On the fixed signs.

"The fixed dilemma involves power and a variety of sensual pleasures. In one sense, the four parts of life we call “fixed” can be thought of as a gradual relinquishment of power. In another sense, they represent a shift of direction or target in the use of the power. Taurus (and other forms of letter two) as key to our physical pleasure includes money, possessions, appetites and the aesthetic in general, whether we create beauty or just enjoy it. It symbolizes our own money, possessions and appetites, and we have the right to indulge them in our own way, on our own terms.

Leo (and other variations of letter five) represents the ego drive to use our creative power to affect other people and to get a response back from others. This may be as simple as loving and being loved. The actor on stage is applauded. The teacher holds the attention of the class. The salesman-promoter persuades others to do his will. At the physical level, Leo is the orgasm and the procreation of children. Where Taurus may be totally self-involved, Leo requires an outreach and a response from the “out there” if there is to be full satisfaction. So we may feel that Leo involves more power than Taurus; power over people rather than only material things. But the “things” are really totally subject to the will of the owner, while the Leo power has to take into account the feelings of the people, and to temper the power if a positive response is the goal.

Scorpio (and the rest of letter eight) calls for learning to share power with “equal others.” Where Leo sought a sense of superiority, and we do all need to feel pride in ourselves somewhere, and to receive some validation of our worth from others, Scorpio must learn to handle power in close peer relationships, with a mate. Your rights vs. my rights; your pleasures vs. my pleasures; your possessions vs. my possessions; how can we give and receive and share? Scorpio seeks self-knowledge through the mirror of the mate, and learns self-mastery out of respect for the rights of the mate. Where Leo power flows out, Scorpio power turns in, as is true of all fire and water respectively.

Aquarius (and the balance of letter eleven) symbolizes the relinquishment of power except for power over knowledge. The Gestalt prayer exemplifies letter eleven; no one is here to live up to another’s expectations. “If we meet, it’s beautiful; if not, it can’t be helped.” With letter eleven, we have friends, without any limits but also without any commitment—casual, superficial, accepting. It is easy to accept when you don’t have to live with someone.

When we confront the full fixed dilemma, or partial mixtures, we are seeking to integrate these different parts of life. Aquarius in conflict with either Leo or Scorpio is one obvious form of the freedom-closeness dilemma. Both Leo and Scorpio want an intense, personal commitment while Aquarius belongs to humanity, or to the pursuit of knowledge, or just can’t stand limits. Leo needs to feel superior; Aquarius demands equality. Leo and Scorpio are emotional; Aquarius values the detached intellect. Taurus just wants to be comfortable, and can become passive-aggressive when jarred from its rut by Leo’s need to do something big or the Aquarius drive to go beyond the previous limits and try something new. The Taurus-Scorpio opposition can mean a variety of outer struggles over whose possessions or pleasures are being slighted; or it can be an inner struggle between appetite indulgence and appetite mastery, swinging from excess to asceticism; (eating vs. dieting, ambivalence over drinking, smoking, sex, spending vs. saving, etc.). The Leo-Scorpio confrontations are the most intense, and can lead to the most violent power struggles, as we seek appropriate ways to manifest outward power and stay alert to when we need to turn our power inward. In general, fire-water conflicts are the hardest to handle since they are the emotional elements and have trouble being rational, objective or practical about the situation.

Remember that putting the Sun in any fixed sign other than Leo, or in the 2nd, 8th or 11th house, makes it a part of the fixed dilemma. Pluto in Leo is a part of the fixed dilemma, as is Uranus in Taurus, Leo or Scorpio, and the respective house positions carry the same meaning. Remember also that the keynote of the “fixed” quality does not mean unchanging (Leo and Aquarius are both highly creative and leaders in moving the world) but rather “enduring self-will.” Fixed planets, signs and houses do change, but only on their own terms. No one else is allowed to push them into changing. So when we have a fixed dilemma within a chart, we have a beautiful potential for a stalemate or impasse. In my book Finding the Person in the Horoscope, I described the fixed quality as a combination grindstone and volcano. The irresistible force and the immovable object grind until the pressure builds to an explosion, but when the dust clears, the same old impasse is likely to be still there. In one sense, this makes a resolution of the problem harder, but in another sense, the individual often just learns to live with the situation, and the life in general is less disrupted than in people where the cardinal dilemma is the paramount one. It is the charts where there is a mixture of cardinal and fixed that mark the real power struggles with the world."