Astrology Resources

Earth is the central foundation of our astrology; for She is our home, our native planet, and the center of our existence. The human for whom a birth chart is cast is referred to as “the native” because they are an Earth native.

Following the Chaldean Order from slowest to fastest, the 7 classical Planets are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. These are the Planets that are visible to the naked eye, without the aid of technology. The word “Planet” derives from a Greek word “planetes” that means “wanderer,” and classically refers to any celestial body that is observed to move against the background of fixed stars, including the Sun and Moon. This movement of Planets against the background of fixed stars and around the zodiac is called secondary motion, as differentiated from primary or diurnal motion which causes all stars and Planets (i.e. the entire celestial sphere) to rise in the East and set in the West each day. I capitalize the word “Planets” when I refer to these 7 visible wanderers in our sky, in order to distinguish my use of it from the modern word “planets” meaning celestial bodies that orbit around a star.

The 7 Classical Planets are of primary and fundamental importance to the practice of astrology, and hold a perpetual influence over contemporary global culture. In terms of global culture, they are the reason there are 7 days in a week and 24 hours in a day. In terms of astrology, they are the foundation upon which primary astrological theory has been laid. The most notable examples of this are: 1. essential dignity, especially domicile/detriment and exaltation/fall; 2. planetary joys in the houses; and 3. the Thema Mundi and related aspect doctrine. Youʻll notice that I just said the 7 Planets are essential to interpreting celestial state (i.e. Planets in signs), terrestrial state (i.e. Planets in houses), and aspects (i.e. relationships between Planets, signs, and houses). These 3 concepts essentially comprise the entire foundation of western astrology, and so the importance of the 7 Planets and their Chaldean Order cannot be overstated.

Uranus, the 7th planet, was recognized as a planet on March 13, 1781 by William Herschel, the German born British astronomer. He identified Uranus with the help of reflecting telescopes he made with assistance from his brother and sister, Alexander and Caroline. Many people had seen Uranusʻ body before Herschel, but they had not recognized it to be a planet, likely due to its relative dimness and slow orbital speed. The technological innovations of telescopes, and then reflecting telescopes, enabled Uranusʻ discovery. This link between technological innovation and discovery is essential to Uranusʻ nature. As befits this revolutionary nature, Uranusʻ discovery broke through the boundary of Saturn that had been imposed on the heavens since antiquity. In a very real way, Saturnʻs limitation still exists, being the most distant planet we can usually see with our naked eye. Nevertheless, the discovery of Uranus suddenly changed the classical structuring of the universe in an irreversible way, and amplified theoretical and scientific endeavors to discover the new and unknown. It should also be noted that Uranusʻ orbital axis is oriented such that its poles point approximated toward and away from the Sun, and thus Uranus appears to roll in its orbit. This is unique in our solar system, bolstering Uranusʻ reputation for being unusual and contrary to the status quo. It should further be noted that, while far reduced from the brightness we associate with our faintest Planet (Saturn), it is possible to see Uranus under optimal conditions without a telescope. However, I expect those who have knowingly witnessed Uranus with the naked eye probably still utilized technology to locate its position. This occupation of the edge of our conscious awareness links Uranus with Mercury. While Mercury occupies the twilight edge between the realms of day and night, Uranus occupies the edge of visibility between the conscious and super-conscious realms.

Neptune, the 8th planet, is said to have been discovered on the night of Sept 23-24, 1846 using telescopes and mathematical calculations of its predicted orbit derived from observed perturbations in Uranusʻ orbit. As befits Neptuneʻs nebulous, dissolving, and unitive nature, credit for Neptuneʻs discovery has been a topic of some controversy, and is muddled between the many people and nations involved. The distilled judgement of a less determinate story is that French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier precisely predicted the position of Neptune, and urged German astronomer Johann Galle to search for it using Berlin Observatoryʻs telescope, leading to Galleʻs nigh immediate identification of the planet within 1° of its predicted position. Urbain Le Verrier is widely given credit for this discovery, and proposed the name Neptune for the 8th planet. The telescope was necessary for Neptuneʻs discovery, since it is the only planet the cannot be seen with the naked eye. In light of this, it is doubly interesting that both Uranus and Neptune are classified as ice giants, and thus distinct from the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, as well as the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Thus, their great distance from the Sun that sets Uranus and Neptune beyond ordinary human consciousness simultaneously has physical implications for their material composition. Neptune is akin to a buoy anchored in the super-conscious vastness of the cosmos beyond, invisible except in dream.

Pluto, the fabled 9th planet, was discovered on Feb 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh using telescope photographs from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff (Arizona) and a blink comparator. The discovery was made due to a decades long search for the 9th planet, “Planet X,” in this case initiated by Percival Lowell. More generally, the astronomical communityʻs search for the 9th planet began in earnest due to mathematical predictions of a 9th planet based upon perturbations in Uranusʻ orbit that were not fully explained by Neptuneʻs influence, although Lowell himself had made other observations he believed evidenced the existence of this 9th planet. The thrill of Plutoʻs discovery was followed by skeptical debate and mass controversy when it was found to have a smaller size than original expected, and as we know Pluto was ultimately reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union. Pluto emerged into human consciousness in 1930 directly between the beginning of World War 1 (1914-18) and the end of World War 2 (1939-45), and preceding the development of the atomic bomb in 1945. This link between the titanic power of tiny things in the underworld of the microcosm is evident in the nature of Pluto. Since and even before Plutoʻs discovery, a myriad of sub-planet solar system objects have been discovered, including asteroids, centaurs, kuiper belt objects, comets, and more. So far as these planets make up the “underworld” of the solar system, Pluto is rightly named the ruler of the underworld, since he has the largest diameter and is second in mass only to the even more distance dwarf planet Eris. It is Plutoʻs massive influence on the collective human consciousness that should perhaps make this distinction most deserved; however, we must further consider that Pluto is only 2/3 of the picture, and in fact is a part of a binary system with Charon, not to mention their surrounding moons.

