Preface
These tables will provide you with a summary of the signs in their respective groups.
The Lunar and Solar Groups are based on the Thema Mundi.
The Northern and Southern Bands are used in mundane astrology primarily for weather prediction.
Signs of short ascension rise faster than signs of long ascension. The images of short ascension also appear to “zig-zag” in the celestial band when rising while images of long ascension rise “straight and true” hence their names and symbolism. Long and Short Ascension are not important for beginning astrology. However, in advanced astrology when you have a hex (sextile) and the images are both signs of long ascension or one is a sign of long ascension and the other a sign of short ascension you’ll need to pay attention because in that instance a sextile or “hex” can sometimes function as a square just as trines sometimes function as squares for the same reason.
Do not confused the sense of “crooked” here with that of the sign Cancer. Cancer is crooked in the sense that it takes a long time for an event to play itself out due to the many twists and turns, or due to an indirect approach instead of a direct approach. Think of Cancer like a pinball machine where the little steel ball bounces around in all directions.
Sect is an important part if chart interpretation which we’ll discuss in greater detail later. The diurnal signs (fire/air) indicate things that develop quickly and end quickly, usually within a few years. Nocturnal signs tell us things unfold slowly over a long period of time, like a decade or more. We’ll show that in our beginner’s level chart interpretations.
Do not confuse double-bodied with bircorporal. The Goat-Fish (Capricorn) is also a bicorporal sign. We use the quadruplicities to gauge how many times something will happen. Remember, astrology is the original WYSIWYG. What you see in the chart will happen and you can’t stop it. There are only two questions: How many times will something happen and when. The solid or fixed signs indicate a one time event. The double-bodied and bicorporal signs tell us two to three times. Tropical signs means three or more times.
Trigon rulers are not triplicity rulers. In fact, trigon rulers outrank triplicity rulers. If you’re not familiar with trigon rulers you can thank Ptotle
“the Divine” (Masha-Allah was so confused he actually thought Ptotle was one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt during the Ptolemaic period). The hierarchy for domicile masters is:
- House ruler
- Exaltation ruler
- Trigon rulers
- Triplicity rulers
We’ll show you how to use those later.
These are also used in mundane astrology primarily in weather prediction.
These are used in natal, natal predictive, and forensic astrology.
The abundant signs indicate increase or things that are plentiful while the barren signs indicate the opposite. Note that this can be modified by the placement of the domicile ruler or domicile master in the chart.
These give clues as to profession and personality as well as action.
These are also in indicator of personality as well as life and career.
The position of a star within a sign shows the difference between the promiscuous and the indecent, that is, people with vulgar or crass behaviors (which are often sexual in nature). They’re also used to determine how someone will die or the type of death.
See Taurus? Okay, uh, where’s the rest of the bull? He’s not quite all there, is he? Nope. That’s why Taurus is a mutilated sign like the others (Leo and Aries). Those signs on the 12th House can indicate traumatic or surgical amputation, a mutilated limb or a useless limb. This is not Modern astrology. There are no cookie-cutter delineations. We read the chart. All of it.
Taurus is also an incomplete sign. Why? The signs have a uniform span of 30°. The constellations do not. The constellations range in size from a span of 26° for Aries to a span of 44° for Pisces. That is why neither you nor the great-great-great-grandchildren of your great-great-great-grandchildren will ever live to see the Age of Aquarius. See our musings on [Astrological Ages] for more details when we get it up.
As you might guess, the fact that the constellations vary in size means their spans total more than 360°. That is possible because some constellations overlap other constellations. The fixed-stars of Taurus overlap the fixed-stars in the constellation Aries. Also, as you might guess, when constellations overlap each other it makes it difficult to tell when a particular Astrological Age will start and a war was fought over the start date for the Age of Aries precisely because the fixed-stars in Taurus are intermingled with the fixed-stars in Aries.
The enigmatic signs are so-called because you have a Goat and a Fish (the Goat-Fish) and the Archer (Sagittarius) is human and a horse with wings. That’s why we have a dislike for the Latin names because it hides that symbolism from you. The enigmatic signs indicate problems. Yes, they also can indicate mysteries and things that truly are an enigma.
