Cancer, Water, Owls &; Crabs… ChatterLog July 2013

Cancer, Water, Owls & Crabs… ChatterLog July 2013

Greetings everyone – and welcome to the July ChatterBulletin and the Watery sign of Cancer! Speaking of Water – consider how much rain we have had recently, and when I say rain, I mean rain, as in torrential, tropical rain. And now that we have moved into the season of summer the only Water most people are concerned with is either in the ocean or the local swimming pool! And yes, I am happy to report that my local pool has already opened and I am enjoying swimming outdoors again! Interestingly, I recently received an email promo from Steve Bloom Images, and the theme for their July newsletter was simply “Water, Water, Everywhere” and I wondered if they even realized that they were directly referencing Astrology by choosing Water as the theme for this month?

So the month of July is Cancer, and Cancer is the first of the three Water signs, and in Astrology, Water is connected with your Emotions. So naturally the sign of Cancer is an emotional character, and everything depends simply on how they “feel.” During this month I often feel emotional, I can feel my mother, who was a Cancer, and I miss her. And boy, do I wish my mum could have been here to witness Andy Murray win Wimbledon this year! And with my own family roots in Scotland, I feel doubly proud! I have been basking for the last two weeks in some incredible tennis, where many of the top seeds went out early, and some unexpected players were given an opportunity to go further than they ever had before. Such was the case of French woman Marion Bartoli who won the women’s finals against German Sabine Lisicki – great tennis and no “screaming!” Hooray! And then on 7/7 of the year 2013, after 77 years of waiting, the British public was finally rewarded as Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic in 3 straight sets! Yeah!

Remember last month I mentioned how many famous tennis players were Gemini’s, and there’s a few that trickled over into the sign of Cancer as well including: Arthur Ashe, Pam Shriver & Virginia Wade. And since we’re talking about athletes and Water… FYI – Olympic all-time record-winning medalist swimmer Michael Phelps is a Cancer! No big surprise there… And good thing Kate Middleton managed to not give birth to the “Royal Heir” on the same day that Andy Murraywon Wimbledon, otherwise the country would have been very confused as to which to Historic event to focus their celebrations on, so at least she had the good grace to wait a few more days…

Now something else that is connected with the sign of Cancer, and one of my favorite birds, are Owls. I grew up in the English countryside, so we were quite familiar with them, along with many other birds and wild life. I remember one day when my sister and I were quite young, we were driving home in the car with our mother and we saw what we believed was a Snowy Owl (which were quite rare, especially in broad daylight) sitting right there on a fence post! Many years later, we had several encounters with Owls late at night, in particular after someone had died… So Owls always held a special place in our lives and hearts. My Great Aunt Bell was a Cancer, and she had a thing about Owls… one of the last things I gave her was a little book on Owls, and I now have it in my collection. My Mum was also a Cancer and she loved Owls too. I still have some of the little Owls that she either gave me or which came from her house, plus there is an entire section of my bookcase that is covered with images and cards of yes, you guessed it – Owls. I guess it’s a “family” thing now too – which makes sense, since Cancer is all about “family!”

Notice also the round face of an Owl, and then notice the round face of someone whose Sun or Rising Sign is in the sign of Cancer. They often wear glasses too – Water is hard to see through, is it not? So these creatures and these people have these round faces and round eyes… In Mythology, for the Modern West at least, the Owl is associated with Wisdom, and we certainly felt that our Great Aunt Bell was indeed the “wise” matriarch of the family. Everyone went to her with their problems – why? Because Cancers have the ability to listen to your troubles, which is why they also make good therapists. Everyone often ended up on my mother’s doorstep as well, because she too had a listening ear, and a love for hearing everyone’s story… in fact, she rather enjoyed it!

As with all signs, there are always two sides to the story, so not everyone associates Owls with only Wisdom. In Greek Mythology, the Goddess Athena (or Athene), also known as Pallas Athena/Athene, was the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare (!), as well as Divine Intelligence, Architecture and Crafts! In Roman Mythology she was called Minerva and in Astrology, Pallas Athena is one of what we call the Asteroids – she was Jupiter’s daughter, intelligent, “just” and a true survivor (like those born under the sign of Cancer!)

In some areas of Africa it is believed that Owls were Messengers (or Harbingers) of Death, or Bad Omens, and in the Americas, some of the Native Indian cultures surrounded Owls with taboo, associating them with Symbols of Sorcery and Evil. For the farmer and/or gardener, Owls are a natural form of pest control, since they like to hunt for insects and small rodents. Remember, Owls are part of the Strigiformes family, which simply put are nocturnal Birds of Prey! Owls are characterized by their flat faces, hawk-like beaks, and large binocular-vision eyes, which are “fixed” in their sockets, so in order to look to the side, they have to turn their entire head. Interesting to think about the word “side” since it is Cancer, the Crab, who has a tendency to move sideways…

One last thought – and one which relates to how the energies work, if we let them: As I was writing this article, my friend called me on the phone and I stopped to speak with him briefly before continuing on. As he was talking, I was looking at some of the items on my desk in front of me, and I noticed a coin, in a dish, with none other than a Crab on it – I kid you not! Upon further investigation, I discovered that this was in fact a 2006 One Penny coin from Guernsey, where my Auntie lives, and from where Camilla Crab came from! And just to prove it – here it is!

And as usual, Happy Birthday to all you Cancer’s out there!