Understanding Zodiac Signs (1) - The Energy Approach - Elements & Qualities

It can take a long time to really understand a zodiac sign, especially if you don't have it in your own chart and have a hard time relating to its principle.
A good way to put yourself in the position of a sign and experience their drives and motivations is to think in terms of energy.
We know now that everything is energy.
Even matter is merely very slow energy, vibrating at a very low frequency, giving the illusion of solidity.
Even stones "flow", but so slowly that we can't see it within our lifetime.
Each zodiac signs energy is made up of two parts: An element and a quality.
Like this:

Everything is made up of solids (earth), liquids (water), gas (air), and plasma (fire).
All energy either pulls outward and is centrifugal (cardinal), pull inward to a center and is centripetal (fixed), or spirals around a center and scatters itself (mutable).
There's positive, masculine, yang energy, which is attracted to something and pushed out (fire and air), and negative, feminine, yin energy, which itself attracts and draws in (water and earth).
The masculine, mutable signs (Gemini & Sagittarius) spiral upwards, and the feminine, mutable signs (Virgo, Pisces) spiral downwards.

Dominant Energies

If you look at a person's whole list of placements and see that a particular element or quality is dominating, you can often feel that in their energy.
A person very pronounced on earth signs will feel solid, grounded, earthy - like their energy is dense and rather slow, clearly defined (like solids).
An airy person will feel exactly like that - airy. This means that there is lots of space between matter - like the molecules of gas that are far apart and move quickly.

We often say a person is fiery or flamboyant if they're very passionate and full of inspiration and motivation.

The watery person, on the other hand, is "watered down", meaning they can lack substance - they're sensitive and intuitive.

The cardinal person is straight-forward, jumps into things impatiently and likes to lead and assert themselves.
A predominantly fixed person doesn't like change or spontaneity, but stubbornly sticks to something and pulls through with it until the end.

The mutable person is very flexible and adaptable, changing to fit the mood and always learning and fluctuating.

(source)

Chart Signatures

This is how to guess people's (dominant) signs: by becoming really trained in feeling people's energy.
In natal astrology, there is the concept of a "chart signature", which is the combination of someone's predominant element and predominant quality into a sign.
This means that, rather than simply counting the zodiac sign that appears most often in a chart, you look at the most common element and quality separately and combine them into a zodiac sign - the chart signature.
I, for example, have the majority of planets in Scorpio, but, also counting the Ascendant sign, my dominant element is fire, and my dominant quality is fixed.
Combining the element fire and the quality fixed, you get the zodiac sign Leo - that is my chart signature. And that is the main energy that I give off, how I feel to other people.

Compatibility

This approach will also help you understand compatibility - why, for example, air literally feeds fire, and why earth suffocates it, etc.
This is the energetic effect that people have on each other.
My Leo chart signature, for example, would go well with someone who has a Gemini chart signature - air swirling around a fixed fire, making the flames grow larger, stretching them up.


Blogposts on all signs to follow;

The Fire Signs - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

The Earth Signs - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

The Air Signs - Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

The Water Signs - Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Reference:
Arroyo, Stephen: Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements