In contrasting the two fiery signs, Aries is the centre of heat and the creative forces, and Leo that of vitality and generation. Its most distinguishing characteristic is the desire to give, or to rule, with a fondness for lavish outlay, and the instinct of loyalty. It is the sign of organisation, and concentrative energy.
IX. SAGITTARIUS, THE ARCHER IX.
Ninth sign of the zodiac; third fiery sign; third common sign
This is pictorially represented by a man who is half horse shooting an arrow from his bow. This sign suggests the passage of consciousness from one state to another. It is a sign of vibration, transmutation, and interchange, on any plane to which its energies may be directed; and all the activities tabulated in the books as belonging to this sign and its corresponding house may easily be interpreted by applying this method. The diffusion and differentiation of Aries are unified and centralised in Leo, and transmuted into mental light in Sagittarius. Leo is the fifth zodiacal sign, and oriental works describe five ‘Life Breaths’ or currents of vitality flowing through the body, each one associated with a planet. Sagittarius is the ninth sign, and the nine Muses of the Greeks are so many modes of mind, the higher mind which manifests as genius and transmutes consciousness from the abstract mental state to the manifested physical brain, or which bridges over the gulf between life in the body and life out of the body. Hence this is the sign of the prophet. In its best interpretation, the activities of this sign are directed towards a higher state of existence, in which aspiration and devotion are the keynotes. The dual nature of the sign shows the objective and subjective halves of the intuitional consciousness, and between these two states the life forces are constantly vibrating. Its most distinguishing characteristic, perhaps, is its love of sport and travel, having the attribute of sympathy.
Aries is the architect, the pioneer, Leo the organiser, the vitaliser, Sagittarius the builder, the executant.
THE WATERY SIGNS
IV. CANCER, THE CRAB IV.
Fourth sign of the zodiac; first watery sign; second cardinal sign
Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac. It is symbolised by the crab, which can live equally as well in water as on land: it also goes through a metamorphosis in the earlier stages of its existence. This sign is at the head of what may be termed the psychic trinity, and to this psychic basis all expression of this sign may be related. It has the tendency to retain and hold the effect of the vibrations made upon it, and like a lake it reflects all that is mirrored upon it. This sign is concerned with sensation, and all consciousness that affects the feelings and emotions, from the most external physical sensation to that internal sensitiveness which is the first germ of the astral senses. It is a sign of receptivity and assimilation, and memory, in which impressions are retained, each wave creating a greater oscillation under the vibrations awakening the inner sensitiveness belonging to this sign. Its most distinguishing characteristics are its keen desire for sensation, power, or fame, and its power of insistence.
Of the three watery signs, Cancer presides over the ocean, Pisces over rivers, and Scorpio over lakes, ice, and stagnant waters. In another interpretation Cancer stands for the great restless stream of astral matter, formative and plastic. changeable as the Moon, the mother of all living, and Proserpine, the queen of the dead.
VIII. SCORPIO, THE SCORPION VIII.
Eighth sign of the zodiac; second watery sign; third fixed sign
Scorpio is the eighth sign of the zodiac. It is symbolised by the serpent or scorpion and sometimes by the eagle. This sign presides over all liquids of a thick and heavy nature, viscid oils, poisons, sewage, stagnant pools, chemicals, mineral waters, ice, etc. This will at once convey the idea that it is a sign in which liquids are solidified, the rotary, motion connected with the fixing quality being very marked in this sign. The psychic germ born of the vibrations in Cancer is brought to the solid state corresponding to awakening consciousness, and thus all the feelings and sensations of the sign are made potent and persistent. Both vice and virtue are very pronounced in this sign and nothing with which Scorpio is actively concerned is weak or ‘milk and water.’
Just as rotary motion makes firm and stable an otherwise unstable body, such as a top, so the kind of soul that belongs to Scorpio gathers its experiences into a very clearly marked kind of personality, fixed and emphatic, whether for good or for evil, strong and unyielding. Along the evil side there are seen pride, jealousy, malice, personal ambition, envy and hatred; and along the good side perseverance, courage, both physical and moral, and practical ability. When the inner psychic side is awakened it brings out in a very remarkable way the mystical, occult, and higher sensitiveness shown in the sign, and the soul becomes as keenly active on the virtue side as the personal is capable of being in the vice tendencies. Its most distinguishing characteristic is intensity, or, as it might be put, ‘passionateness.’
Cancer as the head of this triplicity sets quivering in a semiconscious manner the sensations that are to be constantly repeated and made stable in Scorpio, therefore, in common with the central or fixed sign in each triplicity this is one of the critical signs, in which either will or desire is the strongest element.
XII. PISCES, THE FISHES XII.
Twelfth sign of the zodiac; third watery sign; fourth mutable sign
Pisces is the twelfth sign of the zodiac. It is symbolised by two fishes swimming in diverse directions. This sign may be compared to the Waters of Lethe, or oblivion. As a sign of the transitory order it denotes the transference of consciousness once again to the physical body, or—to higher planes of being. It is the end of the watery signs and represents the ocean in connection with the watery element to which it belongs. This sign is the ‘Universal Solvent.’ In Cancer sensation and feeling are awakened; in Scorpio they are concentrated and intensified; and in Pisces all is turned into emotion, which like the ocean is deep, silent, and inexpressible, except in what may be called universal love and sympathy. As the feet are lifted from the ground, so is the emotion denoted by Pisces lifted from the earthy taint and made more universal. Some idea of the nature of this sign may be gathered from the fact that Pisces is a sign concerned with hospitals and philanthropic institutions, wherein sympathy and benevolence are expressed.
The dual nature of the sign shows us what we might expect, namely, that failure to reach the higher sympathies produces emotional derelicts and those whose psychic nature attracts the lowest entities and thus opens the way to obsession, melancholia and hopeless despondency. It denotes either passive or active sympathy, a negative and mediumistic tendency to fruitless and wasted emotion, or a positive, active sympathy, die ideal of which is conveyed in the sentence ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’ and if asked Why? the answer would be: Because he is yourself.’ Its most distinguishing characteristic is permeability.
THE AIRY SIGNS
VII. LIBRA, THE BALANCE VII.
Seventh sign of the zodiac; second airy sign; third cardinal sign
Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac. It is symbolised by a pair of scales or the balance. It is the first of the extensive or expansive signs, vibratory in its action, and volatile or diffusive in its nature. Like all the cardinal signs it marks the beginning of any tendency to vibrate in a particular manner. The fiery signs are