Cancer and Leo are much more similar than common stereotypes give them credit for. First of all, they’re both warm signs. The Sun is in Cancer and Leo during the summer season. Second of all, the luminaries reign here. Cancer is ruled by the Moon while Leo is ruled by the Sun.

I’ve worked with a lot of people who have both Cancer and Leo placements. I don’t think this is one of those adjacent sign pairings where the tensions between the two signs are high. The movement between Sagittarius and Capricorn tends to be riveting because it’s often this struggle between different generations. Aquarius and Pisces can have the same feeling. Cancer and Leo? Let’s take a closer look.

Both Cancer and Leo are warm. Warmth is actually about attraction while coolness is about repulsion. This means that both Cancer and Leo tend to function the same way. They both draw things towards themselves.

They don’t move! These two signs don’t move! If you have both Cancer and Leo placements, these are like the magnetic pits of the zodiac. They don’t move—they just draw other things towards themselves.

Both Cancer and Leo like to sit in their own place, their own home or coffee shop or designated spot. They make other people come to them. You want to hang out with a Cancer? You’re going to have to go to their city where they know all the spots. You’re going to have to sleep in their bed because they can’t fall asleep in strange places. You’re going to have to go to their house and eat their cooking.

Leo is exactly the same way. If you want to hang out with a Leo, you’ll have to do it on their terms where they are comfortable. They may come and see you once or twice but only as a drawn out invitation to come to theirs. Now, Leo doesn’t like people hanging around their actual home for too long. They’re going to have a different sense of home turf. You want to spend time with a Leo? You’ll be going to the restaurant where Leo has a Tuesday night spot, where all of their friends work. You’re going to chat about topics that Leo is familiar with. You’re going to visit them at their workplace.

As you can probably already see, it’s actually amazing that people with strong placements in either Cancer or Leo will meet other people with strong placements in the same two signs.

How would they even run into each other? Cancer is at home. Leo is at their regular bar. This is their routine. They don’t budge from their routine. Why would they?

The only way that Cancer and Leo will have a relationship is if they share some space of home. They can have a relationship if they share a physical home living together, if they work at the same place, if they share an intellectual home, or if they share a chosen family.

They’re not going to be the type to run into each other randomly in various environments. That’s more Gemini and Sagittarius. They’re also not going to be coming towards one another from different contexts. They will share a sense of knowing. They will know each other’s context because they share it together. This also means that relationships between Cancer and Leo tend to be either incredibly intimate and almost routine or not happen at all.

A Cancer and a Leo don't have their individual things, spaces, and people. In a relationship, they share everything. They share people. They share space. They touch one another’s possessions and share soap. Often, Cancer or Leo will demarcate what is theirs and what is another person’s but only in their head. Remember—these are royal signs. Does the king or the queen ask before using something? No! Neither will Cancer or Leo.

When this works well, there’s just this amazing sense of intimacy. Cancer and Leo create this homelike environment where you don’t have to say thank you for every single little thing, where you can take love for granted safely, and where you already know everyone’s name, siblings, and what they were like in high school. These two signs, when coming together, have the power to inform and affix awesome community.

And they won’t be alone. This isn’t a couple that’s going to camp out in isolation. Remember—both Cancer and Leo are magnetic. They draw crowds. This is a couple around which lives a tight knit community.

I imagine that the set of The Office was like this. BJ Novak is a Cancer and Mindy Kaling is a Leo. The Office lasted a long, long time for a TV series. The sitcom tells the story of a paper distribution office space that a cast of funny people call home. The show goes on for years and years. Very rarely in that time do we actually see any of the characters leave. They leave for the day but they almost always come back. It’s their routine. The office is their home. It’s like they can’t leave. Something always calls them back, whether that thing is familiarity or family or love or obligation. The office keeps everything tethered.

That’s the relationship between Cancer and Leo. When a Cancer and Leo come together, they have the ability to keep a cast of other people tethered to them. They host dinners. They do ritualistic and seasonal events. They promote familiarity. Everyone knows them and circulates around them. They’re the known people in the community.

Let’s think about this now—in a relationship between a Cancer and a Leo, who has more control?

The reason why I ask this is because both Cancer and Leo need a lot of control. They’re where the Sun and Moon reign for god’s sake! We tend to associate Cancer with control but Leo needs a lot of it too. Leo isn’t always front and center either. Leo can be a backstage manager. In fact, Leo will be the sign that appears to have the most control from the outside. This isn’t because Cancer doesn’t like control. It’s because Cancer behaves differently.

Usually, Cancer actually dislikes the appearance of control. They don’t want to be seen as a boss type of person. Cancer will usually try to be the opposite of that. Cancers are far more likely to seem like the resident bad boy. They seize control not through management but through rebellion. The Moon moves fast. Cancer like to seen as a bit messy or chaotic on the outside but, internally, they are rebellious because they want to define themselves, because they want control. They have that younger sibling like energy. If you suffocate them too much, they’ll go off on their own and do their own thing. They won’t tell you about it either. Cancer can express most of itself in secrecy.

Leo is not like this. Leo doesn’t keep secrets. They also don’t really enjoy rebellion as fully as Cancers because Leo wants to be affirmed. It’s much harder for Leo to drift off. Their identity will more likely be mirrored by the group.

Dynamics between Cancer and Leo usually look like this—if they meet each other, they huddle together. A big swarm of other people start to huddle with them. All of these people find some sense of home together and learn more about their own personalities since there is something about Cancer and Leo that just makes everyone feel really seen. The Cancer and Leo are the pillars of this homemaking. The Leo appears to be in charge but the Cancer has more freedom. The Cancer disappears periodically to do their own thing. They know about the secret dynamics. They might tell the Leo what is actually going on or they might not. Eventually, the Cancer comes back. The Cancer will usually always come back. This rhythm, and Leo’s consistency, is what makes the world feel so much like their home.