Chart the Stars

What Astrology is all about

True Astrology is a science based on mathematics and astronomy. It tells the story of where the planets, sun and moon were at the exact moment of our birth and how these placements influence our lives. By interpreting the roles of the planets and their qualities (the signs and houses), astrology is able to present a complete picture of the person and their potential based on the natal chart.

The Sun and the Moon

Every person has a dominant self and a subordinate self. Within astrology the dominant self comes from the sun and the subordinate self comes from the moon. At the centre of the solar system, the sun is the vital self at the centre of the person. The moon is a self of changing moods and reacts to the dominant self and to others.

The Sun corresponds to the dominant brain hemisphere, which is the verbal, conscious, unselfish, asexual and socially co-operative portion of the brain.

The Moon corresponds to the subordinate brain hemisphere, which is the unconscious, selfish, sexually motivated and socially rebellious portion of the brain.

Role of the Planets

In addition to the Sun and Moon, also known as luminaries, the other planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

The planets provide the power and energy, while the signs are the areas, circumstances and conditions through which they operate.

Whereas the sun and the moon are the outward and inward self-principles within the astral body, the planets control stages in the soul's learning process. These stages are:

• gathering information
• creating desires
• performing action
• experiencing results
• analysing and learning the consequences of one's desires.

The Framework of the Horoscope

Astrologers calculate a chart of the sky at the moment of a person's birth in order to see the corresponding structure of that individual's astral body.

The sphere of the sky at birth is divided into 12 divisions called Houses. The houses are numbered clockwise from the Ascendant at the left of the chart, which points to the start of the First House.

The lower hemisphere of the chart, consisting of the 6 Houses below the horizon, deals with the individual's private world and inflowing. The upper hemisphere, consisting of the 6 Houses above the horizon, deals with the individual's public world and out flowing energies.

The Signs of the Zodiac

There are twelve signs of the zodiac - also knows as sun signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

The meaning of the signs is very similar to the meaning of the houses. One difference is that while the planets influence the areas of life associated with the houses in which they are located, the signs influence the planets' expression of their own functions. The planets are the action, the signs are the areas of action and each sign is ruled by a planet.

A factor, which affects the character of the zodiac signs, but not the houses, is the 4 astrological elements according to which:

• Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are Fire signs,
• Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are Earth signs,
• Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are Air signs, and
• Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are Water signs.
• The Fire and Air signs are masculine while the Earth and Water signs are feminine. Fire signs tend to be passionate while the Air
• signs show a mental approach to life. Earth signs tend to have a practical approach to life while the Water signs are more sensitive and emotional.

The four signs share a quality, the three astrological qualities are cardinal, fixed and mutual.
The Cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, tend to be self-centred builders.
The four Fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, tend to be stable and sociable types.
The four Mutable signs, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, tend to be restless changers.

Qualities of the cardinal signs are:

• positive: initiating, originating, direct, enterprising and active.
• negative: impatient, dissatisfied, difficulty in finish projects off.

Qualities of the fixed signs are:

• positive: stabilizing, focused, constant, determined.
• negative: unhelpful, obstinate, rigid, obsessed.

Qualities of the Mutable signs are:

• positive: adaptable, flexible, changing, versatile.
• negative: unfocused, inconsistent, indecisive.

Description of the Houses

The horoscope's division into twelve segments - the twelve houses - represents the twelve departments of life:

The First House

The First House represents the self, the behaviour and image projected into the world. This includes the appearance of the body, instinctive behaviour, habitual mode of acting, self-image, our public "mask", vitality, health.

The Second House

The Second House relates to the things and resources we bring into our life to support our existence. This includes all financial affairs, possessions, money and desire for stability.

The Third House

The Third House controls the habitual interactions with the everyday-stimulations, our skills to deal with day-to-day living. It includes personal activities such as thinking, speaking, writing, education, learning, speech, hobbies.

The Fourth House

The Fourth House describes the character of our private environment, the "ground" that supports us in the world. This includes the home life, parents, (especially the mother), our native land, traditions, the past, emotional background.

The Firth House

The Firth House describes our self-expression. This includes the activities carried "just because of who I am", as art, gambling, speculation, investment, amusements, love, sexuality.

The Sixth House

The Sixth House represents the activities carried out for the benefit of someone else; service, helping; dealing with adjustments to physical reality, health issue; self-sacrifice.

It covers areas as health, nutrition, work, type of employment, service to others.

The Seventh House

The Seventh House relates to building the self that we present to the public world. It therefore covers aspects as marriage, partnerships, legal affairs, disputes, divorce, business partners, open enemies. The parts of our personality that we deny or ignore.

The Eighth House

The Eighth House rules self-transformation, renewal, resources and support from partners. It covers aspects such as death, challenges to our personal status, attraction, illumination, rebirth, sexuality.

The Ninth House

The Ninth House covers mental expression and public activities such as lecturing, publishing, travelling, foreign affairs, higher education, philosophy, the law, and the church.

The Tenth House

The Tenth House relates to the character of our public environment, achievements, prestige for our labours. It describes the career and contribution the world. During childhood it can describe the father.

The Eleventh House

The Eleventh House describes elements such as the fellowship of like-minded people, group identity. This includes hopes, wishes, humanitarian social networking, friendship, our roots in the social world.

The Twelfth House

The Twelfth House rules the inner life, personal unconscious, repressions, and limitations. It includes elements like secret enemies, spirituality, activities to dissolve the self, solitary retreat, self-denial, sacrifice, prisons, asylums, shameful secrets.

A planet in a house affects the character of the particular life area, which the house controls.

Aspects Between Planets

Along with the Signs and Houses of the Zodiac, the Aspects are key to our interpretation of a chart. The Aspects represent the angle between two planets in the Zodiac. Presupposing that the circle of the Zodiac is divided into twelve equal slices (Signs), being a circle of 360 degrees, each slice (or Sign) is 30 degrees. So, we can define the major aspects as follows:

• Conjunction - when two planets are in the same sign of the zodiac
• Opposition - when two planets are opposite to each other in the zodiac
• Square - when two planets are at 90 degree angle
• Sextile - when two planets are at 60 degree angle
• Trine - when two are at 120 degree angle

Each angle has its own personality or way of expressing the relationship between planets. For instance, the 120 degree angle facilities the cooperation between the functions of the 2 planets. 180? angle creates a stimulating and challenging opposition between planets.

This interrelation combines the energies of the individual planets into larger and more complicated groups, forming connections between different parts of the personality. When a large number of planets are combined in this way, they form a "planetary complex". Such complexes are normally potent forces shaping our personality and behaviours.

Conclusion

The planets, houses, signs and aspects form the foundation of astrology. The principal task of astrology is to understand how their combination in the horoscope at birth has shaped and influenced the individual. This is called natal birth chart. Another important task is to understand the planetary influences upon the individual during the course of a lifetime.

A further application of astrology is to investigate the effect that two people have on each other by seeing how their charts compare.

There are many other astrological procedures, but delineations of the above are fundamental.