Cancer is a Water Sign which causes people to be sensitive and want to share their feelings with others. It's also a feminine sign associated (ruled) with by the Moon. It stands for the female ability in a person. Your emotions are strong-minded by the phases of the Moon. Emotional steadiness will never be one of your strengths, which can drive people around you crazy. A rewarding home life gives you security, this is why you have all the necessary qualities to create it. Sensitivity is one of your strengths, but also one of your weaknesses, whereby you are predominantly hurt when you're laughed at. You prefer to hide your soft centre under a thick shell. You're afraid to confess your susceptibility. You should learn to accept your mistakes and weaknesses and open yourself up to others. This will allow you to live up to your potential. You are capable of giving love and warmth, so much so that it is a shame not to put these qualities to use. You need others and should overcome your fear of negative response. You have a good imagination but you often aren't ambitious enough to put your talents to use. Overcome your inhibitions about telling people what you really think, sometimes it takes a long time for you to express yourself openly and directly. Try to assert yourself with resolute and clear effort. This will be good for your self-confidence.

Your ruling planet
The ruling planet of your personal chart is the one that rules your Rising Sign. However, if Cancer is your Sun Sign, its ruler, the Moon, will also play an imperative role in your psychology.

Queen of the Night, the Moon is an age-old image of the Great Mother Goddess, ruling instinct, nature and emotion. Feminine, maternal, imaginative and sensitive, it links us to our past and to the ever-changing rhythms of the earth and tides. Its position at birth colours both your instincts and your perception.

The Moon then represents the intuitive, natural side of your character. The way that you relate to others, your natural emotions and usual responses, as well as your relationship to your mother and your family, are all ruled by the feminine, unreceptive and sensitive Moon. The values, general orientation, and 'atmosphere' of the sign it occupies in your chart, as well as any links between the Moon and other planets, expose a lot about your childhood home and childhood, your roots and your past. It is related with nurturing and security.

The crab, which lives on the shores of the ocean, is ruled by the Moon which governs its tides. Like the Moon, the crab belongs to the Great Goddess, who resented the great hero, Hercules' bid for freedom from her thrall. In his battle with the many-headed Hydra, all the animals were on his side, except the crab, which snapped and clung onto his ankles. In ancient times, the stars of Cancer were also known as 'the Gate of Man' - the doorway through which the souls of men came down from heaven to be born into this world of variation ruled by the Moon. Cancer lies between Gemini and Leo on the zodiac chart.

The flowers of the pale Moon, which governs Cancer, are lilies and white roses, daisies, wallflowers and poppies. The Moon also rules all white, evening-scented flowers, such as jasmine, stephanotis and tuberose, as well as the peony. The Moon's tree is the willow and all plants connected to fresh water, or which enclose a lot of moisture, such as the cucumber, are ruled by it.

Your essential oils are jasmine, rose and tuberose, which soothe Cancer's sensitive emotions, putting you in agreement with yourself and with others.

Cancer, the crab which lives on the shore of the ocean, is in touch with the great depths of the unconscious mind, for which the ocean is a representation. Like Cancer, the oceans are governed by the drifting Moon, which makes the moonstone Cancer's birthstone. In India, the moonstone is the lovers' gift, average excellence, as it is believed to stimulate the loving passions and to be a stone of great good luck. The moonstone strengthens perception puts its wearer in touch with their own hidden world of dreams and personal emotions. The pearl, the 'queen gem', belongs to Cancer as well as to Pisces. Cancer's metal is silver.