Aspects

Natal Transits Synastry

Conjunction (0°): Two planets at the same point in the zodiac. Their energies fuse and act as a single force — for better or worse, depending on the planets.
Sextile (60°): A supportive, opportunity-shaped angle. The help is real, but you have to reach for it — it rarely falls in your lap.
Square (90°): A hard angle of friction and tension. It forces action and growth by refusing to let two drives sit comfortably together.
Trine (120°): A flowing, easy angle between planets in the same element. Talent that comes naturally — and can be taken for granted.
Opposition (180°): Two planets facing off across the chart. A push-pull you learn to balance, often played out through other people.
Quincunx (150°): An awkward angle between signs that share nothing. Two urges that don't fit and need constant, low-level adjustment. Also called the inconjunct.

Houses & Angles

Natal Solar Return

Ascendant (AC / Rising): The sign rising on the eastern horizon at your birth. It sets the whole house framework and describes how you meet the world and come across.
Midheaven (MC): The highest point of the chart, the cusp of the 10th house. It points to career, public standing, and what you're known for.
Descendant (DC): The point opposite the Ascendant, the cusp of the 7th house. It describes partnership and what you seek in others.
Imum Coeli (IC): The lowest point of the chart, opposite the Midheaven and the cusp of the 4th house. It marks home, roots, and private life.
Houses: Twelve divisions of the chart, counted from the Ascendant, each governing a life area — self, money, communication, home, and so on.

Dignities & Sect

Traditional

Domicile: A planet in a sign it rules, with direct sign-based support, like Mars in Aries.
Exaltation: A sign where a planet is traditionally honoured and receives exceptional support.
Detriment: The sign opposite a planet's domicile, where it often works through less direct or less familiar methods.
Fall: The sign opposite a planet's exaltation, where its qualities often need more awareness and supportive chart context.
Peregrine: A planet with no essential dignity at that degree and no debility by detriment or fall. It relies more on the surrounding chart.
Triplicity: Rulership over one of the four elements, split by day and night charts — a milder, supportive dignity.
Bound (term): A minor dignity dividing each sign into five unequal segments, each with a planetary ruler. Used for finer judgement.
Face (decan): A minor dignity dividing each sign into three 10° faces, each with a planetary ruler.
Sect: Whether a chart is diurnal (Sun above the horizon) or nocturnal. It changes which triplicity ruler is active and adds context to planetary condition.
Almuten: The planet with the most dignity over a point. Over the Ascendant, it is a traditional indicator considered in broader synthesis.
Reception: When a planet sits in a sign ruled by another. If the favour is returned, it's mutual reception, which softens hard contacts.

Points & Lots

Natal

North Node (☊): A calculated point where the Moon's path crosses the ecliptic heading north. Read as a direction of growth — what to develop.
South Node (☋): Opposite the North Node. Read as familiar, well-worn ground — comfortable, but there to be moved beyond.
Black Moon Lilith: The empty focus of the Moon's orbit, not a body. Associated with the raw, untamed, and disowned parts of the self.
Chiron: A small body between Saturn and Uranus, the 'wounded healer'. Marks a tender spot that becomes a source of teaching.
Part of Fortune (⊗): The most-used Arabic Part, built from the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant. Points to the body, wellbeing, and where fortune flows.
Part of Spirit (⊕): The Sun's counterpart to Fortune. Points to purpose, will, and the career you actively pursue.

Chart Character

Natal Synastry

Element: The fourfold division of the signs — Fire, Earth, Air, Water. Your balance across them shows your basic temperament.
Modality (Quality): The threefold division — Cardinal (initiating), Fixed (sustaining), Mutable (adapting). Shows how you tend to act.
Stellium: Three or more planets gathered in one sign or house — a concentration of energy that colours the whole chart.
Chart shape: The overall pattern the planets make around the wheel (Bowl, Bucket, Splash, and others), describing how your energy is distributed.
Hemisphere emphasis: Whether your planets lean east or west, above or below the horizon — a tilt toward self or others, private or public life.

Timing & Motion

Transits Progressions Timing

Transit: A planet's current position compared to your birth chart. When it hits a birth planet exactly, it activates that theme — astrology's main timing tool.
Secondary progression: A symbolic method where each day after birth stands for a year of life, showing the chart's slow inner unfolding.
Solar arc direction: A timing method that advances every point by the Sun's yearly motion — about a degree a year — to flag activated years.
Solar return: The chart for the Sun's yearly return to its birth position, read as a preview of the year from one birthday to the next.
Annual profection: A simple time-lord method advancing one house per year of age, spotlighting a life area and its ruling planet each year.
Void-of-course Moon: The stretch when the Moon makes no more major aspects before leaving its sign. Traditionally a poor time to start something new.
Applying / separating: An aspect is applying while it tightens toward exact (pressure building) and separating once past exact (pressure fading).
Orb: How far from exact an aspect is, in degrees. A tight orb acts strongly; a wide one is subtler.
Retrograde: The apparent backward motion of a planet as seen from Earth. A time to review and revisit rather than push forward.
Out of bounds: A planet whose declination passes the Sun's yearly maximum, putting it 'off the leash' — its expression runs unusually free or extreme.
Ingress: A planet crossing from one sign into the next, shifting the tone of the matters it governs.
Station: The near-standstill when a planet turns retrograde or direct. Its themes feel unusually strong around the turn.