#quadruplicity

Hello, folks! Hope you’re enjoying the warming summer season. For this week’s slightly late blog post, I will be talking about one of the three quadruplicities: Mutable! Yes, the nomenclature for the quadruplicities is slightly awkward. Do I call it mutability? That’s way too long and convoluted a word for my liking. Being mutable? It’s awkward, but hey, these are the terms we have, so I’ve got to work with them. 

So, the quadruplicities. What are they? They are “cardinal,” “fixed,” and “mutable.” They go, in this order, through the zodiac starting with Aries. Aries is cardinal, Taurus is fixed, Gemini is mutable, etc. What you end up with is these groups: 

Cardinal: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn

Fixed: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius

Mutable: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

A brief overview of each quadruplicity: Cardinal signs are seen as leaders, going in a specific direction with purpose and determination. They have a vision, and they initiate the movement toward that vision. You can see this in the determination of Aries, the matriarchal leadership of Cancer, the interpersonal nature of Libra, and the ambition of Capricorn. Each of these signs starts the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Fixed signs are seen as stabilizers, creating harmony and stability through the vehicle of their element. You can see this in the diligence of Taurus, the pride of Leo, the depth and strength of Scorpio, and the just mind of Aquarius. 

Because the Sun is currently in Gemini, I will be talking about the mutable quadruplicity today.  Mutable signs expand, journey, roam, and imagine, and won’t stay in one place (Fixed) or concentrate on one pursuit (Cardinal) for long. I like to say that the mutable signs deal with infinities.

Gemini is the first of the mutable signs, and with air being such an abstract, quick, and immaterial sign, mutability becomes quite breezy and light. What forms is Gemini, the air sign least interested in staying in one place for too long. New ideas, new things to learn, new projects to start and perhaps abandon as quickly as they were started. With Gemini, information is quickly gathered, assessed, and distributed as needed. Note I did not say organized. That is earthy Virgo’s realm and instinct. Gemini prefers to learn a lot about a lot of things, not a lot about a few things. Depth is not the primary concern with Gemini. 

Speaking of Virgo, it is the mutable earth sign. Mutable earth has incredible potential when it comes to organization and healing. Virgo is able to understand complicated systems and improve them. Incredibly intelligent and perceptive, Virgo embodies the theme of healing for a reason. The infinity here is a physical one. Sometimes, though, grounded earth and expansive mutability can conflict, which can result in confusion and even anxiety. Nevertheless, we would be lost without Virgos. 

Sagittarius is the mutable fire sign, and is opposite to Gemini. I personally love studying the opposite signs in the zodiac because I find that while they may have very countering views, the themes are the same. Sagittarius, like Gemini, loves journeys and loves the new. Adventure and expanding horizons are where it’s at with Sagittarius and its planetary ruler, Jupiter. Gemini, however, represents primary/elementary school education, while Sagittarius represents college and higher learning. Asking the big questions, Sagittarius looks to other cultures and other worlds for deep, philosophical answers. The infinity here is within identity, within spirit. 

Finally, we have Pisces, the mutable water sign. Water is emotional and spiritual depth. Fire and water are both intensely spiritual, but while fire operates on a present level, water operates on an ethereal level. Fire is temper, while water is a sea. So with Pisces, the infinity is quite dreamy and otherworldly. Remember that Pisces is ruled by both watery, dreamy, mysterious Neptune and expansive Jupiter. Mutability becomes compassion that is just expanding to all people, of all walks of life, from all realms. Note too that Pisces is the final sign in the zodiac, almost like it’s the return of the water in our bodies to the earth, the release of our souls to realms beyond the imagination.

Mutability can result in difficulty concentrating. As someone with a Pisces sun and Gemini moon, I can attest to this. I associate mutability to iNtuition and Perception, if you follow MBTI. It is incredibly challenging to stay with one thing because there is information constantly coming in from all sides to all senses, and while that can be a strength at times, it’s a bit of a nuisance at others. If you have strong Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces influence in your chart, I recommend finding some sort of way to ground yourself in the physical realm, which (unfortunately) we inhabit, along with a human society which prioritizes the physical. 