While we’re at it, we’d like to clear up a misconception about Sagittarius. Contrary to popular belief, the arrow of the Archer is not aiming at the fixed-star Antares known as the Heart of the Scorpion. The Archer’s tail is east with the body turned backward looking down and the arrow appears to be pointed at the Leo the Lion, although it’s actually pointed at Hydra, a southern constellation underneath Leo.
We like art. We’re supportive of art but not when it contradicts truth. Of the thousands of artistic depictions of the Archer/Sagittarius available on the internet, this is the only one we’ve found that is even remotely accurate:
The artist is Micah Ulrich. Check ’em out.
Yes, we’re Siskel, yes, we’re Ebert, and we’re giving two thumbs up.
In reality, PA.BIL.SAG (his Sumerian name) had his arrow pointed at Hydra. Earlier we showed the Dendera Zodiac and proved it was of Sumerian origin because of the Raven standing on the back of the Lion (Leo) who is standing on the back of the Serpent (Hydra). PA.BIL.SAG was the “Gatekeeper” whose arrow was pointed at Hydra.
The imperfect signs are flawed. Do not automatically assume with a knee-jerk that there’s something bad about that. Flaws can indicate uniqueness or even beauty.
Again, we don’t expect you to memorize these overnight. One suggestion is to print the chart and write in those signs that are abundant or barren, or flawed, enigmatic or incomplete, or crooked or straight since that functions as a memorization tool. You’ll note that many of these have greater application in natal predictive, mundane, mundane predictive and forensic (also in elections and hoary which we do not teach) than they do natal charts. Even so, do not ignore them.
I wonder, is Capricorn a classified as a “malevolent” sign because it is the only image joint-ruled by two malefics?
Hello, again.
No Greek text actually says that, but we agree with you since it is inferred or implied in the texts. There are a couple of texts that state the violent signs are those ruled by the malefics, but Sagittarius is also considered a violent signs at times. Like Sagittarius it’s also an enigmatic (mysterious) sign and an incomplete sign (so is Virgo — she has wings, and Taurus). So in the 10th month of the year on their calendar was a time a certain goat mated and one species of fish swam up-river to spawn just like trout do but it isn’t related to the trout.
Are goats violent? Not really. Rams are. My friend got gored by a ram. I was over his house and we were headed to the barn to find the dog to round up the sheep and we turned our backs on a ram. Big mistake. This was BC (Before Cell-phones) so I had to run to the house and it was really, really, really far away (for an 11-year old) and we didn’t even have the 911 system yet.
I was in Burkina Faso and I can tell you goats are mighty tasty.
Aside from that, there’s a special form of exaltation called communion and Mars and Saturn in Capricorn are in communion and assuming they’re not in the 6th or 12th Houses they’ll behave really good, especially in a nocturnal chart. Mars won’t afflict Saturn when they’re in communion.
We’ll see if we can dig up some other things on Capricorn to figure out why else it might be considered malevolent.
I also noticed that Cancer is listed as a straight signs but is described as being crooked in the text below. Am I misreading or was there an error.
Hello, Water Elemental. Yes, Cancer is a sign of long ascension meaning it is upright or tall or straight. One thing you have to remember is that to Valens and others there’s no such thing as “Cancer.” For that matter, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Virgo, Libra and such don’t exist in their language. Those are the anglicized versions of the Latin names. To them they were the Goat-Fish, the Archer, the Maiden and “The Crab.” If I’m correct, you’re referring to Valens and he was referring to the way a crab moves, not to the sign of the The Crab (Cancer). I’ve seen lots of different crabs on lots of different beaches around the world. One thing’s for sure, they never walk in straight line.
“Do not confused the sense of “crooked” here with that of the sign Cancer. Cancer is crooked in the sense that it takes a long time for an event to play itself out due to the many twists and turns, or due to an indirect approach instead of a direct approach. Think of Cancer like a pinball machine where the little steel ball bounces around in all directions.” This was from the paragraphs above which is what I was referencing.
