✧ Encyclopedia of Astrology

Every sign, planet, house, aspect and figure — the reference the rest of the courses and your readings link to.

Listen to the whole course All 235 lessons back-to-back, in my own voice — press play and browse the list as you listen.

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Look things up rather than read in order: each entry explains one thing a chart can show, and links to the entries it depends on.

The lessons

1. Zodiac The band of sky the Sun, Moon and planets travel through, divided into twelve equal signs of 30° — the ruler every chart is measured against.
2. Ecliptic The Sun's apparent yearly path around the sky — the line the zodiac is laid along and from which every planet's position is measured.
3. Celestial equator The Earth's equator projected out onto the sky — the circle declination is measured from, and whose crossings with the ecliptic mark the equinoxes.
4. Declination How far a planet lies north or south of the celestial equator — the second coordinate of a chart, and the basis of parallels and out-of-bounds planets.
5. Horizon The great circle dividing the sky you can see from the sky below the Earth — the line that gives a chart its Ascendant, its Descendant and its day or night.
6. Meridian The great circle running from north to south through the point overhead — where planets culminate, and where a chart finds its Midheaven and Imum Coeli.
7. Tropical zodiac The zodiac of the seasons — twelve signs counted from the March equinox, used by most Western astrologers.
8. Sidereal zodiac The zodiac of the stars — twelve equal signs anchored to the fixed stars rather than the seasons, used in Vedic astrology and by Western siderealists.
9. Ephemeris A table of where the Sun, Moon and planets stand day by day — the raw material every chart is calculated from.
10. Decan One of the three 10° slices of every sign — thirty-six in all — each given its own ruler, and in older astrology called a face.
11. Bounds Five unequal segments within every sign, each ruled by one of the five planets — the Egyptian terms, an ancient layer of rulership and a minor dignity.
12. Degree The unit a chart is measured in — 30 degrees to a sign, 60 minutes to a degree — and how to read a position such as 14°23' Leo.
13. Signs The twelve 30° divisions of the zodiac — the styles in which the planets act, each defined by an element, a modality, a polarity and a ruling planet.
14. Aries The first sign of the zodiac, cardinal Fire, which inclines toward beginnings, courage and the direct approach.
15. Taurus The second sign, fixed Earth, which inclines toward steadiness, the senses and things built to last.
16. Gemini The third sign, mutable Air, which inclines toward curiosity, conversation and holding more than one idea at once.
17. Cancer The fourth sign, cardinal Water, which inclines toward care, memory, home and the protection of what is loved.
18. Leo The fifth sign, fixed Fire, which inclines toward warmth, creativity, generosity and the wish to be seen.
19. Virgo The sixth sign, mutable Earth, which inclines toward discernment, skill, usefulness and care for the details.
20. Libra The seventh sign, cardinal Air, which inclines toward balance, partnership, fairness and a feel for what is graceful.
21. Scorpio The eighth sign, fixed Water, which inclines toward depth, intensity, privacy and staying power.
22. Sagittarius The ninth sign, mutable Fire, which inclines toward exploration, belief, frankness and a wide horizon.
23. Capricorn The tenth sign, cardinal Earth, which inclines toward ambition, structure, responsibility and patient effort.
24. Aquarius The eleventh sign, fixed Air, which inclines toward principle, independence, friendship and ideas for the common good.
25. Pisces The twelfth sign, mutable Water, which inclines toward compassion, imagination, faith and the dissolving of boundaries.
26. Planets The moving bodies of a chart — the Sun, the Moon and the planets — each standing for one kind of drive or need; the sign shows its style, the house where it acts.
27. Sun The light of the day chart — the centre of vitality, purpose and the self that wants to be seen.
28. Moon The light of the night chart — the body, the moods, the habits and the needs that ask to be met.
29. Mercury The messenger — thought, speech, learning, trade and every kind of exchange.
30. Venus The lesser benefic — love, pleasure, beauty, agreement and what a person values.
31. Mars The lesser malefic — drive, courage, desire, conflict and the will to act.
32. Jupiter The greater benefic — growth, faith, generosity, justice and the wish for meaning.
33. Saturn The greater malefic — limits, time, structure, duty and what is built to last.
34. Uranus The first modern planet — change, freedom, invention and the sudden break with the expected.
35. Neptune The planet of the boundless — imagination, compassion, longing, illusion and the dissolving of edges.
36. Pluto The planet of depth — power, transformation, crisis and what must end so something can be renewed.
37. The luminaries The Sun and the Moon — the two "lights" of the sky, set apart from the planets and read as the chart's twin centres of day and night.
