Many people have heard of the 4 elements – Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Few people know, that they are commonly used within astrology, and that they in fact give very good descriptions of a person’s characteristics and skills. Furthermore, astrology uses something which is called the quality – Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. Also the quality tells you about personal characteristics as described in the tables below.
| Element | Characteristics | Polarity |
| Fire | Firey people are easily to become enthusiastic. Fiery or ardent souls, have an ability to build up self-confidence and a belief in their ideas. They dare listen to their their intuition and believe their decisions are right. They act often here and now. Because of this, they have potential as leaders, because they inspire and are optimists | Extroverted, masculine, positive, active |
| Earth | Earth people are practical by nature, they can organize and make things run smoothly. The name of the element tells you that earth people are earthy and grounded, and what is more, they have a realistic view of life | Introverted, feminine, negative, passive |
| Air | Air people have an ability to make contacts with other people. They have ideas and visions, and very often have a lot of things going on at the same time, and also the ability to maintain a mental overview. Air people have a great ability to keep an emotional distance, which makes it easier to keep an objective and (Sober) view of things | Extroverted, masculine, positive, active |
| Water | Water-people are characterized by their sensitivity and their emotional intuition. They can achieve an incredible contact with their own inside. Also Watery people are characterized by their fantasy and imagination | Introverted, feminine, negative, passive |
The polarity shows you something about our way of being extroverted vs. introverted. Some people will react when hearing the expresisons masculine and femine in connection with being active vs. passive. This reaction is very understandable, however, this is how the ancient basic principles Yin and yang are working. It is not about being right or wrong, it is about a balance, both sides has its strength and weaknesses – it is about how we use our chart.
| Quality | Characteristics |
| Cardinal | Cardinal people are known for their starting drive and initiative – self-starters you could call them. People who lack fire are often able to compensate by using their cardinal ability |
| Fixed | People who have an emphasis on the Fixed dynamic have an ability to build up things. If someone else takes the initiative the fixed people have the ability to work tenasciously and go on until the project is finished. In relationship they often function as an anchor, especially if they have an partner who changes direction a lot. Fixed people can seem a bit “heavy” at initial stages, but once the train is rolling nothing will stop it! |
| Mutable | Mutable people are flexible and easily to adapt to changing situations. They are able to follow and catch up, that is, move themselves, should a new situation occur |
When you are about to interpret a chart, a good way to start is by outlining the classification by which you create a table showing the planets and how they are divided into the elements and quality. If there is a balance, that is the planets are equaly divided, this is a great thing, and if not, this is no reason to worry. Like always, it is all about using your strength and accepting your weaknesses – and doing something about it, if that is what you want.
Inbalances, that is an unequal division, are more easy to interpret as the person in question will quickly recognize the description. An inbalance can be many planets in a particular element, or it can be a single or even no planet at all.
One of the benefits from working with the classification is that you don’t need to know the birthsign of the person – and you don’t even need to know the exact time of birth of the day (as for the Moon, however, you still need a fairly accurate time of birth). Another advantage is that you don’t need to know the rising sign in order to compile a great interpretation.