. Seldom openly aggressive, the typical Cancerian hesitates. You’ll have to make the first move. Is she moves anywhere at all, it will be backwards or sideways. With her basically shy nature and fear that she won’t be accepted, she echoes the male of the Sun sign.
The fears of your lunar lovely can really hang you up, along with her. She is afraid she isn’t pretty enough, she isn’t smart enough, young enough, old enough…etc. It makes no difference if she has a figure like Venus de Milo, a face like Helen of Troy and a mind like Aristotle: she’ll still feel inadequate. Assure her as much as you can that she is young, lovely and sexy – about three times a day should begin to make a dent. Her moods change on the average of four times a month, with each quarter Moon plus minor fluctuations twice a day – reflecting the tides. She is sort of predictable in an unpredictable kind of way. It may make her fascinating and mysterious, but so doggone aggravating you feel like whacking her. During one of her blue spells, she may even think she’s not a good cook, which is utterly ridiculous, because the typical Cancer woman can make a French chef look like a mess sergeant. This woman isn’t a fast food fan. She would rather shell her own peas and bake her own biscuits. Her casseroles are always sensational, her potatoes are fluffy, her vegetables crisp and crunchy and she tops it all off with a heavenly strawberry jam. She’ll fuss over you like a mother hen at times and you’ll probably love it – most men do.
In addition to the obviously unjustified fear about her culinary skill, she may be afraid you don’t love her enough. That should be easy for any red-blooded male to remedy. Go ahead and prove it – as often as you like. She’ll be beautifully receptive. Once you’ve turned on the green light, she’ll happily recognize the signal, which may remove her feelings of inadequacy, but which may create another situation. Truthfully, after you have won the Cancer female, she may be just a little bit tenacious – like she’ll never let go of you as long as she lives. That’s not bad. There are men who starve for such loyalty. You’ll never starve for food or affection when you have been lucky enough to win her kind of love. That loony laugh that accompanies it can be kind of kicks, too. Her rich humor is even warmer and dearer when you think of all the sarcastic sirens with their cynical wit and hypocritical laughter.
It is brutally unfair to toy with the heart of this girl, because she will love, honor, obey and nag you a little with sincere devotion. Why encourage such rare love unless you mean to reciprocate with equal ardor? Remember her tenacity. You may be only flirting lightly, but you’ll have a hard time calling the end of the inning. She won’t hear the whistle. There is nothing superficial or shallow about the sentiments of a Cancer woman. When she owns a man or a teacup, it’s forever hers…
She may not overwhelm you with her vivacity and sparking flattery, but she won’t fail to impress you with her charm. July women prefer to save their deepest thoughts and emotions for those people closest to them (true). After you have dated other girls and compared them to her, you may go running right back to your female crab and beg her to hang on again, tightly.
The trickiest aspect in handling her is to keep her from crawling into the always handy, tough Cancerian shell. Her feelings are so sensitive and tender; the slightest unintentional remark can wound her harshly. It’s hard to know when she’ll become suddenly vulnerable to hidden meanings. Cancer women can be quite touchy…they cry a lot (maybe not as much as when I was younger). Always have a fresh handkerchief ready.
Females born under the sign of the crab aren’t necessarily stingy, but they have this little habit of saving things. This girl isn’t the type to take kindly to someone who burns a hole in the heirloom quilt Great Aunt Matilda made. Everything has sentimental value as she treasures the things she owns and guards them jealously. That, of course, includes you. She is not so much jealous as possessive. There is a shade of difference.
Women born under the fire signs may strain and protest under life’s delays and disappointments, but the Cancer girl usually feels nothing can be changed or overcome by getting all stirred up. When things don’t go her way, she may shed a few quiet tears alone, but her normal reaction will be to fold her hands and wait patiently for things to right themselves. Patience is one of her loveliest virtues (I think I may have missed this one – my Venus and Mars are in Gemini though…). When she is depressed, however, you’ll have to find a way to take her out of herself. She has a deep-seated need to be babied at times and needs desperately to know that you can’t live without her. She just wants to be assured that she means a lot to you. It’s very little for her to ask, when she gives so much in return. But don’t be fooled by her weakness during these episodes. That helpless little baby who seeks your big strong arms to keep out the cold, cruel world is perfectly able to manage by herself, if she must. Of course, you can’t rule out the times when her depression is real, instead of a bid for sympathy. Those times you better wrap her in your arms and hold her tenderly.
There is no end to the heroic sacrifices a Cancer woman will make on behalf of those she loves. The bravery she can’t seem to muster for herself and her own fears is there shining when someone close to her needs her to be strong. It is guaranteed that she’ll never let you down when things get really dismal, and then she will remind you more of a giant, rugged rock than a fragile, silvery moonbeam. Her children will also find her a tower of strength. She’ll help them to find their way with sensitive understanding. They will cling to her, and the warmth of her love will make their home as rich, bright and comfortable as a palace, even if it’s a shack. I once knew a Cancer mother who used to meet her small son every day after school. He would always come bursting through the door like a jet-propelled rocket, and immediately run around the schoolyard a few times before he came near her. Once, when her sister accompanied her, the aunt started to go after him, but the Cancer mother stopped her. “No let him be,” she said quietly. “He’s just working off steam. He’ll be back when he’s through running.” Finally her son walked over to her, took her hand and said, “Let’s go home, Mom. I’m hungry.”
That sums up the whole attitude of the lunar female towards all forms of love, and most of all toward her lover. It her strange brand of possessiveness that’s unshakable, but never aggressive. She knows, in her secret heart, that no matter how far away you go to follow your dream, you’ll always come back again and she will be there waiting. Her eyes will still be beautiful with the Moon magic you remember, the kitchen will smell deliciously of warm spices, and she’ll ask you how things went, how you feel. If things went badly and you feel miserable, she’ll tell you a joke to get you to laugh. Then she’ll fill your stomach, and after you have relaxed, she will gently soothe away your worries with her sensible advice and her rich humor. Later in the firelight, you’ll look at her serene face and ask yourself all over again, “Is she really a loveable loony bird or a beautiful Moon Maiden from some far away misty forest?” But the answer won’t seem very important.
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