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In short
A Cancer Moon and a Libra Moon score from 12.5 to 28 out of 36 in this app, median 22, over all 81 nakshatra-quarter pairings with Cancer entered first; Libra first adds 1. The 4/10 distance keeps Bhakoot at 7 but Venus counts the Moon an enemy, so Graha Maitri is 1. Gana is 6 or 0 in every pairing, never 3.
Cancer and Libra are both movable signs, a quarter of the zodiac apart, ruled by the Moon and Venus. In Ashtakoot matching that distance is harmless, but the two lords sit poorly together and the birth stars of these signs make Gana an all-or-nothing koota. The result is a wide band of totals. The engine's working follows.
For the signs: Cancer, Karka rashi and Libra, Tula rashi. For the system: the nakshatra matching hub. For two real charts: the Kundli matching calculator.
Kark and Tula in BPHS
BPHS Ch. 4 Sl. 5-5.5 makes both signs movable (chara), the first being the 4th sign and the second the 7th. Beyond that the chapter contrasts them. Kark (Sl. 10-11) is watery, Sattvic, many-footed, forest-dwelling and strong at night, ruled by Candr. Tula (Sl. 15-16.5) rises with its head, is strong by day, black in complexion, predominant in Rajo-Gun, biped, tied to the western direction and lorded by Sukr. Kark is phlegmatic and Tula "mixed". Both receive a Varna in the text, and the engine's class table follows it.
A Cancer Moon is in Punarvasu (one quarter), Pushya or Ashlesha. A Libra Moon is in Chitra (two quarters), Swati (four) or Vishakha (three). There are 81 combinations.
The kootas this sign pair fixes
| Koota | Out of | Cancer first | Libra first | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 1 | 0 | 1 | Different classes; the engine compares A with B |
| Vashya | 2 | 1 | 1 | Adjacent Vashya groups |
| Graha Maitri | 5 | 1 | 1 | Venus lists the Moon as an enemy; the Moon is neutral to Venus |
| Bhakoot | 7 | 7 | 7 | Libra is 4th from Cancer; Cancer 10th from Libra |
| Sign total | 15 | 9 | 10 |
Bhakoot (the koota) is safe. Counted inclusively, Libra is the 4th sign from Cancer and Cancer the 10th from Libra. The engine's zero distances are 2/12, 5/9 and 6/8, taken from two web references because this app's classical books do not contain the rule. 4/10 keeps its 7 points.
Graha Maitri (the koota) is where the pair loses most at sign level. In the BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 55 relationships stored in the engine, Venus counts the Moon among its enemies (with the Sun). The Moon, which has no enemies in those lists, counts Venus neutral. Neutral-enemy scores 1. The header says this value was kept because references disagree on it - one gives 0.5, another 1.
Varna (the koota) is order-dependent. The engine passes it when the first Moon's class sits at the same place as the second's or later in its list; Cancer's class is first in that list, so Cancer entered first scores 0 and Libra entered first scores 1. The header calls this an open question. Varna names a sign classification here, nothing more.
The kootas the nakshatras decide
- Gana is 6 in 40 pairings and 0 in 41, never 3. Neither sign contains a Manushya star: Cancer has Deva Punarvasu and Pushya and Rakshasa Ashlesha; Libra has Deva Swati and Rakshasa Chitra and Vishakha. Every pairing is therefore same-gana or Deva-against-Rakshasa.
- Nadi is 0 in 36 and 8 in 45. Ashlesha is Antya, like Swati and Vishakha, which accounts for most of the shared cases; Pushya against Chitra (both Madhya) adds the rest.
- Tara is 3 in 19 and 1.5 in 62.
- Yoni is 2 in all 81: Cat and Sheep against Tiger and Buffalo, no shared animal, no enemy pair.
Since Gana is worth 6 and Nadi 8, the pair's spread is mostly a matter of which of those two survive. An Ashlesha Moon illustrates the bind well. Against Vishakha it has full Gana (both Rakshasa) but no Nadi (both Antya). Against Swati it has neither: Swati is Deva and also Antya. Against Chitra it has both, since Chitra is Rakshasa and Madhya. Three Libra stars, three different outcomes, all within one sign.
A Pushya Moon faces a different pattern. Swati gives it full Gana and a different Nadi; Chitra gives it neither; Vishakha gives it Nadi but no Gana. Punarvasu, Cancer's single Aadi quarter, can never share a Nadi with Libra at all, so its result turns entirely on Gana.
