Foliage through a pile of nativity charts, and you lot may discover that in some the planets are huddled together in one part of the circle, while in others they're scattered around the bike like numbers on a clock. These groupings can exist revealing regardless of the signs and planets involved. Astrologers have developed two main ways of assessing the configurations of an astrological chart:
  • Hemisphere analysis: This ane is easy. All you accept to do is divide the chart circumvolve in half, once horizontally and once vertically, and count the number of planets on each side.
  • Design assay: This method, pioneered by astrologer Marc Edmund Jones in his Guide to Horoscope Estimation, analyzes the way the planets are strewn around the wheel of the horoscope.

Both methods rely only on patterns, not on signs and planets.

Hemisphere analysis

A quick glance at your horoscope provides an piece of cake entry into interpretation — and all you take to do is count. First locate the horizon line in your chart — the line running from the ascendant to the descendant, every bit shown. If vii or more than planets are above the horizon, yous're an extrovert, who looks to the external world for recognition and endorsement. If most of your planets populate the area beneath the line, you're an introvert, who needs privacy, seeks personal fulfillment, and may be uncomfortable in the limelight.

horizon line on astrological chart Dividing your chart by the horizon and the meridian

At present, dissever your nautical chart in one-half vertically or forth the meridian, which runs from your midheaven, or 1000.C., at the twelve o'clock spot on your chart to your I.C. at the 6 o'clock spot. That line splits the horoscope into two sectors: the eastern hemisphere on the left and the western hemisphere on the right.

If most of your planets lie on the eastern or left side of the horoscope, you have the enviable power to make things happen, to pave your ain way. You're highly contained, but you lot may too be intolerant of people who can't seem to call the shots the way you can.

If your chart leans to the right, so to speak, with 7 or more than planets on the western or right side of the circle, yous're more dependent on circumstances than y'all may appear to exist. You demand to seize the moment when it arrives, and you may feel that you lot must curve to the demands of others in lodge to succeed.

Most of us have planets on both sides of split, no matter which way you bisect the circle. But there are some people, including the greatest of the great, whose planets occupy merely one hemisphere. Serena Williams, the most gifted female person athlete on Earth, has all of her planets on the correct side of her chart. That doesn't in any way belittle her accomplishments. It merely suggests that she responds to circumstances and is adaptable. Not so with Beyoncé ― with every 1 of her planets on the left side of her chart, she is self-reliant and independent, a self-starter with a volition of atomic number 26.

The ascendant symbolizes your surface personality. The descendant represents your approach to matrimony and partnerships. The midheaven — the apex of your nautical chart — describes your appetite and public image. At the lesser of your chart, the imum coeli, or I.C., indicates your attitude toward home and family.

Pattern analysis

In 1941, astrologer Marc Edmund Jones (a Libran) identified seven planetary patterns which, like hemispheric partitioning, operate without regard to specific signs and planets. Ever since then, students of astrology have been exploring the meaning of those patterns. Hither they are:
  • The bundle: If all of your planets are concentrated within four signs or almost 120° (a trine), you have a bundle chart, regardless of which signs are involved or where on the bike that packet of planets happens to fall. This pattern, shown in the post-obit figure, grants you a clear focus, firm interests, confidence, and personal strength. It also limits you: You lot're strong where you're strong and thoroughly unconscious (or uninterested) where you aren't. Examples: George W. Bush, Sylvester Stallone, Paul McCartney, and Scarlett Johansson.

The bundle pattern. The bundle pattern

  • The bowl: If your planets cover more than 120° but no more than 180° (or half the zodiac), you take a basin nautical chart, as shown in the following effigy. This highly motivating design tin can create a frustrating feeling that something is missing, combined with a determination to fill that void. These people don't sit around waiting. They're activists, and they become things done, like it or not. Examples: Abraham Lincoln, Vincent van Gogh, Amelia Earhart, Billie Jean King, Ella Fitzgerald, and Donald J. Trump.

The bowl pattern. The bowl pattern

  • The bucket: A bucket nautical chart (sometimes called a funnel) is similar a bowl except that i planet (or two in shut conjunction) is separated from the rest, as in the following figure. That singleton planet, the handle of the bucket, becomes the focus of the chart. Because its needs are always paramount, Marc Edmund Jones compared that solitary planet to a toothache. It commands attending — and information technology hurts. By sign and by firm, information technology acts as a counterweight to the rest of the chart. Four people with saucepan charts: Taylor Swift; Harry, Duke of Sussex; Harry's sister-in-law, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The bucket pattern. The bucket pattern

  • The locomotive: If the x planets in your chart line up neatly over two-thirds of the zodiac, as shown in the following figure, you've got drive, stamina, and practicality. The ii about of import planets are the first and the terminal: the locomotive, which leads the starry parade when the chart is rotated in a clockwise direction, and the caboose, which picks up the rear. Isaac Newton, George Washington, Jennifer Lawrence, and Oprah Winfrey share this pattern.

