The Planets

Astrology deals with ten planets. Eight of these are the sister planets of the earth - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. The other two are the Sun and the Moon, neither of which is a planet. (A planet circles the Sun.) However, as seen from the earth, the Sun and Moon follow the same path as the planets. Astrologers, interested in the relationships between the positions of all ten objects, simply call them the Ten Planets, and that's what we will call them.

The path followed by the ten planets is called the ecliptic. You can visualize the ecliptic by imagining yourself looking out from a glass enclosed observation tower located at the center of a giant circular racetrack. The tower represents the earth. The racetrack represents the ecliptic.

As you look out from your tower, you see all ten planets moving around the track in the same direction, from the right to your left. Since the planets move at different speeds, they are all spread out around the track. Faster planets circle the track several times a year, overtaking and passing slower moving planets that take centuries to make one lap.

Astrologers are interested in where each planet can be found on the track, and where they are with respect to each other. They use the signs of the zodiac to describe planet positions, and Aspects to describe the relations between them.

Planets represent different cosmic forces which affect your basic character traits and your changing urges and needs. They provide the energies which drive your physical, emotional, and mental and intuitional systems. These planetary energies are modified by the planet's position in the zodiac, and by its relationships (aspects) to the other planets.

Ruler/ dignity - strongest influence is in this sign. You are in control. Exaltation - The complementary forces are increased and the Virtues magnified. You feel comfortable in a friends house.

Detriment - does not operate at full power and takes on more of the signs coloration. You are visiting where you must conform others to rules and regulations.

Fall - Here it has difficulty expressing its real nature. You must stay in someone else's home and you are not comfortable there

Planets fall into three groups according to how long it takes them to make one trip around the track. The first group of planets takes less than two years to make a full cycle. These include the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Since we experience the influence of these planetary cycles so often, we soon learn to recognize and control our reactions to them. These are the PERSONAL PLANETS.

The Sun's position in the zodiac is your familiar Sun sign. The Sun sign shows how you express your creative urges through conscious acts of will. It represents the male principle, the father, husband, men. It rules health, vital principle, authority, bosses, rank, title, high office, progress, dignity, energy, sense of identity and capacity for experience. It action is fortifying and vitalizing.

Shows the life and heart of the horoscope, this is where you shine.

The Moon's position in the zodiac shows your unconscious emotional reactions to situations based on your early experiences and family training. It represents the female principle: mother, wife, women, instincts, moods, tides, phases, receptivity, fluctuations, feelings habit patterns, reflex actions. Its action fluctuations and changes. It governs personal interest, desires, needs, magnetism, growth, fertility, the need to touch, impressionability and consciousness. Rules liquids, commodities, sailing, brewing, nursing, trades people, and the public.

Where you find the Moon shows where you are subject to emotional ups and downs.

The planet Mercury's position in the zodiac shows how you think things out and then communicate your ideas and decisions to others. It also reveals how you make decisions and what you consider before making a decision.

Rules reason, ability to communicate, intellect, awareness, dexterity, rationalization, transmission, words, opinion and sensory perceptions. Its action is quick, uncertain, lively. Deals with travel (especially short trips) brothers and sisters, children, office work, transportation, emotional capacity and technique.

Shows where and how you communicate best.

The planet Venus's position in the zodiac shows how you give of yourself and how you express your feelings for others. It also reveals how you attract the good things of life, both the material and the spiritual.

Rules art, culture, aesthetics, possessions, partners, beauty, charm, good taste, sentimentality, sweets and sugar, color, harmony, poetry, painting, jewelry, singing, drama, music. It actions are gentle and harmonious. Governs emotional contracts, tenderness, moral character, marriage and unions of all kinds. It is a planet of love not sex.

Shows what you really enjoy.

Deals with you animal nature, desire and sexual energies. Shows ambition, force, construction, work strife, competition, death. Governs surgery, operations, weapons, war, accidents, inflammations, wounds, and cuts burns, scalds, violence, tools, iron, steel. In earlier times it was known as the lesser malefic. Mars's action is sudden self assertive and disruptive. Mars can be used destructively and angrily, in a fighting way or with courage and strength.

Show where you expend the greatest energy.

