Understanding the Basics of Astrology

Understanding the basics of astrology. Astrology studies the ever-changing pattern of the planets and stars in relation to human experience. Astrologers examine planetary positions at the moment of a person’s birth in order to discern themes, characteristics, and interests that may be emphasized over the course of that person’s life. Dane Rudhyar (1976a) taught that the birth chart is a “seed pattern,” a set of “celestial instructions” revealing what an individual potentially can become. The chart suggests the kinds of experiences and actions that may be necessary to fulfill one’s life purpose.

The astrological birth chart can be viewed as a roadmap provided by the Creator. This roadmap provides individualized guidance through life’s changes and challenges—the sharp turns, steep climbs, and occasional plateaus that all of us experience. To understand your birth chart, it’s important to grasp the meaning of five basic factors: planets, signs, houses, cycles, and aspects. We’ll examine each of these topics, as well as transits and progressions, two methods astrologers use to determine the timing of events and experiences.

Understanding the Basics of Astrology: The Planets

The planets represent various facets of the personality: Sun is the symbol of identity, our conscious sense of self, the quality of our self-expression and self-emanation. Moon represents feelings, moods, and needs, our emotional life. Mercury signifies our speech, thinking, verbal, cognitive, and communication skills. Venus signifies the expression of love, affection, our social style and way of relating with others. Venus also symbolizes beauty and describes what we find desirable and attractive. Mars symbolizes self-assertion, instincts, drives, and vitality; it’s the symbol of the will, the vital energy that fuels activity and achievement. Mars signifies how we express anger, desires, and sexual drives. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars are called the personal planets.

Jupiter and Saturn are the social planets. Jupiter represents our capacity for planning and aspiration, our urge for expansion, conceptual understanding, adventure, and social participation. Saturn represents the urge to stabilize our lives through focused, sustained effort. It symbolizes the maturity and hard work needed to meet the pressures of material existence and to actualize the goals and aspirations of Jupiter. Saturn represents the desire for security and tangible accomplishment, social adaptation, conformity to tradition, and our ability to function within social institutions and defined occupations.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are called the transpersonal planets. Physically, they’re outside the orbit of Saturn and symbolically operate beyond the laws of Saturn, defined by family, tradition, and cultural institutions. These planets disrupt and transform the structures developed by Saturn. Uranus impacts our lives through rebellion, defiance, unconventional behavior, scientific pursuits, becoming excited about discoveries and innovations, politics and social change, and undergoing major changes of attitude or direction. Neptune awakens us to subtle, etheric, nonmaterial realms, and incites an urge for expansion of consciousness, transcendence, religion or spirituality, and development of intuitive or psychic capacities. In some cases Neptune represents a tendency toward helplessness, victim mentality, avoidance, and escapist behaviors. Pluto transforms through catharsis, detoxification, purging and letting go, and through surfacing and elimination of impurities such as hatred, greed, resentment, or jealousy.

Understanding the Basics of Astrology: The Signs of the Zodiac

Each planet is placed in a sign, which shows the quality of energy with which the planet expresses itself. The signs are divisions of the ecliptic, the path of the Sun’s apparent motion around the Earth. This is from Earth’s perspective; in actuality, Earth orbits around the Sun. Imagine the ecliptic as a band of light surrounding Earth with twelve colors, with each color representing one of the twelve zodiacal signs. Now visualize a planet such as Mars passing through red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, or black zones. Mars will express itself with a particular modality, quality, or style depending on which sign it’s placed in at a given time. Signs modify and give thematic coloration to each planet. Signs also symbolize the cyclic passage of the seasons, with Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn corresponding respectively to the beginning of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter (in the northern hemisphere).

Most people know their Sun sign and a few popular phrases describing qualities associated with that sign. For example, Taureans are said to be stubborn, Leo natives to be vain, proud, and theatrical, and so forth. However, the zodiacal signs are better understood as a sequence of symbols representing twelve phases of the cycle of evolution. Let me briefly describe the story described by the zodiac.     

Imagine a formless, vast ocean of potentialities in which no distinct entities exist, a condition of expansiveness, emptiness, and nothingness. This is the evolutionary phase called Pisces. It’s an oceanic condition that’s shrouded in mist, uncertainty, and peace. It’s the state of quiescence that precedes creation.

Then, a distinct individual form or organism begins to crystalize and seeks to become autonomous and to distinguish itself from the collective, the undifferentiated ocean of potentiality symbolized by Pisces. This is the Aries phase of emergence of individual identity. Considered the first zodiacal sign in Western astrology, Aries represents Spring, the birth of individual consciousness. Here one experiences a surge of physical strength and instinctual energy, emboldening our personal will, drives, motivation, and impulses to act.

