As an astrologer I always had a hard time with the idea that Cancer was ruled by the Moon and Leo by the Sun since neither of those 2 celestial bodies seem intuitively right to me, besides the fact that neither are planets.With the discovery of Haumea and Make-Make I found my answer (for now).
I believe Haumea is the true ruler of Cancer. She is a Great Goddess figure who gave birth to all other Gods and Goddesses and provided endless nutrients for her children. Cancer is not only the sign that rules motherhood, but also the breast and stomach, both connected with food and physical nurturing. There is also another name for her that connects her to the sea which again makes sense as their appears to be a connection between the sign of Cancer and emotion (especially unconscious emotion) which is symbolized by the sea or the ocean. Here’s a very simplified version of her story: http://storiesforchildren.tripod.com/id297.html
Very little is known about Make-Make, but His name alone says a lot. Leo rules the 5th house of creativity and fertility (children), love affairs and gambling. Well, Make-Make is a fertility God and one can not be more literal when speaking about the nature of creativity, it is to Make things of course.
I wanted to put these two rulerships out there for consideration and research by astrologers. It’s always been my intuition that every sign has a planet as its ruler, one in the sky, in our solar system. I’m sure as we move forward in our study of the heavens we will find other cosmic influences which will provide deeper understanding.
All planets seem to have at least one Moon and most many more than just one. And the Sun is so different in all respects that it doesn’t make sense that it would rule over one particular sign. In fact I feel that the Sun has no natal rulership, meaning it is not stronger in any particular sign, it is just colored through a different lens and nothing more.
If one were to see Leo (the traditional sign associated with the Sun) as sign the Sun rules over than one would have to put its opposite (Sun in Aquarius) in its fall, meaning that the Sun would be weak at that point. In a sense this is true, the Sun is in Aquarius in the dead of winter if one lives in the Northern Hemisphere but of course the opposite is true if one lives in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Sun actually falls in the middle of summer there when it travels through Aquarius. I find this problematic and always have – it implies one set of rules for the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth and another for the Southern which doesn’t seem true.
I can see how the idea evolved – we didn’t know the difference between a planet and a star when astrology came into being, and the system was invented in the Northern Hemisphere where the Sun was far off and cold during late January and into mid-February. If the ancients had lived in Australia they would have reversed this. It’s also interesting to note that the Chinese system seems to (in a weird sort of way) mirror our Western system. I’ll give some examples to explain myself here.
The Chinese system breaks down astrology into 12 signs which correlate to the 12 Western sidereal signs and months, let me explain. I’ll start with where the contemporary Chinese lunar calendar usually starts now (due to trying to correlate it to our western solar calendar) in late January or early February with what works out to be the start of the Tiger month, and sidereal sign of Aquarius the Water-bearer. Now during this period the Earth is in the sign of Leo and during the summer when our western sidereal sign would be Leo the Chinese call that the month of the Monkey – this is the only sign in the Chinese system that comes close to what we in the west call, a human sign. And of all the western human signs (Gemini, Sagittarius – half-human, Libra – a scale) Aquarius is the most human, ruling over humanity itself and the milk of human kindness, ingenuity, science and technology.
Ironically, this switcheroo happens often, it’s as if the Chinese is incorporating an earth-centric astrology. Let me explain quickly that when the Sun is in a sign, the earth is in its opposite sign. So when the Sun is in Aquarius, the earth itself is traveling through the sign of Leo which is why it is said that the shadow side of someone’s Sun side is in its opposite sign, making people of opposing Sun signs both attracted to one another and able to drive each other nuts like nobodies business.
I’ll go through the list of Chinese and Western astrology to illustrate my point better. After Aquarius-Tiger comes Pisces-Rabbit month and opposite of Pisces Rabbit is Virgo-Rooster. Aries-Dragon has its opposite in Libra-Pig. Taurus-Snake has its opposite in Scorpio-Dog – to me this one was another obvious switch as it is said in western astrology there are 3 levels of Scorpio, the scorpion, the snake and the eagle – meaning depending on how evolved the Scorpio is, he/she can either be Charlie Manson or ascend to the heights of Gandhi, most however are probably snakes neither transcendent nor poisonous. Then we have Gemini-Horse opposite Sagittarius-Rat (again Sag is half horse) and finally Cancer-Sheep opposite Capricorn-Ox.
If one reads the descriptions the Chinese have given to each of the signs it becomes obvious that they have found a way to merge elements of the sun and earth in their interpretation of their signs unlike our culture which is entirely heliocentric. Their understanding of the signs is more yin-yang balanced taking into consideration the influence of both the Sun’s energy traveling through the zodiac and the Earth’s direct influence traveling through the opposite sign.
Just some astrological thoughts to share.
Best wishes,
Denise
Astrology and Psychic Predictions 