The PLANETS: Enter the Clowns

Remember the theater analogy concerning the ZODIAC SIGNS, the HOUSES, and the PLANETS? The Planets are the actors on the stage of our lives (the Houses). The Zodiac Signs give these actors their personality and character. 

The original Planets are the five that can be seen by the “naked eye” from Earth. These five Planets are referred to as the “Wandering Stars” and include Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each of these Planets is named for a deity… either a Roman or a Greek god… and each has a specific function and energy that serves as an influencer on the Zodiac Sign within which it appears.

Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto are referred to as the Transcendental Planets in Traditional Astrology. Though no longer considered a planet, the energy of Pluto still contributes to a horoscope. It is a heavenly body in our solar system and, therefore, projects influencing energies on Earth and her inhabitants. Due to their greater distance from the Sun, the influences of the Transcendental Planets are more philosophical in nature. Their effects must be discovered through closer observation. Their influences are considered to be more generational than individual, since it takes them years to move from one Zodiac Sign to the next.

 The Sun and the Moon are not planets. They are LUMINARIES and act as amplifiers to the characteristics of the planet(s) appearing within a same House. The Sun exposes our truth; the Moon reflects our emotions.

A horoscope provides predictions for possibilities based on the positioning of the Planets in relationship to an individual’s Zodiac Sign. The natal/birth chart, which is a snapshot of the sky at the moment of an individual’s birth, shows the positioning of the Planets, defining their personalities within the Zodiac Signs within which they appear in this moment. 

No two individuals are ever identically the same… even in the case of identical twins… due to the planetary positioning shifts that occur every 4 minutes. Every 4 minutes the Ascendant changes by 1 degree. The positioning of the Planets in the snapshot of the sky taken at the moment of an individual’s birth will not repeat exactly for another 4,320,000 years! And even at that, genetic and environmental influences will contribute to the ultimate differences in any two individuals born at these two otherwise identical positions of the Planets. 

It is possible for two people to be born at the same moment and in the same location/hospital. It has been shown that such individuals live very similar lives (follow same career paths, marry at the same time, have the same number of children with the same genders, develop the same illnesses, die at the same time). These people are known as “Astral Twins” or “Time Twins”, but they are very rare!

These are the known planetary energies that we experience here on Earth. Discoveries of new planets are always a possibility. For instance, the discovery of a small planet or asteroid was made in 1977. This tiny planetary body is named Chiron, who in Greek mythology was the wise centaur, a teacher, and a healer. The rulership of Chiron has been attributed to both Scorpio and Sagittarius, but by some is considered a “maverick”. Its influences are generally attributed to spiritual regeneration and the search for meaningful work.

The discovery of Neptune’s moon, Titon, in 1989 gives rise to the belief that Titon was once a planet orbiting the Sun until it was drawn into Neptune’s gravitational pull.

It is logical to believe that more planets are to be discovered. With each discovery, the planet will be given a rulership to a Zodiac Sign. For instance, two such discoveries point toward the planet Apollo being the true ruler of Taurus (who now shares the Planet Venus with the Zodiac Sign of Libra) and Vulcan being the true ruler of Virgo (which currently shares the Planet Mercury with the Zodiac Sign of Gemini). 

For the study of Modern/Traditional Astrology, we only recognize fully the influences of the five “Wandering Stars” and the three Transcendental Planets.