Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Astrology Basics

Planets, Houses, Aspects

The Sun represents the core personality and the true identity or real self, the way we really are in the real essence of our beingness. It represents the real position of the Sun with respect to the earth as the earth revolves around the Sun through its yearly journey.

AS Ascendant or Rising Sign The Rising sign moves through all 12 signs each day Rising sign is the apparent self we present to others; the way we "seem" to be and reflects the hourly change in the way the sun appears to move through the sky each day as the earth rotates on its axis each day.

Moon The Moon represents our emotions, feelings and sensitivities.

Mercury Mercury represents mental energy and communications

Venus Venus represents social interaction, romance and feminine attraction

Mars Mars represents physical energy, power and male attraction

Jupiter Jupiter represents expansion and gain including economic fortune

Saturn Saturn represents responsibility

Uranus Uranus represents short-term general cultural styles, fashion trends or fads

Neptune Neptune represents generational moral or social trends

or Pluto Pluto represents long term generational trends and historical perspectives

Houses The Houses represent specific areas of interest. The ASCENDANT (Sign Rising at moment of birth) sets up the table of Houses which follow in sequence as the Earth rotates on its axis, facing all twelve signs each day, creating the apparent motion of the Sun in contrast to its real position which takes a year to complete and on which our annual calendar is based. Determination of an individual's House positions requires an individually-calculated personal horoscope for the exact moment of birth and cannot be included in the generic free weekly horoscopes provided below, but ARE included in individually prepared horoscopes that can be ordered.

Aspects Aspects identify relationships of planets that interact with each other, whether the interaction of the various planets within one person's chart, or the interaction among more than one persons' planets showing compatibility, friction, similarity or difference. Aspects play a prominent role in assessing compatibility as well as in evaluating the effect of transiting planets on a natal chart. For example, if we look at the relationship of the Wright Brothers, it is interesting to note that older brother Wilbur is an Aries (Cardinal Fire sign), born April 16, 1867 while younger brother Orville is a compatible Leo (Fixed Fire sign) born August 19, 1871 in an almost perfect trine position. Their historic first flight occurred December 17, 1903, as the transiting Sun created the completion an almost perfect Grand Trine in mutually-compatible Sagittarius (Mutable Fire sign). The interacting relationships are as noteworthy as the separated content.

Qualities, Elements, and Polarity

The QUALITIES (Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable) represent how those attributes are expressed.

CARDINAL signs are the signs that occur at the BEGINNING of each season of the year as the Earth makes its way around the Sun (Aries begins Spring, Cancer begins Summer, Libra begins Fall and Capricorn begins Winter), and represent the initiatory or expressive aspect of the attribute. The cardinal signs for Fire and Air begin the seasons of equinoxes (Spring and Fall) when the days and nights are of equal length, and the cardinal signs for Water and Earth begin the seasons of solstices (Summer and Winter) when the extremes between the lengths of day and night are greatest.

FIXED signs are the signs that occur in the MIDDLE of each season of the year as the Earth makes its way around the Sun (Leo in Summer, Scorpio in Fall, Aquarius in Winter and Taurus in Spring), and represent the internalized or most stable aspect of the attribute.

MUTABLE signs are the signs that occur at the END of each season of the year as the Earth makes its way around the Sun (Sagittarius concludes Fall, Pisces concludes Winter, Gemini concludes Spring and Virgo concludes Summer), and represent the completed or most balanced aspect of the attribute in readiness for the next one.

As the months of the NATURAL astrological calendar make their way through the seasons beginning when the Sun enters Aries to mark the onset of Spring, they progress through the above table, moving each month DOWN one level on the "quality" axis (from Cardinal to fixed to Mutable) and across to the LEFT to the next "element" (from Fire to Earth to Air to Water). The seasons themselves move in the reverse order from the months, from Fire (Spring) to Water (Summer) to Air (Fall) to Earth (Capricorn).

The intersection of each ELEMENT (4) with each QUALITY (3) multiplies (4x3) to make the total of the twelve signs, each with the attribute of its element and the nature expressed by its quality. Detailed explanations of each SIGN are presented below, or you can click to move directly the sign of greatest interest.

Harmony and compatability with other signs:

MOST compatible or harmonious are signs OTHER THAN your own, in the SAME ELEMENT.

LEAST compatible (most friction) are signs of the SAME QUALITY and OPPOSITE POLARITY.

It should also be noted that, while the SIGNS identify personality traits, NO ONE person is a perfect representation of any sign. Our basic "sign" is that of the position of the SUN on the date of our birth, which can easily be identified since our calendar is based on the Sun's apparent movement through the heavens as the Earth orbits around it.

Home