38. Personal planets Mercury, Venus and Mars — with the Sun and Moon, the fast-moving bodies read as the most individual parts of a chart.
39. Social planets Jupiter and Saturn — the slow bridge between the personal planets and the generational ones, read as how a person meets society, growth and limits.
40. Outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto — the planets beyond Saturn, discovered by telescope, so slow that whole generations share their signs.
41. Benefic Jupiter and Venus, the greater and lesser benefic — the planets tradition reads as helping, smoothing and giving, when they are well placed.
42. Malefic Saturn and Mars, the greater and lesser malefic — the planets tradition reads as difficult, and how sect decides which of the two is the harder one.
43. North Node Where the Moon's path rises across the Sun's — a point of increase, appetite and the direction of growth.
44. South Node Where the Moon's path descends across the Sun's — the familiar, the already-known, and what asks to be released.
45. Chiron The wounded healer — a small body found in 1977, read as the place of an old hurt and of the wisdom it can teach.
46. Lilith Black Moon Lilith — the empty point of the Moon's orbit farthest from Earth, read as the untamed self that will not perform for approval.
47. Part of Fortune A calculated point that carries the Sun–Moon relationship onto the Ascendant — traditionally the body, health and material fortune.
48. Midpoint The point exactly halfway between two planets — a sensitive spot where their meanings blend, brought to life when a third body sits on it.
49. Antiscion A planet's mirror image across the solstice axis, 0° Cancer to 0° Capricorn — two planets on each other's antiscia are read as quietly linked.
50. Contra-antiscion A planet's mirror image across the equinox axis, 0° Aries to 0° Libra — the companion of the antiscion, read as a hidden link with more friction in it.
51. Asteroids Small bodies orbiting the Sun, most between Mars and Jupiter, read in modern astrology as fine detail added to the planets.
52. Ceres The first asteroid found, named after the Roman goddess of the harvest — read as nurture, nourishment and the cycle of loss and return.
53. Pallas The second asteroid found, named after Pallas Athena — read as practical wisdom, strategy and the gift for seeing patterns.
54. Juno The third asteroid found, named after the Roman queen of the gods — read as commitment, partnership and what a person needs from a bond between equals.
55. Vesta The fourth asteroid found, named after the Roman goddess of the hearth — read as devotion, focus and what a person keeps sacred.
56. Hygiea A large asteroid found in 1849, named after the Greek goddess of health — read as wellbeing, balance and the care a person gives to their own wholeness.
57. Psyche A metal-rich asteroid found in 1852, named after the mortal who won the love of Eros — read as the soul, deep sensitivity and where a person is touched to the core.
58. Eros The first near-Earth asteroid found, in 1898, named after the Greek god of love — read as desire, passion and what draws a person irresistibly.
59. Amor A small near-Earth asteroid found in 1932, given the Latin name of the god of love — read as tender, compassionate affection, freely given.
60. Interamnia One of the largest asteroids, found in 1910 and named after the Italian town of Teramo, whose Latin name means "between rivers" — a recent addition to astrology, read as the meeting place of two currents.
61. Houses The twelve divisions of the sky as seen from one place at one moment — the areas of life in which the planets act, counted from the Ascendant.
62. First House The house of the self, the body and the way a life meets the world, beginning at the Ascendant.
63. Second House The house of money, possessions and the resources a person draws on, and of what they truly value.
64. Third House The house of siblings, neighbours, short journeys, messages and the everyday working mind.
65. Fourth House The house of home, family, land and roots, beginning at the Imum Coeli, the foot of the chart.
66. Fifth House The house of children, pleasure, romance, play and creative self-expression, where Venus has her joy.
67. Sixth House The house of daily work, routine, service and health, of employees and small animals, where Mars has his joy.
68. Seventh House The house of marriage, partners, contracts and open opponents, beginning at the Descendant.
69. Eighth House The house of shared resources, inheritance, debt, intimacy and deep change, traditionally also of death.
70. Ninth House The house of long journeys, foreign lands, religion, philosophy, higher learning and dreams, where the Sun has his joy.
71. Tenth House The house of career, reputation, honour and authority, beginning at the Midheaven, the top of the chart.
72. Eleventh House The house of friends, allies, groups, hopes and wishes, the good spirit where Jupiter has his joy.
73. Twelfth House The house of what is hidden, of retreat, solitude, confinement and the inner life, where Saturn has his joy.