As we learn to stand on our own and become autonomous, we gain the capacity to procure food, shelter, and physical ease of being. This is the Taurus phase of substantiation of personality. Taurus is the phase of embodiment and productive, pragmatic activities supporting biological growth and material comfort and sustainment. In this phase of unhurried sensory experience, we develop grounded awareness of the physical world and intelligence about money, purchases, and ownership.

Gemini represents a phase of curiosity to explore our surroundings, to investigate and name the many objects, people, and events we perceive. This is the phase of extension of personality outward into the environment. In Gemini, linguistic ability emerges, enabling us to communicate and to acquire and exchange information.

In the zodiacal phase of Cancer, we tire of roaming in search of new experiences and seek to put down roots in a particular location. We feel the instinct to nest, to establish a home, a sense of family, a safe environment, and focus our attention on some limited area of activity. Thus Cancer is the phase of orientationand emotional development. We evolve the capacity to feel, to care, to develop emotional attachments with other people, and to establish a home, dwelling, office, an atmosphere, a personal space.

Leo is the phase of fun, play, taking risks, self-expression, and creativity, the externalization of the self. Leo is the moment to experience joy, celebrate life and our capacities, and express our love and individual talents with dignity, pride, self-respect, dramatic flair, and a sense of fun. In Leo, we want to feel seen, mirrored, validated, and witnessed.

In Virgo, we develop self-reflectiveness, analyze ourselves, recognize our imperfections, and strive for self-improvement. Sometimes in Virgo we feel dissatisfied, anxious, or self-critical. Virgo is the phase of purification and self-betterment through discipline or technique, training, employment, or apprenticeship. Personal crises may catalyze adjustments of our habits, skills, or attitudes.

The first six signs, Aries through Virgo describe the process of individualization, the development of individual potentials. The second six signs emphasize social integration of the individual. Libra represents the urge to know others, to interact. We perceive others as attractive and seek to love, share, cooperate, and relate harmoniously and congenially. Libra is the phase of interaction and the path of relationships and friendships.

Next, a new stage is reached when two individuals attempt to live and work together and to find a social purpose for their relationship. In the life-cycle phase of Scorpio, the energies of relationship become intense and productive as two individuals attempt to work toward some common end. Emotional, sexual, and shared financial commitments create new challenges, because as two people try to cooperate and work together, conflicts of will and differences of opinion inevitably arise. In Scorpio we experience the dynamics of power, anger, control, mistrust, jealousy, resentment, dominance, hostility, and aggression that arise in many deep and committed human interactions. Scorpio represents the regeneration we may experience as a consequence of interpersonal crisis and the adjustments that all relationships require. The regeneration may also stem from traumatic events or a brush with death.

In Sagittarius, we seek wisdom and understanding through a more developed intellectual life. This is the phase of comprehension or conceptualization; we’re concerned with defining our beliefs, formulating theories, and reflecting on moral or philosophical doctrines that can guide our lives and give meaning to events. Sagittarius is the phase of learning, education, travel, pilgrimmage, and expanding our intellectual and cultural horizons.

Capricorn signifies the stage of applying the concepts and guiding principles defined in Sagittarius within the realm of social institutions and occupations. The predominant concern is to find our place within the social hierarchy. This is the stage of ambition, attempts to advance, achieve, to gain respect and stature. In Capricorn we strive for success; it’s the phase of accomplishment and incarnation of our ideals.

In Aquarius, we look beyond personal ambitions and achievements, recognizing ourselves as part of a collective, a member of a society at a particular moment of time and history. We’re interested in furthering the welfare of the group, society as a whole, and envisioning new ideals and goals for the future. To pursue these ideals and goals, it’s important to join together with other like-minded people in groups, political parties, communities, collectives, cooperatives. This is the pinnacle of the process of social integration, just as Leo is the pinnacle of individualization. Here we broaden our awareness beyond personal concerns to social issues. This is the phase of participation, and involvement in activities promoting innovation, social change, or scientific discovery.

Finally, returning to Pisces, the evolutionary process leads beyond even socially focused activity and identification with a group and toward union with the source of all life: God, Spirit, the infinite, the wholeness of existence. Pisces is the phase of self-transcendence, openness of being, and feeling our oneness with the great ocean from which our individual existence emerges. At times Pisces signifies loss of individual control and experiences of powerlessness, helplessness, or victimization. Pisces can also be the phase of enlightenment through merging into consciousness, Spirit, the source and ground consciousness that encompasses all manifest and unmanifest realms.

