What are modalities?

The three modalities, sometimes called qualities, describe how a sign acts and how it meets change. Where the elements name a sign's temperament, the modalities name its mode of action. There are three, cardinal, fixed, and mutable, and each holds four signs, one from every element. The modalities follow the turning of the seasons. Cardinal signs begin each season and carry the charge of initiation. Fixed signs sit in the middle, when the season is fully set, and carry the charge of stability. Mutable signs come at the close of a season, as one gives way to the next, and carry the charge of transition. This is why the three spread evenly around the wheel. Every element expresses through each mode, and that pairing gives the twelve signs their blend. Fixed fire is not the same as fixed water, and cardinal earth differs from mutable earth. Knowing a sign's modality tells a person how it tends to move, whether it starts things, holds them, or adjusts them. The entries here define each of the three in turn.