chart rulers and such

Some texting with a friend a few days ago (she was noting all the venus action in her chart- sun and moon) led to the topic of chart rulers. It's pretty easy to figure out- it's the planetary ruler of your ascendant. my friend's ascendant is cancer, so her chart ruler is the moon.


Brief rundown of the others signs and their rulers:
Aries-Mars
Taurus-Venus
Gemini-Mercury
Cancer-Moon
Leo-Sun
Virgo-Mercury
Libra-Venus
Scorpio-Pluto and Mars
Sagittarius-Jupiter
Capricorn-Saturn
Aquarius-Uranus and Saturn
Pisces-Neptune and Jupiter.

This adds another dimension to your chart, to see a driving force behind your whole chart. Someone with a Pisces rising, Neptune ruled chart is going to be led by a vision, which may or may not be rooted in reality, but will inspire them for good or ill. Jupiter flavor can come in as well, perhaps making this vision seem larger than life, which can be intimidating or inspiring, depending. Someone with a Mercury ruled chart is going to be ruled by busyness- thinking, overthinking, doing, overdoing- but will they allow themselves to move forward?

Uranus rising has a deep need for personal expression in this life. It goes down deep and if they feel blocked or oppressed an especially wild side may come out. Mars is energy, striving, a FORCE to be reckoned with. Pluto takes this Mars energy but hides it down deep for safekeeping. Saturn is steady, methodical, but need a release so the pressure won't burst them, they almost need to give themselves permission to have fun (they deserve it!). Jupiter wants to expand, travel, and generally open up to the world and potential experiences. The sun rising is bright and their presence will ALWAYS be felt. And Venus... Venus expects harmony and beauty but at what cost? They may need to figure out less obvious ways to reach their objectives...


Back to my friend, and fellow moon ruled charts: The moon is characterized by an ebbing and flowing, feelings running DEEP and emotions coming on strong and leaving just as quickly. The moon ruled chart then makes me want to see where the MOON in her chart falls, since we know that the moon has a strong influence. Her moon is in Venusian Libra, in the fourth- which is the moon's natural house. a-ha! More evidence of a very lunar lady. :) However, Libra is a very mental sign, rational thought always at least tries to break through, no matter what the rest of the chart looks like. So, she has a bit of a balance (another thing Libra rules), balancing act, between the emotional and the mental aspects of her personality. I think of stillness, anything that allows for serenity, no matter how fleeting, is going to be very beneficial for someone with these placements, as it will allow for their overworked mental and emotional faculties to rest for a few moments, which can allow for fresh air to roll in... New insights. :)


(For more information, could google "___ chart ruler meaning." An Alan Oken site may come up first, as it did with mine, and he goes into much more detail than i will about chart rulers- great read. (As an aside- his books are fascinating).

As he points out, some signs have more than one ruler. Scorpio has Mars and Pluto, Aquarius has Saturn and Uranus, and Pisces has both Jupiter and Neptune. Some signs have multiple rulers because the planets simply hadn't been discovered yet! Can you see how this may be true for the Scorpios, Aquarians, and Pisces you know? How Scorpio has the drive of Mars, Aquarius fights the restriction of Saturn, Pisces has the same need for expansion as Jupiter.)


Anyway, I digress. What planet rules your chart, and how do you see it? I want to follow up this post sometime in the future by talking about planets that fall in the first house, and how that can affect things... but, first things first. :)

aspect overview/cut and dry

Aspects are the ways the planets interact with one another.

There are four basic aspects:

Trine: planets three signs away from each other, aka signs in the same element (water, fire, air, earth). This represents an easy flow of energy in that part of the chart. For example, Aries and Leo, fire signs, trine.

Planets four signs away from each other, with the same quality (cardinal, fixed, mutable), square. An example of square are the fixed signs of Taurus and Leo. This is more of a challenging aspect.

Signs opposite each other are in opposition, duh, for example Aries and Libra are in opposition. This signifies an area of life where balance is an issue.

 Conjunct is two planets in the same sign. This intensifies the sign and planets in the chart.

