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B. F. SKINNER: astrology and birth chart |
B. F. SKINNER,
born Mars 20, 1904 at 3:15 AM in Susquehanna (PA) (USA)
Moon in 4°12 Taurus, MC in 18°03 Scorpio
Astrology: 34,549 birth charts
Biography of B. F. SKINNER
Burrhus Frederic "Fred" Skinner (March 20, 1904 August 18, 1990), Ph.D. was a highly influential American psychologist, author, inventor, advocate for social reform and poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until retirement in 1974. He invented the operant conditioning chamber, innovated his own philosophy of science called Radical Behaviorism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology the experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, which has recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings. He discovered and advanced the rate of response as a dependent variable in psychological research. He invented the cumulative recorder to measure rate of responding as part of his highly influential work on schedules of reinforcement. In a recent survey, Skinner was listed as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century. He was an incredibly prolific author, publishing 21 books and 180 articles.
Skinner was born in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania to Grace and William Skinner. His father was a lawyer. His brother Edward, two and a half years his junior, died at sixteen of a cerebral aneurysm.
He attended Hamilton College in New York with the intention of becoming a writer. While attending, he joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, and eventually received a B.A in English literature in 1926. After graduation, he spent a year at his parents' home in Scranton, attempting to become a writer of fiction. But he soon became disillusioned with his literary skills and concluded that he had little world experience, and no strong personal perspective from which to write.
During this time, which Skinner later called "the dark year," he chanced upon a copy of Bertrand Russell's recently published book An Outline of Philosophy, in which Russell discusses the behaviorist philosophy of psychologist John B. Watson. At the time, Skinner had begun to take more interest in the actions and behaviors of those around him, and some of his short stories had taken a "psychological" slant. He decided to abandon literature and seek admission as a graduate student in psychology at Harvard University. While a graduate student, he invented the operant conditioning chamber and cumulative recorder, developed the rate of response as a critical dependent variable in psychological research, and developed a powerful, inductive, data-driven method of experimental research.
Skinner received a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard in 1931 and remained at that institution as a researcher until 1936. He then taught at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and later at Indiana University before returning to Harvard as a tenured professor in 1948. He remained there for the rest of his career.
In 1936 Skinner married Yvonne Blue (1911-1997); the couple had two daughters, Julie (m. Vargas) and Deborah (m. Buzan).
Skinner was granted numerous awards in his lifetime. In 1968, he received the National Medal of Science from President Lyndon B. Johnson. Three years later, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Psychological Foundation, and in 1972, he was given the Humanist of the Year Award of the American Humanist Association. Just eight days before his death, he received the first Citation for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology by the American Psychological Association (Epstein, 1997).
He died of leukemia and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Works
He conducted pioneering work in psychology and innovated his own school of Radical Behaviorism, which seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences. He is known as the inventor of the operant conditioning chamber (or Skinner box), a research tool used to examine the orderly relations of the behavior of organisms (such as rats, pigeons and humans) to their environment. He is the author of Walden Two, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Verbal Behavior and numerous other books and articles. He discovered what is now called operant conditioning and articulated the now widely accepted term reinforcement as a scientific principle of behavior. His position reflects the extension of the influence of physicist Ernst Mach's The Science of Mechanics to the subject of psychology. Skinner's pioneering research reflected the dual influence of whole organism research in Ivan Pavlov and Jacques Loeb.
Operant Conditioning Chamber
While at Harvard, B.F.Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber to measure organismic responses and their orderly interactions with the environment. This device was an example of his lifelong ability to design and invent useful devices, which included whimsical devices in his childhood to the cumulative recorder to measure the rate of response of organisms in an operant chamber. Even in old age, Skinner invented a Thinking Aid to assist in writing
Radical Behaviorism
Finding the Behaviorism of his time to be problematic, Skinner branched off his own version he called Radical Behaviorism which unlike methodological behaviorism did not require truth by consensus so it could accept private events such as thinking, perception and emotion in its account. Also, unlike all of the other Behaviorisms - Tolman, Hull, Clark and others - Skinner's version radically rejected mediating constructs and the hypothetico-deductive method. instead offering a strongly inductive, data driven approach that has proven to be successful in dozens of areas from behavioral pharmacology to language therapy in the developmentally delayed.
Verbal Behavior
Challenged by Alfred North Whitehead during a casual discussion while at Harvard to provide an account of a randomly provided piece of verbal behavior Skinner set about attempting to extend his then-new functional, inductive, approach to the complexity of human verbal behavior. Developed over two decades, his work appeared as the culmination of the William James lectures in the book, Verbal Behavior. Chomsky himself conceded that it was the "most careful and thoroughgoing presentation of such speculations" as a reason for giving it "a review." After a slow reception, perhaps due to its lack of experimental evidence typical of Skinner's previous work Skinner's functional analysis of verbal behavior has seen a resurgence of interest in applied settings.
Walden Two & Beyond Freedom And Dignity
Skinner is popularly known mainly for his books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Walden Two describes a visit to an imaginary utopian commune in the 1940s United States, where the productivity and happiness of the citizens is far in advance of that in the outside world due to their practice of scientific social planning and the use of operant conditioning in the raising of children.
Walden Two, like Thoreau's Walden, champions a lifestyle that does not support war, foster competition or social strife. It encourages a lifestyle of minimal consumption, rich social relationships, personal happiness, satisfying work and leisure.
In Beyond Freedom and Dignity Skinner suggests that a technology of behavior could help make a better society. However, we would have to accept that an autonomous agent was not the driving force for our actions. Skinner offered alternatives to punishment and challenged his readers to use modern technology for more than just war. Instead science might be used to build a better society.
Schedules of Reinforcement
Skinner's types of schedules of reinforcement involved: continuous, interval (fixed or variable), and ratio (fixed or variable).
Continuous reinforcement constant delivery of reinforcement for an action; every time a specific action was performed the subject instantly and always received a reinforcement. This method is prone to extinction and is very hard to enforce.
Interval (fixed/variable) reinforcement (Fixed) reinforcement is set for certain times. (Variable) times between reinforcement are not set, and often differ.
Ratio (fixed or variable) reinforcement (Fixed) deals with a set amount of work needed to be completed before there is reinforcement. (Variable) amount of work needed for the reinforcement differs from the last.
Political Views
Skinner's political writings emphasized his hopes that an effective and humane science of behavioral control - a behavioral technology - could solve human problems which were not solved by earlier approaches or were actively aggravated by advances in physical technology such as the atomic bomb. One of Skinner's stated goals was to prevent humanity from destroying itself.
