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Chop, chop – Mars in Cancer cuts the ties that bind

Crab symbol for Cancer sign and planet Mars

From early September 2024 and into mid April 2025, Mars will spend most of his time in sensitive Cancer, driving us to face disappointments and painful emotions so we can cut our losses to move ahead. 

 

Mars goes retrograde every two years, staying in a sign for an extended time. This time it’s Cancer where Mars will transit for more than six months, apart from just over two months in Leo during his forward then retrograde path. 

 

This gives us plenty of opportunity to go deeper in realising the link between our emotions and actions, especially during his retrograde into sensitive Cancer. 

 

From early September until 5 November as Mars moves forward in Cancer, we might feel emotions and sensitivities stirred up. Mars then moves into Leo to bring extra passion and vigour to our desire to creatively express ourselves in the world and be seen for it, highlighting what might need addressing in our deeper waters to best facilitate that.  

 

When Mars turns retrograde on 7 December to move back into our Cancerian inner world, he pushes us to face relevant disappointments, heartbreaks, or traumas, and to sever ties where suitable. 

 

Mars is not at his best in Cancer, as he exalts in the opposite sign of Capricorn. His assertion and direct action is at odds with the sidestepping crab. The best use of this energy is to let his feist help us take control of our lives to actively pursue our goals, while also addressing our emotions and needs for security including a home and sense of family or belonging. This includes the need for financial resources to support a comfortable home. 

 

Crying over spilt milk  

Mars will agitate situations and feelings to show where we’re dissatisfied and highlight where we’re seeking something more in our quest for emotional fulfilment, nurturing and security.  

 

Whether it’s related to conditioning, family, friends, or romantic partners, if it’s holding us back, Mars wants it on the chopping block. Mars rules cutting and severing, and in Cancer this is about cutting our losses and the ties that bind us to cloying sorrows and disappointments. 

 

No-nonsense Mars says ‘stop crying over spilt milk’, and that can be harsh and ineffective. Nurturing Cancer is willing to stay with our hurts and disappointments, but that can keep us soggily clinging to the past.  

 

When Cancer goes too far in tending to inner wounds, it can bring depression. One definition of depression is that it is anger turned inward. Mars rules anger, and when in Cancer, he stimulates the fight in us that can help us get up and moving again. 

 

Cancer is a cardinal sign which means it naturally contains the impulse to begin something new. In the tarot it is represented by The Chariot, the card of forward movement and wrangling the reins of life to achieve goals. However, the Cancerian impulse to action is an emotional one.  

 

The Cancerian drive for forward movement gets oomph from Mars, but we need to be careful not to get too gung ho. The nature of emotions is complex and subject to conditioning that may not really be our truth, so it may be best to let the transit play out for a while to reveal what we really need to face and action. Mars can burn off the fog of conditioned emotional reactions so we can see a new path. 

 

Your themes 

 

To get insight into your personal theme for this Mars retrograde, try noticing what arises in your life – external or internal – in the few days around the following dates.  

 

Mars will transit Cancer from 5 September until he moves into Leo on 5 November. He will reach 6 degrees Leo then turn retrograde from 7 December, re-entering Cancer on 7 January 2025. Mars then turns direct at 17 degrees Cancer on 25 February, and finally exits Cancer on 18 April. The entire cycle isn’t over until Mars again reaches 6 degrees Leo on 3 May 2025. 

 

The first hint - or obvious message - on your theme may arise around 6 October 2024. That timeframe was supercharged, as we also had a south node or karmic release solar eclipse in Libra on 3 October, suggesting relationship and fairness or equality themes are involved. 

 

If we’re actively engaged in how this transit is playing out, the theme of moving on from a submerged grief or disappointment that’s been hindering our Leonine expression of self may be evident from the very beginning of the retrograde period, or maybe not until we get the full hindsight view in May 2025. Conscious awareness helps us integrate the changes.  

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