Putting the zodiac back together

Once you know the order of the signs, it s easy to assign them to their correct polarity, modality, and element because those classifications always occur in sequence. (You can clearly see that sequence in Table 1-2.) Those classifications convey a great deal of information. If all you know is the polarity, modality, and element of each sign, you know a lot. 

For example, take Cancer the Crab. It s the sign of negative cardinal water. This tells you that Crabs tend to be internal and receptive (negative), with a heavy dose of initiative (cardinal), and strong emotional awareness (water). 

The zodiac arcs across the cosmos, huge and impossibly remote. Its symbolic equivalent, small and incredibly close, is the human body. Two thousand years ago, a Roman astrologer named Manilius correlated each sign of the zodiac to a part of the body in a sequence that starts at the head with Aries and runs down to the feet, which belong to Pisces. Medieval art, both European and Islamic, includes many fine renderings of the so-called Zodiac Man, which also appears in ancient medical texts. Indeed, 

I have my doubts about medical astrology (though I have to say, I have seen cases in which it s weirdly, even disturbingly, accurate). However, I love this diagram because it reminds me that the spectrum of experience represented by the signs of the zodiac is universal and lives in everyone. 

Or consider Leo, which lives next door to Cancer but boasts a very different personality (as is always the case with adjacent signs). Leo is the sign of positive fixed fire. This means that its natives tend to be outgoing (positive), determined (fixed), and full of flash (fire). 

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