Glossary 55 terms

Astrology

  1. Sun The Sun is the central luminary of the birth chart in Western astrology. Its sign, house and aspects describe a person's core identity, their sense of self, their vitality and…
  2. Moon The Moon is the second luminary of the birth chart in Western astrology. Its sign and house describe a person's emotional life, their deep needs, their instinctive reflexes and…
  3. Mercury Mercury is the planet of mind and communication in Western astrology. Its sign and house describe how a person thinks, learns, speaks and exchanges with others, along with…
  4. Venus Venus is the planet of love, pleasure and values in Western astrology. Its sign and house describe how a person loves, what draws them, what they find beautiful and how they…
  5. Mars Mars is the planet of action, desire and self-assertion in Western astrology. Its place in the birth chart, its sign and house, describes how a person goes after what they…
  6. Jupiter Jupiter is the planet of expansion, growth and meaning in Western astrology. Its place in the birth chart, its sign and house, describes the area where a person seeks to grow,…
  7. Saturn Saturn is the planet of limits, structure and time in Western astrology. Its place in the birth chart, its sign and house, describes the area where a person meets effort,…
  8. Uranus Uranus is the planet of rupture, freedom and awakening in Western astrology. The first of the slow planets, it lingers for years in a single sign and so carries a generational…
  9. Neptune Neptune is the planet of dream, imagination and the ideal in Western astrology. A slow, generationally tinged planet, it crosses a sign over some fourteen years; its house in…
  10. Pluto Pluto is the planet of depth, power and transformation in Western astrology. The slowest planet, strongly generational in tone, it can stay some twenty years in a single sign;…
  11. Aries Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, a cardinal fire sign ruled by Mars, covering roughly 21 March to 19 April. In Western astrology it is tied to drive, initiative and the…
  12. Taurus Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac, a fixed earth sign ruled by Venus, covering roughly 20 April to 20 May. In Western astrology it is tied to stability, patience and the…
  13. Gemini Gemini is the third sign of the zodiac, a mutable air sign ruled by Mercury, covering roughly 21 May to 20 June. In Western astrology it is tied to curiosity, exchange and…
  14. Cancer Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac, a cardinal water sign ruled by the Moon, covering roughly 21 June to 22 July. In Western astrology it is tied to sensitivity, memory…
  15. Leo Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac, a fixed fire sign ruled by the Sun, covering roughly 23 July to 22 August. In Western astrology it is tied to radiance, generosity and the…
  16. Virgo Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac, a mutable earth sign ruled by Mercury, covering roughly 23 August to 22 September. In Western astrology it is tied to discernment,…
  17. Libra Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac, a cardinal air sign ruled by Venus, covering roughly 23 September to 22 October. In Western astrology it is tied to harmony,…
  18. Scorpio Scorpio is the eighth sign of the zodiac, a fixed water sign traditionally ruled by Mars and, in modern astrology, by Pluto, covering roughly 23 October to 21 November. It is…
  19. Sagittarius Sagittarius is the ninth sign of the zodiac, a mutable fire sign ruled by Jupiter, covering roughly 22 November to 21 December. In Western astrology it is tied to the search…
  20. Capricorn Capricorn is the tenth sign of the zodiac, a cardinal earth sign ruled by Saturn, covering roughly 22 December to 19 January. In Western astrology it is tied to ambition,…
  21. Aquarius Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the zodiac, a fixed air sign whose traditional ruler is Saturn and modern ruler Uranus, covering roughly 20 January to 18 February. In Western…
  22. Pisces Pisces is the twelfth sign of the zodiac, a mutable water sign whose traditional ruler is Jupiter and modern ruler Neptune, covering roughly 19 February to 20 March. In Western…
  23. Fire (element) Fire is one of the four elements of Western astrology, shared by Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. It stands for spirit, drive and enthusiasm: a forward-moving energy, quick and…
  24. Earth (element) Earth is one of the four elements of Western astrology, shared by Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. It stands for the body, the concrete and stability: an energy that builds, lasts…
  25. Air (element) Air is one of the four elements of Western astrology, shared by Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. It stands for the mind, ideas and relationship: an energy turned toward exchange,…
  26. Water (element) Water is one of the four elements of Western astrology, shared by Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. It stands for emotion, intuition and depth: a receptive energy that feels and…
  27. Cardinal signs The cardinal signs are one of the three modalities of Western astrology, alongside the fixed and mutable signs. They are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. Their role is to…
