elements, polarities, modalities and orientations in the horoscope: Part 2

Elements and modalities:

There is usually a small box on the natal chart (see image above) that tells you the elements and modalities of your child's chart. Across the top are letters C, F & M; these stand for Cardinal, Fixed & Mutable and are your modalities. Down the left side are letters F, A, E, & W; these stand for Fire, Air, Earth & Water and are your elements.

Today we will go over the Elements.

If you look at the above box you will notice that my boy has 4 planets and his midheaven in FIRE signs, 1 planet(and Chiron) in AIR signs, 1 planet in EARTH signs and 4 planets,ascendant and north node in WATER signs. What does this tell us? Only looking at planetary signs, it tells us that he is going to be a very sensitive (WATER predominant) boy who is also enthusiastic and self-sufficient(FIRE predominant). Now, his father and I will have to watch the boy to make sure that he learns practicality(EARTH lacking) and reasoning(AIR lacking).[ We will re-examine the lack of elements when we discuss the houses in the natal chart for the lacking elements may not actually be lacking at all!]

Note: When tabulating your totals give extra weight to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant and Midheaven

Again, we will go into more detail about how everything interrelates later in the lessons, for now make a little list of how many points are in each of the elements and jot down a couple words from the keywords below that describe how they are showing up in your child's personality.

Keywords for the Elements

FIRE
aries leo sagittarius
fiery, ardent, enthusiastic, spontaneous, self-sufficient, romantic
misused: bossy, too forceful

EARTH
taurus virgo capricorn
practical, earthy, dependable, conservative, sensual,
love material comforts, good recuperative powers
misused: dull, too materialistic

AIR
gemini libra aquarius
good communicators, intellectual, able to handle abstract reasoning,
logical, broadminded, objective, idealistic, unprejudiced
misused: cold, impractical

WATER
cancer scorpio pisces
feeling, sustaining, receptive, emotional, intuitive, responsive, sensitive, deep, susceptible to moodiness, easily influenced by the environment(no fighting in front of these little ones!!)
misused: can be self-indulgent, self-pitying, wavering
(note: because of societal pressures these signs are
usually harder for boys to handle than girls)