George W. Bush drew much derision when he uttered his famous declaration, “I am the decider.”
In my reading, the derision wasn’t directed so much at the sentiment as at his phraseology. But his plainspeak was still intriguing. Who else but someone with six of ten planets in so-called “cardinal zones” — and most planets on the “I” side of the chart — would make such a statement? (Answer: someone with 7, 8, 9 or 10 cardinal planets on the “I” side!)
By contrast, certain web pages at my husband’s organization used to carry the words, “Maintainer: Alan.” Without violating his privacy too much, I will tell you, confidentially, that Alan does have a lot of fixed energy in his chart.
Myself? It’s all summed up in my About Me tagline (at right), which reads, “It changes every day.” (Believe me, I wasn’t thinking about my chart specifically when I wrote it; I was merely trying to identify the phrase that best captures my mutable personality.)
Cardinal, fixed and mutable are the three main motivational energies of the astrological chart. If you have strong cardinal energy, you forge ahead and envision the future, make decisions, initiate action. These are the folks people follow. Fixed types — the “maintainers” among us — consolidate what’s been achieved and make sure it is safe and secure. They’re the ones who will stick with you through thick and thin (whether you want them to or not). We mutable folk tinker with what’s there, trying to perfect it, preparing it for the next round of action. We make good editors, good housekeepers.
Of course, everyone has a mix of these energies within them; it is exceedingly rare to find someone whose insides are entirely populated with one type of energy. So there are areas of life in which we tend to initiate more, others where we prefer to sit back and enjoy what we have, others where we just can’t leave it alone. Sometimes we’re good at two of those modes or even all three of them in a single area of life: establishing, maintaining and refining strong relationships, for instance, or a thriving career, or a solid sense of self.
Do you know yourself well enough to guess whether your chart has more cardinal (decider), more fixed (maintainer) or more mutable (changer) energy in:
- Relationships?
- Security?
- Learning?
- Communicating?
- Community?
- Surviving?
- Other areas that are important to you?
Are there areas you’d like to be more energetic, relaxed or persistent about than you find you naturally are? Where do you want to be the Decider? The Maintainer? The Changer?
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