CARDINALSIGNS
The 12 signs of the zodiac are subdivided according to three qualities: cardinal,
mutable, and fixed. The four cardinal signs (the cardinal quadruplicity or cardinal
cross) are Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. The entrance of the Sun into each of
these four signs begins a new season: Aries, spring; Cancer, summer; Libra, fall; and
Capricorn, winter. The identifying trait of the cardinal signs is captured by their vari-
ous alternative names: initiating, moving, or movable signs. Cardinal signs thus tend
to initiate new activities and to act (to “move”) on the present situation. Negatively,
they are said to lack staying power (a traditional characterization that applies most to
Aries and not at all to Capricorn).
The same classification can be found in Vedic Astrology—Chara (“moveable”
or cardinal), Dwi-Swabhava (“dual” or mutable), and Sthira (“fixed”). The three
Vedic qualities, which are associated with the same signs as their Western parallels,
have similar connotations.Sources:
Sakoian, Frances, and Louis S. Acker. The Astrologer’s Handbook.New York: Harper & Row, 1989.Cardinal Signs
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A drawing of Caput and Cauda across the Ascendent-Descendent line from a fourteenth-
century manuscript. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.