Understanding the Basics of Astrology: The Houses

Each planet is placed a zodiacal sign but also in a house of the birth chart. The houses are divisions of the space surrounding an individual at the moment of birth. Using the exact date, place, and time of birth, astrologers determine the position of the point directly overhead at the birth moment (the Midheaven” or MC), the point directly below, opposite the MC (the Nadir or IC), the point rising on the Eastern horizon (the Ascendant), and the point setting on the Western horizon (the Descendant). These four angles define four quadrants of the sky, which are then further subdivided into the twelve divisions of the sky that define the astrological houses. The houses represent specific situations and fields of life, and cover the full spectrum of human experience. Each of the twelve houses has some correspondence with one of the twelve signs. For example, in house 10 one deals with situations and concerns related to those that are the focus of the tenth sign, Capricorn. House 1 concerns self-image and the formation of identity. House 2 concerns survival issues, money, ownership, and acquisitions. House 3 concerns thinking, reading, learning, speech and communication, transportation, driving, and mobility, and interaction with siblings, neighbors, and other people we encounter in the course of daily life. House 4 concerns family life, housing and domestic matters, connection to a sense of place, locale, memory, and ancestral heritage. House 5 concerns self-expression, creativity, play, enjoyment, and children. House 6 concerns health, employment, skill development, apprenticeship, jobs and training situations, self-purification, and self-improvement. House 7 is the realm of significant relationships, friendship, and marriage. House 8 concerns the deepening of relationship through exchange of financial, emotional and sexual energies, and developing the capacity for intimacy, commitment, and responsibility to another. House 9 concerns the definition of theories, concepts, and beliefs that bestow meaning upon experience, especially as these are cultivated through study and travel. House 10 is the realm of profession, vocation, career, and contribution to society. House 11 concerns our awareness of social and historical circumstances and our response to them, as well as participation in groups, teams, collectives, community affairs, social movements and political causes, professional organizations, conferences, or any group concerned with the future and human welfare. House 12 is the realm of solitude, retreat, introspection, altruistic activity, awareness of ancestral or karmic forces and the collective unconscious, and exploration of the inner world through meditation, dreams, or fantasy. Each house has a “dispositor,” a planetary ruler determined by the sign on the cusp of the house. For example, if Leo is the sign on your 10th house cusp, then the Sun (ruler of Leo) is of your 10th house.

Cycles

Astrology is based on understanding the cyclical nature of existence. All of life follows a cyclical pattern of birth, growth, decay, and new beginnings. Dane Rudhyar popularized the metaphor of the vegetation cycle to illustrate this point. In spring seeds sprout, put down roots, and grow stalks and branches. During summer flowering, fruits are produced. In autumn, leaves wither and fall to the ground to become raw material for future cycles. Finally, seeds are released that lie dormant through the winter, waiting to sprout in the subsequent spring, when a new cycle begins. The monthly phases of the Sun and Moon exemplify this cycle of growth, decay, and rebirth. At New Moon, an impulse is released as the Moon receives new light from the Sun. This impulse develops during the first half of the lunation cycle, which emphasizes growth of form. A turning point is reached at the First Quarter, which Rudhyar called a “crisis in action,” a moment when decisive action is required to overcome the inertia of the past and to carry forth the new impulse into actuality. At the Full Moon phase the process culminates in an illumination of purpose, leading to a lucid, objective awareness of the meaning of this cycle of existence. The plant, or the cycle of development, has reached its symbolic and existential fruition. Subsequently, during the second half of the cycle there’s a completion and reevaluation of the structures developed in the first half. A process of dissolution of form begins now, based on the realizations of the Full Moon phase; and this dissolution of form may be accompanied by a growth in awareness. At the Third Quarter phase, a “crisis in consciousness” occurs. Aspects of the past need to be repudiated, and old beliefs or priorities are adjusted or relinquished. Finally, as the cycle nears completion during the Balsamic Moon phase (the waning crescent Moon), there’s a release of the past, a letting go, and a period of waiting in preparation for a new cycle that will commence at the next New Moon. A human life follows a similar pattern of development. The entire lifetime constitutes the individual’s cycle of existence, in which there are beginning, middle, and ending phases. The first half of life is often a process of struggling to establish a stable personal identity and material existence and can be broadly characterized as a phase of growth of form. Later in life, while growth of form may continue, it’s also common to reevaluate the pursuits and achievements of youth and to give greater attention to questions of meaning and growth of awareness. The birth moment is the inception of a new life-cycle, containing an implicit pattern of development that can potentially unfold during the remainder of the life-cycle. Thus, the birth chart is said to operate as a “seed pattern” for the person’s life. More specifically, the birth-map helps us identify themes and areas of activity that are likely to be emphasized over the course of a lifetime. It also enables us to understand the numerous, interconnected sub-cycles, operating within the life-cycle as a whole, defined by the transits of the planets — each of which has a particular purpose and intention. All events and experiences gain heightened significance when situated within the context of cycles. Just as each month there’s a New Moon, a First Quarter Moon, a Full Moon, and a Third Quarter Moon, so, too, there are identifiable phases in all human experience. Thus, some periods can be interpreted as moments of new beginnings, while others are moments requiring decisive action or changes of attitude, or moments of completion and preparation for a new cycle. Through reflection on astrological symbolism we come to understand that everything is cyclical and occurs in phases. From this perspective, enlightenment means understanding these cycles of development and cooperating with them. Knowledge of astrology teaches us when to act and when to wait, when to plant and when to harvest, when to dig in at home and when to embark on journeys and adventures.

