Move, develop, and grow on the journey of life with the planetary archetypes.
THE PLANETS
We get to the meat of things when we start talking about planets. While the signs of the zodiac hold certain qualities, the planets are more archetypal in nature.
For example, you might say that New York City feels very Gemini in nature, busy and filled with potential. When a planet is added to the mix, let’s say the Moon in Gemini, we could talk about what it’s like to be a Mother (or to nourish life) in the bustle of New York City. Integrating this into reading a person with a Gemini Moon, you might say their way of nourishing and responding to life creates an atmosphere of curiosity, possibility, and connection.
We contain every planet within us. Planets help us to move and go on journeys. Planets take us through highs and lows of experience to develop archetypal aspects of ourselves.
The sun | the creator
vital, creative spirit
The Sun is the center of it all. It’s the cosmic body that we, and all of the astrological planets, revolve around. When you say “I’m a Scorpio” you are talking about your Sun sign—the sign of the zodiac that the Sun pointed towardyour birth. The Sun has regular dates on which it moves through the signs.
Through the lens of astrology, we get our overall life force and creative spirit from this ‘planet’—our light.
What is your general energy, what do you put your heart into, and how do you show your creative essence? The Sun is your central fire—your Creator archetype, the archetype of Self and Ego (what we are conscious of about ourselves).
*The dates below can vary by a day or so depending on the year.
SUN IN ARIES (March 21 - April 19) | This Creator archetype’s light is passionate, assertive, centered, and impatient, generating motivation.
SUN IN TAURUS (April 20 - May 20) | This Creator archetype’s light is sensual, value-oriented, and in love with beauty, generating pleasure.
SUN IN GEMINI (May 21 - June 20) | This Creator archetype’s light is connective, curious, and flirtatious, generating pathways and intelligence.
SUN IN CANCER (June 21 - July 22) | This Creator archetype’s light is security-oriented, soulful, and nurturing, generating tribes and depth.
SUN IN LEO (July 23 - August 22) | This Creator archetype’s light is commanding, playful, and flashy, generating star-power and heartfulness.
SUN IN VIRGO (August 23 - September 22) | This Creator archetype’s light is purposeful, refined, and productive, generating flourishing.
SUN IN LIBRA (September 23 - October 22) | This Creator archetype’s light is relational, graceful, and diplomatic, generating partnerships.
SUN IN SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21) | This Creator archetype’s light is mysterious, investigative, and potent, generating power.
SUN IN SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21) | This Creator archetype’s light is philosophical, truth-seeking, and debating, generating wisdom.
SUN IN CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19) | This Creator archetype’s light is structured, far-sighted, and status-oriented, generating position.
SUN IN AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18) | This Creator archetype’s light is free-thinking, original, and innovative, generating revolution.
SUN IN PISCES (February 19 - March 20) | This Creator archetype’s light is compassionate, mystical, and inspired, generating compassion.
Mercury | the messenger
feeling plugged in
The speedster of the solar system. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, hence the one that orbits it the quickest, experiencing 4 years during our 1, lapping us 3 times.
In Mythology, Mercury was the only God that could go anywhere as it carried messages, news, and interpretations. This planet keeps us connected and helps us to weave tapestries of thought and movement.
Archetypally, Mercury has range. We can be Shapeshifters, Tricksters, Messengers, Psychopomps, Intillectuals, Traders, and Wheelers & Dealers through this planet. Inform yourself, make connections, and pollinate your ideas and goods into, and through, the world.
MERCURY IN ARIES | This Messenger archetype pollinates with authenticity, boldness, and impulsivity.
MERCURY IN TAURUS | This Messenger archetype pollinates with slowness, stubbornness, and value.
MERCURY IN GEMINI | This Messenger archetype pollinates with vibrancy, lightness, and versatility.
MERCURY IN CANCER | This Messenger archetype pollinates with depth, atmosphere, and imagination.
MERCURY IN LEO | This Messenger archetype pollinates with heart, shine, and pizzaz.
MERCURY IN VIRGO | This Messenger archetype pollinates with thoroughness, maturity, and sincerity.
MERCURY IN LIBRA | This Messenger archetype pollinates with peacefulness, elegance, and justice.
MERCURY IN SCORPIO | This Messenger archetype pollinates with intensity, probing, and psyche.
MERCURY IN SAGITTARIUS | This Messenger archetype pollinates with expansiveness, narrative, and optimism.
MERCURY IN CAPRICORN | This Messenger archetype pollinates with integrity, credentials, and authority.
MERCURY IN AQUARIUS | This Messenger archetype pollinates with open-mindedness, observation, and detachment.
MERCURY IN PISCES | This Messenger archetype pollinates with openness, complexity, and brilliance.
venus | The Lover
sniffing out beauty
Our neighboring planet that takes us inward, toward the Sun. Because Venus’ orbit of the Sun is inside of our own, we never see it more than 48° from the Sun. When not directly aligned with the Sun, we can see Venus as a Morning Star, rising before the Sun, or an Evening Star, setting after the Sun.
Venus anchors us into our perceptions—what feels good, what do we find beautiful, how do we value our voice and sensibilities?
The Venus archetype in us loves to love, designing beauty and relationships to make our lives luscious and delightful. Venus is the side of us that is a Designer, Advocate, and Lover.
VENUS IN ARIES | This Lover archetype beautifies with centeredness, confidence, and prowess.
VENUS IN TAURUS | This Lover archetype beautifies with sensuality, perception, and strong preferences.
VENUS IN GEMINI | This Lover archetype beautifies with dimension, experimentation, and multiplicity.
VENUS IN CANCER | This Lover archetype beautifies with definition, comfort, and history.
VENUS IN LEO | This Lover archetype beautifies with warmth, luxury, and regality.
VENUS IN VIRGO | This Lover archetype beautifies with perfection, organization, and class.
VENUS IN LIBRA | This Lover archetype beautifies with design, balance, and grace.
VENUS IN SCORPIO | This Lover archetype beautifies with power, renovation, and sexuality.
VENUS IN SAGITTARIUS | This Lover archetype beautifies with worldliness, culture, and adventure.
VENUS IN CAPRICORN | This Lover archetype beautifies with tradition, stature, and propriety.
VENUS IN AQUARIUS | This Lover archetype beautifies with eccentricity, technology, and the avant-garde.
VENUS IN PISCES | This Lover archetype beautifies with composition, artistry, and ether.
earth | the INCUBATOR
grounds & soothes
Our home in the solar system is enriched with the perfect conditions for life (as we know it) to develop and thrive—an atmosphere, lots of H2O, and reasonable temperatures. Earth is us and we are Earth. The third rock from the Sun is just right.
Not many astrologers use Earth as a planet, but I like to think that our bodies, dreams, and replenishment entangle here, in an astrological sense. When we turn toward our night side we see the part of the zodiac that Earth is in, always opposite the Sun. This archetype is mysterious and subconscious—the Incubator. Because you may not see your Earth sing in your chart, know that it is always directly opposite your Sun.
EARTH IN ARIES | This Incubator archetype soothes with independence, action, and alone time.
EARTH IN TAURUS | This Incubator archetype soothes with cultivation, pleasure, and nature.
EARTH IN GEMINI | This Incubator archetype soothes with socializing, learning, and change.
EARTH IN CANCER | This Incubator archetype soothes with self-care, support systems, and nurturing.
EARTH IN LEO | This Incubator archetype soothes with recreation, entertainment, and drama.
EARTH IN VIRGO | This Incubator archetype soothes with practices, helpfulness, and utility.
EARTH IN LIBRA | This Incubator archetype soothes with harmonizing, partnering, and relaxation.
EARTH IN SCORPIO | This Incubator archetype soothes with intimacy, resource management, and research.
EARTH IN SAGITTARIUS | This Incubator archetype soothes with exploration, vision, and stories.
EARTH IN CAPRICORN | This Incubator archetype soothes with aspirations, focus, and dedication.
EARTH IN AQUARIUS | This Incubator archetype soothes with freedom, envisioning, and networking.
EARTH IN PISCES | This Incubator archetype soothes with fantasy, dreaming, and escaping.
the moon | The mother
nourishing growth
Technically a satellite orbiting us, the Moon also orbits the Sun at the same pace as us, tied to our gravitational field. One rotation around Earth takes 28 days, but our lunar phases have a 29.5-day cycle, due to our orbital movement.
As Luna orbits us, her tidal pull brings focus and gravity to where her pull is directed, shifting signs every 2.5 days. There is hypervigilance here, the way a mama bear keeps a close eye on her cubs, always surveying their safety and needs, and what’s required to promote growth and nourishment. The Mother in us.
