Love, Truth and Power in Astrology

One way to look at the planets is to see them as indicating Love, Truth or Power. Each of these can be viewed as primitive (self and physical body focused), average (working within your social network) or transcendent (where you desire this for all).

In Western Astrology we typically use 10 planets (we include the lights—the Sun and Moon). With three categories, and three levels, we have one planet left over. That would be the Sun, which is seen to be the self. Ultimately the Sun is the enlightened or integrated self, the goal of the spiritual seeker. Thus the goal of enlightenment is to know and make peace with your other nine major planets—Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto!

Let us begin with Love. Love = Moon + Venus + Neptune. The most primitive expression of love is the Moon. The Moon is about our comfort level, our bodily comfort, nurturing those with whom we have a body-tie. Thus the natal Moon indicates our relative ease with up-close and personal expressions of love. Within our network, Venus is the planet of love. Venus expands beyond family and kin to flirt and attract “new blood.” Often in the literal way of expanding the gene pool. Again, the condition of natal Venus says much about your expression of love in social interaction. Finally Neptune is spiritual love, love for all beings, love for the soul of all.

Briefly, having the Moon adversely aspected[1] indicates a lack of nurturing in your infancy and youth which interferes with your accepting and giving love later in life. Having Venus adversely aspected indicates early peer group problems that cause problems in social interactions later in life. The adverse aspects of Neptune can mean taking Neptune’s “Low Road” in life—primarily addictions. Please note that having any planet unaspected[2] may be as difficult as having it adversely aspected as it indicates a lack of connection and integration of that planet’s energy into your conscious life.

Let us look at Power. Power = Mars + Saturn + Pluto. The most primitive expression of power is Mars, the strength and assertiveness to make your needs known and to force others to serve those needs. Saturn expands your power into the community to create systems—Law—that insure that your needs are met. Finally Pluto creates world conditions that require balancing everyone’s needs. Pluto requires that the higher needs are met without consideration for any individual or group. Problems with Mars mean either avoiding asserting yourself, or over-doing it. Problems with Saturn mean either thwarting the rules, or overdoing them. Problems with Pluto may put you as an unwitting agent of Pluto or a victim…

Moving on to Truth. Truth = Mercury + Jupiter + Uranus. Mercury is the most primitive form of truth. Mercury jabbers away indiscriminately, talking in superficial, unexamined ways about every subject, including subjects others wish to avoid. Jupiter looks more closely and more deeply. However Jupiter represents established wisdom, he does not move into new territory. So Mercury can be glib and thoughtless, while Jupiter can expound on platitudes. Uranus is plugged into the mental realm and able to access new information. Uranus is the transcendent expression of Truth.

A badly aspected Mercury can mean you lack the ability to express yourself, or you are too expressive. Mercury does not care overly much about the Truth; in some cases Mercury indicates thieves and white collar criminals. Jupiter is concerned with ethics and moral systems. If badly aspected it can go either way—being too concerned with community morals and not necessarily taking care of individual behavior. Not following the precepts that you are teaching. Uranus in bad aspect is totally outside societal conventions—thus the association of Uranus with the gay movement, revolutionaries, and others outside conventional society. The squelched expression of Uranus is to be totally closed to new ideas, and totally conventional.

Let’s look at some example charts.

Love: The triple conjunction of Moon, Venus and Neptune is shown in the chart of Robert Redford with those planets in Virgo in the sixth house of habits. The grand trine of the three love planets is illustrated in three charts—Walt Whitman, Sri Aurobindo, and Ted Haggard—showing the various ways this can be expressed.

Power: the triple conjunction of Mars, Saturn and Pluto is shown in the chart of Al Gore, former Vice President, where they lie in Leo in the 1st house trine his Sun. The Grand trine is shown in the chart of Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, where two planets are in water, the third in fire, occupying the houses of communication: 3, 7 and 11.

Truth: the Grand Air Trine of Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus is in the chart of Poet Omar Khayam, still popular after 1000 years! Note that Pluto figures into this configuration.

[1] Adversely aspected, meaning the preponderance of aspects is negative: squares or oppositions with any planets or conjunctions (and sometimes trines) with Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
[2] Lacking these aspects: parallel or contra-parallel within 1.25°, conjunction or opposition within 8°, trine or square within 6°, sextile within 3°, quincunx within 1.5°.