The power of the will in shaping character is the key note of the oracle at 13° Cancer, A Hand With A Prominent Thumb Is Held Out For Study. This is ruled by Libra in a twelve-fold sequence and, if you’re read our book Sextrology, you’ll know that the Libra Man chapter is entitled The Character, pointing to that sign’s focus on the development of personality shaped by principle, asserting the notion that we are whom we become.

We think of Leo people as being the most wilfull, indeed the sign’s motto is “I will” and it’s planetary ruler, the Sun, rules the will (just as the Moon rules the want) among other things. But, and perhaps this is why, men of these signs especially clash: Libra has just a strong a will as Leo only it is focussed on the mental, ideological plain, such that Libra people come to embody their principles, which can smack a Leo as phony or pretentious. But we are in the sign of Cancer, I know, you needn’t remind me.

What I love about meditating and musing on the Sabian Symbols divining/assigning governance over each of them in turn by the twelve signs of the zodiac in sequence, is how we see the complexity of any given sign in the influence other sign’s have over it. Perhaps Cancerians born on this day are rather Libra like compared to their fellow Moonchildren. Maybe they embody more character or are indeed more willfull and self-determined. Food for thought.

It is interesting to note that “the thumb” in palmistry is the will. And we can only truly express our character by means of a determinant will. If, when reading an individual’s chart we see this particular point in ones astrological wheel being effected we might understand that a strong will is necessary in regard to the situation. We know that our will is expressed by either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Dane Rudhyar says that the original symbol suggested that the thumbe was “slightly flexed” which would indicate some versatility in regard to will. I do think character is more apt to be developed through ones own flexibility, being more the willow then the oak. Rigidity can be a character defect. And I think there is far more room for spiritual development if we put our will in service of our destiny in so far as that relates to living life on life’s terms.

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