Mars enters Cancer: Our Heart’s Desires

Mars from Gemini to Cancer: Softening and Allowing Ourselves to be Changeable

Mars, the ruler of Aries and Scorpio, is the planet associated with self-assertion, initiative, determination, vitality, and action. The Red planet illustrates our style of beginning something and going after what we desire. Mars indicates what we fight for, how we defend ourselves, and how we stand up for ourselves. Mars is sharp, direct, and decisive.

Mars has been in Gemini since August 2022 and has completed a retrograde cycle there, inspiring us to renew, review, and revisit the way we assert ourselves, communicate our desires, and act on our ideas. Mars in Gemini encouraged us to think independently, to think for ourselves, and to directly communicate our opinions even when they may be uncomfortable or disturbing to others.

Cancer, a Yin, Water archetype ruled by the Moon, has a very different vibe. This sign is soft, vulnerable, changeable, emotional, and sensitive, drawn to establishing conditions of familiarity and security. Transits of Mars indicate where action is happening and suggest to us what areas of our life our energy tends to be directed towards. Because Cancer is the sign connected to the past, home, family, and childhood, during this transit we may be particularly focused on dealing with home matters, family situations, and unraveling past and childhood dynamics.  

Mars enters Cancer: Need for Emotional Investment & Implication of the Heart

When Mars is in Cancer, it can be challenging to express Martian qualities the way we would usually do, particularly if our natal Mars is strongly placed. Nevertheless, Cancer is a Cardinal sign, the modality associated with action, dynamism, and new beginnings: Mars resonates with Cardinal energy and this can make it less complicated to harmonize Martian qualities with Cancerian energy. 

During this transit, the tendency is to adopt a cautious and indirect approach in pursuing what we desire, taking initiative, and beginning something. We are inclined to test the waters before we jump: we need to feel safe and secure before taking a risk which is something that, at times, may prevent us from taking a risk altogether. 

While Mars is in Cancer, our emotional energy is high: emotions represent the fuel for our actions, emotions are what motivate us to move forward, emotions inspire us to move towards a specific direction. If we aren’t emotionally motivated to begin something, if we aren’t emotionally inspired by it, if our heart isn’t touched by it and fully invested in it, we will have a hard time doing it and putting energy into it.

Mars in Aspect to Pluto, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, and Neptune

As Mars enters Cancer, he immediately forms a quincunx or inconjunct to Pluto at 0º Aquarius. This is an angle of 150º, an aspect of paradox, incongruence, and contradiction: the Mars-Pluto quincunx indicate difficulties reconciling our conscious desires and our unconscious desires. Around this time, we may need to establish adjustments in our way to act on our impulses, and better attune to following the subtle whisper of the deepest motivations behind our choices. 

During his transit through Cancer, Mars is going to form a square to Chiron in Aries, a sextile to Uranus in Taurus, and a trine to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces.

Mars trines Saturn on March 30. This aspect supports a productive application of our energy and inspires us to take consistent action toward what we are motivated by, all while following our intuition and respecting the ebbs and flow of our emotions. Mars squares Chiron on April 27, inviting us to look at our wounds surrounding self-assertion, self-determination, and affirming our identity as separate selves.

The Mars-Uranus sextile, exact on April 29, supports innovation and originality and increases our courage to take action on out-of-the-box ideas and visions, to stand out from the crowd, and to question the norm. On March 15, Mars trines Neptune, an invitation to align our actions with our values and ideals and make decisions that resonate with the spiritual path we are walking. This trine supports the expression and alchemy of our emotions and longing through movement, performance, and art.

Mars enters Cancer: Following our Hearts’ Desires

During the upcoming days and weeks, we will be more emotionally impulsive than usual, and more defensive than aggressive. If we already have passive-aggressive tendencies, these could be emphasized while Mars is in Cancer. Around this time, it can be valuable to observe how we are inclined to express our anger, assert ourselves, and communicate our feelings when we feel hurt.

As Cancer is ruled by the changeable Moon, when Mars is here our vitality and energy levels tend to fluctuate and be particularly influenced by our mood, as well as by the sign where the Moon is transiting and the lunar phase we are in. 

Mars’ journey through the sign of the Crab indicates that, in the upcoming days and weeks, we will be drawn to invest more energy into nurturing ourselves and others and creating safe and comfortable environments, both for ourselves and for our loved ones. 

During this transit, we are motivated to follow our hearts’ desires and go after what we are emotionally invested in. When our heart’s desires are at stake, we are determined to move in their direction with tenacity, devotion, and absolute implication. This is the gift of Mars in Cancer.

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