Basic Astrology: Signs, Planets, Houses & Aspects

Planets:

Moon: Feelings, Emotions
Function: Development of ability to feel or respond emotionally; Development of subjectivity, impressionability & sensitivity; Development of what might be called the 'soul'
Dysfunction: Emotional self indulgence, timidity, laziness, wishy-washyness, overactive imagination, indecision, moodiness
Key Questions: What kinds of experiences are most essential to my happiness? When moodiness and irrationality overtake me, how are they expressed? What unconscious emotional needs motivate my behavior?

Mercury: Mind, Intellect
Function: Intelligence; Transmission of information; talking, teaching, writing, reception of information, listening, learning, reading, observing
Dysfunction: Nervousness, rationalization, worry, flightiness, intellectualism, chattering, inconsistency, hyperactivity
Key Questions: What are my intellectual & communicative strengths & weaknesses? Retrograde: Mind turned inward; Freedom to think in independent, imaginative, innovative ways; Possible difficulties in self expression; Words don't easily form

Venus: Partners, Love
Function: The restoration of equilibrium to the shattered sensitivities of others; The stabilization, networking, and supporting of emotional bonds; The development of the capacity to make beauty and balance
Dysfunction: Indolence, manipulative ness, vanity, spinelessness, chronic abandonment to sensuality
Key Questions: How can I calm down? What do I need in a partner? What can I bring to a relationship?
Retrograde: May produce shyness or social backwardness; Feelings of "goofiness" around members of the opposite sex; Doubts and insecurities about worth as a partner; Creative mind can be free and inventive

Mars: Aggression, Will
Function: The development of will; The expansion of courage; "Assertiveness training"; "Facing the beasts";
Dysfunction: Touchiness, rage, selfishness, insensitivity, cruelty, sadism, bombastic, irritability, a "chip on the shoulder";
Key Questions: What battles must I face? Where must I be more assertive if I am not to suffer pointless conflict and strife? How can I sharpen my will? How do I express my aggressiveness?
Retrograde: Tremendous staying power; Hesitant to assert oneself or make demands; Passive demeanor; Anger controlled but internalized

Jupiter: Expansion
Function: The maintenance of faith; The development of vitality and confidence; The lifting of spirits;
Dysfunction: Over-extension, over-optimism, pomposity, pretense, denial of negative realities;
Key Questions: What kinds of experiences will help me feel more faith in myself and in life? Where might I be taking too much for granted?
Retrograde: Deeply rooted inner faith; May produce a very serious exterior; May inhibit emotional openness;

Saturn: Limitation, Caution
Function: The development of self-discipline; The development of self-respect; The development of faith in one's destiny; Making peace with solitude;
Dysfunction: Depression, melancholy, cynicism, coldness, unresponsiveness, time-serving drudgery, lack of imagination, suppression of emotion, materialism;
Key Questions: In what arena of life must I learn to act alone? Where will a lack of self-discipline lead most quickly to sorrow? Where will my ability to dream and have faith be most severely tested? Retrograde: Deeply rooted self-sufficiency; May indicate a "loner"; Enormous reserves of inner strength; Emotional self-discipline; May have a hard time saying "no"

Uranus: Revolution
Function: The development of individuality; The development of the capacity to question authority; The transcendence of cultural and social programming;
Dysfunction: Contrariness, stubbornness, inflexibility, touchiness, quirkiness, unreliability, irresponsibility, selfishness, insensitivity to others feelings, inability to learn from others; eccentricity for its own sake;
Key Questions: In what department of life must I be most willing to function without social approval? Where must I learn to break the rules and follow my own path? Where will I consistently receive the most misleading advice? Which authorities am I destined to challenge and offend?
Retrograde: Individuality may be dissipated in fantasy life while outward behavior remains safe and non-controversial; May symbolize genius - not in the sense of high intelligence so much as in the mind's freedom from culturally dictated "obvious truth"

Neptune: Mysticism
Function: The decentralization of ego in self imagery; The creation of a point of self-observation external to Ego; The weakening of the barrier separating conscious from unconscious, ego from soul; The development of an awareness of what may be called God;
Dysfunction: Confusion, laziness, daydreaming, spaciness, escapism, drifting, drug and alcohol dependence, poor reality testing, glamorous delusions;
Key Questions: Where must I learn to de-emphasize logic and to function intuitively? Where is narrow self-interest most inappropriate and destructive to me? Where am I most vulnerable to mistaking wishes and fears for reality?
Retrograde: The psychic sensitivity is distanced from outer reality; it is easily distorted by subjective factors, but relatively free of interference from the logical function

Pluto: Transformation
Function: The realization of one's destiny; The recognition of the absurdity of all narrow pursuits; The development of the capacity to discern truth;
Dysfunction: Megalomania, grandiosity, violence, preaching, dogmatism, rigidity, dictatorial behavior, hunger for power, a sense of meaninglessness or absurdity; The end-justifies-the-means thinking;
Key Questions: Where can I find enduring significance in my life? Where in myself might I find wisdom for which there is a great need in the world around me? Where must I guard against dogmatic, unscrupulous, or tyrannical behavior?
Retrograde: May produce a fear of personal "dis-empowerment"; May lead to a hesitation to speak the truths one sees; Can give humility in the exercise of great powers

Miscellaneous Bodies:

Signs:

Taurus: The Bull
Mode: Fixed
Element: Earth
Ruler: Venus
Types: Earth Spirit, Musician, Silent One
Symbols: Cool Water, Earth Mother, Ancient Stones, Nothing frightens, Rest, Relaxation
Endpoint: Timelessness, Serenity, Peace; Infinitely complex, yet simpleminded
Strategy: To Sooth the spirits; To display simplicity & calm; To find the inner & outer silence
Resources: Aversion to drama, suspicion of complexity
Shadow: Stagnant security; iron will; inflexibility

Gemini: The Twins
Mode: Mutable
Element: Air
Ruler: Mercury
Types: Witness, Teacher, Storyteller, Journalist
Symbols: Two beings, irrevocably bound, fascinated with each other, scanning for clues, no detail is too minute
Endpoint: Communication, perception, observation, Inner Journeys
Strategy: To live a varied life; To give the universe permission to not make sense; To absorb the world
Resources: Curiosity, Vitality, Information gathering, Correlating, and Broadcasting
Shadow: Shifting of truths; They rarely lose arguments; Accumulation of tensions; The need for physical release; All tactic & no strategy

Cancer: The Crab
Mode: Cardinal
Element: Water
Ruler: Moon
Types: Mother, Healer, Nurturer
Symbols: The Crab must shed & regrow its shell; Vulnerability, Exposure
Endpoint: Awareness is turned inward; Emotion is focused on the heart; Empathy, consciousness, Feeling all the emotions of life
Strategy: To Create minimal defenses, consistent with survival; shyness; Wearing plausible masks
Resources: A Vivid inner, emotional life; love of the brokenhearted; Nurturing the Un-loved
Shadow: Mothering can become the dominant theme; It can put into bondage; Tendency to hide behind the nurturer, care-giver

Leo: The Lion
Mode: Fixed
Element: Fire
Ruler: Sun
Types: King; Performer; Child; Clown
Symbols: On stage; Frightened yet excited; Everybody loves them
Endpoint: Roaring forth like a volcano of expression; Must leave tangible evidence of its internal processes in the hands of the world; Development of spontaneous, unabashed, openhanded style; Development of personality
Strategy: Must learn to say yes to life; Development of Ego; Direct creativity
Resources: The Lion roaring; The soul of the performer; Creativity and charisma; Must live for today
Shadow: The need for applause; Unintentional proclamation of superiority; Pride, sometimes, comes before a fall

Virgo: The Virgin
Mode: Mutable
Element: Earth
Ruler: Mercury
Types: Servant; Martyr; Perfectionist; Analyst
Symbols: Virgin; Servant; Seeking perfection; Working on self; Waiting and Serving
Endpoint: The hunger for personal transformation, purity, fulfillment, significance
Strategy: Idealism; Meticulous honesty creates a hunger for truth; Dissection & expression of self through service; Perfection of identity by serving others
Resources: Sees self with merciless clarity; Meaningful work is the key
Shadow: Sacrifices too much; Self criticism; Feeling the need for penance, forgiveness; Blind to larger patterns; Details often overwhelm

Libra:The Scales
Mode: Cardinal
Element: Air
Ruler: Venus
Types: Lover; Artist; Peacemaker
Symbols: Balance, equilibrium, reconciliation of opposites; Light & shadows
Endpoint: Teaching serenity; Attainment of unbreakable inner harmony
Strategy: Must achieve harmony through action of will on structure of consciousness; To be utterly vulnerable & pitilessly sensitive & calm
Resources: Aware that all wholes are made of complementary halves; Toleration of a paradoxes; No other sign is less content with half truths
Shadow: Indecision; Tendency to be non-committal; The need to fight, at all costs, for harmony

Scorpio: The Scorpion
Mode: Fixed
Element: Water
Ruler: Mars, Pluto
Types: Detective; Sorcerer; Hypnotist; Extremist
Symbols: Awesome intensity of the present moment; Ready to live or die; Always extreme: Either hot, or cold, no in between
Endpoint: The future disappears: always focused on the present; Only the truth remains; To live every moment as if it was the last
Strategy: Must feel (by current emotions) the way through life; Perfect alignment between feelings and actions; The ability to let one's sexuality be what it may be
Resources: Repression of emotion/desire is defective; This is its primary resource, providing merciless introspection
Shadow: Too much, too little, self knowledge; Moodiness; Venomous; Treachery; Vengeance

Sagittarius:The Archer
Mode: Mutable
Element: Fire
Ruler: Jupiter
Types: Gypsy; Student; Philosopher; Adventurer
Symbols: Arrow darting thru space; What, where, why?
Endpoint: Actions expand awareness through gathering unfamiliar experience; No clear endpoint, only an endless process; A constant search for meaning
Strategy: Open to foreign ways of thinking: Intuitive leaps; Live life as if it were an adventure; Surrender safety to leaps of faith
Resources: Pronounced love of freedom, enthusiasm, buoyancy of spirit, adventure; Certainty that life means something (anything!); Faith in ideals
Shadow: Over-optimism, over-extension, bad judgment; 'Married in haste, repented in leisure

Capricorn:The Sea Goat
Mode: Cardinal
Element: Earth
Ruler: Saturn
Types: Disciplinarian; Hermit; Father
Symbols: Ultimate, absolute power; Master of the sea and the stony heights
Endpoint: Symbol of integrity; Master of solitude; Builder of structures; Supervisor of hierarchy
Strategy: Avoid needing other persons; Select a public role that expresses their own personal values, whims; Be yourself at all times, no matter the cost, or circumstances
Resources: Patience, self discipline; Instinctive practicality; Iron will; Solitude; Determination; Unerring logic
Shadow: Can be cold, unemotional, lonely, dictatorial, and/or tyrannical

Aquarius: The Water Bearer
Mode: Fixed
Element: Air
Ruler: Uranus, Saturn
Types: Genius; Revolutionary; Truth Sayer; Scientist
Symbols: Serpents & Knowledge: (The Hippocratic Oath); Human Freedom
Endpoint: Absolute, unswerving loyalty to perceived, or supposed truth; Individuality perfected; Eccentricity
Strategy: Resist coercion's of culture; They must be what they are, at all costs
Resources: Ingenuity; To think in ways not often taught, or thought; Seeing what others cannot see
Shadow: Quirky, stubborn; Sidetracking of their own individuality; Alienation of themselves, and others; Appearance of strangeness, and inability to fit into the norm

Pisces: The Fishes
Mode: Mutable
Element: Water
Ruler: Neptune, Jupiter
Types: Mystic; Dreamer; Poet; Healer
Symbols: The Ocean, home of all life; Liquid, flowing symbol of the unfathomable mystery that binds us all together; Symbiosis
Endpoint: A complete awareness of the whole world; Consciousness itself, observing the mind observing the world; All that remains is a dream (within a dream)
Strategy To experience consciousness; To subvert belief in the objective universe; To see all creativity as inspiration & to experience the inner world as really real; To let go of the world, and to find Spirit
Resources: The mind, imagination, empathy & gentleness; The possibility of self transcendence
Shadow: The attempt to escape the objective into the subjective (mind before matter); The search for numbness, or escapism

HOUSES:

2nd: Money;Taurus; Venus;
Terrain:Challenges to self-esteem; Money and possessions;
Successfully Navigated:Confidence and self-esteem based on concrete self-adjustment and self-development; Effective, worry-free management of resources;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Materialism and the equation of self-worth with the value of one's possessions; Lack of self-respect; Fear of risk; Collapse of willpower leading to failure in world; Life-limiting concern with material security;

3rd: Communication;Gemini; Mercury;
Terrain:Information gathering; Information sharing;
Successfully Navigated:Clear, accurate, unbiased perceptions; Willingness to tolerate perceptual ambiguity and uncertainty; Capacity to probe the world for more information either verbally or intellectually;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:The urge to protect a given concept of the world, leading to defensiveness, intellectualism and verbal overkill; Scattered, un focused curiosity, leading to chronic time wasting and disorganization;

4th: (Nadir) Home;Cancer; Moon;
Terrain:Unconscious, emotional, intuitive underpinnings of personality; The "Hero" and the "Shadow"; Domestic life; The home;
Successfully Navigated:Thorough understanding of one's own motivations, needs, and fears; Establishment of roots in form of home, family, and attunement to inner self;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Lack of basic psychological self-knowledge, leading to neurotic, unsatisfying, and obsessive behavior; Self absorption and self-analysis to the point of withdrawal from the world; shyness;

5th: Children;Leo; Sun;
Terrain:Pleasure; Creative self-expression; Falling in love; playfulness;
Successfully Navigated:Joyous anticipation of each day; The development of a creative outlet through which tangible evidence of one's internal processes may be expressed; Capacity to establish initial rapport with interesting strangers;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Abusive, self-destructive, uncontrollable relationships with particular pleasures; Creative blockages; Inability to relax and play;

6th: Servants;Virgo; Mercury;
Terrain:Responsibilities; Competence and skill; Devotion and self-sacrifice;
Successfully Navigated:Fulfillment through the development of a personally meaningful skill that is of value to others;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Endless busyness at tasks that have no personal meaning; drudgery, wage slavery; Humiliatingly subordinate roles in key relationships;

7th: (Descendant) Marriage;Libra; Venus;
Terrain:Intimate relationships; Identification with others;
Successfully Navigated:Relationships characterized by: 1. Equality between the partners; 2. Open-endedness, i.e., the relationship can be expected to survive changes in circumstances; 3. Specialness; unique rapport; "magic";
Unsuccessfully Navigated:A pattern of chronic submissiveness or directive ness in intimate relationships; Inability to form a stable emotional bond; Fear of intimacy; Extreme dependency or extreme fear of dependency;

8th: Death;Scorpio; Mars; Pluto;
Terrain:Instinctive behavioral determinants universally present in human consciousness: 1. Instinctive desire to form a sexual life bond; the mating instinct; 2. Instinctive awareness of one's own physical mortality: the way we cope with death; 3. Instinctive sense of invisible, transcendent dimensions of reality; life after death, the "occult";
Successfully Navigated:Healthy, flowing, spontaneous sexuality; Acceptance of death and an integration of its reality into daily life; Sense of the immortality of one's consciousness;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Blocked sexual functioning or obsessive sexuality; Inordinate fear of death; Denial of death; Rigid denial of "religious", "occult", or "mystical" feelings;

9th: Long Journeys Over Water;Sagittarius; Jupiter;
Terrain:Confrontation with the tendency of life to become mechanical and routine; Formation of personal system of ethics or philosophy; establishment of personal world view; Encounters with the unpredictable and the exotic;
Successfully Navigated:Ability to break up routines and create new patterns of behavior; Clear, individual sense of life's evolving meaning and purpose; Capacity to absorb shocking, unexpected perceptions;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Routinizing of experience; boredom. Rigidity of thought; dogmatism; Opportunistic, narrow-minded, or unprincipled behavior; nihilism;

10th: (Midheaven) Career; Capricorn; Saturn;
Terrain:Career; Reputation; position in society; Destiny;
Successfully Navigated:Self-expressive, personally satisfying status in the community; Sense of fulfilling one's destiny;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Entrapment in a meaningless, alienating social role; Obsession with power, status, and appearances;

11th: Friends;Aquarius; Uranus; Saturn;
Terrain:The future; plans, goals, life themes; Identification with groups, organizations, movements, associations, one's crowd;
Successfully Navigated:Concrete, specific sense of direction in life; Realistic yet inspiring goals, rooted in self-knowledge; Network of relationships that enhance and support the realization of personal goals;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Vagueness of purpose; drifting; Inability to make a commitment at any level; Unrealistic, quixotic, whimsical goals; Friends and associates who only contribute to one's confusion and drifting;

12th: Troubles;Pisces; Neptune; Jupiter;
Terrain:Unstructured, un focused consciousness; consciousness itself; Events and experiences that disrupt our identification with personality; Ego death; Secret enemies;
Successfully Navigated:Self-transcendence; freedom from worry about the ups and downs of life; Spiritual and psychic experiences; meditation; Sense of the "presence of God", or of higher levels of consciousness;
Unsuccessfully Navigated:Blurry, confused, uncertain self-image; Escapism; abusive, self-destructive relationships with alcohol, food, sleep, sex, television and other "drugs"; Hypersensitivity, mental imbalance, schizophrenia; Chronic "bad luck";

Aspects:

When planets are Conjunct, one is connected and fused together with another. Both parts are prominent in their psyche - 0'
When planets are Opposite, one opposes and creates tension with another. Balance is needed. 180'
When planets are Square, one is in conflict with another. Adaptation is required by both sides. 90'
When planets are Trine, one is in harmony with another. 120'
When planets are Sextile, one has opportunity for growth, exchange, and harmony in relation with another. 60'

Ruler:

R - Ruler; (The planet, or the house is in its Ruling Sign): It is in its Ruler ship
F - Fall; (The planet, or the house is in its Fallen Sign): It is in the Opposing Sign; Traditionally bad omens
e - exalted; (Planet/House in Exalted Sign); It Feels comfortable
d - debilitated; (The Planet, or House is in a difficult place in the Chart); Opposite the exalted; Detrimentally worse than The Fallen;
An 'R' next to a planet's sign signifies that the Planet is in Retrograde motion, compared to the Earth; The planet's energy is subdued, subjective; 'Re-' is the key prefix here: Review & Reiterate: key words

Elements:

Modalities: