The Dudes Who Use Astrology to Justify Their Breakups

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the nodes; your purpose and destiny

the nodes (north and south node/lunar nodes) are calculated points, so they don’t have a physical planet or asteroid to represent them. the nodes are often considered your place of familiarity and your destiny, and some astrologers/practices interpret them as your past life’s focus and your current life’s focus. some people also consider them to be karmic, or even as things that highlight your spiritual path in life.

the south node (☋) in your chart represents where you’re comfortable, what you’re already experienced and skilled in, and what natural habits/tendencies you stick to. it represents things you know well and may go crawling back to when life gets hard. it can point to some themes you grew up around or experienced a lot, so they feel safe to you (even if they’re not very good for you). it’s important to acknowledge and use the habits/knowledge/experiences/lessons the south node gives you, but it can be too easy to cling to the things represented by it. focusing solely on the south node will cause you to be stuck in a sort of rut, with no growth or change, no new experiences and no fulfillment. it’s important to attempt to use your south node to reach your life’s purpose (north node) instead of constantly sheltering yourself with what’s most familiar and comfortable to you. since the south node is often associated with the past and previous lives, it’s also considered to be karmic.

the north node (☊) is what you need to reach for in order to feel fulfilled in life. it tells you what you need to actively work towards and what lessons you need to learn in this life. this is why the north node is considered your “destiny”. the things represented by your north node probably won’t come naturally to you, so it requires conscious and deliberate effort to achieve its purpose. but in order to reach your purpose, you have to step out of your comfort zone (south node). sometimes your north node presents itself as an unspoken dream, or a dream that has come up consistently yet seems out of reach or unrealistic even. you may already have an underlying interest or passion in the things represented by your north node, but you’ve never acted on it because you stifled the urge or you just don’t know howto go after it. you may have to learn an entire new skill set in order to follow your north node’s path, so it’s uncomfortable and difficult to open up to even consider tackling it. once you finally begin to follow your north node and actively overcome the obstacles along the way, you’ll feel whole and satisfied.

even though the goal is to chase your destiny (north node), it’s still important to remember where you came from (south node). this means that you shouldn’t completely abandon the things represented by your south node! it’s still just as much a part of you, so balance is key when looking to your nodes for clues and guidance. stay grounded and protect yourself, but don’t expect to be spiritually fulfilled by sticking to what feels less risky and uncomfortable or unnatural.

signs vs planets in astrology

i’m asked about this quite often by people just beginning to dive into astrology. most of us only start out knowing our sun sign, so when we find our entire birth chart, how are we supposed to know what it all means? we know about the signs for the most part. houses? planets? aspects? WHAT DOES IT MEAN???

in just about any astrology book, site, etc, you’ll see it explained like this: the planets are WHAT you’re doing, the signs are HOW you’re doing it, and the houses are WHERE you’re doing it. if you need more detail (like me), that simple explanation won’t cut it. here’s the metaphor i like to use:

•if your birth chart is your home, the houses are the rooms in your home. the signs ruling your houses are the themes of how each room is decorated, the planets are the people living in your home, and aspects are the relationships between the people living in your home•

astrology is primarily about the planets, not the signs or houses. the signs and houses are MAJOR parts in astrology, but the planets are the moving pieces, so they’re the ones receiving and giving energy. the signs and houses are what determine the way that the planets act out their principles.

this isn’t to say that the signs or houses aren’t important!! it’s just as important to know the symbolism of the signs and houses, but it’s worth noting that downplaying the significance of the planets usually ends up in a watered down understanding of astrology and your birth chart.

sun sign astrology is fun and easy, but shifting the focus from the planets to the signs eliminates the differences in how a sign’s energy and traits are able to be manifested and acted out. the sun is the ego, identity, etc, so if you ONLY focus on sun signs or just the signs in general, how do you clearly interpret the difference between a sign’s ego (sun) characteristics and a sign’s emotional (moon) characteristics? or a sign’s logical (mercury) characteristics and a sign’s social, harmonious (venus) characteristics?

this is why a lot of times people who intepret the sun and moon placements the same way tend to have trouble differentiating the two. expecting an aries moon to be just as outgoing as an aries sun isn’t accurate. the sun is your active self, while the moon is your receptive self, so while an aries moon will definitely display characteristics of aries in general, it won’t be as external, because the moon is internal.

this is why it’s SO important to be well versed on the planets and how they absorb/exert the signs’/houses’ energies.

the spectrum of a 1st house sun

people with sun in the first house are usually thought of as confident, self-assured people, and this MAY be true, but not always! 1st house suns are usually very self-aware, and often overly self-conscious. this can manifest positively of course, but it may feel like more of a burden.

those with sun in the 1st house may allow their self-awareness to drive them to better themselves and to feel good in their own skin. BUT it also may bring self-doubt, feeling like you’re not good enough, and comparing yourself to others constantly.

when those with their sun in the 1st house compare their self to others constantly, they may resort to putting up an overconfident, cocky front to make their self feel superior to everyone. their false, overinflated ego masks their true insecurity, therefore masking their true identity.

since those with sun in the 1st house are so self-aware, their tendency to compare theirselves to others may bring self-doubt, causing them to feel inadequate. their self-doubt may cause their ego to be low-functioning, so they may not live up to the ‘confident’ stereotype at all.

those that feel overly self-conscious and inadequate may have trouble feeling the confidence that’s “supposed” to come from this placement. they may feel uncomfortable receiving attention, either from others or even from their self.

people with their sun in the 1st house are very concerned with figuring out their own identity, they want to find themselves and be assured in who they feel they are. if they aren’t sure of their identity, they may feel lost, like they’re floating through life without a purpose.

it’s absolutely possible to be self-aware without feeling overly self-conscious, confident without being cocky, assured of your own capabilities without comparing yourself to others. once they overcome the possible imbalances and insecurities that can come from this placement, they’re a force to be reckoned with.

2019 Astrological Planner by Magic of I

I am IN LOVE with this planner! It shows you transits, aspects, moon phases throughout the year, it has pages to set your intentions for the year/month/week and for each full moon and new moon of the year. It’s PACKED with beginner info for those new to tracking transits and even those new to astrology as a whole! I highly recommend it, I can’t even express how much I love this.

I’ve posted a much more detailed description in my instagram story (@velastrology) so you can see exactly what it all looks like and means.

The sun moves out of Scorpio and into Sagittarius tomorrow (11/22) at about 3am ET! Let’s talk about this bright, fiery sign.

Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter, is an enthusiastic, optimistic sign. Those with Sagittarius placements are full of passion and hunger for adventure, knowledge, and freedom.

