My friend left me an article on msn about introversion and extraversion. After reading it I concluded that *drumrolls* I don’t agree to the way either extraversion or introversion is defined in most writings. I walked by my books to see if I could find something that quickly, but I didn’t. Did immediately find another article, which defines it differently yet again. So what is it really? If you’re going to classify people by two ‘modes of operation’ simply by measuring their social appetite you’re clearly missing something very important. By all means it makes me pity both sides with either introversion or extraversion stuck on their butts. Not every introvert “dislikes” being around people, because if they have an easygoing character they’d love to walk along with whomever passes by. Not every extravert “enjoys” being around people and can’t be alone, because if they have a headstrong/eccentric personality they’re just going to head off on their own. None of these are bad, by the way.

You know why I think this? I am constantly tested ENTJ, Enneagram 8, I did a profession test once years ago and it said I should become “A logistics manager”. My behaviour however, if you look at it, hardly matches one of ‘an overly social creature that would just die if left alone’. If I don’t fit in your little model, then there’s something wrong with that model;) I remain a Saturnian creature, can’t help myself to classify!

Then I remembered my book on Elements and Crosses in Astrology by Karen Hamaker.

In astrology the Crosses (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable) and the Elements (Air, Fire, Water, Earth) together define both how you wish perceive things (elements) and how you wish to adjust/confront your surroundings (crosses). So here’s an overview of what means what:

* Cardinal: progressive energy, needs interaction with the outside world.
* Fixed: regressive energy, self-sustainable.
* Mutable: both progressive and regressive, can go both ways.

* Air: “Thinking”, how this fit?
* Fire: “Intuition”, a form of indirect perception.
* Water: “Feeling”, how does it make me feel?
* Earth: “Perception”, is it physically here? Can I touch it?

There is of course more theory to this, including ways to narrow down planets that will be forced to grow to another Element or Cross during the course of a lifetime. I won’t go into the theory of that, though it will prove important for the conclusion.

My astrologic “type” is Cardinal, superior element Air. If you look at my Myers-Briggs test result, ENTJ, E and T are already there – so you would say. And what is N and J? Simple, these are the ‘helper functions’ in the following diagram:

I bet my socks anyone that’s a little ‘high’ on the cardinal side is automatically ‘classified’ an E-type. The difference here is, that Karen warns not to see Cardinal, Mutable or Fixed the same as Introversion or Extraversion. I think what she means to say is that Introversion and Extraversion are terms that are not sufficient enough to describe “what’s really going on”. I actually would like to add to that: in analysis you’re still lacking the full spectrum of what else is in the chart. If I go back to my original italicized statement: it should be clear that astrology’s elements and crosses do nothing more than for example a good Myers-Briggs test would but if you want to have an idea on how you will fit this model you look at how easygoing (for fixed, mutable) or eccentric (for cardinal, mutable) the personality is (astrologically, from the rest of the chart). How to measure that non-astrologically? I have no clue, though I’m expecting Cardinal-Fire (the extravert archetype) and Fixed-Water (the introvert archetype) to be more susceptable to fit in these black and white models.

-cross posted to my blog-