A Quick Guide to the Glyphs (Symbols) Used in Your Chart

The Zodiac signs are in the table right. You can find their interpretations anywhere, so I haven't wasted space on descriptions. But please bear in mind that the signs are grouped into two different sets.

First are the elements which color the temperament:
Fire (red signs, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius)
Earth (purple signs, Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn)
Air (Blue signs, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)
Water (green signs, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces)

Second group is the Quadruplicities:
Cardinal - Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn
Fixed - Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius
Mutable - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces.
A good explanation is here.

Each sign has a ruling planet, but of course, at the time of your birth a planet could be in any sign, so immediately you start to get some cross-coloration. Some planets find some signs more challenging than others. A planet in a sign that means a bit more work is in its detriment. Conversely, if it's in a congenial sign, it's exalted.

The third group of glyphs is the aspects. I've added an explanation down by that group.
Zodiac Signs
ARIES: LIBRA
TAURUS SCORPIO
GEMINI SAGITTARIUS
CANCER CAPRICORN
LEO AQUARIUS
VIRGO PISCES
Symbols for Planets and Other Important Points
SUN: yang. Expression of willpower. The patriarch. Rules Leo.
MOON: Yin. Expression of instinct, habits, knee-jerk reactions and phobias. The mother. Rules Cancer.
Mercury: Neutral (amoral) quicksilver, conductor/messenger. Communications. Rules Gemini. Traditional rulership of Virgo.
VENUS: Female. Rules Taurus and Libra. Aesthetics, Sensuality. Diplomacy, playing ends off against the middle.
MARS: Rules Aries. Volition, Impulsiveness, energy, bellicosity,
JUPITER: rules Sagittarius. In traditional astrology, a benefic or "good" planet, but it has its bad side. Too much easy living or lack of challenge can be just as bad as too much adversity.
SATURN: rules Capricorn. Traditional malefic but provides necessary structure and hurdles that promote development.
URANUS: rules Aquarius. Electricity, explosions, things unexpected and sudden. Revolutionary movements, utopians and cranks. The unconventional and original.
NEPTUNE: rules Pisces. Dreams, fogs, confusions, drugs, photography, colors. Denial and dissociation; imagination and idealism.
PLUTO: rules Scorpio. Atomic energy, volcanoes and earthquakes, hidden power, secrets, pollution. The phoenix -- may necessitate breakdown of status quo before good things can come. Things outside our control.
CHIRON: The Wounded Healer. Chiron was a centaur who invented medicine and tutored all the Greek heroes. But he couldn't cure his own wounded foot . Now considered at least a co-ruler of Virgo.
CERES: asteroid discovered in 1801. Earth mother. Gaia. Ecology.
VESTA: asteroid. Hearth-keeper. Virgin. Faith.
JUNO: asteroid. Wife. Contract of marriage.
PALLAS: asteroid. Independent woman. Justice.
Symbols for Aspects (Relationships Between Points)
CONJUNCTION. Neither good nor bad, this represents the union of two points.
OPPOSITION. Considered to have more energy than a conjunction, this is a relationship of 180 degrees between two points.
SQUARE. Even more energetic than the opposition, the square is an aspect of 90 degrees. Traditionally considered challenging, probably because energy can be hard to control.
SEXTILE. 60 degrees. Traditionally considered benefic, a representation of opportunity. In other words, a tool for making the archetypes work together easily.
TRINE 120 degrees. Traditionally a strong benefic, but a grand trine (too much good luck) is actually considered to be malefic because the person meets no challenges and therefore never grows.
INCONJUNCT 150 degrees. Signifies a psychological challenge in making two points work together
SEMI-SEXTILE 30 degrees. A minor aspect. Basically a sextile but less so.
SEMISQUARE 45 degrees. A square but less so. Irritations rather than challenges.
Q
 QUINTILE - 72 degrees. The fifth harmonic -- considered an aspect for talent, for harnessing the energies of two related points and making something original.

As regards the planets, the more you know about Greek mythology the better. The Greek gods make good metaphors for the archetypes of the personality.

Sun is Apollo, Moon is Selene/Hecate.

Another interesting way to view the planets is in terms of the order of their discovery. Until the 1700's we only knew about the first 7, which is why Saturn had the worst reputation.

Uranus was discovered by Herschel and was originally named after him. The symbol has an H in it because of him. And around that time came the Industrial Revolution.

Neptune's discovery in the mid-1800's was at roughly the time of the Chemical Revolution -- photography, ether in surgery, aniline dyes and hence the availability of color for the masses, both for textiles and painting.

Pluto's discovery in the 30's came about just before the atomic revolution and the beginnings of industrial pollution, impersonal warfare ... Note how the glyph resembles an atom in a crucible.

Chron, a dead coment that orbits between Jupiter and Saturn, was discovered in 1974 and seems to parallel the rise of holistic healing and the New Age.

The four largest asteroids all represent aspects of the feminine, and their discovery from 1801 onwards might connote not just the rise of feminism but of an awareness in men of their anima or feminine aspect.

An aspect measures the distance between two points in a chart.

A chart is 360 degrees. Aspects denote a pythagorean harmonic -- a division of the circle by 2, 3, 4 and so on. I have listed all the major aspects and some minor ones.

Think of aspects as functions. For example, Venus is charm, Pluto is power: a hard aspect such as Venus square pluto would suggest using charm to get one's way, OR being susceptible to such manipulation.

Another example: Mercury, communication, with Uranus which is quickness or unconventionality. This could be a Robin Williams aspect or it could be someone who is very contradictory or disordered in their thoughts, or it might be dyslexia or it might be a brilliant inventor. It depends on the aspect AND what signs and houses the two planets are AND what other relationships the two planets have besides this one.

 

EVERYTHING IS RELATED TO EVERYTHING ELSE!!