Planets in Astrology

In astrology, the "planets" are the Sun, the Moon and eight planets from Mercury to Pluto, with Pluto kept on the list by tradition. Each one stands for a theme, and astrologers read that theme through three things: the zodiac sign the body occupies, the house it falls in and the aspects it makes to other bodies. Planets at a glance

• Bodies in the chart: 10 (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
• Personal planets: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars
• Slow planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, from about 1.1 years per sign (Jupiter) to over a decade (Pluto)
• Points: the Ascendant and Midheaven, shown when a birth time is known; Chiron and the lunar nodes

The astrological meaning of "planet" is older than the astronomical one. Before telescopes, people who watched the sky split it into two groups: fixed stars, which kept their places relative to one another, and "wandering stars" (Greek asteres planetai), which moved against them. The Greeks, who learned from the Babylonians, counted the five planets visible to the naked eye, left out Earth and added the Sun and Moon, the two "lights" or luminaries, for seven classical planets.

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto came into the chart after the telescope found them. Astronomy has since reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet, but astrology still reads it alongside the others. Ancient astrologers took the planets as the will of the gods acting on human affairs. Modern astrologers can read them as basic drives or urges, each tied to one dimension of experience.

What each body stands for in the Western tradition:

• Sun (your zodiac sign): the conscious self and the way it shows itself, with personal power, pride, leadership, creativity, spontaneity and vitality. Together these are called the "life force."
• Moon: emotions, moods, instincts, memories, habits and rhythms, and the ability to react and adapt to the people nearby. Some astrologers also tie it to nurturing, home and the need for security.
• Mercury: communication, ways of thinking, reasoning and adaptability, along with learning, messages and the close circle of neighbors and siblings.
• Venus: love, affection, beauty and harmony, the pull to connect with other people, and the wish for pleasure and comfort. Partnerships and the arts fall under it too.
• Mars: energy, courage, strength, ambition and impulsiveness, and also confrontation and competition.
• Jupiter: growth, expansion and adventure, and in the tradition long-distance travel, higher education, religion and the law.
• Saturn: structure, stability, limits and time, plus a sense of duty, commitment and responsibility and an eye for long-term planning.
• Uranus: originality, individuality, unconventional ideas, invention and progress, and change that comes suddenly and unexpectedly.
• Neptune: idealism, dreams, empathy and artistry, and also illusion, confusion and the dissolving of the status quo.
• Pluto: called "the great renewer," it stands for the part of a person that tears down in order to renew, bringing buried needs and drives to the surface. Power and transformation belong to it as well.

Personal, social and slow planets

The classical planets were ranked by speed. The Moon moves fastest, so it was placed in the first sphere above Earth; Mercury came next, then Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Astrologers call these seven the personal and social planets because they are said to stand for the basic drives every person has. The personal planets are the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars. Jupiter and Saturn are the social planets, often described as a bridge from the inner, personal planets to the outer, impersonal ones: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

How slow the outer group is shows up clearly in the ephemeris. In NASA JPL Horizons positions for 1940–2065, the median stay in one sign is about 1.1 years for Jupiter, 2.9 years for Saturn, 7.8 for Uranus and 14.8 for Neptune, while Pluto stays over a decade. Saturn first comes back to its birth position at about age 29 in the same data, the event known as the Saturn Return.

Every sign has a ruling planet, the planet said to have a stronger influence when it sits in that sign. The old word for a sign a planet rules is its domicile, though most astrologers now just say "sign." A planet placed in a sign it rules is in domal dignity, which the tradition counts as the strongest of a planet's five essential dignities.

The classical assignments appear to follow the Northern Hemisphere seasons. Leo and Cancer, the signs the Sun crossed during the hottest and longest days of the ancient year, went to the two lights: Leo to the Sun and Cancer to the Moon. Saturn, the farthest planet the ancients knew and so the "coldest," took the two signs across from them, Aquarius and Capricorn. Jupiter, next farthest, took the signs on either side of that pair, Pisces and Sagittarius, and Mars the next two out, Aries and Scorpio. Mercury is never seen more than one sign from the Sun, so it was given the signs flanking Cancer and Leo, Gemini and Virgo. Venus, never more than two signs from the Sun, received Taurus and Libra.

