Using the cliché that the stars impel, they do not compel, I would argue that astrology is the study of the positions of the planets and asteroids and the information they may provide about a person’s character and personality based on the Jungian archetypes and symbolism in regards to their position to the Earth and the twelve separate Houses that divide up the Earth from the perspective of the person.
Modern astrology is based on a variety of factors. To try to devise a more accurate natal chart (an astrology chart based on your own birth), you need to have the date and time that you were born (to ensure accurate information as to your Ascending sign), the location where you were born, if you were born during Daylight Savings Time, and your actual time zone in relation to Greenwich Standard Time. By having all of this information, the competent astrologer may then calculate—using your place of birth and your actual time and date of birth—as a pseudo center of the solar system (allowing for the Sun and the planets to revolve around the Earth). At the same time, the astrologer can compose a natal chart with the Ninth House being directly above you, the First House off to the west, the Third House directly below you, and the Sixth House off to the East. The astrologer may then place each planet in whatever particular House it appeared in at the moment of your birth and how the theme for each planet may relate to the theme of that particular House.
One of the uses that I have found for astrology has been in helping determine what type of a magic a person may be better suited for at birth.
Everyone has special talents and abilities. Everyone has very specific things that they tend to feel drawn to. Your natal, or birth, chart has some abilities in showing some of these tendencies … including in the area of magical practices.
A good determining factor to learn where your strongest magical attributes are is to see how many planets are in each of the elements and which elements are dominant in your chart. An additional determining factor is how many planets do you have in the Water Houses.
The signs and their corresponding elements are:
Aries
Fire
Taurus
Earth
Gemini
Air
Cancer
Water
Leo
Fire
Virgo
Earth
Libra
Air
Scorpio
Water
Sagittarius
Fire
Capricorn
Earth
Aquarius
Air
Pisces
Water
In other words:
FIRE
Aries
Leo
Sagittarius
EARTH
Taurus
Virgo
Capricorn
AIR
Gemini
Libra
Aquarius
WATER
Cancer
Scorpio
Pisces
Using the above information you can see what the Water signs are on your natal chart. Your Water Houses, on the other hand, will be uniquely different for you. The Water Houses on my chart are (using the Equal House system):
4th House Virgo
I have no planets in the 4th House.
8th House Capricorn
I have Jupiter and Saturn in the 8th House.
12th House Taurus
I have no planets in the 12th House.
The signs in my Water Houses are Earth signs.
The Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) reveal further details about my magical abilities.
Cancer
I have no planets in Cancer.
Scorpio
I have no planets in Scorpio.
Pisces
My Mercury and Venus are in Pisces.
I have a total of four planets between the Water signs and the Water Houses. These planets deal with luck, change or transformation (many people wait to see when their Saturn returns to the same sign as it was in at the moment of their births; when my did, my career and whole lifestyle changed within two years!), communication, ideas, love, beauty, and a certain amount of self-indulgence.
Now, when a planet is in a given sign, it will express itself accordingly. For example, my Mars and Moon are both in Aquarius. This combination in Aquarius would seem to indicate a belief in justice, fairness, and equality for all people. In addition, with Mercury and Venus in Pisces, I would seem to have a natural tendency to root for the underdog and the down trodden (by the way, I majored in Human Services in college). This would appear to be compatible with the Moon-Mars placement and would definitely give me a push towards being more liberal and concerned about the welfare of people around me. A planet will express itself in a way that is influenced by the sign’s element. Aquarius is an Air sign, a sign for ideas and idealism. Mars is in Aquarius; its fiery nature will be shaped by these ideas of idealism. Its fiery passion will go more in the area of ideas and principles rather than just physical passion, for example.
Now, I mentioned that your magical abilities will be most strongly influenced by the placement of planets within the Water signs and the Water Houses at the time of your birth. This is because the element, Water, is widely considered to be the most intuitive and emotional element. It is the element that relates most strongly with the right side of your brain, the abstract side of your brain. The Water elements would be the most psychic elements and are the most important for magical ability. One drawback, however, is that, partly because of the fluidity of Water, it is not the best for grounding that magical ability. The element of Earth is key to being able to ground magical work, to make it more concrete and practical.
