Understanding the planets is the key to understanding astrology. Though signs get a lot of attention in our current culture, they really get their power and attributes from the planets that rule them, fuel them, shape them. I wrote my series on Embodying the Planets to help people bring that information into their bodies through ritual activities and what I saw as the most important attributes of each planet.
If you don’t know the basic attributes of the 7 visible planets, start there:
But here’s the thing: in charts and in our lives, planets rarely show up by themselves. A rose, for example, may be of the nature of Venus for its color, smell and association with love buts its thorns are of the nature of Mars. You may have a really sweet Cancer Moon, natally or by transit, but if it’s opposed by Saturn, you can’t get the nurturing, protecting qualities of Luna without the scarcity and struggle of Saturn.
Again and again in client consults, I find that by solely talking about the planetary combinations in someone’s chart, you can get to the heart of the foundational dynamics of their heart. And if you start looking around, you see planetary duos, specifically between two planets, show up all over astrology. Lots, or calculated points of fate, are determined via the relationship between two planets in your chart. Signs are defined by both their domicile and exaltation rulers. All fixed stars are assigned a planetary duo that reflects their nature.
By beginning to understand what it means when two planets come together, you see the relationships between them and the common ways they manifest in our mixed-up, varied lives.
In our charts, a planet is considered in combination with another when they are in the same sign, in opposing signs, or in mutual reception (a swapping of rulerships, i.e. when the Moon is in Leo and the Sun is in Cancer. Terms, exaltations and decans count here too).
So today, I begin a series exploring these planetary combinations in part because I find them so interesting. This work is heavily inspired by Austin Coppock’s “36 Dramas: Essential Planetary Relationships” Lecture from NORWAC 2022, so please check that out if you want to learn more! Going beyond his wonderful starting point, I will also include information on the decans, each of which have two planetary rulers when you consider both the Chaldean and Triplicity system, as their dynamics do a great job demonstrating what the planetary combinations look like in action. We will also be examining the fixed stars that share the same nature as this planetary combination to further our understanding.
Other uses for these combinations:
understanding mixed planetary correspondences
determining which herbs may help you if they have more than one ruler
connecting with your holy guardian angel (who is classically of the nature of two planets)
seeing your chart more clearly
attuning yourself to both planetary days and hours
P.S. If you want help understanding your own planetary combinations, my books are open for December! I will have limited spaces, so book now to reacquaint yourself with your magic and destiny (no big deal).
Saturn and Mercury: A Summary
Despite their differing speeds, Mercury and Saturn get along more than you would think. On the one hand, you have the second speediest planet, the secret pathfinder who takes whatever route it can conjure to meets its goals. On the other, you have the slowest visible planet, the demarcator of boundaries and limits, something of which Mercury knows not. Put another way: Mercury is always moving and Saturn would prefer not to. But they both share a dry temperament, one of division, rationality and cold analysis. Coppock sees these two excel at “fact-based, rational assessments,” such as poring over old texts, checking the archives or receipts, or recording events as they actually happened.1 While this fact-finding may be ponderous for Mercury’s playful side, it tempers its trickery for the sake of productivity and serious scholastic pursuits.
Valens characterizes this combination as “productive of activities of employment” bolstered by their possession of “much experience and awareness”. But while their dryness may make them model employees it does not guarantee popularity or social skills. The dryness of this combination can be counterproductive to connection and relationships, perhaps why the Yavanajataka associates this combination with men “whose friendships are unstable”2 while Valens predicts “slanders about religion, lawsuits, and debts,”3 colliding the personal with the numerical.
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