Understanding the Basics of Astrology: Interplanetary Aspects

Just as the lunation cycle has a number of major phases, all of the other planets enact cyclic relationships with one another. The significant phases of these relationships are called “aspects.” Aspects show how the various planetary functions link up and work together within the personality. Two planets placed together (like the New Moon) are said to be in conjunction, whereas if they’re directly opposite one another (180 degrees), they’re in opposition (like the Full Moon). Planets 90 degrees apart form a square. The trine is a 120 degree aspect, and the sextile is a 60 degree aspect between two planets. Other important aspects include the quincunx (150 degrees), the semi-square (45 degrees), and the sesquiquadrate (135 degrees). Each aspect has a slightly different flavor, with the trine and sextile showing inherent skills, talents, and the harmonious interplay of planetary energies. The other aspects represent areas where change and adjustment are necessary to allow expression of facets of the self that may at times be in conflict with one another. Even if planets aren’t in a classical aspect, they’re also related to one another through their midpoints, the point midway between their two zodiacal placements. Tierney (1983) provides a thorough explanation of aspects. For discussion of midpoints, refer to Harding & Harvey (1990).

Transits

Examination of the signs, house placements, and aspects of the planets in the birth chart yields a symbolic portrait of the full complexity of the individual. Astrology also enables us to understand the timing of our experience of the many potentials indicated in the birth chart. The birth chart is brought to life by transits, the continuing movements of planets through the sky, which activate the planets and angles of the birth-map. The Moon’s transit through the twelve signs each month symbolizes our constantly changing emotional lives. The Sun, Venus, and Mercury pass through the entire chart every year; the transits of these inner planets show, respectively, the changing focus of our vital energy, our affections, and our mental attention. Mars takes two years to transit through the entire birth chart; its movement through the signs and houses shows where we need to take the initiative and assert ourselves vigorously, even if this leads occasionally to minor frictions, irritations, and tensions. Jupiter takes twelve years to transit through the twelve signs and houses and brings growth of aspirations, plans, and desire for improvement and expansion. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are slower-moving planets, and their transits are considered more momentous and more productive of deep changes in an individual’s life. The study of transits enables us to understand the kinds of developmental pressures and growth processes we’re experiencing at any given time. For example, Saturn transits (such as its return to its birth position) are maturational processes that press us to become more focused and responsible in a specific area of life. In contrast, Uranus transits challenge us to break free, reorganize, and make structural, behavioral, or attitudinal changes. An important dimension of transits mentioned in this book is the study of interplanetary cycles, which examines the phasic aspects formed by pairs of transiting planets. The monthly solunar cycles measure the phases of the relationship of Sun and Moon, from the New Moon (conjunction), representing the beginning of a cycle, to the Full moon (opposition), representing the climax or culminating moment of the cycle, and back to the New Moon, the new cycle. Similarly, we study the transiting cycles of other planetary pairs. For example, the cycle of Venus and Mars helps us understand the process of joining affection and passion into the experience of sexual attraction and romantic love. Another interplanetary transit I utilize frequently is the twenty-year cycle of Jupiter and Saturn, which symbolizes the process of forming and actualizing a sense of social destiny, one’s goals for accomplishment within the domain of society and culture. In addition to following the transit of various planet in relation to natal planets and houses, we can also study interplanetary cycles, following the movement of two transiting planets in relation to one another, from their conjunction, to their first quarter square, to opposition, to third quarter square, to their subsequent conjunction. The phases of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle measure important stages in the maturation and growth of a career or a calling in life. This is described more fully in my book, Astrology and Meditation.

