How Cancerians (Sign of the Crab) Make Enemies: Clinging, Sentimental, Unhappy, Unforgiving

Watching the funeral of Princess Diana, British detective novelist P.D. James wrote, "I wonder if those sad, masacara-laden eyes will droop in reproach over the house of Windsor forever." Any sad makeup-laden eyes you meet with probably belong to a Cancerian (male or female). Children or grownups who cling to their mothers' skirts are also probably Cancerians or have a Cancer moon. Usually homebodies, Cancerians value family and marriage and try to keep the family perfect and intact, but when it's not, they can make a second career or hobby of martyrdom, moping, addiction or crime. Their unhappiness is always someone else's fault. They seek pity. Princess Diana (July 1) is a perfect example of a Cancerian. All she wanted was a happy home (and to marry a king. And have lots of money.). They are very devoted and sensitive. This can be a good trait depending on what they are sensitive about and devoted to. They never forget and never forgive.

Cancerian "Alice"' (July 15), a widow, had a niche cut into a wall in her lovely home and made her late husband a shrine with a spotlight on his portrait and cries for him every day. She phones her adult daughters daily and they don't dare say they're busy or Mom goes to pieces. She keeps up their childhood bedrooms in case they want to move back home. Alice's holiday gatherings are really for family only and the talk is all about family. Neighbors, old friends, or relatives by marriage, although invited, are greeted and then ignored. A career homemaker, a loving parent and great cook, a bit too sensitive to drive a car well or to travel far, she doesn't circulate outside her family or church except to shop at the finest stores.

Very fit and attractive with a 1960s hairdo and contouring makeup, Alice could date just about anyone and remarry, but chooses as her escort and bedmate her ex-son-in-law, her grandchild's father, an abuser who for years has been anxious for re-admission into the family. When her children object to him, Alice cries, "Who else do I have?" Her bachelor son is her handyman and she keeps him tied to her apron strings by harping on imperfections in his girlfriends. Mostly she finds them insufficiently religious. He's in his second decade of saving to buy the house next to Mom's should it ever go up for sale.

To lunch with Alice is to gaze into her sad beautiful eyes while she tells about her wonderful husband of 47 years, and his death. She is a shape-shifter: from June Cleaver ubermom with high heels and pearl earrings, to a lonely waif you can almost forgive for sleeping with her daughter's ex. She piles into your lap her sentimental scrapbooks and photo albums. Her house and property show that hubby was prosperous. Her materialism is hardly a secret as her house is filled to its ceiling beams with collections, collectibles, and clothes. If she sounds like someone you know, that's because, with her Sun in Cancer, she's the epitome of the generation born with Pluto in Cancer (1914 to 1939). She inspired the saying "When Mama's not happy, nobody's happy."

Cancerian "Patty" (July 20), was a bashful, clinging middle child who eyed her siblings' plates on the dinner table, checking whether her mother had served them bigger portions, showing them favor. If she thought so, she cried and screamed "You don't love me!" and fled and hid. A sullen and secretive teen, she moved to the far edge of the continent, cutting off all communications with her siblings except for Christmas cards, and has not contacted her mother at all for 30 years.

Patty has moved coast to coast, saying she must live near the ocean and have a view of water. Intelligent and shrewd, she built her own successful business and married another Cancerian. After serving gourmet food from their awesome kitchen she will tell endlessly how rivals plotted to cheat her, trick her, or undermine her business because they are jealous or because she is female. It seems that even slight acquaintances spend their days plotting against her in the most devious and subtle ways. Her hatred for her mother is undiminished, she won't let go of it, and every cozy conversation devolves into a rant about Mom. She doesn't need any friends; she has her husband and pets. She has no children and loathes children in general. When others show photos of kids and grandkids, she punishes them by showing photos of her pets and describing them in aggressively lengthy and lacerating detail.

Both Alice and Patty are family-centered, devoted and sensitive. But negative Cancerians are also tearjerkers, grudge-masters, string-pullers, money-mad, spendthrifts, complainers, martyrs, paranoid, grasping, sentimental, self-serving beyond belief, gullible, punishing, and far more sensitive about themselves than about anyone else. A good example of a fine Cancerian artist is Frieda Kahlo (July 6) whose subject was herself and her suffering. Others get stuck on motherhood, Mom or fertility. Cancerians like the dark and many are tempted to float their troubles away on alcohol or drugs. The women can be great beauties (Lena Horne, June 20) and age well. The men age badly and even young ones tend to have a rumpled, shadowy, dampish, day-old look, or a gut. They can be drifters or eccentrics and they like money more than working for it.

Negative Cancerian Avatars: John Dillinger (June 22), Gary Busey (June 29), Lindsay Lohan (July 2), O.J. Simpson (July 9), Lizzie Borden (July 19).

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, reviews psychic and horoscope sites and apps and writes about occult and spiritual matters. Copyright 2012 by Sylvia Sky.

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