Good evening stargazers! Today our Astrology 101 series continues with talking about the elements, qualities, and polarities of the zodiacs and houses.

I keep saying that there is more I want to talk about before getting into the zodiacs themselves. This is for a couple of reasons.

1. I feel like there is a LOT of information on the 12 zodiacs and interpretations but less so on the rest of the chart.
2. If you understand the HOW of getting your zodiac and what it means in relation to everything else on your natal chart (for more information on what a natal chart is click HERE), the zodiac will have more meaning to you.

That being said, I believe this will be the last Astrology 101 post before I start doing deep dives into each of the zodiac. In the meantime, this will help give you a general vibe for each sign without memorizing a ton of details.

ELEMENTS

Depending on the context, there are a set number of elements. If we are talking chemistry, we have 118 elements on the periodic chart. If we talk fantasy… it just depends on the story. For astrology, we use the 4 classic elements of water, earth, fire, and air. (“…but that all changed when the fire nation attacked”) There are 3 signs per element and each elemental group is called a triplicity.

Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces

Water signs are emotional and can be very sensitive and/or mysterious. Very intuitive; the friends you say or psychic and quick to pick up on vibes. They tend to take in others’ energy. This manifests in different ways. Cancer uses this to be a very nurturing sign. Scorpio has its ability to see through to the truth and not be swayed by the surface level BS. Pisces is like a chameleon, absorbing others’ energy like a sponge.

Positive keywords: deeply emotional, sympathetic, empathetic, nurturing, calm and peaceful, sensitive, compassionate, imaginative, intuitive, psychically aware, refreshing, charming, mysterious, private.

Negative keywords: emotionally insecure and unstable, shy, timid, lacking in confidence, oversensitive, easily influenced and manipulated, withdrawn, uncommunicative, vindictive, and vengeful, takes everything personally, moody and depressed.

Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

A good way to describe the earth signs is solid, grounded, or steady. They want security. Because they tend to be practical and realistic, they often need to be very sure that their choices are correct, so they sometimes get type cast as slow or stubborn, but it is just caution. With Taurus in particular, this looks like stubbornness. Virgo is an analyzer. Capricorn is all about having an organized plan and sticking to it.

Positive keywords: practical, efficient, organized, realistic, patient, self-disciplined, hard-working, productive, enduring, persistent, dependable, grounded, reliable, loyal, stable, good common-sense.

Negative keywords: slow, stodgy, lacking in vision, unimaginative, petty, excessively conventional, narrow-minded, stubborn, resistant to change, hoarding, ultra conservative.

Signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Just like flames, these signs can be impulsive, passionate, and sometimes temperamental. They are zesty and fast to act. They are movers and shakers. The risk takers. Think big energy, big aspirations, and even bigger personalities. They can consume those around them but also bring a warm light with them. The fire element gives Aries their energy, Leo their need to lead, and Sagittarius their adventurous soul.  

Positive keywords: extroverted, energetic, enthusiastic, inspirational, visionary, high-spirited, simple, direct, physically active, dramatic, courageous, warm, strong emotions, passionate, achiever, interesting.

Negative keywords: overly active to the point of burnout, restless, impatient, selfish, insensitive, willful, hasty, lacking in perspective, thoughtless, impulsive, reckless, extravagant, wild, temperamental.

Signs: Aquarius, Gemini, Libra

Air is a very mental element. They are all about communication, spreading ideas, conceptualizing, and learning. They are thinkers but that can mean they get stuck in their heads. Gemini are very intelligent and curious, but it pulls them in too many ways. Libra is all about intellectual partnerships. Aquarius are the communicators, making them popular and a great champion for causes.

Positive keywords: articulate, objective, mentally clear, detached, capable of forethought, understanding, socially adept and adaptable, cooperative, fun, creative, idealistic, adventurous, relational.

Negative keywords: unemotional, lacking in sympathy, impractical, disassociated from the body and the physical world, over-adaptive, abstracted, glib and facile, airheaded, hyperactive.

QUALITIES

There are 3 qualities with each quality being associated with 4 zodiacs (1 of each element) and being referred to as… you guessed it. Quadruplicities. You will also see these qualities referred to as modes or modalities. These qualities are how each zodiac expresses their element, so it is their “mode” of expression. The 3 qualities are: Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable.

CARDINAL

Signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn

Cardinal signs are initiators. They tend to be assertive and natural leaders. The reason it always seems like there is something happening around them is because they are always starting something. They respond well to new ideas and flourish in a crisis. You may also note that these zodiacs are in the first month of every season.

FIXED

Signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius

These signs are the stable, self-contained, sustainers. This stability can seem passive or stubborn but this resistance to change can also be their strength. Their resistance often leads to lateness for different reasons, but they will get where they need to be eventually. These signs are the middle month of each season.

MUTABLE

Signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

Mutable signs are the most easily influenced by their environment. They are considered unstable, but this helps facilitate their role of loosening structures to make it easier to transition from the old to something new. These signs tend to be flexible to the extreme, but that lack of stability can also stress. These signs are found in the last month of a season.

POLARITIES

The last set of categories that zodiacs can be sorted into is the polarities. These can be referred to as male/female, positive/negative, active/receptive, or yin/yang.

The 6 fire and air signs are masculine/yang/assertive/positive. These can generally be described as direct, outgoing, extroverted, giving, and active.

The 6 earth and water signs are feminine/ yin/ receptive/negative. These can be described as indirect, passive/reactive, introverted, withdrawn, and receiving.

Is it all starting to come together yet? If you go through and start finding your zodiac’s element, quality, and polarity, does it start to sound like what you have read in generic zodiac descriptions or better yet… like you?

Looking back at your chart, you may start to notice patterns. Where do the planets sit on your chart. Are they mostly in a certain element or modality? If you have most of your planets in a certain element or modality, you may see certain parts of their personality much stronger or if they are all spread out, you may have a more balanced personality.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to visit RavenWerks and I look forward to doing deep dives into individual zodiacs next!

Until next time,

Taylor

CHECK OUT THE FULL ASTROLOGY 101 SERIES:

• What is Astrology? Where Does One Start?
• Astrology Symbol Reference Page
• Astrology 101: What Is In Your Natal Chart?
• Astrology 101: Natal Chart Organization and Terminology
• Astrology 101: The 12 houses & Their Symbolism
• Astrology 101: The Energy of Planets and Other Celestial Bodies
• Astrology 101: Elements, Qualities, and Polarity

Zodiac Symbols

Planet Symbols

Special Points and Angles

Asteroids

Astrological Aspects

Hemispheres

Hey guild members!

I have been researching some new topics and prepping for a move so it has been a couple weeks since I continued our Astrology 101 posts BUT it is time to look at another part of the natal chart! If you haven’t been following along for the last couple installations, I have included a couple links at the bottom the page that can take you to previous posts or you can find them in the Spirituality portion of our blog.

A QUICK NOTE GOING FORWARD… for the purpose of examples, I am going to say you are somewhere in Western Washington like I currently am. This means that when I talk about the different hemispheres etc, I am basing this off of living in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth… BUT I will get into the relevance of that distinction in just a moment.

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of todays’ Astrology conversation: Organization and Terminology for Natal Charts

We have previously covered that the natal chart is:

• divided into 12 ‘pie’ pieces AND
• that the chart is a map of where different celestial bodies were in relation to YOU at exact time and location of your birth

Inner and Outer Parts of the Chart

The next thing we are going to do in looking at a natal chart is split our 12 pieces of ‘pie’ into an inner and outer circle.

The outer circle is our Zodiac and rotates according to our birth data and the location of the constellations around us as they appeared to be moving around earth.  It is fairly common knowledge that zodiacs are associated with different personalities, traits, elements, etc.

The inner circle is the astrological houses and that does not move. EVER. This circle is stationary. This is because this represents the earth and original astronomers thought we were the center of the universe. Each house is associated with different traits, elements, and parts of your life. I originally was going to go over these in this post but realized this would get too long very quickly. Going into detail on the 12 houses will be our next post.

Hemispheres and Quadrants

Imagine looking at the horizon facing either North or South. Which direction is determined by our ability to see the sun. If you are in the Northern hemisphere of earth, you are looking South and mapping what you see in the sky. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, this is reversed, and you look to the North. This flips our North/South and East /West Hemispheres in the pictures I drew. There is some debate, that I will not dive into at this point, about whether such a north centric astrology practice is still accurate in the Southern Hemisphere, if sign meanings should be reversed, etc. etc. etc. But I digress once again.

