Cancer (zodiac)
The zodiac sign Cancer ( Greek καρκίνος Karkínos , Latin Cancer ) corresponds to the fourth section of the zodiac from 90 ° to 120 ° ecliptical longitude from the vernal equinox .
The sun is in this sign on average between June 22nd and July 23rd . Due to the migration of the spring equinox , the zodiac sign Cancer no longer corresponds to the constellation Cancer . In the constellation of Cancer, the sun is roughly between July 20th and August 11th.
After the Tetrabiblos by Claudius Ptolemy
- is cancer female (I.12),
- the moon is ruler of the sign, (I.17) and
- Jupiter is exalted in Cancer (I.19).
As a Melothesian counterpart, cancer in ancient iatroastrology was assigned as human body parts to the breast with the ribs and, from the internal organs, the spleen and lungs . The assigned deity was Mercurius .
With Scorpio and Pisces , Cancer forms the trine of the element water , and with Libra , Capricorn and Aries the square of the four tropical or cardinal signs .
The sign was already part of the Babylonian zodiac. It appears on the MUL.APIN boards as “crayfish” (AL.LUL and NAN.GAR).
The sign has been represented as a crab or cancer since ancient times. The origin of the astrological symbol is unclear. It is believed that the two parts are the crab claws, which are placed in different directions.
The Unicode character for the symbol is U + 264B (♋).
literature
- Wolfgang Huebner: Zodiac. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01470-3 , Sp. 553-563.
