Planets
The discovery of the invisible planets in the solar system came with the advent of telescopes, expanding our view and understanding of the solar system and the universe. The newly discovered planets added a completely new layer to our chart analysis, and a greater focus on identifying the evolution of consciousness. In this article, Maurice Fernandez points out the interrelationship between the transpersonal planets Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune, and the personal planets Mars, Mercury, and Venus, respectively.02.09.2022Moon and Ceres - Attachment and Nurture
Every Full Moon phase we have an opportunity to invite more self-awareness and emotional wisdom through balancing our inner world of emotions with our outer world of identity - aka our Moon and Sun. When the Moon has its own space in the sky it can be an ideal time to focus on feeling what needs to be felt and attuning to our unique lunar state and attachment patterning.21.08.2013Do You Moondance?
Astrologers understand something about our solar system's design that astronomers do not. By studying the cosmic clockworks and coming to recognize the patterns these give rise to, star seers witness a Divine Order at work.
The first consideration before delving into the symbolism of the luminaries is that they each in their symbolic self are not confined to one or other parent. To relegate the Sun to the father and the Moon to the mother at best oversimplifies the imagery and at worst distorts completely our understanding of the full human person.20.12.2023Mercury Retrograde: Instructions for Beginners - and Dismissers
Well, it’s that time of the year again. Mercury went retrograde on 13th December 2023, not resuming direct motion again until 2nd January 2024. I was entertained by my colleague Victor Olliver’s brief posting on Facebook today, and his opening salvo, ie ‘…Such is my contempt for the Mercury retrograde nonsense…’19.04.2023Mercury Retrograde Cycles and the Astrology of Intuition
With 2023 beginning and ending with Mercury in retrograde motion, this year offers a prime opportunity to more deeply examine our relationship to our own intuition and clairvoyance. If forward motion Mercury focuses on details and day-to-day thinking, retrograde motion Mercury loves the big picture and intuitive perception. Every Mercury retrograde cycle gives us a chance to listen more and plan less.
Everyone familiar with astrology and its tools knows the planet Mercury refers to mental activities and faculties of the mind. According to natal astrology, the position of Mercury in your birth chart symbolizes the quality of energy propelling your mind through the areas of experience where it best functions. But this is not the most fundamental approach to determining and understanding mental temperament, because it fails to focus on the cycle of Mercury as a whole, and on Mercury's particular cyclic phase at the time of birth.
If you're one of the millions who give attention to astrology, or have had your birth chart drawn and interpreted, you probably know the zodiacal sign and natal house occupied by Venus at the time of your birth. The natal house in which Venus was located at birth shows the particular set of human experiences through which your emotional life, feeling nature and sense of values, fueled by the type of energy symbolized by Venus' sign, best operates.
In Venus retrograde we have the opportunity to consider second chances. The planet Venus will be retrograde in the sign of Leo, July 23 to September 3, 2023. In his book, Hellenistic Astrology, The Study of Fate and Fortune, Chris Brennan mentions the word retrograde comes from the Greek word anapodismos meaning “walking backwards”, or hupopodizontes meaning “retracing steps.”02.12.2025Venus and the Transpersonal Planets
Venus reveals the unique way each person opens to connection with the other. As the planet associated with inner well-being, Venus expresses her gifts differently depending on the aspects she forms in the birth chart. When she comes into contact with Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto, her energy is transformed by the qualities of each of these planets, taking on deeper, more complex, or unusual tones.04.07.2013Jupiter's Transit of Cancer and You
The following analyses show how the metaphorical T-cross composed of Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto will influence specific areas of your life, as represented by the astrological houses. Discover what you're apt to personally encounter by referring to the section applicable to your Rising Sign.
'Jupiter Meets Uranus' is a great introduction to how astrology works at the individual and social level. Readers without any knowledge of astrology may want to skip past a paragraph or two here and there, but Whitaker's style is engaging and her explanations are always clear. By taking a relatively small slice of the astrological pie and examining it in detail, she makes it possible for non-astrologers to understand how astrologers think.
We're all familiar with Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare, in which a plodding tortoise manages to win a race against a speedier competitor, as a result of its slow and steady persistence. This story is usually rolled out as a morality lesson about the importance of tenacity: Stick to your guns, we're told, and you can win out over those who charge out of the starting gate full of passion and speed but lack staying power.
