Signs Overview

The Zodiac Signs. The zodiac is a band of sky divided into twelve equal segments of thirty degrees each, running in fixed order from Aries to Pisces. The Sun moves through all twelve over the course of a year, while the Moon and planets pass through at their own speeds. A sign is not a part of life but a style of expression. It colors the way any planet placed in it behaves. The Moon in Scorpio feels in a deep, private, all-or-nothing way, while the Moon in Gemini feels in a light, curious, talkative way. Same planet, different manner. Each sign is classified three ways. Its element (fire, earth, air, or water) describes its basic temperament. Its modality (cardinal, fixed, or mutable) describes how it handles change. Its polarity, active or receptive, describes whether it tends to express outward or inward. Each sign also has a ruling planet and a natural link to one of the twelve houses. Together these twelve styles form the working vocabulary of astrology, the set of flavors that every other placement in a chart draws on.