♋ Cancer: dates, element and traits
The first water sign of the cycle, Cancer is traditionally associated with emotional life and family: the image is of someone protective of loved ones, with a strong emotional memory, who needs a safe harbour to feel well.
- Date range
- 21 Jun – 22 Jul
- Element
- Water
- Quality
- Cardinal
- Ruling planet
- Moon
Traditional traits
- sensitivity
- attachment to family
- emotional memory
Element compatibility
In the astrological tradition, signs that share the same element (Scorpio, Pisces) are usually read as a natural fit. Capricorn, the opposite sign in the cycle, is read as the pairing with the most tension — and, for some astrologers, also the most mutual growth.
Cuidado
Tradition, not prediction
How to read Cancer's element and quality
Cancer is a water sign with a cardinal quality in traditional astrology. It shares its element with Scorpio and Pisces, which the tradition reads as a kinship of temperament between the three, even though each one's quality changes how that element shows up.
The sign traditionally "opposite" Cancer in the cycle is Capricorn — six months apart on the calendar — and traditional astrology reads that specific pairing, Cancer and Capricorn, as tension that can also become complementarity: each tends to have what the other lacks.
The 21 Jun–22 Jul period assigned to Cancer follows the Western tropical zodiac convention, which splits the year into 12 equal parts starting from the March equinox — which is why that particular start and end date can shift by a day depending on the year, since the civil calendar and the solar cycle don't line up perfectly.
Glossário: os termos desta página
Zodiac sign
One of the 12 equal divisions of the tropical zodiac, each tied to a period of the year, an element and a quality in Western astrological tradition.
Astrological element
Each of the four groups (fire, earth, air, water) that bring together three zodiac signs, traditionally associated with a shared temperament.
Glossary: religion and spirituality — todos os 11 termos.