Chart dominants: elements and modalities

In the astrological tradition, each sign carries two qualities. An element: Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius), Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces). And a modality: cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), fixed (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), mutable (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces).

The element describes a way of functioning: drive for Fire, the concrete for Earth, exchange and ideas for Air, emotion and depth for Water. The modality describes a rhythm: launching for cardinal, holding for fixed, adjusting for mutable. Adding up the bodies by element and by modality gives the underlying tone of a chart.

Schools differ on how to count. Some simply count the planets, others assign points according to the importance of each body. French-speaking astrology has made wide use of these weighted methods: astrologers such as Alexandre Volguine or Jacques Berthon proposed their own scales.

AstralPro starts from this weighted approach and sets its own weights. Each body receives a score built in five steps:

• Base score: Sun and Ascendant 5, Moon and Midheaven 4, Mercury, Venus and Mars 3, Jupiter and Saturn 2, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto 1. North Node, Lilith and Chiron start at 0.
• Angularity: a body within 5° of an angle (Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant, Imum Coeli) gains 3 points, between 5° and 10° it gains 1.5. Only the nearest angle counts, and the AC and MC do not receive this bonus themselves.
• Dignity: domicile +2, exaltation +1.5. Detriment and fall take nothing away.
• Rulership: the ruler of the Ascendant's sign +3, the ruler of the Midheaven's +2, the Sun's +1, the Moon's +0.5. The rulerships are modern, as everywhere in your reports.
• Stellium: each planet in a sign that holds at least three (among the ten planets) gains 1 point.

Each body's score then goes in full to the element and modality of its sign. The total gives percentages, rounded by the largest remainder method so that each series adds up to exactly 100%. A body with a zero score does not count: the North Node, Lilith or Chiron only enter the calculation if they touch an angle. The asteroids and the Part of Fortune do not enter it.

In chapter I, Natal Chart, the part "Dominances (elements & modalities)" presents two blocks of bars: Elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) and Modalities (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable), each with its percentage. These figures are calculated by the program before any writing, and the text takes them up as they are.

The same calculation also ranks the ten planets by score. The top five, the dominant planets, feed the Natal Chart Synthesis, which crosses the element and modality dominance, the concentration by sign and these strong planets. Not to be confused with the "Dominant configuration" that opens the chapter: it describes a stellium or a concentration, not percentages.

Take Camille Morel, AstralPro's example chart (fictional data). Her bars show Water 76%, Earth 13%, Air 6%, Fire 5%, and for the modalities Fixed 82%, Mutable 15%, Cardinal 3%. Six planets in Scorpio (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Pluto) plus an Ascendant at 15°59' Scorpio: fixed Water overwhelms the rest.

Her five dominant planets: Pluto (10.0), Sun (7.5), Mercury (7.5), Venus (5.5), Moon (5.0). Pluto's score breaks down like this: 1 as base, 1.5 because it is 9°18' from the Ascendant, 2 for its domicile in Scorpio, 3 as ruler of the Ascendant, 1 as ruler of the Sun, 0.5 as ruler of the Moon, 1 for the stellium. Mercury, at 6°37' Scorpio, reaches 7.5 because it is within 10° of the Ascendant and rules Virgo, the sign of the Midheaven.

Camille's Moon is in fall in Scorpio: it keeps its 4 base points and its stellium point, with no penalty. And the 13% of Earth does not come only from Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn: the Midheaven in Virgo adds its 4 points, and Chiron, at 7°52' Virgo, adds 1.5 points because it stands within 10° of the MC.

A dominant says where energy flows most easily, not what is missing. A weak element is not an absence: for Camille, Fire weighs only 5%, but Mars and the North Node stand in Sagittarius, in house 1. That Fire exists, it is simply a minority in the overall balance, and the report reads it as a counterpoint.

A very high modality is read the same way. With 82% fixed, Camille's chart speaks of constancy, depth and a hold over time; with 3% cardinal, pure initiative comes less by reflex than by decision. It is an underlying tendency to set against the aspects, the houses and the house rulers, never a label that would sum up a person.