Imagine you are in Washington… you are facing South, looking at the horizon. Now hold a blank natal chart up in front of you. The line bisecting the top and bottom of our circle is our horizon (both the -name of the line AND symbolically the one in front of you). The houses 7-12 sit above the horizon and any celestial bodies (this is planets, stars, meteors, etc) shown above the horizon at the time of your birth show up there. Think of the top of the chart as being directly overhead. Anything below that horizon line is not visible but we know where they are because of astronomy, and we still take them into account in houses 1-6.

This sounds a bit backwards BUT, we call the top half of the chart the Southern Hemisphere and the bottom half of the chart our Northern Hemisphere. The Southern hemisphere is associated with Ambition, being career oriented, wanting fame/recognition, being extroverted, and having material values/goals. The Northern hemisphere is associated with having a subjective view on life, a need for a private life, introversion, and an introspective outlook. Having clusters of planets in either the Southern or Northern Hemisphere can hint at whether you are more of a private or public person.

Now, because we are still facing the South, our left side is actually the East and to our right is the West. This is also seen in our natal chart; the left side is called our Eastern Hemisphere and the right side is called our Western Hemisphere. They are divided by a line called the meridian.  The Eastern Hemisphere is associated with being more independent, strong-willed, individualistic, a self-starter or leader. It is also associated with individuals who are self-motivated, self- employed, or risk-takers. In contrast, the Western Hemisphere is associated with being adaptable but dependent, passive, subtle, being a follower, and partnerships. Having clusters of planets in the Eastern or Western Hemispheres can hint at whether you are more of an individualist or a collaborator.

So as quick practice, here are a couple of examples of what someone means when they say something vs what you see on the chart vs where it actually is in the sky. Just a reminder. This is based on someone living in the North (think Washington) and they are looking south.

Verbiage	What it looks like in the sky	What it Looks like in the Chart
Pluto is in the Southern Hemisphere	Pluto (though too far away to see) is somewhere above the horizon	Pluto is somewhere in the top half of your chart
Venus is in the 2nd House	You can’t actually see it because it is below the horizon line and to your east	Venus would show up towards the bottom, left of your chart
Mars is in the Northwest Quadrant	You can’t actually see it because it is below the horizon line and to your west	Mars would show up in the bottom, right of your chart

Chart Points

You may have noticed in the visuals I made above that there are points named in the four cardinal directions. We do not usually associate these with celestial bodies in this context because the chances of landing exactly on one is low. What you will hear though are zodiac associated with a point. Ever hear “I am a [insert zodiac] rising?”

The very top of our chart has a point called the Medium Coeli (AKA Midheaven, AKA M.C.).  This shows your aspirations, where you are aimed, and your legacy. At the very bottom point of the natal chart is your Imum Coeli (AKA I.C.). This is your root of home, memory, and soul.

Just like the Southernmost and Northernmost points on the chart are named (the M.C. and I.C.), so too are the Easternmost and Westernmost points. On the far left (furthest East) with have our Ascendant (often called our rising) and this our social mask and how we integrate into world around us. On the far right we have our Descendant, and this is what you wish you were like, what you admire, and areas of life you wish to grow in. It can also represent what you are looking for in a partner.

Putting the Inner and Outer Circles Together

Remember that outer circle of zodiacs? Remember that it actually moves? The position of that outer ring of zodiacs is based on your birth data (where in the world you are born).  

The next visual is not of my own making but hopefully seeing it 3D will help illustrate how they fit together. The inner circle is lined up on the horizon, not rotating. The outer circle of zodiacs could twist any way depending on where the constellations line up.

That being said… a planet can be in any number of combinations of house/hemisphere and zodiac. And a zodiac can be in a house. And a chart point can be in a zodiac. And… Have I started to lose you again?

I am going to stop for now before I start to really lose you all which would be counterproductive. These are just basics but hopefully it will help untangle what you are looking at when you see a natal chart. Next, we will be talking about the 12 houses and I will be working on getting a post up that is just reference for associations, symbols etc. Let me know if you want me to add the visuals I made!

Happy Charting!

Taylor

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CHECK OUT THE FULL ASTROLOGY 101 SERIES:

• What is Astrology? Where Does One Start?
• Astrology Symbol Reference Chart
• Astrology 101: What Is In Your Natal Chart?
• Astrology 101: Natal Chart Organization and Terminology
• Astrology 101: The 12 houses & Their Symbolism
• Astrology 101: The Energy of Planets and Other Celestial Bodies