Mars Enters Cancer

Mars enters Cancer, the sign of its fall, where we tend to defend ourselves (and attack) from a primal place. Cancer is the sign most often equated with instinct, and the blows Mars delivers here are usually made suddenly and devotionally, under the guise that something is not quite right in the universe. As far as strategies go, slash and burn may not be the best one. However, Mars in Cancer can be a handy tool for situations that require deliberate action or cord cutting.

When planets transit Cancer, they reawaken memory and emotion tied to past events. Cancer is, after-all, moon ruled, and the importance of cycles is emphasized here. Mars was last in Cancer from September 2024 to late April 2025, a lengthy journey due to its retrograde. Much was churned up during this period that would be healthy to reflect on now, given safe distance. Think back to what was happening in your life – the milestones reached, the progress stalled, the relationships that were pivotal to you. What has changed since and what might be coming back up again for a rethink and a re-do? Are you now in a place where you are able to handle your problems differently? Or have you perhaps backslid into behaviors that require improvement? This is not a merit checklist, a catalogue of how you’ve passed or failed. It’s simply an exercise is acknowledging cycles; cycles to perpetuate and cycles to break from. 

It can also be an interesting time to examine of ancestral tendencies. Mars is about action but it is also about anger. How did your family of origin address their conflicts and where might you have picked up the torch (or borne the burden) of their emotional strife? The biggest gift of Mars in Cancer is that you get choose what to do with your inheritance.