Planets & Their Meanings
Discover the profound influence of celestial bodies in astrology. Each planet represents different aspects of human experience and consciousness, from personal identity to spiritual evolution.
Personal Planets
The personal planets (Sun through Mars) move quickly through the zodiac and represent your individual personality, desires, and daily experiences.
Sun
☉
The Sun represents your core identity, ego, and life purpose. It shows how you express your authentic self and what energizes you.
Core Meaning:
Your fundamental nature, creative expression, and the hero's journey of self-discovery.
Positive Expressions:
Shadow Expressions:
Sun Through the Elements:
Dynamic self-expression and bold leadership
Practical goals and steady achievement
Mental brilliance and social connection
Emotional depth and intuitive wisdom
Moon
☽
The Moon represents your emotional nature, instincts, and subconscious needs. It shows how you process feelings and seek security.
Core Meaning:
Your inner emotional world, intuitive responses, and what makes you feel safe and nurtured.
Positive Expressions:
Shadow Expressions:
Moon Through the Elements:
Quick emotional responses and need for excitement
Practical emotions and security through material comfort
Mental processing of emotions and need for communication
Deep emotional sensitivity and psychic intuition
Mercury
☿
Mercury represents communication, thinking patterns, and how you process information. It governs learning and mental agility.
Core Meaning:
Your communication style, thought processes, and how you connect with others through words and ideas.
Positive Expressions:
Shadow Expressions:
Mercury Through the Elements:
Quick thinking and direct communication
Practical thinking and methodical communication
Abstract thinking and social communication
Intuitive thinking and emotional communication
Venus
♀
Venus represents love, beauty, and what you value most. It shows how you attract and express affection.
Core Meaning:
Your approach to relationships, aesthetic preferences, and what brings you pleasure and harmony.
Positive Expressions:
Shadow Expressions:
Venus Through the Elements:
Passionate and direct in love
Practical and sensual in relationships
Intellectual and social in love
Emotional and intuitive in relationships
Mars
♂
Mars represents your drive, ambition, and how you assert yourself. It shows how you take action and pursue desires.
Core Meaning:
Your energy, passion, competitive nature, and how you fight for what you want.
Positive Expressions:
Shadow Expressions:
Mars Through the Elements:
Direct action and pioneering spirit
Methodical action and practical goals
Mental action and strategic thinking
Emotional action and intuitive strategy
Social Planets
Jupiter and Saturn represent your relationship with society, growth, and structure. They bridge personal experience with collective patterns.
Jupiter
♃
Jupiter represents growth, wisdom, and good fortune. It shows where you seek meaning and expansion in life.
Core Meaning:
Your beliefs, philosophy, higher learning, and areas of natural abundance and luck.
Positive:
Shadow:
Saturn
♄
Saturn represents discipline, responsibility, and life lessons. It shows where you must work hard to achieve mastery.
Core Meaning:
Your greatest challenges, areas requiring discipline, and where you build lasting structures.
Positive:
Shadow:
Outer Planets
The outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) move slowly and represent generational themes, spiritual evolution, and collective transformation.
Uranus
♅
GenerationalUranus represents innovation, rebellion, and sudden change. It shows where you seek freedom and originality.
Meaning:
Your unique genius, revolutionary spirit, and areas of sudden breakthrough or disruption.
Neptune
♆
GenerationalNeptune represents spirituality, dreams, and the dissolution of boundaries. It shows your connection to the divine.
Meaning:
Your spiritual ideals, creative imagination, and areas of potential confusion or transcendence.
Pluto
♇
GenerationalPluto represents deep transformation, power, and regeneration. It shows where you undergo profound change.
Meaning:
Your capacity for transformation, hidden power, and areas of death and rebirth in your life.
The Lunar Nodes
The lunar nodes aren't planets but mathematical points that represent your soul's karmic journey and evolutionary path in this lifetime.
North Node
Soul Purpose, Growth, Future
Your karmic path forward and soul's evolutionary direction
Significance:
What you're learning in this lifetime and moving toward for growth
South Node
Past Lives, Gifts, Comfort Zone
Your karmic past and natural talents from previous lives
Significance:
What you've mastered and need to balance or release
Planetary Rulerships
Traditional Rulerships
Modern Rulerships
Key Concepts
Master Planetary Interpretation
Understanding planets is just the beginning. Learn how they interact with houses and aspects to create the complete astrological picture.