Astrology 

    Astrology is a symbolic system that interprets correlations between celestial movements and human experience. Practiced in various forms for over two millennia, astrology has appeared in Mesopotamian omen literature, Hellenistic philosophical systems, Islamic scientific scholarship, and Renaissance esotericism. Today, it survives primarily as a symbolic and psychological framework rather than an empirical science.  Astrology began as celestial omen interpretation in ancient Mesopotamia (second millennium BCE). The compendium Enuma Anu Enlil catalogued planetary and lunar phenomena alongside predicted political outcomes. These early systems were collective and mundane (state-focused), not individual.  What we now recognize as natal astrology emerged in the Hellenistic world (ca. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE), blending Babylonian astronomy with Greek philosophy.

     One of the most influential texts is the Tetrabiblos by Claudius Ptolemy. In this work, Ptolemy systematized astrology into a natural philosophy grounded in elemental theory and planetary qualities.  Hellenistic astrology introduced key concepts still used today:

  • The zodiac (12 signs of 30° each)

  • The twelve houses

  • Planetary rulerships

  • Aspects (angular relationships between planets)

    Astrology flourished in the medieval Islamic world, where scholars preserved and expanded Greek works. Figures such as Abu Ma'shar integrated Aristotelian cosmology with astrological doctrine.  Through translation movements in Spain and Sicily, astrology re-entered Europe, influencing thinkers like Marsilio Ficino. During the Renaissance, astrology was considered part of the quadrivium and practiced alongside astronomy.  In the 20th century, astrology shifted toward psychological interpretation, influenced by depth psychology. Though Carl Jung did not practice astrology as a predictive science, he viewed it as a symbolic system expressing archetypal patterns and synchronicity.  Contemporary astrology often emphasizes personality analysis and self-reflection rather than deterministic fate.

Core Components of Astrology

Astrology is based on a geocentric symbolic model (Earth-centered perspective). A natal chart is a snapshot of the sky at the moment and place of birth.

 

1. The Zodiac Signs

The zodiac is a 360° belt divided into 12 signs:

Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.

Each sign is associated with:

  • An element (Fire, Earth, Air, Water)

  • A modality (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable)

  • A planetary ruler

For example:

  • Aries: Fire, Cardinal, ruled by Mars

  • Taurus: Earth, Fixed, ruled by Venus

 

2. The Planets

In traditional astrology, the primary planets include:

  • Sun

  • Moon

  • Mercury

  • Venus

  • Mars

  • Jupiter

  • Saturn

Modern astrology also incorporates Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Each planet symbolizes a psychological or functional principle:

  • Sun: Confident, bold, fierce, tell you what they know, vitality, what you conciously strive towards, makes for a beautiful lifestyle when living 

  • Moon: Silver changes color, only  plane that changes, emotions, comfort, motherly, kind, very domestic, like being at home, very casual, swayed by emotions, very psychich dingy, moves quick, have to differentiate people quickly, more like have oppression, can navigate astral through feeling, empath

  • Mercury: Lower mind, communication, how everything aspects, very feeling person, must know for retrigrade, mercury is daily use of technology, what we hate as society, fast paced talking, continues to shut down 

  • Venus: Goddess of love, sexual love, celestrial love, represents community, how you relate to people, how we work together, financial aspect, fertility aspect, tell how someone relates to other people, can use for compatability

  • Mars: Underestimated, war, competative, does not have to answer to anyone else unless someone makes them, sexual desires matter, bad justification, Toxic masculinity, positive, use to get out of depression, action, personal fight out of manipulation, how service from abuse

  • Jupiter: expansion, belief

  • Saturn: Trial, tribulation, karma, rough, where your structure source, navigate, 3D paradigm, where ever it is, you have the ability to change, always promise to people slow change on this. Promise can build however you build it. Secret gift, joint pain, Neptune alchemizes higher aspect of Saturn. 

  • Uranus:
  • Pluto: Hades, lots of power and wealth, underground, wants to have wealth to be big and tell people what to do. Power hungry, greater good in negative light, Someone takes fall for everyone. Part of animalistic brain, instinctual, taboo sexuality, pressure to become something, tortured souls, inflict own power on the world, 

3. The Houses

The twelve houses divide the sky into areas of life experience. Their meanings developed in Hellenistic astrology and were refined over centuries.

