The Planets

When someone says "I'm a Leo" they are talking about one planet, the Sun, in one sign. The chart has nine more, and every one of them is in a sign too. Learn what the planets do and the rest of the chart opens up quickly.

What a planet is in a chart

I teach the planets as verbs. The signs describe how something is done, the houses describe where in life it happens, and the planets are the something. Mercury thinks and talks. Venus loves and values. Mars wants and acts. A planet in a sign is a verb with an adverb attached. Mercury in Aries thinks fast. Mercury in Taurus thinks slowly and keeps the conclusion.

Astrologers call the Sun and the Moon planets for convenience, and I do the same on these pages. Pluto stays a planet here as well, whatever the astronomers decided in 2006. The symbolism never depended on the size of the rock.

Personal, social and outer

The ten fall into three groups, and the groups are about speed.

The personal planets are the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars. They move quickly and change sign often, and they describe you as an individual: your identity, your feelings, your mind, your affections and your drive.

The social planets are Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter takes about twelve years to go round the zodiac and Saturn about twenty nine and a half, so people born within a year or two of each other share them. They describe how you grow and how you take on responsibility, and they bring the returns people talk about, the Saturn return near 29 and 58 among them.

The outer planets are Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. They are so slow that a whole generation shares a placement, and they describe the weather you were born into more than they describe you. They matter most when they sit on something personal, a tight aspect to your Sun or Moon, or one of the angles.

A fast planet is a personal signature and a slow planet is a backdrop. When I read a chart I give the fast planets most of the weight and bring the slow ones in where they touch something.

The ten, in order

The Sun is who you are becoming, the centre the rest of the chart turns around. Everyone knows their Sun sign and most people stop there, which is a shame. The Sun page covers what the Sun actually describes and sends you on to the twelve sign pages.

The Moon is how you feel and what you need to feel safe. In my experience it is the planet people recognise themselves in most quickly once they know it. The Moon in the Signs page carries it through all twelve, and the two Moon topic pages cover the phases.

Mercury is how you think, learn and talk. It never travels far from the Sun, so it is usually in your Sun sign or the one either side. The Mercury page has the twelve.

Venus is what you love, what you find beautiful and how you relate to one person at a time. The Venus page.

Mars is what you want and how you go after it, including how you get angry. The Mars page.

Jupiter is where you grow, where you are generous and where you tend to overdo it. The Jupiter page.

Saturn is where life asks you to do the work, and where you earn the authority that comes from having done it. Saturn frightens people who have read the wrong books. I read it as the teacher in the chart. The Saturn page.

Uranus is where you break the pattern and need to be your own person. The Uranus page.

Neptune is where the edges blur: imagination, faith, longing, and the places where you can fool yourself. The Neptune page.

Pluto is where you go through the deep end and come out changed. Its sign is generational and its house and aspects are personal. The Pluto page.

Reading a planet in a sign and a house

Take any planet and ask three questions. What does this planet do? How does this sign do things? Where in life does this house put it? Mars in Cancer in the tenth house: drive, expressed protectively and with feeling, applied to career and public standing. Someone who fights hardest for the people they are responsible for, and does it at work.

Then look at what the planet is talking to. The Aspects page covers the conversations between planets, and The Houses page walks through all twelve houses. A planet is never read alone. The whole chart is the sentence and the planet is one word in it.

Which of your ten do you know, beyond the Sun?

If you would like your own chart read, my readings are here.

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