Signs

Signs are usually classified in three ways:

By Element

There are four elements Fire, Earth, Air, Water and they follow that sequence through the Zodiac. Rather confusingly for beginners. These four are referred to as the Triplicities, because each element has a group of three Signs in it.

By Mode or Quality

There are three Modes (because they show the way the Sign tends to act) These are grouped as; Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. They are often referred to as the Quadruplicities because each group has four Signs in it.

By Duality

The earliest way this was done was to define every Sign as either Masculine or Feminine and they proceed in that order through the Zodiac giving six Masculine and six Feminine Signs. In Modern times this is seen as rather sexist and alternative terms have been tried such as Positive, instead of Masculine and Negative instead of Feminine but that too suggests a value judgement.