There’s three types of Cancer Suns: Cancers who have Mercury in Gemini, Cancers who have Mercury in Leo, and Cancers who have Mercury in Cancer. Furthermore, Cancers with Cancer Mercury have Mercuries that are either in the morning phase, the evening phase, or combust.
Sometimes, you hear people talking about how different June Cancers are from July Cancers. Not all June Cancers have Gemini Mercury and not all July Cancers have Leo Mercury! However, because Mercury is never more than 28º from the Sun, it is more likely for a June Cancer to be a Gemini Mercury and for an July Cancer to be a Leo Mercury.
Cancer with Gemini Mercury: Emotional Explainer
Cancers with Gemini Mercury are very, very critical and that criticality first seeks to describe themselves more than anything around them. They’re constantly unpacking their own experiences, playing perspective games around how they might construct emotion by reimagining memory, and seeing if they can change their future experiences by changing how they remember their past ones.
Sometimes, Cancer with Gemini Mercury feels like they have to explain themselves to other people all of the time. They might debate with an inner authority figure in their heads around decisions that matter back and forth. They keep these debates quiet and wait until they have a finished and polished thought before unveiling it. Cancers are careful with what they share with others, after all. They don’t do this because they feel like people will judge them—they do this because they’re afraid that people will misunderstand them.
This is because Cancer with Gemini Mercury is used to being misunderstood by one parent if they share too similar of an opinion with the other parent. They are used to negotiation within the family and making up their minds only when they’ve understood all sides of an argument. Because Cancer is an internally centered sign, being ruled by a luminary, Cancers with Gemini Mercuries are used to taking the opinions of others and using these opinions as mirrors through which different parts of their own self becomes evident.
Cancer with Cancer Mercury: Working for acceptance
There’s three subsets of Cancers with Cancer Mercury: there’s Cancers who have Mercury as morning star, Cancers who have Mercury as evening star, and Cancers who have Mercury combust.
Cancer with combust Mercury is a person who wants, desperately, to be involved with a group and to feel like they can belong somewhere. However, they don't leave the house! They don’t go out of their way to meet other people and can often feel lonely trapped in their own comfort.
A lot of the time, someone with a combust Mercury in Cancer will use work as a way to get social. They will create projects that they know they need other people to do or go work in a community based setting. It is much easier for them to go out and interact with people when there is already a structure in place. Often, people with combust Mercury in Cancer come from families that they were forced to spend a lot of time around without feeling like they belonged for some reason. This is why they need their own space so badly but also crave a sense of belonging.
Cancers with Cancer Mercuries that are not combust might have Mercury in a morning or evening star phase. Cancers with Cancer Mercuries in the morning star phase might be avid writers who keep their thoughts to themselves a bit more and Cancers with Cancer Mercury in the evening star phase are more likely to feel a need to have their voice be something that draws other people to them.
Cancer with Leo Mercury: I burn for you
The danger that Cancers with Leo Mercuries face is the danger of burning themselves out too brightly for other people. The ruler of Mercury is in the twelfth house phase in relation to Mercury here. Cancer with Leo Mercury is looking for validation from people who seem authoritative or people who can provide a structure that they themselves feel that they lack.
These people are creative geniuses. They will also make sure that people can see that they’re creative geniuses. These Cancers don’t keep their thoughts to themselves so much like other Cancers might. As soon as they’re comfortable, they’re willing to take up space.
However, the reason that they work so much (and a lot of Cancers with Leo Mercuries are workaholics) is not because they want to take space from others but because they might see an authority figure such as a boss as a person who they need to earn love from. A lot of the time, Cancers with Leo Mercuries have a hard time believing that other people really love them, especially if their loved ones show up for them. They can be get trapped into performing goodness for unavailable people instead.
It is hard for a Cancer with a Leo Mercury to prioritize themselves and the people who already show up for them. It is easier for them to diminish themselves by trying to earn acceptance from people who do not want to give it. Cancers with Leo Mercuries can learn to accept themselves by taking space to understand why they strive to accomplish the things that they do.