74. Angular houses The first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses — the four that begin at the chart's angles, traditionally the strongest places for a planet to stand.
75. Succedent houses The second, fifth, eighth and eleventh houses — the four that follow the angles, read as places of consolidation, resources and what is built up over time.
76. Cadent houses The third, sixth, ninth and twelfth houses — the four that fall away from the angles, read as places of learning, adjustment and preparation, and traditionally the weakest.
77. Planetary joys The ancient scheme that gives each of the seven classical planets one house where it "rejoices" — Mercury in the 1st, the Moon in the 3rd, Venus in the 5th, Mars in the 6th, the Sun in the 9th, Jupiter in the 11th and Saturn in the 12th.
78. House system The method used to divide the sky into twelve houses; systems such as Placidus, Koch, Whole Sign, Equal and Regiomontanus give different cusps from the same birth moment.
79. Whole sign houses The oldest way of counting houses: the whole rising sign is the first house, the next sign the second, and so on — one sign, one house.
80. Equal houses A house system of twelve houses of exactly 30 degrees each, counted from the precise degree of the Ascendant.
81. Placidus houses The most widely used modern house system, which divides the time each degree of the zodiac takes to travel between the horizon and the meridian into thirds.
82. Koch houses A twentieth-century time-based house system, also called the birthplace system, that builds every cusp from the rising time of the Midheaven degree; it usually gives houses close to Placidus.
83. Regiomontanus houses A space-based house system that divides the celestial equator into twelve equal arcs; the "rational method" of the Renaissance and the classic system of horary astrology.
84. Campanus houses A space-based house system that divides the prime vertical — the circle through east, west and the point overhead — into twelve equal arcs.
85. Porphyry houses The simplest quadrant house system: each quarter of the chart between two angles is divided into three equal parts of the zodiac.
86. Angles The four points where the horizon and the meridian cross the zodiac — Ascendant, Imum Coeli, Descendant and Midheaven — the chart's frame and its most sensitive places.
87. Ascendant The degree of the zodiac rising on the eastern horizon at birth, the cusp of the first house and the starting point of the chart.
88. Descendant The degree of the zodiac setting on the western horizon at birth, opposite the Ascendant and the cusp of the seventh house.
89. Midheaven The degree of the zodiac culminating on the meridian at birth, the highest point of the chart and the cusp of the tenth house.
90. Imum Coeli The lowest point of the chart, the degree of the zodiac on the lower meridian at birth and the cusp of the fourth house.
91. Chart ruler The planet that rules the sign on the Ascendant; its sign, house and condition are read as a guide to the whole chart.
92. Aspects The angles the planets make with one another around the chart — conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition and the minor aspects — which say how the parts of a chart talk to each other.
93. Conjunction Two planets at the same degree of the zodiac, blending into one voice — and taking their colour entirely from who they are.
94. Opposition Two planets facing each other across the chart at 180°, a pull between two ends that asks for balance rather than a winner.
95. Trine Two planets 120° apart, usually in signs of the same element — the aspect of natural flow, talent and things that come easily.
96. Square Two planets 90° apart, usually in signs of the same modality — friction that presses for action and builds strength through effort.
97. Sextile Two planets 60° apart, in signs of compatible elements — an opening or opportunity that rewards being taken up.
98. Quincunx Two planets 150° apart, in signs with nothing in common — an uneasy fit that asks for constant adjustment.
99. Semi-sextile Two planets 30° apart in neighbouring signs — a faint nudge between two very different neighbours, asking for small adjustments.
100. Semi-square Two planets 45° apart — half a square, a nagging friction that prods rather than confronts.
101. Sesquiquadrate Two planets 135° apart — a square and a half, a strain that tends to overreach and then force a correction.
102. Quintile Two planets 72° apart — a fifth of the circle, Kepler's aspect of craft, invention and personal style.
103. Biquintile Two planets 144° apart — two fifths of the circle, a quiet aspect of refinement, pattern and making something of a gift.
104. Parallel Two planets at the same declination, on the same side of the celestial equator — a quiet reinforcement that works much like a conjunction.
105. Contraparallel Two planets at equal declination on opposite sides of the celestial equator — a see-saw that works much like an opposition.
