Beginners Guide

As the Scorpio thread has taken on a truly Plutonian desire to seek out the hidden depths - we have unfortunately ignored the needs of those beginning Astrology.

Therefore I'm going to run this thread to deal with beginners issues. Please, Please ask any question you like about Astrology and how and why it works. And I and others will try and answer.

To kick off:

There are really three parts to Astrology that you need to be aware of. These are the The Planets, The Signs and The Houses.

Planets are Sun (Yes I know it's really a star), Moon (Yes I know its a satellite) Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. You'll notice that the Earth is missing from the list. That's because we are looking at the other planets effects on us here on Earth.

The Planets can be seen as the 'Actors' in your horoscope - like real actors there are good guys like Jupiter, attractive gals like Venus, heavies like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and the 'akward guys' like Mars and Saturn. Not really baddies though.

The signs are the roles they play. Saturn is good at playing the role of Capricorn- it has all the right qualities but stuck in Aries or Leo it is miscast. Rather like Sylvester Stallone playing Juliet.

The Houses are the areas of life that they play the roles they are given. These relate to who we are, what we have, family and home, relationships, travel and education, career, friends, etc. Thus Saturn in Capricorn in your tenth house - which relates to career gives you the energies you need to be career minded - but its not much good having this serious energy in the fifth which deals with romance and relaxation - Venus or Jupiter or the Sun are much happier acting in that area - providing they have a sign that helps, like Leo.

As in all plays, the actors inter-relate with each other. This is shown through the Aspects or angles that separate them. To begin with I'll only mention the major aspects. Conjunctions, (both planets in the same position), Oppositions and squares (both planets 180 degrees apart - pulling in opposite directions), Squares, both planets 90 degrees apart and at cross purposes, Trines, both planets separated by 120 degrees and in harmony with each other and the Sextile - both planets separated by 60 degrees and again in harmony with each other.

If you can get the cast that don't get on to patch up their differences and work together and stop the cast that just love each other from looking into each others eyes and doing nothing else then you should have control over you life.

All of this stuff is put into a birth chart for the moment that you were born. However as its a diagram it has funny symbols on it that need to be interpreted. Perhaps more of that later

Please ask any questions that you have - either on the above or what you really want to know and I keep failing to say it!

Minderwiz

All right... Now THIS is where we needed to start at! Much better. Thank you!!

OK, so from what this thread says and tossing in some of the easier stuff from the scorpio thread, it's basically saying that:

since scorpio is ruled by the 'grouchy' planets of Mars and Pluto, and is a water sign, they tend to have tempers? Or, more precisely, they gripe at people and tend to be rough with them to show they care.

because their house is the 8th house (occult, death, psychology, money - right?) these are the things they would be most interested in/what they would be most successful dealing with.

Am I right?

The aspects: Oppositions would be sort of a tug-of-war. Squareds would be something like trying to drag something one way, in a straight line, with something pulling it to the side. Conjunctions and sextiles would be pulling in the exact same way, or just about the same way, so would get along... but how do the trines fit into that? Unless it's a get along-don't mix-get along-don't mix pattern starting at the sextiles... If that makes any sort of sense.

Let me know if I'm way off course on any of this, please!

Minderwiz said:

Thus Saturn in Capricorn in your tenth house - (.......)

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Ah Minderwiz: you may just get me interested in astrology if you continue like this. At last something that my brain is able to understand.

But you did say we can ask anything we like, right? Hope you won't regret it.

What does your example mean "Saturn in Capricorn". How do you know whether Saturn is in Capricorn? What is Capricorn, anyway? (I know it's an astrological sign like Scorpio, Virgo, etc...), but I don't understand what "Saturn in Capricorn" means.

And Houses: how many houses are there? Would you mind giving a list of them?

If it isn't beyond the scope of this thread, the I would like to know about ascendants, and descendants, and the difference between both, and how to find out which we have.

Ahhhhh Diana,

You ask a good question and I'll try to answer (till Minderwiz gets here)...

A birth chart is comprised of all ten planets in the solar system. The majority of the world is aware of which Sun sign they were born under....June 1, would be a Gemini Sun...

Now, we also have the Moon in one of the 12 signs, so now the Gemini Sun may have a Leo Moon...the same goes for the rest of the planets...they're all in a specific sign on a specific date in time....and that is what makes us unique...meaning not all of any sign is created equal.

Saturn in Capricorn means just that....Saturn was traversing the sign of Capricorn at the person's birth. Is that good or bad you ask ? (I would always get this question when teaching)....the answer depends on where it's placed and how it interacts with the rest of the planets in a chart!

I hope I didn't confuse you more!

AG

Well AG, actually it is not easy for me to get confused with this kind of stuff, as I only have half a brain when it comes to this kind of thing. I will try and understand, but if I don't, well I'll give up and perhaps in my next life......

Is the Moon what we call the ascendant? (Is that what you call it also in English?)

And how do you know where Capricorn is, or Leo? What are these things? Constellations in the sky? So one has to learn astronomy as well as astrology?

Hmmmm. When someone doesn't understand simple things like this, does it mean their Sun and the Moon were traversing a blank space in the sky at their birth? A black hole, perhaps?

*breathing a sigh of relief*

thank you, thank you, thank you minderwiz and aquariangoddess!
i feel soooo much better now

1. when you talk about the number of degrees apart, is that exactly that many degrees, such as 90 degrees, or is it within a certain amount, like within 5 or 10 degrees of 90?

2. how close does a planet have to be to be cojunct?

3. can two planets be cojunct and be in different houses?

4. i really appreciated the actor, role, area analogy, but i'm still a tad confused. how does the relationship between the sign (a planet is in) and the house, differ from the relationship of the planet and the house.

5. would something like, scorpio being in the eighth house intensify the qualities of scorpio and/or the eighth house?

Perhaps I can deal with the sign stuff that Diana raised and then go onto some of the other matters.

It's worth having a look at the thread relating to the Natural year but in simple terms:

The Sun appears to go round the Earth in a Circle, it moves against the background of Stars. To make things uncomplicated Astrologers take the point at which the Spring Equinox occurs (around the 21 March) and declare it 0 degrees Aries - the beginning of the circle.

They then divide the circle of 360 degrees into 12 equal slices of 30 degrees each - and these are the signs of the Zodiac used by Western Astrologers. The first 30 degrees is Aries, the next 30 degrees Taurus, then Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Because the Sun travels at around a degree a day, it spends approximately one month in each sign. These signs therefore are simply convenient labels for segments of the circle - rather than saying the Sun is at 213 degrees around the circle, we say it is at 3 degrees Scorpio (where it is now). So Scorpio simply starts at 210 degrees and ends at 239 degrees 59 minutes 59 Seconds - then at 240 degrees Sagittarius starts.

Now this looks at it solely in terms of the Sun 'moving'. The other planets including the Moon also move against the backdrop of the Stars. Mercury and Venus are not all that far from the Sun at any one time but the other planets can be quite some distance away. So it can be the case that the Sun is in Scorpio (like now) but Saturn can be in Gemini (like now, some 124 degrees from the Sun around the circle of the Zodiac.) - The Zodiac is simply a convenient measuring scale using the degrees of the circle and it is used to 'locate' the position of any planet we are interested in.

Clearly there is a link with Astronomy - don't forget that until the Seventeenth Century there was no real distinction between the two. Astronomers still also use the same circle of measurement for their own work. Do you need to know Astronomy? It helps a little but it is not essential.

Please come back on anything above that doesn't make sense or needs explaining more.

Cricket asked about how accurate the angles need to be. As AG said in another post Aspects are best dealt with once you know the Actors, Roles and Areas. However the angles don't have to be exact. Most Astrologers allow an 'orb' around the angle. So for example they may allow 8 degrees either side for a conjunction. Therefore any two planets that are closer than eight degrees will be said to be in conjunction. They may allow a little less - say six degrees for the other angles. Orbs are one of those areas that depend a lot on the individual astrologers judgement. Don't worry about it at the moment simply recognise that there is a little latitude.

On the signs/planets/houses. Most Astrologers would say that the eighth house in Scorpio would intensify the Scorpio tendencies and they would be even more intense if Mars or Pluto were in there as well.

All three pieces of information sign, planet and house are important - if we go on planet and house alone we know the actor and we know the area but we don't really know how good (or bad) a role they will play - or indeed what that role is. To use the analogy I borrowed from Alan Oken, if you see the billboard saying 'Sylvester Stallone in Romeo and Juliet' You may well wonder whether he will be good in the play given your perception of him and the nature of the play. If you then are told that he is playing Juliet your perception of what is likely to happen is increased!

Finally, on the Houses- there are 12 of these - like the signs and for mainly the same reason, your natal chart plots the planets on the circle of the Zodiac for the time that you were born. The Houses are numbered from one to twelve and start at the Ascendant which is the degree of the Zodiac that was just coming over the Eastern horizon (where the Sun rises every day) at the moment of your birth.

I tried to pack in a lot here - so please come back on anything I've over simplified or missed out or not said enough on.

Best wishes

Minderwiz

Minderwiz said:

The Houses are the areas of life that they play the roles they are given. These relate to who we are, what we have, family and home, relationships, travel and education, career, friends, etc. Thus Saturn in Capricorn in your tenth house - which relates to career gives you the energies you need to be career minded - but its not much good having this serious energy in the fifth which deals with romance and relaxation - Venus or Jupiter or the Sun are much happier acting in that area - providing they have a sign that helps, like Leo.

.

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Thanks Minderwiz. I'd like to know a little more about the Houses. Do they correspond to the twelve months of the year?

Who defined their particular meanings? I can possibly see a connection between the meanings attributed to the signs and mythology but perhaps the question about origin of meaning is appropriate to the signs as well.

How did the 12th House get such dubious associations? Some of the others aren't so postive either.
Moongold

Phoenix said:

If it isn't beyond the scope of this thread, the I would like to know about ascendants, and descendants, and the difference between both, and how to find out which we have.

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The Ascendant is the sign that was on the horizon (hence rising/ascendant) at the time of your birth. The descendent is the sign on the other horizon (descending out of view). The Ascendant is the mask that you show the world. If your Sun sign (basic personality) and your Ascendant clash, it's possible that you might feel misunderstood, that people don't "get" you. The Descendant is exactly opposite from your Ascendant and is about your relationships with others. I've read before that you tend to seek out people with the characteristics of your Descendant sign.

To find out what your descendant and ascendant are, you need to have an exact time of birth and a place of birth. If you go to www.astro.com and plug in your birth data, you can see your natal chart, which includes the ascendant and descendant.

Kes