What is an horoscope...a small introduction into astrology

"I’m Capricorn, you’re Leo, my mother is Taurus and the neighbor is Aquarius."

Does this sound familiar? I believe so.
Nowadays, most of us know our zodiacal sign and the interest we have for this subject is continuously growing. But how many of us actually know what a horoscope and a chart are?

The answer: few! This is why so many questions and interpretations get born, a thing that ultimately leads to the defamation of astrology. You don’t need to be an astrologer to know some things about astrology, some elements that will help you.

This article was made for the specific purpose of explaining briefly and without details, what a horoscope is and what are the main components of a chart.

First of all, what does it mean that I’m Capricorn and you’re Leo? The basic zodiacal sign we keep talking about is given by the Sun’s position at birth. Therefore, I’m Capricorn because the Sun was in Capricorn when I was given birth. You can identify this when you make a chart. The chart represents the astral map of an entity (individual, community etc.) at a certain time. It contains a lot of elements that help at making a horoscope or an astrologic analysis.

For making a horoscope or an astrologic analysis you need three elements:
- The zodiacal sign
- The planets
- The astrological houses

At all this you can add a lot of other elements that bring more information.

The planets

There are 10 planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) and they represent a certain characteristic of an individual, a certain type of energy.
For example, the Sun represents our basic personality, our ego, the conscious, while the Moon represents our subconscious and emotions. So when I say I’m Capricorn, I actually say that my basic personality has all of Capricorn’s characteristics. But the fact that I have the Moon in Pisces, for example, makes my emotions similar to the zodiacal sign of Pisces.
The same way, Mercury represents the mentality, the way we think and communicate; Venus represents the feeling and the things we like, while Mars represents our basic energy.

The planets form between themselves many angles and relations. These relations can be: harmonically (those of 60,120,0 degrees) and un-harmonically (45,90,180 degrees).

The zodiacal signs

There are 12 zodiacal signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces) and I’m sure you know them very well. They represent certain characteristics that have a strong influence on the planets. A Moon in Aries will be totally different then a Moon in Libra.

The astrological houses

The 12 astrological houses symbolize the activity sectors in every person’s life. These are being calculated according to the hour and the place of birth. These can have different sizes (in degrees).
For example, the 7th house symbolizes the partner, marriage, contractual relationships etc. The 10th is the house of carrier and social elevation.

About the houses, there is an aspect that was a mandatory role: the first grade of a house is called cusps (or cuspis). There are 4 big cusps: the Ascendant (1st house), the Middle of the sky (10th house), the Descendant (7th house) and the Bottom of the sky (4th house).
The one most known is the Ascendant, which according to the zodiacal sign it’s in, it symbolizes the qualities one must gain during this lifetime.

To make an astrological analyze, one must count all this factors plus a lot of others a thing that depends on each astrologer in part.

The idea of this article was to show you that each individual is unique in its own way and not all from the same zodiacal sign are the same. Also the prediction on TV or on the newspapers even thought they might be correct, don’t apply to all during that period of time.

Polarities of the zodiacal signs

Within this article we will talk about the planets polarities. We will especially analyze the information these provide us regarding the way our personality behaves on the exterior.

When we talk about polarities, we don’t mean good and bad, masculine and feminine or positive and negative, we mean Yin and Yang.

Grown from the Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang express the dualist nature of the universe. They have numerous meanings, but we will only talk about those who apply to us astrologically:

Yang – the action, the active and aware part
Yin – the passive, unaware, receptive part

Each zodiacal sign represents one of the two polarities: either Yin, either Yang. In the table below you can find the list of all zodiacal signs and the polarity each represents:

Aries: Yang
Taurus: Yin
Gemini: Yang
Cancer: Yin
Leo: Yang
Virgo: Yin
Libra: Yang
Scorpio: Yin
Sagittarius: Yang
Capricorn: Yin
Aquarius: Yang
Pisces: Yin

If a planet is in a Yang zodiacal sign, it becomes more active and it expresses itself more energetically. At the opposite pole, a planet in a Yin zodiacal sign acts more secluded and becomes more passive.

Our personality and the way we behave in the human society are reflected in astrology mostly by two elements: the Sun and the Ascendant. At these we can add the Moon as a symbol of emotions, instincts and the way we express our feelings. We will now analyze these three elements through the looking glass of the zodiacal signs polarities.

The Sun represents our basic personality, the fundamental energy, our self. The position the Sun can take in a sign indicates the fundamental characters with which we came to this life, our character. It also shows the aware part.

The Ascendant reflects our exterior personality, the way we behave towards others and how we express the qualities the Sun gave us. The zodiacal sign in which is our Ascendant shows the characteristics we will grow during our lifetime, regardless if we will be aware of that or not. At birth the Sun has the maximum influence. As we grow old, our personality gains new characteristics and new dimensions because of the experiences we’ve been through and our evolution. This new dimensions are represented by the Ascendant as a shell of the basic energy and it indicates the way we express that energy.