Skinner saw the problems of political control not as a battle of domination versus freedom, but as choices of what kinds of control were used for what purposes. Skinner opposed the use of coercion, punishment and fear and supported the use of positive reinforcement.-->
"When Milton's Satan falls from heaven, he ends in hell. And what does he say to reassure himself? 'Here, at least, we shall be free.' And that, I think, is the fate of the old-fashioned liberal. He's going to be free, but he's going to find himself in hell." B. F. Skinner (William F. Buckley Jr, "On the Firing Line," 87.)
Air crib
An 'air-crib' (also known as a 'baby tender' or humorously as an 'heir conditioner') is an easily-cleaned, temperature and humidity-controlled box Skinner designed to assist in the raising of babies. It was one of his more controversial inventions, and was extremely poorly received by the general public due to perceptions of its making child rearing cold and mechanical. It was designed to make the early childcare more simple (by greatly reducing laundry, diaper rash, cradle cap, etc.), while encouraging the baby to be more confident, mobile, comfortable, healthy and therefore less prone to cry. Reportedly it had some success in these goals. Air-cribs were later commercially manufactured by several companies. Air-cribs of some fashion are still used to this day, and publications continue to dispel myths about, and tout the progressive advantages of Skinner's original.
Urban Legends
One often-repeated but incorrect urban legend claims that Skinner ventured into human experiments by raising his daughter Deborah in a Skinner box (a reference to the Air Crib above), which led to life-long mental illness and a bitter resentment towards her father. Accounts of Deborah's supposed suicide in a bowling alley in Montana even made it to scholarly papers.
In 2004, psychologist and author Lauren Slater published a book, Opening Skinner's Box, which mentioned claims that Deborah Skinner (now Deborah Skinner Buzan) unsuccessfully sued her father for abuse, and later committed suicide. In response, Buzan herself came forward and denounced the story as nothing more than outrageous rumors. Buzan wrote, "there's the story that after my father 'let me out', I became psychotic. Well, I didn't. That I sued him in a court of law is also untrue. And, contrary to hearsay, I didn't shoot myself in a bowling alley in Billings, Montana. I have never even been to Billings, Montana."
Superstition in the Pigeon
One of Skinner's experiments examined the formation of superstition in one of his favorite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behavior." He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions.
One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a 'tossing' response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return.
B.F. Skinner, "'Superstition' in the Pigeon," Journal of Experimental Psychology #38, 1947
Skinner suggested that the pigeons believed that they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their "rituals" and that this experiment shed light on human behavior:
The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behavior. Rituals for changing one's fortune at cards are good examples. A few accidental connections between a ritual and favorable consequences suffice to set up and maintain the behavior in spite of many unreinforced instances. The bowler who has released a ball down the alley but continues to behave as if she were controlling it by twisting and turning her arm and shoulder is another case in point. These behaviors have, of course, no real effect upon one's luck or upon a ball half way down an alley, just as in the present case the food would appear as often if the pigeon did nothing -- or, more strictly speaking, did something else.
Ibid
Modern behavioral psychologists have disputed Skinner's "superstition" explanation for the behaviors he recorded. Subsequent research (for instance, by Staddon and Simmelhag in 1971) while finding similar behavior failed to find support for Skinner's "adventitious reinforcement" explanation for it. By looking at the timing of different behaviors within the interval, Staddon and Simmelhag were able to distinguish two classes of behavior: the terminal response, which occurred in anticipation of food, and interim responses, that occurred earlier in the interfood interval and were rarely contiguous with food. Terminal responses seem to reflect classical (rather than operant) conditioning, rather than adventitious reinforcement, guided by a process like that observed in 1968 by Brown and Jenkins in their "autoshaping" procedures. The causation of interim activities (such as the schedule-induced polydipsia seen in a similar situation with rats) also cannot be traced to adventitious reinforcement and its details are still obscure (Staddon, 1977). Eduardo J. Fernandez of the Department of Psychology of Indiana University sought to follow up on Staddon and Simmelhag's debunking of Skinner's hypothesis and to "further contrast superstitious versus functional interpretations of behavior" in pigeons. In a 2004 paper titled "Superstition Re-revisited: An Examination of Niche-Related Mechanisms Underlying Schedule Produced Behavior in Pigeons," he demonstrated that what Skinner had seen as "superstitious" behaviour was accounted for by the natural foraging behaviours of the species he used as test subjects.
see also Timberlake & Lucas 1985
Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)
Dr. Thomas F. Gilbert, one of Skinner's Ph.D. students at Harvard, went on to apply Skinnerian theory and findings to improving performance in the world of work. His seminal book is titled Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance. This book shows how optimal human performance is a function of a variety of factors which can be categorized as being either: 1) within the Environment (e.g., goal setting, performance feedback, incentives, equipment, organization design and work flow); or 2) within the Individual (e.g., motivation, knowledge, and skills). He goes on to outline an approach to systematically and cost-effectively develop these employee performance support systems to optimize employee and organizational performance. This is an important extension of Professor Skinner's work.
Critics & Criticisms
J.E.R. Staddon
As understood by Skinner, ascribing dignity to individuals involves giving them credit for their actions. To say "Skinner is brilliant" means that Skinner is an originating force. If Skinner's determinist theory is right, he is merely the focus of his environment. He is not an originating force and he had no choice in saying the things he said or doing the things he did. Skinner's environment and genetics both allowed and compelled him to write his book. Similarly, the environment and genetic potentials of the advocates of freedom and dignity cause them to resist the reality that their own activities are deterministically grounded. J. E. R. Staddon (The New Behaviorism, 2001) has argued the compatibilist position, that Skinner's determinism is not in any way contradictory to traditional notions of reward and punishment, as he believed .
Noam Chomsky
Perhaps Skinner's best known critic, Noam Chomsky published his review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior soon after it was published. The review became better known than the book it purported to review. It has been credited with launching the cognitive movement in psychology and other disciplines.
Chomsky also 'reviewed' Skinner's Beyond Freedom and Dignity utilizing the same basic motifs as his Verbal Behavior review. Among Chomsky's critiques were that Skinner's laboratory work could not be extended to humans, that when it was extended to humans it represented 'scientistic' behavior attempting to emulate science but which was not scientific, that Skinner was not a scientist because he rejected the hypothetico-deductive method of theory testing, that Skinner had no science of behavior, and that Skinner's works were highly conducive to justifying or advancing totalitarianism.
Others
Skinner has often been associated with political and social positions he never espoused and even explicitly objected to .
Trivia
This section contains a list of trivia items.
The section could be improved by integrating relevant items into the main text and removing inappropriate items.
This section has been tagged since July 2007.
According to a photo caption at the site of Los Horcones community (which was inspired by Skinner's Walden Two), in his youth Skinner used to swim in Thoreau's Walden Pond.
The TV show The Simpsons references B.F. Skinner, in an episode where psychiatrist Marvin Monroe asks for $100,000 to buy a kid for his already built "Monroe Box."
The Simpsons character Principal Seymour Skinner is named after B F Skinner. Many of the early writers of The Simpsons were educated at Harvard University while Skinner was alive.
Skinner is referenced in a further episode of The Simpsons where Principal Skinner tells Lisa that every good scientist is part P. T. Barnum and part B. F. Skinner.
Skinner's work is mentioned as the inspiration for the fictional Google "PigeonRank" technology featured on one of their April Fool's jokes.
The television series Lost referenced B. F. Skinner as an influence of the fictional DHARMA Initiative
Written Works
The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis, 1938. ISBN 1-58390-007-1, ISBN 0-87411-487-X.
Walden Two, 1948. ISBN 0-02-411510-X.
Science and Human Behavior, 1953. ISBN 0-02-929040-6.
Schedules of Reinforcement, with C. B. Ferster, 1957. ISBN 0-13-792309-0.
Verbal Behavior, 1957. ISBN 1-58390-021-7.
The Analysis of Behavior: A Program for Self Instruction, with James G. Holland, 1961. This self-instruction book is no longer in print, but the B.F. Skinner Foundation web site has an interactive version. ISBN 0-07-029565-4.
The Technology of Teaching, 1968.
Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis, 1969. ISBN 0-390-81280-3.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity, 1971. ISBN 0-394-42555-3.
About Behaviorism, 1974. ISBN 0-394-49201-3
Particulars of My Life: Part One of an Autobiography, 1976. ISBN 0-394-40071-2.
Reflections on Behaviorism and Society, 1978. ISBN 0-13-770057-1.
The Shaping of a Behaviorist: Part Two of an Autobiography, 1979. ISBN 0-394-50581-6.
Notebooks, edited by Robert Epstein, 1980. ISBN 0-13-624106-9.
Skinner for the Classroom, edited by R. Epstein, 1982. ISBN 0-87822-261-8.
Enjoy Old Age: A Program of Self-Management, with M. E. Vaughan, 1983.
A Matter of Consequences: Part Three of an Autobiography, 1983. ISBN 0-394-53226-0, ISBN 0-8147-7845-3.
Upon Further Reflection, 1987. ISBN 0-13-938986-5.
Recent Issues in the Analysis of Behavior, 1989. ISBN 0-675-20674-X.
Cumulative Record: A Selection of Papers, 1959, 1961, 1972 and 1999 as Cumulative Record: Definitive Edition. This book includes a reprint of Skinner's October 1945 Ladies' Home Journal article, "Baby in a Box," Skinner's original, personal account of the much-misrepresented "Baby in a box" device. ISBN 0-87411-969-3 (paperback)
See also
Applied behavior analysis
Project Pigeon
Radical behaviorism
Shaping (psychology)
Authors On Skinner
Bjork, D. W. (1993) B.F. Skinner: a life
Dews, P. B. (Ed.)(1970) Festschrift For B. F. Skinner.New York : Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Evans, R. I. (1968) B. F. Skinner: the man and his ideas
Nye, Robert D. (1979) What Is B. F. Skinner Really Saying?. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall.
Sagal, P. T. (1981) Skinner's Philosophy. Washington, D.C. : University Press of America.
Smith, D.L. (2002). On Prediction and Control. B.F. Skinner and the Technological Ideal of Science. In W.E. Pickren & D.A. Dewsbury, (Eds.), Evolving Perspectives on the History of Psychology, Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Wiener, D. N. (1996) B.F. Skinner: benign anarchist
References
^ a b B. F. Skinner, (1948) Walden Two. The science of human behavior is used to eliminate poverty, sexual oppression, government as we know it, create a lifestyle without that such as war.
^ a b B. F. Skinner, (1971) Beyond Freedom & Dignity. The science of human behavior is used to help us overcome pollution, resource exhaustion, nuclear threats, and overpopulation.
^ B. F. Skinner, (1968) Technology of Teaching. The science of human behavior is offered as a systematic means to eliminate or reduce the aversiveness of education and radically democratize it for the "95% of students" instead of the current system which, he says, divides students into "those who do not need to be taught and those who cannot be taught."
^ In general, Skinner argued against the use of punishment and aversive control perhaps even to some extent underestimating the effectiveness of punishment in scientific contexts. His initial "paw slap" evaluation of punishment in The Behavior of Organisms (1938) was more or less proven wrong by Azrin & other later 1960s/1970s studies in punishment in which it was shown that under extremely precise laboratory conditions it might be "effective." However, why punishment is effective is still contested and Skinner's 1953 position has been, even recently, posited as more or less correct.
^ a b B. F. Skinner, (1970) "On 'Having' A Poem" talks about the poem, its publication, and contains the poem and a reply to it as well. Real Audio mp3 Ogg
^ http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/skinner.htm
^ see Verbal Behavior for research citations.
^ B. F. Skinner, (1938) The Behavior of Organisms.
^ C. B. Ferster & B. F. Skinner, (1957) Schedules of Reinforcement.
^ Review of General Psychology, July, 2002.
^ http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~allanr/biblio.html, accessed on 5-20-07.
^ For another bibliography, see
^ a b Mecca Chiesa, (1994) Radical Behaviorism: the philosophy and the science.
^ Philip J. Pauly, (1990) Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology. Loeb might have influenced Skinner through J.B. Watson as he was Watson's advisor briefly, but more likely through Crozier who was the head of Physiology at Harvard when Skinner was there.
^ B. F. Skinner, (1984) Particulars of My Life. Devices included a potato shooting machine and a perpetual motion machine, as well as a device to separate ripe from unripe berries.
^ B. F. Skinner, (1987) "A Thinking Aid," Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 379380.
^ B. F. Skinner, (1974) About Behaviorism.
^ B. F. Skinner, (1950) "Are Theories of Learning Necessary?"
^ B. F. Skinner, (1957) Verbal Behavior. The account in the appendix is that he asked Skinner to explain why he said "No black scorpion is falling on this table."
^ a b A. N. Chomsky, (1957) "A Review of BF Skinner's Verbal Behavior." in the preface, 2nd paragraph
^ J. Michael, (1984) "Verbal Behavior," Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 42, 363376.
^ A photograph of one is in an archive here
^ Picture taken from the LHJ article
^ a b Snopes.com "One Man and a Baby Box", accessed on 9-26-06.
^ I was not a lab rat - Guardian, Friday March 12, 2004.
^ Timberlake & Lucas, (1985) "JEAB"
^ A. N. Chomsky, (1972) "The Case Against B. F. Skinner."
^ To some extent this position is supported in About Behaviorism (1971) which mentions many common misconceptions about Radical Behaviorism.