Water is the most psychic element. It is the most sensitive element to its environment, whether it is the natural environment or the people that inhabit the environment. That ability is useful in group work, sensing the emotions and moods of the group. Water is the most mystical of elements, the one that’s most comfortable with the things that cannot be touched or always sensed by the five ordinary senses. It works with the things that can seem to just slip away if you try too hard to grasp them.
Earth likes to deal with real things. It is more linear and concrete. It deals with the left side of the brain, the part that deals with physical reality and the things that our five senses can perceive. Earth likes to deal with physical, mundane things, such as magical tools and money. It is a good element for working prosperity spells. It is useful for working for a practical goal. The signs for Earth are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. I have the following planets in these signs:
TAURUS:
I have no planets in Taurus.
VIRGO:
Pluto is in Virgo.
CAPRICORN:
Jupiter and Saturn are in Capricorn.
The element of Air is useful for dealing with ideas and communication. Air people are better at writing rituals and at the active study of mythology. They would be good at incorporating symbolism and mythical elements into their ritual and spell work.
Fire is the element of energy and enthusiasm. It is the element of passion. It is the best energy worker of the elements. Fire likes to look at the structure beyond the magic. It delves into the philosophy. Fire people like to have action and energy in their magic. They go for the more dramatic flair in magic. They want what they do to have an impact, to go somewhere.
In addition to the elements, you have the Qualities. There are three Qualities and they are Cardinal (beginning something), Fixed (in position already), and Mutable (ready to change, flexible). The Qualities start with Aries as a Cardinal and end with Pisces as a Mutable. The order goes as follows:
Aries
Cardinal
Taurus
Fixed
Gemini
Mutable
Cancer
Cardinal
Leo
Fixed
Virgo
Mutable
Libra
Cardinal
Scorpio
Fixed
Sagittarius
Mutable
Capricorn
Cardinal
Aquarius
Fixed
Pisces
Mutable
In other words:
CARDINAL
Aries
Cancer
Libra
Capricorn
FIXED
Taurus
Leo
Scorpio
Aquarius
MUTABLE
Gemini
Virgo
Sagittarius
Pisces
Cardinal likes to start things. It is the initiator, but is not always good at following through (I know because I am an Aries Sun). Fixed is good at organizing and carrying through, but can also be stubborn. Mutable is flexible, versatile, and adaptable.
In my case, my Qualities go as follow:
CARDINAL:
Sun Jupiter Saturn
FIXED:
Moon Mars Uranus Neptune
MUTABLE:
Mercury Venus Pluto Ascending
At this point, take the characteristics of your Qualities and consider them in light of your elements. From here, you will now have an even better idea about your magical leanings.
I have two planets in the Water signs and 2 planets in the Water Houses. I am balanced in terms of the Qualities. You may notice that I have used ten planets (counting the Sun and the Moon as planets) and the Ascending sign. With four planets out of the eleven that I have listed, I have slightly more than 1/3 of my planets in these psychic locations. With the balance in the Qualities, I am fairly flexible in my magical abilities. My weakest area in the Qualities would be the Cardinals with only three planets, but is isn’t that much lower than the other two areas; no one area in the Qualities overwhelms or dominates the rest of the chart or the types of magic I will be better with.
Now, Cardinal likes to be in charge, leading the ritual or the group, but is equally happy being out on its own. I have three planets in Cardinal. I have been a High Priest twice, but have no great interest in being a High Priest at the present time. Fixed is stable, more conservative. Fixed will see something through to the end, even if it takes a long time. They tend to be reliable and dependable people. Mutables are more willing to roll with the punches and to wing it. Personally, I am not as comfortable with winging it; I show more tendencies for Cardinal and for Fixed than I do for Mutable. Even though I included the Ascending sign in my Qualities, thus giving me the same number of Mutable as Fixed, if I leave out the Ascending sign in my calculations, I do have more Fixed than anything else.
