Sign Qualities

We’ve looked at one system of classifying the signs which is familiar to those who use Tarot - the Elements and the Tarot suits.  Now we come to another system of classification which may not be so familiar in Tarot.  This system divides the the signs into what is known as Qualities..  Whereas with the Elements, there are three signs in each Element or Triplicity, with the Qualities there are four signs in each Quality. Together these two classifications make twelve unique classifications; one for each sign.

The Qualities can be associated with the three months of the seasons.  There are four seasons in a year and each season has three months in it making up the twelve months in our year.  Each season has a first month which begins the new season, a middle month where weather patterns stay pretty much the same, and a third month where the weather patterns begin to change in accordance with the season which will begin in the following month.

The names of the three Qualities are Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. 

Cardinal has the quality of initiating – beginning something new. The  signs which begin in the first month of each of the four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter are the Cardinal signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. These signs also mark the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes and the Summer and Winter Solstices.

First month of each season:

Spring – Aries – March 21 – Spring Equinox

Summer – Cancer – June 21 – Summer Solstice

Autumn – Libra – September 23 – Autumn Equinox

Winter – Capricorn – December 22 – Winter Solstice

Fixed has the quality of being stable and unchanging – maintaining the status quo. The signs which begin in the middle months  of the seasons are the Fixed signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.

Second month of each season:

Spring – Taurus – April 21

Summer – Leo – July 23

Autumn – Scorpio – October 23

Winter – Aquarius – January 21

Mutable or movable has the quality of being changeable. The signs which begin in the third months of the seasons when the season is beginning to change into the next season are the Mutable signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.

Third month of each season:

Spring – Gemini – May 21

Summer – Virgo – August 23

Autumn – Sagittarius – November 22

Winter – Pisces – February 20

Some Tarot systems associate the Kings, Queens and Knights with the Qualities.  There are differences in these systems as to which Quality is associated with which rank.  Here I have shown the King of Wands representing the Cardinal Fire sign Aries, the Queen of Pentacles as the Fixed Earth sign Taurus, and the Knight of Swords as the Mutable Air sign Gemini from the Robin Wood Tarot deck.

When we combine the Quality and the Element of each sign, we have a unique way of describing the function of that sign; its basic character so to speak.  The table below gives a quick reference of the Quality and season that the signs fall into.

Season Quality	1st Month Cardinal	2nd Month Fixed	3rd Month Mutable
Spring	Aries	Taurus	Gemini
Summer	Cancer	Leo	Virgo
Autumn	Libra	Scorpio	Sagittarius
Winter	Capricorn	Aquarius	Pisces

Putting it all together, this table shows the Element and Quality of each sign.

	Cardinal	Fixed	Mutable
Fire	Aries	Leo	Sagittarius
Water	Cancer	Scorpio	Pisces
Air	Libra	Aquarius	Gemini
Earth	Capricorn	Taurus	Virgo

Why is this important?

Learning the Element and Quality of each sign will be useful when we discuss the timing system which is associated with the Minor Arcana cards.  If you have committed the Element and Quality of each sign to memory, you will be able to quickly compute the 10 day span of time each of the 36 numbered cards, 2 through 10 in each suit, is associated with.

Micki