Regarding questions about charts and signs

There are a lot of questions in this forum to the effect of "I have such and such Sun sign or ascendant."

I have posted about this in the past and I know Subgoin has as well.

While questions are fine and natural, and please do not take what I am going to say as discouragement, but as far as I am concerned signs by themselves don't mean very much.

I do a different style of astrology than most people here, but the idea is the same. Here is basically what a sign means in a chart:

If you have for example Aries as your ascendant, then the ruler is Mars. Aries being in the ascendant DOES have a small inherent meaning that goes into the interpretation. For instance I would say you can be aggressive and have a strong drive, but that really isn't saying much.

What I would do is look at where Mars is. In the classical astrology I practice I would see what sign and degree Mars is in to see what kind of dignity Mars has, and in Modern astrology you would look at what sign Mars is in to see if he is strong or weak. This tells us if Mars is going to work according to his nature or against it.

We would also see what house he is in and if any planets are aspecting it. We would also see if any other planets are in the same house This would tell us if Mars is in a good spot and if any planets are causing a problem for Mars.

This is very simplified, but when you ask what a sign means, it's like holding a spool of thread and asking what a quilt will look like. It gives you a little info, but not much.

As for Sun signs, I don't even pay attention to that. In modern you do though. For me a Sun sign is just another element. It's no different than a Moon sign or Venus sign for me. I realize modern is different, but in the end the biggest reason why people ask for Sun signs is because it's easy to figure out even if you don't know anything about astrology.

Remember: there are only 12 signs and 7 or 9 planets depending on what system you follow. Going by sign only gives you 12 possibilities. To say people in one sign are a certain way is like saying people from Canada are one way. Sure if I said I was from Canada it might tell you something about me as a person but not much. However if I said I was from Toronto in an affluent neighborhood, I had 3 siblings, went to university for Engineering, had a beagle, and liked Hemmingway, you would have a lot more idea about me. Astrology is the same way.

 

this is wonderful information but to some of us who are new, how do we know what planet rules our ascendant?

I'm pisces, cancer ascendant, scorpio moon.

I think neptune & some other planet rule pisces. no clue what rules cancer or scorpio.

where do I look that up? I've done the birth chart thingie, but I really don't even know how to read that. I certainly do not know how to read the symbols and on the chart, I don't know if you go straight across & if they are all connected or not.

i am learning a little though and I really enjoy your posts.

 

Actually that's pretty easy, but the information will be a little different in classical astrology and modern.

From the earliest records of astrology until the 19th century, the sign rulers are:

Aries - Mars
Taurus - Venus
Gemini - Mercury
Cancer - The Moon
Leo - The Sun
Virgo - Mercury
Libra - Venus
Scorpio - Mars
Sagittarius - Jupiter
Capricorn - Saturn
Aquarius - Saturn
Pisces - Jupiter

In modern we have:
Aries - Mars
Taurus - Venus
Gemini - Mercury
Cancer - The Moon
Leo - The Sun
Virgo - Mercury
Libra - Venus
Scorpio - Pluto
Sagittarius - Jupiter
Capricorn - Saturn
Aquarius - Uranus
Pisces - Neptune

I like the classical system far better because it is more logically laid out. All of the planets have two signs except the Sun and Moon. This is because all the planets have day and night signs where they behave differently.

So if your ascendant is Pisces, most astrologers will say Neptune, but in the old system it's Jupiter.

Most people don't know their ascendants because you have to have a chart done.

 

okay so now I know my ascendant is ruled by the moon... that other stuff about how the moon is or whatever or what house. do I look at my birth chart for that?

what does the moon (cancer) have to do with me & why is that more important than my sign of pisces (jupiter) or my moon scorpio, which is ruled by mars?

 

Well your Moon is ruled by Mars (or Pluto according to Modern astrology). In classical astrology, the Moon is peregrine which means lost. Basically in the house where your Moon is, you don't have much direction in that area. This is simplified and I don't know your chart - keep that in mind.

In most cases, I need to know the degree that a planet is in since that affects whether the planet is weak or strong.

Anyway regarding your ascendant, yours is Cancer, which is ruled by the Moon. I would take the Moon's position and sign and its relationship to other planets into account. This gives me a good picture about who you are.

One of the big differences in modern and classical readings, is that in a modern reading, one looks and the ascendant and Sun sign, interprets them, and then goes along planet by planet.

In a classical reading, one goes house by house. The difference is that in modern astrology one looks in terms of planets, and in classical one looks in terms of question. In other words if I want to look at health, I look at the ascendant, Sun, Moon, ruler of the 6th house, and whether Saturn and Mars are afflicting the ruler of the 6th or the ascendant.

 

i feel you enlil6, and i agree with you ... but something i discovered ... not on this forum but on another one ... is that people almost always give you all the information you need to answer their question. while it may not answer the question at the depth and level you would want YOUR question answered if you were asking it, the conscious and subconscious mind works in wondrous ways!

i find that most people really ask for what they need. sometimes, you get the pleasure of expanding the capacity of someone who has a deep curiosity but is just getting started and therefore, the information and deeper questions you ask is a great help to them on their journey ... that's when its fun for me, anyway.

but, shoot ... if their consciousness is sun signs, ascendants and the moon ... "don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and lakes that you're used to ..." sometimes too much information gets them into deeper waters than they are ready to maneuver.

after all, not even every astrologer can view their chart in view of the galactic center ...