The Moon marks by its position in the zodiacal signs our emotions and feelings and the way we express these emotions and feelings. It shows the instinctive, unaware part.

The combinations between these three elements, polarity (Yin/Yang) speaking, show a certain characteristic of the way we express in the society and of our possible inner conflicts. In the table below I tried to draw these characteristics without pretending I showed all the possible combinations. Please remember that these meanings might be a little different because of the other elements of the natal chart.

Sun(Yang) - Moon(Yang) - Ascendant (Yang)
This person is very active, has a very dashing personality and a very strong emotional structure. Communication is very good and very active. Very clear expression of the emotions and feelings. Good equilibrium between the inner and outer world.

Sun(Yang) - Moon(Yang) - Ascendant (Yin)
The basic personality manifests itself easily in the outer world. Emotions are difficultly express. Often the awareness (will, intellect) imposes over the unawareness (instincts, emotions).

Sun(Yang) - Moon(Yin) - Ascendant (Yang)
The interior personality and the emotions cannot be easily expressed. There can be conflict between the way we think and feel and the way we express our self. Possible impossibility of expression and communication.

Sun(Yang) - Moon(Yin) - Ascendant (Yin)
Strong and active personality but who cannot always find an outer correspondent. We cannot always express what we want to.

Sun(Yin) - Moon(Yin) - Ascendant (Yin)
This person is very receptive to everything that happens. Very good communication between the personality and the emotional structure. They usually act passively to everything that happens, and never make the first step.

Sun(Yin) - Moon(Yin) - Ascendant (Yang)
Emotions and instincts are very strong and active which comes as a contradiction with the basic energy and the way we want and can express

Sun(Yin) - Moon(Yang) - Ascendant (Yin)
Conflict between the inner structure (what we want, our feelings, our emotions) and the way we communicate in the outer world. The outer world has a powerful influence on the personality and the feelings.

Sun(Yin) - Moon(Yang) - Ascendant (Yang)
Emotions are strongly and clearly expressed which sometimes drives to an inner conflict with the basic personality and the way the person usually behaves.

Usually when the Sun’s polarity differs from the Ascendant’s polarity, the individual suffers a radical change of personality and expression. Mostly, this change comes around the age of 30. If the Sun is Yin and the Ascendant is Yang the individual will change from a passive, meditative person to a more active one, dashing and determined. If it’s the other way around, the Sun is Yang and the Ascendant is Yin, this person will slow down to be more secluded and reflexive.

Moon/Mars midpoint

A midpoint in astrology is an energetic point on the birth chart located at half of the distance between two planets or other chart elements.

From astrological point of view a midpoint is the place where the energies of two involved planets are merging and combining in equal proportion. It has no importance how strong and weak are the planets ... at their halfway distance their energies are manifesting equally. As a result of this blending a new type of energy is formed which will contain characteristics from both sources.

Now you can imagine that are a lot of midpoints and it is a very difficult job for an astrologer to look at all of them. It is important to look at the midpoints which are conjunct with a planet, Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant, Nadir or any other chart element.

The most famous midpoint is the Sun/Moon midpoint. This point provides additional information regarding our relationships and desire for companionship.

But for the moment I will discuss about Moon/Mars midpoint.
We can define this midpoint as the place where our emotionally level (Moon) is meeting with our energy and our will or desire (Mars).
This is very important point when we are analyzing the health status of a person. The Moon/Mars express the person inner strength and resistance (emotionally and physically) and it can show us the capacity of overcome any obstacle. It is also a general health indicator.

Examples of Moon/Mars midpoint

Pope John Paul II (see chart http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/PopeJohnPaul.htm)
Description:85 years ... a long life we might say. He also succeded to overcome a series of accidents and serious health problems.
Moon/Mars is located at 12 degrees Leo in 10th house and conjunct with Jupiter.

Charles Baudelarie (see chart http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/Baudelaire.htm )
Description:Drugs addicted (opium) , syphilis and madness elementes.
Moon/Mars is located at 26 Taurus closed to Algol fixed star.

Kurt Cobain
Description: Drugs addicted , suicide at 27 years.
Moon/Mars is at 7 degree Virgo, 12th house , Sun opposition

Women (confidential info)
Description: surgical intervetion (at ovaries)
Moon/Mars is at 27 degree Leo and in conjunction with Pluto.

Stefano Casiraghi (http://www.astrotheme.fr/portraits/6E5v5543zN66.htm)
Description: died at the age of 30 in an accident during a sport event.
Moon/Mars at 26 degree Taurus , 12th house and near Algol fixed star.


Conclusion

We can say that the Moon/Mars is an interesting point on the chart and we can extract a lot of usefull information regarding health and medical status of a person. It must be used carefully and only in related with the rest of the astrology chart elements.

For more information regarding midpoint you go to Midpoints Articles where you can find some usefull articles.