JUSTICE FOR OTTER 841

& the truth about cancer szn

Hiya! This is Aisha coming to you live on the Cancer new moon, a good time to reflect, take stock, read or listen to this newsletter etc. This post is in collaboration with

soha salem

(we’ll get to their bit later).

We made it! Through Cancer season!! And sorry but we’re wiser for it, whether you’re ready to admit it or not! For those of you who don’t know, Cancer season (roughly June 22 - July 22) is commonly associated with feral emotionality, mental and physical fetal position, moody bitch antics, weaponised tenderness, mommy issues, wide eyes (all the better to manipulate you with), wider moon, grudges, compassion that’s detrimental to everyone involved, resentment, extreme sensitivity, making little snacks in a little apron / “femininity”, tears, rain, river, water, water, water. While I have come to (eventually, reluctantly) love astrology, I find myself barely engaging with horoscopes and other popular zodiac lore anymore because while no-one is particularly lying, this read on cancers is boring!! Don’t you wanna know WHY we’re sad? Why we’re ANGRY? Can we get a yes-fucking-AND!?!

Cancer is the cardinal water sign, meaning it is the boss of water, meaning it is the sea, meaning, obviously, unfortunately, that it is that deep, because Cancers literally invented depth. That’s why you’re scared of us. That’s why each year the season is met with a kind of resounding communal groan, as fire signs who are in some important way emotionally limited reveal themselves with jokes about skipping the season altogether, wanting to get straight to the hedonistic furnace of Leo season. And trust me, I get it, it’s fun there, but there’s no rainbows without rain, gays! And no matter how woke we are, we still love rainbows <3

I know baby, I know. it’s hard to sit with feeling isn’t it. Especially with so much fucking pain around! As a double Cancer (sun & moon), I’ve never really had a choice. Sitting, standing or lying the fuck down, the feelings part isn’t optional. And if you’re alive and feeling in 2023, and you’re honest, and Cancers are really honest, wouldn’t you be disturbed too? Perhaps if I had more agency around it all, I would joke about skipping it altogether too, but for me that might mean skipping life. Or, perhaps by taking my bodymind numbing psych meds daily, I am in fact perpetually skipping Cancer season, thrusting myself desperately into the much more forgiving arms of Leo, the next sign in the zodiac wheel, and the other most prominent sign in my chart, which is overall pretty much a straight water / fire split.

When I was 21 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder but honestly - and not even just in the spirit of abolishing psychiatry - I think the whole thing was actually just a product of my water and fire energies and inclinations battling it out. I wanna say I am something sweet like the rainbow where fire and water meet, or something sexy like a steampot (?), but I think steam’s colder, wetter, more resigned cousin, condensation is probably more apt. Or maybe it depends on the day. The whole water cycle is mine after all.

I do realise I run the risk of doubling down on the defensive crybaby cancer stereotype by saying all this but luckily I’m at the point in my water cycle / life where I don’t really give a fuck. Obviously, I could go on. This really is the tip of the iceberg, which, funnily enough, also belongs to us. But I’ve never actually had any intention of trying to communicate this stuff or convince anyone. Rather than being disheartened by the constantly recycled bad takes on Cancers, and trying to counteract them, I had come to see the vast misunderstanding as kind of special, actually. A very girls that get it get it situation. Like, you either have the range or you don’t, and not everyone needs to be saved (a cancer proverb, often learnt later in life).

But then Cancer season 2023 happened, and I couldn’t help but spill just a little. Hasn’t it been pleasing to be forced to remember where we came from? (the Ocean, babe!) Doesn’t it make just so much sense that the ocean would be the site of so much glorious non-human animal uprising? Whether you’re into astrology or not, consider why the sign that has forever been associated with gentleness, nature, care, intuition, sensitivity and absolute vulnerability is constantly reduced to crybaby status. Isn’t the constant ridicule of such traits in favour of personal gratification, empty aesthetics and power kind of why we’re fucked in the first place?

Cancer is ruled by the moon and symbolised by the crab. Mushy on the inside, hard as hell from the outside, and ready to CHOP when necessary. They ride the waves like champions, but they know when it’s time to go and they’re not scared to either. They literally carry the home on their back. They’re free. Cancers are often criticised for being passive aggressive and I agree, it’s not our best trait. Let’s see how you like us aggressive aggressive :) Why did humans ever think that as we forcibly beckon the water closer and closer and closer to us through climate change, it would work to keep us safe? Cancers have a massive tolerance for bullshit, but when it’s enough, you’ll know about it. Yes, cancer’s are baby, but they are also Mother. So next time you’re tempted to associate Cancers with tears, won’t you instead consider the iridescent salt water piss-not-piss mystery that squirts out of them when they come?

16th century Ottoman empire depiction of cancer from The Book of Felicity