The Divine Dictionary: Your Go To Guide for Astrology Terms

With people blaming their bad hair days and clumsy attitude on the Mercury retrograde, you realize that astrology is not only about your zodiac sign.

Astrology is an ancient concept, and with the maturity of the belief system comes a lot of strings attached to it.

As astrology deals with how life is embedded into greater aspects such as divinity and celestial bodies, the pseudoscience also requires you to crank up some of that brain juice to understand the complex terms associated with its explanations and interpretations.

Hence, if you're looking for an excellent place to start with how you want to start your astrology journey, then you've come to the right place.

It's always a good start to get to know the primary terms involved in a field of study so that you get to breeze through understanding the concepts.

So, here are a handful of terms that may come in handy when you're aiming to refine your knowledge in astrology:

Aspect

When you encounter "trine" or "square," they usually refer to planetary aspects.

Simply put, an aspect relates to the angles that planets form concerning each other on the wheel of the zodiac as they move through the sky.

Hence, each of the angles conveys different meanings.

There are five major aspects, and these are further divided into easy and hard aspects.

Birth Chart

You may or may not know this, but one of the essential aspects of astrology refers to your birth chart.

A birth chart is a visual illustration that pertains to the position of the planets at the moment a person was born.

In a way, this is key to understanding astrology because a planet's positioning is said to hold important information about a person's life.

Here, you pay attention to terms such as your sun sign, your rising sign, and your moon sign.

Element

You may have learned this word from your high school science class, and it refers to the same thing in astrology.

However, for astrology, the word element means the grouping of the zodiac into the elements of air, earth, fire, and water.

Astrology posits that you will portray the same qualities as the elements that your zodiac sign falls under in your life.

House

You know this word, but for astrology, it is more than what it seems.

Much like how the zodiac wheel is divided into 12 signs, the houses are also split up into 12, with each representing a different area of life that helps people interpret the planet-sign relationship.

TAs an introduction, houses work in a way wherein each of the 12 houses possesses its energy, which may reflect on a person, but this also matched alongside the inherent energy of the planet.

Moon Phases

In astronomy, moon phases are widely discussed because they can govern the ocean tides, so for astrology, they also posit that the phase that a moon is in also governs the way people experience life.

TFor starters, you need to know that the moon goes through four basic phases.

Planetary Return

A planetary return is easy to explain because it refers to a moment wherein a planet in transit returned to its position when a person was born.

Retrograde

Physically, a planet is in retrograde when it is seemingly moving backward in the sky.

In a way, if a planet is retrograde on your birth chart, that means you'll feel the energy portrayed by that planet in a deeper, more internal way.

To put it in a scenario, try to remember when you were at a stoplight, and the car next to you starts inching forward, and you feel like you're suddenly going in reverse.

Well, that's what retrograde means. In short, this time refers to a time wherein things go haywire.

Though astrologers often warn the signs to be more cautious during the retrograde.

They do remind everybody that a retrograde should not be hated. With a change of perspective, a retrograde could become an opportunity for you to take things slower and evaluate your life choices better.

Solstice

Though astrology and astronomy are vastly different, both fields of study borrow concepts from each other.

The term solstice is one of them. In astrology and astronomy, a solstice refers to the longest and shortest days of the year.

However, for astrology, the summer solstice in June concurs with abundance and harvest, and the winter solstice in December may refer to a time of darkness, but it also paves the way to a new life.

Zodiac

To wrap things up, here's an exact definition of what zodiac means.

Since it is obvious that it refers to your sign, but in particular, it means the division of the ecliptic (the path of the sun) into twelve 30-degree segments that are called "signs."

Each of which has its own set of characteristics, also commonly known as the sun sign.

It takes a lot of learning to master astrology, so don't be disheartened if you don't get it right the first time.

As long as you keep on learning and experiencing the mystic realm of astrology, you will soon become a natural at explaining all things left unseen.