Charon, Plutoʻs other third, was discovered on June 22-23 1978 by Jim Christy. When Christy was analyzing photos he had requested from several sources, including Lowell Observatory, he noticed a bulge in the north-south orientation of Plutoʻs body that created an asymmetrical distortion of Plutoʻs image, even though the background stars did not appear distorted. By examining his collection of photos taken at different times, he was able to evidence the existence of Charon and calculate itʻs remarkably fast orbital period of 6.39 Earth days. Originally Charon was thought of as Plutoʻs moon; however, later it was determined that Pluto and Charon actually form a binary system, since they have relatively comparable masses, the barycenter of their orbit actually lies in between them, and the 4 moons that have since been discovered around Pluto actually orbit around both Pluto and Charon. The barycenter of the Pluto-Charon system is 1.83 the radius of Pluto, and thus well outside Plutoʻs body. To compare, Jupiter is the only planet whose barycenter with the Sun lies outside the Sunʻs body, located at 1.07 the Sunʻs radius; and the barycenter of the Earth-Moon system is 0.73 Earthʻs radius, and thus located inside Earthʻs body. An additional point of interest is that Plutoʻs diameter is 2,376 km, Charonʻs diameter is 1,214 km, and the distance between them is 19,640 km. This means that while Pluto is little less than 1/5 Earthʻs diameter (Earthʻs diameter = 12,756 km), and Charon is just under 1/10 Earthʻs diameter, the combined Pluto-Charon system is almost twice Earthʻs diameter (2,376 + 1,214 + 19,640 = 23,130 km). It should be said for clarity, that the Pluto-Charon systemʻs mass is still 2 orders of magnitude less than Earthʻs, but I make these comparisons and illustrate the unique body of the Pluto system, and to help us begin to understand why astrologers find Pluto to be so incredibly significant in both world transits and individual nativities.

The Tropical Zodiac measures the seasons, and is a twelvefold division of the “ecliptic circle,” i.e. the path that the Sun travels around our sky each year. The mathematical division of the Tropical Zodiac is predicated on the position of the Sun at key points throughout the year: the solstices (i.e. Summer and Winter) and the equinoxes (i.e. Spring and Fall). These four points are the foundational pillars that divide the ecliptic circle into quadrants; and these four quadrants directly correspond to the four seasons. Each quadrant (a.k.a. season) is then subdivided into three equal parts, which correspond to the beginning (1), middle (2), and end (3) of each season. Four seasons divided into three parts each create the twelve signs of the Tropical Zodiac (4 x 3 = 12).
It should be noted that while the tropical zodiac specifically measures the seasons and is the primary zodiac used in traditional western astrology, there are other zodiacs, such as the sidereal zodiac popular in Jyotish, that measure planetary position in reference to the fixed stars, not the seasons. It should further be noted that within a human lifespan, the seasons and fixed stars do not substantially shift relative to one another. However, due to a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes, the seasons do shift relative to the stars over long periods of time. A full period of Earthʻs equinoctial precession is calculated to be 25,772 or approximately 26,000 years. It is due to this precession that the constellations which share the names of the tropical zodiac signs are noted to be out of alignment, often by scientist who have never bothered to learn the distinction between the tropical and sidereal. Currently, constellations are physically located in the tropical sign that succeeds them, e.g. the constellation of Taurus is currently in the season of Gemini. This makes perfect sense, since the constellations were named about 2,500 years ago, which is approximately 1/12 of a whole precession period.

Houses measure the diurnal motion of the heavens, and determine the specific terrestrial effects (e.g. manifest events and characteristics) of the more general celestial influences (e.g. archetypal influences of the Planets and stars). Specific terrestrial determinations are often known as “accidental” while general celestial influences are known as “essential.” This is perhaps because at any given moment the terrestrial placement of the Planets in the houses differs for different locations on Earth, while the celestial placement of the Planets in the Zodiac is the same regardless of oneʻs specific location on Earth. Additionally, the terrestrial placement of the Planets in the houses changes dramatically within hours, or even minutes, while the celestial placement of the Planets usually takes weeks, months, and even years to change significantly; the exception being the Moon, the closest celestial body to the terrestrial sphere, whose celestial position changes significantly within a single day.

Houses are perhaps the most disagreed upon essential method of astrology. In general, the houses of astrology are a 12 part division of the terrestrial sphere for a specific location on Earth, calculated using the degree of the Ascendant (ASC). Beyond this, there are a multitude of methods for calculating the houses that yield more or less different results. The primary classes of house division are Whole Sign, Equal, and Quadrant. Each has itʻs own merit, and in truth the best interpretive potential likely lies at an intersection of all 3. Systematic integrations of the efficacies of each of these methods already exist to some extent, but I believe are they are still emerging. It is unlikely that one supreme method will emerge, but rather many divergent methods that each integrate the critical factors of interpretation in different ways.

Aspects are relationships between two Planets, which are based on their angular relationships. These indicate how Planets interact with each other, and how the people and areas of our life relate to each other, since the planets both occupy and signify different house