Planetary Combinations

Hey all,

Astrology is so expansive and there are some areas that I have found next to nothing about; I speaking mostly about planetary combinations. I have found some sun/moon combos and I think that's great, but what else? The best I found were incredibly broad descriptions in 2 sentences or less. There are only 36 sun/mercury types. Has anyone taken the time to distinguish them? If they have, could somebody please show me where? I feel that this is a huge area and most of the astrologers I spoke to have spent no time looking into it. Thanks.

It's much more complicated than that and I generally don't respect planetary combinations as an idea, but I'd like to read Sun in Aquarius and Mars in Scorpio just for the heck of it

ramgem said:

Hey all,

Astrology is so expansive and there are some areas that I have found next to nothing about; I speaking mostly about planetary combinations. I have found some sun/moon combos and I think that's great, but what else? The best I found were incredibly broad descriptions in 2 sentences or less. There are only 36 sun/mercury types. Has anyone taken the time to distinguish them? If they have, could somebody please show me where? I feel that this is a huge area and most of the astrologers I spoke to have spent no time looking into it. Thanks.

Click to expand...

You need to understand there is far far more to astrology than just ‘sun signs’ firstly there are 10planets in the sky and 12houses and any one of these 10planets can be in any one of these 12 houses – so there’s 144 possible combinations there –

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Basic astrology
Now basically your sun sign is your 'core beliefs, values, ego' and Asc is your physical body, mode of expression and mask and persona that we all wear and hide behind, but definitely not what's going on underneath. What's going on underneath is your Sun sign. Moon sign, house placements and aspects describe your emotional and intuitive responses, also describes your view of your mother, as saturn describes your father by sign and house position.

So, think of a glass milk bottle the bottle is your Asc and your sun the milk, but the milk still has to 'come out' through the glass neck of the milk bottle....

Now aspects within a natal chart represent 'facets' of our personality, because we are all multifaceted beings. What these do is 'break down and compartmentalise' these facets into smaller bite size chunks. This does take quite a lot of self analysis and objectivity to 'see yourself' and why you do certain things and behave in certain ways. Actually it can be quite good therapy...

Remember back to your school days an opposition is 180', square 90', trine 120', and sextile 60' Now challenged aspects are conj (depending on the planets, cos some like each other and some really don't) squares and oppositions. Easy aspects are conj (if the planets get along) eg: Jupiter conj Moon, sextile and trine. Quincunx is inbetween (depending on the planets) causes health strains and unresolved or hard to balance planets/energies.

There are a lot of "cookbooks" out there, both in print and on-line, for planets in signs, houses, or aspects. If you read through a bunch of them and try to combine their meanings, you should get the hang of it. Obviously it would be a huge "cookbook" that could give all combinations!

But why not learn to think through the meaning of each planet, sign, house, and aspect; and then come up with your own interpretations? Astrology is above all a work of synthesis, and a cookbook will only take you so far.

A planet is like a noun or a subject of a sentence: the "what."

A sign indicates "how" or in what manner a planet operates, like an adjective or adverb. So Mercury in Sagittarius, for example, will tend to think expansively and optimistically. Mercury in Taurus (the fixed earth sign) will tend to think deliberately and in practical or material terms.

A house indicates "where" or in what domain of life a planet operates. The 4th house deals with home and early childhood conditioning, one's parents. The 7th house deals with marriage and other long-term partnerships, but it can indicate "open enenmies.

An aspect works like a verb-- how the planets are functioning or what they are doing to one another. A sextile connotes excitement; a square, challenge and tension, for example.

So, for example, suppose someone has Mars in Sagittarius in the 3rd house sextiling Mercury in Aquarius in the 5th house.

The following is really pared down and simplistic, but consider:

Mars=initiatve, assertiveness, aggression.
Mercury=thought and communication

Sagittarius=optimistically, expansively
Aquarius=uniquely, individually, mentally (an air sign)

3rd house=thought, communication
5th house=children, leisure pursuits.

Optimistic, expansive (Sagittarius) thinking (Mercury, 3rd house) generates excitement (sextile) in combination with the person's individualistic, iconoclastic (Aquarius) action-oriented approach (Mars) to his leisure pursuits (5th house)

In real terms, this person might enjoy unique outdoor recreation activities (Mars in the 5th) that gratify him mentally as well as physically. Or he might love to read (Mercury, 3rd house) science fiction (Aquarius) about far-away galaxies (Sagittarius) that has a strong action (Mars) component, in his leisure time (5th house).

But be patient-- really learning astrology takes years of study.

Thanks A50, I needed this too.

Waybread, it's a relief to know 'really learning astrology takes years of study.'

Thanks for the responses guys. I will admit, I'm not very familiar with the houses and the aspects. (I'm aware of the general concepts of them, but not the detailed particulars). I really gravitate to the planets and the signs. (pun intended lol.) Mercury is about communication, but I never see any diversity past the 12. A Taurus/Merc should communicate differently than a Pisces/Merc even though they are both Aries/Sun. I've never seen a cookbook that goes further then Sun/Moon blends, (Though I think they are important). I would think that the planets would play a really big part in determining personalities, but am I wrong? I know aspects and houses are important, but aren't combos important too?

of course combinations are important, is called *synthesis* involving 10 planets. Remember planets are modified by signs, where they express are houses and how they express are *aspects*

All astrology books are in reality 'cook books' and generalisations, by nature of the business they have to be. Your natal chart is as unique as your fingerprint to YOU.....

May I suggest you read the 'welcome to the world of astrology’ and other ---sticky' at the top of this forum? It has some great explanations, links etc. At the top of every forum there are lots of ‘stickys’ which explain matters in that forum, along with guidelines & tips

There is a 'plethora' of information on AW, espec in the 'stickys' at the top of every forum, our Education forum and Recommendations forum to. Plus we have a good search feature,[but not foolproof obviously, so try here first] bit like google using keywords – initially select advanced and try just selecting 'titles' rather than posts or

ramgem, I would sure encourage you to buy a few basic books about astrology, or just spend time on the various websites that are out there with introductory primers on astrology. It is hard to pick it up piecemeal before you've studied the basics.

My favourite beginner-level book is Stephen Forrest, The Inner Sky. You could probably find it in a New Age book store or on-line at amazon.com .

If you want an introductory cookbook that gives all of the planet-pair combinations, a good one is Robert Hand, Planets in Youth. Good for people of any age.

I would also suggest having a look through out Recommendations Forum for books, software, courses etc. As well as going through the stickys at the top of each forum. for more detaild enquires, use our search feature, bit like google....