Introduction

Synastry is, to put it simply, the astrology of relationships. It’s commonly referred to as compatibility, though most references to astrological compatibility only reach the very surface of synastry, and thus are not reliable.

Much of astrological compatibility refers solely to the sun signs, or rejects the importance of sun signs entirely. Neither approach is correct. Think of the saying “can’t see the forest for the trees” - in this case, some can’t see the trees for the forest. There must be balance.

All of the energies in the natal chart must be acknowledged when studying synastry, not just the Sun’s or that of Venus or Mars, and not just ruling elements.

In the following article, I will explain the divisions of the Zodiac. This is the third part of the series on synastry, you can find the rest at #synastry basics.

The Zodiac is divided three different ways: Element, Polarity, and Modality. Each method of division defines the qualities of the signs, their personalities, and their overall drive. The overlap of these divisions creates each sign’s unique identity, which is discussed at the end of this section, under The Signs in Full.

These divisions create not only personality but compatibility. When looking specifically at signs, it is important to acknowledge these parts of their identity as they are so influential.

Elements

The Elements divide the Zodiac into four groups of three. Traditionally, these energies were considered the soul of the universe, the heart of its design, and in astrology they are key building blocks of the signs’ identities. Each element represents a basic construct of the human psyche, or personality, meaning the elements and their presence or lack thereof can be revealing.

Before I go further, it is important to specify that the elements of single signs in the chart, while important, should not be focused on solely. Remember how we began: Can’t see the forest for the trees. Elements are just one part of a sign’s identity, and not only that the element ruling over one planet should not be focused upon so greatly that the dominant element in an individual’s chart is forgotten, or the dominant element so focused upon that the individual elements are forgotten.

In synastry, signs of the same element are considered the most compatible in the long run. They share similar views on life and the same polarity, which I’ll get to momentarily. The next most compatible would be the other element that makes up the same polarity - again, because of this shared viewpoint and general personality.

Fire: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius

The initiator, the leader, the seeker - Fire is an element of great energy and response. These signs can come off as egotistical, simply unsympathetic, or immature. As lovers, they are highly loyal, seek to care for their partner, and often desire to take the lead in their relationships. Those with strong Fire influences in their natal chart will be outgoing, optimistic, determined, and energetic.

Fire signs are most compatible with other Fire signs, or Air signs, but there can also be difficulties in these relationships. When Fire signs engage with other Fire signs, there’s always the possibility of butting heads or being consumed by their attraction.

With Air, Fire signs can take too much from their partner, feeding off of their energy in a sense. A balance must be found between the two.

Venus in Fire

Venus in a Fire sign means that an individual will express their affection actively. They seek to show love physically and through acts of kindness and love. They want to go out with their partner and dote on them, often desiring to provide for them fully.

To show them love, accept their displays. Simply going along with their dates, no matter how wild they may be, is enough to show Fire signs you truly love them.

Earth: Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn

Earth is the source of endurance in the Zodiac. It represents hard work, practicality, and control. When there is a strong influence of Earth in the natal chart, natives will be reliable, logical, and responsible.

Earth signs are extremely loyal and seek commitment above all else in their relationships. They will fight for their relationship, and their partner, their faith being unwavering. At the same time, they can often come off as cold or too materialistic, not to mention their stubbornness.

Earth signs are most compatible with other Earth signs, or Water. With other Earth signs, solidarity is to be expected, but also conflict. While Earth signs share similar views on love and life it can be extremely hard for them to work things out considering their reluctance to admit when they’re wrong.

As for Water, Earth can provide the perfect support for the volatility of Water, and Water the perfect nurturing for Earth’s often neglected emotional needs. This match, too, can be difficult considering the sensitivity of Water and the seemingly insensitivity of Earth.