^ Los Horcones: a Walden Two Community.
Epstein, R. (1997) Skinner as self-manager. Journal of applied behavior analysis. 30, 545-569. Retrieved from the world wide web on: June 2, 2005 from http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/jaba/articles/1997/jaba-30-03-0545.pdf
Chiesa, M. (2004).Radical Behaviorism: The Philosophy and the Science ISBN
Pauly, P. J. Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology ISBN
Articles by B.F. Skinner
Two Types of Conditioned Reflex and a Pseudo Type (1935), Journal of General Psychology, 12, 66-77.
"Superstition" in the Pigeon (1947), Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168-172.
Are Theories of Learning Necessary?, Psychological Review, 57, 193-216, 1950.
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March 21 - April 20
1st Fire sign - 1st Cardinal sign (spring equinox) - Masculine
In analogy with Mars, his ruler, and the 1st House
Aries governs the head.
His colour is red, his stone is the heliotrope, his day is Tuesday, and his professions are businessman, policeman, sportsman, surgeon...
If your sign is Aries or your Ascendant is Aries: you are courageous, frank, enthusiastic, dynamic, fast, bold, expansive, warm, impulsive, adventurous, intrepid, warlike, competitive, but also naive, domineering, self-centred, impatient, rash, thoughtless, blundering, childish, quick-tempered, daring or primitive.
Some traditional associations with Aries: Countries: England, France, Germany, Denmark. Cities: Marseille, Florence, Naples, Birmingham, Wroclaw, Leicester, Capua, Verona. Animals: Rams and sheeps. Food: Leeks, hops, onions, shallots, spices. Herbs and aromatics: mustard, capers, Cayenne pepper, chilli peppers. Flowers and plants: thistles, mint, bryonies, honeysuckles. Trees: hawthorns, thorny trees and bushes. Stones, Metals and Salts: diamonds, iron, potassium phosphate.
April 21 - May 20
1st Earth sign - 1st Fixed sign - Feminine
In analogy with Venus, his ruler, and the 2nd House
Taurus governs the neck and the throat.
Her colour is green or brown, her stone is the emerald, her day is Friday, her professions are cook, artist, estate agent, banker, singer...
If your sign is Taurus or your Ascendant is Taurus: you are faithful, constant, sturdy, patient, tough, persevering, strong, focused, sensual, stable, concrete, realistic, steady, loyal, robust, constructive, tenacious. You need security, but you are also stubborn, rigid, possessive, spiteful, materialistic, fixed or slow.
Some traditional associations with Taurus: Countries: Switzerland, Greek islands, Ireland, Cyprus, Iran. Cities: Dublin, Palermo, Parma, Luzern, Mantua, Leipzig, Saint Louis, Ischia, Capri. Animals: bovines. Food: apples, pears, berries, corn and other cereals, grapes, artichokes, asparagus, beans. Herbs and aromatics: sorrels, spearmint, cloves. Flowers and plants: poppies, roses, digitales, violets, primroses, aquilegia, daisies. Trees: apple trees, pear trees, fig-trees, cypresses, ash trees. Stones, Metals and Salts: copper, calcium and potassium sulphate, emeralds.
May 21 - June 21
1st Air sign - 1st Mutable sign - Masculine
In analogy with Mercury, his ruler, and the 3rd House
Gemini governs the arms, the lungs and the thorax.
His colour is green or silver, his stone is the crystal, his day is Wednesday, his professions are journalist, lawyer, presenter, dancer, salesman, travel agent, teacher...
If your sign is Gemini or if your Ascendant is Gemini: you are expressive, lively, adaptable, quick-witted, humorous, sparkling, playful, sociable, clever, curious, whimsical, independent, polyvalent, brainy, flexible, ingenious, imaginative, charming, fanciful but also capricious, scattered, moody, shallow, inquisitive, opportunistic, unconcerned, selfish, fragile, ironical or changeable.
Some traditional associations with Gemini: Countries: Belgium, Wales, United-States, Lower Egypt, Sardinia, Armenia. Cities: London, Plymouth, Cardiff, Melbourne, San Francisco, Nuremberg, Bruges, Versailles. Animals: monkeys, butterflies, parrots, budgerigars. Food: dried fruits, chestnuts, ground-level vegetables: peas, broad beans, etc. Herbs and aromatics: aniseed, marjoram, lemon balm, cumin. Flowers and plants: lilies of the valley, lavenders, myrtle, ferns, Venus-hair-ferns, bittersweets. Trees: nut trees such as chestnut trees. Stones, Metals and Salts: agates, mercury, silicas and potashes.
June 22 - July 22
1st Water sign - 2nd Cardinal sign (summer solstice) - Feminine
In analogy with the Moon, her ruler, and the 4th House
Cancer governs the stomach and the breast.
Her colour is white or black, her stone is the moonstone, her day is Monday, her professions are catering, the hotel trade, property, antique dealer, archaeologist...
If your sign is Cancer or your Ascendant is Cancer: you are emotional, sentimental, peaceful, imaginative, sensitive, faithful, resistant, protective, vulnerable, generous, romantic, nostalgic, tender, poetic-minded, motherly or fatherly, dreamy, indolent, greedy, devoted but also timorous, unrealistic, evasive, passive, anxious, dependent, stubborn, moody, passive, lazy, touchy, stay-at-home or inaccessible.
Some traditional associations with Cancer: Countries: Holland, Scotland, North and West Africa, New-Zealand, Paraguay, Algeria. Cities: Amsterdam, Manchester, Tokyo, New York, Istanbul, Stockholm, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Cadix, Alger, Tunis, Bern, Magdeburg. Animals: crabs, animals with shells. Food: milk, fishes, watery fruits and vegetables, turnips, white and red cabbages. Herbs and aromatics: tarragon, verbena, saxifrage. Flowers and plants: geraniums, white roses and white flowers in general, water lilies, morning glory, bear's breeches, and lilies. Trees: all trees full of sap. Stones, Metals and Salts: pearls, silver, lime and calcium phosphate.
July 23 - August 22
2nd Fire sign - 2nd Fixed sign - Masculine
In analogy with the Sun, his ruler, and the 5th House
Leo governs the heart and the spine, and the eyes, according to some authors.
His colour is gold or orange, his stone is the diamond, his day is Sunday, his professions are actor, manager, jeweller, fashion and arts, and action (e.g. fireman)...
If your sign is Leo or your Ascendant is Leo: you are proud, determined, strong-willed, loyal, solemn, generous, ambitious, courageous, heroic, conquering, creative, confident, seductive, happy, daring, fiery, majestic, honest, magnanimous, charismatic, responsible, noble, dramatic but also domineering, vain, susceptible, bossy, stubborn, intolerant, self-centred, violent, quick-tempered, nonchalant.
Some traditional associations with Leo: Countries: Italy, Romania, Sicily, Czechoslovakia, Iraq, Lebanon, Southern France. Cities: Rome, Prague, Bombay, Madrid, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Bath, Bristol, Portsmouth, Syracuse, Damas. Animals: lions and felines in general. Food: meat and especially red meat, rice, honey, cereals, grapes, iron-rich vegetables: watercress, spinach etc. Herbs and aromatics: saffron, mint, rosemary, common rue (Ruta graveolens). Flowers and plants: marigolds, sunflowers, celandines, passion flowers. Trees: palm trees, laurel, walnuts, olive trees, lemon and orange trees. Stones, Metals and Salts: gold, rubies, magnesium and sodium phosphate.
August 23 - September 22
2nd Earth sign - 2nd Mutable sign - Feminine
In analogy with Mercury, her ruler, and the 6th house
Virgo governs the intestine.
Her colour is green or yellow, her stone is the agate, her day is Wednesday, her professions are accountant, secretary, writer, computer scientist, nurse, doctor...
If your sign is Virgo or your Ascendant is Virgo: you are brainy, perspicacious, attentive to detail and numbers, analytical, serious, competent, scrupulous, sensible, modest, logical, tidy, well-organized, clean, hard-working, provident, honest, faithful, reserved, shy, helpful, a perfectionist, but also narrow-minded, calculating, irritating, petty, anxious, cold, repressed or caustic.
Some traditional associations with Virgo: Countries: Brazil, Greece, Turkey, West Indies, United-States (the same as Gemini), Yugoslavia, Crete, Mesopotamia, Lower Silesia, State of Virginia. Cities: Paris, Boston, Athens, Lyon, Corinthia, Heidelberg, spa towns in general. Animals: dogs, cats and all pets. Food: root vegetables: carrots, celeriac, kohlrabies, potatoes etc... Also dried fruits such as chestnuts. Herbs and aromatics: the same as Gemini whose ruler is Mercury too, lilies of the valley, lavenders, myrtles, ferns, Venus-hair-ferns, bittersweets, clovers. Flowers and plants: small bright-coloured flowers, especially blue and yellow, such as dandelions, buttercups, yellow dead-nettles, buglosses, forget-me-nots ; cardamoms, oak leaves, acorns. Trees: all nut trees, e.g. the hazelnut tree... Stones, Metals and Salts: sards (red agate), mercury, nickel, potassium sulphate and iron phosphate.
September 23 - October 22
2nd Air sign - 3rd Cardinal sign (autumn equinox) - Masculine
In analogy with Venus, his ruler and the 7th House
Libra governs the kidneys and the bladder.
His colour is blue or red (not too bright), his stone is the opal, his day is Friday, his professions are in the beauty, luxury or fashion industry, musician, artistic creator, lawyer, mediator...
If your sign is Libra or your Ascendant is Libra: you are sentimental, charming, polite, refined, loyal, a pacifist, fair, distinguished, light-hearted, romantic, learned, ethereal, nice, well-groomed, a perfectionist, calm, sweet, tolerant, sociable, elegant, considerate, seductive, aesthetic, indulgent, but also hesitant, weak, indecisive, selfish, fragile, fearful, indolent, cool or even insensitive.
Some traditional associations with Libra: Countries: Japan, Canada, Indo-China, South Pacific Islands, Burma, Argentina, Upper Egypt, Tibet. Cities: Lisbon, Vienna, Frankfurt, Leeds, Nottingham, Johannesburg, Antwerp, Fribourg. Animals: lizards and small reptiles. Food: berries, apples, pears, grapes, artichokes, asparagus, beans, spices, corn and other cereals. Herbs and aromatics: mint, Cayenne pepper. Flowers and plants: hydrangea, big roses, blue flowers and those associated with Taurus also ruled by Venus, namely, poppies, digitales, violets, primroses, aquilegia, and daisies. Trees: ash trees, poplars, apple trees, pear trees, fig-trees, cypresses. Stones, Metals and Salts: sapphires, jade, copper, potassium and sodium phosphate.
October 23 - November 21
2nd Water sign - 3rd Fixed sign - Feminine
In analogy with Pluto, her ruler with Mars, and the 8th House
Scorpio governs the sexual organs and the anus.
Her colour is black or dark red, her stone is the malachite, her day is Tuesday, her professions are gynaecologist, psychiatrist, detective, the military, army, stockbroker, asset managemer...
If your sign is Scorpio or your Ascendant is Scorpio: you are secretive, powerful, domineering, resistant, intuitive, asserted, charismatic, magnetic, strong-willed, perspicacious, passionate, creative, independent, vigorous, generous, loyal, hard-working, persevering, untameable, possessive, cunning, ambitious, sexual, proud, intense, competitive but also aggressive, destructive, stubborn, anxious, tyrannical, perverse, sadistic, violent, self-centred, complex, jealous.
Some traditional associations with Scorpio: Countries: Morocco, Norway, Algeria, Syria, Korea, Uruguay, Transvaal. Cities: Washington, New Orleans, Valencia, Liverpool, Milwaukee, Fes, Halifax, Hull, Cincinnati. Animals: insects and other invertebrates. Food: the same strong tasting food as for Aries: red meat, garlic, onions, leeks, spices. Herbs and aromatics: aloes, witch hazels, nepeta, mustard, capers, peppers. Flowers and plants: geraniums, rhododendrons, thistles, mint, honeysuckles. Trees: blackthorns, bushes. Stones, Metals and Salts: opals, steel and iron, calcium and sodium sulphate.
November 22 - December 20
3rd Fire sign - 3rd Mutable sign - Masculine
In analogy with Jupiter, his ruler, and the 9th House
Sagittarius governs the thighs and the liver.
His colour is indigo, orange or red, his stone is the carbuncle, his day is Thursday, his professions are explorer, commercial traveller, pilot, philosopher, writer, clergyman...
If your sign is Sagittarius or your Ascendant is Sagittarius: you are charismatic, fiery, energetic, likeable, benevolent, tidy, jovial, optimistic, extraverted, amusing, straightforward, demonstrative, charming, independent, adventurous, straightforward, bold, exuberant, freedom-loving.
Some traditional associations with Sagittarius: Countries: Spain, Australia, Hungary, South Africa, Arabia, Yugoslavia. Cities: Stuttgart, Toledo, Budapest, Cologne, Avignon, Sheffield, Naples, Toronto. Animals: fallow deers, hinds, and all games. Food: grapefruits, raisins, onions, leeks, bulb vegetables. Herbs and aromatics: aniseeds, sage, bilberries, cinnamon, borage, mosses, sage, blueberry, patience, balsam. Flowers and plants: dandelions, carnations, thistles. Trees: mulberry trees, chestnut trees, ash trees, lemon trees, oaks. Stones, Metals and Salts: topaz, tin, silica, potassium chloride.
