Neptune Bob's Astrology

Terms

aspects: Certain angles between planetary positions in a chart and other positions, which carry certain symbolic meanings about the interplay of the two planetary symbols. The most basic and commonly used aspects are the Ptolemaic aspects (espoused by Ptolemy in his masterwork, Tetrabilios): conjunction (0 degrees), sextile (60 degrees), square (90 degrees), trine (120 degrees) and opposition (180 degrees).

aspect grid: A grid, which may be drawn on an astrological chart, showing the aspects that exist between planetary positions in the chart. It provides an easy way to see what aspects exist in the chart without having to visually look for them, and mentally check for the proper angles. It is an optional but potentially helpful feature of a chart.

dignities: This is an area too often glossed over, because it is a bit tricky to explain, and relatively complex to learn, compared to the basic signs and the houses. It has to do with the sign within which a planet is placed. If a planet "rules" a sign into which it is placed, it surely expresses itself powerfully there. The traditional rulerships are:

Sign	Ruling Planet
Aries	Mars
Taurus	Venus
Gemini	Mercury
Cancer	Moon
Leo	Sun
Virgo	Mercury
Libra	Venus
Scorpio	Mars
Sagittarius	Jupiter
Capricorn	Saturn
Aquarius	Saturn
Pisces	Jupiter

Modern rulerships are somewhat different: Scorpio is ruled by Pluto; Aquarius is ruled by Uranus; and Pisces is ruled by Neptune. But not, obviously, before those planets were discovered. Before that, the traditional rulers worked quite well without asteroids or outer planets.

But what if it is placed in the opposite sign instead? It is "in its detriment", off-balance, a fish out of water, weaker, perhaps darker, less able to excel, and more likely to wander off the path. Then other signs are more supportive, where the planet is "exalted", and shines brightly also.

Basically, dignities are about how well a planet can perform, in the context into which it has been placed.

directions: The use of planetary motion or "arcs" to assess the progress of an individual through life. This technique is very similar to progressions (see below), except that the rule of "a day is symbolic of a year" is not automatically assumed, and other "arcs" may be substituted and used in similar fashion. One may speak of a directed planet or a directed chart. If you want directions done with your natal chart, you must specify a date: see transits and progressions below.

electional astrology: A branch of astrology which specializes in finding the best time for something, with an eye toward a particular outcome or quality of result, and usually in answer to a specific question about some event or activity that has already been chosen. "When should I open my new business?" or "What is a good day for my marriage?" are common examples. Very likely, transits would be instrumental in the selection of the date, and progressions or directions might be useful too, depending on the nature of the event or activity in question.

horary astrology: A specialized branch of astrology which, like electional astrology, concerns itself with a question. The difference is that rather than choosing a good time for something, the time when the question is asked is used to draw up a chart, and that chart is interpreted to provide the answer to the question, which can even be a "yes or no" question. The word "horary" means "of the hour", or in other words, of the time in which the question is first posed to the astrologer. This can be a good tool for situations where there may not be an accurate natal chart available, or the subject of the question does not readily lend itself to other, more conventional methods. Horary astrology is somewhat of an artform unto itself, and has a very long and intriguing history.

natal chart: A chart or "map" of the sky at the exact time and place of birth. This is the most fundamental and essential astrological chart for an individual. It shows where the planets were placed around the zodiac when (and where) life began.

orb: The orb of an aspect is a measure of its closeness to an exact value. Since aspects are most frequently not exactly 0 degrees, 60 degrees, etc., the orb is the tolerance or margin of error by which an astrologer decides whether the aspect is close enough to "count" or not. There are different orbs for different purposes, but it is usually at least several degrees. If the angle is too approximate to give a reliable reading, we say the aspect is "out of orb", and pay no more attention to it. If the angle is exact, we say it is "partile", which means that it is mathematically precise with an orb of 0 degrees, 0 minutes. A partile aspect is the most powerful that the particular aspect can be, because it is the most exact.

progressions: Similar to transits, but instead of comparing current planetary positions to the natal chart's positions, the natal planets' positions are compared to their own positions at another point in time, with one day's motion after birth being symbolic of one year of life. For example, when a person reaches 20 years of age, the natal chart is compared to the planetary positions 20 days after birth, in order to gauge the person's progress through life. The full name of this technique is "secondary progressions", but it is often called simply "progressions" for short. One often hears of a progressed chart, or a progressed planet. If you wish to have progressions done with your natal chart, you must specify a date, just like with transits (see below). This is one of the best ways to find out about major turning points in the changing stages of your life, from your own evolving inner perspective. (Transits are usually more reliable indicators of external events that affect you.)

retrograde: A situation that occurs when due to our position in the solar system, a planet appears to be moving backwards, compared to its usual motion. This can happen in several ways, but the simplest is because we tend to view a three-dimensional event as if it were two-dimensional. Imagine you are holding a video camera, and some distance away is someone with a ball on a tether. Just to make it interesting, let's imagine that we're in a dark room, and the ball glows. Now, if the other person turns around and around, swinging the ball so that it spins "in orbit" around them, you can picture what the video tape will show: a glowing ball, first moving from left to right, and then moving from right to left. Yet, the ball is always moving in the same circle, and never really changes direction! In terms of interpretation, a retrograde can mean that there may be a delay, a detour, a complication or temporary obstacle in some situation, which eventually straightens out and allows the situation to arrive at a more stable resolution. The opposite of retrograde is direct, where a planet appears to be moving forward in its "normal" direction.

solar arc: A method of direction (see above) in which the "arc" or motion of the Sun from one point of the zodiac to another is used to calculate the "direction" of all of the planets, and the resulting planetary positions are used to assess the progress of the individual through life. Unlike transits, the "easy" aspects are ignored, and only the "difficult" aspects are used, but without the usual negative associations of those angles. The Solar Arc method is currently one of the most popular and often-used methods of direction, and works very nicely as a companion tool with progressions.

transits: Aspects (or angles - see above) created between current planetary positions in the sky and planetary positions in the natal chart. May include other points in the chart which do not correspond directly to a planet, but are mathematically derived. If you wish to have transits done with your natal chart, you must specify a date: for example, the date of a special occasion, or a date in the near future which you wish to know about, in order to be better prepared for the events that it may bring. Transits can tell about ordinary day-to-day events, or more significant changes and crossroads in life.

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