Cancer: Personality and Compatibility
A cardinal water sign that begins at the summer solstice. Ruled by the Moon, Cancer is the motherly sign that embraces family and friends.
On this page
- Dates (approx.)
- 22 June – 22 July
- Element
- Water
- Modality
- Cardinal
- Ruling planet
- the Moon
- Keywords
- family, empathy, protection
- Body
- Chest and stomach
- Lucky colors
- Silver and white
- Ecliptic longitude
- 90° – 120°
1.The Cancer personality
Strengths
Deeply caring, you protect your own with everything you have. Highly empathetic, you sense how others feel.
Things to watch
Your moods swing widely and you are easily hurt. You can draw too sharp a line between “us” and “them”.
2.Love and work
Love: You pour devoted love into someone who makes you feel safe. Home-loving, many Cancers long to marry.
Work: Nursing, care, childcare, food, real estate and hotels: looking after people and creating a place to belong.
3.Signs that get along with Cancer
The other water signs (Scorpio and Pisces) share your values, while the earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) bring out the best in you.
4.The dates shift a little each year
A sign begins at the moment the sun reaches 90° of ecliptic longitude, so the boundary moves by about a day from year to year. Exact dates in Japan Standard Time:
| Year | Cancer (JST) |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Jun 21, 2026 17:25 – Jul 22, 2026 |
| 2027 | Jun 21, 2027 23:11 – Jul 22, 2027 |
If you were born on a boundary day, check with the Sun, Moon and Rising sign reading.
5.Not just the Sun sign: the Moon sign too
Horoscope columns use your Sun sign, but the sign the Moon was in when you were born shows your private face and how your feelings move. See also the basics of Western astrology.
6.One sign earlier in Indian astrology
Indian astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, which sits about 24° behind the tropical one, so most people born as Cancer are Gemini there. Read more in What is Indian astrology?