The fixed signs are power signs known collectively as the serpent signs of the zodiac, and each element in this quadruplicity is distinct. In Taurus—fixed earth—the power is latent and the serpent is coiled up energy. In Leo—fixed fire—the power is active and the serpent is uncoiled, as can be seen in the astrological glyph for Leo above. In Scorpio—fixed water—the power has gone into the subconscious and the shadow and needs to be illuminated and made conscious through self-transformation and self-knowledge. And in Aquarius—fixed air—the universal serpent of wisdom is reflected in the power of the individual will.

Squares and oppositions in the fixed signs (between Taurus or Scorpio and Leo or Aquarius) are the hardest of the three quadruplicities to deal with because your will is far harder to surrender or change than thought (mutable) or action (cardinal). Fixed squares or oppositions often symbolize lessons in the humbling of the will that one has failed to learn over many lifetimes and that have become deeply ingrained patterns of behavior. Because they symbolize your will and have become habituated ways of being or responding, they need a great deal of attention and self-discipline to constructively channel or change. My first teacher Isabel Hickey calls the four fixed signs "agents of karma" and labels them "Taurus: to do, Leo: to dare, Scorpio: to be silent, and Aquarius: to know." She continues, "The disciple has to build in his nature the qualities of action, courage, silence and knowledge."