Sagittarians are all about being on the move. Whether it’s mentally (learning, broadening their horizons, expanding their minds), or physically (going to new places, trying new things), they’re always on the lookout for something to do.

The only downside of Sagittarius’ constant movement is that they can lose interest just as quickly as it started. They have a tendency to become “masters” of a subject and then immediately move on to the next new thing.

Sagittarius is concerned with truly understanding deep fields of knowledge, rather than just knowing random facts like some other signs. They enjoy things that allow them to grow and adapt, things like religion, philosophy, etc.

Since Sagittarius is usually pretty philosophical, they can be very insightful and see things from multiple perspectives. BUT, they can just as easily adapt a judgmental, self-righteous, “I know better than you do” attitude.

With Jupiter as Sagittarius’ ruler, they do things in BIG ways. They dream big, have high hopes, and do things enthusiastically. This also means they can have a tendency to exaggerate and blow things out of proportion.

Sagittarians are known to be seekers of truth. They rarely sugarcoat, and usually prefer to just be blunt and honest. However, they can easily come up with their own version of the truth, not practice what they preach, and justify their actions.

One thing that Sagittarians are big believers in is freedom. They refuse to be held back or tied down, and they don’t believe ANYONE should be. You’ll often see them using “live and let live” or “carpe diem” to just live in the moment and enjoy life as it comes.

Sagittarians’ optimism and idealism are admirable! They keep an open, positive mind, and always hope for the best. Their idealism can sometimes set them up for disappointment though, so it’s important that they learn to stay grounded.

A tendency to not full process and experience emotions can come from Sagittarians’ optimism. They’ll put their feelings aside downplay them or laugh at their own pain because they want to remain positive and move on.

Don’t get stuck in the mindset that Sagittarians are ALWAYS loud, blunt, and clowning around, because they can be just as thoughtful, generous and encouraging as any other sign. They ARE mutable signs, after all!

Go find yourself a fun-loving, exciting Sagittarius to love on this Sagittarius season! They’ll gas you up like none other and show you all the good times you’ve been missing out on.

Mercury enters its preshadow phase today (10/28), so it’s a good time to start preparing for Mercury retrograde. Double check all of your work, backup all of your data on your phone and computer, make sure you go over details and have back up plans to avoid problems later.

The sun begins forming a trine to Neptune on 10/29. Expect to feel more receptive to others, willing to connect and empathize with them. You may feel like doing something to help a person or people in distress. Be careful about using mind-altering substances to cope with reality.

Mercury and Jupiter will be on the same degree on 10/29 early in the morning. You’ll feel a bit more openminded than you have lately, but be careful about using that upbeat mental energy to exaggerate or justify your own thoughts rather than accepting correction or others’ ideas.

Mercury will go from serious, skeptical, reserved Scorpio to upbeat, curious, adventurous (maybe a little loud) Sagittarius on 10/30, so we can expect a little lift in energy! We’ll be more open-minded and willing to explore things mentally rather than playing things safe.

Venus (still retrograde) swings back into Libra on 10/31. We’ll be a bit more social and want to fix any disagreements with other people, and that’s okay if you do! Just remember that Venus rx wants us to make sure that we’ve thought things over before jumping into anything.

Venus will be exactly opposite Uranus on 10/31, so that feeling you’ve had of wanting to connect to people yet not wanting to be held down at the same time may feel like it’s kicked up a notch. Don’t completely avoid the people you care about, but allow yourself some free time.

The Last Quarter moon is also on 10/31. You may feel at odds because part of you wants to continue working, and the other wants to rest. You’ll need to find a proper outlet to bring the two together. Use this time to fine tune, appreciate your work, and recharge.

Mars begins forming a square with Jupiter on 11/1. You’ll feel a jolt of energy, a sudden increase in motivation to take on things with lots of enthusiasm. Release that energy CAREFULLY. Don’t become impulsive or take on too much all at the same time and overwhelm yourself.

Venus begins forming a trine with Mars on 11/1. You may feel a bit more outgoing, more likely to really put yourself out there and meet people, and this a good chance to smooth things over with loved ones because of the softened drive and intense emotions. 

The moon will be moving through Cancer, Leo, and Virgo this week. You’ll likely feel an urge to pay some attention to your close loved ones, give them some love and attention (and to receive it too, of course), and to show some generosity and willingness to be a helping hand.

Sun in the 1st: You often find yourself wondering “Who am I?”. Your sense of self-identity is very very important to you, and if you don’t feel that you have a good idea of who you are, where you belong, and what you’re worth, you’ll feel lost and hopeless. You have the ability to be confident without being arrogant. If you’re undeveloped, you may have an over-developed ego, and an abrasive personality. On the opposite end, you may have low self-esteem, identity crises, insecurity, feeling worthless or powerless.

Sun in the 2nd: You identify yourself by the things you value and the things you HAVE. This can mean attaching your identity to your possessions and money, but it doesn’t have to! If you value happiness, honesty and loyalty, you’ll identify yourself as those things. You DO have the ability to identify yourself by more important things than wealth. Tying your identity to materials often leads to feeling like you never have enough, no matter how much you gain, and taking a financial/material loss as a blow to your ego.

Sun in the 3rd: You identify yourself by your ability to learn, communicate, and work effectively in your environment. You’re always looking for things to learn about, and share that information via writing, teaching, etc. You NEED a proper outlet to let your thoughts out. Your need to communicate can help you form easy connections with people. If this placement is unbalanced, you may believe that your ideas are the ONLY right ones so you reject others’ ideas, or you may hold back your own ideas out of fear of being criticized.

Sun in the 4th: You identify and express yourself through whatever things, places, or people make you feel safe and protected from harm to your ego. This usually ends up being certain people or your home, so you are very tightly bound to your home & whoever you call family. It’s easy for you to lock yourself up at home, and cling to the support that the people there give you instead of getting yourself out there. You have to learn to be yourself without relying on your home safety net and find security in yourself instead.

Sun in the 5th: You find your identity in your creations. You feel your best expressing yourself without anything restricting you from throwing your entire self into your creative outlets. This can range from art, performances, hobbies, and your children (if you have them). If overdeveloped, you may become cocky, prideful, and boastful when it comes to your creations. On the other hand, you may be insecure in your own creativity, so you seek recognition of your talents from others, and you crash when you’re not acknowledged.

Sun in the 6th: You find your identity in your work and the service you can provide. You make it a big personal goal to continuously improve yourself and your quality of work, and you feel most fulfilled when you’re using your abilities to somehow make things better. You might not be totally secure in your abilities, so you overextend and tire yourself out striving for perfection. On the other hand, you might be so confident in your abilities that you believe you’re superior and the ONLY one who can get things done.

