Polarities

An important concept in astrology is polarity. Polarity describes the relationship between two things that are exactly opposite. It is like the two poles (ends) of a magnet, positive and negative, or the two poles of a battery. There is an attraction and a tension between the poles of any polarity.

The most basic astrological polarity is between yin and yang. This polarity is also sometimes described as receptive and outgoing, passive and active, negative and positive, or feminine and masculine.

I prefer not to use the words "negative and positive" or "feminine and masculine"."Negative and positive" refers to negative and positive poles of energy, as in a magnet or battery. "Negative" is not meant as a judgement, but it can sound judgemental, so I avoid it. "Feminine and masculine" refers to those qualities which we traditionally think of as feminine or masculine, and not to literal gender. As an astrologer, I really don't want to be the one telling some macho guy he has a lot of "feminine" energy in his chart, because that could be misunderstood!

I like the words "yin and yang", because those of us who live in the west generally don't have judgements associated with those words, yet we know they denote a pair of opposites.

In astrology, all earth and water signs are yin. All fire and air signs are yang. Here is a listing of the signs by polarity:

yang	Aries	Libra
yang	Gemini	Sagittarius
yang	Leo	Aquarius
yin	Taurus	Scorpio
yin	Cancer	Capricorn
yin	Virgo	Pisces

The other important type of polarity in astrology is the polarity between opposite signs.