The planets found later forced a choice. Most astrologers eventually agreed on Uranus for Aquarius and Neptune for Pisces, and later gave Scorpio to Pluto, starting in the 20th century; the table keeps the older rulers as the traditional ones. Some modern astrologers keep both and treat the classical planet and the modern one as co-rulers of the sign, an arrangement known as co-rulership.

So what is "your ruling planet"? In traditional astrology it is the ruler of your rising sign (Ascendant), while popular Sun-sign astrology often means the ruler of your Sun sign. Since the rising sign depends on the birth time, the traditional answer requires a known birth time. Take an example chart with the Sun in Sagittarius and Virgo rising: by the Sun sign the ruling planet is Jupiter, by the rising sign it is Mercury.

Not everything in a chart is a planet. The Midheaven (MC) is a calculated point: the place where the ecliptic crosses the local meridian in the upper sky at the moment of birth. The tradition links it with public life, vocation and visible goals. It needs a known birth time, and with one, Astrolivo's chart shows the Midheaven along with the Ascendant and the house of each body. Midheaven astrology covers it in full.

Chiron is a small body named after the centaur Chiron of Greek mythology. It is classed as both a minor planet and a comet, and it is one of four minor planets known to have rings. The symbol astrologers use for it looks like a key. The lunar nodes are points as well. For Chiron and the lunar nodes, see the Chiron astrology and North Node reference pages.

A chart reading stacks four layers. The planet supplies the theme. The sign it occupies shapes how that theme is expressed, through the sign's element, modality and ruler; each sign is covered from your zodiac sign. Astrolivo uses the tropical zodiac, which starts at the March equinox.

The house places the planet in one of the chart's twelve houses. With a known birth time, Astrolivo shows the house of each body, using the Placidus system; above about 66° latitude, where Placidus is undefined, the chart uses the Whole Sign system instead and labels it. Houses explains what each one covers.

The aspects are angles between planets. With a known birth time, Astrolivo shows five major ones: the conjunction (0°), sextile (60°), square (90°), trine (120°) and opposition (180°). Each has its own reading in Aspects.

Take an example chart with Mars in Leo in the fifth house, square to Saturn in Taurus. A reading starts with Mars's themes of energy and courage, passes them through Leo, a Fixed Fire sign ruled by the Sun, sets them in the fifth house and then adds the square, which the tradition links with tension and with effort that prompts action. Astrology is an interpretive tradition, not a scientifically validated method, so a reading like this offers themes to think about rather than facts about you. For the terms used here, see the glossary in Learn astrology.

FAQ

What does my ruling planet mean? It is the planet that rules your Sun sign or your rising sign. The tradition links a planet's symbolism with the signs it rules: Mars and Aries, for example, share an active, impulsive description. Reading your ruling planet means looking at its own sign, house and aspects.

What are personal planets in astrology? The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars, the five fastest of the seven classical planets. Jupiter and Saturn, the slower two, are the social planets.

What do I need to see the planets in my birth chart? Your date, time and city of birth. Astrolivo's birth chart is free and needs no sign-up. If the birth time is unknown, the chart is calculated for 12:00 noon and marked as such, and the Ascendant, Midheaven, houses, exact degrees and aspects are hidden.

Instead of relying on a single noon position, the calculator checks for any sign changes across your entire local birth date. If the Sun, the Moon, or another planet changes sign during that local day, the result shows each possible sign for that day rather than guessing a single one.

How this page was made

Prepared by the Astrolivo editorial team from the Wikipedia articles "Planets in astrology", "Domicile (astrology)", "Astrological sign", "2060 Chiron" and "Astrology and science", NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data for 1940–2065 and the Astrolivo glossary, and fact-checked against them. Astrology meanings are given as the tradition's readings.