Basics

When we interprete the birth chart, we always look at PLANETS. We don't include the Earth,
because we stand on the Earth and we look at what's in the sky from our point of view. We
interprete the meaning of the planet in a SIGN. We interprete the «wheel» (the circle birth
chart). It’s the picture of where the planets are in the sky, each planet affecting a certain part of
our personality. When we look at the chart, we see its glyph, which means that the planet is in a
certain part of the sky. A CUSP is an imaginary line that separates a pair of consecutive signs or
houses. If the sign is not on any cusp (of houses), it's INTERCEPTED.
The wheel chart is where the planets are if you’re face to the South. Получается, слева
восток, а справа запад. Но ни юга (он вроде как должен быть наверху круга), ни севера в
астрологии нет. Солнце как бы встает слева, на востоке, и идет направо, к западу. Отсюда
номера of HOUSES, по часам дня. Планеты на протяжении дня двигаются по часовой
стрелке, через дома. Точка, обозначающая полдень, находится не посередине, не между
левой стрелкой (востоком) и правой (западом). The middle of the sky is not in the middle
between East and West. При этом стрелки, которые обозначают восток, верх, запад и низ,
очень важны, они направляющие. Номера домов идут слева направо: XII-XI-X-IX… Есть
12 домов и 12 знаков. Секции внутри круга – это дома. Равные секции по кругу – это
знаки. Дома разделяют небо на 12 неравных частей. Каждая из планет находится в каком-
то доме: смотрим, в какой секции круга находится значок планеты. Например, Сатурн в
VIII доме; кроме того, он в каком-то знаке. Знаки разделяют небо на 12 равных частей,
каждая по 30 градусов, начиная с Овна и заканчивая Рыбами, против часовой стрелки (это
в астрономии называется Тропический Зодиак). The «light» of the planet is getting filtered
through the sign and through the house. Both of those filters changing the quality of the planet.
Example: Saturn ♄. It’s like a wise old man, it’s slow, it slows everything down, it frustrates
you, it’s very mature, it’s not frivolous, it doesn’t like to play, it’s serious, ethical. If this “old
man” is in Aries, which is firy and go-getter, the old man is pretty active, wants to get things
done and started. If it’s in Aquarius, it’s more of excentric, independent, etc. The VIII house
represents death. Then maybe, if you have Saturn in this house, your grandfather had a big
influence on you, for example, or someone died.
Example: Jupiter ♃. Enterpreneur, travelling around the world, buying and selling, making
money and spending it, outgoing, wheeling and dealing, extraverted type. Capricorn, for
example, somewhat more mature, would slow down the exuberance of Jupiter. The IX house
happens to be the place where Jupiter is really expressive.

The sign that's East is called the RISING SIGN. It's in the first house cusp. It's rising when
you're born. It is particularly important. This is how you come across to other people, how you
appear to them, what's important to you.

The SIGNS CAN BE RANGED THIS WAY: FIRE – energetic, give energy and dynamism
to whatever planet is in this sign (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), EARTH – down to Earth (Capricorn,
Taurus, Virgo), AIR – mental, communicative (Libra, Gemini, Aquarius) and WATER –
emotional (Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio).
Or this arrangement: CARDINAL (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), FIXED – tenacious, they
follow through (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), MUTABLE – flexible (Gemini, Virgo,
Sagittarius, Pisces).

Aries is related to the I house (and Aries is cardinal fixed in modern astrology), Taurus is
similar to the II house in some ways, Gemini – III, Cancer – IV, Leo – V, Virgo – VI, Libra –
VII, Scorpio – VIII, Sagittarius – IX, Capricorn – X, Aquarius – XI, Pisces – XII.
 ASPECTS. They are really big deal. That’s the distance between the planets. You put the
planets around on this circle and you can just measure the number of degrees between them. We
consider that particular angles pose two planets to interact. Each degree is divided into 60
minutes.
Example: Pluto at 11 degrees Virgo is almost exactly 90 degrees, 89 degrees, from Moon at
10 degrees Sagittarius. 89 degrees is close enough to 90, that we consider them to be SQUARE.
If some degrees are close enough like this, you call it ORB. Most people use a 7-8 degree orb.
Say, if two planets are within 8 degrees of being 90 degrees apart, like 82 degrees or 98 degrees,
it’s considered to be square. The closer to exactly square, the more they interact. The squares are
challenging, motivating, more difficult.
So Moon is family, feelings, memory, sentimentality, Pluto is compulsive, obsessive, means
he has obsessive feelings that just come up very intensely.
Moon is TRINE (120 degrees) to Mars. Makes a smooth connection. Moon is energized,
enjoys a competitive atmosphere.
CONJUNCTION (0 degrees), OPPOSITION (180 degrees) are also important.

THE RULERSHIPS. Mars rules Aries, Venus – Taurus, Moon – Cancer, Mercury – Gemini,
Sun – Leo, Jupiter – Sagittarius, Saturn – Capricorn, Uranus (Saturn – traditional) – Aquarius,
Neptune (Jupiter – traditional) – Pisces, Pluto (Mars – traditional) – Scorpio, Mercury – Virgo,
Venus – Libra.
It means that the planet is happy to be in that sign. It can really express itself directly, freely.
There are planets in signs that can be: RULERSHIPS, DETRIMENT (the sign is opposite to
the ruled one, so it’s more difficult for the planet to express itself), EXALTATION (the planet
brings out the best of the sign, it’s like a hybrid) and FALL (a tricky place, it’s not bad, but you
should use more subtle, more creative ways to express the energy of the planet for it to work).
Planet Rules Detriment Exaltation Fall

Example: the Moon is in Sagittarius, but it rules Cancer, it still has a connection to that sign
and house.