The division of the sky into houses involves relating the space surrounding the

earth to the earth’s orbit. Consequently, the circle of houses is superimposed

onto the circle of signs. The twelve signs rotate completely through the twelve
houses each day in a little less than 24 hours. The beginning of a house—
referred to as a cusp—corresponds to a specific degree of the zodiac. The sign
on the cusp of each house symbolizes your most natural approach to the
activities symbolized by the particular house. The sign on the house cusp
describes your most typical experiences in relation to the activities represented
by the house.
The various functions or activities of life are symbolized by the planets. Planets
are the focal points for physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual
activities or energies. For example, the functions or activities of nurturing and
adapting are represented by the Moon. The functions of initiation, assertion,
aggression, and reproduction are symbolized by Mars. The functions of
sensation, perception, understanding, thinking, communicating, and interacting
are symbolized by Mercury.
In astrology, the term planet is used in its original meaning — wanderer. The
word planet was used to refer to the lights that wandered across the sky day and
night. The ancients identified seven wandering lights or planets—the Sun,
Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Those lights that appeared
not to move in relation to one another’s position were referred to as fixed stars
because they appeared to be fixed in place. Besides seven planets, the ancients
identified another category of wanderers—the comets. Unlike the seven planets,
comets were usually out of sight and difficult to predict.
Today we refer to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
as planets because they are large bodies that orbit a star and produce little or no
light of their own. Smaller bodies that orbit a star are called planetoids,
asteroids,
centaurs, meters, and comets. We refer to the Sun and the fixed stars as stars
because they are enormous balls of hot gases that radiate energy derived from
thermonuclear reactions. We refer to our Moon as a moon because it is a
relatively small satellite that revolves around a planet or planetoid instead of a
star.
In the natal chart the planets are located with respect to the earth’s orbit and
with
respect to the sky surrounding the place of birth. The planet’s location along the
earth’s orbit determines the planet’s location in the zodiac. The planet’s location
in the zodiac by sign and degree symbolizes the phase of the functions
symbolized by that planet. For example, when the Moon is in the sign of Aries—
the first sign of the zodiac, the functions symbolized by the Moon—nurturing,
assimilating, and adapting— are operating in the first phase of the twelve-phase
process. When Venus is in Capricorn—the tenth sign, the functions symbolized
by Venus—loving, valuing, appreciating, and desiring—are operating in the
tenth phase of a twelve-phase process.
The location of a planet with respect to the sky surrounding the birth place
determines the planet’s placement in the houses of the natal chart. The house
placement symbolizes the area of life in which the planet’s function is most
likely to be expressed. For example, when Mars is in the second house, the
functions of assertion and reproduction work primarily in the spheres of money,
possessions, and values. When Jupiter is in the seventh house, success in social
functioning comes primarily through the use of interpersonal skills in the spheres
of marriage, business partners, and open en enemies.
The Signs of the Zodiac A Circle of Animals Chapter 3
The signs of the zodiac are karmic patterns; the planets are the looms; the will is
the weaver. Author Unknown
And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street
thereof
and on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve
manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. Rev 22:1-2
For many people astrology is simply the zodiac. The term zodiac is derived from
Greek and means circle of animals or circle of living beings. The zodiac is a
collection of what Carl G. Jung referred to as archetypes. Ancient peoples saw
these archetypes moving across the night sky in the constellations of stars and in
the yearly cycles of the Earth.
The yearly cycle of the Earth around the Sun is divided into four seasons. The
seasons are divided into three phases—the beginning, the middle, and the end.
Thus, we have twelve phases of the Earth’s yearly cycle which are referred to as
signs. A zodiac sign is a division of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. It is
1/twelfth of the Earth’s orbit.
The Earth covers 584,058,562 miles of space in 365.24 days as it orbits the Sun!
Like all planets, the Earth’s orbit is oval or ecliptic and not a true circle.
However, we often measure its orbit as if it were a circle of 360 degrees. Since
each sign is 1/twelfth of the Earth’s orbit, each sign equals 30 degrees of the
Earth’s orbit-48,671,546.83 miles in 30.44 days. Thus, a zodiac sign is both a
spatial—in miles or meters—and a temporal—in
days/hours/minutes—measure of the Earth’s changing phases.
Astrologers have two distinct zodiacs at their disposal: (1) the tropical zodiac of
the signs and (2) the sidereal zodiac of the constellations.
The Tropical Zodiac
The tropical zodiac is the most popular zodiac and the one with which most
people are familiar. The tropical zodiac refers to the Earth’s orbit around the
Sun--the predictable, yearly changes experienced on the Earth. This zodiac is
easily measurable by both ancient and modern techniques. It is used to predict
events. It is also used to determine psychosocial phenomena such as character,
personality, and compatibility.
The Sidereal Zodiac
The sidereal zodiac is the circle of constellations —stars, star clusters, and
nebulae—that appear close to the Earth’s orbit. The stars in these constellations
are millions of light years from the Earth and from each other. They lie close to
the plane of the Earth’s orbit and appear to be near one another from the
perspective of the Earth. The boundaries between the constellations are difficult
to determine and are not universally agreed on.
The sidereal zodiac is used to make predictions but is not normally used for
determining psychosocial, characterological phenomena. That is, the schools of
astrology that use the sidereal zodiac do not interpret the signs. Some of these
schools do not use astrological houses or are vague regarding the end of one
house and the beginning of the next.
No matter which zodiac is used, the location of the Sun, Moon, and planets are
the same. The only difference is in the name used to label the particular points of
space that they occupy.
The Precession of the Equinoxes
While the Earth orbits the Sun and rotates on its axis, it also wobbles. In physics
and astronomy when an object wobbles in a gyrating fashion so that its axis of
rotation sweeps out a cone in space—like the spinning of a toy top—the object is
said to precess. The poles of a precessing object move and point in new
directions as the object precesses.
In regards to the Earth, this means that star pointed to by the Earth’s north pole
—the North Star—changes over time. After 25,772 years the Earth’s north pole
completes one cycle of its movement. Today the Earth’s north pole points to the
star Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor. Even now the Earth’s north pole is
starting to point to another star. In 25,772 years the north pole will be pointing
at
Polaris again.
The precession also means that the locations of constellations along the Earth’s
orbit—that is, the sidereal zodiac--change gradually over time. Because of the
direction of the Earth’s rotation, the precession of the constellations moves in
the
opposite direction of the signs. Each constellation takes about 2,147.67 years to
cross through or transit a sign.
During most of what is called the Great Year—the 25,772 years— the
constellations are not in line with the signs that they were named for. After