When Saturn last went through Cancer, I gave up cooking for guests and subscribed to the ever more popular and far less strenuous potluck plan . . . because everyone I knew had become some sort of diet crank, myself included. I was living in Hawaii and remarked that there was a new panacea every few days. I never knew whether to be talking about aloe vera or goldenseal because interests were changing so fast.

I do not actually know that people were becoming more diet conscious or health conscious. Most of the people I knew were simply more focused on what they ate, for whatever reasons. Many became vegetarians because of spiritual beliefs and others because of health beliefs. Many tried fad diets or different kinds of fasting. For the first time in my life, I observed people who were more interested in the reasons for eating what they ate than in the taste of food.

As the gourmet cook in me suffered obsolescence, a more ethical cook emerged. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that this era was marked by a few epoch outer developments. Diet for a Small Planet became the gospel for many people leaving their conventional patterns for something more responsible. Though the book triggered a global revolution in planetary food consciousness that transcended all previous famine relief and food group concepts. More importantly, it challenged the corporate model of food production and seeded a movement towards sustainable agriculture and conservation, especially of rain forests.

For me personally, an intriguing book by Carey and Perry called The Zodiac and the Salts of Salvation, first published in 1932 and revived in 1974, not only introduced me to the concept of cell salts and their astrological rulerships, but opened a window to interpretations of the twelve tissue salts and health cycles. Working with the idea that Saturn relates to deficiency, I could observe the transit of Saturn through Cancer not only as an epidemic in food fussiness but also as an indicator of lack with global ramifications and impact.

I think the tissue salt book(s) did more to make me aware of the cyclical nature of surfeit and deficiency as well as health fads and fashions than any other book I have read. While the properties of something like goldenseal may not change all that much over many centuries, public interest in and need for the plant is more fickle. One rather famous and jaded herbalist said that if there were no "latest finding," none of us could make a living. I do not agree, but I am sure some owners of health foods stores would nod their heads in accord.

The fact is that our bodies have many rhythms and cycles. For instance, the skin on the palms of our hands regenerates practically instantly whereas blood cells live longer and liver cells longer yet. If at any stage in their life cycles, these cells are struck by famine, they would carry the evidence for some time to come. So, like a tree whose rings tell the story of ages, our bones and other tissues may carry the wounds of excesses and shortages into times that have yet to happen.

Likewise, in our planetary life, we are seeing the results of fertilizer and pesticide use, introduced after World War II, in epidemics of degenerative diseases. Those who see the handwriting on the wall have been clamoring for "natural" foods and medicines, and, if we think about it, there was no language for such a concept in earlier times because there was no unnatural food.

Health awareness in the food realm may refer not only to what is natural, but to cooking methods and utensils. We have yet to admit that aluminum pots and pans and baking dishes may be dangerous, or that Teflon is dangerous for humans as well as canaries. We are even further away from questioning the sanity of using microwave ovens for cooking, and the voices opposed to genetically modified food and the delivery of hormones and vaccines through food are only rousing a few passionate voices. Perhaps Mae- Wan Ho will be to the next Saturn cycle what Frances Moore Lappé was to the last?

Cancer is, of course, not only about food and beverages. Cancer rules the home and family, emotions, and maybe even our country or homeland. Saturn in Cancer usually brings someone from the past back into our lives, and it lets some skeletons out of the closet. . . including, most likely, skeletons of those who are especially influenced by Cancer, such as our country, born on the Fourth of July.

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2003

Taste and the Elements