Astrology · Planets

The ten planets of Western astrology.

Reviewed April 29, 2026

5 min read

Astrology uses ten bodies: the Sun and Moon (technically a star and a moon, but both called planets in this tradition), Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Each one is an archetype — a particular flavour of human experience — and each has a sign and house placement in your natal chart that tells you where that flavour concentrates in your life.

This is a guide to the planets as a symbolic language, not a prediction system. Each page below covers the planet's mythological roots, what it describes in a chart, what signs it rules, how it behaves when retrograde, and how it tends to show up in relationships, work, and inner life.

A luminous arrangement of glowing planets and softly lit orbits across a radiant solar system — the family of celestial bodies. — Ten celestial bodies, ten archetypes of experience.

The two luminaries

The Sun and the Moon — the two lights. The day-light identity and the night-light instinct. Every other planet in the chart is read in relation to these two.

Sun

≈ 1 year through all twelve signs

the vital self — identity, will, and the light you cast

Rules Leo

Read Sun →

Moon

≈ 28 days through all twelve signs

the inner life — feeling, instinct, and the pull of the tides

Rules Cancer

Read Moon →

The personal planets

Mercury, Venus, and Mars — the three fast-movers that describe how you think, relate, and act. Their sign placement changes in weeks, not years, so they feel genuinely personal.

Mercury

≈ 88 days around the Sun

the thinking self — language, commerce, and the traffic between worlds

Rules Gemini · Virgo

Read Mercury →

Venus

≈ 225 days around the Sun

the relating self — love, beauty, and what you find worth having

Rules Taurus · Libra

Read Venus →

Mars

≈ 1.88 years around the Sun

the acting self — drive, desire, and what you are willing to fight for

Rules Aries · Scorpio

Read Mars →

The social planets

Jupiter and Saturn — the middle distance. Slow enough to shape an era, fast enough to show in a single life. Jupiter expands, Saturn structures; together they build a life.

Jupiter

≈ 12 years around the Sun (≈ 1 year per sign)

the expanding self — meaning, faith, and the horizon you reach for

Rules Sagittarius · Pisces

Read Jupiter →

Saturn

≈ 29.5 years around the Sun

the structuring self — time, limit, and the authority you will grow into

Rules Capricorn · Aquarius

Read Saturn →

The generational planets

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — the outer three, discovered in 1781, 1846, and 1930. They spend years in each sign, so they describe your generation as much as your individual self. Where they touch your personal planets is where they become personal.

Uranus

≈ 84 years around the Sun (≈ 7 years per sign)

the awakening self — disruption, originality, and the lightning that changes the room

Rules Aquarius

Read Uranus →

Neptune

≈ 165 years around the Sun (≈ 14 years per sign)

the dissolving self — dream, compassion, and the softening of the edges

Rules Pisces

Read Neptune →

Pluto

≈ 248 years around the Sun (12–30 years per sign)

the transformative self — power, depth, and what must end before the next thing can begin

Rules Scorpio

Read Pluto →

How the planets connect to the rest of the map

Each planet rules one or two zodiac signs, echoes an archetype in the Major Arcana of tarot, and — loosely — overlaps with themes found in modern personality research on the scientific side of We’re All Unique.

All twelve zodiac signs Tarot — the 78 cards Big Five personality

Astrology here is a symbolic language for self-reflection, offered for entertainment and introspection. It is not prediction, diagnosis, or a substitute for professional advice.

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