Venus in Earth

Venus in Earth signs are physical and material lovers. They seek to show their love through providing material and financial goods for their partners. Supporting someone financially is, to Earth signs, a great show of love. They also show affection through the body, though they avoid public displays for the most part.

The best way to show them love is through time. They don’t expect you to repay them or anything like that, but instead to spend the day with them and they will often try to find small ways to be around you, even if you aren’t engaging with each other.

Air: Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius

This element is highly versatile. In the natal chart, Air indicates a native will be open-minded, animated, and sharp.

Air is associated with intellect, wit, and communication, and these signs need to feel mentally matched by their romantic partners. Communication is at the heart of all of their relationships, as is a sense of friendship beneath the romance. They also need a lot of freedom in their relationships which can manifest as a sort of “casualness.”

Air is most compatible with Air, and then Fire. With other Air signs, the shared need of freedom and appreciation of communication can make relationships harmonious. There is a unique ease to these connections that is unmatched. Still, there can be struggles for them, the two drifting apart without more of a spark.

With Fire, Air signs will flourish. They enjoy the freedom and lightheartedness of the connection between them. The relationship can also be stifling, however, as Fire feeds on Air.

Venus in Air

Air signs show their romantic love in ways most would associate with platonic affection. Their dates are usually simple, if they aren’t taking their partner out to some new and interesting - if strange - restaurant, art festival, or something similar that is. They show their affection by keeping a level head and helping their lover through their problems or emotional struggles, though this method of theirs can sometimes come off as cold.

To show them love, speak with them. Tell them outright that you love them. Show them you love them by making it clear you enjoy speaking with them.

Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Strong Water influences in the natal chart indicate an intuitive, emotive, and compassionate native. Water signs seek comforting, deeply emotional connections with others. They need a supportive partner, someone who can provide stability as, just like the element they are defined by, Water signs are somewhat volatile and intense.

Water is most compatible with other Water signs, or with Earth. When two Water signs connect, there are a lot of intense emotions and passion. Just as the others, when Water is with its own Element, there is an easiness to expression and relationships due to their shared views. At the same time, the volatility can compound when two Water signs come together.

With Earth, Water can sometimes overwhelm their partner entirely with their needs and emotions, but they also can soften Earth, assisting them in their own way.

Venus in Water

Individuals with Venus in a Water sign in their chart are highly receptive emotionally. The best way to show them love is to open up to them and express your true feelings. They recognize this as a show of trust and, in a way, devotion. They need intimacy to feel appreciated and adored.

Water signs show love much in the same way they need to be loved. They are there for their partner emotionally, and often seek to show love in small ways. They provide creature comforts for their partner: Food, a place to stay, and the like.

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Polarities

Polarity is the largest division of the Zodiac, as it splits the signs into two groups often referred to as Positive and Negative or Yin and Yang. Polarity will be referred to as Yin and Yang in this article as the symbol of the Yin-Yang, the unity and perfection of the circle, truly embodies the polarities.

For some background, the Yin-Yang is a symbol in Chinese philosophy used to represent how seemingly opposing or contradictory forces in nature may actually be interconnected and interdependent. This applies to the concepts of light and dark, fire and water, earth and air, and so on. Just as the image itself suggests, these two forces are united, and they each contain a part of the other. This is true of the polarities within the Zodiac.

Polarities mark the most basic of personality traits: Are you extroverted or introverted?

Yin is made up by Earth and Water: Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces.

Yin signs are introverted, introspective, and prefer to spend time with their partners alone. They show love through very personal ways. Quiet time with their partner is what they seek above all else.

Yang is made up by Fire and Air: Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius.

Yang signs are extroverted, social, and prefer to spend time with their partners out and about, among others. They show love in bolder, more social ways. They want to go out with their partner and their friends, not stay in.

This is a simple but key difference in desire, one that can greatly affect a relationship. Yin is most compatible with other Yin signs, Yang with other Yang signs, and yet the attraction to the opposite polarity can be intense.

