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Cancer (Karka) rashi
Cancer is ruled by the Moon and is the sign of home, memory and protection.
- Sanskrit
- Karka (कर्क)
- Symbol
- the Crab
- Element
- Water
- Mode
- Movable
- Ruler
- Moon
- Sidereal span
- 90° to 120° of the zodiac
- Stars inside
- Punarvasu, Pushya, Ashlesha
- Position in the order
- Sign 4 of 12
People under it are traditionally seen as caring and sensitive, with strong ties to family and a habit of withdrawing into a shell when hurt.
Cancer is ruled by Moon. In a birth chart, the sign tells you where a planet sits, and the lord of the sign shows where that planet's influence travels. See the page on the lagna for how a sign becomes a house.
Water and movable
Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) are read as feeling and intuitive. They are the signs of emotion, memory and depth, and the texts link them with care and imagination, and with a tendency to absorb other people's moods.
Movable signs (chara) begin things. They fall at the start of each season and are read as active, initiating and restless.
Moon also rules no other sign, so the two signs share a lord in a chart. Moon is exalted in Taurus (3°) and debilitated in Scorpio (3°).
See it in your own chart
The terms on this page appear in every birth chart report, explained for your own planets and dates.