Linda Goodman is renowned best selling astrologer who has written books on Astrology and in depth knowledge of Signs, which has redefined the way of Astrology.
This post is based on Linda Goodman’s Book “A NEW APPROACH TO THE HUMAN HEART LINDA GOODMAN’S LOVE SIGNS” for the Love Compatibility of Cancer and Libra.
CANCER
Water – Cardinal – Negative
Ruled by the Moon
Symbol: The Crab
Night Forces – Feminine
LIBRA
Air – Cardinal – Positive
Ruled by Venus
Symbol: The Scales
Day Forces – Masculine
I don’t know whether any of the children were crying; if so,
the singing drowned out the sound….
Cancer and Libra form the squared 4-10 Sun Sign Pattern, through the elements of Water and Air, and like all 4-10 vibrations, theirs is the most interesting and challenging association of all. It’s also the most difficult kind to bring into harmony, but that’s exactly what makes it so interesting and challenging, because of the great rewards waiting to grace these two when they achieve a soul-stirring victory over their undeniable differences, which are, to be honest, numerous.
The relationship of Libra and the Crab is what life is all about, because it forces them to learn the hard way how to compromise. Mastering that lesson guarantees a much higher level of happiness than can ever be attained by choosing an easier path. For these two Sun Signs to win the battle to understand one another is a worthy goal. Now and then, it’s bound to be a bit jaggy and troublesome, to be sure, but Time smooths off the rough edges, if there’s sincere effort on both sides, and ultimately, there’s the sweet satisfaction of knowing you’ve succeeded in conquering your own and another’s very human natures, and in the process, have come a little closer to the angels. I don’t guarantee wings or anything, but maybe a couple of halos (which are only two auras, glowing in the beautiful colors of compatibility).
A halo (or aura) is not something these two will see over each other’s heads right away. They’re more likely to see imaginary horns and a couple of pitchforks. That’s because they aren’t trying. They’re giving in to human nature, and this particular karmic trip is all about trying to imitate the angels, remember? The first lesson Cancer and Libra must learn is the one so earnestly taught by Francesco Giovanni de Bernardone, of Assisi (known as Saint Francis, but not through his humble choice). They’ll simply have to stop trying so desperately to be understood, and start trying a little harder to understand. Both of them. It’s the only key which will unlock that mysterious barred door between them, behind which lies Pax et Bonum (Peace and Good).
As explained in detail in “The Twelve Mysteries of Love” section in the front of this book, Cancerians are experiencing the adolescence of the soul. They sense so much they can’t seem to express; their dreams haunt them with a disturbing precognition of the maturing process of both approaching happiness and approaching sorrows, as well as vivid recollections of yesterday. They feel all this, but they can’t talk about it, so naturally they’re moody, and can’t help weeping in nameless dread and depression when the Moon periodically tugs on their emotions, as helpless as the ocean’s tides to control the magnetic Lunar pull. Sometimes the Crabs are silent and reflective, at other times they cover their concerns with a crazy and marvelously contagious Lunar humor that frequently fools them right out of their fears, and certainly cheers up everyone lucky enough to be around them when they’re feeling funny.
When a Moon Child and a Libran are thrown together, for a while it can be a melodious scene. Librans adore laughter, and the Lunar humor of Cancer becomes a rhythmical lyric to the mellow music of Libra’s Venus essence, smooth and restful at times, yet also containing a few crashing chords and sour notes, punctuated by a kind of rocky roll. It’s pure entertainment, and happy and fortunate indeed are the innocent bystanders around the home or office brightened by the musical duets of this combo when they’re getting along. (The innocent bystanders should enjoy it while it lasts.) I say home or office because Destiny frequently places the 4-10 combinations in a life situation related closely to the home and the career. They seem to harmonize more easily around the family circle as relatives, as business associates, or in a classroom, than as friends, lovers, or mates. (But regarding the latter, don’t forget that challenge, and its golden rewards.)