In cases like this, it’s important to look at the dominant polarity above all else, but the polarity of highly influential heavenly bodies such as the Sun, Moon, and Venus can shift an individual’s leaning greatly.

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Modes

This division is determined by the position of the sign in the movement of the wheel, the evolution of the Zodiac signs. The three Modes, otherwise known as Quadruplicities, shape the goals and worldviews of the signs. Unlike the Elements and Polarities, however, signs of the same Mode are the least compatible. This is due to the fact that they naturally form a square aspect.

In this case, the views shared by these signs can make them too similar, and thus create tension in a relationship.

Cardinal: Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn

These signs are literally the starters of the Zodiac. They are leaders, creators, and makers. Self-motivated and confident, these are the types that can do anything they put their mind to. Naturally, they seek to control, not to be controlled, meaning they can often clash even if their methods of “control” are very different.

When these signs come together, there can be a great struggle to find a balance of power that works for the couple, even when they are compatible in other areas. Both will seek to take charge, and unless they can compromise, allowing one partner to perhaps lead in one area of life and the other to take charge in a different area, they’re certainly going to clash and clash hard.

With Fixed signs, there can be tension due to the Cardinal desire to lead and the stubbornness of Fixed signs. Otherwise, these two groups can be highly compatible. Both are protective, in a sense, and the respect between them is great. When they work together, they can make quite the power couple, with the Cardinal signs charging ahead and the Fixed signs supporting their cause.

Mutable signs can be both frustrating and quite pleasant with Cardinal signs. Mutable signs are naturally more yielding than their fellow Modes, meaning they are typically content to let Cardinal signs take the wheel. The dynamic between them is more harmonious because of this.

Fixed: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius

Fixed signs are the conservationists and stabilizers. In honor of the evolution of the Zodiac, they take what was created by the Cardinal signs before them and maintain it.

To put it simply, these are the stubborn signs, but that hardly does them justice. The Fixed signs endure, persist, and have endless patience. Their role is to protect and care for - even nurture, at times - and they bring this part of themselves to their romantic affairs more often than not.

This can be extremely beneficial to any relationship, but at the same time dangerous. The Fixed signs’ unwillingness to give up can shift from positive to negative. They can become possessive and obsessive they are so determined to maintain a relationship, no matter what that relationship may be.

This is why it can be extremely difficult for these signs to engage in a relationship with each other. Their unwavering focus can so easily become all consuming if their partner possesses the same trait. It’s best if they are balanced by another sign.

With Cardinal signs, Fixed signs can feel as if they have come upon a kindred spirit in many ways, but at the same time this similarity can cause some tensions. Again, however, their possessiveness can prove stifling to Cardinal signs, and Cardinal signs’ desire to control stifling to them in turn.

Fixed signs can form very solid relationships with Mutable signs when they are not clashing over their conflicting goals. Mutable signs seek to change, to evolve, and grow while Fixed signs are all about maintaining, stability, and keeping certain things unchanged - even revolutionary Aquarius seeks to maintain their unyielding beliefs. This clash can be unmatched, but it can also lead to amazing growth when the couple is able to overcome it.

Mutable: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces

Mutable Signs bring about the end of each quadrant of the Zodiac and, with Pisces, the entire Zodiac cycle. They are here to expand, to move on from what has already been formed. These are the signs that roll with the punches, that are bendable, and highly adaptable. They let go of the control kept by the signs that came before them, letting the natural course of things to take place.

Part of their role requires them to have blind faith and confidence in themselves and others. This makes them more flexible and open than the other Modes, and in their flexibility lies both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.

Mutable signs are highly dynamic and find it easy to expand, grow, and face challenges because they are so open to shifting focus. At the same time, they lack direction and typically don’t have long-term goals. In relationships, they can get through almost anything, and help their partner along while they’re at it, yet they can prove unreliable to those they love in one way or another.