1st House – Self and identity

2nd House - Assets and Values, Items owned as a child, toys, grew up with

3rd House - Mind and Learning, communicate, traveling around town, short travel

4th House -  Security, home and family life

5th House -Love, Fun, Humor, childhood friendship, dating and early sexuality

6th House - Daily Life, routines, stillness

7th House - Relationships in partnerships, business

8th House - Power, sex, drugs, rock and roll, fall out, stress, taboos, shadow side, taboo sexuality

9th House - Spirituality and Religion, growth learning, teaching, college, distant travels

10th House - Relationship to commitments, status, Authority, and Reputation, career and reputation

11th House - Socializing, networking, and connecting, dreams and goals

12th House - Spiritual leanings and natural connection to the universe, where you die and where you begin, dream and psychic

House placement shows where planetary energies manifest.

4. Angular Houses

House 1: Ascendant - who you meet people as

House 4: IC Who you are at home/comfort

House 7: Descendant - Who you invest in, partnership, marriage

House 10: MC - public self, how you are seen

House 1, 4, 7, 10: Postive aspects

House 3, 6, 9, 12: Negative aspects

House 4, 8, and 12: Psychic houses

 

House Quadrant- Cycle

 

 

4. Aspects

Aspects are angular relationships between planets. Major aspects include:

  • Conjunction (0°)

  • Sextile (60°)

  • Square (90°)

  • Trine (120°)

  • Opposition (180°)

These indicate harmony, tension, integration, or polarity between planetary functions.

How to Read a Natal Chart: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Determine the Big Three

The foundational triad includes:

  • Sun sign (core identity)

  • Moon sign (emotional nature)

  • Ascendant (rising sign, outer style and life orientation)

The Ascendant is calculated based on precise birth time and location.

 

Step 2: Examine Chart Ruler

The chart ruler is the planet ruling the Ascendant sign. Its placement (sign and house) shows overarching life themes.

For example:
If the Ascendant is Scorpio, Mars (traditional ruler) becomes especially significant.

Step 3: Analyze Planetary Placements

For each planet, interpret:

Planet + Sign + House

Example structure:
Mars in Leo in the 10th house = Assertive (Mars) expression in a dramatic or visible way (Leo) in career/public life (10th).

 

Step 4: Evaluate Aspects

Look for:

  • Tight conjunctions (strong emphasis)

  • Hard aspects (squares, oppositions) indicating tension

  • Trines and sextiles indicating ease or talent

Patterns such as T-squares or grand trines add interpretive depth.

 

Step 5: Synthesize, Don’t Fragment

Astrology is holistic. Avoid reading placements in isolation. Meaning emerges through synthesis—how the chart functions as an integrated symbolic system.

IV. Astrology and Scientific Evaluation

Modern scientific consensus does not support astrology as a predictive or causal system. Controlled studies, including those reviewed by organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, have not found statistically significant evidence for astrological claims.

Astrology today functions primarily as:

  • A symbolic language

  • A psychological mirror

  • A cultural tradition

  • A spiritual or contemplative practice

Its value is often interpretive rather than empirical.

References:

  • Abū Maʿshar. The Great Introduction to the Science of the Judgments of the Stars. Translated by Keiji Yamamoto and Charles Burnett, Brill, 2019.
  • Campion, Nicholas. A History of Western Astrology. 2 vols., Continuum, 2008–2009.
  • Firmicus Maternus. Matheseos Libri VIII (Mathesis). Translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Noyes Press, 1975.
  • Houlding, Deborah. The Houses: Temples of the Sky. The Wessex Astrologer, 1996.
  • Jung, C. G. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Translated by R. F. C. Hull, Princeton UP, 1960.
  • National Research Council. Astrology and Astronomy: A Study of the Evidence. National Academy of Sciences, 1980.
  • Ptolemy. Tetrabiblos. Translated by F. E. Robbins, Harvard UP, 1940.
  • Tester, S. J. A History of Western Astrology. Boydell Press, 1987.