How to Study Astrology
From the twelve signs to houses and aspects
If you want to go beyond sun-sign horoscopes there is an order to follow. Understand the twelve signs through element and modality first, then planets and houses, and finally the angles between them. Keep to this order and the unfamiliar terms stick far faster.
Stage 1 · Understand the twelve signs
Rather than memorizing twelve signs one by one, group them by element (fire, earth, air, water) and modality (cardinal, fixed, mutable) and the characters sort themselves out. These two axes are the skeleton of the whole system.
- 1. The Complete Guide to the Twelve Zodiac Signs — The Four Elements and Personality — The origin of the twelve signs of the zodiac, from Aries to Pisces, and how to read personality through the four elements — Fire, Earth, Air, Water — and the three qualities of cardinal, fixed, and mutable.
- 2. The Four Elements of the Zodiac — Personalities of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water — Grouping the twelve zodiac signs into fire, earth, air, and water reveals the broad grain of personality. Here are the temperaments and affinities each element carries.
- 3. The Three Modalities — The Grain of Cardinal, Fixed, and Mutable — Beyond the elements that group the signs by fours, there is another axis that groups them by threes. Here is the grain of the initiating cardinal signs, the sustaining fixed signs, and the shifting mutable signs.
Stage 2 · Look at planets and houses
If the sign is the "how", the planet is the "what" and the house is the "where". Only when all three come together can you read someone's chart.
- 4. The Planets of Astrology — the Ten Stars That Rule the Zodiac Signs — From the Sun, Moon, and Mercury to Pluto, what each planet symbolizes and how the ruling planets relate to the twelve zodiac signs they govern.
- 5. The Twelve Houses of Astrology — The Twelve Stages of a Life — From the self to the unconscious, the houses divide a birth chart into twelve rooms and show in which area of life the energy of the stars unfolds.
- 6. Astrological Aspects — The Angles Planets Exchange — From the conjunction to the opposition, here are the basics of aspects — why the angle two planets form reads as harmonious or as tense.
Stage 3 · Read the cycles
Last comes timing. Knowing recurring cycles such as the phases of the moon and Mercury retrograde lets you judge for yourself when to begin something and when to review it.
- 7. Moon Phases — What Did the Moon Look Like on the Day You Were Born — From the new moon to the full moon, here is how the moon's waxing and waning phases mirror emotion and rhythm in astrology — and how to read the moon on the day of your birth.
- 8. Mercury Retrograde — The Meaning of a Planet Turning Backward — Why does Mercury retrograde warn us to mind our communication and contracts? Here is what a planet's apparent retrograde motion is and how astrology reads it.