Sun in the 7th: You identify yourself by the company you keep. You have a strong attachment to the relationships you have with people, whether it’s friends or partner(s), or even acquaintances. You feel most fulfilled when you’re around people and forming connections. You can be very cooperative and inclusive when you’re at your best. When at your not-so best, you have trouble separating your identity from your relationships. You may lose your sense of individuality & become a copy of the people you know, admire, and love.

Sun in 8th: You pride yourself on your great capacity for depth, & awareness of things that go beyond surface level. You feel most fulfilled when you’ve gained a sense of control, & understanding of things that are deeper than the mundane, superficial things we deal with every day. You have the potential to understand the hidden parts of yourself and others. You may obsess over the idea of completely losing yourself in an intimate relationship, or you may overuse your ego to control and have power over others.

Sun in the 9th: You identify yourself by the things you’ve experienced and the things you understand. You feel most yourself when you’re doing things that expand your horizons, things like traveling, learning about cultures, religions, justice, structures of societies, etc. Your drive to explore things outside of your personal life can give you a lot of insight and flexibility. You may deal with feeling insecure and insignificant in the bigger picture, or an overdeveloped ego may reject beliefs that challenge your own beliefs.

Sun in the 10th: You identify yourself by your achievements and goals you’ve accomplished. You  feel good when you’ve reached a goal, a certain level or status, or done a good job, and you probably don’t feel that great when you haven’t met your own or others’ expectations. Your drive and productivity can take a dip if your ego is bruised or self-esteem is low. You may ONLY feel good about yourself if you’re successful in something, which can mean that you constantly push and overwork yourself, never satisfied with your success.

Sun in the 11th: You identify yourself by the communities or social groups you belong to. You feel fulfilled when you’re involved in some sort of project, organization, or social movement that you can make a difference in and feel like you’re serving a purpose to better society. You want to belong to a community and use your ideas to make big changes. But you might end up letting the group absorb your entire identity and losing yourself, or you may be uncooperative and take all of the credit for group work so you can feed your ego.

Sun in the 12th: Your identity doesn’t come easily to you. You often find yourself reflecting, thinking things over to try and figure it out. You may see yourself as one tiny piece in the enormous puzzle of life, and you feel like you’re wandering without a solid sense of yourself. On the bright side, it’s not likely for you to be prideful! You have the ability to serve a greater purpose without your ego getting in the way. It is very important for you to get a sense of your identity instead of withdrawing and never asserting yourself.

Affirmations for the Signs

Aries placements: you can freely express yourself, know yourself, and be assured in your capabilities without forcing yourself to bend over backwards to prove yourself and your strength.

Taurus placements: you can appreciate the beauty in everything without placing too much value in THINGS. Realize that things are temporary and will tie you down and limit you. Let go of your security blanket from time to time so you can experience things that will stick with you forever.

Gemini placements: deepen your knowledge and understanding rather than just touching on subjects and then moving on right after. Wisdom doesn’t come from an unwillingness to stick to one thing for too long. Continue learning and experiencing, but take time to dig deeper.

Cancer placements: holding on to your memories isn’t ALL bad, but learn to live in the present instead of holding on to the past like it’s a life raft. Live in the moment instead of locking yourself up and holding yourself back to avoid being vulnerable.

Leo placement: know that whatever you do, you don’t need to do it to earn the attention and appreciation of others. You are good enough, and you don’t need to overwork yourself out of fear of rejection to prove it. You are your biggest critic, so give yourself some slack.

Virgo Placements: not everything is going to be perfect and fall into place the way you want it to. Humble yourself and use your awareness of your own faults and flaws to offer your advice and help. Be self-aware and look for improvement opportunities but be gentle on yourself.

Libra placements: to truly have inner peace, you have to let go of your need for approval and acceptance by others. You’ll lose yourself if you only choose to make OTHERS happy without pursuing that happiness for yourself. You can value others without turning into them.

Scorpio placements: you don’t need to always have control. You also don’t need to be paranoid and skeptical to free yourself of the negative parts of your life. Once you release all of the dead weight, let yourself experience the lightness and freedom from letting go.

Sagittarius placements: use your knowledge and understanding humbly, and don’t use it to make others feel inferior for not knowing or being wrong. You can be a great guide and mentor without always proving yourself to be right or trying to convert people to think the way you do.

Capricorn placements: your success doesn’t need to be measured by your position or personal financial gain. Once you lose the idea that the only mark you can leave on the world is through materials and social status, you’ll open up to working towards a more impersonal movement.

Aquarius placements: realize that you can be unique and independent without thinking you’re superior to others. Acknowledge others’ originality instead of constantly trying to separate yourself so that you can truly connect to others on a personal level.

Pisces placements: you can be in touch with yourself and have boundaries while still being connected to others. Relate to people, empathize with them, but do it without diminishing your own identity. You don’t need to erase your individuality to be a part of the collective.

As we all know, astrology is a huge, beautiful, but complicated field of study. There are infinite traditions, techniques, and approaches that you could spend years and years studying just a couple of them at a time! Astrology is one of those subjects that never ceases to amaze you and you never fully finish learning about it or “master” all of it. It weirdly gets more confusing and complex the longer you study it!

The things we read and learn about astrology when we first start out studying are usually very different from what we learn as we continue studying longterm. You’ll start to have sudden crises and realize “wait, this entire concept I learned a while back doesn’t work at all how I originally thought it did,” or “I just learned this new concept and it makes some things I learned a while ago make absolutely no sense, so now I have to change my entire view on astrology.” Since there’s so much information and so many different approaches to astrology, it takes time to really sort through everything to find what’s helpful and useful to you, and what’s not.

The things I’ll be talking about here are tips that I really, really wish I had known earlier on in my studies to save me time and confusion. Not everyone will agree with me on all of these points, but these are some things I’ve learned, or realizations I’ve had that really changed the game for me.

1. Cookbook interpretations aren’t totally accurate when studying or reading a chart.

When I say ‘cookbook interpretation,’ I’m referring to the interpretations where you simply look up “planet x in sign/house y” or “planet x aspecting planet y” and it gives you a bunch of generic possible meanings without being personalized to the specific chart you’re looking it. They’re sort of a one-size-fits-all summary that glazes over all of the nuance and context provided by the rest of the chart.

If you were to draw up another birth chart with the same placement you’re interested in researching, but all the other components of the chart are different, you would get the exact same interpretation of that single placement regardless of how different the two charts are as a whole. Those types of interpretations can only go so far. They’re great to start off with, don’t get me wrong! It’s impossible to look at a birth chart and be able to start putting all of the pieces together to form a personalized interpretation when you first start using astrology or learning about your own chart. Chances are, you don’t even recognize the astrological glyphs yet! We can’t suddenly come up with advanced interpretations right off the bat, we have to start somewhere.

