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FIXED SIGNS: PART ONE
THE VALUE OF FIXED VALUES by Boots Hart, CAP

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Zodiac signs are divided in several ways. The first is by Element – whether a sign is said to be fire, earth, air or water. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are fire. Fire imagines and envisions. Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are Earth. Earth signs sense through the reality of the issue: what they can smell, touch, taste, hear or see. Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are air, signs which express themselves through ideas and theories. Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are water. Water signs feel.

The second way to divide signs is by Quadrant – where they fall in the wheel of the natural horoscope, that being a zodiac wheel which begins with Aries and ends with Pisces. Six signs lie ‘below’ the horizontal axis. These signs are personal and ‘self’ oriented. The six signs above this horizontal are ‘worldly’ or ‘interactive’. The left hemisphere is pro-active, and the right is re-active. That give us four quarters of three signs each. The first quarter is pro-active and ‘self’ oriented (Aries, Taurus, Gemini). The second is personal and re-active (Cancer, Leo, Virgo). The third which is re-active, but worldly and interactive (Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius)…and the fourth (Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces) includes signs which are pro-active and worldly.

Signs are also divided by the natural style of action. This ‘stylistic’ definition is known the Quadruplicity. There are three quadruplicities of four signs each. Each of those quadruplicities includes one sign from each element, and one sign from each quadrant.

The first quadruplicity is Cardinal. The first of every quadrant is Cardinal. Cardinal signs act and learn from their actions. The Cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

The second quadruplicity is Fixed. The second sign of every quadrant is Fixed. Fixed signs would prefer to learn first, then choose whether they want to act (or not) and how they want to act (or not). Fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.

The third quadruplicity is Mutable. The third sign in every quadrant is Mutable. Mutable sign planets undertake an action, learn a bit from that, refine their activity in accordance with new information received, go a bit father, learn something else, refine their aim yet again and continue on…repeating this pattern over and over again. The Mutable signs are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.

Now…because Fixed signs seem to be a sticking point in most lives (and yes, all puns are intended!) I thought it might be useful to send a little time discussing the Fixed process. And yes, it is a process. Like everything in astrology, the progression of the Fixed signs (Taurus _ Leo _ Scorpio _ Aquarius) is a lesson, one which, when mastered, brings financial stability and personal security.

Are you a Fixed Sun sign? If so, the Fixed quadruplicity may explain why you find it so hard to ‘get into gear.’ Not a Fixed Sun sign? Don’t run away – this discussion applies to you, too. Every chart comes complete with every sign, so read and have a think – you may just discover where you’re getting in your own way.

Being that the first Fixed signs is Taurus, this is where the process begins – and in a sense, aims to end up. Why? Because Taurus is the sign of values, self worth, security and resources. Many astrology books (especially those for beginners) refer to Taurus as ‘my money.’ The truth of this is that we earn money once we complete the Fixed sign lesson (or to the degree that we do.) What we start with, however, is resources – and by ‘resources’, I mean native talents, skills, abilities and self worth. Those are our real resources. Financial status and security merely reflects how well we’ve developed and utilized these assets.

Self worth and skills develop in tandem. A person with self worth recognizes the value of their abilities, and a person who develops their native skills develops a sense of self worth.

What about money, and people who inherit it or strike it rich? Money doesn’t create self worth. Nor does it endow anyone with personal talent – which is why that old saying ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ is oh so true. Happiness is a function of security, and security is earned. Trust fund babies have to earn too. What do they earn? Self respect. Daddy and Mommy can’t leave self-respect to you in their will, no matter how wealthy they are. That, you have to earn for yourself. How do you go about doing that? Upon the urging of your self worth, you take your talent and go do something with it – which is the essence of Leo, the second Fixed sign.

Leo is the soul and essence of creativity. All things done in the name of Leo should be fun and bring joy and self respect to the owner of the particular Leo planet. That doesn’t mean there isn’t work involved. Or responsibility. One might think that, but Leo mastery is really all about the pleasure of a job well done -(if possible, gloriously well done) and this requires work. Part of this Leo process is learning to enjoy the effort as much as the success. Leo self respect is all about how special something is, and special doesn’t come cheap. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be special. One shouldn’t be able to just walk in and get crowned king – in Leo you have to earn that right. So don’t let anyone tell you that Leo doesn’t believe in earning. Leo doesn’t respect something which isn’t earned!

As for the process, that takes work, practice, and competition. Leo loves a good competition because when they win, they know they’ve tried and measured up to the best. However – with this comes the occasional defeat, and part of Leo is learning how to take that occasional critique or loss gracefully. Crawling under a stone because someone rejected your latest bit of brilliance is negative Leo. Even worse is refusing to try because you’re so afraid of losing. What kind of a king does that?

Let’s be straight here: to try requires self worth. To win and bounce back requires self worth. If you don’t have that, you aren’t ready to master Leo – go back to Taurus (without $200). Real masters of anything have enough self worth resiliency to deal constructively with critique without getting defensive and huffy. Leo lessons require placing worth in being a creative individual. Someone else may not respect your talents – yet. And that’s okay, because Leo is still a personal sign! Leo is all about you maturing your skills and as a person. It’s about learning how to live your life and learning how to be a person you respect without requiring that others agree with it, buy into it, pay for it or live up to some mythical (fire sign) expectation about who you think they should be…all without interrupting, delaying or otherwise preventing anyone else from learning their Leo lessons. In Leo, we learn the difference between parenting (mentoring, teaching) and demeaning the value of others by interfering with their Leo lessons.

So okay. You have your self worth and have developed your unique skills and respect yourself for doing that. Now that? Now you move into the ‘Scorpio phase’. Being opposite to Taurus (my security, my self worth, my talents) this is where we interact or invest our talents in the values of a group. In this phase of development you display your abilities and the ‘group’ assesses their value, suggests how your talents can work with their talents and make the whole richer – or what you would need to fit in or otherwise live up to what they define as quality.

If you’ve learned your Leo lessons properly, the Scorpio phase is one in which you refine your abilities through feedback. Yes, your abilities may get examined closely (which may feel uncomfortable) but it pays to bear in mind that this process is about enhancing the value of your work through investment. Either you are asked to invest your talents in a greater whole, or someone with some sort of power evaluates the appeal (value) of your creative expression. Scorpio being a water (emotional) sign is the sign that this is an emotional process. It is, after all, the first time you have really gone out into the Big World. As such, this is a time to understand such fears as you feel, but to work through them without surrendering your individuality or worth. And if you do face critique, smile. Okay, so don’t smile – but don’t explode. Volcanic emotional activity doesn’t generally work in Scorpio situations. They aren’t ‘wrong.’ What is ‘wrong’ is your volatile reaction. That sort of reaction suggests very strongly that some part of your Taurus or Leo development is still undone (or underdone, depending!) Work on it.

Don’t want to go back to your personal drawing board? Think you want a fight? I’m warning you - Scorpio likes a fight. All Fixed signs can be a little pig-headed, but when it comes to Scorpio situations, the big guns all come out. And since most often these conflict involve someone who has a deal of power – and that person isn’t you – be careful. While the positive side of Scorpio plays fair and holds no grudges, I’ve been an astrologer long enough to say it’s a bad idea to test anyone’s Scorpio determination. When you fight someone who holds superior power, what you’re asking is for them to prove they can squash you. And guess what? More often than not, they will. Furthermore, Scorpio is where we begin creating our reputation, so this is also a question of building or burning bridges. In Scorpio, grace, intelligence and perseverance earns respect. Fear, anger, retaliation and rebuttal labels you as immature and earns scorn.

So whenever you go out into the Big World and get told no, don’t get mad, and don’t give up. Just polish your talents and try again. Talent is talent forever. It can improve and be improved upon at every step in the game.

And what happens once your work, presentation and polish gets the big ‘we value it’ stamp of approval? Then you begin operating independently in the big air sign Aquarian marketplace. Worldly and proactive, the Aquarius process isn’t personal, its about effectiveness. Success in the Aquarian sense is all about getting the idea right, in other words. It’s where your self worth and talent, after having been seen as valuable by others is accepted in a broader context – as worthwhile to a company, a community, to a group or in the marketplace. And when that happens, the result is income.

And again, the good news is that if you don’t succeed at first, you can always try, try again.

So is money actually just an idea? Yes. Did you think that piece of paper in your wallet is actually ‘worth’ the denomination assigned to it? Of course not - money is theoretical! That mansion on the hill is earthy – you can touch it. You get it by bartering for it – with pieces of paper you’ve earned (or theoretically bartered for) through meeting the needs of, or inspiring the values of the world. Yes, income is Aquarius, but the personal security and happiness you derive from having earned that is Taurus. Why? Because true happiness is all about being secure in the knowledge that your values work.

So there you have it – Part One of Fixed Signs.
Best wishes,
Boots Hart, CAP

©2005 Boots Hart - All rights reserved. No reproduction or use without written permission. For copies of prior articles, questions, suggestions or requests regarding other types of astrological information, please feel free to email Boots at .

Editor's Note:
Part Two of Fixed Signs, which discusses how the current planetary placements affect these dynamics on a social and personal level, is available to those who request Boots' monthly Astrology Circular. See side bar on the right.

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Read More from Boots:

Shifting Nodes Eclipsed (posted July 21, 2009)
The Blessings of the Sun in this season of Passover, Good Friday and Easter (posted April 6, 2009)
2012: The End Of The World? (posted March 26, 2009)
Ages Patriarchal, Matriarchal, and Religious (posted February 24, 2009)
Madoff: Web of Need and Greed (posted January 27, 2009)
MetaphysicYear End Musings (posted December 27, 2008)
Election vs Inauguration
World Economics and the Federal Reserve
The Astrological State of the Union
Pluto in Capricorn

All articles by Boots are ©Boots Hart - All rights reserved. No reproduction or use without written permission. For copies of prior articles, questions, suggestions or requests regarding other types of astrological information, please feel free to email Boots at .

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