Why is Virgo not listed as an incomplete sign but only imperfect?
I think there are some errors for the signs of long and short ascension since you mention Cancer is a crooked sign but is in the category for long ascension.
Hi, Water Elemental and welcome if you haven’t already been welcomed. I think Hunter covered most of that. Yes, Cancer is a sign of long ascension. Valens was commenting on a facet of the sign Cancer unrelated to long-short ascension.
Ah okay. Thanks for the clarification.
So when an even aspect has two stars in both am active and passive sign, how do you interpret that. Active signs develop and end quicker. Passive signs develop over a long period of time. So when you have a square how do you take that?
I am still trying to figure out how the following classifications are used in natal.
Voice, posture and behavior (only somewhat understand the promiscuous signs and violent). I also struggle with the physical characteristics like hot, cold, malodorous, and rough-skinned.
Hi Water Elemental. Sorry for the delay (I have a healthy respect for computer geeks now). It’s always very important to know what you are delineating and why you are delineating it. Are you delineating a natal chart? Primary predictive chart? Secondary chart? Tertiary chart? Does the house in your chart have to do with people, or things or people and things? Are you doing a mundane chart? Which house in the mundane chart?
Male natal chart. Capricorn rising. Aries 4th House. Mars in aversion in the Scorpio 11th. Sun in aversion in the Taurus 5th. Jupiter present in the Aries 5th. Jupiter is domicile lord of the Aries 4th House. Jupiter at Aries 29°. Sun at Taurus 7°.
Jupiter is under Sun’s beams meaning what Jupiter is doing is hidden, secret, unseen, unknown.
Where are you going to look for his body?
Would you look in a swampy stinky place? Why would you do that? Aries has nothing to do with swamps. Would you look in Iowa or Kansas? Northern Germany? It’s great tank country. Wide open flat expanses of fields. The lowlands of the Netherlands or Belgium? The African or Canadian or Asian steppes? Well, you might if it Taurus.
Would you look near bodies of water like seas, rivers, lakes, streams? Nope. Aries is not an amphibious sign. This is where the Latin names of signs do you wrong. It isn’t Aries. It’s actually the Horns of the Ram. Aren’t rams terrestrial creatures? It isn’t just any ram, it’s an ibex. We would call that a mountain goat.
So shouldn’t you be looking in a hot arid hilly-mountainous place?
The funny thing is when police actually searched a hot arid hilly place which happened to be a national park in southern California they found his wallet and other personal items. His body was nearby somewhere. Not any more. Animals. Yeah, they can make a mess. They will eventually find his body. His mother will be dead by that time but his father should still be alive.
That’s how we use signs. Those characteristics do not all apply simultaneously.
Alicia Witt has Sagittarius rising with Jupiter in the Aries 5th. Does that mean her children will be born in a hot arid hilly places? No.
Domicile ruler Mars is in the Gemini 7th and domicile master Sun is in the Leo 9th. The “keyword” here is barren. Does Alicia Witt have children? Nope.
Capricorn rising, Libra 10th, Venus in the Libra 10th. Libra is a promiscuous sign.
Does that mean the native is promiscuous? There’s no possible way to draw that conclusion. The 1st House is the native, not the 10th. The 10th is the native’s spouse. Your conclusion might be the native’s spouse is promiscuous.
Gemini rising Mercury in the 6th. They’re constantly sick or plagued with injuries? No, that would be ruler of the 6th in the 1st. Ruler of the 1st in the 6th. The 6th is the House of Service. In a swampy malodorous (stinky) place with terrestrial creatures? No, those do not apply. What does apply is that Scorpio is a servile sign.
So every characteristic of the signs do not apply all the time simultaneously. You’re always looking at who or what you are delineating and in what type of chart.
Ah okay. For me I have domicile ruler of the Pisces 5th in Libra, and domicile master Venus in Virgo. So, definitely not having children either.
I have the domicile ruler of the 1st in a servile sign but in the 12th.