North Node in Cancer or the Fourth House

The NN in Cancer is leaving the cruel world and coming home to warmth, security, and protection. The memory of fear, coldness, and brutality makes the discovery of refuge all that much more remarkable in a world they thought lacked emotional comfort. While others are learning how to survive and defend themselves against great odds, NN Cancers are ready to withdraw knowing they've contributed their share. Home is real. The primordial mother and father are waiting to enfold them, keeping them safe indefinitely.

Sanctuary. NN Cancers have been exposed to the elements and learned the ways of the world to completion and now can find shelter at home free of the gnawing anxiety that they haven't accomplished enough, released from the need to prove themselves in endless hostile and unfamiliar environments to brittle unforgiving authority figures. Even if they forge brilliant careers, it's from a different base of operations. Once they find the home within, they carry it with them into the outer realms, changing the environments and dynamics they were accustomed to. The appreciation of home is profound because of the accurate knowledge of just how cruel the workplace can be. Illusions are gone, the private inner dimension now holds the promise.

Protection and security. While some fear invasion of privacy and find it difficult to relax into walled inner domains, the NN Cancers can fully avail themselves of this fortress without threat of destruction. It's theirs for the taking assuming they don't invite the cruelty home. The key is waiting to be turned securely in the lock, protecting them while their feelings get free rein.

Intimacy and vulnerability. As they unwind from the hard, stiff, tense defensive mode they were in for so long, these nodal natives derive great pleasure from allowing their feelings to be revealed without hesitation, as the barriers that separate them dissolve and the natural merging with experience gets full expression. The perfect suit of armor can be sent to the thrift store in exchange for pajamas, aged socks, and the soft couch full of plump pillows waiting to embrace their weary bodies.

Immaturity, irresponsibility, and nonsense. Cancer NNs are allowed be children once again. Far more than they ever were in actual childhood. They are ready to do things for the pure fun of it, being as silly as they want to be, proving nothing to anyone, and even maybe having someone else help clean up their creative messes. Well, maybe not in the kitchen while they're learning how to cook. But the disorder of Cancer, some would say the exceptional sloppiness, is theirs to enjoy to the fullest. The premier goof-offs of the zodiac.

Inner nourishment. With so much time spent in denial of feelings, and stoic acceptance of hardship, following strict behavioral rules, pleasing authorities, and forgoing personal fulfillment, the time has arrived to completely immerse themselves in the joys of inner satisfaction, doing things solely for personal gratification without fear of consequences. The strictures of time they once were constantly aware of have disappeared as endless hours appear before them to fill with whatever whims pop up, whatever fancies tickle their imaginations.

Family connection, ancestry, and roots. Having built upper structures so well in the past, the Cancer NNs are going back to the foundations, finding support within the family or a tribal type community, with people always there to lean on and be trusted. The real sense of participating with others, knowing one another, and feeling familiarity is a newborn enthusiasm. Occasionally they find a sense of place, a new nostalgia, treasuring some of the memories of their childhood homes in retrospect. The continuity of the family line sometimes takes on new significance, even to the point of favoring family traditions and keeping them alive. Pride in their heritage replaces achievement in strangers' eyes as they discover how little they have to prove to the world. Where they came from is just as good.

Emotional expression, softness, and sensitivity. The tremendous gift of human understanding belongs to the NN in Cancer. The closeness of shared experience is finally blossoming as these natives find the freedom to be their natural and honest selves. Sadness, so common to Cancers, now replaces the stiff upper lip that never shows how it truly feels. Weakness is revealed as equal to the show of strength, touch is a newfound sensation and wants to be given and taken without fear of obligation and professional distance lost. Cold and calculated unconcern about human frailty can be abandoned. They are free to fall apart with joy.

Imagination. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the Cancer NNs is their go ahead to live in a fantasy world, shedding tears easily over beautiful poetry, believing in fairy princesses, reading science fiction day and night, living with unreal expectations, and making the real expand into worlds they never thought existed. No one to accuse them of being dreamers as if it were a misdemeanor of great proportion. They are full fledged dreamers now and proud of it. The development of artistic talents often is a byproduct. The songs and rhythms of life are their special properties.

Nurturing growth. Remembering well how people controlled people and diminished them with humiliation, making them conform to rigid laws, the Cancer NNs are willing to encourage others and nourish their growth. There are no more supportive people to be found in the universe. They've proven themselves already, and now can help others achieve their goals. The long way up is their area of expertise and they are prepared to guide their intimates to fulfillment, finding their own fulfillment in the process. Mentors, wise counselors, instructors in the ways of the world, teachers of patience, timing, respect, and dignity, they lead others to maturity, while the joyous children in them are free to frolic, love life for its own sake, safe in the moment, and at home with themselves.
House: Don Wood. Family: Diane Palmisciano. Crystal Ball: Ed Young