The locomotive pattern. The locomotive pattern

  • The splash: Only as it sounds, the planets in this relatively rare blueprint are sprinkled more or less evenly around the angelic bike, as in the post-obit figure. With a splash chart, a profusion of experience is yours for the taking. The drawback? Much as yous enjoy splashing effectually in that bright blue pool, your energy can be scattered and diffuse. Examples of the splash at its finest: Isaac Asimov; and the French politico and md Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Doctors without Borders.

The splash pattern. The splash blueprint

  • The splay: This pattern, shown in the following figure, is similar to the splash except that here, the planets are distributed unevenly over the chart, with as many as 3 clumps of three or more planets. People with this pattern accept a multitude of talents only it takes them a while to find themselves as they ricochet from one activity to another. When at last they settle into something, they are strongly dedicated, refusing to bow to pop stance or to be pushed. Example: W. B. Yeats.

The splay pattern. The splay pattern

  • The seesaw: If you have two groups of opposing planets separated past a couple of empty houses on each side, equally shown in the post-obit figure, you're always bouncing up and down on the seesaw of circumstance. An excellent mediator, gauge, and administrator, you can view things objectively because you're supremely enlightened of the ii sides of your own nature. Simply you may feel internally separate considering you lot have two sets of needs and talents, and you lot may notice it a challenge to satisfy both. Examples include Whitney Houston, Ted Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Malcolm Gladwell, Alexander McQueen, and Barack Obama.

The seesaw pattern. The seesaw pattern

Be brash: these patterns are valuable aids to interpretation, but sometimes it's hard to detect any pattern at all. When that happens, forget near finding the perfect label. Don't retrieve, don't judge. Just accept in the chart every bit the visual symbol of a soul. Only look.

Consider the signs

After mulling over the patterns of hemispheric division and overall design in your chart, you're ready to assess your chart according to element and style. Begin by counting the planets in each chemical element (fire, earth, air, and water) and in each mode (cardinal, stock-still, and mutable). The following tabular array shows you which is which. If you lot know the time of your birth, add your ascendant and midheaven for a total of 12 distinct components. Want to include the furnishings of Chiron (the comet)? Exist my guest. But continue in mind that we're still learning about it.
Elements and Modes
Burn down Earth Air Water
Cardinal Aries Capricorn Libra Cancer
Fixed Leo Taurus Aquarius Scorpio
Mutable Sagittarius Virgo Gemini Pisces

Most charts are more or less counterbalanced, with two to four planets in each element. If y'all accept five or more planets in signs of one element, the traits associated with that chemical element are emphasized. Meet the post-obit table for explanations of what such an abundance may mean for you.

Emphasis past Element
With a Preponderance of Planets in . . . You Are . . .
Burn signs Agile, spirited, assertive, a natural leader
Earth signs Realistic, sensual, stable, prudent, hard-working, security-minded
Air signs Chatty, intellectual, sociable, fueled by ideas and social interaction
Water signs Sensitive, impassioned, impressionable, compassionate, and insightful

When classifying the components of a chart, remember that the sun, moon, and ascendant are more influential than other placements and therefore deserve extra weight. Some astrologers even count them twice, only to make sure they get their due.

The modes (or qualities) work the aforementioned manner as the elements. Well-nigh people take an approximate residuum. But if you accept a pileup of planets in ane item fashion, those traits are accentuated. This tabular array tells yous more than.
Accent by Mode
With a Majority of Planets in . . . You Are . . .
Central signs Action-oriented, brave, geared up to take the initiative
Stock-still signs Unyielding, determined, focused, opposed to alter
Mutable signs Versatile, resourceful, open to change
There is one other possibility. What if yous have nothing in one of the elements or modes? Hither's what it ways when an element or a fashion is missing.

Missing in Action: Elements gone AWOL

Elemental voids tin can affect entire generations. For instance, between 1943 and 1955, Pluto was in Leo, a fire sign, and Neptune was in airy Libra. And so, no one born during that those years has a void in either fire or air — which may be why infant boomers, say what you will virtually them, can't exist faulted for lack of free energy (fire) or ideas (air). Just among members of that generation, voids in water (emotional awareness) and globe (practicality) are common. Which makes a sure corporeality of sense.

