Cancer Sidereal Sign: Karka
Karka, the fourth rashi, a crab of water and sattva ruled by Chandra, a movable and feminine sign, is the heart; Guru is exalted there.
Karka is the rashi of Chandra, and everything said about it makes you feel it. The fourth sign in the sidereal zodiac, from 90° to 120°, it belongs to water and to the quality sattva, the clearest of the three. Its figure is the crab. It is also written Kataka.
Chandra is its lord. Guru is exalted there, at the fifth degree at its highest, and Mangala is in fall there at the twenty-eighth. A movable sign, it stirs. An even sign, it passes for feminine and benefic.
It is given a pale red color, a bulky body and many legs. Forests are its dwelling, and its gaze goes north. It dominates the night and emerges by the back. On the body of the cosmic being, it corresponds to the heart.
What to keep? A sensitivity tied to water. A taste for withdrawal, for remote places. A purity of intention associated with sattva. A useful reminder: these terms describe the sign.
Its nine navamshas begin at Karka itself. The last is called riksha sandhi and marks a junction.
Karka as Lagna, the Ascendant
Thanking sincerely, then remembering it for a long time: gratitude is one of the traits of Karka. Karka, Cancer of the sidereal zodiac, is a movable water sign whose lord is Chandra, the Moon. When it is your lagna, meaning the sign rising at your birth, the resulting portrait has two faces.
On the sensitive side, a fearful disposition and principles that shift with circumstances. On the proud side, someone who keeps a place in their circle and whom many respect. The portrait mentions a position as leader over others, understood as a capacity to guide, as well as major undertakings carried out far from home. Family can bruise your pride, and a word dropped at a Sunday lunch stays with you for a long time. One last trait, more prosaic: with you, other people's goods are spent as easily as your own.
Two details can be read in two ways. You may grasp things firmly, which leads you to make mistakes, or quickly, which leads you to chase your adversaries. Both possibilities coexist. The first ally of this lagna is Mars, before Jupiter and then the Moon.