The second group of planets includes planets Jupiter and Saturn. Their effects are felt more as long-term inner urges rather than immediate conscious needs. These urges determine how you view the world

Rules - Sagittarius/ Pisces

Detriment - Gemini

Exaltation - Cancer

Fall - Capricorn

Represents - benevolent, protective

Keyword - expansion

The planet Jupiter's position in the zodiac shows how you express your need to grow. It shows your interests in the higher values of life and how you share those interests with others.

Rules wealth, leisure time, big business, the higher mind, optimism, higher, growth, morality, prosperity and indulgence. Also higher education, philosophic reasoning, aspirations, sports, luck, long distance travel hunting and fondness for animals. Jupiter is the judge, lawmaker, helper. In earlier times was know as the Greater benefic. It's actions is orderly, promotes health and growth

Shows where you often have good fortune and like to spend your leisure time.

The planet Saturn's position in the zodiac shows how you try to establish and protect your position in life. It also shows how you face responsibility and seek recognition for your efforts.

Rules form, discipline, responsibility, organization, ambition, capacity for a career, limitations, sorrows and delays, theories, scientific law, older person, depth patience, timing, tradition, conventionality, orthodoxy, productive use of time. It represents the principles of truth, contraction, solidification, wisdom and aging. It action is slow and lasting. Saturn is the taskmaster of the horoscope. In earlier times it was know as the Greater Malefic.

Show where you feel least secure and tend to overcompensate.

The third group of planets moves so slowly that its energies influence en tire generations in essentially the same what--setting the culture tones for long periods of time. Uranus makes a full cycle in about 84 years, a full lifetime, while Neptune and Pluto take about two centuries (164 and 247 years respectively). The characteristics of these Transpersonal planets are as follows:

The planet Uranus's position in the zodiac shows something about the motivation, goals, and originality of those born in each seven year period during which Uranus is in each of the signs.

Rules inventions, originality, science, electricity, magic, the occult, light, astrology, psychology, x-ray, airplanes, and insight into nature's laws. It is futuristic, humanitarian, intellectual, eccentric, bohemian, egotistical, and utopian. Its action is sudden, unexpected and often violent. Uranus is a breaker of traditions. It is neutral and sexless and considered by many to be the upper octave of Mercury and the first of the transcendental plants. Recent research also associates Uranus with natural disasters, particularly earthquakes.

Show where you tend to do the unusual.

The planet Neptune's position in the zodiac influences the collective outlook of all those born within the same thirteen year period during which Neptune remains in one sign, showing the mystical and inspirational influences felt by each generation.

Rules maritime matters liquids, music, movies, stage, TV, glamour, dreams, illusion, spirituality, ideals, mystique, hunches and things we take deeply for granted in life without questioning. Rules fog, petroleum, Mystery, Anesthetics (gases), flattery, intangibles, fragrances, second sight, love of poetry, color and dancing. Governs drugs, drug addiction, alcoholism, hypochondria, sleepwalking, trances, hypnosis, immateriality, abnormality. It action is subtle, gradual, sometimes deceptive. It is the higher octave of Venus and the second transcendental planet.

Shows where you tend to deceive yourself and/or others; it is also where you seek the ideal

The planet Pluto's position in the zodiac influences the entire generation of people born within the same twelve to twenty-two year period during which Pluto remains in one sign, showing human need for regeneration and control in each generation.

It rules the underworld, things that are hidden, replication processes, phobias, obsessions, slow growth, group factor, transmutation, beginnings, endings, birth, death, isolation, coercion, disappearance, kidnapping, anonymity, bacteria, viruses. Governs masses, waste, subversion, atomic power, crime. Represents generation, regeneration and degeneration. It exposes that which is secret or hidden. Governs vacancy, plumbing, dictatorships, unpopular causes and the exclusive. It's action is slow, ponderous, inevitable. It is the third of the transcendental plants and is considered a higher octave of Mars.

It show were you will find complexity, where you'll have to solve problems alone and unaided.

The influences of these transpersonal planets will vary between Individuals depending on how they relate to the other planets of the horoscope, and how they fall into a person's natal houses.

Earth is always the exact opposite of the Sun by sign, degree and house placement. It shows how and where you meet the world. It relates to the physical plane and mundane matter. It represents your mission in life.