December 21 - January 19
3rd Earth sign - 4th Cardinal sign (winter solstice) - Feminine
In analogy with Saturn, her ruler, and the 10th House
Capricorn governs the knees, the bones and the skin.
Her colour is black, or grey, green or brown, her stone is the jade, her day is Saturday, her professions are politician, researcher, jurist, scientist, engineer, administrator...
If your sign is Capricorn or your Ascendant is Capricorn: you are serious, cold, disciplined, patient, focused, thoughtful, ambitious, indomitable, cautious, lucid, persistent, provident, steady, introverted, stern, wilful, hard-working, responsible, persevering, honest, realistic, loyal, reserved, resolute, moralistic, quiet, rigorous, attached and reliable. But you may also be curt, withdrawn, calculating, petty, cruel, unpleasant, ruthless, selfish, dull, rigid, slow or sceptical.
Some traditional associations with Capricorn: Countries: India, Mexico, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Thrace, the Yugoslavian coast, the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, Albania, Bulgaria, Saxony. Cities: Delhi, Oxford, Brussels, Mexico, Port-Saïd, Gent, Constance, Mecklenburg, all the administrative centres of capital cities. Animals: goats, pigs and animals with split hooves. Food: meat, potatoes, barley, beets, spinach, medlars, onions, quinces, flour and starchy food in general. Herbs and aromatics: indian hemp, comfreys, centaureas, hemlocks, henbanes. Flowers and plants: ivies, wild pansies, amaranths, pansies. Trees: pines, willows, flowering ashes, aspens, poplars, alders. Stones, Metals and Salts: turquoises, amethysts, silver, lead, calcium phosphate, calcium fluorine.
January 20 - February 18
3rd Air sign - 4th Fixed sign - Masculine
In analogy with Uranus his ruler, with Saturn, and the 11th House
Aquarius governs the ankles and the legs.
His colour is navy blue or indigo, his stone is the sapphire, his day is Saturday, his professions are astrologer, high technologies, scientist, astronaut, psychiatrist, actor, electrician...
If your sign is Aquarius or your Ascendant is Aquarius: you are idealistic, altruistic, detached, independent, original, surprising, gifted, contradictory, innovative, humanistic, likeable, friendly, self-confident, impassive, quiet, intuitive, creative, charitable, elusive, disconcerting, generous, tolerant, paradoxical, and you cannot stand any kind of constraint. But you may also be marginal, resigned, distant, utopian, maladjusted, eccentric and cold.
Some traditional associations with Aquarius: Countries: Russia, Sweden, Poland, Israel, Iran, Abyssinia. Cities: Moscow, Salzburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Saint Petersburg. Animals: long distance big birds such as the albatross. Food: citrus fruits, apples, limes, dried fruits and easily preserved food. Herbs and aromatics: peppers, hot red peppers, star-fruits, and generally herbs that are spicy or with an unusual flavour. Flowers and plants: orchids, dancing ladies, polygonatum. Trees: fruit trees. Stones, Metals and Salts: aquamarines, aluminium, sodium chloride and magnesium phosphate.
February 19 - March 20
3rd Water sign - 4th Mutable sign - Feminine
In analogy with Neptune her ruler with Jupiter, and the 12th House
Pisces governs the feet and the blood circulation.
Her colour is green or purple or turquoise blue, her stone is the amethyst, her day is Thursday, her professions are seamanship and and faraway travels, musician, social and emergency worker, doctor, writer and jobs in remote places...
If your sign is Pisces or your Ascendant is Pisces: you are emotional, sensitive, dedicated, adaptable, nice, wild, compassionate, romantic, imaginative, flexible, opportunist, intuitive, impossible to categorized, irrational, seductive, placid, secretive, introverted, pleasant, artistic, and charming. But you may also be indecisive, moody, confused, wavering, lazy, scatterbrained, vulnerable, unpredictable and gullible.
Some traditional associations with Pisces: Countries: Portugal, Scandinavia, small Mediterranean islands, Gobi desert, Sahara. Cities: Jerusalem, Warsaw, Alexandria, Seville, Santiago de Compostela. Animals: fishes, aquatic mammals and all animals living in the water. Food: melons, cucumbers, lettuces, vegemite sugar, pumpkins. Herbs and aromatics: lemon, chicory, limes, mosses. Flowers and plants: water lilies, willows, aquatic plants. Trees: fig-trees, willows, aquatic trees. Stones, Metals and Salts: heliotropes, moonstone, platinum, tin, iron phosphate and potassium sulphate.
Sun Aspects
Sun conjunction Jupiter orb +5°17'
Sun square Uranus orb -0°33'
Sun conjunction Mercury orb +6°20'
Sun square Neptune orb +3°50'
Sun semi-sextile Venus orb -1°31'
The Sun represents vitality, individuality, will-power and creative energy and honours. For a woman, it also represents her father, and later her husband. The Sun is one of the most important symbols in the birth chart, as much as the Ascendant, then the Moon (a bit less for a man), the ruler of the Ascendant and the fast-moving planets.
It's element is fire; it is hot and dry, it governs Leo, is in exaltation in Aries and is in analogy with the heart. It represents the boss, authority, beside the father and the husband ; the age of the Sun goes from 20 years old to about 40, following the Venus age when one is aware of his seductive power.
Temperament : Bilious
Characterology : Emotive, Active, Secondary, passionate type.
Moon Aspects
Moon sextile Neptune orb -1°03'
Moon trine Uranus orb +4°20'
Moon sextile Venus orb +3°22'
Moon semi-square Pluto orb -0°28'
Moon semi-sextile Jupiter orb -0°23'
The Moon represents instinctive reaction, unconscious predestination, everyday mood, sensitivity, emotions, the feminine side of the personality, intuition, imagination. For a man, she represents his mother and later his wife, and his relationship with women in general. For a woman, the Moon is almost as important as the Sun and the Ascendant. Her element is water, she is cold and moist, she rules Cancer, is in exaltation in Taurus and is in analogy with the stomach.
She symbolizes the mother, wife, the crowd, the Moon is associated with birth and childhood. Tradition also matches her with the end of life, after Saturn the old age, it is thus customary to go back to one's place of birth to die: the end of life meets the very beginning.
Temperament : Lymphatic
Characterology : Emotive, non Active and Primary type or Non-Emotive, non Active and Primary, Nervous or Amorphous type.
