Horoscope Symbols by Robert Hand

Author:Robert Hand
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Ltd
Published: 1997-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Crosses or Quadruplicities

We have just shown how the elements or triplicities refer to a broad range of characteristics, both psychological and philosophical—kinds of behavior and action, and especially modes of perception. The symbolism of the crosses or quadruplicities is not as deep and rich, nor does it cover as many facets of the individual. Yet the crosses are important, partly because they represent three different modes of creativity. These three modes are: cardinal, which symbolizes initial creation, the impetus to create, and the making of beginnings; fixed, which symbolizes the sustaining of what has already been created, and the creation of stability; and mutable, which symbolizes the alteration, transformation, and adaptation of what has already been created.

When events have been initiated from outside, the three quadruplicity types also relate to modes of reaction. Cardinal reaction is counteraction, the making of a second initiative to counter the first. Fixed reaction is resistance, the effort to endure in the face of external initiative, and to avoid change. Again, the emphasis is on stability. Mutable reaction does not actively resist what is happening, but tries to alter it indirectly by bending the course of events onto a desired path.

The crosses are also important because when combined with the elements they distinguish each of the twelve signs from every other. Thus each sign is a unique combination of element and cross: there is only one cardinal water sign (Cancer), one mutable fire sign (Sagittarius), and so forth.

This means that in each elemental triangle, there is one cardinal, one fixed, and one mutable sign. Looking at the element earth, for example, earth action and life receive their impetus from Capricorn (the cardinal earth sign), are sustained in Taurus (the fixed earth sign), and are transformed, altered, and sometimes made transcendent by the symbolism of Virgo (the mutable earth sign). More specifically, Capricorn desires to build and to achieve on the material plane; Taurus desires to have, to hold, and also to enjoy the material stability resulting from Capricorn’s action; and Virgo wishes to change and make more effective the products of the material world created by Capricorn and sustained by Taurus.

In the water element, the cardinal sign, Cancer, symbolizes the reaching out of feeling and emotion, the desire to encounter the world on a feeling level. Cancer also reaches out to create and nourish new life. The fixed sign, Scorpio, prefers to dwell deep within the inner world of emotion to experience and understand this realm as thoroughly as possible. The mutable sign, Pisces, uses that understanding to bring about a transformation of the self through losing the ego and surrendering the soul.

In the air element, Libra, the cardinal sign, brings about an understanding of the simplest kind of relationship, the one-to-one, and symbolizes the beginning of awareness through the creation of a relationship between the self and the other. The fixed sign, Aquarius, symbolizes the effort to understand the relation of everything and everyone to everything else without centering that understanding on the self or limiting the experience to one-to-one relationships.

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