MOON IN ARIES | This Mother archetype nourishes with ferocity, survival instinct, and directness, creating an atmosphere of aliveness.
MOON IN TAURUS | This Mother archetype nourishes with value, voice, and embodiment, creating a slow-living atmosphere.
MOON IN GEMINI | This Mother archetype nourishes with possibility, flexibility, and intelligence, creating a bustling atmosphere.
MOON IN CANCER | This Mother archetype nourishes with protection, attentiveness, and intuition, creating an atmosphere of safety.
MOON IN LEO | This Mother archetype nourishes with fun, creativity, and courage, creating an atmosphere of warmth.
MOON IN VIRGO | This Mother archetype nourishes with conscientiousness, dotting, and skill, creating an atmosphere of reverence.
MOON IN LIBRA | This Mother archetype nourishes with relating, reasoning, and fairness, creating an aesthetic atmosphere.
MOON IN SCORPIO | This Mother archetype nourishes with entanglement, empowerment, and perceptiveness, creating an esoteric atmosphere.
MOON IN SAGITTARIUS | This Mother archetype nourishes with boundary-pushing, wisdom, and guidance, creating an atmosphere of adventure.
MOON IN CAPRICORN | This Mother archetype nourishes with rules, goals, and discipline, creating an atmosphere of respect.
MOON IN AQUARIUS | This Mother archetype nourishes with free-thinking, humor, and friendliness, creating an electric atmosphere.
MOON IN PISCES | This Mother archetype nourishes with gentleness, a bleeding heart, and boundarylessness, creating an atmosphere of illusion.
mars | The warrior
motivation for order
Our neighboring planet just outside of our orbit, Mars points us out into the world with passion, drive, and motivation. With the closest orbital speed to our own, it takes almost two years for us to re-meet up with Mars in the zodiac, the longest of our planetary journeys.
At once, Mars is a protector, the gateway before Earth, the Guard at the castle gate, as well as the Warrior, the archetype that helps us to fight for what we desire, believe, and deserve in the world. This planet isn’t scared of knocking down to bring new order.
There can be a Dictator with Mars, but also a good Soldier. The point is it likes order. This brings the clarity needed to know what our Warrior is fighting for (or against).
MARS IN ARIES | This Warrior archetype fights with primality, order, and personal agenda.
MARS IN TAURUS | This Warrior archetype fights with resourcefulness, stubbornness, and possessiveness.
MARS IN GEMINI | This Warrior archetype fights with duality, paradox, and intellect.
MARS IN CANCER | This Warrior archetype fights with moodiness, armor, and its tribe.
MARS IN LEO | This Warrior archetype fights with leadership, bravery, and pride.
MARS IN VIRGO | This Warrior archetype fights with skill, duty, and fastidiousness.
MARS IN LIBRA | This Warrior archetype fights with justice, context, and grace.
MARS IN SCORPIO | This Warrior archetype fights with strategy, precision, and secrecy.
MARS IN SAGITTARIUS | This Warrior archetype fights with ideals, argument, and conquering.
MARS IN CAPRICORN | This Warrior archetype fights with restraint, plans, and the long view.
MARS IN AQUARIUS | This Warrior archetype fights with rebellion, inventiveness, and the unexpected.
MARS IN PISCES | This Warrior archetype fights with mercy, transcendence, and slipperiness.
ceres | The producer
CERES IN ARIES | This Producer archetype matures things using motivation, initiative, and boldness, bringing flourishing order.
CERES IN TAURUS | This Producer archetype matures things using the senses, worth, and voice, bringing flourishing beauty.
CERES IN GEMINI | This Producer archetype matures things using versatility, connections, and intellect, bringing flourishing pathways.
CERES IN CANCER | This Producer archetype matures things using soul, nourishment, and insight, bringing flourishing foundations.
CERES IN LEO | This Producer archetype matures things using love, leadership, and creativity, bringing flourishing limelight.
CERES IN VIRGO | This Producer archetype matures things using process, organization, and practice, bringing flourishing technique.
CERES IN LIBRA | This Producer archetype matures things using dialogue, aesthetics, and charm, bringing flourishing relationships.
CERES IN SCORPIO | This Producer archetype matures things using relentlessness, investigation, and precision, bringing flourishing power.
CERES IN SAGITTARIUS | This Producer archetype matures things using perspective, narrative, and faith, bringing flourishing vision.
CERES IN CAPRICORN | This Producer archetype matures things using planning, foresight, and focus, bringing flourishing success.
CERES IN AQUARIUS | This Producer archetype matures things using objectivity, science, and originality, bringing flourishing innovation.
CERES IN PISCES | This Producer archetype matures things using compassion, sensitivity, and mysticism, bringing flourishing composition.
maturing projects
While not always used with the same gravity and qualification as other planets, Ceres was promoted from an asteroid to a new classification of dwarf planets in 2006 (partially responsible for demoting Pluto to this status as well).
There is an association with agriculture, seasons, and how we use food as nutrition or pathology. The mother of Proserpine, grief mingles as you get children or projects ready to be self-sufficient entities in the world. Always working toward refining and mentoring things to be productive, this mother archetype is a Producer—maturing things from birth to wholeness (and often struggling to let go).
jupiter | The professor
pushing perspectives
We move to our gas giant planets with Jupiter. The largest of all the Sun’s planets, Jupiter is 11 times Earth’s circumference. Jupiter and Saturn move us from personal planets to social ones, slower and more concerned with the big picture and the public.
Jupiter brings civilizing qualities to light and corresponds with culture. This planet likes to expand life, sometimes tapping us into a Magnate archetype. It always wants to step back to gain perspective, wanting us to seek and push and broaden. The Professor archetype is always present with Jupiter, taking time to reflect on experience and develop philosophies and perspectives.
JUPITER IN ARIES | This Professor archetype broadens life with a maverick perspective, expanding risk and reward.
JUPITER IN TAURUS | This Professor archetype broadens life with a slow and steady perspective, expanding what’s valued.
JUPITER IN GEMINI | This Professor archetype broadens life with a novel perspective, expanding intelligence.
JUPITER IN CANCER | This Professor archetype broadens life with an insightful perspective, expanding imagination.
JUPITER IN LEO | This Professor archetype broadens life with a dazzling perspective, expanding the spotlight.
JUPITER IN VIRGO | This Professor archetype broadens life with a sacred perspective, expanding purpose.
JUPITER IN LIBRA | This Professor archetype broadens life with an egalitarian perspective, expanding ideals.
JUPITER IN SCORPIO | This Professor archetype broadens life with a possessed perspective, expanding revelation.
JUPITER IN SAGITTARIUS | This Professor archetype broadens life with a provocative perspective, expanding point of view.
JUPITER IN CAPRICORN | This Professor archetype broadens life with a sophisticated perspective, expanding status.
JUPITER IN AQUARIUS | This Professor archetype broadens life with a progressive perspective, expanding evolution.
JUPITER IN PISCES | This Professor archetype broadens life with a psychic perspective, expanding spirituality.
saturn | The father
structures & limits
Another social planet, Saturn has an association with holding worldly responsibility. With a nearly 29.5-year tour of the zodiac, Saturn takes its time to master and play the long-game.
Build it tall and build it sturdy. Saturn brings out the Architect in us, drawing up plans to build with intention, integrity, and sound steps. Saturn wants authority and to be ‘in the know’ socially.
Saturn is the part of us that wants to be taken seriously, but to be taken seriously we need discipline, focus, and pragmatic goals. This is where the Father archetype comes in, the Discipliner.
SATURN IN ARIES | This Father archetype structures with clarity.
SATURN IN TAURUS | This Father archetype structures with value.
SATURN IN GEMINI | This Father archetype structures with connectivity.
SATURN IN CANCER | This Father archetype structures with foundations.
SATURN IN LEO | This Father archetype structures with pinoche.
SATURN IN VIRGO | This Father archetype structures with detail.
SATURN IN LIBRA | This Father archetype structures with simplicity.
SATURN IN SCORPIO | This Father archetype structures with precision.
SATURN IN SAGITTARIUS | This Father archetype structures with grandiosity.
SATURN IN CAPRICORN | This Father archetype structures with integrity.
SATURN IN AQUARIUS | This Father archetype structures with rule-breaking.
SATURN IN PISCES | This Father archetype structures with poetry.
uranus | The rebel
liberation for progress
Part of the generational planets with Neptune and Pluto, their tour of one sign can affect whole generations due to their slow orbit. Uranus takes about 7 years to move through a sign.
