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Soul evolution is described sequentially by the story of 360 Sabian Symbols.
The Cancer chapter has these 6 expressions: Pragmatism, Growing, Claiming, Maturity, Centring and Uniting |
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Leaving childhood behind, we must go through a major reorientation of loyalties and values (1) and expand our perception of what is and what could be (2). Facing up to challenges pragmatically yet with ardent determination (3), we have to make our self-serving claims upon the world without apology (4) and by fully anticipating the irrefutable consequences of our imperfections (5).
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Potentials are expanded through ruthless self-honesty (6) and stretching the imagination of what is possible (7). Finding guidance, both inner and outer (8), and asking questions of ourselves and of the world (9), we must undergo intense training in self-improvement (10).
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Through diminishing the influence of our role models (11) and expanding into further recognition of high potential (12), we develop the will to make strong our claim towards fulfilling our destiny (13). Such an ardent path inevitably leads to the discovery of universal, eternal truths (14) and the celebration of self (15).
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Only when we embrace all the many parts of our nature (16), and build confidently upon our feelings of having potential (17), will we fulfil a mature role within our community (18) and sanctify appropriately a code of conduct (19) and the celebration of permitted emotional expression (20).
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It is by seeing that success and failure are simply names given to our emotional outpourings (21) that we become able to withstand the poignancy of dreaming's uncertainty (22). By learning the mystery within the hidden language of image and metaphor (23), we can centre ourselves into an harmonious blending of all aspects of outer and inner realities (24). Occasionally, we feel this mystery as a rush of spiritual empowerment that lets us know we are on track (25).
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Whatever power we might possess, whatever responsibilities we may discharge, we soon learn of the impermanence of social position (26) and therefore how to face a crisis philosophically (27). The understanding dawns that we must find a way to reconcile and unite the past and the future (28), to balance our personal experiences against accepted knowledge (29), and to feel and show respect for the tradition out of which, and within which, we were created (30).
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Further Commentary on CancerDECISION - ACTION
The first half of the zodiac teaches about how we emerge out of unconsciousness and put own own unique stamp upon the world. The first 3 signs are about differentiation as we experience desire, which is shaped by potency, made into form, confirmed and then expanded in its reach by discovering new ways to be and showing this to others. A major shift of direction occurs at the summer solstice when yang energies reach their zenith and the power of yin steals the light and, slowly but irresistibly, makes us turn within. The second 3 signs require us to stabilise who we are in order to gain better self-awareness, and begins with decision. PRAGMATISM
Cancer 1 - 5 The development of the American nation illustrates how, in order to find a safe, wholesome place to raise families, it is often necessary to face the dangerous unknown – crossing an ocean or land-mass to do so. Even when metaphorically the oceans and continents are experienced within, such journeys can bring us into strange associations, and require us to adapt to extreme challenges. To open up new territory, whether figurative or actual, involves a degree of recklessness, and this must be more than matched by an ability to control situations; we have to organise resources and events creatively and effectively. Adventures must be attempted with careful forethought and an overview of the bigger picture so that unimportant issues are assimilated, yet potentially destructive problems are avoided. A river’s path is fluid and yet irresistible; obstacles serve to make it grow stronger and clearer of purpose. So too, our personal weaknesses must be overcome so that, by example, we can lead those who would willingly follow. Powers of persuasion need to be brought to a high degree to justify actions that could easily be misunderstood. |
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DECISION - CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS
The decision of greatest consequence - who we are - begins with the recognition that we fit into an integrated whole as part of a huge dynamic process of give and take. To escape the implied limits, of duty and inevitability, requires that we can imagine something that seems almost fanciful but we see that others can be special so we copy them until we learn to trust our own intuition more. Yet if we want to go the whole way we must find and follow a guide. GROWING
Cancer 6 – 10 A home unites a collection of individuals into a group destiny by dealing effectively with concerns about security on physical and emotional levels. There are many aspects to home-building, and to realise each requires very careful attention, using whatever resources are available, and enlisting the potential of all members to help out. Feeling supported and nourished on all levels, secure individuals can rise, since they are potentially made lighter of spirit, refreshed by the opportunity to dream, and the solid support that home gives. This tends to be dramatised as a journey, from a lower to a higher realisation of potential, and can give life a delightful sparkling quality. A playful individuality, and more fulfilling expressions of self, can easily arise out of the wholesomeness born of being freed from the debilitating drag of base-level survival requirements. |
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DECISION - INDIVIDUAL IMPLICATIONS
Having come to acknowledge that we need to decide who and what to be, we monitor our physical urges and emotional responses to our environment before shaping a more considered philosophical approach. By ridding ourselves of inappropriate belief and opinion, we reveal much greater potential and assert the will more strongly in the direction of fulfilling the highest level of attainment. It is by walking the path of Truth that we find realisation of both the inner and outer planes. CLAIMING
Cancer 11 – 15 People tend to settle down together in pairs, in families, as tribes and nations. This fact is not at all startling and is usually associated with advantages to do with combined strength, sanctuary and succour. However, we can also see how this process is entirely necessary to support the greatest degree of differentiation and refinement of the individuality of each member of the community. A person typically tries out variations of possible personal characteristics in order to inhabit their truest or most convenient persona. It’s much safer, and probably more effective, to do this within a homely setting. Influences passed down from mother to child supply much of the psychological material that binds a person to their ancestral heritage, supporting personal optimisation. The need to have some control over our physical environment serves to straighten out any overly-fanciful aspects of behaviour, and underlines the importance of following solid advice from older generations. This guidance consolidates our emotional resourcefulness, and helps to lead towards rich rewards, and the fulfilment of our highest expectations. |
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CONSOLIDATION - ACTION
Our decision about who to be is consolidated into life through a threefold process - doing, feeling and understanding. The first stage of them begins with a concentrated effort to embrace each side of all the many inner ambiguities and polarities and, through that, progress towards greater fulfilment. We need to take full responsibility to finish what we start and integrate ourselves properly within the framework of our particular community, adopting certain of its customs and ways. MATURITY
