Fundamentals of Astro*Carto*Graphy®

Planets

By planets, astrologers mean "celestial objects."  Among the most important of these are the moon and the sun, neither of which are properly "planets".  Sometimes you will hear of astrology concerning itself with "the stars."  Here again, what looks like stars are really mostly planets and moons.  None of this imprecision has ever bothered astrologers.  Even astronomers (scientist who study the stars without considering their relation to events on earth) have disagreements over exactly what should be called a planet.

Each planet represents a distinctive "factor" which drives, shapes, and elicits human behaviors, and by extension group, national and cultural behaviors.  The word "factor" is deliberately vague, since the pantheon of planetary characteristics is remarkably diverse and multifaceted.  Students of astrology are often astounded at the range and scope of life's concerns described by a simple listing of the symbolism associated with common planets.

The sun, for example, represents vitality, personal energy, and the ability to project one's will on the world.  The moon, on the other hand, represents receptiveness, sensitivity, and the ability to empathize  with others.  A study of the essential nature of all the  planets is beyond the scope of this article, but the basic characteristics of the planets given by Jim Lewis for use in Astro*Carto*Graphy is listed in  The Planets.

Time

The planets are in constant motion.  Some of the motion is  due to their orbits around the sun or the earth.  Other motion is created by the rotation of the earth. Our understanding of time itself is heavily influenced by planetary motion.  The rising and setting of the sun, for example, defines our day.  The annual motion of the sun through the zodiac defines our year.

At any moment in time, the positions of all the planets constitutes a picture that uniquely represents that moment -- it has never existed before in the past and will never again happen in the future.  Of course there are features of planetary positions that happen over and over again:  the full moon, the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, the passing of the sun through the Vernal Equinox.  But taken as a whole, the planetary picture of any moment is unique.

Position

When astrologers refer to the position of a planet, they speak primarily in terms of two important perspectives:

1. The position of the planet against the background of (relatively stationary) stars and
2. The position of the planet with respect to the horizon of the viewer.

Due to orbital motion, planets move across the background of the relative distant and fixed stars.  Each planet moves at a different speed and it can take them anywhere from a month to a hundred years to make a complete journey through the zodiac.  On any particular day, however, the planets can generally be considered to be at a particular place in the zodiac for that whole day.  So, for example, if the Sun is in Gemini on June 10, you can be sure that it will be there the whole day and not in some other sign an hour  later.  Astrologers use the planet's position in zodiac for large parts of their analysis of a particular planetary configuration.

The position of planets with  respect to the horizon of the observer, however, is a quite different perspective.  Now the planets appear to be moving quite quickly.  They rise in the east, culminate (reach their highest point) a few  hours later, and then set in the west.  Moreover, all the planets appear to be moving at about the same rate: it takes all of them about a day  to re-appear on the horizon again.  Astrologer's also use this different perspective to gain more information about a particular instant of time, and it is this second view of planetary positions that plays such a large role in Astro*Carto*Graphy.