Planets in Signs: Nine Planets in the Twelve Signs

When people say "I'm a Leo", they mean only where the Sun was. A birth chart has ten planets, and each one sits in a sign: the Moon for emotions and security, Mercury for thinking and talking, Venus for love, Mars for action… The same person can have the Sun in Aries, the Moon in Cancer and Venus in Pisces. Below, the placements are grouped by planet, and every combination has its own reading.

What the planet says and what the sign says

In a chart, the planet is the "what", the sign is the "how", and the house is "where in life". Venus stands for love and beauty: in Scorpio it loves the Scorpio way, deep, focused and all-in; in Gemini it loves through conversation, curiosity and novelty. This section covers the first two (planet × sign); for houses see the in-depth chart reading.

The Sun in the signs is simply the twelve zodiac signs; see the zodiac signs.

Personal, social and generational planets

The planets move at very different speeds, and that decides whether a placement describes you or your generation. Our calculations:

• Personal planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars): they change sign quickly, so even people born the same year often differ. They say the most about your own personality and habits.
• Social planets (Jupiter, Saturn): one to two and a half years in a sign, so classmates often share them. They describe how you meet growth, responsibility and social rules.
• Generational planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto): they stay for years or decades, so they describe a whole generation first. Their house and their aspects to your personal planets show how much they shape you.

Nine planets × twelve signs

Each card opens the full reading for that combination. Cards show the essential dignity where there is one, otherwise the element.

Moon: emotions, security, habits, and how you care for others and want to be cared for

Mercury: how you think, speak, learn and handle information

Venus: how you love, what attracts you, your taste and your relationship with money

Mars: drive, desire, how you get angry and how you go after what you want

Jupiter: growth, belief, opportunity and generosity

Saturn: responsibility, boundaries, fear and the lessons that take years to learn

Uranus: breakthroughs, independence and sudden change

Neptune: ideals, imagination, spirituality and blurred boundaries

Pluto: power, crisis, obsession and deep transformation

Domicile, exaltation, detriment and fall

Traditional astrology holds that each planet is especially at ease in some signs and awkward in others. Domicile is the sign it rules, its own home; exaltation is where it is the honoured guest; detriment is opposite its domicile and fall opposite its exaltation. Detriment and fall are not bad luck: the planet has to work in another way, and people often build unusual strengths there. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered in modern times, so they have only the modern rulerships and no traditional exaltation or fall.

From our engine's traditional and modern rulership tables; Mercury is both in domicile and exalted in Virgo, and both in detriment and fall in Pisces.