cancer zodiac sign cancer spirit animal — Illustration by John D Batten for *Indian Fairy Tales* edited by Joseph Jacobs, 1892

Did you know that the turtle was associated with the zodiac sign of Cancer in Ancient Egypt and Babylon? Upon reflection it is easy to see why. Like the crab, the turtle resides inside of his own home, and he navigates the shoreline, the middle-way of an ever-changing edge between water and earth.

The person with a strong Cancer has this quality of navigating the ever changing liminal spaces in the world between land and water. The shore is a metaphor and Cancer encompasses deep intuition and feeling regarding when to stay away from the proverbial water when the tides are too high. This feeds into Cancer’s association with the Moon, its ruling planet, and the Moon’s influence on the ebbing and flowing tides.

It makes sense why turtle would be associated with Cancer, the sign of the universe’s birth in the medieval thema mundi, representing motherhood and the womb. In many traditions, the world itself is represented as a turtle.

In Lenape Indian folklore, a creation story of The Great Turtle describes a great flood that only those floating atop an old turtle shell were able to survive. In this myth, all of life on Earth was rescued by a humble muskrat who thought quickly enough to shovel land on top of the turtle shell, out of which the whole world re-grew.

In many Native American traditions, the back of a turtle represents the lunar calendar, the thirteen segments of its shell standing for the thirteen moons. Many tribes teach this, including the Oneida Nation and the Ojibwe. This is perhaps the strongest collective unconscious link between the turtle and the Moon-ruled sign of Cancer.

Regardless of disparities between time and space, many cultures around the world feel similar connections between the turtle and the Moon. In The Rulership Book by Rex Bills—a reference tome for astrologers—turtles are listed as Moon creatures.

In many areas of Asia, as well as in some indigenous cultures of the Americas, the turtle’s significance is cosmic. It is called The World Turtle, the Cosmic Turtle, or the World-bearing Turtle. This is a mytheme in which a giant turtle (or tortoise) supports or contains the whole world.

The tortoise represents the universe in China and Tibet. Its rounded top represents heaven, and the square underneath signifies earth. The underside of the dome of the shell displays the astrological elements. The World Turtle in Vedic mythology is known as Akūpāra.

hindu earth turtle cancer zodiac sign cancer spirit animal — Hindu symbolical representation of the earth in Popular Science Monthly Magazine, conducted by Edward Livingston Youmans c. 1700s-1800s

Cancer and the Moon are long-associated with divination. The turtle fits in thematically here too. A longstanding tradition of turtle-shell divination existed during the Zhou dynasty of Ancient China. One divinatory method was to apply a piping hot brand to a turtle shell, causing it to crack. Oracles interpreted the symbols of the cracks.

In Ancient Babylon, turtles symbolized the season of winter, perhaps representing a retreat into one’s home for warmth and comfort. In Ancient Egypt, the constellation of Cancer was called the Stars of the Water and symbolized by two turtles. According to The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need:

Many astrologers think that Cancer the Crab is a melding of the Egyptian turtles and a Babylonian water creature called Allul, which was apparently a kind of tortoise. All three water creatures—turtles, tortoises, and crabs—are similar in important ways. They resemble each other in form, and all are hard-shelled and move slowly (like the Sun’s movement on entering Cancer.)