My summary of Zodiac Sign Meanings Part 1: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo

I’m moving on from the history of astrology to learning about the zodiac signs beginning with the first six signs. I watched The Astrology Podcast episode 175 titled Zodiac Sign Meanings Part 1: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo. Kelly Surtees, Austin Coppock, and Chris Brennan discuss the basic categories: gender/polarity, modality, element, and planetary ruler and the symbolism of the first six signs of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo.

They defined gender or polarity as masculine / yang or feminine / yin. Whereas masculine / yang can be thought of as refers to constantly changing or moving and feminine / yin can be described as receptive, supportive, or nurturing. The types of modalities or quadruplicity are either cardinal, fixed, or mutable. Cardinal signs represent the beginning and active energy because they get things moving. Fixed signs sustaining the movement caused by the cardinal signs. Finally, mutable signs adapt or transform whatever motion the fixed signs sustained. The four elements are earth, air, water, and fire. They used the traditional rulership scheme for each sign.

What I’ll share with you are those categories, symbolism, and a few of the impactful examples, descriptors, or explanations for each of those six signs beginning with Aries.

Aries

1. Gender — Masculine / Yang
2. Modality — Cardinal
3. Element — Fire
4. Planetary Ruler — Mars

As a person, Aries was described to me as the Nike slogan, “just do it.” They can be about capitalizing on the moment with power. Where power is sudden acceleration of their desire to take action or to create a spark for action. With this desire to take action quickly there’s a boldness and sense of courage to move forward while being afraid. Their quickness can lead them to act or go at it alone which could lead to the impress that they are being selfish or egotistic. Aries is represented by the ram, known for quick explosive movements. Reading and typing this paragraph allowed me to see how the four categories and the symbolism can be synthesized to understand the characteristics of a zodiac sign. It’s really starting to come together even more for me!

Taurus

1. Gender — Feminine / Yin
2. Modality — Fixed
3. Element — Earth
4. Planetary Ruler — Venus

Many of the descriptors and explanations of Taurus were related to being methodical, consistent, measured, resistant to change, etc. Newton’s first law of motion just came to mind. In that once a Taurus gets started, however long it takes, “the object moves with constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” The slow start or resistance to change can lead to the perception of stubbornness or being boring. Additionally, Taurus is associated with the senses especially touch, sensory pleasure, and above the basic level of quality. This is due to its Venus planetary ruler that focuses on value and taste.

Gemini

1. Gender — Masculine / Yang
2. Modality — Mutable
3. Element — Air
4. Planetary Ruler — Mercury

Mercury as its planetary ruler, nimbleness, agility, duality, and curiosity were a few of the descriptors that stuck with me. Being a pollinator was an interesting attribute that was mention. Gemini can be seen as a pollinator because their ability to talk to anyone they can spread their knowledge to many people. Hopefully, this is in the positive way, but I know it can go either way. An interesting character trait mentioned was self-contradictory. As they described how once they received new information they are willing to change their stance or viewpoint I was able to understand how they could be seen as self-contradictory.

Cancer

1. Gender — Feminine / Yin
2. Modality — Cardinal
3. Element — Water
4. Planetary Ruler — Moon

I think it was Austin that beautifully tied the Cancer categories together. He began by asking where does water come from, then pointed that they were discussing water and beginnings, and mentioned the connection of the Moon being the sign of the mother. He goes on to ask “where does life come from” then answers “from the primordial water.” He ties the mother’s womb being filled with primordial water and its salinity to being similar to seawater. Then he goes to ask “where does water come from” and answers that it comes from the ground, a well, or spring. He ties that civilization happens where people gathered around those water sources. Lastly, he asks “what do you do with the source of primordial water which nurtures you? You protect it. You build a goddamn shell around it.” From that description, I was able to understand why Cancers are known as nurturer or nurturing. The water element provides a vital source to human and the Moon is the mother, where human life begins in their womb which also speaks to the cardinal aspect of beginnings. Then the last few remarks about protection were humorous to me as I was able to clearly understand why the crab represents Cancer.

Leo

1. Gender — Masculine / Yang
2. Modality — Fixed
3. Element — Fire
4. Planetary Ruler — Sun

Leo was described as a consistent and focused fire that needs to be fed. Now the question was ask what is the fire being fed as a way to point that there could be positive and negative fuel feeding a Leo. Is a a soul’s desire or likes on social media? Leo is aware of being seen and takes pride in consistently doing the work. They can use their illuminating skills to know only bring the spotlight to themselves, but they can do it for other.

Virgo

1. Gender — Feminine / Yin
2. Modality — Mutable
3. Element — Earth
4. Planetary Ruler — Mercury

Hearing the descriptors and explanation of Virgo traits reminded me of fields of Industrial Engineering and Quality. In both of those fields, you are paying close attention to the details of a process to determine areas of improvements. From my experience, both of these professions are frowned upon because external people see them as being ‘nitpicky’ because they tend to invoke change just as a Virgo is a mutable sign.

In closing, listening to all the examples in the video and summarizing is helping me solidify my understanding of the zodiac signs. I look forward to learning about the last six signs.

-LaShawn Jaynay