Planets
The ten bodies on a birth chart
A birth chart places ten bodies on the zodiac: the Sun and Moon, and the eight planets from Mercury to Pluto. Each has its own reading in the astrological tradition, and each is a measured position first. Astronomers call the Sun a star, the Moon a satellite and Pluto a dwarf planet; in astrology, these ten bodies are commonly grouped together as the planets, and this site uses the word that way without pretending it is the other.
The lights
The two bodies that light the sky, and the two that move fastest.
- Sun
- The sign everyone knows; the year’s own calendar.
- Moon
- The fastest body, and the one a birth time matters most for.
The personal planets
Near the Sun, or quick: the ones that differ most from one birth to the next.
- Mercury
- Never far from the Sun; the planet that goes retrograde most often.
- Venus
- Never more than about 47 degrees from the Sun; retrograde about every nineteen months.
- Mars
- The first planet with no limit from the Sun; the slowest of the quick ones.
The slow planets
From a sign a year to a sign a generation; the ones a birth shares with its decade.
- Jupiter
- The first of the slow planets; a sign a year, give or take.
- Saturn
- The slowest planet visible to the eye; its return is the one people count.
- Uranus
- Found by telescope; a sign for most of a decade.
- Neptune
- Found by arithmetic before it was seen; a sign for a stretch of years.
- Pluto
- A dwarf planet to astronomers; the slowest body a chart places.
All ten are on the free birth chart, with the working, and on the sky today. The words used on these pages are defined in the glossary.
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