Astrology Basics
When it comes to Western astrology, things can get a bit complicated when you talk about charting down to the precise degree, what planets are in what houses, what ascendants are, what your lunar sign is… There are quite a lot of components to learn about.
For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to give you some terms and definitions you should know. Call them astrology basics (even though I will probably miss something that another astrologer considers basic but absolutely necessary to know).
Your Chart: Your personal chart is a circle mapping out the position of the planets (plus the sun and moon) in particular houses at the time of your birth. The 360 degree circle is split into twelve 30 degree houses…
Houses: Each 30 degree ‘slice’ of your chart is a house, and each house has its own meaning. Houses are what lie behind our urges in life. In astrology there are ten planets and twelve houses, so the houses with no planets are the areas of life you aren’t particularly interested in. The more planets you have in one house, the more focused on that area of life you are going to be.
Signs: The signs are probably what you already know about. There are twelve signs, including Capricorn, Aries, Saggitarius, etc, and each of these signs, like the houses, have their own meanings and basic personality traits.
Aspects: Aspects are the relationships between planets. There are different categories planetary relationships fall into. For example, if you imagine your chart as a clock and have one planet at 9.00 and one planet at 3.00, these planets are in opposition. As you can imagine, the urges associated with the planets in opposition ‘battle it out’ in our personalities.
Of course, things definitely get more complicated than that, but I’m just here to point out the basics. If you want to learn more, that’s up to you.
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