All of us have an area of life where we feel restricted, limited and unable to throw off some great burden that holds us back. As well as corners of our mind that we seldom look at, but where we know the darker aspects of the psyche linger. In astrological terms, these two psychological components are represented by Saturn and Pluto, and if you know where these are placed within a person’s chart, you know where they encounter issues in their life.08.04.2019Confrontation and Empowerment: Saturn and Lilith in Capricorn
The first term of 2018 was astrologically marked by several planets traversing the sign of Capricorn, figuratively represented by the mountain goat with fish feet. Mars, during his passage at the beginning of the year, made a conjunction with and activated Pluto, who has been in this sign since 2008. The zodiacal warrior also activated Saturn, newly arrived in the tenth sign of the Zodiac, of which he is the ruler, on 21 December 2017.20.07.2022Saturn, Neptune, and Outer Planet Retrogrades
Saturn and Neptune together have an essential role in resolving how meaningful our life is on Earth. Once the resolution of these two planets is understood the meaning and purpose of Uranus and Pluto falls into place. The timing of when such contemplation and realisation is optimised is detailed in this text where a new look at retrogrades is proposed.08.03.2021Chiron Expands its Meaning - Towards a Holistic View
The asteroid Chiron is increasingly important in the eyes of astrologers, and like Pluto, despite its size, its archetypal and cosmic strength is undoubted. As time passes since its discovery in 1977, its meaning deepens to unsuspected levels. I observe that the interpretation of this new celestial body is in practice very different from author to author -or very simplified-, so I think this essay is useful to try to expand, clarify and synthesize the field of meanings.
The position of Chiron's orbit, placed between Saturn and Uranus, is rather special. In spite of all attempts at classification, Chiron has, as it were, taken on the role of a planet. His path is severely eccentric, like that of Symbol of ChironPluto, so that he occasionally crosses the orbits of both Saturn and Uranus. Most astrologers regard him as a sort of "mediator" between these two, and as a link between the "Guardian of the Spheres" (Saturn) and the outer planets.18.05.2018Reflecting on Chiron, as his Aries trip begins ...
What does Chiron mean to you? Have you experienced his symbolic energy as healing? Wounding? As the 'inconvenient benefic', kicking open doors to places you'd never have thought to go? Does he simply not register as any kind of recognisable influence in your life or those around you? Or have you simply not given him much thought as you work with your horoscope in relation to your life?09.01.2025Thinking Outside of the Box - Uranus-Mercury Aspects
My old friend, the dearly departed Carl Fitzpatrick, shared a helpful way of explaining something important about the meaning and influence of Uranus, and he did it by comparing its effects with those of Jupiter. “Both planets have a quality of ‘expansion,’” he pointed out, “but in uniquely different ways.”
“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time…” Andre Gide. That quotation occupied a prominent place in my kitchen for a very long time. I needed all the inspiration I could get, having been pitched into what amounted to a frightening inner voyage of discovery with no landmarks, no map, no companions – and no idea if I would ever again reach dry land.21.10.2016Orcus and Neptune: A Five and A Half Year Dance
This article was sent to astro.com by the author as an account of his close-up experience of this opposition of Neptune with the astrologically still quite unfamiliar trans-neptunian object 90482 Orcus. It is indeed fascinating and might inspire astrologers to do some more research of their own. It is also striking that the experience seems to show the positive sides of this object which has so far been shown in a more sombre light.
Many astrologers and users of astrology are now concerned with the question which consequences the degradation of Pluto has for astrology. Do we have to exclude Pluto from our charts? Do we have to interpret it differently? Are Astrodienst's horoscopes still valid? To say it clearly: There is no reason for being concerned. The understanding which astrologers have gained about the astrological effect of Pluto since its discovery in 1930 is not changed by the new astronomical definition.20.07.2018Pluto: What nobody told you ...
If you have some birth positions between 16°51' and 21°17', you will know that Pluto will form a perfect aspect with such a birth point during this 7-month period.13.06.2017What Happens When Pluto, Neptune and Uranus Cross the IC?
