The Stars Within You

1. Astrology: A Language of Cosmic Mythology

Mythology is fundamental to being human.

Making sense of life. Astrology, an ancient practice, serves as a language that connects us to the cosmos, providing a framework to understand our lives through myths and archetypes. It's more than just sun signs; it's a complex system that reveals our connection to the universe. By learning this language, we can decipher the messages the stars are sending us, gaining insights into our personalities, relationships, and potentials.

Beyond horoscopes. Astrology is a language that helps us make sense of our feelings, thoughts, and events. It provides a map to navigate our lives, imbuing us with meaning and self-awareness. It's a language that helps us commune with planets and stars, discovering important messages about who we are.

Ancient roots. Originating over two thousand years ago, astrology has evolved through Babylonian, Greek, and Hellenistic traditions, influencing philosophers, scientists, and thinkers throughout history. Carl Jung, for example, found astrology indispensable for understanding mythology and the human psyche. Today, astrology continues to resonate as a tool for self-discovery and understanding human nature.

2. The Zodiac Signs: Archetypes of Human Nature

The twelve signs of the zodiac are the foundation of astrology, representing the archetypes, or personalities, present in human nature.

Understanding the signs. The twelve signs of the zodiac are not just dates on a calendar; they are archetypes that represent different facets of human nature. Each sign, from Aries to Pisces, embodies unique energies, characteristics, and myths that unlock our journey of self-discovery. While we may identify with our Sun sign, our personalities encompass all twelve signs, with some holding more weight depending on our birth chart.

Duality, triplicity, quadruplicity. The signs are categorized by dualities (masculine or feminine), triplicities (fire, earth, air, water), and quadruplicities (cardinal, fixed, mutable), providing a deeper understanding of their qualities. Fire signs are enthusiastic, earth signs are stable, air signs are intellectual, and water signs are emotional. Cardinal signs initiate, fixed signs preserve, and mutable signs transform.

Cyclical journey. The zodiac operates in a cyclical pattern, starting with Aries, the trailblazer, and ending with Pisces, the sign of spirituality and oneness. Learning the signs is the best entry point into astrological study, since they apply to all other areas of chart reading. We each have a Sun, Moon, Ascendant, and eight additional planets, all of which fall into different signs that reveal layers of our distinct personalities.

3. The Sun: Your Core Identity and Vitality

The Sun is our basic personality, identity, ego, and consciousness.

Shining your light. The Sun sign represents our core identity, ego, and consciousness. It's the most powerful indicator of who we are, revealing our basic personality and how we express ourselves. Our Sun sign indicates how we can best feed our spirit, and also, how we are prone to unhealthy patterns.

Finding balance. The journey connected to the Sun is discovering how we can grow into our unobstructed, fullest expression. By consciously engaging with our Sun's journey, we can develop greater sanity and self-awareness, ruling our world from a place of conscious wisdom.

Radiance and self-expression. At its best, the Sun is our radiance and loving self-expression. At its worst, it becomes our arrogance or vanity. Bringing attention to our Sun’s journey helps us shine our brightest so we can lead the fullest life possible. Since the Sun is our life force, self-worth, identity, and focus, if we aren’t actively feeding it, we will feel weakened, cowardly, or even insane.

4. The Moon: Your Emotional Landscape and Needs

The Moon represents our inner psyche and emotional nature.

Understanding your emotions. The Moon sign represents our inner psyche, emotional nature, and subconscious. It reveals our deeper emotional needs, instincts, and vulnerabilities. It is the emotional backdrop for all that we do, ruling our instincts and vulnerability. A relational planet, the Moon also tells us how we receive and support loved ones.

Nourishing your soul. Knowing our Moon sign helps us understand what truly brings us contentment and how to nurture ourselves emotionally. It is irrational but poetic and full of meaning. If we do not feed our Moon, we simply cannot feel content.

Element of emotion. Our Moon’s element, or triplicity, tells part of the story of how we feel. If our Moon falls into a water sign (Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces), our emotions are more complex, with heightened potential for sulkiness, changeability, and dreaminess. In air signs (Gemini, Libra, or Aquarius), the Moon indicates an increased tendency toward intellectual detachment, objectivity, and communicating our feelings socially. The Moon in earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn) denotes steadiness, stability, pragmatism, and sometimes repression. In fire (Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius), the Moon is more direct, simple, and truthful.

5. The Ascendant: Your Social Persona and First Impression

Our Ascendant, or Rising sign, is the entry point into our whole life and being, coloring the rest of our lives and natal chart.

The mask you wear. The Ascendant, or Rising sign, is the entry point into our chart, coloring our lives and representing our outermost layer. It's how we make a first impression and how others perceive us. It describes our outermost layer and how we make a first impression. If the Sun is how we see ourselves and the Moon is how we really are, then the Ascendant is how others see us.

More than just a mask. The Ascendant also reveals our shadow selves, childhood experiences, likely partnerships, and how we find balance. It governs our body, style, and appearance, indicating our physical features and how we carry ourselves.

Finding balance. By understanding our Ascendant, we can better navigate social situations, understand our initial reactions, and work towards integrating our outer persona with our inner self. It also reveals our shadow selves, aspects of our childhood, likely partnerships, and how we find balance.

