Cancer — Monday 17 August 2026

You've made yourself a cup of tea you didn't particularly want because the alternative was just standing in the kitchen doing nothing, and Cancer in the presence of *Mars* doesn't do nothing, it does purposeful-looking nothing. *Mars* is sitting at the very beginning of your sign, squaring *Neptune* almost exactly, and what this produces in a Cancer isn't rage or ambition or any of the things *Mars* is supposed to deliver. It produces a very specific relationship with comfort food: not the eating of it, but the acquiring of it. You've checked the fridge twice without taking anything out. You've opened a cupboard, assessed the contents, and closed it again with the expression of a person who has been personally let down. What you actually want doesn't exist in the available inventory, and you're not quite sure what it is, which makes *Neptune* very pleased with itself. *Venus* and the *Moon* are both in Libra, making the afternoon feel like it should involve something nicer than what's currently on offer. You'll probably buy something on the way home that you didn't plan to buy. It won't be what you wanted either. But you'll feel better for the decision.