Your Planet's Rulership - Astrology 101 Continued

Last I left you with the basic traits of each Sun sign. But there is so much more to your personality and life than the commonalities that you share with your brothers and sisters that share your Sun sign with you.

There are a few free sites online that will provide your Natal chart for you. As long as you know your birth date, time and location you are all set. The one I found that I like best is Astrolab. While you won't get a full chart, it will give you the meat of what you need to interpret yourself and others with good detail. If you want to get more information than they will give you for free, you can pay for a more in depth chart or buy special software. At the beginner level such as you and I, I don't think this is necessary.

When reading your Natal chart you will notice that there are 12 houses that divide what looks like a pizza pie. What falls in those houses determines many different aspects of your life and personality. The first thing to find is where each planet falls into your chart.

There are 18 planets in the Zodiac. This can be a confusing idea at first. Afterall we were taught in school that the planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, right?

In astrology there are ten more planets that affect how we live, act, feel and react in our life. In order the 18 are: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, North Node, Ascendant, Midheaven, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and Chiron. We do not use Earth when charting in astrology because we live on that planet!

Each sign has a planet that rules that sign. We refer to this as the rulership. This means that that planet functions in its purest when it falls in that spot on the zodiac.


Aries - Mars
Taurus - Venus
Gemini - Mercury
Cancer - Moon
Leo - Sun
Virgo - Mercury
Libra - Venus
Scorpio - Pluto
Sagittarius - Jupiter
Capricorn - Saturn
Aquarius - Uranus
Pisces - Neptune

When looking at your specific chart, you may or may not find that your planet falls into the sign that it rules. However, if it does, this means that the traits of that planet will be at its best function for you.

Sun - is the core, light, warmth, penetrating light, central but not "all of it"
Moon- is where we are most secure, protection, wateriest, security, emotional, reflects sunlight
Mercury - airiest, exchange of ideas, information, thinker, trickster, manipulator
Venus - attraction, cohesion, beauty, love, art, music, attracts love, earthiest planet
Mars - vulnerable, puts itself out there, initiator, impulse, willful, dominates, activity oriented, motivates us, goes out there and gets it, imposes will, vulnerable
Jupiter - great benefactor, king of g-ds, about expansion, growth, airy planet, higher intellect, prosperity
Saturn - brings restriction, discipline, structure, form, represents father figure
Uranus - change, sudden change, rebellion, revolution, insight, inspiration
Neptune - illusion, disintergration, fuzziness, inspiration
Pluto - intensity, explosiveness, regenration, rebirth, transformation, levels everything and then regenerates

The core planets are what you should begin your focus when reading Natal charts. I will explain the outer planets in another lesson. Stay tuned.

For more information about Mark Zablocki's astrology class please contact him through I Am Books