Natures of the Planets

[Jim Eshelman]

[The following are from The New Instant Astrologer by myself and Tom Stanton. I don't know that these are the best I could do at present, but I'm comfortable that they are accurate and cover the necessary points.]

MEANINGS OF THE PLANETS

SUN. "What you are," the core of your identity. The Sun relates to all forms of authority, power, and eminence. Bestows the essence of life and vitality. The Sun's constellation is one of the most important character determinants in the chart.

MOON. The casual side of personality, including the mannerisms, personal idiosyncrasies, and tastes which set one apart from those about him. The Moon represents the side of one's being which he reveals most easily, that which adapts to the environment in which it is placed and absorbs conditions around it. It relates to the feelings in general and desire nature in particular.

MERCURY. Gathering, storing, interpreting, and sharing information. It represents mental faculties and communication, and also strongly influences business skills. It dominates a chart when the theme is transportation. Mercury relates to life through the nervous system.

VENUS. Goddess of Love, hence indicates your appreciation of the pleasant and your ability to give love in any form. This includes romance and other social interaction. Gentle, aesthetic, receptive, but very literal, search for meaning in life.

MARS. Aggression and physical expression. Mars is particularly competitive (athletics, business, etc.), enjoying a battle on any front. Sexual aggressions and strong energy reserves, along with moral conviction to defend insights and beliefs.

JUPITER. Most fortunate of planets, bestowing expansive qualities and leading to optimism, enthusiasm, and generosity. Jupiter compares and improves everything he touches. Desire to gain endearment of others, often accomplished through benevolent acts which gain gratitude. Religious, propitiatory, striving for superiority.

SATURN. Inhibiting, withdrawn. Marks the self-preservation instinct, including the drive to work hard and guard what is one's own. Guilt-conscious (including conscience) and can lead to self-imposed trials. Saturn limits and restrains what it touches. An element of conservatism and frugality.

URANUS. Where Saturn imposes restrictions, Uranus shatters inhibitions and limitations. Freedom is the key theme, including intellectual freedom, and there is a love of constant novelty and stimulation. Realistic in a pragmatic, even if outlandish, fashion, Uranus deals with visible realities. Seeks that which is thrilling, exciting, stimulating, unexpected, and colorful.

NEPTUNE. Neptune sponsors the tendency to over-dramatize and blow things out of proportion. Sensitivity in all ways is pronounced. This nebulous, unrealistic planet relates to all that is vague and mysterious. It represents a need for security, to attach oneself to others. Strong fear of betrayal. Point of little or no resistance where one usually yields to temptation. Metaphysical, interested in mysteries, fond of pretense, over-rationalizing, lack of physical assertion, diffusing.

PLUTO. The exception to every rule, that which is singled out from the norm. Desire to be oneself, unhampered by others. Eccentric, extreme, separating, disruptive. Dislikes labels and categorization. Isolative.

[Jim Eshelman]

SUN
Fundamental Needs: Individuation needs: The need to forge a distinctive (distinguished) identity, to be a particular thing.
Physiological: Vitality, the essential life-force. DNA.
Psychological: Sense of identity and purpose (direction). – “What you are,” the core of your distinctive self. [add centricity idea.] All forms of authority, power, eminence, leadership. The Hero's Quest.
Qabbalistic: Self-conscious ego-center – the “gold” in each of us. The King. Archetypal Masculinity expressed as The Center.

MOON
Fundamental Needs: Adaptation & response (instincts, plasticity). Adaptation to physical, social, & psychological habitats.
Physiological: The substance of life. All fluids. Hindbrain functions. Subconscious mind's role in managing the body. RNA.
Psychological: Receptivity, adaptability, sensitivity, appetite, imagination, immediacy of feelings. – Personality (mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, tastes). That which we expose most easily, which adapts to the environment in which it is placed and absorbs conditions around it.
Qabbalistic: Subconsciousness, instincts, adaptation. The Queen. Archetypal Femininity expressed as surrounding, embracing, receiving.

MERCURY
Fundamental Needs: Information needs (curiosity, gaining & sharing information, understanding and demonstrating relationships between facts)
Physiological: Nervous system, including brain (especially forebrain) and spinal tissues.
Psychological: Curiosity, perceptiveness. Gathering, storing, interpreting, and sharing information. Mental faculties, communication. Nervous sensitivity.
Qabbalistic: Intellect. Motion. Androgyne.

VENUS
Fundamental Needs: Affection needs (loving and being loved, giving and receiving nurturance, affiliation, separation, sex, shared play)
Physiological: Hormonal system in general. (Possibly the limbic system.)
Psychological: Giving/receiving love. Harmony, pleasure. – Gentle, esthetic, receptive, but natural, guileless, searching for meaning.
Qabbalistic: Desire. Love. Biological Femininity.

MARS
Fundamental Needs: Power needs (aggression, dominance, controlling others, opposition, independence, contrariness, defense, deference)
Physiological: Muscle system. Anything that surges adrenaline.
Psychological: Aggression, competition, need for physical expression. – Sexual aggression, courage, strength. – Effort, struggle, pain.
Qabbalistic: Volition. Energy. Biological Masculinity.

JUPITER
Fundamental Needs: Ambition needs (superiority, achievement, recognition, exhibition, esteem).
Physiological: Alimentary system. Building up, assimilation (accretion). Relaxation of musculature.
Psychological: Striving to be and have the best, to better oneself, to be liked, included, and socially favored. – Fortune. Optimism, enthusiasm, generosity. Religious.
Qabbalistic: Memory. Bounty. The layered forms draping fundamental reality. Worship. Nobility.

SATURN
Fundamental Needs: Materialistic needs (to acquire, construct, order, conserve, retain; includes the survival instinct).
Physiological: Skeletal system – bones. Elimination (excretion).
Psychological: Self-preservation, survival. Need for self-reliance, emotional distance, material security. – Inhibiting, withdrawn; trials. Limits, restrains, restricts, defines. Elimination.
Qabbalistic: Intuition; but, at the personality level, this is usually hidden under ‘realism,’ seeing things for what they are. Especially the power of form-giving, restriction, and definition.

URANUS
Fundamental Needs: Freedom & renewal needs.
Physiological: The orienting response. Possibly also the autonomic (especially sympathetic) nervous system.
Psychological: Need for independence and freedom (physical, intellectual, etc.); disperses or dismisses limitations. Responds strongly to the new, sudden, unexpected, thrilling, exciting, colorful, stimulating. Disclosure of the unknown, choosing revelation over mystery. Pragmatic realism anchored by "naked truth."
Principle: Freedom, discovery/disclosure, revelation, revolution, liberation. The Ideal forged from experience of the Actual. The Individual distinct from the collective; delivery, release, birthing, uniqueness. The simple, naked, candid, exposed.
Qabbalistic: Chiah [to be detailed: essentially, one's primal will or fundamental individuality, identical with one's expression of the life-stream]

NEPTUNE
Fundamental Needs: Reality-forging & absorption needs
Physiological: Weakness, wasting, atrophy.
Psychological: Need for attachment and connection (dependency and betrayal themes). Introjection or identification (as a tool of identity-mapping). Profound sensitivity, vulnerability. Emotional drama, exaggeration, distortion. Dwelling within the unknown, choosing mystery over revelation; at home with the nebulous, vague, unrealistic, inauthentic, fanciful. Surrender to temptation.
Principle: Selective reality-formation (via selective perception): Experience of the Actual forged from the Ideal. The individual submerged within the Collective; connection, absorption, complexity.
Qabbalistic: The Abyss [to be detailed]

PLUTO
Fundamental Needs: Authenticity & solitude needs
Physiological: Impact on physiology seems more rooted in profound psychological impact. Symbolically related to conception, and therefore may be connected to cellular growth and regeneration in general, and thus with healing.
Psychological: Desire to be authentically oneself, unhampered by others. Isolative, distinguishing. Dislikes labels, categorization, and arbitrary expectations. Eccentric, extreme, separating, disruptive, antisocial. The exception singled out from the norm.
Principle: Uncompromisable seed-essence of being. The "Hidden One" (being one's inherent, singled-out self aside from all conditioning and selection) buried in our inmost depths. The miraculous. Existential confrontation.
Qabbalistic: Yechidah [to be detailed]

Regarding the underlying Needs Theory, see for example: https://www.verywellmind.com/murrays-th ... ds-2795952

[Jim Eshelman]

Hi Jim et al,
Like you, I've been fascinated with the deeper meanings of the planets and how they are perceived in differnet cultures and systems of thought and development. As a student of Buddhism, I was pleased to discover that Buddha himself was quite conversant with the symbolism of the planets and used them as the basis of his original teachings. Here is a later development that is analogous to the qabalah called the mandala of the five Dhyani or Jina Buddhas. http://www.tsl.org/Masters/buddhas/dhya ... ction.html (No endorsement of Summit University is intended. It is just a well done essay.) What is not stated here is that these figures are also related to the planets in this way: Vairochana is Saturn, Aksobhaya is Mars, Ratnasambhava is Venus, Amitabha is Jupiter, and Amoghasiddhi is Mercury.

