Western path · Night 1 · Alkaid
The alphabet of the sky: the twelve signs, their elements and the planets
The twelve signs, their four elements and three modes, then the ten bodies of the chart, from the Sun to Pluto: the letters every chart is written with.
The star of this night: Alkaid
Alkaid shines at the tip of the handle of the Big Dipper: the constellation starts with it. It opens the road the way you open a book, with the alphabet. Before reading a chart of the sky, you learn its letters.
One circle, twelve signs
Seen from the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and the planets all travel within the same band of sky: the zodiac. This 360° circle is cut into twelve equal parts of 30°, the signs.
The Western zodiac, called tropical, begins at 0° Aries, the point where the Sun stands at the spring equinox. The order never changes: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.
To remember Twelve signs of 30°, always in the same order, starting from Aries.
Your turn
How many degrees does each sign of the zodiac measure?
- A 36°
- B 12°
- C 28°
- D 30°
See the answer
Answer D: 30°. The circle is 360° and holds twelve equal signs: 360 divided by 12 gives 30° per sign.
Four elements
Each sign belongs to an element, which says what it is made of. Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) launches and leads. Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) builds and makes things concrete. Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) connects and thinks. Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) feels and protects.
On the wheel, the three signs of one element draw a triangle: they stand 120° from one another. Remember that triangle, it will come back on the night of the aspects.
To remember Fire, earth, air, water: three signs each, forming a triangle on the wheel.
Your turn
Which signs share the element of Leo?
- A Libra and Aquarius
- B Taurus and Scorpio
- C Cancer and Pisces
- D Aries and Sagittarius
See the answer
Answer D: Aries and Sagittarius. Leo is a fire sign, like Aries and Sagittarius: on the wheel, the three of them form a triangle.
Three modes
The element says what the sign is made of; the mode says how it acts. Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) initiate: each of them opens a season. Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) sustain and deepen. Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) adapt and carry things over.
One element and one mode: the combination is unique. There is only one fixed fire sign, Leo, and only one cardinal water sign, Cancer.
To remember Cardinal initiates, fixed sustains, mutable adapts.
Your turn
Capricorn is an earth sign. What is its mode?
- A Cardinal
- B Fixed
- C Mutable
See the answer
Answer A: Cardinal. Capricorn opens winter: it is a cardinal sign, like Aries, Cancer and Libra.
The two luminaries
- Sunidentity, vitality
- Moonemotions, needs
The Sun and the Moon are the two pillars of the chart. The Sun tells identity, will, the direction you give your life: it is the sign everyone knows. The Moon tells the inner world: emotions, needs, what brings comfort.
The Sun stays one month in each sign; the Moon changes sign every two and a half days. Two people with the same Sun sign therefore rarely share the same Moon, and that is often where everything plays out.
To remember The Sun: what you want to be. The Moon: what you need.
Your turn
In a chart, what does the Moon tell?
- A The relationship to money
- B Emotions and deep needs
- C The way of fighting
- D Career and ambition
See the answer
Answer B: Emotions and deep needs. The Moon carries the emotional world: what moves you, what comforts you, what you need to feel at home.
The personal planets
- Mercurymind, communication
- Venuslove, pleasure
- Marsaction, desire
Three fast planets complete the intimate portrait. Mercury thinks, learns and speaks. Venus loves, chooses and gives value. Mars desires, decides and acts.
Because they change sign within a few weeks, their place varies a lot from one person to the next: together with the Sun and the Moon, they make up what is most personal in a chart.
Your turn
Which planet speaks of love, taste and what you give value to?
- A Venus
- B Mars
- C Mercury
- D Saturn
See the answer
Answer A: Venus. Venus tells the way of loving, what pleases and what matters; Mars tells desire and action.
The social and slow planets
- Jupiterexpansion, luck
- Saturnstructure, mastery
Jupiter and Saturn connect the person to the world. Jupiter expands: confidence, luck, meaning. Saturn structures: effort, duration, mastery. Jupiter circles the zodiac in twelve years, Saturn in twenty-nine.
Farther out, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are so slow that a whole generation shares their sign. Uranus frees, Neptune inspires, Pluto transforms. In a chart, they matter mostly through their house and the bodies they touch.
To remember The slower a body, the longer what it marks will last.
Your turn
Which planet takes about twenty-nine years to circle the zodiac?
- A Mars
- B Jupiter
- C Uranus
- D Saturn
See the answer
Answer D: Saturn. Saturn completes one circle in twenty-nine and a half years: its return to its birth position, around 29, is a well-known milestone.
Reading a first placement
You have the letters; here is the first word. A placement is read in two steps: the body says what, the sign says how. Sun in Taurus: identity (the Sun) is built with patience and a sense of the concrete (Taurus).
Here is the example sky that will stay with you through the seven nights. Look for the Sun and the Moon in it: you can already say something about them. Next night, you will learn where each body acts: the houses.
To remember The body says what, the sign says how.
Your turn
Mars in Libra: what does Libra say?
- A The strength of Mars compared with the other planets
- B The date when Mars will act
- C The area of life where Mars acts
- D The way Mars acts: with tact, looking for agreement
See the answer
Answer D: The way Mars acts: with tact, looking for agreement. The sign says how: Mars remains desire and action, and Libra gives them its style, all diplomacy.