The astrological symbols
A chart is not written in words but in symbols. Anyone who can read them understands any astrological diagram — no matter what language it is labelled in.
Three basic forms
The planetary symbols are put together from three elements, and each one stands for something:
- The circle — spirit, the indivisible, the Sun.
- The semicircle — soul, the receptive, the Moon.
- The cross — matter, the world, what has limits.
Everything else follows from the arrangement. Venus is the circle above the cross — spirit ordering what is material. Mars is the same pairing reversed, the cross above the circle, which in the form in use today has turned into an arrow. Jupiter is the semicircle set on the cross, Saturn the cross above the semicircle: soul bearing what is material. Mercury carries all three — semicircle, circle, cross.
This interpretation is a late systematisation; the symbols themselves grew over centuries out of abbreviations in manuscripts. As a memory aid it is good all the same, because it is right.
The zodiac signs
The twelve sign symbols are stylised pictures: the horns of Aries, the pillars of Gemini, the claws of Cancer, the scales of Libra. Some are shortened Greek letters. Old manuscripts contain variants that depart from present-day usage — when reading a source it is worth a look at the key of symbols each author gives.
The aspects
The aspect symbols are the simplest and the oldest, because they are geometrical:
- Conjunction — a circle with a line, two planets in the same place.
- Sextile — a star with six rays, 60°.
- Square — a four-sided figure, 90°.
- Trine — a triangle, 120°.
- Opposition — two circles on a line, 180°.
Classical astrology knows only these five. The minor aspects — semi-sextile, quincunx and the like — are later additions and do not appear in older practice.
Why they are worth learning
Not out of reverence for the tradition, but for a practical reason: once the symbols can be read, the chart is read as a picture instead of a list. The picture shows where things gather, which angle is occupied, which part of the sky stays empty. That overview is lost when each planet is looked up separately in a table.
See also: the planets, the zodiac signs.