Domicile—Sign where a planet feels at home—here it has access to all its resources, can fire on all cylinders, and is as comfortable as it can be.
Detriment—Sign where a planet feels uncomfortable—here it will have to work twice as hard to do its job, pushing us to stretch and grow in ways we wouldn’t otherwise.
Exaltation—Sign where a planet gains recognition—here it will offer us gifts and blessings with little effort.
Fall—Sign where a planet feels disrespected—here it will struggle to get on a level playing field, but in that struggle will help us to honor the experience of the outcast.
PLANET DOMICILE DETRIMENT EXALTATION FALL
SUN
Leo Aquarius Aries Libra
MOON
Cancer Capricorn Taurus Scorpio
MERCURY
Gemini
Virgo Sagittarius
Pisces Virgo Pisces
VENUS
Taurus
Libra Aries
Scorpio Pisces Virgo
MARS
Aries
Scorpio Taurus
Libra Capricorn Cancer
JUPITER
Sagittarius
Pisces Gemini
Virgo Cancer Capricorn
SATURN
Capricorn
Aquarius Cancer
Leo Libra Aries
The Where: Houses
Houses are the places in our chart where the planets are located. If the planets are the actors and the signs are their styles or costumes, then the houses are the sets where their stories are lived out. Each house is a section of the sky as we see it from earth and represents a specific area of our lives. From our mental health to our money, our birth chart covers our entire existence.
The 12 houses are
1st House—self, body, appearance, and vitality
2nd House—assets, resources, and livelihood
3rd House—communication, daily life, siblings, and extended family
4th House—parents, home, and foundations
5th House—children, creative projects, sex, and pleasure
6th House—work and health
7th House—committed partnerships
8th House—death, mental health, and other people’s resources
9th House—travel, education, publishing, religion, astrology, and philosophy
10th House—career and public roles
11th House—friends, community, patrons, and good fortune
12th House—hidden life, secrets, sorrow, and loss
* * *
A NOTE ON HOUSE SYSTEMS
The twelve houses in our chart represent sections of the sky. However, there is no empirical, “right” way to divide the sky. As a result, there are many different house systems that astrologers have worked with for thousands of years. I use whole sign houses because it is the system that makes the most philosophical sense to me and the system that gives me the best results. Whole sign houses see each sign of the zodiac as their own place, their own house. Even if you learned about your chart using a different house system than this, the framework of whole sign houses is still a useful way of looking at your chart. Just as there are many ways to look at our life, there are many ways to look at the sky and many ways to look at the houses of our chart. Each one shifts the planets a little or a lot this way and that. Use the house system that makes the most sense to you after learning something about their logic and philosophy. In the end, it’s your chart, and your understanding of it is what matters.
* * *
The houses of our chart give us the context for where things will occur. If the Sun, for example, is in your 10th House of career, you will need to express yourself (the Sun) through professional avenues or the social roles that you hold (the 10th House). If Venus is in your 11th House of community, then much of your good fortune (11th House) comes through your ability to build relationships (Venus) with others.
Any house with a planet in it will be an important realm of life to understand, but whichever houses your Sun, Moon, and ruler of your Ascendant occupy become critical areas of life to live out, experience, and develop a relationship with. This is because those planets take special precedence as markers of life and life purpose. The more we develop a relationship to them, and the houses of our chart that they reside in, the more easily we come to understand and radically accept ourselves.
Relationships: Aspects
Aspects are the relationships that two or more planets or points have with one another. Just like all relationships, some are easy and uplifting, while others are difficult and even discouraging. We can place aspects into three categories: gifts, challenges, and mergers.
For example, if Mars is making a challenging aspect to another planet in your chart, then it will most likely create conditions that feel excessively hot, causing irritation, anger, or outbursts, as heat is a signification of Mars. If Jupiter is in a gifting aspect to another planet in your chart, then it creates a situation that feels abundant, fortunate, and positive, as Jupiter is known for these qualities.
When we make the link between the aspects in our chart and our experiences in life, both positive and negative, we can cultivate compassion for our struggle and learn to disrupt the more self-sabotaging beliefs or behaviors that we have acquired. This is where the rubber of astrology meets the road of self-actualization and radical self-acceptance.
The Gifts
There are two kinds of aspects (relationships) that fall under gifts: sextiles and trines. Both sextiles and trines are aspects that bestow gifts, blessings, and protections upon whatever planets they connect. They act like a fairy godmother or favorite auntie who always gives you love, encouragement, and a little cash on your way out the door.
