If the wandering stars are the animate components of astrological narrative, the signs of the zodiac are the settings through which they pass. There are twelve, just like calendar months, or hours on a clock face. Each sign has its own flavour, and when someone is born while the Sun is in a particular sign, they are said, in popular culture, to ‘be’ that sign because the Sun corresponds most to self and identity. But all the other planets make their circuits of the same sequence at very different paces, and the positions of these all put together describe the astrological gestalt of a particular moment in time.
When the Sun completes a full circuit of the zodiac, we call it a year. The moon takes a lunar month (27.3 – 29.9 days, depending on which month it is and how you count it). Saturn takes about 29.5 years to complete the circle. The quickest circuit of all is the day, which is the turning of the Earth itself, in which each of the signs of the zodiac take turns appearing in the east, parading across the sky and then setting in the west. The sign that was rising when you were born is referred to as the Ascendant (AC). The one that was highest is where the Mid-heaven (MC) degree is marked on a chart.
In some ways this system of astrology is like a crazy kaleidoscope clock with a potentially infinite number of hands, on which the time can never be the same twice. The clock face itself is moving too, in a 26,000 year cycle called precession. There is much debate about whether the ‘signs’, which also relate to constellations they are named after (but with which they are not now aligned), can be valid. This is a bit like saying that modern clock time is invalid because it doesn’t accord with how sundials work. The interesting thing is that this is the system we have. What does it reveal about how we shape our world view? At the end of the day, whether you believe in daylight savings time or not, you know when your favourite programme is going to come on, and that if you are an hour late for work, your boss is not going to care about where the sun is in the sky, even if last week you were arriving with the sun in the same place and were considered to be ‘on time’.
Aries 
Cardinal Fire (+)
The sign of the Ram is head first in the sequence. Its 30 degrees begin where the sun rises at the northern hemisphere spring equinox, which is one of the two places where the celestial equator (projection of the equatorial line into space) and ecliptic (apparent path of the sun) cross.
Rams are especially well known for ramming things with their fronts. The attributes of the sign push this metaphorically for all its worth and are to do with advance, direct action, self-assertion, initiative, emerging, forward and up propulsion and breaking forth, like a shoot in spring.
Straight-up Mars ‘rules’ Aries, so whatever qualities are associated with the Mars archetype pertain to some extent also to this sign, and vice versa.
Taurus 
Fixed Earth (-)
The Thick-Necked Bull comes next. Here we have another animal with horns, but the associated quality is stubborn and firm rather than trail blazing, like the bull who won’t budge out of the way – no less powerful a tactic, but Taurus is more about defence than offence and relies on its bulk.
The sign takes its name from the oldest ‘known’ constellation, a strikingly obvious one that was painted on cave walls (‘fixed’) by people at least as long as 16,500 years ago. That it survives to this day as Taurus in our culture, and as a physical picture on a rock surface, is an incredibly apt demonstration of the stable, enduring qualities astrologers attribute to this sector of the zodiac. Much later, in the epoch when the vernal equinox was occurring in Taurus, bull worship became rife in copper and bronze age culture. Back then, Aries was not perceived as a constellation; the dim stars that are now styled as The Ram were seen as the cowherd tending to The Bull, if they were considered at all.
Taurus is one of two signs ruled by Venus, its polarity is feminine, and it partakes of the associations of the Venus archetype which are at the more concrete end of the spectrum: sensuality, physicality, materiality, comfort, wealth, stability, property.
Gemini 
Mutable Air (+)
The Babbling Twins are third. The first ‘human’ sign in the sequence is doubly so. Everything to do with communication, reflection, division, symmetry and duality that twins imply. This the airy part of Mercury’s domain and the polarity is masculine.
Like the dual nature of the Chinese character for ‘human’ (which is, from one perspective, two sticks leaning against each other but also, from another, represents the profile of a person with their hands stretched out in from of them), Gemini’s symmetry describes the intensely social, inter-dependent, communicative, (ambi-)dextrous, information-sharing layer of human nature. The capacity for reasoning, having an internal debate with oneself or an external one with one’s neighbour, and modifying behaviour based on analysis of past results (ie. learning) are traits that have both evolved socially and are inherent in the symmetry of the nervous system. They go hand in hand, so to speak, with our verbal and manual skills.
In modern life this sign is the one most associated with the media, where information takes on a life of its own as it is endlessly processed in ways that tend to dissociate it from the solid ground of Taurus or the direct action of Aries, much like a quick impression can be qualified and transmuted by thought into something completely different.
Cancer 
Cardinal Water (-)
The Crab-in-Shell, ruled by the Moon, is the sign of life itself lurking in mother ocean and contains everything to do with nurture, home, protection, sideways movement and secrets silently kept at midnight.
Cancer is the first water sign, where the volatile intellectual analysis of Gemini is checked for health and safety by the emotional faculties. It is also the second ‘cardinal’ sign, and so a fresh point of departure for the original impulse of the cycle (which was so altered in the preceding ‘mutable’ sign), starting where the Sun rises at the northern hemisphere summer solstice. This is when the Sun begins the journey back towards winter, even though the hottest part of the year is yet to come.
When the world outside becomes overwhelming, this is where we can come back to recuperate, and know that the larder is full of delicious comfort food and that we are looked after. Spending too much time is this state can make us seem downright reclusive or obsessed with homeland security. There is a balance to be struck between hiding in the shell and daring to venture out, but this is the optimal enclosure for gathering energies and fomenting next steps.
Leo 
Fixed Fire (+)
The Roaring Lion. Ta-da! Presenting: the most glamorous sector of the ecliptic… the sign of coming out, creating, performing, producing and showing off. This could be in the literal sense of actors on a screen or stage, or in the sense of producing fruit for the fair or babies to exhibit on the ‘world stage’.
Unsurprisingly, the Sun rules here, and it shines brighter and feels hotter than at any other time of year in the latitudes where this zodiac evolved. Sometimes it gets dangerously hot. We may find that the prime assertion of the self which kicked everything off in Aries gets so supremely confident in Leo that it purrs and gets the bling out, to show to all and sundry who’s the king of the jungle, without realising that’s not always in good taste!
While the chest-beating tendencies of Leo can be exaggerated to the point of irritating, pompous self-righteousness they are much celebrated in great leaders. Courage, kindness and generosity, culturally associated with the heart and backbone, are the positive manifestations of this drive to self-assurance. Only when we are confident and secure in ourselves do we dare to roll over and expose our tummies for a rub.
Virgo 
Mutable Earth (-)
The Virgin Press. This area is to do with harvest and digestion in the widest possible sense. Ruled by Mercury, but this time the polarity is feminine. Mercury’s airy Gemini side answers for the operations of the central nervous system; here in earthy Virgo, the sign of the large intestine, he gets down to the practicalities which everyone else mostly tries to avoid. The digestion of food in order to extract nutrition is such a complex task that the intricacies are still very poorly understood by science. And yet, it happens!
The ‘enteric’ nervous system, which controls digestion, is a mysteriously autonomous network of nerves, which can continue to function unperturbed when cut off from the rest of the nervous system, and even goes about its work for some time after an animal has died. It is responsible for what we call gut feeling.
This being Mercury’s patch, the name of the sign is tricky. At first glance, one assumes that ‘virgin’ means virgin, until one day you wonder: ‘What, then, is extra virgin?’ Is this a case of ‘Your mother doesn’t know…’?
The history of the word virgo in the Christian context is very curious because it was the Latin word used to translate the Greek parthenos. This Greek word, however, referred not only to a woman who had not had sex, but also to a woman who chose her own husband (as opposed to having an arranged marriage), making the need for totally immaculate conception somewhat less urgent.
Perhaps if we run with this binary kind of virginity, we see where the archetypal links with servitude/freedom from it, perfectionism/practicality, minimalism/hoarding etc. have their roots.
Libra 
Cardinal Air (+)
The Teetering Scales. Ruled by Venus, polarity masculine, this sign begins right opposite where Aries does, where the northern summer sun clips the celestial equator and heads south into autumn. Of course, in the southern hemisphere, spring is just beginning to balance this out.
Here we meet Venus in the airy part of her lot. The tone becomes idealistic, harmonious, righteous, and it’s not so much about me as it is about us getting over our differences and negotiating the conflict away. When this balancing is done right, we achieve Justice.
The tastes have been refined by all the Virgo discernment of the previous sector, and the very essence of beauty has been extracted from mulch and artfully distilled for our pleasure. This is the sign of partnership and it is great for making music, making love, making peace… including when that is not really what is called for. Appearances must be kept up at all costs and can be deceiving. Sometimes the veneer gets chipped to reveal that not everything is sweetness and light and the scales are set in motion again.
Scorpio 
Fixed Water (-)
The Scorpion’s Sting: Sex, death and surgery. Ruled by Mars traditionally, and Pluto in modern reckoning.
Scorpio has a dangerous reputation, perhaps because it is the point on the end of its tail that scrapes at Libra’s paintwork. This sign thrives on intensity and is certainly the best equipped to handle what lurks not only beneath the surface but also in the depths of the very core of things. As such, it fulfils the very necessary function of (over-sensitive?) litmus testing and prickly, forensic reality-checking, and then eliminates that which is found wanting. These qualities absolutely do not lend themselves to amiable dinner party conversation, but when you want things done thoroughly, or need precision healing and purification, this is the place to come.
