Comparative Planetology

Figure 1 shows a screenshot of a cool animation depicting the rotation, tilt and relative sizes of the planets in the solar system. Click here for the animation.

Figure 1: source

What is doesn't depict of course are the orbits of the planets, their eccentricities and the angle that these orbits make the plane formed by the Earth's orbit. Figure 2 is shows a table of eccentricities along with perihelions and aphelions (closest and furthest approaches to the Sun).

Figure 2: source

Notice how the perihelion of Pluto takes it inside the orbit of Neptune. Ceres is not listed in the table but it has an eccentricity of 0.0758 with an angle of inclination to the plane of the Earth's orbit of 10.59°. Here is a YouTube video that explains these angles inclination and is fact part of a 33 episode series on comparative planetology.

Figure 3 displays the values of these planetary inclinations:

Figure 3: source

One could well ask what is the relevance to Astrology of all this astronomical detail? Let's use the planetary orbital inclinations to address this question. The angles correspond in an astrological chart to the maximum possible celestial latitudes, both North and South, that a planet can have. Figure 4 shows today's celestial longitudes.

Figure 4: from Astrolog

As can be seen, the celestial latitude of the Sun is 0°00' as it should be because the ecliptic plane from which the angles are measured is defined by the Earth's path around the Sun. Notice how all the absolute values of all the latitudes conform with the values shown in Figure 3. The North Node of the Moon is where the Moon's orbit intersects the Ecliptic and so its value, like that of the Sun, is always 0°00'. The orbit of the Moon itself has an inclination of 5.145°. The orbit of Chiron has an eccentricity of 0.3823 and an inclination of 6.93°. Like the Moon, all the planets, centaurs, asteroids and dwarf planets have north and south nodes where their orbits intersect the plane of the ecliptic. Some astrologers take these nodes into account but most don't.

The point is that these angles are commonly displayed in an astrological chart for a reason and that is that two coordinates (celestial latitude and longitude) are needed to define an astronomical body's position. Much attention is given to the longitude. For example in Figure 4, it can be seen that Mercury is in 27°37' of Virgo. Far less attention is given to the latitude but when planets are conjunct both in terms of latitude and longitude, this aspect can be particularly potent. One has only to look back to mid-January of 2020 to realise this. See Figure 5.

Figure 5: from Astrolog

It was the spectacular conjunction in Capricorn, occurring in January 13th/14th of 2020, that marked the onset of the Covid pandemic. Notice how the positions of the Sun and Pluto differ by only 0°01' of longitude and that Pluto's latitude is -0°40' (0°40' of south latitude). Remember that Pluto's latitude ranges between -17° and +17° but at this time it was almost zero. Similarly Saturn was not only a mere 0°04' away from an exact conjunction with the Sun but it was also only 0°02' away from the plane of the ecliptic. It is the closeness, in terms of both latitude and longitude of the planets involved in this conjunction, that made it so potent. Its effects will be felt for decades to come.

All the astronomical details concerning the planets are relevant in some way astrologically. To take another example, it has always struck me how Venus, the planet of harmony, and its higher octave Neptune, both have orbits that almost perfectly circular. This means that the eccentricities of their orbits are almost zero (0.007 and 0.009 respectively). Astrologers must know their astronomy, first and foremost before anything else.