Cancer 16 – 20 As a family or group settles, it becomes able to access a closer awareness of the hidden, enduring ideals that have somewhat mysteriously drawn together its members. These principles, perhaps once only felt or implied, become an explicit code or plan, and just as seeds unfold to give rise to unique versions of potentialities, so the people within the group, shaped by its collective visions, grow into individual expressions of the general type. This is borne out by survival issues. Growing members must be provided for, and the complex social organism that unfolds to deal with this is a fundament of the code. What we yearn to become is fulfilled through pursuing this code persistently. The more spiritual dimension of the code takes the form of ritual and ceremony. Civilisation promotes conformity to bring all facets of life into alignment. So, across the nation, people sanctify special things in life – birth, marriage and death – with similar formalities, and such rituals have a strong binding force that, very effectively, allows homesteaders to identify with their tribe on a heart level. This has profound psychological and practical consequences since the mind becomes clear when the heart is at ease. Cooperation is taken to a more exalted state when linked to both the earth and the heavens, as indeed it needs to be if settlers are to survive and prosper. Because it speaks to a very deep need, this continues to have importance well after the settling first takes place, in fact indefinitely. |
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CONSOLIDATION - CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS
Whereas 'fame and fortune' is the most worshipped of gods, it is a false god and leads us off the path of joy. Trusting that we can passively but intentionally draw into our lives that which fulfils the soul's purpose, we begin to integrate the various aspects of self into a unified whole, and this creates a resonance at a higher vibration of magnetism and, through the strength of faith alone, causes us to become leaders of our circle of influence. CENTRING
Cancer 21 – 25 Whereas the more outgoing type of individual will lead by calling others to follow, there is another strategy, which we associate with the more responsive type. This leader, having perfected various softer skills and intelligent insights, knows how to wait. A time will come and they will be awakened to respond to an inner feeling that their destiny is to serve the tribe by guiding it through difficult times. A wide knowledge of the ability of others, coupled with the means to inspire and persuade, expands the resources available to the leader. Added to this is an easy intuitive sense of which of the possible options is likelier to produce the better community result. The influence of this type of captain depends upon popularity and empathy – they need to be seen as truly representative of the underlying feelings of the group at large, in keeping with the times and codes of the community. |
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CONSOLIDATION - INDIVIDUAL IMPLICATIONS
The interplay between the individual and their community is conducted as a creative tension, each side pulling and then giving way in turn, co-creating a society that must necessarily both limit and support free individual expression. The power-possessors will use their influence to protect their elite position, and yet forces of Nature and the spirit of humanity's rebelliousness are always going to challenge fixed positions. This process mirrors a similar one within each of us and we find that with age we tend to become less the rebel and more part of the consolidating authority that experience bestows. UNITING
Cancer 26 – 30 There are quiet periods, when the weary will take their well-earned rest, and there are stormy times when emotions run high and life gets very intense. We human beings are strongly influenced by our passions and need to restrain ourselves from over-indulgences of all kinds, especially when personal or communal feelings are at high tide. Never too relaxed, never too tense – or there is real and significant danger that threatens the tribe. The indirect force that moderates these extremes of sentiment shows in various ways. These include fellow feeling and the willingness to see another’s point of view – also a general loyalty to family and tribe, and faithfulness to its binding ideal. Here we go beyond the earth-bound concerns of survival to the highly spiritual alignment that is capable of consolidating a disparate number of people into a unified whole. Eventually, by sharing day-to-day trials and celebrations over the years, we somehow become part of one another – in every sense, whether practical or spiritual. This is the goal of Cancer – to be an integral part of a higher organism, to belong legitimately to something held together by a level of rapport so deep that it is prayerful. |
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Sabian Life JourneyOur life experiences may be expressed as a journey from Aries 1 to Pisces 30. It is easier to arrive at the understanding of those experiences by a process of reflection, looking backwards rather than forward though the zodiac cycle. We can use the previous degree to answer the question - how? - rather than the following one to answer - why?
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CANCER 30 "Respect for tradition"
How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 29 "Balancing our personal experiences against accepted knowledge" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 28 "Reconciliation of past and future" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 27 "Facing crisis philosophically" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 26 "Power, responsibility and impermanence of social position" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 25 "Feeling the occasional rush of spiritual empowerment" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 24 "Harmonious blending of all aspects of self" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 23 "Learning the hidden language of image and metaphor" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 22 "Withstanding the poignancy of dreaming's uncertainty" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 21 "Seeing that success and failure are simply emotional outpourings" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 20 "Celebration of permitted emotional expression" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 19 "Sanctifying a code of conduct" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 18 "Fulfilling a mature role within our community" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 17 "Building upon potential" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 16 "Embracing all parts of our nature" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 15 "Celebration of self" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 14 "Discovery of universal, eternal truths" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 13 "Making a claim towards fulfilling our destiny" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 12 "Recognition of destiny" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 11 "Diminishing the influence of our role models" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 10 "Undergoing intense training in self-improvement" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 9 "Asking questions" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 8 "Finding a guide" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 7 "Expanding our imagination of what is possible" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 6 "Potentials expanded through ruthless self-honesty" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 5 "Anticipation of the irrefutable consequences of our imperfections" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 4 "Making our selfish claim without apology" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 3 "Facing up to challenges with ardent determination" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 2 "Expanding our perception of what is and what could be" How can I do that? we ask - and the response comes from CANCER 1 "Major reorientation of loyalties and values" |
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