106. Inferior conjunction When Mercury or Venus passes between Earth and the Sun — the planet at its closest, mid-retrograde, and the start of a new cycle.
107. Superior conjunction When Mercury or Venus lies on the far side of the Sun — moving direct and at its swiftest, the high point of its cycle.
108. Orb How far from exact an aspect may be and still count — the margin, in degrees, within which two planets are said to be in aspect.
109. Aspect strength How tight an aspect is against the orb allowed for it — 1 when exact, 0 at the very edge. Shown beside each aspect and parallel, for information only.
110. Applying An aspect that is still closing toward exactness — building, not yet at its peak.
111. Separating An aspect that has passed exactness and is widening — its peak behind it, its effect settling and fading.
112. Exact aspect The moment two planets make an aspect's precise angle — the aspect's peak, which tradition calls its perfection.
113. Out-of-sign aspect An aspect that is within orb by degree but falls across signs that would not normally make it — also called a dissociate aspect.
114. Partile aspect An aspect between two planets in the same numbered degree of their signs — the traditional mark of the tightest, most forceful contacts.
115. Platic aspect An aspect that is within orb but not in the same degree — real, but wider and softer than a partile one.
116. Translation of light A faster planet that leaves one significator and reaches the next, carrying the light between two planets that never meet — the go-between of horary.
117. Collection of light Two significators that never meet both apply to a slower, weightier planet, which gathers their light and brings the matter together — the broker of horary.
118. Perfection In horary, the moment the significators' aspect becomes exact and the matter asked about is said to come about — and the ways that promise can be broken.
119. Retrograde A planet that appears, from Earth, to move backwards through the zodiac for a while — a season for reviewing rather than launching.
120. Station The moment a planet seems to stand still before turning retrograde or direct — when its themes are felt most strongly.
121. Planetary speed How far a planet moves along the zodiac in a day — measured against its usual pace, it tells whether the planet is swift, slow, stationing or retrograde.
122. Void of course A planet — most often the Moon — that will make no further major aspect before it leaves its sign, a lull in which little is thought to come of new beginnings.
123. Combust A planet within about 8½° of the Sun, lost in its glare — traditionally weakened and hidden, though it may still work out of sight.
124. Cazimi A planet within 17 arcminutes of the Sun's centre, "in the heart of the Sun" — not burnt but strengthened, as if seated beside a king.
125. Under the beams A planet between about 8½° and 17° from the Sun — dimmed rather than burnt, working quietly until it clears the Sun's light.
126. Domicile A planet in a sign it rules — at home, free to act in its own way, the strongest of the essential dignities.
127. Exaltation The sign — and, traditionally, the exact degree — where a planet is honoured like a guest of rank, the second of the essential dignities.
128. Detriment A planet in the sign opposite its own — away from home, working against the grain of the place, scored −5 by Lilly.
129. Fall A planet in the sign opposite its exaltation — unhonoured and out of favour, scored −4 by Lilly, though often a source of hard-won depth.
130. Peregrine A planet holding no essential dignity where it stands — a wanderer without credentials, guided by the company it keeps.
131. Mutual reception Two planets each standing in a sign ruled by the other — host and guest at once, able to help each other as if they had swapped places.
132. Sect Whether a chart is a day chart or a night chart — and which planets, as a result, work with the grain of the chart and which against it.
133. Out of bounds A planet whose declination carries it further north or south than the Sun ever goes — read as a planet working outside the usual limits.
134. Shadow period The stretch of zodiac a retrograde planet covers three times — entered in the pre-shadow before it turns back, left in the post-shadow after it goes direct.
135. Essential dignity How much a planet is "at home" in the exact degree it occupies — measured by the five dignities of domicile, exaltation, triplicity, term and face, and their opposites.
136. Accidental dignity A planet's strength by circumstance — its house, its motion, its distance from the Sun and the company it keeps — as opposed to the sign it is in.
137. Rulership The bond between each sign and the planet that governs it — the thread that ties every part of a chart to a planet somewhere else, through sign rulers, house rulers, dispositors and the chart ruler.
138. Dispositor The planet that rules the sign another planet is in — its host, whose condition colours how the guest can act, and the start of every chain of rulership.
139. Via Combusta The burnt way" — the stretch of the zodiac from 15° Libra to 15° Scorpio, where the traditional authors held the Moon to be troubled and kept her out of any election.
140. Prominence How strongly a planet stands out in a particular chart — by its closeness to the angles, its aspects, what it rules, its dignity, its house and its company. Shown here as each planet's weight.
