Astrological sign

The astrological signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

According to astrology, celestial phenomena relate to human activity on the principle of "as above, so below", so that the signs are held to represent characteristic modes of expression.

Various approaches to measuring and dividing the sky are currently used by differing systems of astrology, although the tradition of the Zodiac's names and symbols remain mostly consistent.

Western astrology measures from Equinox and Solstice points (points relating to equal, longest, and shortest days of the tropical year), while Hindu astrology measures along the equatorial plane (sidereal year).

The body of the Hellenistic astrological tradition as it stood by the 2nd century is described in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos.

The following Western astrology table enumerates the twelve divisions of celestial longitude with the Latin names.

[14][15][16][17] In Western astrology, the polarity divides the zodiac in half and refers to the alignment of a sign's energy as either positive or negative, with various attributes associated to them as a result.

[22][23] For example, the sign Aries is found in the first month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, so practitioners of astrology describe it as having a cardinal modality.

[25][26][27] The Greek philosopher Empedocles identified fire, earth, air, and water as elements in the fifth-century BC.

A modern approach looks at elements as "the energy substance of experience"[33] and the next table tries to summarize their description through keywords.

[38] The conventional rulerships are as follows:[9][39] A traditional belief of astrology, known as essential dignity, is the idea that the Sun, Moon, and planets are more powerful and effective in some signs than others because the basic nature of both is held to be in harmony.

By contrast, they are held to find some signs to be weak or difficult to operate in because their natures are thought to be in conflict.

These are known as Exaltation, Triplicity, Terms or bounds, and Face or Decan, which together are known as describing a planet's Essential dignity, the quality or ability of one's true nature.

So we might have, for example, Moon in Cancer, dignified by rulership, is placed in the 12th house it would have little scope to express its good nature.

Planets in Succedent houses of the chart (second, fifth, eighth, eleventh) are generally considered to be of medium ability to act.

[45] Dane Rudhyar presented the tropical zodiac primary factors,[46] used in the curriculum of the RASA School of Astrology.

The master of fire is Mars, while Mercury is of land, Saturn of air, Venus of water, and Jupiter of ether.

Jyotisha recognises twelve zodiac signs (Rāśi),[49] that correspond to those in Western astrology.

Chinese astrological signs operate on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (also known as shichen).

The yin/yang split seen in the Gregorian calendar means years that end in an even number are Yang (representing masculine, active, and light), those that end with an odd number are Yin (representing feminine, passive and darkness), subject to Chinese New Year having passed.