Mercury Aspects
Sun conjunction Mercury orb +6°20'
Mercury square Pluto orb -4°14'
Mercury square Uranus orb -6°53'
Mercury represents communication, logical and rational mind, intellectual skills. Earth is its element, it is cold and dry, and it rules Virgo and Gemini, is in exaltation in Virgo and is in analogy with the arms, hands, nervous system.
It represents tradesmen, lawyers, messengers; the age of Mercury goes from 8 or10 years old to about 15..
Temperament : Nervous
Characterology : Emotive, non Active and Primary type or Non-Emotive, Active and Primary, Nervous or Sanguine type.
Venus Aspects
Venus trine Neptune orb +2°19'
Venus sextile Uranus orb +0°58'
Moon sextile Venus orb +3°22'
Venus semi-square Mars orb +1°07'
Sun semi-sextile Venus orb -1°31'
Venus represents the way one loves, relationships, sharing, affectivity, seductive ability. For men, she also corresponds to the kind of woman he's attracted to (but not especially in marriage which is more symbolized by the Moon, Venus is the lover and not the wife). Her element is the Air, she is moist, rules Taurus and Libra, is in exaltation in Pisces and is in analogy with the kidneys, the venous system, the bladder, the neck.
She represents the artists, tradesmen, occupations linked to beauty and charm; the age of Venus goes from 15 to about 25 years old.
Temperament : Sanguine and Lymphatic
Characterology : Emotive, non Active and Primary type or Emotive, non Active and Secondary type.
Mars Aspects
Mars sextile Saturn orb -0°06'
Mars sextile Pluto orb +1°46'
Venus semi-square Mars orb +1°07'
Mars represents the desire for action and physical energy, sexuality, strength. For a woman, Mars corresponds to the kind of man she's attracted to (but not especially in marriage which is rather symbolized by the Sun, Mars is the lover, not the husband). Fire is its element, it is hot and dry, and it rules Aries and Scorpio (along with Pluto), is in exaltation with Capricorn and is in analogy with the muscles and the spleen.
It represents the soldiers, sportsmen, warriors, surgeons, blacksmiths... ; the age of Mars goes from 42 to 50 years old.
Temperament : Bilious
Characterology : Emotive, Active, Primary type. It is a Choleric.
Jupiter Aspects
Sun conjunction Jupiter orb +5°17'
Jupiter square Neptune orb -1°27'
Moon semi-sextile Jupiter orb -0°23'
Jupiter square Uranus orb +4°44'
Jupiter represents expansion and power, benevolence, large vision and generosity. Its element is Air, it is hot and moist, and it rules Sagittarius and Pisces (along with Neptune), is in exaltation with Cancer and is in analogy with the hips and endocrinal system.
It represents the governors, magistrates, professors, religious men too; the age of Jupiter goes from 50 to 55 or even 70 years old.
Temperament : Sanguine
Characterology : Emotive, Active, Primary type; it is an extrovert Choleric. Actually the humid version of Mars, inclined to action like him.
Saturn Aspects
Mars sextile Saturn orb -0°06'
Saturn trine Pluto orb +1°40'
Saturn sesqui-quadrate Neptune orb +1°04'
Saturn represents concentration, effort, perseverance, time, the hard reality, inevitable consequences. Earth is its element, it is cold and dry, and it rules Capricorn and Aquarius (along with Uranus), is in exaltation in Libra and is in analogy with the bones (skeleton) and the skin.
It represents the grandparents, old people, scientists, knowledgeable men, Saturn corresponds to old age; it goes from 70 years old until death.
Temperament : Nervous
Characterology : Non-Emotive, Active and Secondary type or Emotive, non Active and Secondary type or sometimes Non-Emotive, non Active and Secondary type; it is a Phlegmatic, a Sentimental or an Empathic type
Uranus Aspects
Sun square Uranus orb -0°33'
Uranus opposite Neptune orb -3°17'
Venus sextile Uranus orb +0°58'
Moon trine Uranus orb +4°20'
Jupiter square Uranus orb +4°44'
Mercury square Uranus orb -6°53'
Uranus represents individual freedom, originality, independence, marginality, avant guard inspiration, ultra modernism. Fire is its element, it is dry, and it rules Aquarius, is in exaltation with Scorpio and is in analogy with the brain and the nerves.
It represents inventors, odd characters, revolutionaries.
Temperament : Nervous to the extreme
Characterology : Emotive, Active, Secondary type; it is a Passionate type.
Neptune Aspects
Venus trine Neptune orb +2°19'
Moon sextile Neptune orb -1°03'
Uranus opposite Neptune orb -3°17'
Jupiter square Neptune orb -1°27'
Sun square Neptune orb +3°50'
Saturn sesqui-quadrate Neptune orb +1°04'
Neptune represents escapism, impressionability, daydreaming, delusions, carelessness, deception or intuition, dishonesty or inspiration, telepathy. Water is its element, it is moist, it rules Pisces, is in exaltation in Cancer, though some authors say it is Leo, and is in analogy with the vegetative system.
It represents dreamers, mediums, magicians, merchants of illusion, drug addicts.
Temperament : rather Lymphatic
Characterology : Emotive, non Active, Primary or Secondary type; it is a Sentimental, or sometimes Amorphous type.
Pluto Aspects
Saturn trine Pluto orb +1°40'
Mars sextile Pluto orb +1°46'
Moon semi-square Pluto orb -0°28'
Mercury square Pluto orb -4°14'
Pluto represents deep transformations, mutations and eliminations, sexuality and magnetism, power and secrets, destruction with a view to regeneration, the phoenix rising from the ashes. Its element is indefinite; burning (like lava in fusion ?), it rules Scorpio, is in exaltation in Pisces and is in analogy with the sexual organs and excretion.
It represents dictators, sadistic people, violent characters, is instinctive and powerful but also mysterious with hidden strengths.
Temperament : rather Bilious
Characterology : Emotive or non-Emotive, Active, Primary type; it is a Passionate Choleri typec.
Chiron is almost renowned and used everywhere. Most astrologers consider it as a kind of "mediator" between Saturn and outer planets. Consequently, Chiron is of Saturn's nature and at the same time is influenced by Uranus, the first slow-moving planet. Astrologically, it symbolizes wisdom, patience and the faculty to reduce others' sufferings: it is said to be the "great healer" of the zodiac. Like all the secondary bodies, it must be in close conjunction with planets or angles in order to fully express its action.
Ceres, the biggest of the four minor asteroids used besides Chiron, is associated with the mythological goddess of growing plants and harvest and also symbolizes physical constitution, vitality and fertility. She's also known as Demeter, according to the astrologer Zipporah Dobyns, linked to the symbolism of the mother but in a less emotive and more physical way than the Moon. Ceres is thought to be the ruler of Virgo, in exaltation in Gemini, in exile in Pisces and in fall in Sagittarius. Keywords associated with Ceres could be order, practical sense, worry, precision, modesty, method, sobriety, motherhood, fertility, the Earth: a kind of a more cerebral Moon...
Pallas is sometimes used in modern Astrology: she represents intelligence, abstract and global thinking talents. It is usually considered to be a determining element in political strategy.
Juno is the asteroid corresponding to the adaptation to the marital partner and to the defence of individual rights; it is thus used in the field of marriage.
Vesta is rarely used and brings the ability to efficiently devote oneself to a cause.
The North Node represents the goals that must be achieved during life, in the karmic sense according to some traditions. Its position in house indicates in what field an effort is necessary in order to evolve. The North Node is often called the Dragon's head, it is usually considered beneficial, a bit like Jupiter with the planets. The Lunar nodes are fictional points and not actual heavenly bodies: they are the intersections of the Moon with the Ecliptic (the path made by the Sun in its orbit as seen from the Earth). The axis of the Lunar nodes moves 19 degrees each year, namely a bit more than three minutes each day.
The South Node is diametrically opposed to the North Node, therefore it faces it (it's not drawn here, it's the same symbol but upside down). It symbolizes what has already been achieved or acquired, in a karmic sense: it's the past from which it's advised to move on in order to progress. The South Node is rather negative, of a Saturnian nature: the experience through suffering.
Lilith or the Dark Moon represents the uncrossable threshold, taboos, the individual's provocative and fascinating side, including on a sexual level. She symbolizes violence and "untameability", the radical and deep-seated refusal to submit. The keywords for Lilith can be sterility, sadism, perversity, castration, sadomasochism, eroticism, orgasm, forbidden fantasies, marginality, cruelty; redemption, illumination, rebelliousness... Lilith's opposite point is called Priapus; it is the Lunar perigee, the position where the Moon is closest to the Earth. It symbolizes man's primitive nature, the horror hidden in our deepest self; masochism, extreme sensuality, impulsiveness, irrationality and excess. Physically speaking, the Dark Moon is the focal point unoccupied by the Earth: it is not a concrete body but a mathematical point.
The Part of Fortune is an ancient concept, used by Ptolemy and other astrologers before him. Firstly, it has nothing to do with fortune! In modern astrology, it is actually used to enhance a planet or angle when in close conjunction with it: it thus amplifies the meaning associated to the point affected by its presence. It is calculated in the following way:
Part of Fortune = AS + Moon - Sun (it is the Moons position when the Sun rises)
The classical Part of Fortune, of which the calculus method is unchanged whether in a diurnal or nocturnal chart, is usually distinguished from the diurnal/nocturnal Part of Fortune which is calculated by the formula AS + Sun - Moon for a nocturnal chart, and AS + Moon - Sun in a diurnal chart.
We currently use the latter formula for our astrological programmes.
The First House or Ascendant represents one's behaviour in the eyes of others, and also one's health. It corresponds to the way the individual acts in the world. It is the image of the personality seen by others and the person's visible behaviour expressed outwardly. The 1st House is in analogy with Aries and thus Mars too, and then the Sun. It is an angular house, the most important one with the Midheaven, maybe even more so due to its link with the body and health.
The Tenth House still called the Midheaven, is the highest point amidst the houses, at the top of the chart, in the South, and relates to destiny in general and career (and not daily work as meant by the Sixth House). The Midheaven represents our achievements and goals in the social sphere, our social position in society, and becomes more and more important as we get older. It is in analogy with Capricorn and Saturn. The Tenth House is the most important angular house along with the Ascendant.
The First House or Ascendant represents one's behaviour in the eyes of others and also one's health. It corresponds to the way the individual acts in the world. It is the image of the personality as seen by others and the person's visible behaviour expressed outwardly. The 1st House is in analogy with Aries and thus Mars too and then the Sun. It is an angular house, the most important one with the Midheaven, maybe even more so due to its link with the body and health; the Ascendant is as important as the Sun in a natal chart.
The Second House is the sphere of material security, the money we earn, our possessions, also in a symbolic meaning (close people etc). It is in analogy with Taurus and Venus. It is a succedent house, quite important.
The Third House is the sphere of social and intellectual apprenticeship, studies, relationships with close people and surroundings, short trips, light-hearted and quick contacts, correspondences. It is in analogy with Gemini and Mercury. It's a cadent house, less important than the angular and succedent ones.
The Fourth House also called Immum Coeli is the sphere of inner emotions, family, the father, home and roots, but also the home one creates. It's Home Sweet Home, security and cocoon. It is in analogy with Cancer and the Moon. It's an angular and important house.
The Fifth House is the sphere of pleasures and love affairs (but not commitment or marriage), creations and entertainments, children, arts and game. It is in analogy with Leo and the Sun. It's a succedent and quite important house.
The Sixth House is the sphere of apprenticeship and effort in the work environment, daily life, health on a daily basis and not operations or long-term diseases, relationships with co-workers or subordinates, desire for improvement, analysis and detail. It is in analogy with Virgo and Mercury. It is a cadent house, less important than the angular and succedent ones.
The Seventh House also called the Descendant (in front of the Ascendant) is the sphere of partnership, marriage, contracts, relationships with others, the outer world. It is in analogy with Libra and Venus, and Saturn to a lesser extent. It is an angular and important house.
The Eighth House is the sphere of emotional security, the depths of the self, secrets and paranormal, transcendence, sexuality, mysteries, upheavals, surgical operations, others' money (investments, inheritances), crises, transformation after evolution, death. It is in analogy with Scorpio and Pluto, and Mars to a lesser extent. It is a succedent and quite important house.
The Ninth House is the sphere of high studies, both physical and mental journeys (philosophy, spirituality), rebelliousness, changes of scenery, desire for dealing with the unknown. It is in analogy with Sagittarius and Jupiter. It is a cadent house, less important than the angular and succedent ones.
The Tenth House still called the Midheaven, is the highest point amidst the houses, at the top of the chart, in the South, and relates to destiny in general and career (and not daily work as meant by the Sixth House). The Midheaven represents our achievements and goals in the social sphere, our social position in society, and becomes more and more important as we get older. It is in analogy with Capricorn and Saturn. The Tenth House is the most important angular house along with the Ascendant.
The Eleventh House is the sphere of friendship and protection, projects, search for social acceptance and security, collective and humanitarian actions. It is in analogy with Aquarius and Uranus, and Saturn to a lesser extent. It's a succedent and quite important house.
The Twelfth House is the sphere of hidden things, enemies, closed or remote places (hospital, prison, convent etc.), ordeals, secrecy, solitude, long-term illnesses but also sincere devotion and genuine compassion. It is in analogy with Pisces and Neptune.