During the 1960s, Neptune was in Scorpio and Pluto was in Virgo, so it was not possible to have a void in water or earth. Merely a baby born in those years could easily come short in burn down or air — or both, every bit was the case for Kurt Cobain. He had an astonishing viii planets in h2o signs plus ii voids, one in burn down and one in air: an emotional avalanche for anyone.

If you have an elemental void, here'south how it could bear upon you:

  • No fire: It'south hard for you to assert yourself, to maintain a consequent level of enthusiasm, and to mobilize the energy you demand.
  • No earth: The material side of life eludes and possibly distresses you. Paying the bills on fourth dimension, keeping runway of your keys — these ordinary chores can do yous in.
  • No air: You lot react emotionally and personally. It'due south difficult for yous to assess a situation considerately. Dealing with abstractions fills yous with apprehension.
  • No h2o: Feelings baffle you. At times you don't fifty-fifty recognize your own reactions, and you take limited understanding of the emotions of others.

Missing in Activeness: Modes in retreat

Missing modes are less common than elemental voids. But they do occur. If you happen to accept ane, here's how to translate it:
  • No cardinal planets: Taking the initiative isn't easy for you. When times of change descend upon you, you adjust. But you'd rather stick with the miserable known than hazard getting lost in the unknown.
  • No fixed planets: You curve with the wind, happily charging off in new directions as the situation calls for information technology. You might even have pride in your flexibility. The truth is, you lack persistence. That's your weakness.
  • No mutable planets. Bend with the wind? Why would you desire to do that? You have the ability to become a new endeavor off the ground and the tenacity to stick with it to the end. But adapting to circumstances? Compromising? Non your high card.

How to detect mitigating factors

Here'south the thing: Planets are not the only players. You might have a planetary void in, let'due south say, h2o. Just if the ascendant, midheaven, the nodes of the moon, or fifty-fifty Chiron is in a water sign, then that void is not full.

House placements can likewise exist a mitigating factor. In the alphabet of star divination, the first firm corresponds to Aries, the second firm to Taurus, and then on. So, the first business firm has a hint of fire to it, no matter what sign is on its cusp. The second house has a affect of earth. And so on.

So maybe you accept a void in water. But if you have planets in the fourth, 8th, or 12th firm – the houses that correspond to water signs – that alleviates the situation. Those business firm placements directly your attention in ways that can aid balance a slightly out-of-whack chart. This is a subtle influence. But that doesn't mean it's not existent.

To see this outcome in action, accept a look at Oprah Winfrey'southward chart. She has very little globe in her chart — just Chiron and the due north node of the moon. None of her planets inhabit world signs. But she has three planets in the 2d house of money and possessions, 1 in the sixth business firm of work, and two in the tenth firm of career and reputation. And then, virtually of her planets are in the houses associated with earth signs, as well known as the houses of substance — which might explain how an idealistic Aquarian got to be one of the richest women in the galaxy.

Oprah Winfrey's birth chart Oprah Winfrey's birth chart

Houses and Elements
Houses Group Name Characteristics
1, 5, and 9 Houses of Life (fire houses) Peppery; vigorous; ready to bask life
ii, 6, and 10 Houses of Substance (earth houses) fond of systems and methods; motivated to seek security and recognition
three, 7, and 11 Houses of Relationship (air houses) Communicative; intent on creating fulfilling relationships
4, viii, and 12 Houses of Emotion (water houses) Emotional; discerning; interested in delving into family connections, the psyche, and the past
Voids in primal, fixed, or mutable signs operate the aforementioned style. Let's say you have nothing in Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn—not a planet, not an dominant, non fifty-fifty a node. This cardinal void makes information technology hard to become a new enterprise into motion. Only wait a second take a look at your chart. Is there anything in the athwart houses, that is, houses i, four, seven, and ten? If so, you're in better shape than you idea. Taking the initiative will never be your about outstanding quality. But when you need to footstep upward, you will notice the wherewithal y'all need.
Houses and Qualities
Houses Grouping Proper noun Characteristics
1, iv, 7, and 10 Key Houses Enterprising, active
ii, 5, 8, and xi Stock-still Houses Stable, unwavering
3, half dozen, nine, and 12 Mutable Houses Thoughtful, adaptable

About This Article

Most the volume author:

Rae Orion has written books on photography, astronomy, and mythology as well equally the mysteries of astrology. She is the author of both previous editions of Astrology For Dummies.

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