elements, polarities, modalities and orientations in the horoscope: Part 4

today's topic: orientations

Most people who start studying astrology are aware of the elements in a chart. Some may be aware of modalities and polarities. Few that I have met(myself included) are aware of a sign's orientation. The orientations refer to the 3 stages of relationship between the individual and their environment. They correlate with the evolution of the twelve astrological signs. It's how we meet the world.

The three orientations are: PERSONAL, INTERPERSONAL and TRANSPERSONAL

The first stage, PERSONAL, is related to birth or infancy. A newborn's primary focus is on getting their needs met: food, clothing, warmth,personal contact. It sees itself as the center of the universe and its sole purpose is to assure its well being.
The first four signs of the zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer) correspond to the PERSONAL stage.

The next stage is INTERPERSONAL. As the child matures they become aware of other people and that they too have legitimate needs. In this phase, the child becomes a social individual, learning to interact with a wide variety of individuals.
The next four signs of the zodiac (Leo,Virgo,Libra,Scorpio) correspond to the INTERPERSONAL stage.

The final stage is TRANSPERSONAL. In this stage, the individual seeks to understand their relationship with the universe. They must accept their physical mortality and find a more spiritual connection.
The final four signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) correspond to the TRANSPERSONAL stage.

Like the elements and modalities, the orientations show both positive and negative applications.

An exaggeration of the PERSONAL orientation will result in a person who becomes selfish and egocentric. Those deficient in this orientation have a difficult time fulfilling their rudimentary survival needs.

An exaggeration of the INTERPERSONAL orientation results in a person who may become too other-directed, losing touch with their own personal sense of self. Lacking this orientation results in a person who is denied their need for human contact.

An exaggeration of the TRANSPERSONAL orientation may result in a person who is out of touch with the world. A person who is so concerned with the meaning of life that they forget about taking care of practical matters like paying the rent. The person lacking this orientation, experiences a lack of connection with the world as a whole and thus will lack a spiritual perspective towards life.

As before, look at your child's planets putting extra emphasis on the personal planets(these are: sun, moon, mercury, venus, mars and ascendant[rising sign]) making a list of the orientations then look at the rest of their planets(jupiter, saturn,uranus,neptune and pluto) See how evenly distributed the orientations are (ie: My son has his sun, moon, mercury and mars in personal signs, his venus,ascendant and saturn are in interpersonal signs he has no personal planets that are transpersonal but does have his jupiter, uranus, neptune and pluto there. All in all, pretty balanced but my guess is he will be more concerned about meeting his personal needs first, and with all the cancer energy he has I can assure you him getting fed is priority numero uno!!!)

In the next lesson I will tie all 4 lessons together and give numerous examples.

KEYWORDS FOR THE ORIENTATIONS OF THE ZODIAC

PERSONAL
(Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer)
focused on personal wants and needs

INTERPERSONAL
(Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio)
social, focused on others

TRANSPERSONAL
(Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces)
universal, focused on ideals and abstractions

elements, polarities, modalities and orientations in the horoscope: Part 1

You can get a pretty good overview of your natal chart simply by delineating your chart for these four concepts. Using my sons chart, I will show how this is done.

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 Modalities.

Looking at my buggy boy's chart you can quickly see he has most of his planets or sensitive points located in FIXED signs [There are 7 planets and sensitive points located in fixed signs in order from left to right & top to bottom are: Venus, Saturn, Midheaven, Neptune, Chiron, Mars and ascendant(or rising sign)]

He has 3 planets in CARDINAL signs [Sun, Moon, Mercury] and 3 planets/ 1 sensitive point in MUTABLE signs [Jupiter, Pluto, Uranus and his north node]

Now the fun part! What does this mean?
Well, in this case we are talking about a pretty FIXED chart.
Now the bug is only a year old and let me tell you, he is definitely a creature of habit, stuck in his ways and stubborn. He likes routine and if anything disrupts that routine, well, we have one cranky little critter on our hands.

The good news for our little boy is he has 4 MUTABLE placements and 3 CARDINAL placements. Now, while not perfectly balanced there is at least some flexibility(mutable) and initiative(cardinal) in his chart. The fact that his Sun, Moon and Mercury are all in Cardinal signs shows that he will have initiative and the ability to engage in purposeful activity. He is quite the little explorer and he is very active from the moment he wakes up. His flexibility is more of a generational effect [the planets located there are considered generational, their orbits are so slow that many children born within a certain period of time will have these planets in the same sign]
Since mommy has an overabundance of mutable planets in her chart, we hope that she will be able to help him develop a little more flexibility!

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 modalities 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 Modalities:

Qualities of the Cardinal Modality
aries - libra - cancer - capricorn

Skillful Application:
generating, beginning, doing, initiating,
originating, enterprising, active, direct,
purposeful

Unskillful Application:
starts but does not finish, impatient,
dissatisfied, overactive, forceful,overcommitted

Qualities of the Fixed Modality
taurus - scorpio - leo - aquarius

Skillful Application:
concentrating, stabilizing, sustaining,
finishing, establishing, preserving, conserving,
steadfast, focused, powerful, persistent,
constant, determined

Unskillful Application:
stubborn, rigid, resistant to change,
stuck,obsessed, overly retentive, inert,

habit-bound

Qualities of the Mutable Modality
gemini - sagittarius - virgo - pisces

Skillful Application:

distributing, adaptable, flexible, adjustable,
connecting, linking, mental, adapting, learning,
changing, versatile, dual

Unskillful Application:
scattered, unfocused, depleted, dissipated,
diffused, distracted,inconsistent, prone to worry,
indecisive, restless, unfinishing

Here is a useful chart I found that deciphers all the astrological symbols you will need to have working knowledge of as we start to delineate the natal chart. Feel free to save the image to file so that you can refer back to the table when off-line.

Welcome to Earth Mother Astrology!

Hi!
Welcome!

This blog started as a forum outside Cafemom to discuss our child's potential through the study of astrology. I hope to have useful information on this blog that is easily understood and accessible to most users. Please be patient with me as I have a small boy that I'm rearing as well as a husband, 3 cats, a dog and a fledgling business(see my other blog: busylittleelf.blogspot.com to see what I'm talking about!)

I will try to make one significant post each week.
I have started a group on google groups[see link in side bar]
If you are a cafemom(or would like to become one!) please visit our group:
http://www.cafemom.com/group/earthmotherastrology
I will be monitoring the cafemom group daily so leave me a post and I'll get back to you!

Thanks!
Kelly