Plunging the depths also links Scorpio to all kinds of detective work, as well as the contractual obligations hidden behind Libra’s smooth negotiating. Then there is the visceral and biological mystery of sex and death – the obverse work of knitting together the tapestry of life is accomplished here, away from plain sight.
Like any archetypal pole, Scorpio can get carried away, and this sign is associated with murderers, fraudsters and spies as well as lawyers and investigators. The extreme raw power accessible with the sharp tools on offer is liable to drive the vulnerable absolutely mad.
Sagittarius 
Mutable Fire (+)
The Searching Centaur, ruled by Jupiter.
Diametrically opposed to Gemini, this sign extends the twins’ range beyond the personal to the civilisational. If Gemini takes the bus to primary school, Sagittarius flies by plane to far-off philosophical conjecture. This can become very removed from relevance, but gives welcome respite from the stress reaction which may have been induced by Scorpio’s up-close-and-personal insistence. While the Centaur’s arrow is also sharp, it is aimed far away.
Jupiter’s philanthropic expansiveness brings strangers together, and people whose Sun is in this sign are noted for cultivating friendly alliances. At best, they thrive on novelty, prefer to focus on exploring connections and easily forget grudges, rather than hiding at home and perpetuating blood-feuds. These impulses are the building blocks of the trans-personal traditions which are associated this sector of the zodiac: higher education, religion, international organisations etc.
Capricorn 
Cardinal Earth (-)
The Climbing Goat, ruled by Saturn.
Here is the seat of political and corporate power, where the awesome potentiality of the links made by Sagittarius is manifested in the material world. Those with the strongest legs race to the top of the resulting structure without much concern for who they might knock off in the process (although it can also be a genuine instance of standing on the shoulders of giants, depending on one’s point of view).
Saturn’s mood tends to be a bit grim and stuck on the past in compensation for the optimism which may have been over-indulged in the previous sign. Uncompromising heaviness facilitates steady hard work, like the hardness of bones supporting the soft tissues, or the hardness of teeth reducing a bite of food to mush. Such gravitas practically guarantees success instead of relying on pot luck, but is not exactly for the light-hearted.
Capricorn is a long-term strategist. This 1/12 of the circle begins with the northern winter solstice, and represents that famously northern, cold, protestant work ethic which seeks to dominate the whole world with its efficiency. But, while the coldest, hardest part of the winter may be yet to come, there is a glimmer of hope in that the Sun technically starts moving slowly towards the summer again.
Aquarius 
Fixed Air (+)
The Water Cooler. The traditional ruler was Saturn, now it’s Uranus.
Like the other air signs, Aquarius is all about ideas, and takes them to a new level, far above everything that has come before. The stratospheric detachment can get so cool that it becomes downright icy. But this, as Uranus’ realm, is where we find the future: the thoroughly utopian, humanitarian reaction to the fascistic excesses of Capricorn, where it is envisaged that no one needs to do the dirty work if we can just invent the right technology to do it for us. Then there’s more time for sophisticated entertainment (like eg. internet cats): Aquarius is right opposite Leo in the same way that the audience faces the stage.
Modern technology, from light bulbs through aeroplanes to the internet, has its zodiacal home here. Those inventions have changed societies and everyday life beyond recognition, accelerated globalisation, and allowed a new kind of collective, and an info-sphere, to crystallise.
Popular notions of the ‘Age of Aquarius’ refer to the fact that ‘soon’ (probably sometime in the next few centuries, depending on how you measure the line and where you think it is in the first place), the Sun will be rising in this constellation on the northern vernal equinox. The way some people talk about it, you’d think the Sun was already there. How futuristic can you get?
Pisces 
Mutable Water (-)
The Slippery Fish. Ruled by Jupiter once upon a time, now it’s assigned to Neptune.
Never mind blurring the lines between things, here in the wonderland of three second attention spans, one learns to rely on intuition and feeling to navigate through the mists of non-differentiation. The Aquarian ice has melted and there is nothing solid to stand on. Which seems doubly poignant considering that Pisces rules the feet and fish are notable for their lack thereof. In astro-logic this must therefore serve to establish that authenticity and integrity do not depend on terra firma. Things appear to come and go, but the process is itself a constant. Only drops in the ocean can hope to get to grips with the flow.
It is the very end of a cycle. In some ways the very antithesis of its opposite – Virgo – who sorted everything out into distinct strands, in others, it is the dissolution that is necessary for Aries to be able re-emerge again to begin a new cycle.
In human life terms, this sign corresponds to time in the womb, the moments before birth, the very end of one journey which precedes the beginning of another, and so also to the deathbed, as we slip of this mortal coil and…
astrospection 