EVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTS: by Gina Lake
Excerpt from: Symbols of the Soul: Discovering Your Karma Through Astrology (2000)
WATER SIGNS: Water evolves next. Water signs pertain to developing the emotions, particularly those involved in loving others. Each water sign serves a special purpose in the evolution of water’s qualities. Cancer develops our ability to nurture and care for others. Scorpio develops our ability to share and be intimate with a partners, and Pisces develops our compassion and love for the broader family of humankind.
Dependency begets love. This is no less true in an evolutionary sense. In our earliest incarnations, love is learned within our first dependent relationships. Through our experiences of being loved and cared for, our ability to love grows. This is the purpose of our earliest Cancer lifetimes. Our ability to love is developed further by Scorpio lifetimes, which explore intimacy and love between equals. Through Scorpio lifetimes, we learn to share equally and lovingly with a partner. The love learned in these lifetimes become a model for the nonpersonal love of our Piscean lifetimes, which come later. In this way, personal love and its lessons lay the foundation for unconditional love and altruistic service.
CANCER
Teaches Us: to develop emotions, dependency, love, nurture and loving care for others, emotional side, intuition, compassion
Baby Cycle: several Cancer lifetimes are invariably chosen in the Baby cycle, but only after several Capricorn lifetimes (which are needed to develop ego strength before the dependency of a Cancer lifetime); otherwise, dependency may just foster more dependency (receiving support) rather than independence; Cancer lifetimes involve us in the emotional side of life, which earlier Capricorn lifetimes neglected, because of their focus on self-preservation and self-development
Young Cycle: Cancer lifetimes play an important role in the Baby and Young cycles in teaching us to love
Mature Cycle: we no longer choose Cancer to experience dependency, but to exercise caring for others; the compassion developed by being cared for is expressed through compassionate and loving care of others, mostly family members; emergence of the deeper, sensitive, intuitive side of Cancer by the Mature cycle
Old Cycle: deeper compassion, care of others may be extended to those outside of the family circle
SCORPIO
Teaches Us: to share, cooperate and be intimate with others, intuition, introspection, understanding human nature, power struggles, jealousy, self-awareness
Baby Cycle: rarely chosen during the Baby cycle for two reasons: Cancer lifetimes of dependency must precede Scorpio lifetimes, and Scorpio’s deep, introspective nature does not suit the Baby cycle
Young Cycle: most highlighted in Young cycle when learning to trust, share, cooperate, be intimate; experiences with intimacy develops our understanding of human nature; Young cycle power struggles and jealousies teach us to love
Mature Cycle: favorite sign of Mature souls because this cycle is a time of psychological exploration and self-awareness; capable of giving to others in intimate relationships in ways not possible before; can form satisfying love relationships; emergence of the deeper, sensitive, intuitive side of Scorpio
Old Cycle: chosen to expand the search for understanding, psychological exploration, self-awareness, and metaphysical questions; favored in the Old cycle for building on the love and understanding begun in the Mature cycle; because love and understanding are the goals of life, Scorpio furthers our spiritual development and completes the purpose for our incarnations
PISCES
Teaches Us: compassion, service, nonpersonal love, universal love, unconditional love for humankind, altruistic service, spiritual growth, inner growth, emotional growth, seek philosophy, metaphysical questions
Baby Cycle: less frequently chosen in our earliest lifetimes than the other water signs; baby souls need to be practical, and Pisces does not contribute to practicality
Young Cycle: chosen to develop compassion and love through dependency, as in Cancer lifetimes
Mature Cycle: highlighted in the Mature cycle because of this cycle’s concern with service and spiritual understanding; mature souls ask many questions about life and experience more anxiety, depression and neuroses than those in earlier cycles; by this time, their energy is freed from the demands of the basic lessons, including survival; growth is of an inner, emotional and spiritual nature; a philosophy is sought; through service to others, Pisceans gain in understanding and love
Old Cycle: favored in the Old cycle for building on the love and understanding begun in the Mature cycle; chosen for service; because love and understanding are the goals of life, Pisces furthers our spiritual development and completes the purpose for our incarnations