The beginning of Cancer season marks (for the Northern Hemisphere, at least) the Summer Solstice. This is a turning point, the seasonal flip from spring to summer. It’s a moment that’s been building over the past month and has finally arrived in all its warmth and vibrance.
Cancer is a Cardinal Water signing, making it water that flows. The gentle lapping of the waves against the shore, where crabs thrive, where minnows dart and seashells sparkle in the sunlight. Cancer energy is gentle, sometimes tentative, and often as indirect as the scuttle of a crab across the sand. But while Cancer energy feels gentle, it has often learned through life that one cannot share that soft underbelly with everybody. A hard shell has developed over time, a carapace that hides that heart from predators.
I once watched a video at an aquarium that showed these crabs that were endemic to this one, very specific place on earth. They lived on shore, but their food source was only reachable when the tides were low. At that point, they would leap and scuttle from rock to rock, airborne for seconds at a time. The water wasn’t safe. An octopus or eel might leap out and snatch them, a deadly predator lurking just beneath the surface. The crabs were survivors. Not all of them. But enough to keep the species alive and abundant. To keep that migration from shore to rock and back again a part of their daily ritual.
This Cancer season, you may be noticing how your tender parts feel exposed or vulnerable. You may be craving safe spaces and people. The kind of safety that gives you the courage to venture into the great unknown and past the comfort zone of the shore. What “rock" would you risk your everything for? Pay attention for the gentle yearning within. And be compassionate with yourself if the answer feels too big, too cloudy, or even too small!! There is no judgment here.
For some clues to where Cancer energy may be showing up most strongly for you, see below! I recommend looking at both your rising and sun sign. You can pull your chart to find out both here, as well as get a quick look at the chart of the moment.
Cancer Season Energy, Sign by Sign Themes
Aries: Your family (biological or found) and home feel like a warm, safe space right now. You may be the kind of crab hiding out on the couch, in need of a hug or two. It’s okay to be in your feels right now! Cancer season for you is meant to be private and cozy. What do those words mean for you?
Taurus: The way you communicate your ideas and interpret the world around you. You are leaning into curiosity, not to judge or label, but to understand and find a way to approach your world and community with more compassion. You’re standing on the shore, wondering what it means to be of the sea.
Gemini: Your material resources, values, and gifts are being recognized right now. You may be looking to find alignment between your talents and what the world needs, but feeling spread to thin. This can be a give and take. You don’t have to be like a fire house, turned on at full pressure all the time. What if you were a sprinkler, reaching every blade of grass in its own time?
Cancer: Your sense of self and how you step into your energy. You may be leaping forward into some kind of leadership role, and feeling like a crab out of water but proud of it. Growth doesn’t always feel comfortable! Leap, little crab! You’ve got this.
Leo: The unseen and unknowable is feeling very present for you at this time. This may feel like an integration of some past memory that you haven’t had the headspace to look at but now feel called to do so.
Virgo: Your community and the way you contribute to society is feeling very compelling to your during Cancer season. You may be called to give or receive compassion within a safe space, and be in the presence of vulnerability. Help create a container where that can thrive.
Libra: Your career and most public self is in the very flattering spotlight of Cancer season. This feels like a pinnacle of the year for you, a time in which your ambition is being rewarded. You made the leap…and stuck the landing.
Scorpio: The existential is opening up like a book for you, and the esoteric and philosophical is calling your name. Scorpio has a voraciousness and need for depth to it that may get frustrated with Cancer’s subtle, broader energies. So don’t get frustrated with yourself if you can’t go as deep as you think you SHOULD be able to. You’re just getting started.
Sagittarius: Trust and intimacy are the name of the game during Cancer season. And in a hard year full of ups and downs, twists and turns, reaching for trust might not feel easy. Cancer season helps you figure out where that trust has been earned, and where it is healthy to merge with another. Test the waters, Sag. Listen to your intuition to determine if it feels safe to take the plunge.
Capricorn: Long-term relationships of all kinds take center stage. Your 1:1 connections are filling up your cup right now, giving purpose and fulfillment to your ambition and quest for continuous excellence. You both hold and feel held.
Aquarius: Your health and wellness are top of mind for you during Cancer season. You may be recognizing the power of the sun (in both good ways and bad) and the energy it gives you, and the world, every day. This feels like a healing month for you Aquarius! Don’t push yourself. Follow what feels nourishing.
Pisces: This feels like a playful make-out session, a nap in a hammock, the feel of a good book on a summer day, a picnic with laughing children, a new pet to make your day. Small pleasures, Pisces. Look to where your emotional waters meet the solid shore.