Now, let’s discuss the signs of the Zodiac.
The first sign of the Zodiac is Aries. Aries is the spiritual warrior of the Zodiac. It is the new born, also. Aries is bold. They like to “boldly” go magickal places “where no one has gone before.”
Taurus is more conservative than Aries. It is an Earthy sign and likes very practical magic, magic that gets results. It is also a sensual sign and may engage in tantric or sex magic. Taurus can also enjoy music in their magical or ritual working.
Gemini is the ultimate eclectic. They'll grab it if it doesn't run away fast enough! They like and, so, they like to change things in ritual.
Cancer is very psychic, and is a good medium. They are good at trance work. They're good at invoking and "drawing down" in ritual. They are very empathic and are good at divination, especially scrying. They like to maintain a sense of tradition in their ritual work.
Leo loves Grand Dramatic Rituals. They make great High Priestesses and High Priests. They are also very good at love magics.
Virgo is actually one of the most magical signs. They're very practical, "kitchen witch" types. They use what's handy to get the job done. They are very practical—they like beauty, but they like it to be functional, too. Virgo is great at organizing all the messy details of rituals, feasts, festivals, et cetera.
Libra is the peacemaker of the Zodiac. They're good at any work dealing with balance and justice. Fairness is very important to them. They also like to argue.
Scorpio is the sign of secrecy and mystery. They love the mysterious and the occultic. Samhain is obviously their time of the year! Scorpios are more difficult to shock; they are comfortable with death and with sex. Like Aries, Scorpio can work alone or with a group.
Sagittarius likes big, High Rituals. They need the rituals with the 200 people, the dancers, musicians, and a choreographer. They need the robes, the incense, and the chanting. They are the philosopher-magician and love to study lore. Sagittarius can also be too honest at times and does tend to suffer from foot in mouth disease (I know; I have a friend who is a Sagittarius and who had actually been diagnosed, in Kentucky, with hoof and mouth disease).
Capricorn is one of the two signs that is born old. The only sign born older than Capricorn is Pisces. Capricorns are the wise old magic workers … even when they are young. They make natural and wonderful crones and elders in a coven. They tend to like structure and are more likely to be drawn to a highly structured Wiccan coven or to Ceremonial Magic. Capricorns work hard and they tend be very tradition minded. They build to last, so they are very good at building rituals and conducting spells that work. They are capable of working solitary, but, in a group, they can be the power behind the people who seem to be in charge.
Aquarius tends to be concerned with the welfare of man. In order to practice this concern, they tend to be very comfortable in a group setting; they like community. They tend to want to work with a group, but it had best be a group that respects the Aquarius freedom! They like to try new things, so they may be willing to go for some pretty far out rituals. They like democracy and are better in a coven that is run by consensus.
Pisces is the only sign that is born older than Capricorn. This is also the most compassionate sign. They are like a psychic barometer, picking up on the vibes in a group very easily. Pisces usually works better with a partner than solitary. They need to work with a grounded partner because it can be so hard for a Pisces to say no when they want to over extend themselves in healing and counseling work.
In terms of my own magic, my Sun sign is Aries. I should be pioneering and willing to take some risks in my magic. Between the Water signs and Houses, I have four planets (counting my Ascendant). While not overwhelming, I should have a sufficient number of planets to be able to do magic. The magic that I would probably be best at in this area would have to do with compassion, and spreading this compassion, for people that I see as less fortunate than I am. I have three planets in the Earth signs. This gives me a balance to my emotional magical works and it also gives me, because the planets include Jupiter and Saturn, some ability in working prosperity rituals (actually, I have had good success in this area when I needed it).
This information does not hold for everyone. These are not rules that are carved in stone. They are tendencies, not laws. Everyone has their own free will in terms of personality and ability. Astrology helps you find, however, a path of least resistance. That is where astrology is beneficial.