Sun Sign Secrets (10 page)

Shyness can be Cancer's obstacle to finding love. Even when Cancerians think someone they like may feel the same way, it can be difficult for them to summon the courage to speak up. They are not the sort to casually meet someone and trust that the connection has the potential to go further. Nor are they the type for going out every night. They are real homebodies, and will rarely make the first move. Love may just have to come knock on their door or they may meet a romantic interest through family or close friends. Once Cancerians have found a love interest, they will put that person first. They enjoy looking after the one they love and will “mother” them in some way. It's difficult for Cancerians to understand that a lover could consider this sort of treatment smothering. To them, it is simply love.

Finding That Special Someone

In the search for a love interest, comfort is a key factor. Cancerians are rarely happy barhopping or participating in the online dating scene. Rather, they are more likely to find themselves drawn to someone they meet at work, church, or a party given by a friend. Sometimes they find that the person of their dreams has been under their nose all the time—a friend or an associate.

First Dates

An ideal first date for Cancer is likely to involve a home-cooked meal or other domestic trappings. While this type of date may seem too emotionally intimate for some, Cancerians know how to make the experience nonthreatening. Other favorable venues include a stroll on the beach, a trip to an amusement park, or an evening spent in an intimate jazz or comedy club. Cancerians are more interested in the company than the accoutrements—another expression of their down-to-earth attitude and spirit.

Cancer in Love

When Cancerians are with a partner, they should feel at home and have no need to be anywhere else.

They should spend time making their home into the kind of nest where a great relationship can be nurtured and grow strong. When they do set out on the road with a lover, they should visit a place from their past, or go to a hotel that feels like a home away from home. Cancerians are sentimental and enjoy showering their lover with attention. They show affection freely, but may restrict kissing and cuddling to private time.

Undying Love

At the first sign of ridicule or criticism, Cancerians will retreat, deeply hurt. Any problems Cancerians have in their love life are probably the result of childhood experiences. Cancer and his partner might come from completely different upbringings or one or both may have had serious traumas as children. If a Cancer is unable to forgive—especially his mother—he should consider professional counseling. If a Cancer is unable to forgive, his romantic relationships will be perpetually sabotaged by unresolved emotional problems.

Expectations in Love

Issues of mothering and nurturing are important in any Cancer's life. They may be looking for someone to take care of them or may be repelled by anyone who needs to be taken care of in some way. It may be hard to find a partner who shares a Cancer's views on children and child rearing. They are traditionalists, and if their own upbringing was happy, they will use it as their model.

Cancerians need to know that they are with someone who loves them and upon whom they can depend. This is paramount; they need to be supported, nurtured, and loved unconditionally. Although they are strong and capable people, they sometimes feel extremely vulnerable, and need to nurture their partner in order to make themselves feel safe and strong. They should be on the lookout for someone who embodies the same loving, gentle qualities. If that kind of relationship is not attractive to a Cancer, she may equate intensity, uncertainty, and even danger with passion and love, due to a difficult, dysfunctional upbringing.

What Cancerians Look For

Cancerians need a partner who appreciates their hard work, their nurturing personality, and their involvement with family. Totally devoted once they commit to a love affair, they expect the same kind of loyalty in return. Cancerians need to be needed. Cancerians like to have others—whether they be children, best friends, or family members—around them. A couple may even work closely together, and when they do, the others involved in the business can become like family to them.

If Cancerians Only Knew...

If Cancerians only knew how strong and dependable they appear to others, they wouldn't worry about letting someone close to them, especially a love interest, get a peek at their vulnerabilities. For the most part, other people perceive only the powerful will and self-discipline of Cancer. Yet Cancerians often feel weak simply because they are so sensitive. This is odd, since it is precisely that sensitivity that gives them the ability to reach out to other people in ways that are so special and so spiritually pure.

Marriage

The past is very important to Cancerians. Their family history is especially so, either as a source of pride or because of a painful experience that continues to affect them as if it just happened. Either way, Cancerians want to relate what is going on in the present to something they have known in the past. By doing this, or by simply sticking with the familiar, they are able to feel secure.

The person who contemplates marrying a typical Cancer must realize that that person will want to be the dominant partner and will expect total devotion. That said, the person who pairs up with a Cancer can expect consideration, prosperity, and a strong sense of being part of a family. The contented Cancerian will never let a partner down, stressing a sense of belonging as well as love.

Cancer's Opposite Sign

Capricorn, the Goat, is the opposite sign of Cancer. It is a hard and flinty sign possessing many of the strengths that Cancer isn't likely to have. But it is through those very differences that Capricorn can teach Cancer to be strong and emotionally self-sufficient. Capricorn, in turn, can learn from Cancer the ways to be sensitive and caring, as well as how to accept the emotional nurturing that Capricorn is likely to require.

