Lesson: Nurturing and Protecting - The Heart of Cancer Zodiac

Now that we are deep into Cancer season there's strong lesson about nurturing and protecting that comes to mind. Join the conversation and find out about the deep heart of Cancer the sign and how it plays out in all our lives

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Transcript

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As a shout out to our deepening movement into the sign of cancer and having been post the new moon and with Mercury still retrograding cancer, it came to my mind the other day that we should have a conversation about nurturing and what that really is and why it exists and why cancer is representative of that. So, you know, we comfort children, we water gardens, we feed our pets, we check in on our friends. It feels so deeply human to care for something that's beyond ourselves. And in astrology, cancer is not simply the sign of nurturing, it's the sign that reminds us why nurturing exists in the first place. As the fourth sign of the zodiac, we start with Aries, which brings life, Taurus, which gives a lot of stability, Gemini that teaches us to think and communicate. And then cancer brings us to a new place, which is how do I protect life? How do I keep life sacred and safe from vulnerability, from vulnerable state, right? Seeds, children, ideas, relationships, dreams. Nothing in the world really arrives fully developed. And Cancer understands that potential alone is not enough because potential has to be protected until it becomes strong enough to stand on its own. And that's the core principle of the Cancerian energy. We think that nurturing could be about affection, and it does include affection, but its much deeper purpose is that growth requires continuity. And right, you don't water a plant one time, you don't encourage your child once. Um, you don't get married and then just love your spouse one time. A spiritual practice is not done just once. Growth happens because we keep showing up, or someone else does if you're being nurtured by them. That's cancer. It's emotionally driven, but cancer understands that love is not measured by intensity, right? It's measured by consistency, by a mom cooking a dinner every night by helping children to, you know, the metaphor of using children here is really appropriate because when they're very little, we have to feed them all the time, we have to diaper them, we have to burp them, we have to take care of them. But that consistency, right? Every meal that we prepare, every bedtime story that we tell, every quiet active support, they're not interruptions. They are the very process by which the actual living thing, life develops into its own fullness. I think the challenge for nurturing is that it isn't the same as protecting people from life. Healthy nurturing helps people and things become stronger. Unhealthy nurturing can create dependency. Cancer's highest expression is certainly not keeping others dependent, it's helping them to become secure enough so that they no longer need to be protected like they once did. That's real love. Today is a good day to ask ourselves what in my life is asking to be nurtured. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's our health, maybe it's our creativity, maybe it's simply our own heart, or maybe it's just a need for a rest. Because this strong cancer energy that's around, it's teaching us that the greatest acts of love are not dramatic. That's been our theme now for the month. They're the quiet, faithful, repetitious choices that create the conditions for our life to grow and flourish and blossom. I'm Craig Martin. This is Sage of Stars, and I'll talk to you real soon.