Those cookbook interpretations are great to get a broad sense of what a placement does on its own, but in reality, no single placement functions as if it were immune to the influence of everything else in the chart. Every chart is unique. All of the different components factor into how each placement will manifest, which means a simple, generic description of a placement won’t truly encapsulate the many facets that make your placements unique to you. If your goal is to study astrology seriously and practice it professionally or do readings for other people, I think it’s incredibly important to eventually stop relying on those generic interpretations.

Don’t worry about trying to memorize or make your interpretations perfectly match what websites say about them. They more than likely won’t exactly fit an individual’s chart since there’s a lot more going on in a whole chart than a general summary will take into consideration.

If you want to learn how to provide impactful readings, break up with those short cut interpretations and practice gathering more individually accurate information from a chart.

2. Astrology is primarily centered around the planets, not the signs.

We’re so used to seeing the signs being portrayed as the core component in astrology, that the majority of people don’t even know astrology has more to it than that. Of course that’s mainly because the average person hasn’t really been exposed to astrology aside from seeing their horoscope in a magazine, but that focus on the signs even tends to carry over when we start studying horoscopic astrology (horoscopic astrology: the type of astrology that uses full charts that include your ascendant (rising), and the other planets/points that we know and love).

It’s super easy and even fun to play with the idea of what the signs do and how we see those qualities reflected in people. But when you really look at it, the signs on their own are honestly very limited with what they can do and the influence they have in astrology overall. When we center our astrology around the signs (I’ve seen some astrologers call this “signology”), we’re not too far off from doing exactly what people accuse horoscopes of doing: generalizing all people based on just 12 plain archetypes.

We know that there’s a lot more to astrology than sorting people into 12 sets of characteristics, but we miss out on what astrology is fully capable of when we reduce it to the signs with a smaller mixture of planets, houses, and aspects on the side.

Aside from those considerations, let’s look at the foundations of astrology. Looking back at the work of ancient astrologers, planets were the primary focus of astrology from the beginning. Astrology began with people observing the appearance and tracking the movements of the “wandering stars” in the sky, and taking those planets’ qualities into consideration when determining what their jobs were. People used the planets to predict events long before systems of zodiac signs, houses, and aspects were formed. Hundreds of years before the zodiac signs that we know today were standardized, Babylonian astrologers used 17-18 constellations to track the motion of the planets. The zodiac “signs” back then weren’t even the same as the ones we know now.

Later on when more systems, doctrines, and techniques were being developed, astrologers used the planetary rulership scheme to develop the meanings of the signs, NOT the other way around. Let me repeat that, because this is important. The signs did not pass their meanings on to the planets, the signs GOT their meanings FROM the planets they’re ruled by.

Mercury doesn’t represent communication because Gemini is associated with talkativeness, Gemini is associated with talkativeness because it is ruled by the planet Mercury. Capricorn didn’t pass on some of its meaning on to Saturn, Capricorn got its meaning FROM its ruler, Saturn. The same goes for all of the other signs.

I’m being so thorough with this point because it makes it clear that even if you DO mainly use the signs, those signs’ meanings are based on the planets, just like with the majority of other concepts in astrology.

Even breaking it down to one of the first things a lot of us learn in astrology, the signs simply tell you HOW the planets do what they do. The signs don’t act on their own. The planets’ positions and movements are ultimately what we pay attention to in astrology, whether it’s in birth charts, horary charts, election charts, or even tracking transits’ correlations to current events (mundane astrology).

If I have an empty house in my chart, what do I look for to find the meaning of that house? I look at where planetary ruler of that house is placed. If I want to know what changes my career will go through over the next year, what do I look for? The transits of the planetary ruler of my Midheaven or 10th house, or even looking at the different planets that will be moving past my Midheaven or through my 10th house.

The planets are key in astrology.

Understanding the how the planets work and making them your focus will improve what you do. Learn their strengths, their weaknesses, their temperaments, their cycles, etc, and it’ll drastically change how you use astrology.

3. The signs are not equivalent to the houses.

I’ll keep this one brief and direct because it seems to be a big topic of debate among astrologers.

To define them as best as I can, the signs are segments of the ecliptic (the annual path through space the Sun makes from the earth’s POV) that the planets move through because of their rotation around the Sun (this planetary movement is called 'secondary motion’). The houses are segments of the earth’s sky from a specific location that the planets seem to rotate through on a daily basis because of the earth’s rotation on its axis (this daily movement is called 'primary motion’).

Here are some pictures to try and help you visualize the difference between these two things.

The signs:

The Houses:

The houses (segments of the earth’s sky) represent topics and areas of our lives. The signs (segments of the ecliptic) give the planets transiting through them different characteristics, and tell us which planets rule those transiting planets. They have two different purposes, which is why I firmly believe that we need to separate their meanings. Of course this is complicated a bit by what we call the '12 letter alphabet,’ where we see Aries, Mars, and the 1st house all treated as being “naturally connected,” then Taurus, Venus, and the 2nd house all are treated as being “naturally connected,” and so on. The 12 letter alphabet is everywhere, unfortunately, so it takes most of us a while to come around to the fact that the houses and signs do not share purposes in astrology just because they’re numbered the same (Aries = 1st house because it’s the1st sign of the zodiac, etc).

To reiterate what I’m saying here, Aries (and Mars) does not “naturally rule” the 1st house. Taurus (and Venus) does not “naturally rule” the 2nd house. Gemini (and Mercury) does not “naturally rule” the 3rd house, and the same goes for the rest of the signs and houses.

Unless you’re an Aries rising, this concept does not work. If you’re a Capricorn rising, Saturn rules your 1st and 2nd houses, Jupiter rules your 3rd house, Mars rules your 4th house, Venus rules your 5th house, and so on. The ONLY people who have Aries + Mars associated with / ruling the 1st house are Aries risings. The ONLY people who have Capricorn + Saturn associated with / ruling the 10th house are Aries risings. I can’t emphasize this enough.

If you really want to get into where the houses got their meanings, their position in the earth’s sky, angularity (whether they’re angular, succedent, or cadent), and planetary joys played a big part in that. I won’t get into these right now, but if you want resources on these concepts, I recommend the lecture on the houses from The Astrology School.

Bottom line for this point: learn to distinguish the signs and houses. For a lot of us, the houses made almost no sense until we learned that they ARE NOT the same as the signs, and they shouldn’t be treated as such.

4. The outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) are not usually very personally significant in a birth chart.

These three planets are called the 'generational planets’ for a reason. They group together entire generations of people, which means their positions by sign are the same for people born within years and years of each other. They’re so far from the Sun and they move so slowly that they are not as consistently active as the rest of the planets. Uranus takes around 8 years to move through ONE sign, which means everyone within 8 years of your age have the exact same Uranus sign as you. The same goes for Neptune and Pluto, but they’re even slower, which means you share that sign placement with even more people.

So yes, I may have Pluto in Sagittarius and it supposedly makes me so adventurous and ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* free spirit *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧, but everyone born from 1996 to 2009 have Pluto in Sagittarius as well. Think about how many people were born in that 13 year long time span! And that’s relatively quick for Pluto considering the fact that it can spend up to 31 YEARS in one sign.

A side note (and this is a personal belief, but I do know others who think this as well): I believe that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto function differently from the other 7 planets. Part of what determines what the planets do is their visibility in the sky, their brightness, their color, and their speed. Fast planets are more active or faster to manifest than the slower moving ones. The brighter planets (Jupiter and Venus) are benefic, the dimmer, more muddy colored planets (Saturn and Mars) are malefic. Things like these are how ancient astrologers made note of what the planets represent. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are newer planets (discovered within the last 200 years), so those same astrologers obviously weren’t around to use those same guidelines to decide what they represent and how they work. But if you take those same things into consideration, the outer planets wouldn’t be as significant in general, and some consider them to be malefics because 1) they’re not visible to the naked eye, and 2) they’re SO slow.

I still do take the outer planets into consideration in certain cases (which I’ll go over later), but overall, I believe that they work differently because of their qualities. Unlike the 7 visible planets which rule over signs, and represent topics, people, etc, I believe that the invisible outer planets act more as influencers. I don’t believe that Uranus rules technology itself (technology is very Mercurial), but I do think it has to do with the progression of humanity, and therefore the progression of technology. I don’t believe that Neptune rules the subconscious, but I do believe that Neptune tends to hide things or confuse and muddy things up. I believe they have specific qualities that they tend to throw into everything else going on in a chart, but don’t rule over the common, everyday things we deal with.

In a lecture I once listened to, Robert Schmidt said something like “If the outer planets are transcendental, why do we reduce them to common topics and objects?” That really confirmed my view on those planets. (I don’t remember the exact quote, so don’t hold me to that.)

The only time I’ll really consider an outer planet to be influential in a chart is if A) it’s in an angular house, or B) they’re very tightly aspecting other inner planets.

5. Your birth chart is not limited to only being about your personality.

This one is pretty simple. Modern astrology for the most part poses your entire chart as being ALL YOU. As if every piece of your chart is simply a different part of your personality. That’s not completely the case. Of course your chart can tell you about your personality, but it also can tell you about your life as a whole, which includes people and things that are not you. You can see different people, places, topics, objects, and more in your chart!

Want to know about your romantic partners? Look at your 5th house, 7th house, their rulers, or Venus. Want to know about your friends? Look at your 3rd house, 11th house, their rulers, or Jupiter. Want to know about your neighbors? Look at your 3rd house and its ruler. Want to know about your debts and inheritances? Look at your 8th house and its ruler. The list goes on.

Just about anything that is in your life in any way can be seen somewhere in your chart. Don’t go on studying thinking that your chart can only tell you about how you behave!

6. It’s normal to feel like certain placements and aspects in your chart don’t fully resonate with you at all times!

This is another one I learned through traditional astrology that modern astrology didn’t teach me. Not all of your chart is active at all times throughout your entire life! Your chart tells you the story that is your life, and throughout that story, different planets will become a major character, take charge and become more evident in your life than they may have been before or may be later.

This is something that timing techniques such as profections, zodiacal releasing, solar return charts, and more, can tell you. I won’t go into how to do use those techniques in this post, but it’s something to keep in mind and research!

7. Indicators specific to your birth chart are just as important, if not more important than general indicators.

When I talk about indicators in this case, I’m talking about planets that represent (indicate) certain things in your chart. An example of something that a planet generally indicates is Venus representing relationships. This can apply to everyone, which is why it’s a general indicator. Let’s say Venus in your birth chart rules the 3rd house and 10th house. In that case, Venus would also represent (be an indicator for) your environment (3rd house) and your career (10th house). These indications of Venus unique to your birth chart. Another example would be the ruler of your 7th house representing relationships. That ruler isn’t always Venus, it’s based on your own birth chart and it’s unique to you. The reason I think this is something important to pay talk about now is because it’s something I don’t see talked about with beginners all that often, and I really wish I had learned that sooner.

This goes for all other topics and people! Pay attention to all of it, not only the general indicators just because they apply to everyone and are used more commonly.

8. Retrogrades aren’t that big of a deal!

We’ve all seen the hype surrounding retrograde phases. Of course they do have significance and meaning, but they’re not anything to be afraid of. They’re completely normal, you’ve gone through so many in your life already, and you’ll go through many more. Retrogrades happen because of the planets’ rotations around the Sun from our point of view. Since the planets are constantly rotating around the Sun, retrogrades are just part of their cycle and they occur regularly. It’s nothing to psyche yourself out or get nervous about! Even when 8 planets are retrograde all within one year, it’s still normal, because this happens about every 2 or 3 years! Mercury is retrograde three separate times every single year, and some planets, like Saturn for example, are retrograde for about 5 months out of every single year.

Even though retrogrades do happen regularly, not all of them are significant for you personally. This goes back to what I said before about timing techniques. If a planet is activated for you and it’s retrograde, or if a house is activated and a retrograde planet is transiting through it, it’s more likely to be significant for you. If a planet or the house that a retrograde planet is moving through is not activated, it’s probably not going to be as impactful on you directly.

Either way, retrogrades aren’t all big and bad and scary, so try not to let the hype around them get to you! Don’t let those “there are 6 retrogrades this year, karma is gonna kick all our asses!!” posts scare you. Save your energy!

9. Your draconic chart is not your “soul’s journey.”

I’m not even completely sure where this idea came from, it’s just something that circulated on Twitter for a while and we all ate it up without question. First of all, ??? Second of all, it’s been confirmed that the concept of how draconic charts are drawn up was just a mistranslation, and so it’s not even a very reliable concept. I’ve read something similar about sidereal astrology too and I kind of question that concept of “ego vs soul’s journey” as well, although sidereal IS a valid system to use if you choose. That’s a whole other topic that’s too big for this post, so I won’t get into it. This is a super short point, but I wasted time looking at my draconic chart a couple years ago, so I figured I’d share that to save others the trouble.

10. Contrary to popular belief, traditional astrology isn’t irrelevant just because it’s old.

There’s this common argument that modern astrology dominates over traditional astrology because it has taken all the best parts of the tradition and grown from it. This is not true!

Due to political and religious changes throughout history that resulted in astrologers being exiled, astrology texts being outlawed, burned, and/or lost, a good majority of thousands of years of astrological work was missing for hundreds of years. This means that when newer astrology began to come around, a lot of the knowledge and progress that had been made throughout history wasn’t taken into consideration. If they didn’t even know about all of this lost knowledge, how could they build upon it to make the practice better?

Modern astrology wasn’t exactly created because traditional astrology was deemed unfit and outdated. There was just a lack of awareness of the traditions for the most part because of lost texts and the fading off of astrology. Astrology wasn’t always popular or legal, and the internet hasn’t always been around, so it wasn’t easy to find astrologers to learn from or get consultations from, books to read or anything like what we have today. It was only in the past 30 or so years that astrologers began rediscovering and translating ancient texts, which brought back some very useful and advanced techniques that had been lost for hundreds of years. 30 years is VERY recent, and work is still being done to recover those lost texts and techniques, so these concepts still haven’t fully been reincorporated into modern astrology yet.

We live in a time where astrology resources are more accessible than ever, astrologers are everywhere, and astrology itself is pretty popular. Take advantage of all of the knowledge we have available to learn from! Don’t dismiss tradition just because it’s incorrectly assumed to be irrelevant to what we do in modern times. This is the perfect time to learn from all sorts of traditions and figure out how they can work with the newly developed concepts we have today.

Thank you for reading this long post! I have other things I want to address, but some topics are too big to cram multiple into one post, so we’ll talk about those later on.

here are all the retrogrades and retrograde shadows of 2020!!

i put all of the times in eastern time (EST/EDT) and rounded them to the nearest hour, so check your favorite software/site for exact times.

waxing gibbous in pisces. took this while gemini was rising ✨

the wheel charts hold a TON of information that a simple list of your placements won’t tell you, but they can seem really overwhelming and intimidating to even attempt to read at first. here’s the basics of what each piece means so you can get started!

here are the main three components: the planets, the signs, and the houses. the last picture is a list of the symbols if you haven’t memorized them yet

the signs are always in counter-clockwise order, and the order always starts with your rising sign on the left. so if you’re a virgo rising, it starts with virgo, then libra, scorpio, sagittarius, capricorn, and so on until it loops all the way back to virgo in the original spot.

it’s pretty easy to read those basic pieces once you know what they are! so looking at this example chart, the moon is in cancer in the 1st house, the sun is in leo in the 2nd house, mercury is in virgo in the 3rd house, and so on.

it’s important to know the angular points. the ascendant (sometimes labeled asc or ac, also called rising), is the horizontal line on the left, and your descendant (dsc, dc) is on the right. your midheaven (mc) is on the top part of the chart, and imum coeli (IC) on the bottom.

your angular points can be in different spots depending on the house system you’re using. in whole sign houses, your asc/dsc axis may be in the middle or towards the end of the 1st/7th houses, and your IC/MC axis can be almost anywhere in the top/bottom of the chart

and lastly, all the crazy looking lines in the middle of the chart are aspects between the planets.

If you’re not sure what all these pieces and terms mean, i have threads pinned on my twitter account (@gemeauxlogy), posts on my page here, and posts on my website that will help you! 

here’s the full (longer and more detailed) post on how to read a wheel chart on my website!

https://www.gemeauxlogy.com/read-a-birth-chart

your chart ruler (ruler of the ascendant/rising) is so important. if the 1st house = the self, then the planet that rules the 1st house (chart ruler) is the planet that would best represent YOU. 

your chart ruler can represent a certain thing or subject that you’re naturally drawn to, and it can also tell you about your life’s purpose or what skills you need to develop in order to reach your life goals.

if you’re not sure what your chart ruler is, you need to know your rising sign first. once you have your rising sign, it’s easy:

- aries risings, your chart ruler is mars

-taurus risings, your chart ruler is venus

-gemini risings, yours is mercury

-cancer risings, yours is the moon

-leo risings, yours is the sun

-virgo risings, yours is mercury

-libra risings, yours is venus

-scorpio risings yours is mars (pluto, if you want to use modern rulerships)

-sagittarius risings, yours is jupiter

-capricorn risings, yours is saturn

-aquarius risings, yours is saturn (or uranus if you want to use modern rulers)

-pisces risings, yours is jupiter (neptune, if you want to use modern rulers)

if you have scorpio, aquarius or pisces rising, i’d at least CONSIDER looking at the traditional ruler because they have MORE personal influence than the modern rulers do in your chart. generational planets wouldn’t as impactful as a chart ruler imo bc they’re…. generational

y’all want to know why ophiuchus isn’t a sign? because signs and constellations aren’t the same thing.

constellations are the groups of stars you’re used to hearing about in astronomy. SIGNS are specific segments of the ecliptic that are broken up into even sized pieces. trying to include ophiuchus makes things uneven, which is why ancient astrologers & astronomers didn’t include it. and if you want to be “accurate” by including ophiuchus in the zodiac, you also have to take into account that the signs aren’t all equal sizes. none of them are even 30˚ exactly. the constellation virgo is much larger than the rest of the constellations, and cancer is much smaller, but the zodiac treats them all as equal sizes, because again, the constellations and signs are NOT the same thing. ophiuchus is not a sign in tropical astrology, or even vedic astrology.

idk which capricorn needs to hear this, but please take the compliment. let people flatter you without rejecting it. let people love you without making self deprecating comments or jokes pls. love you.

Horoscopes for 6/23 to 6/29

Aries

The last month was a good time for you to enjoy yourself and get your mind off of the more difficult things in your life, but now it’s time for you to settle down and handle your business. Whatever conflict at home with your family that you’ve been having will have your direct attention for the next month! It’s very important that you keep your cool this week, especially between Monday and Thursday. You’ll be a lot more touchy those few days, so if you’re going to let things out, make sure to do so without intent to go for anyone’s throat! You should be able to smooth things over with your loved ones as long as you’re careful to not explode on them.The end of the week will have a nice change of pace for you. You’ll be focused on your passions, whether it’s a person or a hobby. Be sure to tie up any loose ends as far as that goes, because you’ll be faced with the consequences of your hasty and last minute decisions over the next month, and then you’ll be left to clean up the mess.

Taurus

Your need to exchange ideas and connect with people you’re around regularly will strengthen this week! Your focus for the last month was to make some extra money, and now’s your chance to take a break from all that hard work. Let go a little and enjoy yourself! You’re feeling confident and looking for somewhere to put your extra energy, but make sure you don’t go around provoking people and starting up unnecessary drama just because you’re feeling bold! When you’re exchanging ideas and expressing your opinions, don’t do it in an abrasive way, because you’ll drive them off. You’ll start off the week surrounded by friends, and then take some time alone to wind down a for the middle chunk of the week. Towards the end of the week, you’ll refocus on acting out the best parts of yourself. Think about making some changes in your health, or picking up on the good habits that you’ve dropped in the past and have been meaning to get back to. Remember to avoid being abrasive and provocative, especially towards the end of the week when you’re likely to get a little more mouthy with people.

Gemini

Well, Gemini, your season has come to an end and now it’s time to get back to grinding. Now’s the time for you to take all of that newfound confidence and make something out of it! You’re going to want to wind down and start looking for a sense of security in some form. If it means working a little harder to gain financial security, you’ll do that. If it means you need to avoid putting your entire life on blast so that you don’t feel vulnerable and have some emotional security, then take that route. Luckily, I don’t see you completely losing your sense of fun in the midst of all this! It will still be beneficial for you to treat yourself and include (a select group of) other people in your personal life right now. Make sure to think things through more carefully and plan things out, because your ruler, Mercury, is in its pre-shadow and will station retrograde soon. You’ll start off the week wanting to be around other people and share your ideas and insight with them, but as the week goes by, you’ll want to take some time to be alone exploring your own thoughts. Make a few positive changes in your daily routine this week, maybe start journaling if you haven’t been lately.

Cancer

Happy Cancer season!! If you haven’t been feeling too hot lately, now’s the time for you to renew your sense of confidence and take control. The next 30 days are the perfect chance for you to be firm and assured of yourself, so let whoever’s been holding you back and discouraging you know that they don’t own you. Even though you’re feeling more comfortable in your own skin and more assertive than normal, make sure you don’t cross any lines. Also, try to not let everyone get under your skin because you will snap. This might seem out of character for you (aside from your normal irritability), but this Cancer season isn’t like others. It’s important that you remember to keep your cool, remember that the world won’t end if things don’t go how you want them to, and try to enjoy this burst of enthusiasm and activity you’re feeling! You’ll start off the week on a good note, you might want to get out and do something a little different for a change of scenery, but you might have a run in with a superior, or just a general dispute with someone around the first half of the week. You’ll spend the back half of the week with friends and/or family.

Leo

Now that Gemini season is over, it’s time for you to cool down a bit. For you, Cancer season is about recharging and reflecting on the year you’ve had. Be patient, Leo season is coming up! You’ve been feeling a little less active and direct for a while already, and now it’ll only be even more difficult to try and get things done. Don’t use this lull as an excuse to be lazy, though, because it’ll only make things more difficult to get back in order later. Use this time to check in on yourself. Be careful who you make yourself vulnerable to, because you might realize someone you thought was a friend is actually an enemy, and they may try to disrupt or undermine you. You will, however receive encouragement and support from your peers and friends. You’ll start the week off with some worries, but don’t stress too hard because they’ll be (mostly) gone by Monday. It might be even harder getting things done towards the end of the week, but try to push through!

Virgo

Your chance to relax is here, Virgo! The next month for you is all about reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. For this week, you’ll still be touching up on a few projects and tying up some loose ends (which will be necessary for you since Mercury is in its pre-shadow), but you’re beginning to wind down and appreciate the fruits of your work. The only thing I’ll advise is that you keep your argumentative tendencies to a minimum. You’ll have a blast spending time with your favorite people, and those that stimulate your mind, but be aware of the line between an intellectual discussion and a debate. Things can go from a light-hearted, friendly discussion to an argument very quickly if you’re not careful. If you don’t watch yourself, disagreements with your friends can get heated and even possibly end up in friend breakups. Be willing to listen and agree to disagree, and don’t take it personally when someone doesn’t see things exactly the way you do, because your relationships could suffer.

Libra

Your work load might increase a bit for these next few weeks, Libra. Gemini season was nice and easy for you, but now it’s time to settle back down and focus on your responsibilities. Unfortunately, an increasing work load means more expectations from the people you look up to. If you handle this next month well, you’ll be rewarded and recognized for all of you hard work, but try not to slack off or buckle under the pressure! Luckily, you’ll be able to blow off steam by doing things like traveling, or learning something new that you find very interesting. Starting at the end of the week, you might find that you want to involve some of your friends in your studies, or you might meet some people that share those same interests and want to grow with you in them. For the majority of this week you’ll be busy tending to your relationships and/or partnerships, but towards the middle half and end of this week you might feel overwhelmed and worried about something or someone in your life.

Scorpio

Cancer season is a relatively easy time of the year for you! You’ll spend this time learning, experiencing, and growing. If you have any spiritual self-care rituals or routines, this would be a good time for you to put those to use. Your confidence and motivation may have taken a bit of a dip a while back and you’re just now beginning to recover from the loss of enthusiasm, so take this easy month to keep building up that momentum! Your philosophical and spiritual beliefs continue to be an important focus in your life right now, but again, make sure you don’t force those beliefs on other people or take it personally when others’ views don’t line up with your own. I hope you spent this weekend having fun doing what you love! This week for you will mostly be spent taking care of some of your loved ones and crossing things off of your to-do list.

Sagittarius

Gemini season ran pretty smoothly for you (assuming you didn’t argue with people constantly), so Cancer season is going to be a little different for you, Sagittarius. You spent a lot of the past month being social, but now it’s time to reel it back in. You’ve already been having a bit of trouble motivating yourself and staying focused, and that theme will continue for the next month or so. Don’t worry, because it’ll slowly lighten up and get a little easier as the weeks go by. You can still find an outlet and a distraction through some of the people in your life, but it might still feel like they’re testing you or pushing your boundaries a little bit. Your week will start off with you being surrounded by family or maybe just in the comfort of your home, but throughout the week you’ll keep yourself busy with some hobbies and self-care.

Capricorn

We know that you’re very capable and independent, Capricorn, but for the next month you should consider accepting help from others. You’ll find yourself needing some assistance from people in your life, and it’d be best for you to take it instead of turning people away. That doesn’t mean that you need to completely give in to people and let your guard down, though! People who you dislike or those who dislike you will be more of an issue this month, so be on the lookout for anyone trying to distract you and throw you off course. The main advice I have for you is to avoid getting into heated arguments with others, especially in topics where you’re more likely to take things personally. We all know that you’re able to stand up for yourself, but don’t take your frustrations out on people that aren’t directly involved in whatever’s frustrating you. Some of them might be only trying to help, and your misdirected irritation will scare them off. This week for you is best spent settling things at home, and then taking some time to do something fun at the end of the week. Be on the look out, though, because even though you’ll want to settle things with family members and/or roommates, disputes with them are likely.

Aquarius

Your focus right now is work! You’re spending your time being productive, maybe even trying to take care of your health, get in shape, pick up some healthy habits and routines. If you haven’t yet, then now’s the time to start. If you’re in charge of anyone, employees, maybe even coworkers, peers, or younger siblings, make sure you’re not too hard on them. Your high expectations and determination to get things done could stress them (and you) out to the point of being discouraging and just flat out frustrating. Try lightening up by making time to do things you love, whatever hobbies and activities you like to do in your free time will be good for you to take your mind off things and cool off. Try changing up your daily routine this week, learn something new, meet some new people or hang out with old friends. Try not to do anything too reckless or risky, though, because you could be prone to accidents around this time. If you haven’t seen your family in a while, take time to go visit and reconnect with them.

Pisces

Gemini season was a little rough on you, but Cancer season here to relieve you of your stress! You’ve been focusing more on a creative outlet to express yourself, and now that outlet or hobby will take priority in your life! You’ll be able to try new things and just enjoy yourself for the next month. It’s likely that your family would be involved too, or that you’d want to have them involved, but you might find that their neediness is a little restricting and distracting. It’s a good time to focus on those relationships, but remember that your personal wants and needs are important too. Take care of yourself, don’t volunteer all of your time and energy to take care of them just to neglect yourself. This week is all about getting in touch with your own wants and needs, taking care of your own business, making sure all of your stuff is in order and then being able to enjoy the positive results of your work.

here’s the link to horoscopes on my website! you can subscribe to my mailing list to be notified when they’re posted!

Horoscopes | Gemeauxlogy

what does it mean when the moon is “void of course”?

The moon is the fastest moving planet (technically a luminary) in astrology and astronomy. Most of us are familiar enough with the lunar phases at least. The lunar phases happen because of the sun and moon’s position in relation to each other from the earth’s perspective. So just to summarize, when the sun and moon are conjunct, it is a new moon. When the sun and moon are squaring each other, it’s a first or last quarter moon, depending on whether it’s a dexter (right) or sinister (left) square. When the sun and moon are opposing each other, the moon is full.

The lunar phases essentially signify the building up and releasing energy of the moon as the month passes by. In terms of energy, the moon is considered active when it is waxing or full, and less active (or inactive) when it is waning or new. This is why when the moon is new, you’ll see people describe it as a time to reset, while during the full moon you’ll see people describe it as peak energy. If you follow only those guidelines, that would mean the moon is active for two entire weeks, then inactive for two entire weeks, but of course there’s more that goes into it! We don’t spend 2 entire weeks doing nothing, even though 2 weeks vacation out of every month would be amazing.

The moon’s aspects to the sun are most obvious because of the lunar phases, but the moon forms aspects to all of the other planets too! It’s a similar concept. When the moon is applying towards (moving towards) the exact degree of an aspect with a planet, it’s active. Then it’s less active when it’s separating (moving away) from the exact degree of an aspect with a planet.

To explain briefly before I get into specifics, When the moon is not forming any aspects to planets for the rest of the time it’s transiting through a sign, it is void of course. When the moon is void, it feels like nothing is happening or you just don’t feel like doing anything. It may feel like you’re tired or can’t focus on big, important tasks. It’s recommended to avoid doing or starting anything important while the moon is void. Things started or pursued while the moon is void usually end up going nowhere, or not living up to your hopes and/or expectations. Things usually aren’t done as effectively during this time.

So how long is the moon usually void of course? It varies! Most are relatively short. It could be a couple hours, a few minutes, sometimes even just a few seconds. Sometimes they go on for quite a while! Every once in a while they’ll last an entire day or even more.

Read the rest of this post on my website!

https://www.gemeauxlogy.com/post/voc-moon

houses in astrology

If you’ve studied natal astrology at all, or even looked up your birth chart with an online calculator, you’re probably familiar enough with the houses. The houses are one of the 3 basic pieces of astrology as a whole, but it’s often one of the most overlooked and misunderstood by beginners. I believe this is mainly because most modern, pop astrology sites and magazines mainly focus on the significations of the signs, so they almost never touch on the importance of houses and planets.

Another big issue that sort of stems from this is that most modern sources support what some astrologers call the “alphabet method”. If you’ve read a relatively new book or website, I’m sure you’ve seen it before. It basically says that Aries and the 1st house have the same meanings, or that the 1st house got its meanings from Aries, and then Taurus is similar to the 2nd house, Gemini is similar to the 3rd house, Cancer is similar to the 4th house, and so on. Some even call this the “natural zodiac/house system”. Unfortunately, this somewhat easier method for remembering what the houses represent not only strips the houses of their actual significance, but it also creates a messy, unstable and unclear basic understanding of natal charts and how they work.

There are a few reasons why this way of thinking is so troublesome. It implies that “signs” and “houses” are synonymous, when they’re not at all! Even if they know that the houses and signs aren’t the same thing, lots of beginners end up believing that every 6th house is ruled by Virgo and Mercury, every 9th house is ruled by Sagittarius and Jupiter, when that’s only true if you have Aries on the ascendant (rising). Say you have a Capricorn rising, your 1st house would be in Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn. Your 2nd house would be in Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn/Uranus. Your 3rd would be in Pisces, which is ruled by Jupiter/Neptune. Your 4th house would be in Aries, which is ruled by Mars, and so on. Completely different from the “natural zodiac”, right?

As I’m sure you’ve read before, the planets represent “what”, the signs represent “how” and the houses represent “where”. People (especially some on Twitter) say that a lot, but still apply signs’ traits to the houses, so what is the actual difference between them? The signs color how a planet expresses its principles. The houses themselves represent different areas of your life. The house that a planet is placed in tells you which area of life and what types of things the expression of that planet is focused on.

–So, for example (this is just a short and plain interpretation of this placement), Venus in the 5th would be concerned with having a harmonious relationship (Venus) with their children (5th house). In this example, Venus is specifically concerned with 5th house matters. The only way a 5th house Venus would be “like a Leo” is if Venus was in Leo in the 5th house. If Venus is in Capricorn in the 5th, that person would treat their relationship with their kids a lot differently than someone with Venus in Leo. Houses are NOT the same as signs.

Read the rest of this post on my blog!

Houses in astrology

Recommended astrology books

here’s a list of my favorite astrology books! i tried to include enough beginner and intermediate ones for now, and i’ll add more as i go

Blog | Gemeauxlogy

ive launched my new site and am doing readings! they start at only $5. all of my blog posts are on there, along with contact information!