There’s a plethora of “comprehensive” astrological reference books, unfortunately you usually need a glossary just to get through the introduction. If you’re one of many who know the star fundamentals but feel a little overwhelmed by astro-babble, take heart. Let’s start with the basics:
THE COSMIC THREE
We are all a sum of our parts and your STAR SIGN, MOON SIGN and ASCENDANT represent the fundamentals of your personality – your energy, emotions and approach to life.
The STAR SIGN (also sun sign) is your essence, the core of your being, and inner most self. It holds the key to your potential, personal growth, and ability to shine. You can be the epitome of your sign, or may only display these characteristics in the company of family and intimate friends. If you fall into the anomaly category – a chocolate hating Taurean or a decisive Libran – it is largely due to your ascendant either eclipsing or being very different to your sun sign.
The MOON SIGN is the sign the moon was in on your date of birth impacts on how you express and nurture yourself emotionally. Your star sign can, at times, fade into obscurity because it is normally the latter two that we have on display.
The ASCENDANT (also rising sign) technically speaking is the sign passing over the horizon at your exact moment of birth. Your rising sign influences how you see the world and how the world sees you and is, consciously or not, the image you project. One school of thought reasons you are born with the traits of our rising sign which help you to ‘grow into’ your sun sign, something most people achieve past the age of thirty. The rising sign is the beginning of the first house, the house of personality and therefore influences your outlook and approach to everyday life.
WHAT? HOW? WHERE?
PLANETS, SIGNS and HOUSES make up the what, how and where of astrology. Let’s have a quick glance at what they represent before looking at them in further detail:
Each PLANET represents a particular drive or force within us. It is the verb that expresses what we are doing, e.g. Mercury represents our need to communicate and Venus shows our need to create love and harmony.
This urge or drive is expressed in different ways depending on which SIGN the planet is in. The sign flavours the way in which we do things and shows how we approach life. For instance, someone with Mercury in the discerning sign of Virgo will have an analytical mind while those with Mercury in a water sign, say Cancer, will think more intuitively.
Each HOUSE represents different areas of your life, for instance the second house concerns values on both a moral and material level, while the seventh house is the area associated with relationships. It shows where these urges are being expressed. So, someone with their moon in Virgo in the tenth house is bound to feel defined and nurtured by their work.