141. The lunation cycle The Moon's monthly round with the Sun, from New Moon to Full and back, divided into four quarters or eight phases, and read both in the sky and in a birth chart.
142. Waxing Moon The half of the lunation cycle from New Moon to Full, as the Moon's light grows — read as a time of building, starting and increase.
143. Waning Moon The half of the lunation cycle from Full Moon back to New, as the Moon's light shrinks — read as a time of sharing, finishing, releasing and rest.
144. New Moon The monthly conjunction of the Moon with the Sun, the start of the lunation cycle, read as a time of beginnings and intentions.
145. Crescent Moon The thin sliver of Moon seen in the evening after the New Moon; in Rudhyar's eight phases, the stretch from 45° to 90° ahead of the Sun, read as the effort to establish something new.
146. First quarter The waxing half Moon, a square 90° ahead of the Sun about a week after the New Moon — read as a crisis of action, the point where a new start has to be committed to.
147. Gibbous Moon The swelling Moon, more than half lit, in the days before the Full; in Rudhyar's eight phases the stretch from 135° to 180° ahead of the Sun, read as refining and perfecting before the culmination.
148. Full Moon The monthly opposition of the Moon to the Sun, the culmination of the lunation cycle, read as a time of fullness, clarity and release.
149. Disseminating Moon Rudhyar's phase from 225° to 270° ahead of the Sun, in the days after the Full Moon — read as sharing, teaching and spreading what the cycle has shown.
150. Last quarter The waning half Moon, a square 90° behind the Sun about a week after the Full Moon — read as a crisis of consciousness, the point where what no longer fits is turned away from.
151. Balsamic Moon The last phase of the lunation cycle, the final 45° before the New Moon when only a thin morning crescent is left — read as release, distillation and preparing the seed of what comes next.
152. Eclipse A New or Full Moon close enough to the lunar nodes for the Sun, Moon and Earth to line up, read as a stronger, longer-lasting lunation.
153. Moon's age and the lunar day How many days have passed since the last New Moon — the old almanacs' "lunar day", counted from 0 to about 29½ and used to time everything from sowing to haircuts.
154. The Moon's months The Moon keeps several different "months" at once — New Moon to New Moon, once round the stars, perigee to perigee, node to node — and each one times a different thing.
155. Perigee and apogee The Moon's nearest and farthest points from the Earth — the source of the modern "supermoon" and "micromoon", and of her changes of speed from one week to the next.
156. Planting by the Moon The old gardener's practice of timing sowing, planting, pruning and harvest by the Moon — by her phase, by her sign, or (in biodynamics) by the constellation she stands in. Three systems, not one.
157. Biodynamic calendar Maria Thun's sowing calendar of root, leaf, flower and fruit days, set by the constellation the Moon stands in — the real, unequal star groups, not the tropical signs — together with the ascending and descending Moon.
158. Aspect patterns Shapes made when three or more planets are linked by aspects — the T-square, Grand Trine, Yod, Kite, Grand Cross and the rest — read as a whole rather than aspect by aspect.
159. T-square Two planets in opposition, both square a third, the apex, where the figure's pressure gathers and looks for an outlet.
160. Grand Trine Three planets each about 120° apart, a closed triangle of ease usually in one element, read as natural talent that flows without effort.
161. Grand Cross Four planets in two oppositions crossing at right angles, making four squares, a figure of great tension and great endurance.
162. Yod Two planets in sextile, both quincunx a third, the apex, a narrow figure read as a point of continual adjustment, often felt as a calling.
163. Kite A Grand Trine with a fourth planet opposing one corner and sextile the other two, so the triangle's easy talent is given a direction.
164. Mystic Rectangle Two oppositions joined at their ends by two trines and two sextiles, a balanced rectangle that pairs awareness with practical skill.
165. Stellium Three or more planets gathered in one sign or one house, a concentration of energy in a single area of life.
166. Cradle Four planets chained by three sextiles with the outer two in opposition, a modern name for half a Grand Sextile, read as support gathered round one tension.
167. Grand Sextile Six planets evenly spaced 60° apart round the whole chart, a rare six-pointed star that contains most of the other harmonious figures.
168. Finger of the World Two planets in square, both sesquiquadrate a third, the apex, which becomes the funnel for the square's tension. Also called Thor's Hammer.
169. Minor Grand Trine One trine with a third planet sextile both ends, a small triangle that gives the trine's easy talent somewhere to go.