Actually, the Crab and the Libran have more basic empathy to aid them in overcoming their difficulties than some of the other 4-10 Patterns because, although their personalities often clash, their ruling planets – the Moon and Venus, respectively – are sympathetic. Since the Sun rules the personality and the Moon rules the emotions, these two can reach one another more easily through the emotions than through the more obvious and outward ways. The problem is that it’s never a simple thing to break through a Crab shell to the Moon person’s true emotional nature. It’s well protected from hurt, and needs much careful coaxing.
Libra is tolerant, and stands a good chance of touching the Lunar person’s emotions with a gentle attitude .. and waiting. But unfortunately, the fact that Libra is essentially gentle and tolerant may not be quite enough. For the Moonruled man or woman (or child) can be sensitive beyond belief. Despite the innate Libran kindness, Libra, being an Air Sign, is often too intent upon logic, too little aware of the Crab’s or anyone else’s sensitivity. Librans make excellent lawyers and wise judges, but with few exceptions, as fair as they may be, they make poor psychologists. Libra isn’t concerned with the meaning-behindthe-meaning, only with the fascinating game of human action and reaction, on the surface level. That sort of attitude will never get beneath Cancer’s crusty shell. Libra will have to practice more in-depth compassion with Cancer, if this man or woman wants to understand what makes the Crab symbolically crawl in such a sideways fashion, instead of being direct and getting to the point.
One of the chief differences between their natures is that Libra is “otherpeople” oriented and Cancer is “self-oriented.” If it sounds as though astrology is saying that Cancer is more selfish than Libra, it should sound that way, because that’s precisely what it means. The average Libran is demonstrably more concerned about the problems of friends, of a particular business or of the world at large, than about his or her own personal problems, which seem to roll off Libra’s back with a shrug of the shoulders and the logical deduction that things can go nowhere from Down except Up. These men and women are outgoing extroverts, whereas the Moon people are more introverted – and protective of Number One. True, many Cancerians are gentle, imaginative, and sensitive folk, often very loving and affectionate; nonetheless, their most intense concentration is upon themselves.
Since concentration upon the self is an unhealthy emotional attitude which never fails to eventually bring on some degree of poor health, the Crabs are ill more frequently than they need be. Libra illnesses are more often seeded in permissive living, an indulgent life style, the tendency to gregariousness, their love of parties, overeating and overdrinking and overworking. All of which causes the Crab to fuss and worry, and inform Libra that he or she is burning the candle at both ends. (How else could Libra burn a candle, and still be fair to the candle?)
Money is another area where these two usually see in opposite directions. Librans are not unduly wasteful or extravagant, but money isn’t the Big Thing to them it is to Cancer. To the Crabs, financial security and emotional security are of equal and vital importance. Possessing only one of these, and lacking the other, they can be pretty cranky and miserable. Possessing neither causes them to be so snappy and impossible even their mothers couldn’t love them, and for Cancer, that’s a rare and painful experience. But when Cancer possesses both kinds of security, the Moon person is magically transfigured into one of the most docile, dear, and tender human beings anyone could possibly ask for, including Libra, who sometimes asks a great deal of people, expecting everyone’s character and personality pluses and minuses to come out exactly even, and not a micrometer off center.
Despite Cancer’s apparent poor health and lack of physical strength, these people are, in the final analysis, much tougher in the art of surviving mentally, physically, and emotionally than Libra. After the deck is shuffled, Libra is the one more likely to give in to mental pressure and suffer a nervous breakdown, be broken hearted over emotional disappointments, or succumb to serious illness when the Scales are out of balance. When Cancer is ill, it may last a long time, true, but only because the Crab hangs on so tenaciously to everything, and sadly, seldom separates the positive from the negative. The Crab reaches out almost blindly, grabs hold, and hangs in there for dear life. Sometimes it takes Libra’s gentle reminder to bring a Moon person to his or her senses, to the realization that what is being clung to so fiercely is best released. Letting go is not easy for Cancer, and Libra will have some frustrating experiences trying to pry the Crab’s claws loose from bad habits, wrong ideas, and groundless fears.