Liz Greene once wryly observed in one of her seminars that, if you wanted a relatively quiet and peaceful life, you should arrange to be born when the outer planets were as far away from the personal planets and Angles as possible. 'I wish!' say many of you reading this, as indeed does the writer, who has all the outer planets bolted onto all the personal planets and has had anything BUT a quiet life.
Tracking the sign of our parents' and (great)grandparents' natal Pluto can be such a life-changing experience. Going clockwise with our birth chart and mapping what Pluto was doing long before we were born feels like a homecoming release, since a light is cast on blind spots and conflicted areas where we tend to feel “fated” to lose power. There is power in clock-wise reading, for it reveals perceived missing links in the relationships across generations and “fatal attractions” among our ancestors, all of which many of us feel summoned to include now in our sense of identity.
Of all the discoveries made by astronomers during the last few centuries, few if any have held as much importance or excitement for astrologers as the announcement of a new planet in oursolar system. And it just so happens that we've been hearing lately about mounting evidence for a new, previously unknown body at the fringes of our solar system—likely the size of Neptune and orbiting the Sun once every 10,000 to 20,000 years.Your Guiding Planet - Innate Skills and Inner Faculties
Each of us possess guiding qualities and innate skills bestowed to help us fulfill our special destiny as individuals and as purposeful members of humanity. But conditions pervading in our schools, offices and factories, and the conforming pressures of society, usually conspire to force us to into predetermined molds, with little regard for our special faculties and talents, unless they happen to be useful in the business world.18.11.2016The Planets - Celestial Organs and Their Functions
The cyclic motion of the planets of our solar system provides the fundamental variables of astrology. The planets are the basic meaning centers of an astrological chart, symbolizing organic functions found in all forms of life. Like the organs and glands of your body, they each play an essential role in regulating natural processes, and their activities must be well-coordinated and balanced to sustain health and wholeness.13.04.2017The Seven Traditional Planets and Mathematical Principles
If the planets are truly "archetypes," or universal principles, it's natural to wonder whether they might relate to fundamental principles found in other symbolic systems. For example, over the years I've wondered whether the seven traditional planets could be equated with certain basic mathematical functions.06.07.2017Do the Physical Planets Hold Clues Into Their Meaning as Astrological Principles?
During a conversation in 1978 with a yogi and astrologer by the name of Shelly Trimmer, I was intrigued by a remark he made about the significance of Jupiter in the horoscope, and how its qualities were reflected in this planet's astronomical features. For astrologers, he said, Jupiter represents a person's broader capacity for logic and their philosophical perspective on life.18.11.2020Planetary Functions in AstroHology - Planets and Holistic Consciousness
We say that from a holistic consciousness, the way to understand reality has a fractal structure where each part in turn contains the whole. This whole, which is the Self, has dimensions that we could analyze separately to address its complexity, and explore how each of these dimensions is linked to the whole. We will try to describe this phenomenon in words, even though we know that written language has limitations to achieve this.21.11.2023Pallas Athena, a Revision of the Myth
We know there is a direct connection between astrology and mythology, but this is not neutral, but situated in a time and space, referring to the cultures of Greece and Rome: war was a core ethos, worshipping male gods, with women occupying secondary and suffering positions; mythical stories were instrumental to certain forms of production and organization, being a central part of that society and culture.Topics in the Astro Shop
Current Planets
14-Dec-2025, 08:00
UT/GMT
| |||||
| Sun | 22 | 34'29" | 23s14 | ||
| Moon | 20 | 8'38" | 10s41 | ||
| Mercury | 3 | 2'36" | 19s10 | ||
| Venus | 16 | 58'12" | 22s37 | ||
| Mars | 29 | 15'36" | 24s12 | ||
| Jupiter | 23 | 26'12"r | 21n36 | ||
| Saturn | 25 | 23'31" | 3s58 | ||
| Uranus | 28 | 31'36"r | 19n38 | ||
| Neptune | 29 | 22'37" | 1s29 | ||
| Pluto | 2 | 13'12" | 23s20 | ||
| TrueNode | 13 | 0'31"r | 6s41 | ||
| Chiron | 22 | 46'23"r | 9n21 | ||
| Explanations of the symbols | |||||
| Chart of the moment | |||||
