The Water Triplicity is represented by the lymphatic temperament exhibiting as languid, anemic, pallid, weak-pulsed, lack of red corpuscles in the blood, and deficient vascular action.
The water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) are known as emotional, plastic, contemplative. They tend to feel things very deeply and function from an emotional level whether that be in a positive or negative manner.
These are the emotional signs, those capable of exercising compassion, feeling love (and hate), and expressing affection. By their sensitivity they moderate the ideas of air, the unimaginative practicality of earth and the careless energy of fire. With their imagination and dreams they provide human life
with its religious and mystical spirituality.
Related HOUSES : The 4th (end of physical body), 8th (death & liberation of soul), & 12th (results of our choices) houses are naturally ruled by Water signs and are considered the Houses of Endings or the Terminal Houses. Many planets in these houses describes someone who is emotional, sensitive, spiritual.
Keywords: addictive, artistic, broody, caring, compassionate, controlling, destructive, dreamy, easy-going, emotional, feeling, grasping, healing, hoarding, intuitive, kind, lacking in standards or morals, moody, over-emotional, protective, receptive, revengeful, sacrificial, sensitive, smothering, spiritual, supportive, sympathetic, untidy.
In Medical Astrology and Astro-Meteorology the Water element is of the humour Phlegmatic, being cold and moist. Planets that are such are Moon and Venus.
CANCER: Cardinal Water
Cancer: In the Zodiac, it follows the air sign, Gemini. Gemini is like a toddler whose attention can be easily distracted, flitting from thing to thing. Cardinal Cancer is like a toddler who grabs on to something, won’t let go, and throws a tantrum when mommy or daddy tries to take it away. And the Cancer mood swings are legendary.
Let me give you a few tips about dealing with those who have the sign of Cancer strong in their horoscopes (the Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in Cancer). In this case, you can include those who have the Moon within six degrees of the Ascendant as well.
Cancer men who travel are known for setting up comfortable places they tend to revisit – like a girl in every port. All kidding aside, Cancerians need that security.
The house with the sign of Cancer on the cusp shows one of the places in or lives where we can be loving and nurturing, protecting the helpless (including animals). On the negative side, it can show where we can be moody and irrationally needy. This is the area of our lives where, if we can’t get our way, we tend to retreat while grasping and holding onto anything that gives us the illusion of security.
The other area of our lives where we can act like this is shown by the house occupied by the ruler of the sign of Cancer, the Moon.
SCORPIO: Fixed Water
Scorpio: This is the sign of extremes, all or nothing. It follows the air sign Libra, sign of balance. To understand Scorpio, read the novels of Dostoyevsky, who was a Fixed Scorpio Sun-Sign, and examine the characters closely.
The house that has Scorpio at the cusp is one of the places in your life where you have the greatest potential for major Good or Evil. Power is the keyword of Scorpio / Pluto and one may be driven by compulsive “subconscious forces”.
All of the fixed signs tend to be stubborn and unyielding. Taurus is that way out of sheer inertia. Like a large boulder, once it starts moving, it simply can’t stop. Leo stands firm out of pride. Aquarius, an Air sign, refuses to budge without a logical reason. With Scorpio, it is pure emotional intensity, the kind that can rise up when one is involved in a fight to the death.
Scorpio is super secretive. Don’t ever try to pry any personal information out of a Scorpio. You have to let them coem to you in their own time. This sign is the best natural born detective in the zodiac. If you want to know the dirt about someone, find a Scorpio Sun-Sign person who knows them.
PISCES: Mutable Water
Pisces: Pisces can be the most agreeable sign in the zodiac, mainly because they hate confrontation. People with a strong Pisces emphasis in their horoscopes seem to agree with almost anyone. If, a few minutes later, they happen to talk to someone with the opposite opinion, they will agree with them too. Then, they go off and something completely different from both. Deep down inside, Mutable Pisces doesn’t want to upset people. In fact, if you complain to a Pisces about trouble you are having with someone they don’t even know, they will start making excuses for that other person. They feel compassion for someone they never met.
Let me emphasize again that this refers only to the influence of this one sign. When doing a horoscope, you have to take the entire chart into account, and there are a myriad of other factors to consider besides the Sun-Sign. Richard Ramirez and John Wayne Gacy, both infamous serial killers were Pisces Sun-Signs, and they showed little compassion for their victims.
The House with Pisces on the cusp will be one of the places in your horoscope where you can be your most tolerant and compassionate, as well as your most imaginative, deluded, or even escapist. Pisces/Neptune can be self-destructive and refuse to deal with reality. The other place to watch for these things is the house where your planet Neptune is located.
CLASSICAL RULERSHIPS (traditional astrology)
This set of signs is ruled by Mars by day and also by night. Considered cold and moist.
Finally, the Cancer triplicity is nocturnal, comprising Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. The rulers of these signs are the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter, but because Jupiter is diurnal it is substituted for nocturnal Venus.
Aries trigon – Sun, Jupiter, Saturn
Cancer trigon – Venus, Mars, Moon
Libra trigon – Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter
Capricorn trigon – Venus, Moon, Mars
Most early astrologers used all three planets, rotating their priority by day and night, but many later ones, including Lilly, chose to use only the principal rulers. Perhaps they rejected the convoluted logic that lay behind the definition of sect, or perhaps they were confused by Ptolemy who only mentions two rulers for the Aries and Capricorn triplicities, yet mentions three rulers for the others!