Upside: emotional intensity, water and fire make steam.
Downside: mutual wounding, dampening spirits and emotional scorching, trouble understanding nature of the other.
Cardinal Fire (Aries) and Cardinal Water(Cancer)Aries and Cancer brings together two incredibly different personae, and caution is strongly advised. At first the Aries shows ardent desire, and pursue the Crab in a romantic way that sends signals of true love. But if the sensitive heart of Cancer opens, there could be trouble if the Aries flame suddenly goes out. The Cancer will retreat into their shell, and the Aries will either get bored and move on, or do serious damage by trying to gain re-entry into the Crab's private world by force.
Aries doesn't understand the indirect style of the Cancer nature, and grows impatient, even disdainful. The more aggressive Aries gets, ramming after all is its specialty, the further the protective Crab retreats. For the spontaneous Ram, Cancer is needy and clingy.
The emotional world of the Cancer could seem claustrophobic, dependent and limiting to the strong-willed Aries. An insecure, wounded Cancer that tries to hang on to an Aries may hold on for many years before letting go. In this case, the Crab is better off with someone who has more going on in the patience department. An Aries that thrives on being at the edge, needs compatriots to cheer him or her on, not try to envelop the beloved out of fear.
If this pair makes it through the initial shock of their encounter, it could end up being a challenging, exciting relationship. Aries inspires Cancer to let go of their fears and "just do it," and Cancer opens the Ram up to their emotional depths.
