Cardinal
Definition
Cardinal is one of the three modalities that classify the twelve zodiac signs alongside fixed and mutable. The cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) open each of the four seasons of the astrological year. The cardinal quality is an initiating one: it marks the start of a cycle, the first push that sets a process in motion within your chart.
In context
Someone with several planets in cardinal signs tends to start things: projects, conversations, journeys, relationships. Cardinal energy starts cleanly but can struggle to sustain what it began. That part belongs to the fixed signs. A chart with a strong cardinal footprint usually leans on the fixed and mutable signs of the same map to finish what it opened from the first push of the cycle.
To go deeper
Cardinal sits in a trio with the other two zodiac modalities: