A birth chart has a cast. The Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto each play a different part, and the Lunar Node, which is not a planet at all, joins them because it says something none of the others do. Each one stands for a drive that every person has. Nobody is born without a Mars or with two Moons. What differs from one chart to the next is how each drive behaves and where in life it does its work.

That is why every planet is read twice. The sign says how the planet behaves. The house says where it behaves that way. Most people know the first half of their chart, usually just the Sun sign, and most of what would actually help them is in the second.

Sign and house: the two halves of every planet

Take Venus in Libra. In any house it is the same Venus: fair, drawn to balance and harmony, a little pained by anything ugly or unequal. In the seventh house, the house of partnership, that shows up in how this person chooses and treats a partner. In the sixth house, the house of daily work and routine, it shows up at the office, in a gift for keeping a team calm and a strong opinion about the colour of the walls. Same planet, same sign, two different lives.

Or take Mars, the planet of action. Mars in Aries goes straight at a problem. Mars in Libra goes at it too, but first it asks whether everybody is comfortable with the plan. Put that Libra Mars in the tenth house and the negotiating happens around the career. Put it in the fourth and it happens at home, where it may take three family meetings to decide where the sofa goes.

Our report gives you the two halves together, as one reading per question, written for your planet in its sign and its house at the same time.

The personal planets

The Sun is what a life is organised around: identity, vitality, purpose, the part of you that wants to be recognised for being exactly who you are. Its sign describes the style of that self; its house shows where you most need to shine.

The Moon is what you need in order to feel safe. It describes emotional reactions, instincts, what nourishes you and what you do when you are stressed. Many people recognise themselves more in their Moon than in their Sun, especially at home and especially when tired.

Mercury is how you think, learn and talk. A Mercury in Gemini collects ideas quickly and moves on; a Mercury in Taurus takes longer and then does not forget. Its house says which subjects keep your mind busy.

Venus is what you value and how you love: attraction, pleasure, taste, and also your relationship with money and comfort. Someone with Venus in Capricorn tends to show love by being reliable, which is less romantic on paper and very romantic after ten years.

Mars is how you act, pursue and fight: energy, drive, desire and anger, and how you handle conflict. Its sign shows the method; its house shows the battlefield.

The social planets

Jupiter is where you expand: optimism, beliefs, generosity, the areas where life tends to open doors. It is also where you are most likely to overdo things, since a planet of abundance does not always know when to stop.

Saturn is where you are held to account: discipline, responsibility, fears, limits, and the maturity that comes from meeting them. Saturn is slow, and its gifts arrive slowly too. People often find their Saturn house is the area where they felt least confident at twenty and most competent at fifty.

The outer planets

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto move so slowly that whole generations share their signs. Pluto stays in a sign for more than a decade, so everyone in your school class has it in the same one. Their signs describe the generation; their houses describe where that generational current runs through your particular life.

Uranus is independence and sudden change, where you need freedom and where you rebel against how things have always been done. Neptune is imagination, compassion and the longing for something larger, and also where it is easiest to see what you would like to see. Pluto is power and deep transformation: where things end so that other things can begin, and where you hold on harder than you need to.

The Lunar Node

The North Node is the point where the Moon's path crosses the Sun's path. It is not an object, and it is included because of what it describes: direction. It is read as the quality a life keeps being pushed towards, often in areas that feel unfamiliar rather than natural. Its sign says what to grow into; its house says where to look for it.

What the report gives you

For each planet, the report gives several readings, each answering a different question. The Sun has seven, from your true self and vitality to leadership, recognition and the Sun's shadow side. The Moon has seven too, including what makes you feel nurtured and how you cope with stress. Venus has eight, covering love, attraction, heartbreak, jealousy and your attitude to money. Mercury, Mars and Jupiter each have six or seven, Saturn five, the three outer planets four each, and the Node three. Every one of them is written for the exact sign and house combination in your chart.

Above the readings, you can ask the AI astrologer to synthesise them: a summary of what your planets add up to, which is useful when forty readings start to feel like forty opinions. And on the first card of each planet you will see famous people who share that same placement, which is a good way to see a placement in action, and occasionally a humbling one.

Chiron, Lilith and the asteroids are not in this report. They have their own, the asteroid readings, because they add detail to a chart rather than build it.

Retrograde planets and missing birth times

A planet that was retrograde when you were born is not broken. It describes a planet whose work happens inwardly first and outwardly later, often with a longer run-up. It is common: roughly half of all charts have three or more.

The houses depend on your birth time, because they are drawn from the horizon at the moment of birth. Without a time, the report gives you each planet by its sign alone, and leaves the house out rather than guess it. The Moon is the one exception to watch: it moves about thirteen degrees a day, so without a birth time its sign is only certain if it stayed in one sign all day, and the report shows the Moon readings only in that case.

Where to start

Read in order of weight, not in order of the list. Start with the Sun and the Moon, then the planet that rules your rising sign, then any planet close to an angle of the chart. The rest is detail, and detail is much easier to take in once the frame is there.

When you are ready, read your planets in signs and houses here, starting from the Sun and the Moon, and let the rest follow.

Frequently asked questions

What does "a planet in a sign and a house" mean?
The sign is how the planet behaves; the house is the area of life where it behaves that way. Both come from your birth chart, and a reading that gives only the sign is giving you half of it.

Which planets does this report include?
The Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the North Node, each with several readings for its sign and house. Chiron, Lilith and the asteroids are in the asteroid readings.

Which planets should I read first?
The Sun and the Moon, then the planet that rules your rising sign. Those carry most of a chart; the rest fills in.

Is the Node a planet?
No. It is a calculated point where the Moon's orbit crosses the Sun's apparent path. It is read with the planets because it describes direction: what a life keeps moving towards.

What does it mean if a planet is retrograde in my chart?
That it works inwardly before outwardly, with a longer run-up and a more private version of the same story. About half of all charts have three or more, so it is ordinary, not a fault.

Do I need my birth time?
For the signs, no. For the houses, yes, and the houses are half of this report. Without a time, the report reads each planet by its sign and leaves the house out rather than guess it.