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| Zodiac Symbol | Crab |
| Element | Water |
| Ruling Planet | Moon |
| Modality | Cardinal |
| Emoji | ♋ |
| Dates | June 21 – July 22 |
| Birthstone | Ruby |
| Color | White, Silver |
| Flower | White Rose, Acanthus |
| Lucky Numbers | 2, 7 |
| Day | Monday |
| Career Matches | Social Work, Human Resources, Gardening, Child Care, Nursing |
| Physical Ruling | Chest, Breasts, Stomach |
| Symbolic Animal | Crab |
| Keyword | “I Feel” |
| Life Pursuit | Constant reassurance and intimacy |
| Secret Desire | To feel safe (emotionally, spiritually, romantically and financially) |
| Challenges | To come out of their shell and show the world their true self |
Cancer Zodiac Sign Overview
Cancer is represented by the Crab, one of the faintest constellations in the night sky. But don’t expect Cancer not to shine brightly.
They generally exude warm and loving personalities, especially as far as their family and friends are concerned.
One of the cardinal signs, they are firm in their commitments and their relationships.
One of the water zodiac signs, Cancer is very in touch with their emotions and intuition.
Ruled by the Moon, Cancer knows how to trust their instincts, so they rarely find themselves on the wrong path.
However, as their emotions are very near the surface, they often find themselves getting hurt, and can be slow to heal.
Cancer likes clean, minimalist settings, and the color white. This is because these clean settings give Cancer’s inner self the chance to shine more clearly and brightly.
Cancer Personality & Traits
Strengths – Intuitive, Emotionally Aware, Generous
Weaknesses – Secretive, Suspicious, Easily Frustrated
Likes – Memories & Keepsakes, Cleanness & Minimalism, Spirituality
Dislikes – Excessive Attention, Dishonesty, Cruelty
Cancer Traits, Strengths & Likes
Cancer always follows their heart, and fortunately, they are innately sensitive and intuitive, so their heart rarely leads them astray.
If their gut is telling them something, or they have an inexplicable emotional reaction to something, they always listen, even though they can’t explain it.
The way that Cancer is in touch with themselves tends to draw them towards spiritual practices.
Family, both blood and the close friends that Cancer have chosen, are very important to them. They are the type of people who are very close to all their family members and remember to call their mother every day.
They would drop everything if someone close to them needed help.
Cancers are a zodiac sign that think about the future and starting a family. But they also place a lot of importance on where they come from and tend to have a keen interest in family and local history.
Cancer’s generosity also extends beyond their inner circle. They really struggle when they see injustice in the world and will be the first to speak up when they see bullying, or something they consider unfair.
They also tend to be passionate supporters of a select few charities or causes.
Cancer is aware of the importance of having someplace to call home. They thrive when they have a sanctuary to call their own, though they also love to entertain others within their space.
Cancer likes to put down roots. They will quickly become a central figure in any community, and they are the person who knows everything about everyone living on their street.
Though they can’t stand it when they know that others are talking and gossiping about them.
Cancer Challenges & Weaknesses
Despite the fact that Cancer is very emotionally aware, they also tend to be very secretive with their thoughts and feelings.
They take a long time to trust, and others need to show that they are worthy to have access to Cancer’s inner world.
This is a defence mechanism developed to deal with the fact that Cancer is very sensitive, and therefore easily hurt. Not that they would ever let anyone see that.
When they are hurt, they can take a long time to heal and forgive.
While Cancer has a caring and generous nature, they do tend to become frustrated when things don’t go their way.
This can make them appear selfish. However, they just have a clear vision of what they want and can become frustrated when things don’t live up to expectations.
In reality, Cancer would never put their needs above the genuine needs of another person.
While Cancer is always the first person to lend a helping hand, they will never ask for help. Cancer will struggle in silence, keeping their challenges to themselves.
Often those closest to them don’t realise that there is a problem until it has become quite serious.
Cancer believes that they can handle anything and everything on their own. But in reality, they can on occasion be quite fragile.
Cancer Love, Sex & Compatibility
Cancer can be a complicated mix when it comes to love. Their emotions are very near the surface, so they often fall in love quickly.
However, they are also very afraid of getting hurt, so they will be secretive about their feelings until the other person has earned their trust.
This means that they can often be nursing secret crushes, and get hurt by the behaviour of the object of their affection, who is completely oblivious to their interest.
When Cancer does find the right person, they will immediately incorporate that person into their family, and invite them to every dinner and event.
