Feeling Your Way into Action with Mars in Cancer

Your emotional body provides a vehicle with which to make your move, now that Mars is in Cancer. There are many vehicles to choose from; you simply need to be aware of what you’re feeling, and whether or not your emotional body will provide the appropriate vehicle to get you where you want. Like the tides of Cancer’s shores, feelings come and go, so you can afford to wait for the right emotional temperature before setting out on the river of your dreams.

Mars has now left the mentally agile sign of Gemini, and settled into the domestic sign of Cancer. But it’s not as though he’s about to put his feet up anytime soon. Well, not unless he really feels like it. That’s the thing about the Cancerian vibe: it’s through your feelings and emotions that you get drawn into the depths of Cancer. Connecting to emotions isn’t particularly up Mars’ alley. This is the planet of action not emoting, after all. No wonder Mars is said to be in detriment in sensitive Cancer.

But let’s not get too hung up on that. There’s something to be said for pairing the planet of do it now in the sign of depends on how I feel. Even if Cancer’s domain is emotional sustenance, it is still a cardinal sign. Make no mistake, Cancer energy initiates action; it’s just that the emotional temperature has to feel right before striking. Keep that in mind between now and September 20.

This is a period in which your feelings need to be clarified before it’s necessarily appropriate to take action. If you’re not sure what you’re feeling, or if you don’t feel comfortable, take a pause. It’s a warning sign that something’s not quite right. Cancer, operating through the water element, is highly intuitive – and you’d be wise to listen to what your intuition is telling you. This applies whether you’re born under the sign of Cancer or not. Everyone has Cancer somewhere in their charts.

At any rate, planet Mars can benefit from a little intuition; it keeps him (and us) from rushing in where angels fear to tread. And Mars, being highly cardinal tends to rush. Still and all, taking action is as important to Cancer as it is to Mars, and to the other cardinal signs (Aries, Libra and Capricorn). But Cancer’s agenda is less obvious; Cancer takes a side-to-side zigzag approach. Think of the motion of a crab, Cancer’s totem: it moves in fits and starts; it’s not clear where the crab is headed. From a purely survivalist point of view, this keeps any prey somewhat bamboozled. How do you hit an ambiguously moving target?

The crab has a shell that protects its soft underbelly. Can you relate? Where and when do you wear your armour? Not only is this relevant to the Cancer side of your personality, but to warrior Mars. Mars may know that the best defense is a good offence, but he’d never venture into the battlefield without a protective shell of sorts. Even if he’s unafraid of harm, the appearance of strength is important to throw off would-be enemies. So at times, strength may be just for show, even if you feel like a puddle of insecurity. And yet, your feelings act as a type of barometer to guide you safely along. Rooting yourself in this certainty can offer a legitimate source of emotional fortitude. Let your feelings be a pool of strength from which to occasionally drink. And if that means slowing down and sensing the appropriate time to venture forth, then go with it.

This modus operandus works in tandem with the Mercury retrograde cycle that we are currently enveloped in. Though you may be eager to set out in new directions, the time is best used to review your goals, and perhaps re-strategize in order to best meet them. After all, there are a few tripwires along the way. Now that Mars has moved into Cancer he stirs up the energy of the other planets sitting in cardinal signs: Uranus retrograde in Aries, Pluto retrograde in Capricorn and soon enough, Saturn in Libra. In fact, at the moment that Mars enters Cancer, the Moon is on the first degree of Libra, acting as Saturn’s stand-in until Mars moves closer to a ninety-degree angle with Saturn. At any rate, Mars’ contact with these other planets charges the air with the kind of tension that we’ve experienced of late, especially at the July 1 solar eclipse. This cardinal cross energy forces us to reckon with certain confines, to work co-operatively with others, and to find creative solutions out of the cage we seem to have locked ourselves into.

Indeed, as soon as Mars dives into Cancer’s river he connects with creative and intuitive Neptune in mystic Pisces, through a flowing trine (an alignment of 120 degrees). At the same time, Mars connects with cerebral Mercury retrograde in analytical Virgo by way of a sixty-degree angle, called a sextile. If you feel comfortable (that’s a Cancer motif) allowing Higher Self to prompt you, then this Mars in Cancer journey can be quite a lesson in how to row your boat gently down the stream by combining reason with intuition in order to chart the choppy waters.