As the heart of the solar system and the gravitational center of the travels of the earth and the other planets, the sun is the primordial light, the source of all warmth and life. From the dawn of humanity, it has been worshipped. It has symbolized the absolute power kings and despots yearn for and emulate. The sun king, the nucleus of society, embodied a principle of cohesion and harmony. Various subordinates—aka planets—revolved around it. In terms of psychological symbolism, the sun corresponds to the center of an individual, the factor that rules your psyche. Its luminous aspects are usually associated with knowledge and consciousness. As a creator of life, it is related to the image of the mother and the influence of motherhood on an individual’s consciousness and ideals. As a result, the sun’s position in a birth chart always indicates the way in which an individual will relate to your goals and ideals, what your ambitions and aspirations might involve. A person whose chart is strongly “solar” usually identifies very positively with motherhood. Your personality is friendly, energetic, and creative, with high ideals and a firm determination to accomplish them. You take your own superiority and authority over others for granted, and you have a natural ability to command the attention and admiration of an audience. You are a born leader who enjoys being in the limelight and may behave somewhat theatrically or with dramatic exaggeration. You have definite artistic leanings. The sense of your ideals is evident to you and may lead you to be somewhat self-focused. If ill-directed, your deep aspirations may lead to such faults as egotism, selfishness, or greediness for power.

In traditional astrology, Jupiter has always been considered as the Great Benefactor, the planet of luck and success such as personal fortune, social prominence, professional prestige, high political position. The Jupiterian bounty is peerless! In psychological terms, this planet has a much vaster significance. As the biggest planet in the solar system, it does preside over the process of personal expansion, interpreted to be fitting into society better and finding an appropriate match between one’s individual ambitions and the aspirations of the group. This growth is accompanied by a feeling of self-confidence, which, in turn, buoys up an even greater externalization and expansion of the ego – hence the planet’s flattering reputation. But this snowball effect (Jupiter smiles and the world smiles with you), in which social skills magnify confidence and boldness reaps many rewards, betrays the negative side of Jupiter: extreme and excess. Although grandeur was the characteristic of the “king of the gods,” errors of judgment, poor taste, and sometimes selfishness and pride are also likely to be part of the Jupiterian package. It is important to note that the extension of the ego may be a form of escape; it is tempting to hide behind one’s popularity and social success, which are fairly easy to obtain, rather than be really demanding with oneself. The Jupiterian has a tendency to amplify qualities out of compensation, to avoid seeing weaknesses and flaws. As a result, you must be aware of the risk of over-identifying with your social mask, which would cause you to neglect your inner self and deep nature.

Venus, or Aphrodite, is the planet of love. A source of universal attraction, this planet corresponds to the original urge which bonds two human beings together in love. Venus is thus both the magnetism which brings human beings together (not lust, which is symbolized by Mars, but the object which attracts lust) and the gift of love. This ambiguity is interpreted astrologically by the fact that Venus rules two houses of the zodiac. In Taurus, Venus symbolizes the awakening to bodily lust, and in Libra, the bond of marriage. As a result, Venus may take on very different aspects depending on the individual’s degree of awareness. Likewise, this ambiguity explains Aphrodite’s equivocal conduct in Greek myth and her innumerable couplings and motherhood. Depending on the legend, she may embody brutal, passionate love (with Anteros), the wisdom of the heart which rescues from passion (Harmonia); she also becomes tenderness and purity (with Adonis), pure sexuality (with Eros), a transforming energy (with Vulcan), etc. Mistress of the Arts, she represents beauty, understanding, and peace. Psychologically, individuals under the influence of Venus are struggling with their love instincts. This is why you cannot conceive of living without a personal emotional relationship to someone else and sometimes fears solitude and the encounter with yourself. You are extremely attractive to others and are a creator and artistic genius who seems to imbue all you touch with beauty and harmony. Your artistic skills are obvious to the people around you and may be applied to career endeavors. Pleasure, outings, seduction, love, and a thriving but sometimes superficial social life are the hallmarks of your life.

The eighth house is an area of the sky which is especially important to Andy Bassich. In the following paragraph, we shall explain the general meaning of this fact.

According to tradition, this house is associated with the sign of Scorpio, and thus the themes of death, metamorphosis, and sexuality. It is also related to birth and initiation, and, in more practical terms, inheritances, legacies, and debts. More specifically, the area is related to the idea of partnership resources. It raises such issues as the management of a collective heritage and the administration of assets acquired in association with another person, and the sharing out, psychologically and materially, of these resources in marriage and business partnerships. As a result, three interdependent but fundamental factors inherent to initiating any mutually beneficial partnership are emphasized: trust, management, and responsibility. Obviously, a partnership devoid of trust is dangerous, if not impossible. Only when true trust and mutual confidence are established can a cooperative activity yield profit. The next step is managing the profit (or loss) resulting from the cooperative enterprise: sharing it out equally between the partners, or re-investing it in view of making the enterprise more profitable. The responsibility of the manager (and any participant who is a co-manager) is obviously engaged, because it would be unethical for you to keep any of the wealth generated by the group’s activities for your own personal benefit. You must also be responsible enough not to flee in case of difficulty. Sexuality, which is an asset or resource of the couple, can be thought of according to the same dynamic. If sexual problems arise, if they are not due to physiological problems, they are always related either to a loss of mutual confidence, to mismanagement of the physical and psychological exchange, or to an insufficient sense of duty on the part of one of the partners. Due to the significance of this area in your astral chart, you may encounter one of these issues. It will be vital for you to become truly conscious of what is at stake in your partnerships. As a result, you will have to evaluate the wealth you acquire as a result of your relationships and measure the power conferred upon you by your participation in intimate, social, or professional relationships.

Andy Bassich reads the paragraph about the seventh house.