Astrology recognizes nine planets - the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These celestial bodies move through the 12 signs of the zodiac over time and exert influence over human affairs.
The Sun is the center of our solar system around which the other eight planets revolve. In astrology, the Sun represents our conscious self, life force, core being, and creative spirit. It governs our basic personality, identity, and sense of self. The sign the Sun occupies in an astrology chart reveals our inner motivations, strengths, and weaknesses.
The Moon represents our emotional self, unconscious habits/reactions, and inner moods. It moves through the zodiac more rapidly than the other planets. The Moon sign defines our instinctual nature, needs, and feelings. It reveals our emotional temperament, security needs, and reflections of our early childhood environment.
Mercury governs intellect, communication, logic, reasoning, and adaptability. It determines how we think, speak, understand, share information, solve problems, and study. In indian astrology, Mercury signifies our intelligence, memory, mental interests/curiosity, and nervous system functioning.
Venus embodies love, beauty, pleasure, relationships, aesthetics, art, luxury, and possessions. It reveals what brings us joy, our tastes, artistic talents, capacity for affection/friendship, financial prosperity, and attitudes toward romance. Venus sign placements indicate our values, harmony, and appetite for life's pleasures.
Mars represents passion, drive, aggression, courage, conflict, sexuality, initiative, and force. It signifies our animal instincts, competitiveness, sexual desire, vitality, and how we apply our physical energy. In an astrology chart, Mars governs our ambition, risk-taking inclinations, masculinity, and survival instincts.
Jupiter epitomizes philosophy, expansion, hope, morality, optimism, opportunity, generosity, wisdom, and spirituality. As the largest planet, Jupiter promotes growth, prosperity, good fortune, indulgence, travel, higher learning, and enlightenment. Jupiter sign placements reveal our life philosophy, how we seek meaning, and generosity.
Saturn governs discipline, limitations, practicality, reality, authority figures, maturity, responsibility, destiny, and time. It represents the reality principle that helps temper the expansiveness of Jupiter. Saturn reveals our capacity for hard work, boundaries, professional ambitions, and how we handle adversity. It defines the weight of the real world upon us.
Uranus epitomizes revolution, rebellion, eccentricity, brilliance, technology, science, humanitarianism, and the unexpected. In astrology, Uranus oversees originality, visionary creativity, social/political reform, and our connection to the cosmic collective unconscious. Uranus sign placements reveal where we differ from societal norms and become our most authentic selves.
Lastly, Neptune in astrology represents spirituality, dreams, illusions, fantasy, visual/musical arts, psychic ability, imagination, drugs, deception, and what transcends the rational mind. As the furthest planet from the Sun, Neptune energy dissolves boundaries and intangible psychic influences come to the forefront of awareness under its sway. Neptune sign placements indicate our spiritual inclinations, creative muse, and personal ideals/fantasies.
So in summation, astrology's nine planets each symbolize different domains of human experience - the basic drives of our essential self (the Sun), our emotional needs (the Moon), our mental faculties and communication (Mercury), pleasure principles (Venus), action/passion/aggression (Mars), meaning and abstract thought (Jupiter), reality limits and responsibility (Saturn), reform and originality (Uranus), and spirituality/creativity beyond ego (Neptune). The signs and movements of these planets help predict and describe personality.