The range of totals
Cancer first, the 81 totals run from 12.5 to 28 out of 36, median 22. Libra first, 13.5 to 29, median 23. The fifteen-and-a-half-point band is wider than for most pairs because the two heaviest nakshatra kootas behave as on-off switches here.
The two ends of the band are easy to describe. The bottom is reached when both switches are off - Gana 0 and Nadi 0 together, as with Pushya against Chitra or Ashlesha against Swati - leaving only the 9 sign points plus small Tara and Yoni contributions. The top needs both switches on and a full Tara as well. Everything between is a mix: one switch on and one off produces most of the mid-range totals, which is why the median sits near 22 rather than at either extreme.
It helps to remember that the sign kootas here are fixed and modest. With Graha Maitri at 1, there is no cushion of sign points to absorb a lost Gana or Nadi; with Bhakoot at 7, there is no large sign-level loss to explain a low total either. Whatever happens to a particular Cancer-Libra couple's score, the explanation will be found in their two birth stars, and nowhere in the relationship between the two signs as such.
In the same engine, Cancer's opposition, Cancer with Capricorn (12.5 to 26.5), gives a sense of scale; that pair shares this one's Graha Maitri of 1 and its full Bhakoot, and lands in a similar place. Gemini with Libra, by contrast, has full Graha Maitri but loses Bhakoot, and ends up with a similar ceiling by a different route.
Placing an actual couple needs both stars. The nakshatra calculator finds them from birth details, and Moon sign and nakshatra explains the relationship between the two.
Worked example: Cancer 1 degree with Libra 1 degree
A Moon at 1 degree of Cancer is in the last quarter of Punarvasu; a Moon at 1 degree of Libra is in Chitra. Cancer entered first:
| Koota | Score | Out of | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varna | 0 | 1 | Sign: Cancer entered first |
| Vashya | 1 | 2 | Sign: adjacent groups |
| Tara | 1.5 | 3 | Nakshatra: count 8 favourable, 21 unfavourable |
| Yoni | 2 | 4 | Nakshatra: Cat and Tiger |
| Graha Maitri | 1 | 5 | Sign: Moon neutral, Venus hostile |
| Gana | 0 | 6 | Nakshatra: Deva with Rakshasa |
| Bhakoot | 7 | 7 | Sign: 4/10 |
| Nadi | 8 | 8 | Nakshatra: Aadi with Madhya |
| Total | 20.5 | 36 |
The sign kootas contribute 9 and the stars 11.5. Nadi is safe, as it always is for Punarvasu against Libra; Gana is lost because Chitra is Rakshasa. Had the Libra Moon been a little further on, in Swati, Gana would have been a full 6 and Nadi still 8, giving one of the higher results for the pair. The example sits 1.5 below the median.
What the classical texts say
BPHS provides the inputs for two of the engine's tables: sign classes (Ch. 4) and natural friendships (Ch. 3 Sl. 55). Venus's enmity towards the Moon, which drives the Graha Maitri row, is part of that second list. The Ashtakoot point system is not in BPHS or in any other book in the library - Saravali, the Bhrigu Sutras, Daivajna Vallabha, Advanced Predictive Astrology - and none of them comments on a Cancer Moon with a Libra Moon.
What a score does not tell you
A Guna Milan total describes how two Moon positions meet a traditional rule set, some of whose cells its own sources dispute. It does not describe a relationship, and this app does not say whether two people should marry. Mars placement is a separate check, explained in Mangal dosha: what it is and is not. Nadi dosha covers the shared-Nadi result. The love compatibility calculator gives a lighter comparison. Neighbouring pairs: Cancer and Virgo, Cancer and Scorpio and Leo and Libra.
- What Guna Milan score do a Cancer Moon and a Libra Moon get?
- 12.5 to 28 out of 36 in this app with Cancer entered first (median 22); 13.5 to 29 with Libra first.
- Why is Graha Maitri only 1?
- Venus counts the Moon as an enemy in the BPHS relationships the engine uses, and the Moon counts Venus neutral. The engine scores neutral-enemy at 1.
- Why is Gana never 3 for this pair?
- Neither Cancer nor Libra contains a Manushya star, so every pairing is either same-gana (6) or Deva against Rakshasa (0).
- Does the order of entry matter?
- Yes, by one point. Varna compares the first Moon to the second: Libra first passes, Cancer first does not.
- Where can we get our real score?
- In the match tool, with both birth dates, times and places.
Kundli Matching (Guna Milan)
The classical Ashtakoot score out of 36, computed from two birth dates.
This one has its own page
This one runs on its own page, built for it, where the full result is laid out properly. No account is needed there either.