Astro makes it pretty easy to find out your aspects. When you get your free chart, you'll see a chart like this on the bottom left-hand side:

This is where it gets kind of confusing- you have to decipher the symbols! You can see each planet running diagonally down the top of the chart; sun, moon, mercury, etc. The symbols inside the chart show the aspects. At first, I'd recommend just look at the four major aspects- square (represented by a square :P), a trine (triangle), opposition (two circles joined by a line), and conjunct (a circle with a line going out of the top right).  You can see that this person's Venus and Mars trine, while their Moon and Mars are in opposition.

Or you could just look at this, from wizzards, which is an awesome site btw. If you want to get more specific, this shows the actual degrees between the aspects- the closer in degree they are, the tighter the aspect, and more intense it is:

This adds another dimension to Astrology and your chart. :) You can start to put more pieces together and get a clearer picture of your chart and yourself! After you've done this it's easy to Google "jupiter trine pluto," or whatever, to see what sort of info pops up.

This is confusing stuff, so please feel free to ask away in the comments if you have any questions about your aspects! I'm not sure if this is super clear so please ask if anything's unclear. Sorry that this is such dry material, but I wanted to bring it up...

Also, I have a new plan of action for blogging... an experiment, of sorts, to try to keep me more on track. Let's just say that today is "aspect day." :P

Sun Sign Basics.

The sun sign is what western astrology is based on. It's the sign you reply with when someone asks you what your sign is. It's where the earth is, in relation to the sun, the day you were born. Every birthday marks your solar return. That's where the expression, "and many happy returns!" comes from.

I'm thinking I'll list the signs, ruling planet(s), and anything off the top of my head I can think of. 

Aries: Ruled by Mars, the red planet. This energy is independent, assertive, with a strong sense of self. Not afraid of, may even willingly hunt for and take on, challenges.

Taurus: Ruled by Venus. Taurus is characterized by love and beauty in nature, environment, in general. The definition of such, will of course vary. Security. Finances. Steadfastness. (Some may say stubborn... what?)

Gemini: Ruled by Mercury. Intelligent, a bit erratic, unique. That brain is always thinking, always going, sometimes multiple trains of thought at once!

Cancer: Ruled by the moon. The moon waxes and wanes, and especially influences the emotional states of those with Cancer prominent in their charts.  

Leo: Ruled by the sun. This energy is obviously warm and expansive, but wants/needs attention and recognition for all that they do. Also generally affectionate and generous.

Virgo: Ruled by Mercury, as well as Gemini. The energy is expressed differently in Virgo, though. Virgo is characterized by a strong work ethic and "purity of purpose" in their ideals (some may say "perfectionist"). Also loyal and truthful.

Libra: Ruled by Venus. This sign is all about relating, to themselves and to others. It also rules beauty and is intellectual in approach and nature. Balance is especially important for Libra types.

Scorpio: Ruled by Pluto, but before Pluto was discovered it was ruled by Mars. Scorpio's energy is deep and intense, and this power can be used for good or otherwise. They have potential to be great healers.

Sagittarius: Ruled by Jupiter. Expansion in all areas of life is a focus for Sadges. Travel, philosophy, education (formal or not), spirituality, art, and the like- these are all very important to this sign.

Capricorn: Ruled by Saturn. Very capable energy- they can do anything. May at times feel fearful of expanding, but this is the lower vibration. The sea-goat wants to keep ascending, and again- are EXTREMELY capable of doing so.

Aquarius: Ruled by Uranus, and was ruled by Saturn before Uranus was discovered. Aquarians are VERY independent, but in a different way than Aries. Aquarians just have to be, whoever they are. Period. To others this may seem rebellious, erratic, or weird, but Aquarians know that what others think doesn't really matter. ;)

Pisces: Ruled by Neptune, and was ruled by Jupiter before Neptune was discovered. Pisces energy is subtle but deep. Their lives may be lead more by intuition than they realize. Art, spirituality, and that which is unconscious, like dreams, interest them. Prone to confusion and escapism, however!

So there's my round up. What do you think?

From adventures in Eastport, Maine.