When Aries and Cancer come together for love or any kind of relationship, it’s nurturing but also overbearing at times! These two moody star signs are great at keeping it real. An Aries-Cancer relationship is challenging but loving, since you both understand each others’ need to be taken care of.

Aries and Cancer: Your compatibility clicks and clashes

Where you click:
Nurturing and loving. Cancer is the zodiac’s mother sign; Aries is the baby. This can be a relationship of endless care-taking or of tireless demands. There’s a moody quality to both of you that can be enhanced when you’re together—but neither of you considers this a bad thing. You’re able to “keep it real” around one another; no false fronts or exhausting facades. What a relief! Your shared competitive spirit makes you great motivators and cheerleaders for one another.

Where you clash:
There are challenges here, but the kind that you can grow from. No resting on your laurels: If you can provide each other with enough emotional security (more of a challenge for Aries than Cancer), you make great partners and parents to children, extended family, and pets. Cancer is a legendary homebody, but Aries can lounge like the best of them. Having a comfortable base camp is essential for your relationship. Since you both need your space, try creating separate offices or designated rooms to retreat to when you need your individual “me time.”

Aries is fire and Cancer is water

Too close for comfort? As an astrology love match, fire and water signs can have wildly different needs. To succeed as a couple, compromise is essential. Water signs are soothing and nurturing, prone to fluctuating moods. They deeply crave security and comfort. By contrast, Fire signs can be aggressive, independent and often seek discomfort in the name of adventure. While water signs are nostalgic and tend to live in the rosy-hued (or overly maligned) past, fire signs are pioneers who get most excited about sculpting a future of their own creation.

There are four elements in astrology: fire, earth, air and water. Each one plays an important role in the greater whole of humankind. A love match with someone from of a different astrological element can be challenging, but also a beautiful opportunity to evolve. After all, differences push you both to grow and step outside of your own experience. So, how can the traditionalist water sign and the risk-taking fire sign happily coexist? The fire sign will have to enter the water sign’s world of family visits, downtime at home, returning to the same vacation spots and hanging with a small crew of lifelong friends…even if that feels limiting or stagnant. In return, the water sign will have to embrace adventure, travel, meeting new people (and being social when they do!), risk and changing up their comfortable routines from time to time. Parents can be a big sticking point, as the water sign partner is often dutifully close to theirs while the fire sign may have left home at 18 and never looked back. In nature, water can put out a fire, which can either control a raging wildfire (good) or douse a vibrant flame (not so good). Fire can warm up cold water, but it can also make it boiling and steaming mad! Too much fire can even cause water to evaporate, just as an overly dominant fire sign can cause the less aggressive water sign to “disappear” in the relationship.

You can be a fascinating power couple who can take on the world or build an empire together.

Aries and Cancer are both cardinal signs

In astrology, the “qualities” or “triplicities” reveal the role you play in a relationship or collaboration. Are you a starter, a doer or a finisher? Do you like to take charge and have a plan, or do you prefer to go with the flow? In astrology, you are both from the “cardinal” quality or triplicity.

Cardinal signs are both leadership-driven, headstrong and like to be first. In this love match, you will always need to work on compromise. Otherwise, you can butt heads and fiercely dig in your heels, driving a wedge into your relationship. When you respect each others’ leadership abilities and strength, however, you can be a fascinating power couple who can take on the world or build an empire together. Birthdays, holidays and other occasions are NOT to be missed in a cardinal sign coupling. These are major life events that merit a grand celebration with an epic gift to match. Your signs can be sophisticated and status-seeking—you love dressing up and turning heads as a dashing duo (and yes, even inspiring envy among your friends). Impressing each other is part of your courtship ritual in a cardinal sign love match. Take turns plotting new experiences, surprising each other with reservations or vacations that you’ve carefully curated. To minimize fighting, one of you should take charge at a time. Or, create a shared project where you play to your differing strengths, each of you shining in your own rights, but never competing.

Aries is yang and Cancer is yin

In astrology, every sign has a “polarity”: you’re either yin (feminine) or yang (masculine). In your sign match, Cancer is a receptive yin sign and Aries is an assertive yang sign. When you play to your strengths, you balance each other out, each on contributing a different but complementary skill set. When things are off, you can become polarized. The yin sign can be too passive (or passive-aggressive) and sacrificing, while the yang sign may act domineering, aggressive and selfish. To re-balance, the yin sign needs to work on being more open, direct and confident, while the yang sign should cultivate more patience, tolerance and sensitivity.

Aries and Cancer are square (three signs apart)

In astrology love matches, we also measure compatibility by the aspect, or distance, between the two signs. Your signs are square, or three signs apart. Mommy and daddy issues, anyone? The square aspect is a harsh, 90-degree angle between two signs that creates a push-pull dynamic. It’s the relationship that helps you work through issues with a difficult parent, usually by reactivating old, painful wounds. There can be power struggles and clashing agendas. Don’t expect to kick back and put your feet up in this match. The dynamic tension will keep you active and keyed up. Of course, that could be exactly what you want. The opportunity of the “square” aspect is to teach you how to compromise with an equally strong-willed partner. When you strike that delicate balance, you can make an undeniable “power couple”—a true force to be reckoned with.