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Horoscopes · Systems of many cultures

Western (tropical) · Zodiac sign 4

♋︎ Cancer

Crab · Crab

Cancer ♋, the crab: a cardinal water sign ruled by Moon, 21 June – 22 July.

Cancer, the crab, begins at the summer solstice — hence the Tropic of Cancer. It is a cardinal water sign ruled by the moon and the exaltation of Jupiter, associated with home, family and emotional sensitivity.

The dates are approximate because the sun's entry into each sign shifts by a day or so from year to year; the calculator on this site gives the exact sign for a birth date and time. In traditional astrology a sign is read together with its planetary ruler, the house it occupies and the aspects to it, not in isolation.

Personality

nurturing · protective · sensitive · intuitive · loyal · moody · tenacious

In Western astrology Cancer is described as the guardian of home and family: caring, intuitive and deeply attached to the people and places it loves. A cardinal water sign ruled by the moon, it is given the temperament of the crab, soft within and protected by a hard shell, approaching the world sideways and holding on firmly once it has taken hold.

Astrologers credit Cancer with empathy, loyalty, a strong memory and a gift for creating warmth and belonging, along with a shrewd, tenacious instinct for security. The challenges traditionally named are changeable moods that follow the moon, sensitivity to slights, a tendency to retreat into the shell and difficulty letting go of the past.

In love Cancer is portrayed as devoted and nurturing, seeking emotional safety and a shared home, and protective of partner and children. At work it is linked with caring professions, teaching, hospitality, history, property and family businesses, wherever looking after people or preserving what matters is valued. Traditional astrology notes that Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, lending the sign generosity, while modern writers emphasise its emotional depth; in either view it is read together with the rest of the chart.

Stone: Moonstone

Sources and further reading