This kind of tug-of-war is invisibly wearing on the delicate balance of Libra’s nervous system over a long period, and can bring on a kind of exhaustion of the spirit, which can, in turn, lead to lethargy and deep wells of unhappiness, not to mention considerably dampening Libra’s normal cheerful, affectionate, and optimistic nature. In Nature, as with people, an overabundance of water can make air soggy, foggy, and clammy, just as the right amount of water can make air moist, fresh, and exhilarating.
Libra is wasting time trying to keep a secret from Cancer. The Crabs will use every sly maneuver imaginable to pry out of a person what they wish to know. Cancer asks: “What does so-and-so think of me, honestly?” Libra replies, “I don’t think I should take sides.” Cancer says, “That’s not fair of you, haven’t I supplied information you needed badly, lots of times?” Libra hesitates, then sighs, gives in, and tells the Crab what he or she wants to know, being careful to list all the good things said, along with the bad. After Cancer hears the sought-for answer, the Crab may snap, “I thought so. I’ll never speak to that person again,” then leave the room in a huff; also leaving Libra nearly in tears over being forced into the position of agitator, when every fiber of Libra’s being is designed in the pattern of peacemaker. Crabs are ultra-ultra-ultrasensitive to the slightest criticism, and very tricky in ferreting out the whole truth, then either weeping in hurt or snapping in anger over only half the truth – and you know how an emphasis on only half of something drives Libra wild.
The best way for Libra and Cancer to make mellow music together is for each of them to concentrate almost constantly on the very real virtues of the other, even though those traits may be markedly different in each. Libra must remember that the imaginative dreams of Cancer, blended with Cancer’s incredible tenacity, are what allowed Moon Maiden Helen Keller to triumph so gloriously over the affliction of being struck deaf and blind at the age of nineteen months. She graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College, learned to knit, crochet, and use a typewriter, to swim, row a boat, and ride a bicycle. Traveling around the world, she gave inspirational talks (when she had so briefly ever heard the sound of a human voice) and wrote numerous books and articles to uplift the faith of others. Likewise, the sensitivity, insight, and perseverance of Cancer allowed Crab Nikola Tesla to use his remarkable memory and inventive genius to conceive of electronic miracles years ahead of his time, to be the first to implement the practical use of AC (or alternating electrical current), to patent 140 inventions of great practical value to Earthlings, one of which made possible the conception of radio broadcasting and receiving circuits used today – and to hang on to his Lunar dreams and visions, despite ridicule, lack of interest, and being cheated out of his rewards for his life’s work until after his death. Every Moon Child is made of the stuff of which Helen Keller and Nikola Tesla were made.
Conversely, Cancer might reflect upon what life would be like today had it not been for Libra’s desire for justice and need for creative expression – had the world not been blessed with the adaptability and peacemaking talents of Librans such as Dwight Eisenhower, George Westinghouse, and Giuseppe Verdi. Without their Venus abilities to create music for the soul, to be just compromisers who yet never compromised moral values, we might still be involved in World War II, our railroads would not be safe, and the Crab couldn’t listen to the soaring sounds of Aida to calm his or her spirit. It was Mahatma Gandhi, the Libran peacemaker, who blended the teachings of Hinduism with the Nazarene’s “Sermon on the Mount” – in perfect harmony.
Once Cancer and Libra have learned to genuinely appreciate one another, great magic can result. An excellent example of this is the statement of Cancerian Crab Tesla, regarding Libran George Westinghouse: “If other industrial firms had been as fair and liberal, and as just as George, I could have offered the world so much more.”
Cancer and Libra should meditate upon those twenty-four words for a long,
long time. They contain a mighty message. For both of them. Equally.
