Polarities

The zodiac is divided not only into twelve signs but also into six axes: every sign has a counterpart 180 degrees away. These pairs belong together, and not as opposites but as two sides of the same matter.

The six axes

• Aries – Libra — self and the other; assertion and agreement.
• Taurus – Scorpio — what belongs to me and what belongs to us in common; holding and letting go.
• Gemini – Sagittarius — the particular and the whole; knowledge and conviction.
• Cancer – Capricorn — origin and office; the inner and the outer.
• Leo – Aquarius — the individual and the community.
• Virgo – Pisces — distinguishing and dissolving; the particular and the undifferentiated.

The regularity behind it

Opposite signs always have the same mode and different but compatible elements: fire always faces air, earth always water. Both cardinal, both fixed or both mutable.

That is why the opposition is the aspect that separates and joins at the same time. The two sides speak the same language and want different things.

Further polarities

Besides the axis, astrology recognises two further twofold divisions:

Masculine and feminine — fire and air signs count as masculine, earth and water signs as feminine, alternating right around the circle. The terms are ancient and stand for active and receptive, not for a person's sex.

Day and night (sect) — the more important and less familiar division. The Sun, Jupiter and Saturn belong to the day; the Moon, Venus and Mars to the night; Mercury to both, depending on its position. Whether a birth took place by day or by night changes the interpretation of every planet — a Saturn in its own sect is markedly milder than one out of sect.

What this means for interpretation

A sign becomes easier to understand when its counterpart is read along with it. Anyone with a strong Capricorn theme in the chart has a Cancer theme as well — the axis is occupied, at whichever end.

That explains a common observation: people often live out their sign in the guise of its opposite. That is not an exception to the rule, it is the rule.

See also: the zodiac signs, the aspects.