CORE / 17 OF 36
Elements and Modalities
By the end you can lay the twelve signs out in one “element by way of moving” table, know what starting, holding and shifting look like, and see which row or column your own chart crowds into.
Approved original lessons, free on the web · 2026-10-12
THE IDEA
Twelve signs are four elements times three ways of moving — one sign per cell.
Table of four groups of three: fire is starting Aries, holding Leo, shifting Sagittarius; earth is starting Capricorn, holding Taurus, shifting Virgo; air is starting Libra, holding Aquarius, shifting Gemini; water is starting Cancer, holding Scorpio, shifting Pisces.
Every sign has one way of moving: starting, holding or shifting.
Starting, holding, shifting
The three ways of moving are called cardinal (starting), fixed (holding) and mutable (shifting). Starting signs are good at beginning things, holding signs at keeping them going, and shifting signs at adjusting, wrapping up and handing on to the next stage.
Later interpretationStarting: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn. Holding: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius. Shifting: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces. An easy way to remember: the sign that opens each season is starting, the one in the middle is holding, and the one at the end, as the season turns, is shifting.
Derived calculationSome books call the starting signs solstitial and equinoctial, the holding signs solid, and the shifting signs bicorporeal. When you meet those names, match them straight back to these three groups: they are the same signs.
Reflection promptWhat the old texts say: Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, Book I ch. 11, splits the twelve signs into four classes and names each sign. Solstitial: Cancer and Capricorn, where the Sun turns and brings summer and winter. Equinoctial: Aries and Libra, where the Sun makes night and day equal. Solid: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, which follow those. Bicorporeal: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, which follow the solid ones and share in the seasons on either side. Every reason comes from the seasons and the Sun's position.
Cited sourceFour elements times three ways of moving makes twelve cells, one sign each.
Two groupings, one table
Cross the two groupings and four times three gives twelve: one sign per cell, nothing repeated and nothing missing.
Derived calculationHow to read the table: find the row (element) first, then the column (way of moving). Leo sits in the fire row and the holding column, so it is fire plus holding; Pisces sits in the water row and the shifting column, so it is water plus shifting.
Derived calculationTwo words per sign are the easiest way to remember them: Aries is fire plus starting, Capricorn is earth plus starting. That is far easier than memorising twelve paragraphs of character.
Later interpretationThe table is a sorting tool. The four starting signs act very differently because their elements differ, and to read a person you put the two words together with a planet and a house.
Reflection promptWhat the old texts say: Tetrabiblos Book I ch. 18 divides the zodiac into four equal-sided triangles, the first through Aries, Leo and Sagittarius; ch. 11 is the other grouping, into three ways of moving.
Cited sourceLook at where things cluster, not at one cell.
Using it on your chart
Drop the placements you are sure of into the table and see whether they crowd into one row or one column. Start with the Sun and Moon, then Mercury, Venus and Mars, then the other planets, counting one at a time.
Reflection promptA crowded row (one element) often suggests you keep reaching for the same kind of attention; a crowded column (one way of moving) often suggests you favour starting, holding or shifting.
Later interpretationIf nothing crowds together, that is an answer too: you probably adjust to the situation and switch between ways of doing things. Every spread is a clue for looking back at yourself.
Later interpretation / Reflection promptWhat the old texts say: the text uses these groupings as material for later rules, used together with the other rules.
Cited sourceOBSERVE YOUR OWN CHART
Look at my chart
Your turn: drop the placements you are sure of into the table.
- Count elements first: which row has the most?
- Then count ways of moving: which column has the most?
- Write one line: does the fullest row or column match how you actually work?
Without a birth time, rising sign and houses stay blank.
LOOK CLOSER
A common mix-up
“Signs in the same column act the same.”
Two starting signs act very differently when their elements differ: Aries (fire) moves first, Libra (air) talks first. Read a sign with both words together.
“Most of my chart is fire, so I'm a fire person.”
A spread is a hint that shows you where to look — and an element needs a planet before you know where that energy goes.
“An even spread means no character.”
An even spread is an answer too: you adjust to the situation and can switch between ways.
CHECK YOURSELF
Now, try it yourself.
Sources and rights
- Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, trans. F. E. Robbins (Loeb Classical Library, 1940)
Book I ch. 11 names them: Cancer and Capricorn solstitial, Aries and Libra equinoctial, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius solid, and Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces bicorporeal, with every reason drawn from the seasons and the Sun's position; ch. 18 divides the zodiac into four equilateral triangles, the first through Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. The cardinal/fixed/mutable and fire/earth/air/water names and the crossing of the two divisions into one grid are later arrangements, labelled as such.
The Robbins translation is in the public domain, as the University of Chicago LacusCurtius copyright page records. The transcriber's own notes and layout are not cited. · 2026-10-10
Limits of this lesson
The spread of elements and ways of moving is a clue for describing yourself; it cannot decide anyone's character on its own.
YOUR STUDY
Write what you learned in your own words.
Write it down: do you lean to starting, holding or shifting? Give one recent example.
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