Progressions

Transits indicate how environmental pressures activate the inherent psychological characteristics and personal potentials indicated by the natal chart. However, most astrologers don’t view human beings as fixed and static entities, but rather as persons who continually grow and change. The birth pattern is like a snapshot of the sky frozen in time, which contains an implicit continuation and resolution of the birth moment. Astrologers posit a correspondence between the planetary positions in the days after birth and developments in the corresponding years of the individual’s life. Thus, if we examine the positions of the planets in the days immediately after birth, we observe changes in the birth pattern, showing the continuation or “follow through” of the birth moment. This is the method astrologers call “secondary progressions,” using the formula one day after birth equals one year of life to measure changes occurring within the birth pattern and the personal life-world that it symbolizes. The combination of transits and progressions give astrologers two powerful means of measuring the kinds of experiences and evolutionary development an individual may face during a particular period.

The Appropriate Attitude Toward Astrological Symbolism

An ongoing topic of debate in the field of astrology is the question of whether or not we’re fated to experience certain events. It’s clear to most people who engage in a serious study of astrology that a great deal of predictive accuracy is possible using methods such as transits and progressions. Nevertheless, this doesn’t necessarily imply that all events are predestined or can be foreseen astrologically. Liz Greene’s book The Astrology of Fate is an extended meditation on the nature of fate, prediction, and destiny in astrology. Greene describes the story of King Henri II of France, who went to two different astrologers, both of whom predicted that on a certain date the King would die in a duel from a blow to the head. Sure enough, his death occurred exactly as predicted. Greene examined the king’s chart to see if she could figure out what the astrologers had looked at to predict his death. She concluded that they had focused on the king’s Aries Sun square Saturn (Aries rules battles, duels, and the head). However, she reasoned, she herself had done many charts of people with the same configuration but none of them had suffered a fate similar to that of King Henri. How could this be? Could it be that the predestined, “fated” quality of planetary combinations no longer holds for modern persons? Could the modern psyche have changed in such a way that we longer need to exteriorize events in order to experience the energies and archetypes of planetary combinations? Greene contends that through the mediation of symbols we can overcome the compulsion to externalize events as an expression of planetary forces and can instead internalize, and thereby transform, these energies through the magical power of symbols. She writes:

Psychic energy tends to transform from instinctual compulsion to meaningful inner experience through the mediation of the symbol. In other words, psychic energy “introverts” if the image which corresponds to the outer compulsion emerges within the individual and if he [sic] is able to contain that compulsion through the mediating power of the image. . . . We are ultimately the inheritors of Ficino and the alchemists, who believed that the transformation of one’s own substance was the only possible answer to fate. Paradoxically, this entails an embrace of one’s fate. (pp. 151, 153)

I believe this is the kind of understanding that’s most useful in the study of natal astrology. We learn to work cooperatively with the planetary archetypes and view each of their tests as means of embracing our fate and transforming our inner substance. The magnificence of astrology is that it enables us to see such internal psychological and spiritual evolution come to life vividly in events that can be accurately timed using transits and progressions. Finally, consider these words of the Sufi master, Hazrat Inayat Khan: Be firm in faith through life’s tests and trials. . . . It matters little whether you are on the top of the mountain or at the foot of it, if you are happy where you are. . . . The one who is able to keep his [her] equilibrium without being annoyed, without being troubled, gains that mastery which is needed in the evolution of life. . . . Stand through life firm as a rock in the sea, undisturbed and unmoved by its ever-rising waters (Inayat Khan, 1978). When practiced wisely, astrology teaches us to live through each event and experience consciously, viewing it as a test or initiation, with the noble attitude toward the changes of time invoked by Inayat Khan. Through reflection on astrological symbols and the nature of cycles, we learn to remain even-minded, hopeful, and composed under all conditions, to make appropriate responses and well-timed choices, and to meet all experiences with which life presents us as initiatory lessons leading to transformation. Study of the birth chart suggests how we might express the many different components of the personality (the planets) and navigate wisely all phases of the wheel of life symbolized by the twelve signs and houses. Moreover, astrology not only guides us toward actualization of our individual potentials, but also depicts the steps we need to take to pursue the path of self-transcendence and spiritual awakening.

Adapted from G. Bogart, Astrology and Spiritual Awakening (Berkeley, CA: Dawn Mountain Press, 1994)

This book has been expanded and revised in a new second edition, published 2014 by AFA Books