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Elements, modalities and polarities

Nine forces, and every sign is one of each kind. New to them? Start below the cards.

Three ways to sort the zodiac

Every zodiac sign is built from three simple ingredients. Its element says what kind of energy it carries: Fire, Earth, Air or Water. Its modality says what that energy does over time: cardinal signs start, fixed signs sustain and mutable signs adapt. Its polarity says which way the energy flows: outward (Yang) or inward (Yin).

No two signs share the same element and modality, so the twelve signs are exactly the twelve combinations of four elements and three modalities. Aries is cardinal Fire, Taurus is fixed Earth, Gemini is mutable Air, and so on around the wheel. Learn these two labels for a sign and you already know a great deal about how it behaves.

Polarity follows from the element: Fire and Air signs are Yang, Earth and Water signs are Yin. Because the elements repeat in the same order (Fire, Earth, Air, Water), the polarities simply alternate around the zodiac, one Yang sign, then one Yin sign.

The zodiac as a grid

Four elements by three modalities gives exactly twelve signs. Read across a row to see one element in its three modes, or down a column to see one mode in four elements.

Fire
AriesCardinal, YangLeoFixed, YangSagittariusMutable, Yang
Earth
CapricornCardinal, YinTaurusFixed, YinVirgoMutable, Yin
Air
LibraCardinal, YangAquariusFixed, YangGeminiMutable, Yang
Water
CancerCardinal, YinScorpioFixed, YinPiscesMutable, Yin

Using them in a reading

These categories are most useful as a first pass over a chart, before you look at individual planets in detail. They tell you the overall temperament; the planets, houses and aspects then tell you the story.

  1. Note the element and modality of the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant (the sign on the 1st house cusp).
  2. Count how many placements fall in each element and modality. A strong majority, or a missing category, is worth a sentence in any reading.
  3. Check the balance of Yang and Yin to see whether the chart leans toward expression or toward consolidation.
  4. Then ask how the emphasis is used: which planets carry it, and which houses they occupy.