170. Hard Rectangle Two oppositions joined at their ends by two semisquares and two sesquiquadrates, the Mystic Rectangle's skeleton built from minor hard aspects.
171. Boomerang A Yod with a fourth planet directly opposite its apex, which gives the Yod's tension somewhere to land.
172. Fixed stars The true stars behind the planets — ancient points of meaning that colour any planet or angle they sit on.
173. Algol The Gorgon's head in Perseus — the most feared star of the old texts, now usually read as intense, concentrated power.
174. Alcyone The brightest of the Pleiades — vision, sensitivity and a depth of feeling that sorrow can sharpen.
175. Aldebaran The Bull's red eye and a Royal Star — courage, integrity and success that lasts only if it is honestly won.
176. Rigel Orion's blue-white foot — skill, teaching and the ambition to build things that last.
177. Capella The she-goat carried by the Charioteer — curiosity, a love of learning and a need for freedom.
178. Betelgeuse Orion's red shoulder — bold, competitive achievement and honours won by courage.
179. Sirius The Dog Star, brightest in the night sky — honour, distinction and the drive to shine, with heat that asks to be handled well.
180. Castor The head of the first of the Twins — a quick, inventive mind, words and learning, with fortunes that can turn quickly.
181. Pollux The head of the second Twin — courage, competitive drive and a will that does best tempered with fairness.
182. Procyon The Little Dog that rises before the Dog Star — quick openings and fast success that last when they are followed through.
183. Regulus The Lion's Heart, one of the four Royal Stars — leadership, honour and success, kept by generosity and lost through pride.
184. Vindemiatrix The Grape-Gatherer in the Virgin's wing — a sober, Saturnine star of separation and of wisdom earned through it.
185. Spica The ear of wheat in the Virgin's hand — among the most fortunate of the stars, read as talent, grace and gifts that endure.
186. Arcturus The bright orange star of the Herdsman — success earned by your own effort, and a gift for finding a new way.
187. Antares The red heart of the Scorpion and one of the four Royal Stars — intensity, courage and passion that ask to be focused.
188. Vega The brilliant blue-white star of the Lyre — charm, artistry, refinement and a gift for moving others.
189. Altair The bright star of the Eagle — boldness, ambition and the chance of a swift, unexpected rise.
190. Fomalhaut The lonely bright star of the Southern Fish and one of the four Royal Stars — idealism, vision and the pull toward something higher.
191. Scheat A red star at the corner of Pegasus's Great Square — a vivid, original imagination that needs grounding.
192. Zosma The star on the Lion's back — a deep sensitivity to suffering, and a pull toward helping and service.
193. Fire The element of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius — hot and dry, the spark of enthusiasm, courage and faith in what could be.
194. Earth The element of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn — cold and dry, the ground of patience, practicality and things built to last.
195. Air The element of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius — hot and moist, the medium of ideas, conversation and connection.
196. Water The element of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces — cold and moist, the realm of feeling, intuition, memory and care.
197. Cardinal The mode of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn — the signs that open the seasons, inclined to initiate, act and lead.
198. Fixed The mode of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius — the signs at the height of each season, inclined to hold, sustain and endure.
199. Mutable The mode of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces — the signs that close each season, inclined to adapt, adjust and pass things on.
200. Triplicity A group of three signs of the same element, a trine apart — and, in traditional astrology, the dignity a planet has when it rules that group by day or by night.
201. Quadruplicity The three groups of four signs — cardinal, fixed and mutable — that share a mode, stand at right angles to one another and describe how a sign acts: starting, holding or adapting.
202. Fruitful and barren signs The old division of the zodiac into signs that favour growth and offspring — above all the water signs — and signs that do not, used for questions of children and, by gardeners, for choosing when to sow and when to weed.
203. Ease and tension A day-by-day measure, drawn from a transit reading's own contacts, of how much ease and how much tension each day carries compared with the busiest day of the period.
204. Transit A planet's real, present position in the sky, read against the birth chart; the main way astrology describes the timing of what a period brings.
205. Secondary progression A symbolic forecasting technique in which each day after birth stands for a year of life, so the slowly unfolding chart describes inner development.
206. Solar arc A forecasting technique that moves every point of the birth chart forward by the same arc, the distance the progressed Sun has travelled, about one degree a year.
207. Solar return A chart cast for the moment each year when the Sun comes back to its exact birth position, read for the themes of the year from one birthday to the next.
