U.S. president Ronald Reagan and former French presidents Charles de Gaulle and
François Mitterand. The popularity of mundane astrology among astrologers tends to
ebb and flow with the level of global crisis: in the 1980s, few paid any attention to it,
but the collapse of communism and the Gulf War of 1991–92 brought heightened
interest, as did the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Writing during a similar period of crisis—the first years of the Cold War and the
height of the Korean conflict—Carter argued in his book An Introduction to Political
Astrologythat mundane astrology “should logically take precedence over all other
branches of our science [astrology], especially during the present epoch, when the life
of the individual counts for so very little in comparison with that of the community, to
which it is increasingly subordinated and by which is ever more coloured.”
—Nick CampionSources:
Baigent, Michael, Nicholas Campion,, and Charles Harvey. Mundane Astrology: The Astrology
of Nations and Organisation.2nd rev. ed. London: Aquarian Press, 1991.
Campion, Nicholas, The Book of World Horoscope.2nd rev. ed. Bristol: Cinnabar Books, 1999.
Carter, Charles E. O. An Introduction to Political Astrology.London: L. N. Fowler, 1951.
Pliny. De Natura Rerum.Book 2, III.
MUTABLESIGNS
The 12 signs of the zodiac are subdivided according to three qualities: cardinal, muta-
ble, and fixed. The four mutable signs (the mutable quadruplicity or mutable cross)
are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. The exit of the Sun from each of these four
signs indicates the end of a new season: Gemini, the end of spring; Virgo, the end of
summer; Sagittarius, the end of fall; and Pisces, the end of winter. The identifying trait
of the mutable signs (sometimes referred to as common signs) is adaptability or flexi-
bility. Mutable signs tend to react to new situations by adapting to them. Negatively,
mutable signs can be too malleable or changeable.
The same classification can be found in Vedic astrology—Chara (moveable or
cardinal), Dwi-Swabhava (dual or mutable) and Sthira (fixed). The three Vedic quali-
ties, 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.
Sutton, Komilla. The Essentials of Vedic Astrology.Bournemouth, UK: Wessex Astrologer, 1999.
MUTESIGNS
The mute signs are the water signs, Scorpio, Cancer, and Pisces. It is said that when
Mercury is afflicted in one of these signs, it results in quietness, difficulty in speaking,
or even a speech impediment. The designation mute probably was given because these
three creatures are “mute.”
THEASTROLOGYBOOK [477]
Mute Signs