Studying their various attributes allows some insights into ancient astrological ideas in the tantric tradition. One other possible correlation that I noticed is based on the fact that Shakyamuni Buddha sat beneath four different trees during his enlightenment/integration process and experienced four different dramas. Beneath the Bodhi tree he touched the earth to dispel an attack by Mara, which would correspond to Aksobhaya. Under another tree the great naga Muchalinda protected him from a storm while he meditated, appropriately relating to Amitabha. He received a gift of sweet foods and four crystal bowls under another tree, called Rajayatana, which would be Ratnasambhava's story. A haughty brahmin accosted him under the Ajapala Nigrodha tree, which would relate to Amoghasiddi who is the antidote to envy. Vairochana turns the Dhamma Wheel later at the Deer Park. Not all the correlations with these five aspects fit neatly, and there are variations, but they are worth considering, I think, for those interested in comparative studies.
Regards,
Wayne

[Jim Eshelman]

I can comprehend the nature of the planets fine but I am having a difficult time understanding the amount of each planets influences over one's character. I want to think that an individuals chart determines the influence that each planet has on one's character but I keep reading about the position of the Sun and Moon being of more importance than the other planets regardless of what is actually happening in a persons chart.
I do think the Sun and Moon really important in general and in isolation but I think a persons entire chart must be examined in detail before saying their Sun and Moon influence them more.
This particular board says "Sun-What you are, the core of your identity". Well okay yeah I can see that but what if I have 4 planets conjunct in Scorpio and my Sun is in Gemini. Wouldn't the core of my identity be where most of my planets are in Scorpio? What if Neptune has the most aspects in my chart and my Sun and Moon are both unaspected?
It seems some are automatically saying that the Sun and Moon are a persons most influential planets regardless of what is happening with the other planets. This rubs me the wrong way.
Jim I know we mentioned some of this material before on a different board but I wanted to post it on this board.
I might have posted a question like this before I don't remember exactly. I do apologize if I am repeating myself.

[Jim Eshelman]

I can comprehend the nature of the planets fine but I am having a difficult time understanding the amount of each planets influences over one's character. I want to think that an individuals chart determines the influence that each planet has on one's character but I keep reading about the position of the Sun and Moon being of more importance than the other planets regardless of what is actually happening in a persons chart.

I think the main point here (as I mentioned before, in different language) is semantical. A factor can be extremely prominent in one's life and yet not core or central to who one is. - Compare this to, say, the role of someone's spouse in their life: Usually a spouse will be a very prominent feature in one's life, with significant impact on how that life goes, how people view you, etc. Nonetheless, he or she is not intrinsic to who you are. The spouse may/will be a reflection of who you are, and may have an impact on how you act and choices you make, but this isn't the same as saying that the spouse is central to your character.

This particular board says "Sun-What you are, the core of your identity". Well okay yeah I can see that but what if I have 4 planets conjunct in Scorpio and my Sun is in Gemini.

Scorpio would then be thematically important in your life. Mars forces would be much stronger than otherwise. However, these might seem detached or "broken off" - working somewhat independently, almost as a rogue factor - if they aren't integrated to the core elements, e.g., by there being a strong Sun-Mars aspect that gives the same message.

What if Neptune has the most aspects in my chart and my Sun and Moon are both unaspected?

"Most aspects" doesn't mean much. A planet, in fact, can seem even stronger if it is unaspected, since then it represents the sort of rogue element I just mentioned - something that works "all or nothing" in one's behavior. A single close, hard aspect to a luminary outweighs seven non-luminary aspects in terms of the planet's nature's dominance in the personality.

It seems some are automatically saying that the Sun and Moon are a persons most influential planets regardless of what is happening with the other planets. This rubs me the wrong way.

But it's true. They overwhelm the entirety of the rest of the chart. To a very great extent, a horoscope is most easily and solidly understood by the signs of the Sun and Moon, and the relationship of other planets to the Sun, Moon, and angles. (Other schools of astrology, such as Cosmobiology, refer to Sun, Moon, Midheaven, and Ascendant as the Personal Points, and much of razor-sharp chart analysis is in determining Personal Point involvement with other patterns.)

Let me try to explain it this way: Your thoughts aren't who you are. They are an artifact of who you are. Similarly, Mercury per se doesn't describe your essential nature. It is only in the way that Mercury relates back to the central elements of temperament that it becomes central to who you are. Otherwise, it's just "stuff happening in the same room."

[Jim Eshelman]

I Just restructured the definitions in the second post from the top. I think it will build and convey the ideas more comprehensibly.

[Danica]

Biological correspondence for Neptune: thalamus! - specifically, its filtering, or 'gating' function.

From an interesting research article that I came across today:

The thalamus lies at a cross roads between the external world and the cerebral cortex. All senses excluding olfaction pass through the thalamus, where they are subjected to some kind of processing, before being routed to the cortex. The action of the thalamus in this context has been likening to a gate, that is to say, only letting through information as dictated by higher areas. [...]

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10 ... 00089/full