Astrology

The alignment of the solar system creates tides of nature in our lives.  The planets move in gravitational interrelationship, generating counterbalancing energies, combining to create natural dynamics we experience.  A birth chart shows how the solar system appeared at the moment we were born, forging the shape of our inclinations.  A transit chart adds today's planets to the outside of a birth chart, showing how current astrology is affecting us.

Solar System

The sun is our vitality.  The moon is our sensitivity.  The planets orbit at various rates and harmonize like the parts of an atom, like a musical chord in three octaves.  The inner set is close and quick—expressive Mars, receptive Venus and mental Mercury.  The outer set is slow  and heavy—deep expressive Pluto, deep receptive Neptune and deep mental Uranus.  In the middle, Jupiter is expansive and Saturn is centering.  Our planet, Terra, is at the balance point, holding a water atmosphere and growing life within it..

Zodiac
The sun, moon and planets move around our seasonal cycle, an elemental process defined by the rising and falling angle of the sun through the year.  Twelve months of heating and cooling, moistening and drying, named for the stars they lined up with two thousand years ago.  Fire signs emphasize passion, air signs awareness, water signs emotion, earth signs matter.  First signs of seasons are initiating, peak signs concentrating, last signs resolving.  Each sign is divided into thirty degrees.

Aspects
As members of the solar system line up even with each other (conjunct) or a third of the sky separate (trine)—in the same element—they lean together, blending.  As they line up across from each other (opposed) or at right angle (square)—the same time of season—they pull apart, tensing.  One sixth of the sky, two signs separate (sextile), is a harmony between opposite elements.  Approaching exact aspect, the energy builds.  Separating, it releases.  From our vantage point, planets sometimes appear to backtrack (retrograde).  At those times their influence is internalizing.

Houses
As our planet turns, the seasonal cycle and the planets in it appear to rotate around us.  Our view is divided into twelve sections representing areas of life.  Each life area is colored by the seasonal months passing through it, with planet energies coming out in the area where they live.

The sign rising (­) is our outlook, our approach to the world.  The midheaven (¬) is our inspiration, leading us forward.  Our moon’s orbit is tilted, and rotates every eighteen years.  Where it crosses above the sun’s path, its north node («), is our spiritual orientation.  Chiron (±) orbits between the middle and outer planets every forty-nine years and represents healing.         

A transit chart shows today's planets moving counter-clockwise around the outside of a birth chart, creating current energy influences.  With an astrological calendar and daily ephemeris (planet position table), we can follow the seasonal tides and watch the planets move through a chart.

Astrology is the observation of how the solar system aligns in our sky and the apparent consequences for life on this planet.  While some study it to predict the future or give advice, it’s most helpful as a look at the way things are, a reinforcing reflection of underlying nature, where resistance creates distortion but acceptance allows perfection.

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