On Wednesday, July 30, Venus, our planet of attraction, attachment, and aesthetics, is trading the windchimes and wordplay of Gemini for the mother’s milk of Cancer.
Venus will turn in these tender tides until August 25.
Named for the Roman goddess of love and fertility, Venus is the fine, divine feminine counterpart to warlord Mars. According to myth, Venus was born from sea foam and the severed member of Uranus, emerging fully formed from a sacred scallop shell, with pleasure as her governing principle.
Perhaps owing to this shell connection, Venus loves to be in Cancer.
Venus in Cancer
In Cancer, Venus is adept at sensing the needs of others, often to the detriment of the self.
In kind and in codependence, Venus in Cancer is brimming with love to give and always and ever on the lookout for a poor unfortunate soul or sweet-talking grifter to pour it into.
Codependent and moody, this Venus is adept at using passive-aggressive tactics to get what it can’t or won’t directly ask for. Coupled with the confusion and missed signals of Mercury retrograde in Leo, it is imperative, however challenging, to be clear about your own needs and honest about your ability/desire to meet someone else’s.
Ruled by the moon, Cancer is an unstable sign, waxing and waning between extremes, emotional and otherwise. In kind, during this transit we are primed to experience highs and lows, rises and falls, the sweet nectar of love and the bitter spit of disappointment.
To avoid martyrdom and/or being a fool for love under these stars, take time to differentiate caretaking from anxious attachment. Are you doing things you love or doing things to be loved?
Venus in Cancer 2025
“Venus in Cancer is the raw power of feminine energy,” said astrologer Zen Ren of ZenRenGalaxy.
Owing to Cancer’s association with maternal caregiving, Ren calls this transit an incubation period in which we are called to fortify our heart meat, stabilize our lives, and do the aforementioned work of discernment.
Boundaries are not a betrayal, my babies, they are the container in which healthy intimacy can set sail.
“Venus in Cancer wants nearness. The crab is sensitive, yes. Sometimes irritable. Venus in Cancer is like an exposed nerve, an underbelly, more tender than tender. She is affectionate, deeply devoted, but irrational, easily triggered, always taking things personally. Find solace beneath the waves.”
Speaking of tides and the ties that bind, Venus in Cancer is drunk on the nectar of nostalgia, often idealizing days gone by that are sweeter in memory than reality.
We can honor Venus’s transit here by looking at old photos, making food that fed us as children
Cancer lords over the fourth house of home and ancestry and because the retrograde parade summons us to look back to better plot a course forward, now is an excellent time to dive deep into your personal history or learn more about the childhood patterns and problems of your closest people.
By going back and digging deep, you may find new things to love or at least undiscovered connective tissue.
We all begin as children, and if we can hold each other in this light in a compassionate rather than condemning way, we’re on our way.
Meaning of Venus in Cancer
Venus in Cancer is all about security and commitment in their connections. They value emotional union on deeper levels — but don’t take romantic risks easily and often take a while to open up.
Venus is radiating in your first house of the self, Cancer. You’re looking good and feeling even better. All but dripping charm, your personal magnetism is at an 11 as legions wait to be welcomed to come close and curl tight.
As Venus is as about both purse and heart strings you are equally likely to attract stable investments as you are long term partnership.
You’ve got a lot to give and luck is on your side but know when to cut it loose. Not everyone wants to be nurtured. No means no when it comes to tieing on the apron and the anguish of being someone else’s mother.
With the sun and Mercury retrograde in your first house of the self and Venus shining her love light in your twelfth house of the unconscious and hidden enemies, these next few weeks hit hard, Leo.
However, this transit is urging you to consider the ways you self-sabotage in the name of love. When do you perform a fantasy when you could be offering up your true self?
Ahoy, Capricorn! Venus in Cancer raps on the chamber door of your seventh house of trusted partnerships and long-term alliances.
You are well-versed in due diligence, sea goats, but might I suggest you invite some levity to your love affairs during this transit? Venus is love, and Cancer is the sign of origin.
Perhaps it’s time to revisit the love stories that informed your youth, whether cinematic or autobiographical. What can you learn or unlearn from your first brushes with the tender accordion of the human heart?
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.
