Tetrabiblos and Centiloquy

which are the degrees of Capricorn. These are designated by these names original: "nominibus designantur" for this reason: because it is manifest that this occurs in them. For when the Sun reaches the beginning of either of these two signs, it turns back its motion, which is in a height contrary to the motion it previously held. When it is in Cancer, it makes summer; in Capricorn, it truly makes winter. ¶ There are also two equinoctial signs: namely, the sign following the point of the spring equinox, which are the degrees of Aries; and the sign following the point of the autumn equinox in order, which is the sign of Libra. These indeed receive their names from this: because it happens in them without doubt. For when the Sun enters their beginnings, the nights and days are made equal everywhere. ¶ Of the remaining eight signs, which are located between the tropical and equinoctial signs, four are called "fixed" and four are called "common" common: also known as mutable signs, which bridge the seasons. ¶ The fixed signs are those which follow the two solstitial and two equinoctial signs: which are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. This is because the four changes of the seasons—which follow the Sun entering the solstitial and equinoctial signs—take their firm beginning there. It is when the air is changed toward moisture or heat, or toward cold or dryness. These signs are more apparent whenever the Sun stays in them. The quality of the air then naturally exists in a pure state; for because of the long durability of these qualities, their powers are most clearly received. ¶ The common signs are those which appear immediately after the fixed signs: which are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. They are so called because they are located between the movable and fixed signs, and with their beginnings and endings they share in the natural change of both qualities—namely, the qualities of the movable and the fixed.

Chapter 13. On Masculine and Feminine Signs.

Hot signs are masculine and diurnal; cold ones are not.

Men of learning have indicated that six signs are of a masculine and diurnal diurnal: belonging to the day nature. The remaining six they have referred to a feminine and nocturnal nature. They arranged them one after another for this reason: because night and day are joined and always exist next to each other, and because the masculine sex is close to the feminine and they are frequently joined together. They took the beginning of this arrangement from Aries for the reasons aforesaid, and because males dominate and act, it is more fitting that they be preceding and more honorable than those who are passive The text reflects the Aristotelian view of the "active" male and "passive" female principles common in period science. For this reason, they made the beginning from a masculine sign. The signs of Aries and Libra are masculine and diurnal because the equinoctial circle extends over them, from which the first and strongest motion—which is called the motion of the firmament—takes its origin. ¶ The order of the signs following these two is as we said before: namely, a feminine after a masculine, and a masculine after a feminine. Some have begun the order of the signs according to the ascendant ascendant: the sign rising on the eastern horizon, naming one masculine and the other feminine; and they began from the masculine, just as some placed the beginnings of the movable signs from the sign of the Moon, because it receives variation more quickly than any of the other stars. In a similar way, they began the sequence of signs from the ascendant because it exists closer to the East, and they followed the subsequent order as was said before. ¶ Some also divided all the signs into four parts, and said that the signs which are called morning and masculine are those which are situated from the ascendant to the midheaven the highest point of the sun's path, and those which are opposite them from the descendant to the angle of the earth the lowest point, or Imum Coeli. ¶ The two remaining quarters they called feminine and evening signs. They also gave many other names to the signs according to the figures that are in them. For some of them they named "four-footed," and some "wild." Some indeed they named "of many children," and "twice-children"...