Astrology glossary
Short definitions, no fortune-telling.
The terms that keep showing up in a birth chart, explained as a symbolic lens for self-observation rather than a prediction engine.
- Aspects
- Aspects are the angles between planets in a chart — conjunction, opposition, square, trine, sextile — read as how two planetary qualities meet.
- Birth chart
- A birth chart is a map of the sky at the moment and place you were born, showing where the Sun, Moon and planets stood as seen from Earth.
- Elements
- The elements are the four groups the zodiac signs fall into — fire, earth, air and water — each describing a shared temperament and way of responding.
- Houses
- The houses are twelve divisions of a birth chart, each tied to an area of life such as work, home or relationships; they depend on an exact birth time.
- Moon phases
- Moon phases are the changing sunlit shapes of the Moon across its 29.5-day cycle, from new to full and back; a natural rhythm for reflection.
- Moon sign
- Your Moon sign is the zodiac sign the Moon occupied at your birth; in astrology it describes emotional habits, needs and what feels like home.
- Retrograde
- Retrograde is the apparent backward motion of a planet as seen from Earth — an optical effect of orbits that astrology reads as a time for review.
- Rising sign (Ascendant)
- The Rising sign, or Ascendant, is the zodiac sign on the eastern horizon at your birth; it requires an accurate birth time and sets the houses.
- Sun sign
- Your Sun sign is the zodiac sign the Sun occupied on the day you were born — the sign most people mean when they say "I'm a Leo."
- Transit
- A transit is the current position of a planet in the sky compared with your birth chart — the moving sky meeting your fixed chart.