Modalities in Astrology, and How They Might Impact Your Chart

Yesterday was a beautifully rainy Sunday in NYC, and I spent the day binge watching The Snow Girl while going a bit deeper on my study of the modalities. I’m feeling fresh and smart on the topic, so now you guys have to hear about it.

As usual, my goal is always to break this down as simply as possible for beginners, so if you’re a pro and want to see me drop phrases like Zodiac Quadruplicities and how they interact with House Quadruplicities you’re going to be bored.

But for the rest of you, here’s the short version:

The zodiac signs (that’s Aries, Taurus, etc) are grouped into three modalities— Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable.

These don’t describe your personality as much as they describe your style—how you begin things, how you stick with things, or how you adapt.

There are three modalities:

Cardinal

Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn

Cardinal signs are initiators. These are the signs that start things. Think: get the group text going, pitch five business ideas before noon, and rearrange the furniture just to feel something. If your chart is stacked with cardinal signs, you’ve probably got a million tabs open—mentally and literally. You’re great at starting, leading, and launching.

Fixed

Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.

Here are our Stabilizers. Fixed signs are the ones who follow through, who keep checking in long after the group chat has gone silent, the project has lost funding, and everyone else has moved on. If your chart is full of fixed signs, you’re probably the one still showing up, still committed, still refusing to change your coffee order, even during PSL season.

Mutable

Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

Meet the shapeshifters. They’ve got three backup plans, two exit strategies, and one foot already out the door (just in case). If your chart leans mutable, you’re probably a pro at transitions—changing careers, changing outfits, changing your mind mid-sentence. Structure makes you itchy. Stability is nice, in theory. But nothing beats the thrill of a fresh start—again.

So what does this mean for you?

Here’s the thing, I consider the  modalities to be more of an intermediate astrology layer. If you don’t yet have a grasp on which planets are in which sign, in which house on your chart, I’d table this for now because I speak from experience that if you dive into soon it can add confusion rather than clarity to your understanding!

But if you’re itching for deeper level understanding of your chart, modalities add an extra layer of “why am I like this?”

Exercise

Tally up how many of your planets fall into cardinal, fixed, or mutable signs. You don’t need to get fancy—just count how many times each type shows up and write down, Cardinal: 4, Fixed: 3 …

For example, if you’re someone who starts a million things but finishes none of them, and your chart is stacked with cardinal signs, that tracks.

Or if you tend to resist change even when it’s obviously time, a fixed-heavy chart might explain why.

And, an “ah ha” moment for me in modalities and chart reading was understanding that an imbalance in the modalities can sometimes explain why someone doesn’t feel like their sun sign.

If you’ve got a ton of cardinal placements, it might explain why you’re always launching new projects or making the first move—even if your Sun sign is something more low-key, like Pisces.

A fixed-heavy chart might reveal why you’re loyal to a fault or hate switching routines, even with a Sag Sun. Mutable dominance? That could be why you’re constantly reinventing yourself, even if your Taurus Sun says you shouldn’t care for change.

Consider this your permission slip to stop forcing yourself to be “well-rounded,” and blame it on the modalities.