Astrology Glossary
Astrology Glossary
My Astrological Premises
The birth chart represents the experience of the being. It is a symbolic representation of the particular way in which a person experiences themselves and encounters reality.
The birth chart can be seen as a mandala. In continuity with Dane Rudhyar’s vision, I understand it as a symbolic and organized whole, in which each part acquires meaning within the whole.
The birth chart is a living geometry. Each planet acquires meaning within a network of relationships: sign, house, aspects, rulerships, dispositors, and broader configurations.
A reading seeks the form created by the symbols as a whole. Each point can open a different path and reveal another figure within the same totality.
The birth chart shows how the being unfolds through specific points of focus. It does not describe a fixed personality.
Transits and Solar Returns make the experience of the being through time visible. They are not external forces acting upon a static chart.
Elements
Fire · to act
Earth · to make concrete
Air · to connect
Water · to feel
Modalities
Cardinal · initiates
Fixed · sustains
Mutable · adapts
The Signs
The 12 attributes of creation (element + modality)
Aries · Cardinal Fire · impulse without prior reference
Taurus · Fixed Earth · what is affirmed remains
Gemini · Mutable Air · connects and circulates
Cancer · Cardinal Water · protects the sensitive and keeps memory
Leo · Fixed Fire · radiates from the centre without asking permission
Virgo · Mutable Earth · organises, refines and removes excess
Libra · Cardinal Air · balances forces without erasing differences
Scorpio · Fixed Water · holds the essential or dissolves it
Sagittarius · Mutable Fire · opens horizons and seeks meaning
Capricorn · Cardinal Earth · delimits and makes the possible tangible
Aquarius · Fixed Air · liberates and reorganises patterns
Pisces · Mutable Water · integrates the diverse and dissolves boundaries
The Houses
Concrete manifestations of the twelve zodiacal attributes in earthly life.
1st House · How pure energy enters and asserts itself in the world → Physical appearance, identity, way of presenting oneself
2nd House · How what already exists is sustained and made stable → Possessions, money, material values, economic security
3rd House · How the immediate is connected and circulated → Siblings, communication, short learning, immediate environment
4th House · How the intimate is protected and rooted → Home, family, emotional roots, origin
5th House · How the singular is expressed and radiated → Creativity, romance, children, pleasure, self-expression
6th House · How the everyday is organised and refined → Daily work, health, routines, service
7th House · How one meets and balances with the other → Partnership, contracts, associations, open enemies
8th House · How the deep shared is transformed and regenerated → Sex, symbolic death, inheritance, debt, intimacy
9th House · How one expands and seeks meaning beyond → Long journeys, philosophy, higher studies, beliefs
10th House · How the visible and lasting is structured and consolidated → Career, reputation, authority, place in the world
11th House · How one is liberated and reorganised in larger networks → Friends, groups, collective ideals, future
12th House · How one dissolves and accesses what has no form → Unconscious, isolation, hospitals, hidden spirituality
The planets
Living functions that operate within each person.
Sun · central coherence
Moon · emotional register and reception of the world
Mercury · translation and circulation
Venus · valuation and bond
Mars · impulse and defence
Jupiter · expansion and meaning
Saturn · structure and limit
Uranus · liberation and difference
Neptune · dissolution of self and union
Pluto · transformation
Major Aspects
Functional relationships between planets or other points in the chart.
Conjunction · intense fusion
Opposition · complementary polarity
Square · tension that forces movement
Trine · flow without pressure
Sextile · available affinity
Techniques
Transits · direct dialogue between the current sky and the natal chart
Natal chart · map of the energetic design at the moment of the first breath
Solar return · annual update of the natal chart
Progressions · symbolic inner maturation
Synastry · crossing of two natal charts