Glossary: the words explained

You do not need to know astrology to read one of Nadia's charts: every document is written in plain words. But if a word makes you curious, here is what it means and how we use it.

The basics

Birth chart (natal chart)

The photograph of the sky at the exact instant and place of birth: where the Sun, the Moon and the planets were, and which sign was rising in the east. It is the map everything else starts from.

Tropical zodiac

The circle of the twelve signs measured from the point where the Sun stands at the spring equinox (0° Aries). It is the one used by classical Western astrology, and by us.

Sign

One of the twelve 30° sectors of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. Every planet "sits" in a sign, which colours the way it acts.

Degrees, minutes and seconds

A planet's position is measured in degrees (°) within the sign, from 0 to 29; each degree is divided into 60 minutes (') and each minute into 60 seconds ("). "Sun at 9°56' Gemini" means almost ten degrees into the sign of Gemini.

Ephemeris

The astronomical tables giving the position of the planets day by day. We use the Swiss Ephemeris, the professional standard, with arc-second precision.

Luminaries

The Sun and the Moon: the two "great lights" of the chart. The Sun says who you are and where you go; the Moon how you feel and what you need.

Personal planets

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars: they move fast and describe a person's character (identity, emotions, mind, affections, energy).

Social and slow planets

Jupiter and Saturn (social: growth and rules), then Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (slow: they stay years in the same sign and mark generations; they matter a lot when they touch personal points).

Angles and houses

Ascendant (AC)

The degree of the zodiac rising in the east at the moment of birth. It changes every two hours or so, which is why the birth time matters so much. It describes the way you come across, the body, the "coat" you face the world with.

Midheaven (MC)

The highest point of the zodiac at the moment of birth: the public direction, the career, what you are known for.

Descendant and Imum Coeli (DC, IC)

The points opposite the Ascendant and Midheaven: the Descendant speaks of others and of the couple, the Imum Coeli of home, roots and family.

Houses

The twelve sectors into which the chart divides the sky, starting from the Ascendant. Each house is a field of life: 1 yourself · 2 money · 3 words and siblings · 4 home and family · 5 love, children, creativity · 6 daily work and health · 7 partnership · 8 shared resources and transformations · 9 travel and studies · 10 career · 11 friends and projects · 12 inner life.

Cusp

The degree where a house begins. The cusp of the 1st house is the Ascendant, that of the 10th is the Midheaven.

Placidus

The house system we use for the charts: it divides the sky taking the latitude of the place into account, so houses have different sizes. It is the most widespread in modern classical astrology.

Equal houses

A second system, shown in the tables: twelve houses of 30° each starting from the Ascendant. Useful for comparison, especially at high latitudes where Placidus distorts a lot.

Aspects

Aspect

The angle between two planets (or between a planet and an angle of the chart), measured on the zodiac. Some angles "speak": those are the aspects.

Conjunction (☌, 0°)

Two planets at the same point: their energies merge. Neither good nor bad: it depends on who joins whom.

Opposition (☍, 180°)

Two planets facing each other: tension, tug of war, but also awareness — you see the other pole.

Square (□, 90°)

Friction that asks you to do something. It is the aspect that makes you grow, because it forces you to move.

Trine (△, 120°)

Ease, natural talent, things that come by themselves. Lovely, but it can make you lazy.

Sextile (⚹, 60°)

An opportunity: a smaller trine, which however needs a gesture to be seized.

Quincunx (⚻, 150°)

A constant adjustment between two things that do not understand each other at once: you learn to reckon with both.

Orb

How far an aspect may depart from the exact angle and still count. We use classical orbs (for example 8° for a conjunction between planets, 10° with the Sun or Moon): the smaller the orb, the stronger the aspect.

Applying and separating

An aspect is applying when the two planets are approaching the exact angle (growing energy), separating when they move away from it (fading energy). In the tables: A and S.

Retrograde (℞)

When, seen from Earth, a planet seems to move backwards. Not a flaw: that function works "inside", more reflectively, and is taken up again later.

Elements, modes and balance

Elements

The four temperaments of the signs: Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius: drive), Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn: concreteness), Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius: ideas and relationships), Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces: feeling).

Modes (qualities)

How a sign acts: Cardinal (begins: Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), Fixed (holds: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), Mutable (adapts: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces).

Balance

The count of how many planets sit in each element and each mode. It tells the underlying temperament: what abounds and what is missing — and what is missing is often sought in others.

Part of Fortune (⊗)

A point calculated from Sun, Moon and Ascendant: where a certain luck comes naturally, or where body and emotions agree.

Lunar nodes (☊ ☋)

The points where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's. The North Node shows the direction of growth; the South Node what you already know how to do and start from.

Chiron (⚷)

A small body between Saturn and Uranus: in the chart it marks an old wound and, at the same time, the ability to heal others right there.

Lilith (⚸, Black Moon)

Not a body but a point: the apogee of the Moon's orbit. It speaks of what refuses to be tamed — instinct, refusal, the wild part.

The documents of time

Transits

Today's planets (or those of a precise day) placed over the natal chart: the "weather" in your life. A transit counts when a planet in the sky makes a tight aspect to a point of your chart.

Secondary progressions

A symbolic method: one day after birth equals one year of life. They describe the slow ripening of the person — in particular the progressed Moon, which changes sign every two and a half years or so.

Lunar phase

The angle between Sun and Moon: new, waxing, full, waning. In the natal chart it tells the "time" you were born in (sowing, building, harvesting, closing); in the returns it sets the tone of the period.

Solar return

The chart of the sky at the exact instant when the Sun comes back to the degree and minute of birth, every year around the birthday. Calculated for the place where you live, it describes the climate of the year from one birthday to the next.

Lunar return

The same principle applied to the Moon: every 27 days and 8 hours or so it comes back to the degree of birth. The chart of that instant describes the climate of the month, until the next return.

Rhythm of the month

In the lunar return: the list of the days when the transiting Moon enters each of your natal houses — about two and a half days per house — that is, the days when that field of life asks for attention.

Synastry

The comparison of two natal charts: the planets of one on the points of the other (cross aspects), the planets of each in the other's houses, and a balance by field (understanding, attraction, communication, stability, growth, transformation).

Composite chart

The chart "of the bond": built from the midpoints between the planets of the two people. It describes the couple as if it were a third person.

Pythagorean numerology

The calculation of the numbers of the name (as written at birth) and of the date: life path, destiny, soul and personality numbers. A language different from astrology, included in the chart as a complement.

In our documents

"In plain words"

The hand-written page that tells the chart (or the year, the month, the couple) theme by theme — work, home, money, affections, energy — without jargon.

The dates explained

In the birth chart: the list of the exact passages of the next twelve months, in order of date, with a sentence on what each one means for you.

Unknown birth time

If the time is not known, the chart is calculated for sunrise: Sun and planets are right, but Ascendant, houses and (partly) the Moon are approximate, and we say so in the document. It is worth looking for it on the birth certificate.

Place of residence

For solar and lunar returns the chart is calculated for the city where you live, not the one where you were born: a change of city changes the Ascendant and the houses, that is the fields the period lights up.

Want to go deeper? The free PDF guides: The twelve houses · Elements, modes and Lilith.