Zodiacal Systems - Seasonal Quadrants
I am adding this little note about the above image. I recently had someone freak-out because, in their words, "this image is wrong", by which they meant it doesn't look like the images of the seasons in this astrological context that they are used to seeing, with the spring quadrant being in the bottom left hand position, summer in the bottom right hand position, fall in the upper right hand position and winter in the upper left hand position. I have to admit, I laughed for a few days every time I thought about this, because this person seemed to literally think that the quadrants had to occupy the sections of a circle that they were used to seeing. The key to understanding the above image is two-fold. First, it doesn't matter which section you place them in as long as they move in their natural order (don't get stuck on minutia, folks...where is the beginning of a circle, after all?) Second, one of the main things I want people to begin to understand about the quadrants and apply to their own charts is that the quadrants aren't static, and each individual natal chart will feature them in different positions around the chart, and that is a tool to use in understanding how one's own chart, or the charts of others, manifests. A first house in the winter quadrant is very different than a first house in the spring or summer quadrant. Finally, the above image is literally my own natal chart, and so when I was making the image, I just made my own chart, both out of habit and to illustrate how the quadrants move around a natal chart. In my example in the above image, it is flipped. If you take that image and rotate it left for two quadrant, it magically becomes the image this person is used to seeing. Fancy that!
I am referring to the four seasons, in a literal sense. That is, the sections of any given zodiac system that fall within the time period of each of the four seasons. In the Tropical zodiac, this is, of course, the classical signs:
Spring = Aries, Taurus and Gemini
Summer = Cancer, Leo and Virgo
Fall = Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius
Winter = Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces
However, in both Sidereal systems, these signs and their constellational counterparts do not fall perfectly within the seasons. So the seasons to the signs do not have a 1-to-1 alignment in the Sidereal systems, but the four seasons are still there, and are still forming the four quadrants. You just have to assess where they fall, based upon which sign or constellation the first day of each season falls in. Once you know that, then you can assess the four seasonal quadrants of the chart. In the True Constellational System:
First Day of Spring = 8 to 10 degrees of Pisces
First Day of Summer = End of Taurus-Start of Gemini
First Day of Fall = 4 to 6 degrees of Virgo
First Day of Winter = 3 to 4 degrees of Sagittarius
So in the TCS, the seasons contain:
Spring = Majority of Pisces, Aries, Taurus
Summer = Gemini, Cancer, Leo and very beginning of Virgo
Fall = Most of Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Ophiuchus and early Sag.
Winter = Most of Sag., Capricorn, Aquarius and the start of Pisces
By knowing when the seasons start in each system, you can quickly and easily assess where the four seasonal quadrant fall in any given chart. While the signs of the Tropical zodiac basically are the seasonal markers, the real constellations are not connected to the seasonal cycle. So I consider both things; the Tropical seasonal signs in relation to the year's cycle and the constellations unmoored from the seasonal energies and meanings. However, I do give the four seasons special notice in reading within any zodiacal system.
In reading charts, I consider the four seasonal quadrants to be of slightly more relevance than the individual 'signs'. This is because the 'signs' are somewhat arbitrary and not purely a reflection of the constellations, and while the 'sign' any planet or point is in within any given zodiacal system can change between systems, the seasonal quadrant doesn't change. So while we might say that Jupiter is in Tropical Capricorn and Sidereal Sagittarius, it is going to be in the winter quadrant within both systems. I feel the real coloring of any given planet or placement has more to do with the seasonal quadrant than it does with the particular "sign".
I want to stress that any of the four seasonal quadrants can fall anywhere within a given chart. These seasonal quadrants do not equate to concepts like 'night' or 'day' sides of the chart, 'eastern' or 'western' sides of the chart, etc. Be sure to note that the artistic rendering of the four seasonal quadrants at the top of this page is not symbolic of where those quadrants actually fall in any chart and is just a representation. It was only after I made it and posted it that I realized it corresponds to where the seasons fall (approximately) across the axis of my own natal chart. 😀
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