Feeling All the Feels? It Must Be Cancer Season

Cancer season began on the first day of summer, the longest day of the year. If you are feeling a lil’ “summertime sadness,” this month is exactly the right time to get swept away by a feeling. You might experience heightened soulfulness and sensitivity this month. Pay attention to gut feelings (Cancer rules the stomach!), and prioritize emotional intelligence over the rational. 

As the only sign ruled by the moon, Cancer is tethered to our feelings. The moon is instinctive — speaking to our habits, our memories, how we nourish ourselves and feel safe. The moon’s gravitational force pulls the tides, which is powerful when you consider that we are made up of more than 50 percent water. The resulting waxing and waning of emotions is also where Cancers get their reputation for moodiness. 

The constellation has been referred to as the gateway of mankind, associated with birth and the descent of spirit into matter. Cancers love to initiate things. So when the sun goes into Cancer, it’s going to prompt something new, marking the beginning of a fresh chapter.

Just as the hermit crab carries its home on its back, Cancer is the sign most closely connected to domesticity. Cancers seek sanctuary, for themselves and their loved ones. Like the claws of the crab, Cancers hold on tenaciously to whatever makes it feel secure. Animals with this sign tend to be highly affectionate and fiercely protective (a Cancer canine is guaranteed to be the most loyal companion around). They are also often highly attuned to the energy in their environment, and will not cope well in a high stress environment, requiring a safe haven to retreat to when overwhelmed. 

Meanwhile, cancer humans do not merely own pets: Animals are their life companions, children, family, soul mates. The new moon in Cancer on June 28 is the perfect time to retreat for a day or two to take care of yourself and cocoon with your pets.

Cancers are also storytellers. Look to Lana Del Rey’s melancholic verses and femme-fatal characters that conjure sentimentality. (In addition to loving animals, Cancers also love water, and Del Rey took this to the next level by taking a bath with her cats.) Similarly, the lyrics of rappers such as Lil’ Kim and proud dog-mom Missy Elliott express a cultural consciousness. This sign can intuit what will appeal to the masses, often long before the rest of us are in the know.

Sometimes this sign will find it a lot easier to stand up for others than for themselves. Vocal Cancerian animal activists who use their platform to advocate for the vulnerable include Pamela Anderson (a long supporter of PETA), Khloe Kardashian (who posed in an anti-fur campaign for PETA, which would ironically go on to flour-bomb her sister Kim for wearing fur), and Ariana Grande (who once opined, “Oooof do Cancers have the ability to do anything other than feeeeeeeeel feel feeeeeeeel feel feeeeeel”). 

Cancerian healer of the world Jaden Smith once rapped, “I was born from two stars/so the moon’s where I land.” The self-proclaimed child of the moon is a social-justice and climate advocate, launched a free vegan food truck for the homeless in LA, and is now advocating for a meat-free diet. Jayden once made headlines for letting his sister Willow’s snakes (she has 10!) sleep in his bed with him, calling them his girlfriends. Um, did we mention Cancers like to sleep with their pets?

While this sign has bad PR as the clingy cry baby of the zodiac, Cancer teaches us about the potency of compassion, the power of holding someone close. When Cancerian Princess Diana was photographed hugging an HIV-positive patient in the ’80s, she helped de-stigmatize AIDS. Which is to say: Cancers know that the power of a simple hug, whether with another human or a pet, is significant.