Mars in Cancer: What it Means for YOU

Your horoscope for this heated transit

What: Mars in Cancer

When: Sept. 4 - Nov. 3, 2024; Jan. 6 - April 18, 2025 

Who’s Impacted: EVERYONE, but esp. Cardinal signs and water signs. 

Takeaway: The planet of action and aggression slips into the cardinal water sign of family and protecting what’s yours. It’s a tsunami of moody motivations and agitated nostalgia. 

     Not a week goes by that one planet or another isn’t shifting signs or doing something weird, and this week’s no different: on Sept. 4, red planet Mars shifts into cardinal water sign Cancer, bringing a shift in motivation and assertion.  

     Mars is the action, agitation, and assertion planet. It rules over all that motivates you, from your energy, passions and efforts, to your goals. Mars is also the bringer of heat. It inflames, irritates, prods, pokes, and makes you “see red.” Mars’ sign in your chart and via transit, can reveal how you get fired up—in anger, motivation, or to champion something. 

     In Cancer, Mars is plunged into the waters of sentiment and sensitivity. The planet uses your instincts, imagination, and emotions to agitate and excite. Feelings—esp. insecurities and fears—are fuel. Which can be both a good thing and a not-so good thing. Because when you feel emotionally charged about a goal, project, or passion, you’re 10x more likely to scuttle towards it; but when you feel too much, you can act irrationally or with cruelty and bitterness. 

     Mars isn’t its usual fiery, forceful self when it transits Cancer. Instead, the planet expresses its vigor in a more surreptitious and defensive manner. The phrase “defense wins championships” is oh-so Mars in Cancer, as the cardinal water sign feels victorious when it protects what it owns, and secures what it feels it is owed. So, there’s a strong need to guard yourself and your loved ones during this transit, to be territorial, if not downright suspicious, and to fight with feeling.

     Truth be told, Mars struggles in Cancer. Mostly because Cancer is committed to emotional security, connection, family (patriotism) and nurturing. Mars doesn’t nurture, Mars fights with direct action. Cancer, on the other hand, is moody and indirect, guarding its tender insides with a prickly defensiveness.

     So, the main issues with Mars in Cancer revolve around passive-aggressiveness and emotionally-muddled motivations. You might notice your feelings misdirecting your energy—you act on slights or insults, for example—or you just feel extra crabby, sensitive, and self-protective. This transit turns up the heat on touchiness. Notice how often you want to tear up—and why.

     We often look down on anger; our society prefers logical coolness to any sort of emotionally reactive display. But sometimes it’s OK to get upset, to get angry. Mars in Cancer can teach you the emotional reasons behind your heated feelings. It may provoke and trigger you—make you feel defensive, sensitive, weak, or like a wounded warrior—but this is useful. Because if you don’t know why you’re upset, you don’t exercise your emotional intelligence to understand your own feelings, then you’ve already lost the fight.

     You might notice there are two date ranges for Mars in Cancer, one of which (in 2025) is much longer than your usual Mars transit. That’s because on Dec. 6, Mars stations retrograde in Leo (apologies in advance to all my Leo friends). The red planet eventually re-enters Cancer on Jan. 6, stationing direct on Feb. 24, 2025. So, the parts of your chart that contain these signs are getting a lot of heat and action from now until June 2025. Yes, I’m aware of how far away that is; I’m aware of how much it might suck.

     Here’s the thing, though: Mars in Cancer is innately tenacious and resourceful; it can give you the emotional fortitude and strength of will to get what you want. If you target Mars in Cancer’s security-minded instincts and emotionally-motivated perseverance towards a goal, then you’re golden. If you don’t, you might just feel moody, agitated, and/or defensive for a while. 

     Now, how Mars in Cancer will urge you to tenaciously defend yourself and/or guard something depends entirely on your birth chart. So, without further ado:

Your 2024 Mars in Cancer Horoscope