  28. Fixed signs The fixed signs are one of the three modalities of Western astrology, alongside the cardinal and mutable signs. They are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Their role is to…
  29. Mutable signs The mutable signs are one of the three modalities of Western astrology, alongside the cardinal and fixed signs. They are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. Their role is to…
  30. North Node (lunar) The North Node is one of the two points where the Moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic, always opposite the South Node. These are not bodies but calculated points. In modern…
  31. South Node (lunar) The South Node is one of the two points where the Moon’s orbit crosses the ecliptic, always opposite the North Node. These are not bodies but calculated points. In modern…
  32. Ascendant (Rising sign) The Ascendant is the zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at the exact moment of birth. It marks the starting point of the birth chart and its twelve houses. Depending on…
  33. Astrological house The astrological houses are the twelve sectors of the birth chart, each tied to an area of life: identity, money, relationships, work, home. Calculated from the time and place…
  34. Aspect An aspect is the geometric angle formed between two planets in the birth chart, measured along the zodiac. Astrologers read it as the way two energies talk to each other: some…
  35. Birth chart The birth chart is the map of the sky drawn for the exact moment and place of a birth. It places the Sun, the Moon, the planets, the Ascendant and the twelve houses as they…
  36. Retrograde Retrograde motion is the apparent backward movement by which a planet seems to reverse course in the sky, seen from Earth. It is an optical effect caused by differing orbital…
  37. Transit A transit is the current position of a planet in the sky, set against a person's birth chart. By comparing where the planets are today to the points of the birth chart,…
  38. Cazimi Cazimi describes a planet located at the exact heart of the Sun, within one degree of its position, sometimes tightened to sixteen minutes of arc. In traditional astrology this…
  39. Combustion Combustion describes a planet so close to the Sun that it is, in effect, burned, usually between one degree and roughly eight and a half degrees from its position. Invisible,…
  40. Sect Sect is a distinction in Hellenistic astrology between day charts and night charts, based on whether the Sun sits above or below the horizon at birth. In a day chart the Sun,…
  41. Decan A decan is a ten-degree subdivision within a zodiac sign, which spans thirty degrees. Each sign therefore breaks into three decans, and astrology traditionally assigns each a…
  42. Orb The orb is the margin of degrees tolerated around an exact aspect for it to count as active. A perfect trine spans one hundred and twenty degrees; with a six-degree orb it…
  43. Mutual reception Mutual reception describes two planets each placed in the sign the other governs. Mars in Cancer and the Moon in Aries are in mutual reception, since the Moon rules Cancer and…
  44. Domicile Domicile is the sign a planet governs and where it sits most at ease. Mars is in domicile in Aries and Scorpio, Venus in Taurus and Libra, and so on. A planet at home acts with…
  45. Exaltation Exaltation is the sign where a planet, without being at home, finds itself honored and shown to advantage. The Sun is exalted in Aries, the Moon in Taurus, Saturn in Libra. An…
  46. Detriment Detriment, also called exile, is the sign opposite a planet's domicile, where it feels least at ease. Mars is in detriment in Libra and Taurus, Venus in Aries and Scorpio. Far…
  47. Fall Fall is the sign opposite a planet's exaltation, where it is most disregarded. The Sun is in fall in Libra, Saturn in Aries, Venus in Virgo. A planet in fall struggles to be…
  48. Void of course Moon The Moon is said to be void of course when it will form no further major aspect with another planet before leaving its sign. This window runs from the last exact aspect until…
  49. Ingress An ingress is the moment a planet enters a new zodiac sign. The Sun's ingress into Aries, for instance, marks the spring equinox and the start of the astrological year. Every…
  50. Station A station is the moment a planet appears motionless in the sky, just before changing its apparent direction. It is called a retrograde station when the planet is about to turn…
  51. Part of Fortune The Part of Fortune is a calculated point in the chart, not a celestial body, derived from the positions of the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant. The best known of the Arabic…
  52. Solar return The solar return is the chart drawn for the exact moment the Sun comes back each year to its natal position, around the birthday. Read as a map of the year ahead, it is…
  53. Profection The annual profection is a Hellenistic predictive technique that advances a point of the chart by one house for each year of life. At age zero the point starts from the…
  54. Triplicity Triplicity groups the three signs of one element, for instance Aries, Leo and Sagittarius for fire. To each of these trios, traditional astrology assigns ruling planets, often…
  55. Fixed star Fixed stars are the distant stars of the background sky, as opposed to the wandering planets that move in front of them. Astrology keeps a few dozen, such as Regulus, Algol,…