When Mutable signs are together, their relationship can feel messy and unfocused. The couple doesn’t have set goals, and if they do manage to form a plan they struggle to stay on the same page. If they can overcome this, however, their relationship can be very powerful as they assist in each other's growth.

With Cardinal signs, Mutable signs can feel quite at peace. Both seek to change in their own unique ways, and Mutable signs will yield control to the Cardinal. Cardinal can respect Mutable’s resilience, and Mutable Cardinal’s confidence. Together, these seemingly opposing forces can do great things.

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The Signs in Full

As to what constitutes masculine or feminine…

  1. Very masculine: Sun (Leo), Mars (Aries), Jupiter (Sagittarius)   2. Border-line masculine: Earth (Libra), Mercury (Gemini), Uranus (Aquarius)   3. Border-line feminine: Venus (Taurus), Saturn (Capricorn), Mercury (Virgo)   4. Very feminine: Moon (Cancer), Neptune (Pisces), Pluto (Scorpio)

2 and 3 are very close to being bisexual or androgynous, but not quite.

Fire and Earth were the two primal elements in our universe. Their interaction brought about the Air and Water elements, which are more refined elements and which characterize our more humane and sensitive natures. People with an abundance of planets in Fire or Earth are more basic, crude, or primitive in nature.

The Fire element is purest in the cardinal (active) mode. This means Aries. The Earth element is purest in the fixed mode. This means Taurus. The Air element is purest in the mutable mode. This means Gemini.

There is no pure water sign, as there is no fourth mode or quadruplicity.

In your natal chart, the perfect balance of Elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) is 25%, as there are four elements. If there is less than 25% of one element in your chart, that element is lacking; if there is more, it is excess.

The perfect balance of Modes, or Quadruplicities (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable), is 33%, as there are three. If there is less than 33% of one mode in your chart, that mode is lacking; if there is more, it is excess.

Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th Houses

Keywords: stubborn, focused, uncompromising, tenacious, inflexible, slow and steady, controlled

Cardinal Signs begin things with a bang but it’s often chaotic. That’s where Fixed Signs come in.

In many ways Fixed Signs clean up the mess. Just think about the word “fixed”: set, stable, decided, secure. After the chaos of change sweeps through these are the Signs that bring balance and safety.

They possess all of the staying power and foresight that Cardinal Signs do not. Built for the long haul, Fixed Signs stabilize, maintain and organize. They are the builders of the Zodiac for this reason.

They struggle with change and compromise because they are so set in their ways.

Lack of Fixed Signs: If an individual’s chart is made up of less than 33% Fixed Signs they lack tenacity and control. Without a healthy amount of Fixed Signs in one’s chart they often find themselves unable to stick to projects as they are unfocused and uninterested. The saying “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything” fits these individuals; without any determination, inflexibility or focus they all too easily fall. They are drawn to strong, independent people who are often leaders.

Excess of Fixed Signs: If an individual’s chart is more than 33% Fixed they are painfully unyielding, uncompromising and unwilling to listen. New or different ideas can feel threatening. They can’t take constructive criticism and feel personally attacked when it is offered. On the other hand, they don’t stop until they get what they want in life, no matter how many obstacles are in their way. They are drawn to softer more pliable individuals.

Balanced: These individuals with charts made up of 33% Fixed Signs are determined and have strong beliefs but are willing to listen and work with others. They are not necessarily leaders but they are kingmakers, the ones who may not be in the spotlight but lead to great things.

Cardinal  ☆  Fixed  ☆  Mutable

The Zodiac is divided into three groups or modes of four Signs each, referred to as Quadruplicities.

Cardinal Mode: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn - leaders, determined, magnetic, manipulative, creative, selfish, demanding, charming

Fixed Mode: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius - stubborn, focused, uncompromising, tenacious, inflexible, slow and steady, controlled

Quadruplicity Aesthetic: Capricorn - Cardinal

enterprising, inventive, assertive, powerful, exploitive