208. Lunar return A chart cast for the moment the Moon comes back to its exact birth position, roughly every 27 days, read for the tone and focus of the month ahead.
209. Saturn return The transit of Saturn back to its own birth position, around the ages of 29, 58 and 88, read as a passage of maturing, reckoning and renewed structure.
210. Annual profections A traditional timing technique that moves the Ascendant one sign for each year of life, handing each year to one house of the birth chart and to its ruler, the Lord of the Year.
211. Planetary hours The traditional division of each day and each night into twelve unequal hours, each ruled in turn by one of the seven classical planets in the Chaldean order — the scheme behind the names of the days of the week.
212. Ingress The moment a planet enters a new sign; in mundane astrology, the Sun's entry into Aries and the other cardinal signs is cast as a chart for the year or season.
213. Time-lord techniques A family of traditional methods — profections, firdaria, zodiacal releasing, the Indian dasas and others — that divide a life into periods and hand each period to a ruling planet.
214. Astrology in the Arabic tradition The astrology written in Arabic between the eighth and the eleventh centuries — Persian, Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars in Baghdad and beyond who joined the Greek, Persian and Indian traditions and handed the result to medieval Europe.
215. Lunar mansions (manāzil al-qamar) The Moon's own zodiac — twenty-eight stations, one for each night of her round, named by the Arabs after the stars she passes and read for choosing good moments to begin.
216. Rain stars (anwāʾ) The star calendar of pre-Islamic Arabia — the year told by which star set at dawn as its partner rose, each "setting" (nawʾ) bringing its own weather; the source of the lunar mansions' names.
217. Lots (Arabic parts) Points worked out from the distance between two chart factors, measured again from a third — usually the Ascendant. Fortune is the best known; the Arabic authors catalogued well over a hundred.
218. Firdaria A Persian time-lord system, carried by Abū Maʿshar and Bonatti, that divides the first seventy-five years of life among the seven planets and the lunar nodes, in an order set by whether you were born by day or by night.
219. Great conjunctions The meeting of Jupiter and Saturn about every twenty years, and the longer rhythm those meetings trace through the elements — the backbone of Abū Maʿshar's astrology of history.
220. Natal chart The map of the sky for the exact moment and place of a birth, the foundation every other technique is read against.
221. Synastry The comparison of two birth charts, reading the aspects one person's planets make to the other's to describe how a relationship tends to work.
222. Composite chart A single chart for a relationship, built by taking the midpoint of each pair of planets and points in two birth charts.
223. Davison chart A real chart for a relationship, cast for the moment halfway in time between two births at the place halfway between their birthplaces.
224. Draconic chart The birth chart re-measured from the Moon's North Node, which is set at 0° Aries — the aspects stay the same while every sign and degree shifts.
225. Harmonic chart A chart made by multiplying every position by a whole number, so that planets linked by that number's aspects come together as conjunctions.
226. Mundane astrology The astrology of the world rather than the individual — nations, cities, institutions and the mood of an age, read from great cycles, ingresses, eclipses and founding charts.
227. Financial astrology The speculative branch that relates planetary cycles to economies and markets — a study of symbolism and history, never investment advice.
228. Horary astrology The astrology of questions — a chart cast for the moment a sincere question is asked, read for the answer to that one question.
229. Considerations before judgement The checks a horary astrologer makes before answering a question — whether the chart is "radical", fit to be judged, or warns that the question is too early, too late or idle.
230. Electional astrology Choosing in advance the moment to begin something — a wedding, a venture, a journey — so that it starts under the friendliest sky available.
231. Decumbiture An old medical-astrology chart, cast for the moment someone took to their bed with an illness — studied today as history and symbolism, never as health advice.
232. Zodiac man The old picture of a human body with each sign of the zodiac ruling a part of it, from Aries at the head to Pisces at the feet — a piece of heritage, not health advice.
233. Hellenistic astrology The astrology of the Greek-speaking Mediterranean from about the first century BCE, which created the birth chart as we know it — rising sign, houses, aspects and all.
234. Vedic astrology (Jyotish) India's astrological tradition, Jyotish — read on the sidereal zodiac, with nine grahas, 27 nakshatras and the dasa periods that time a life.
235. Nakshatra One of the 27 lunar mansions of Indian astrology — equal 13°20′ divisions of the sidereal zodiac, roughly the stretch the Moon travels in a day.