Astrology Guides

Welcome to the dark side – a zodiac guide  from Jane Lyle
It’s not all sweetness and light out there in the zodiac. Here’s a brief guide to some of the shadows that lie within each sun-sign personality that you might not always find when you read your daily horoscope .

Apart from the ten 'main' planets used in astrology, some astrologers include the asteroids like Vesta and Eros. But one 'planetary' body which has become quite important over the past twenty years or so, particularly in psychological astrology, and now included in most software and clients charts is the icy planetoid, Chiron.

In our birthcharts, Chiron represents where we feel wounded in life. This is a collective wound rather than a family/personal issue. It's plancement by sign and house reveals how the world out there makes you feel inadequate in some way, or you feel you've been short-changed.  Chiron in Greek mythology is also known as the 'the wounded healer'.  Chiron does not rule any of the signs, although there are different schools of astrological thought on this.

The houses are usually (unless using the Equal house method) irregular slices of the chart which tell you which sphere or arena if your life is in focus depending on the planets which occupy it and the house ruler's position in the chart if the house is 'empty'. Each astrological house stands for a particular sphere of activity. The house division of a horoscope varies in each birthchart. This is calculated according to the exact time and geographic place of birth.

Find out what this all means by reading more of this article by Sarah Bartlett 

Two points which are still considered very important in astrology are the moon's nodes.
These are two astronomical points exactly opposite each other, indicating where the paths of the moon and the earth cross.

Many astrologers see these points as karmic points: The north node is said to represent the spiritual and psychological growth we need to learn or develop in this life, while the south node represents our past life experiences which are perhaps 'bad' karma, or what we need to unlearn.
The north node is also considered to be a point of important encounters, ships that pass in the night, people we meet who will change our life in some way, while the south node often indicates separation.