Pairing Up

In general, if people display the characteristics typical of their sign, intimate relationships between a Cancer and another individual can be described as follows:

If Things Don't Work Out

In modern psychology emphasis has been placed on getting in touch with childhood experiences. Only recently has equal emphasis been placed on taking responsibility for who you are now. Cancer needs to learn from the past but live in the present.

Cancerians' relationships reflect their emotional intelligence. How Cancer and his partner express their emotions will determine how well things are going. If a relationship breaks up, Cancer will shoulder most of the blame.

Cancer at Work

Cancerians need to feel that they are doing more than just a job; they want to feel more like they have found a home. They like work that reminds them of the work done by their family in the past. A sense of continuity is very important to them. Family and those who care deeply about them can help their job and career in some way. Cancerians may also work out of their home.

Cancers must feel emotionally comfortable and secure in the workplace. This means having lots of family photos and some special mementos displayed, lots of snacks and water handy, and bins and boxes to organize clutter.

A woman, matters related to women and children, mothering, mother figures, and possibly the Cancer's own mother can affect her career in an important way. If relations with women and a Cancer's mother are good, the career will benefit. If not, there can be emotional troubles that appear at work, so a Cancer should be aware of and try to heal the issues in that relationship.

Cancerians must also be on good terms with coworkers to feel secure and get their career moving properly. People who are considered “family” at work and how Cancerians have been getting along with them are very important to their professional life. If those relationships have been difficult, a Cancer must take action to make things better. Until things have been straightened out, the Cancer's career will feel blocked.

Typical Occupations

Occupations that Cancerians are well suited for address the basic needs of families, from spirituality to housework. They make excellent chefs and caterers and also housekeepers. Many find their calling in real estate.

All jobs with children or that involve nurturing people would be beneficial to them. Thus, they may succeed in anything from social work to nursing. And working with animals and gardens will be favored by them. Cancerians' nurturing capabilities also apply to fostering new business projects that are struggling to survive. Excellent organizers with a sense of value and economics, they are often successful in industry.

Those born under the sign of the Crab have an intuitive sense that makes them good counselors and journalists. The sign's love of the past makes some Cancerians great history buffs, and others astute collectors of antiques and curios. True to their native element, some of the people born under this Water sign become involved in marine activities.

Behavior and Abilities at Work

In the workplace, a typical Cancer:

• is loyal and efficient
  
• excels as either a leader or a team member
  
• gets along well with others in the workplace
  
• may be resistant to new ideas
  
• has the company's interests at heart
  

Cancer As Employer

A typical Cancer boss:

• drives a hard bargain but is fair
  
• treats employees like family
  
• expects employees to dress nicely
  
• takes work seriously
  
• does not like silliness
  
• focuses on making money
  
• possesses an excellent memory
  
• likes to reward loyalty
  

Cancer As Employee

A typical Cancer employee:

• likes to be given responsibility
  
• has goals of increasing income
  
• expects to be rewarded for hard work
  
• is good at sales and marketing
  
• will have a calm and considerate personality
  
• uses intuition more than logic
  
• enjoys being part of a “family”
  

Cancer As Coworker

Making others feel like they are part of the group is crucial for Cancerians. However, Cancerians may sometimes pull back from having close ties in the workplace. They may fear sharing the intimate details of their own personal life with others. Since they feel vulnerable to criticism or judgment, Cancerians are less likely than other signs to gossip.

Details, Details

Cancers thrive on details as long as these small, daily elements of work, and life for that matter, support a bigger, more comprehensive plan of action. They are not overly logical, and yet they have an instinct for statistics, dates, and budgetary items. Thanks to their natural talent for organization, Cancers rarely get bogged down in details. They are much more likely to see them as the underpinnings of an important and profitable enterprise.

In the workplace, Cancers do not feel as though they are “above” handling the small details that make up a big project. Dogged and determined, they will slog away at the difficult elements of a project, never worrying about whether or not they will end up getting credit for the final results. This has nothing to do with a lack of ego on their part. They know that they have the ability to work as a team member better than many of their coworkers.

Money

Whether a Cancer lives in a cave or a castle, making it beautiful, comfortable, and safe would be money well spent. Collecting original art would feed a Cancer's soul, something that is necessary to achieve true wealth and success.

Cancer's financial resources are likely to come from or be connected to organizations related to the home, products for the home, the past, or family values. If a Cancer wants to enter any lotteries, he would do better to enter with close friends and family. Numbers important to family members would be the most likely to be lucky. A Cancer should try to profit from the advice of family and people from the past and from long-term investments. Real estate, especially a property a Cancer or his family intends to live on, is a good bet. Any improvements that a Cancer makes to where he lives will be good investments, too.