Sextile—planets that are two signs away from each other, one in an earth sign and one in a water sign, or one in an air sign and one in a fire sign (signs that are 60 degrees apart from each other).
Planets in houses at a 60-degree angle from each other are sextile.
Trine—planets that are four signs away from each other and in the same element as each other, e.g., two or more planets in different fire signs (signs that are 120 degrees apart).
Planets in houses at a 120-degree angle from each other are trine.
Sextiles are subtler than trines, but both are positive and can be leaned on in times of turbulence and difficulty, like calling a friend when you are in a jam, need advice, or feel a little lost. A sextile from Venus is the strongest sextile that can be made (the sextile is Venus’s signature aspect), and a trine from Jupiter is the strongest trine that can be made (the trine is Jupiter’s signature aspect).
The Challenges
There are two kinds of aspects that fall under challenges: squares and oppositions. Both are challenging in their own way and require us to make extra effort. Squares are points of friction that encourage us to take some kind of action, but sometimes that friction only feels like a harmful abrasion. Oppositions act like tugs-of-war in which we are asked to balance opposites, integrate polarity, and come to some deeper understanding of what we project onto the world and what we must be able to reclaim for ourselves.
There are exceptions to these rules, however. Squares and oppositions from Venus and Jupiter aren’t “bad,” as those planets can’t do harm, but they may exacerbate something specific to their nature.
Square—planets that are three signs away from each other, e.g., one planet in Taurus and the other in Leo (signs that are 90 degrees apart).
Planets in houses at a 90-degree angle from each other are square.
Opposition—planets that are six signs away from each other (in opposite signs to each other), e.g., one planet in Sagittarius and the other in Gemini (180 degrees apart).
Planets in houses at a 180-degree angle from each other are in opposition.
A square from Mars is considered the most difficult square to have (the square is Mars’s aspect), and an opposition from Saturn is considered the
most challenging opposition to have (the opposition is Saturn’s aspect). Remember that while challenging squares and oppositions create obstacles, our ability to overcome them helps us grow and move toward our purpose. Without the challenge, we might never need to put our talents to use.
The Mergers
Conjunctions (mergers) occur when any planet is in the same sign as another planet. Conjunctions are a merging or blending of energies. The closer in degree they are to each other, the greater the impact. Conjunctions with Venus and Jupiter will be helpful for connecting to others with ease (Venus) and attracting abundance (Jupiter) into our lives. Conjunctions with Mars and Saturn will be challenging, demanding that we develop the rigorous discipline (Saturn) needed to accomplish our goals or find ways in which to channel our anger into appropriate and beneficial action (Mars). Conjunctions to and from all other planets need to be considered on an individual basis (which we will do in the later chapters of this book).
Planets in the same house are conjunct.
Putting It All Together: The Rules
Until they become second nature, it’s helpful to keep reiterating the rules to ourselves. Archetypal languages like astrology easily become a mishmash of correlations that blur the meaning of what we are looking at. As a reminder:
Planets are the characters in our chart.
Signs denote the style and flair of the planets in our chart.
Houses tell you where the planets are living out their drama and telling their stories.
Aspects tell you which planets are challenging you, which are gifting you, and which are acting as a unit (harmoniously or not).
Each planet is in a sign and house.
Everyone has every planet, sign, and house in their chart. However, you may not have every type of aspect in your chart, and some of your planets might not be in relationship with any other planet in your chart.
III
The First Key
Your Sun
Your Life’s Purpose
Each morning the Sun rises triumphant over the eastern horizon. Reborn from a long night traveling the underworld, the Sun’s rise calls us to mirror its movements. Give our gratitude. Perform our rituals. Offer ourselves up to be of service. Human life begins in the darkness of the womb, but it depends on a reliable source of light and warmth once it leaves its place of conception and incubation. The Sun in your chart is your life force. This is why it represents your life’s purpose and perhaps why popular astrology has put such emphasis on the sign it is in.
Astrology is a wisdom tradition built on observation of the natural world, and we can see how the elements of the natural world have correlations with the planets in our chart. The Sun’s warmth and light are what all life depends on to grow. It shines, is bright, and is luminous. All things that have those elements will be related to the Sun. Gold is its metal and color. The heart, the center of our physical system, is the organ it rules. As we notice what else in nature flourishes in the Sun, or acts like the Sun, we begin to form a deeper relationship with this system of knowledge. Astrology isn’t out there, it’s all around us, right here.
When the Sun is well placed in our chart, it brings with it a boundless, generative, generous, courageous, magnanimous, and glorious self-confidence. When the Sun is not well placed, it struggles to manifest itself. Much like a stormy day, the clouds and upsets of our astrological makeup can obscure the light and warmth of our soul’s purpose.
For me, having a difficult aspect between my Sun and Saturn has meant that depression often wins when I am left to my own devices. Without consciously working against this aspect, I tend to settle quite easily into despair and frustration. My wife, on the other hand, who has no difficult aspects between the traditional planets that cause harm (Saturn and Mars) and her Sun, and has a very helpful one from Jupiter, planet of optimism, is and has always been prone to finding solutions and staying proactive and positive in the process. I am forever grateful for the support her chart and her heart lend to our lives and highly recommend finding those who balance you out emotionally, psychologically, and astrologically.
There are three main characteristics of your Sun that you should consider as you unpack your life’s purpose:
The sign that it is in (how you shine)
The house that it is in (the area of life in which you need to shine)
The planets in aspect to your Sun (who is influencing your ability to shine)
* * *
CHECK IN WITH YOUR CHART
FINDING YOUR SUN
Look for this glyph in your chart.
This is your Sun.
What sign is your Sun in?
My Sun is in the sign of .
What house is your Sun in?
My Sun is in the house of .
ASPECTS TO YOUR SUN
When you pull up your chart at www.ChaniNicholas.com, you can see which planets are in aspect to your Sun. Remember, you may not have any planets talking to your Sun. Don’t worry about what the different aspects mean for now. Just note them, and we will dive into their meaning soon. Fill in the blanks below that are applicable to you.
The planets in the same sign as my Sun are .
The planets that are trining my Sun (four signs / 120 degrees apart) are .
The planets that are sextiling my Sun (two signs / 60 degrees apart) are .
The planets that are squaring my Sun (three signs / 90 degrees apart) are .
The planets that are in the opposite sign from my Sun are .
* * *
Key Points to Remember about Your Sun
Your Sun is your life force, your identity, and your life’s purpose.
The sign that it is in speaks to the style in which you shine.
The house that it is in tells you where in your life you will do this.
Planets in aspect to your Sun either support or challenge the way in which you shine and live out your life’s purpose.
Sign of Your Sun
How Do You Shine?
What Sign Is Your Sun In?
The Sun’s sign signifies the style in which we live out our life’s purpose. Since the Sun is our essential self, the sign that it is in tells us about the ways in which we are comfortable shining. Not every sign likes attention, praise, or applause for the sheer sake of it. This gives some Sun signs a contradiction to work within as the Sun, left to its own devices, is a shameless and charismatic attention seeker. For example, if your Sun is in Aquarius, it is going to shine by offering the group a logical, well-thought-out system, structure, or way of understanding the world. In Libra, the Sun will shine through its ability to be in relationship with others, while in Leo, the Sun is focused on shining as brightly as possible for the sole purpose of sharing its brilliance with the world.
DR. MAYA ANGELOU’S BIRTH CHART
* * *
Birth Date and Time: April 4, 1928, at 2:10 p.m.
Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Dr. Maya Angelou had her Sun in Aries. This placement shines through expressing its individuality and thrives when taking actions that transgress the limits culture deems appropriate. Dr. Angelou was one of the first black people to ever drive a streetcar in San Francisco, and she did so at the age of sixteen. She was initially denied the job, but Dr. Angelou’s mother encouraged her to show up every day and demand that they consider her. “I sat there (at the office) for two weeks, every day. And then after two weeks, a man came out of his office and said ‘come here.’ And he asked me ‘why do you want the job?’ I said ‘I like the uniforms.’ And I said ‘and I like people.’ And so I got the job.”* Far from the only time she would defy the limits that the American, white-supremacist patriarchy would have had her live within, Dr. Angelou spent her life doing what others said was impossible. This was just one of many firsts.
Now it is time to choose your own adventure. Skip ahead to read the section about your Sun sign.
SUN IN ARIES
The Sun in the cardinal fire sign of Aries is
“exalted.” Strong. Energized. Independent. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun’s entrance into Aries is also the vernal equinox, the start of spring. From this moment on, the Sun’s warmth and light grow in intensity. That intensity is carried forth in those with Sun in Aries.
The Sun “exalted” means that the Sun functions with confidence in Aries. If your Sun is exalted, it doesn’t guarantee you a life of ease and fame, but it does speak to a reservoir of strength for you to draw on when in need.
You Were Born for This Page 3