Astrologer View:             The Courage to Change
                                              -from ORBIT Astrology News No. 011, Apr 2008.
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The Modes in Astrology (Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable) play very interesting roles in the unfolding of our lives. Their obvious implications (Cardinal - to begin, Fixed - to sustain, Mutable - to change) are commonly known. But, there are some things in life that affect us so deeply and in such important ways that they all but elude detection, until problems or difficulties get so out of hand that they cannot be overlooked.

A good way of seeing this is in the form of bad habits. The alcoholic was not always an alcoholic. It had to start somewhere (Cardinality). The same is true of smokers, individuals who suffer from obesity, individuals who take on excessive loans or persons who in any way find themselves in deviant excessive behavior that is ultimately self-destructive..

These behavioral characteristics run the gamut from mildly disturbing to such extreme anomalies that external intervention is often necessary to prevent self or societal destruction. Yet, in all of these instances, the pattern is the same. The behavior had to start somewhere through some form of Cardinal provocation, stimulation or instigation, i.e. there was a root cause that gave birth to the behavior pattern..

The other two astrological modes, Fixed and Mutable then come into play in a very interesting way. We often think of these two modes without qualifying differences in strength or propensity to influence life. In other words, we see the Fixed mode as different from the Mutable mode and knowing these differences is often enough for us to believe we understand them..

Yet, there are qualities to these two modes that are extremely important to understand if we are to use them correctly to solve problems in our lives..

The biggest and most important difference between Fixed and Mutable is that the Fixed Mode (analogous to the signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius as well as the Second, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh Houses) requires no activity on the part of an individual to stay stuck in a bad or destructive habit of behavior..

Once the behavioral problem has had its birth and comes into existence, the fixed mode continues the behavior simply by repetition for months, years or on a reincarnation level,- lifetimes! Each time the behavior is repeated, it impresses itself deeper into the individual's consciousness until it becomes such an accepted part of the unconscious activity prompting behavior that chances for changing the behavior become more and more difficult..

This is why the simple repetition of destructive behavior over time, become eventual patterns so deeply ingrained as to become full-fledged "addictions.".

The Mutable Mode (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces and the Third, Sixth, Ninth and Twelfth Houses) symbolizes the most promising chances for individuals to break these addictions or in fact nip them in the bud, much closer in time to when they were born, rather than wait until they become addictions through too much repetition..

Yet, here is where a realization in consciousness must take place first if this is to be helpful in bringing about redemptive behavior in the individual's life. .

Sir Isaac Newton recognized that "An object in motion tends to stay in motion and by converse, an object at rest tends to stay at rest." We accept this as part of the immutable laws of physics, which simply means that once anything has "become", i.e.- experienced birth into existence, its very nature has a tendency to keep it the "same". .

Thus, anything started (Cardinal expression) will stay in an unchanged pattern (Fixed mode) unless and until something forces it to change (Mutable mode). This tendency for things to stay the same is quite evident in almost every level of life unless powerful forces are applied to change them. In fact, for this very reason, it is much easier for things not to change, than to change at all..

Have you ever spelled a word incorrectly? Of course, we all have. Yet, how many years and thousands of times have you misspelled the same word? You have tolerated the bad habit, repeated the bad pattern, ingraining it into your consciousness, accepting it as unimportant enough to bring force upon it to institute change..

Think about any area of your life, of anything wrong in your life that you are tolerating, making excuses to yourself, and ignoring in the hope that whatever is wrong will either not bother you or somehow go away (like a bad neighbor). It is easier to leave things the same (Fixed Mode) then to believe you have the power to bring about change (Mutable Mode)..

There is fear in making changes happen. There is insecurity, by which it is much easier to accept the social ills of your life and the society you live in than to really do something about it. Again, Newton's laws of inertia come into play.

Yet, if we are to evolve, and evolve we must, sooner or later because that is our journey, then we must conjure all our efforts to invoke enough power for change to break through the crystallized destructive habits that are slowly eroding our progress, and shatter the social ills that beset us in order to reshape our Fixed reality into a new and constructive direction that fulfills the promise and hope for which we were born..

It is by making enormous efforts (using all our Mutable powers) that we can initiate a new Cardinality that will eventually become Fixed in new repetitive constructive patterns that can bring us the more desirous fulfilling future we are capable of envisioning. All we need to bring about great change in our lives, is the courage to believe it is possible and the will to reshape any negative fixed habit patterns that have been getting all too much power from our neglect.