Scribd
Upload
184 views4 pages

The Cancer Symbol: Its Origin and Meaning in Astrology

The symbol for the Zodiac sign of Cancer originated in Babylonian astrology, where the sign was associated with a similar marine species called a crayfish. While depictions of Cancer have varied over time, generally featuring a crab or crayfish, the small constellation of stars it represents suggests more of a crayfish shape. The modern glyph used to represent Cancer is a simplified drawing of a crab's rounded shape and claws that has been used for many centuries.

Uploaded by

Pankaj Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
184 views4 pages

The Cancer Symbol: Its Origin and Meaning in Astrology

The symbol for the Zodiac sign of Cancer originated in Babylonian astrology, where the sign was associated with a similar marine species called a crayfish. While depictions of Cancer have varied over time, generally featuring a crab or crayfish, the small constellation of stars it represents suggests more of a crayfish shape. The modern glyph used to represent Cancer is a simplified drawing of a crab's rounded shape and claws that has been used for many centuries.

Uploaded by

Pankaj Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

The Cancer Symbol

Its Origin and Meaning in Astrology


The above image is the established symbol (also called glyph) for the Zodiac sign Cancer, the
Crab. Its a simplified drawing of the crabs rounded shape and two big claws. Both the
Zodiac sign and its symbol have been along for ages.

The Zodiac division of the ecliptic into twelve parts, each assigned a Zodiac sign, is probably
of Babylonian (Mesopotamia) origin. They were very early with astrology, mapping the sky
and noting planetary movements thousands of years ago.

The Zodiac, very much like the one we know today, might have emerged in Mesopotamia
around 1000 BC. But Babylonian astrology is probably far older than that.

Crayfish or Crab
The Babylonians connected this Zodiac sign to a similar marine species. They called the sign
The Crayfish. But already in Classical Greece, the Crab was established as the name of the
sign and the constellation.

Still, through the centuries, this crab has been pictured in many different ways, more than a
few of them looking more like a crayfish. On the other hand, antique images of animals were
often far from photographically exact or even aiming to be.

The small constellation of Cancer is not much like a crab. A crayfish with its long body and
extended claws is more near at hand. Through history, this has also been a common image,
but there have been crabs as well. Several of the Zodiac constellations are equally vague or
even more so. Heres the constellation Cancer:
As you can see, the formation of the stars suggest if anything more of a crayfish than a
crab.

Below is an antique illustration of the same constellation, where the figure of the crayfish has
been added. Its from a 17th century book: Firmamentum sobiescianum, by Johannes
Hevelius, 1690.

Cancer in Ink
Below is an ink version of the symbol for Cancer, which I did a number of years back in an
experiment of using Japanese ink calligraphy (shodo) for old European astrology symbols.
Ive used these pictures on my astrology websites, mainly for fun and for the odd graphic
effect, and Ive seen them copied all over the Internet. Im fine with that, although I think it
wouldnt hurt if the source was mentioned. Well, what to do?
Anyway, heres that ink again, this time in the original black and white (click on the image to
see a bigger version):

Cancer the Sign


As for the picture commonly used to represent the Cancer Zodiac sign, its been an image of
a crayfish or a crab for as long as that has been its name probably longer than the symbol
described above has existed. Below is one typical example, where the stars of the
constellation Cancer have also been marked. Its an illustration from Poeticon astronomicon,
a 1482 book by Hyginus.

For the header of this website, I combined the symbol for Cancer with an image of an actual
crab, which shows the great similarity between the symbol and the actual animal.
The background is a doll house, as a symbol of the typical Cancer care for the home and the
family. This is a famous Dutch antique doll house made by Petronella Oortman (1656-1716).
Heres the whole doll house:

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy