The planets

A birth chart begins with ten moving bodies, each assigned a different function. The Sun describes identity and direction; the Moon, instinct and comfort. Mercury handles thought and language, Venus attraction, and Mars effort and appetite. Jupiter and Saturn widen the frame to growth, limits, time, and consequence. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto move slowly enough to mark a generation, then become personal through the houses and aspects they occupy in one chart. A planet is never a complete reading by itself. Its sign describes how it works, its house shows where that work appears, and its aspects show which other parts of the chart support or complicate it. The ten guides below start with the planet’s basic job, then cover its cycle, rulerships, and the facts that stay useful when you move from a definition to your own chart. Each page also leads into that planet’s twelve possible sign placements for a more specific reading.