They will also quickly find themselves a part of their partner’s family, becoming best friends with their partner’s siblings and calling their partner’s mother on a regular basis. This closeness that develops quickly can add extra layers of complication and pain to breakups.
Cancer are home builders, and will quickly want to set down roots with their partner.
They also seek harmony in their relationship and may have a tendency to tell little white lies in order to keep their partner happy.
They will rarely complain about anything and can let issues grow out of control before they take affirmative action.
Cancer Compatibility
| Best Love Matches | Pisces (98%), Taurus (97%), Scorpio (94%), and Virgo (90%) |
| Worst Love Matches | Aquarius (27%), Leo (35%), Aries (42%) and Libra (43%) |
| Best Friendship Matches | Pisces (100%), Taurus (98%), and Virgo (98%) |
| Worst Friendship Matches | Aquarius (25%) and Libra (40%) |
Cancer tends to get on well with Capricorn as they are also nesters and home builders, so they will enjoy creating a loving and comfortable life.
Capricorn is also deeply intuitive, so are likely to pick up on any budding issues that Cancer is reluctant to talk about.
It can be difficult for Taurus and Cancer to make a connection as they are both cautious when it comes to trusting. If they aren’t careful, they could both miss the boat! But when they do make a connection, it is fast and deep.
Cancer and Aries don’t tend to mix well. Aries can tend to be self-involved, superficial, and say unkind things without necessarily meaning to be nasty. Nevertheless, this can push Cancer’s buttons, who can’t stand to see other people abused or taken advantage of.
Learn more about;
Try Our Compatibility Calculator
Cancer Man
Cancer men are intuitive, and they are better at reading people than most men. This gives them a competitive advantage in the dating game, not that they would take advantage of that.
Cancer men are usually looking for a relationship rather than a quick fling. However, it does mean that he is the person that all his friends go to for relationship advice.
Once they are in a relationship, Cancer men are very committed, and sometimes can’t see when their partner is taking advantage of them.
- Intuitive
- Sensitive
- Serious
- Committed
- Giving
Learn more about Cancer men.
See more:
- Signs a Cancer Man Likes You
- How to Attract, Seduce and Win a Cancer Man
- How to Get a Cancer Man to Chase You
- How to Get a Cancer Man to Miss You
Cancer Woman
Cancer women are very intuitive and usually know when a new love is going to work out or not. But this doesn’t mean that they will move quickly.
Cancer’s emotions are always near the surface, and she has been hurt in the past.
She is careful about letting someone else in and giving them the opportunity to hurt her.
Despite this, when actually in a relationship, Cancer can be so keen to make it work that she can’t always see when things aren’t as they should be.
She can be so focussed on making it work that she doesn’t realise that what she really needs to do is walk away.
- Intuitive
- Emotional
- Guarded
- Dedicated
- Doesn’t know when to walk away
Learn more about Cancer women.
See more:
Cancer Career and Money
Career
Cancer thrives in roles that require caring for and looking after other people. This could be roles such as doctors, nurses, psychologists or carers, but also extends to human resource and team management roles.
Cancer can also make great teachers, though in any profession they risk burnout as they will want to give with every ounce of their being, without always seeing the limit when they need to start looking after themselves.
Cancer does best in roles that give them a sense of fulfilment or purpose.
They will be happier working in the HR department of a small charity than heading up a large team in a big commercial company.
Cancer likes to feel that they are making a difference in the lives of the people that they see every day and that they are making a difference in the world.
If they don’t understand the why of their job, they can quickly become frustrated and look to move on.
Money
Cancer knows what is important in life and what is superficial.
They have no problem saying no to the little things in order to prioritise the big things.
But Cancer rarely splurges on little things that slowly eat away at their finances. They prefer to save and get things that will last.
Cancer’s financial Achilles heel is that they are too generous. They could never say no to a friend or family member in need.
They may often stretch their own resources to the breaking point in order to help someone else.
Cancer Self-Care Tips
Cancer is very much influenced by the team of people that they have created around them.
They listen keenly to their family and would do pretty much anything to help a friend in need. Considering the influence of these people, Cancer needs to be scrupulous about who they surround themselves with.
They need to be careful not to let negative influences into their lives, especially people who are bringing them down emotionally, whether deliberately or not.
Cancer finds it very hard to let people go, but sometimes they need to put themselves first and distance themselves from relationships that have become unhealthy.
“Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel, energies are contagious.” – Rachel Wolchin