6. Inner Planets: The Personal Energies of Mind, Love, and Drive

As we peel back the layers of who we are, we arrive at the inner planets—Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

The personal planets. The inner planets—Mercury, Venus, and Mars—represent the core facets of our personality: our mind, love nature, and drives. Mercury governs communication and intellect, Venus rules love, values, and creativity, and Mars dictates physical energy, sexuality, and initiative.

• Mercury: Rules the mind, intellect, and communication.
• Venus: Rules our love nature, values, and creativity.
• Mars: Rules our physical exertion, attractions, and sexuality.

Understanding your energies. By understanding the placement of these planets in our birth chart, we can gain insights into how we express these basic energies. Knowing our planets helps us consciously provide each of them proper nourishment so we can become more of who we are, without ignoring any aspect of ourselves.

Intricate beings. Learning about our inner planets, we discover language to describe our everyday complexities and inconsistencies. For example, people who seem serious and restrained upon first impression (Capricorn Rising) could also feel pulled to pursue wild adventures and experiences (Sagittarius Moon).

7. Social Planets: Navigating Society and Belief

Jupiter and Saturn are known as the social planets.

Relating to the world. Jupiter and Saturn, the social planets, represent how we interact with the world at large. Saturn embodies structure, responsibility, and limitations, while Jupiter signifies expansion, belief, and good fortune.

• Saturn: Rules government, traditions, and society, representing contraction and limitation.
• Jupiter: Rules religion, philosophy, and humor, representing expansion and limitless possibilities.

Finding balance. Saturn forces us to root to the earth while imposing restraint, responsibility, and hard lessons. He teaches us to mature and participate in society so we can become accountable for people other than ourselves. An opposite energy to Saturn, Jupiter inspires joy, adventure, travel, and optimism. He orients us toward philosophy and spirituality through shared belief systems.

Esoteric wisdom. Both of these planets hold keys for us to access the esoteric wisdom of the outer planets, with Saturn as the ultimate gatekeeper. First, we must look to the horizon in pursuit of wisdom (Jupiter), then ground and take care of ourselves (Saturn) before delving into the lessons of the more complex outer planets.

8. Outer Planets: Transformation, Intuition, and Spirituality

Just beyond the social planets, we reach the outer planets—Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

The invisible realms. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, the outer planets, represent the most esoteric aspects of ourselves, pushing us beyond our comfort zones into the sublime. They are all magical in different ways, bringing us depth and dimensionality.

• Uranus: Rules intuition and the future.
• Neptune: Rules healing and spirituality.
• Pluto: Rules power and transformation.

Generational influence. Since the outer planets move slowly, their sign placements reveal less about our individual nature than our Sun, Moon, Ascendant, and inner planets. As they orbit the Sun from the position of Earth, Jupiter remains in one sign for a year, while Saturn stays for two and a half years. (By comparison, the Sun moves through a sign every month; the Moon every two and a half days.)

Unlocking the gifts. Like Uranus and Pluto, Neptune requires Saturn’s lessons to unlock its gifts. Before dissolving into limitless space, we must first develop our Saturnian discipline—rooting to the earth and committing fully to being human. Boundaries are necessary to protect this sensitive energy from slipping into misunderstanding or bewilderment.

9. Houses: The Arenas of Life's Expression

After learning about the planets and signs, we now reach the third building block of astrology: the houses.

Where life unfolds. The twelve houses represent the different areas of life where we express our planetary energies. These categories, originating in Babylonian times, encompass various domains such as money, creativity, relationships, career, and spirituality.

Understanding the houses. The houses represent positions in the sky. The first house begins at the easternmost horizon at the time of our birth. The twelve houses not only correspond with twelve categories of life, but also with the twelve signs. The sign that matches each house is called its natural ruler.

Applying the energies. By understanding the planets and signs that fall in each house, we can gain insights into how we direct our energies in different areas of life. For example, if the Sun, our basic identity and self, falls in the seventh house of partnerships, we might identify strongly with our relationships; we could be prone to feeling that our confidence (the Sun) depends heavily on validation from our partnerships.

10. Aspects: The Harmony and Tension Within

As we understand the various dimensions of astrology and weave together the cosmic tapestry of who we are, we have at our disposal an insightful and logical framework to help us make sense of our illogical selves.

Planetary relationships. Aspects are the angles formed between two or more planets in our birth chart, indicating how our planetary energies relate to each other. They explain how different facets of our personality harmonize and blend—or how they create paradox, tension, and complexity.

Major and minor. The aspects fall into two broad categories—major and minor. The major aspects represent the strongest degrees between two planets or points in our chart. The most important major aspect is the conjunction, which is roughly 0° between two planets.

Harmony and disharmony. Both major and minor aspects are further categorized as harmonious or disharmonious. However, there is no such thing as a “bad” angle. The tense or disharmonious aspects (like squares and oppositions) are what give us passion, intensity, and drive. If we had only harmonious aspects (like trines and sextiles) in our chart, we might be complacent souls—content vegging out, rarely challenging the status quo.

Last updated: March 9, 2025