Greetings

Most people are aware of their of their Sun Sign. However when we begin dealing with an astrology chart, we find a whole new field of objects. Astrologers also use the positions of the Moon, and all the planets. As we begin considering the planets as a whole, we need to also consider how they are viewed in terms of their appropriate classifications. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars are considered the personal planets. These are the fastest moving planets and provide the most variation and thus present the most sense of individuality. The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, are viewed as the social planets. Because they take years to pass through any given Sign, their influence is said to deal with the broader aspects of our lives.

The Sun is, for the most part, the most important single factor in a chart. It’s place in a Sign represents the archetype of each Signs energies. The Sun signifies the basic potential, the creative drive, the fundamental nature of the ego. With the Sun we see the expression of the conscious mind and the will of the individual. It also represents our masculine side. The Sun often reveals our sense of destiny and purpose. In our Sun we see that part of ourselves that wants to be all that it can be. The Sun and it’s nature colors everything else in the chart.

As the Sun represents the masculine and conscious, the Moon represents the feminine and unconscious. The Sun is that part of us that appears on the surface, the Moon is that part below the surface. The Moon represents our emotions, our instincts, our habits, and our unconscious mind. The Moon shows us the side of ourselves that reacts before we have time to think. Understanding the Moon can reveal our vulnerabilities and insecurities. The moons often indicates
our attachments to tradition, our herd instincts and, especially as we get older, our sense of nostalgia. The Moon represents maternal love rather than romantic love. At their most basic level, the Sun is our active side, while the Moon represents our reactive side.

Mercury represents our intellectual capacity. Mercury reveals information about our curiosity, about our ability to sort, categorize and process the information, and the reasoning processes we us to deal with that information. Mercury deals with the way we interpret and solve problems with our logical mind. Mercury may deal with the way we think but this should not be seen a what we think about. It might well show a thirst for knowledge but it does not indicate how we apply that knowledge. Mercury tends to be a lens, bringing the information we process in and out of focus, both in the way we take in knowledge and in the way relate it to others.

Venus in many ways represents those things in which we find satisfaction in life from those around us. Venus is tenderness and affection, understanding and compromise, refinement and beauty. The influence of Venus seeks the comforts and ease of life as well as financial security. These comforts are satisfied with music, art, good food, and the finer things of life. Venus’s needs are not fulfilled through individual effort but rather through interaction with others. Thus, Venus’s influence are associated with personal relationships as well a social interaction. Venus is passive in it’s nature.

Where Venus is passive, Mars is aggressive. The Mars influence can be seen as the fuel that feeds the flame of our ego’s. Mars denotes our aggressive and assertive nature. The Mars energy is competitive and challenging. Where the Venus energy seeks compromise to achieve it’s needs, Mars seeks to conquer. Winning is an end unto itself for the Mars nature. Where Venus represents refinement, Mars can be crude, shocking for the sake of shock. This might seem to portray a harsh picture of the Mars nature but this Mars energy can be as much as an asset to any personality as it can be a liability. The Mars influence can provide the drive we need to be what we want to be, to acquire those we desire, to achieve those goals we lay before ourselves.

Jupiter deals with our higher expectations and our hopes and dreams to achieve them. It also deals with our greater mental faculties that find meaning in the interactions and relationships with the wider world around us. Jupiter is generally optimistic and self assured, convinced of the certainty of success. The Jupiter nature finds expression in the things we do to find betterment in the world. It’s influence is also seen in philosophy, education and a sense of civility and propriety in matters of social behavior. Jupiter’s influence can also be seen in our religious expression. Not so much as in a sense of spirituality but rather in the institution of religion as a means of advancing the human condition. At it’s most basic, Jupiter seeks to rich, rewarding and fulfilling life.

Saturn finds it’s expression in our sense of personal worth. Where Jupiter seeks to draw reward to itself, Saturn finds it’s reward in personal responsibility and direct action. The Saturn nature can be found in our sense of duty, self reliance and personal confidence. Saturn does not denote ambition in and of itself, but a well placed and aspected Saturn is often essential to the achievement of our higher goals. Where Jupiter often relies of luck to achieve it’s ends, Saturn relies on hard work and perseverance. Saturn often finds it’s satisfaction in hard work and a job well done, and those things earned by personal effort. The Saturn nature has standards both for itself as well as for others.

Uranus finds is’s nature in the expression of individuality. The Uranus nature longs to find it’s own path in the world. Uranus seeks to shred the bond of conventionality and tradition and set out upon the path of it’s own choosing. The Uranus character thinks outside the box, seeking innovation and originality. It looks beyond the horizon, using ingenuity to solve the problems it sees as the result of conventional thinking. The Uranus nature functions best where original thinking is at a premium. Like Mercury, the Uranus energy is mental in quality, but that mental energy seeks new lines of insight and expression. Pure materialism and orthodoxy are highly uncomfortable to the Uranus nature. That does not mean that Uranus does not seek reward for it’s effort, just that reward has a different meaning for it. Freedom and progress are key elements of Uranus.

If Uranus seeks to shed the bonds of compliance, Neptune is bound by it. Social obligation and spiritual duty are the hallmark of the Neptune nature. The Neptune nature sees the rules as necessary for the greater good of the whole of the social order. This does not mean that the Neptune nature is subservient to authority. Neptune can express great sympathy for those for whom have not reaped the reward of the system. For those in authority who abuse those they lead, the Neptune nature can express righteous anger. Neptune can also express itself in a strong religious tendency. The Christian admonition to save others can be substantial in those with strong Neptune in their chart. Guilt and the need to sacrifice oneself for the greater good are part of the Neptune influence.

With Pluto we find the strong susceptibility to the group mind. Be it in terms of religion, politics or social order, Pluto denote the unconscious rather than the conscious attitude to the group mind. It can denote a need to be a part of something larger than oneself. This may find expression in either the need to preserve and defend what is established, or in the need to find radial alternatives. In this sense Pluto has been associated with revolution and dynamic change. In each of these extremes, Pluto expresses itself collectively. Pluto finds it’s expression in being part of something rather than in individuality.

Ben

thanks for the post Ben... so much we wudnt have known otherwise.
swetha