Orbiting the Sun on its side, its axis tilted almost 98°, Uranus is not scared to flip something on its head. There is wild card energy in this Rebel archetype. It wants us to see constructs and their limitations.
The first outside Saturn’s tradition-building and the first planet that we need a telescope to see, Uranus wants us to innovate and use technology to push consciousness.
URANUS IN ARIES | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around what the Self is.
URANUS IN TAURUS | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around value, voice, and body.
URANUS IN GEMINI | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around the mind and mentality.
URANUS IN CANCER | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around home, family, and women.
URANUS IN LEO | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around the ego.
URANUS IN VIRGO | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around duty and service.
URANUS IN LIBRA | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around empathy and justice.
URANUS IN SCORPIO | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around power and shared resources.
URANUS IN SAGITTARIUS | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around globalization and higher learning.
URANUS IN CAPRICORN | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around corporations and the status quo.
URANUS IN AQUARIUS | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around science and technology.
URANUS IN PISCES | This Rebel archetype liberates constructs around institutions and secrets.
neptune | The dreamer
composing magic
Moving to the outer reaches of our solar system, we arrive at Neptune, our furthest out gas giant and full-fledged planet. Taking approximately 14 years to move through one zodiac sign, this dreamy planet puts us under a mystical spell.
Connected to spirituality and the edge of things, Neptune wants us to transcend boundaries, to be open to inspiration and things hard to touch or see, even with technology.
The Mystic Artist in us asks us to believe our subtle, psychic senses and spiritual concepts such as synchronicity and flow. It helps us to become Dreamers and to touch a bit of magic, where illusion and reality merge.
NEPTUNE IN ARIES | This Dreamer archetype inspires our authenticity and passions.
NEPTUNE IN TAURUS | This Dreamer archetype inspires our bodies and want for beauty.
NEPTUNE IN GEMINI | This Dreamer archetype inspires our minds and communities.
NEPTUNE IN CANCER | This Dreamer archetype inspires our souls and feminity.
NEPTUNE IN LEO | This Dreamer archetype inspires how we stand in our light.
NEPTUNE IN VIRGO | This Dreamer archetype inspires how we live our daily lives.
NEPTUNE IN LIBRA | This Dreamer archetype inspires our sense of commitment and trust.
NEPTUNE IN SCORPIO | This Dreamer archetype inspires us to face what’s stuck and in need of unearthing.
NEPTUNE IN SAGITTARIUS | This Dreamer archetype inspires us to ask big questions that change our world.
NEPTUNE IN CAPRICORN | This Dreamer archetype inspires what it is we aspire toward.
NEPTUNE IN AQUARIUS | This Dreamer archetype inspires us to make changes that are freeing.
NEPTUNE IN PISCES | This Dreamer archetype inspires our belief in magic and miracles.
pluto | The transformer
death & Resurrection
Demoted from planet to dwarf planet when Ceres was promoted from asteroid to dwarf planet, Pluto lives beyond the planets, a small ice ball, beyond our edge. You might say it mines our unconscious and works at the level of our psyche.
Pluto is death and the underworld, but has enough gravity to stay in our Sun’s orbit, bringing up to consciousness what was previously out of reach—resurrection. To reach your underworld is to transform—to move from frozen, to unconscious, to awakened—the Alchemist and Transformer in us. Pluto is tightly wound with evolution as we mine and become more and more able to witness what’s underneath.
PLUTO IN ARIES | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our personalities and life direction.
PLUTO IN TAURUS | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our values and material life.
PLUTO IN GEMINI | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our way of learning and connecting.
PLUTO IN CANCER | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates how we stabilize the foundations of life.
PLUTO IN LEO | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates how we shine and show our hearts.
PLUTO IN VIRGO | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our processes, work, and lifestyle.
PLUTO IN LIBRA | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our relationships and what justice means.
PLUTO IN SCORPIO | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates and renovates our empowerment.
PLUTO IN SAGITTARIUS | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our big-picture aim.
PLUTO IN CAPRICORN | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our aspirations and how we hold authority.
PLUTO IN AQUARIUS | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our hope in the future and belief in humanity.
PLUTO IN PISCES | This Transformer archetype alchemizes and renovates our connection to something greater than us.