A Guide to the Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces

In astrology, water signs are known to be deep and intuitive, teeming with wet emotion and flowing feelings.

The 12 zodiac signs are divided into four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The water signs — Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces — embody the spirit of flow each in their own distinct way. The rush of rivers, the murmur of tides, the churn of waves. These three dynamic signs are known for their emotions, artistry, sensitivity, and (often) psychic abilities. Far from shallow, they bring depth and intensity to the zodiac. Welcome to the water world, baby.

What does the element of water represent in astrology?

We all need water to survive; it’s an essential component of life. Water can be used as a tool for cleansing and purification … but it can also create floods, deluges, and catastrophic devastation. Likewise, there’s a powerful association between the water element and the subconscious realm — they’re both impenetrably deep, infinitely expansive, and flow in a variety of ways. Water is emotion. The water signs tend to embody the multitudes of this soulful, fluid element.

Cancer: The Feeler

Corresponding with the beginning of summer, Cancer is the first water sign of the zodiac. Likewise, Cancer represents the first time we’re experiencing the rich complexities of our emotional inner world. New to the joy of being loved, along with the sting of rejection, Cancer protects its mushy-gushy interior with a hard, impenetrable shell. So, naturally, it takes a while for this sign, which is symbolized by the crab, to build trust and let its guard down — it’s sensitive, hunny! But, in due time, Cancers reveal their sweet, delicate nature.

Cancer is ruled by the moon and, like Mother Moon herself, tends to have a nurturing spirit. Cancers can be fierce and protective of friends and lovers … and also the kind of helicopter parents who want to know where you are and what you’re doing whenever you’re out of sight. This oscillation between safe coddling and vicious overbearing is another prime example of Cancer’s crustacean origin — tender on the inside but always ready to pinch with its massive claws.

Celebrity Cancer suns include Princess Diana, Vin Diesel, Ariana Grande, Robin Williams, Courtney Love, Frida Kahlo, Lana Del Rey, and Larry David. We worship and resent these stars for echoing our own emotions — directly accessing feelings that society demands we stuff down — without shame or artificiality. They make us nostalgic for our own emotional authenticity.

Scorpio: The Detective

Symbolized by the elusive scorpion, Scorpio is a fixed water sign that occurs in the middle of autumn — a season that overlaps with Halloween. Coincidence? Never. (In astrology, there are none.) Scorpio is known for being intense, magnetic, and brooding. In modern astrology, it’s ruled by Pluto, which makes sense: Both are sex- and death-oriented, kind of goth and edgy, and luxuriate in the underworld. But traditionally, before Pluto was discovered via telescope in 1930, Scorpio was ruled by Mars, the planet of war and aggression. While Aries, the other sign ruled by Mars, is loud and obvious in exhibiting its Martian values, Scorpio is subtle and slick, wielding its attacks with much more deliberate, manipulative precision.

Scorpio has an elephant’s memory, a special ability for keeping secrets, and a depth of passion unrivaled by any other sign of the zodiac. But it also means Scorpios never, ever, ever let shit go. I mean, we would all go insane if we remembered everything that ever happened, never forgave or forgot, right? Not Scorpios, darling. These murky water signs are content just wallowing in their own strange pool — be careful where you step.

Famous Scorpio suns include Emma Stone, Vlad the Impaler, Hedy Lamarr, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frank Ocean, Joaquin Phoenix, Sylvia Plath, Björk, Tilda Swinton, and Tim Cook. These provocateurs induce strong, deep-seated emotions. We admire their wild depths and iconoclastic viciousness, but their secrecy and charisma can feel truly frightening.

Pisces: The Poet

The bottom of the sea is almost impossible to penetrate, but once there, you can catch multitudes: skeletons of eaten shark carcasses, sunken ships heavy with treasures, crabs and sea spiders so titanic they seem pulled from a Hammer horror film. And that’s exactly where Pisces — the last water sign of the zodiac — dwells. Pisces exists in a distant, dreamlike space somewhere between planes of reality.

Pisces occurs at the end of winter, a time when, at least here in New York, the season’s cold, tight grip feels truly endless. Pisces is a mutable sign, meaning it’s ready to change and adapt and is receptive to outside ideas and understandings. In modern astrology, Pisces is ruled by Neptune — the planet associated with dreams, spirituality, and escapism, and in traditional astrology (the time before the advent of the telescope) is governed by Jupiter, the planet of expansion and evolution. Either way you spin it, Pisces knows how to travel to the deepest depths of the human psyche, drifting into realms of subconscious, creativity, and spiritual fancy. Indeed, it is the most connected to the collective unconscious.

Notable pop-culture Pisces include Kurt Cobain, George Harrison, Elizabeth Taylor, Justin Bieber, Elliot Page, Quincy Jones, Glenn Close, Tyler the Creator, and Gabriel García Márquez. These individuals exist in realms of art, magical realism, sensitivity, and our own fantasies. While they may have struggled with boundaries, their unyielding openness allows us to engage and identify with their experiences as if they were our own.

This story has been updated. Additional reporting by Liana Mack.