Just like the elements, which we already have spoken about in this series, the qualities also constitute the cornerstones of a natal horoscope. There are three qualities: cardinal, fixed and mutable. These qualities are also referred to as quadruplicities or crosses. 

The three crosses make up of the following signs of the zodiac:

• The cardinal cross of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn
• The fixed cross of Taurus, Leo, Scorpion and Aquarius 
• The flexible cross of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces.

The reason these are called crosses is obvious when we look at which signs belong to which quality in the zodiac. If we were to draw a line from Aries to Libra and one from Cancer to Capricorn, two perpendicular lines would be created or – a large cross.
 

The cardinal, fixed and mutable signs thereby always alternate in this order. Each one assumes a specific position within a horoscope quarter called the quadrants. The first quadrant is made up of the cardinal sign Aries, the fixed sign Taurus and the mutable sign Gemini. The sequence of the cardinal fixed and mutable qualities is the same in the three remaining quadrants. 

Depending on how the planets and the ascendant are divided into cardinal, fixed and mutable qualities, we are able to determine whether the cardinal, fixed or mutable qualities dominates in a person or if we are being confronted with mixture of these. This assessment is made, just as with the elements, according to the following point system:

If someone has the sun as a cardinal quality, four points can be calculated for the cardinal quality. One goes through all the planets in this way and adds up how many points are calculated in total for the cardinal, fixed and mutable qualities. Let’s now look at how people act who have a dominance of either cardinal, fixed or mutable qualities.