Reference
Astrology Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms AIstra Lumina uses in every forecast.
A short list of the words behind a horoscope. Each entry tells you what the term technically means and what AIstra has in mind when she uses it in a forecast.
Twenty-eight terms, six categories. Click a term for the long-form definition and recent forecast mentions.
Aspects
- Aspect When two planets sit at a specific angle to each other in the sky, that is an aspect. The aspect carries the meaning. It…
- Conjunction Two planets in roughly the same place, give or take a few degrees. The strongest aspect. The two meanings fuse. The fami…
- Opposition Two planets across the sky from each other, 180 degrees apart. The tension aspect. Each pulls in the opposite direction …
- Square 90 degrees between two planets. A friction aspect. Not opposite, but pushed against each other at an angle that demands …
- Trine 120 degrees between two planets. The friendly aspect. Energies flow together without resistance. Easy to enjoy, easy to …
- Sextile 60 degrees between two planets. A low-key opportunity aspect. Things click into place if you reach for them, but they wi…
- Orb The forgiveness window for an aspect. A conjunction at exactly 0 degrees is rare; one within 3 degrees is still a conjun…
Planets
- Sun In a horoscope, your Sun sign is your basic identity, the role you keep coming back to. It is what most "What's your sig…
- Moon The Moon governs mood, the inner weather, the things you do not say out loud. In a daily forecast, AIstra often opens by…
- Mercury The planet of communication and short trips. When AIstra mentions Mercury, it is usually about messages, deals, conversa…
- Venus Money, beauty, and what you draw close. Venus governs taste, attraction, the way you spend your time when no one is maki…
- Mars Drive, conflict, anger, sex. Mars is the verb in the chart, what you actively do.
- Jupiter Expansion. Travel. Higher learning. The places life gets bigger. Jupiter transits often feel optimistic, sometimes exces…
- Saturn Limit. Discipline. The structure that does not bend. Saturn transits feel like work, and the work is what makes the less…
Modalities
- Cardinal One of three modalities. Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) start things. They mark the change of season a…
- Fixed Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) sustain. Middle-of-season signs. They finish what cardinal signs started, a…
- Mutable Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) end one season and ease into the next. They adapt. The negotiators an…
Elements
- Fire (element) Aries, Leo, Sagittarius. The fire signs are spontaneous, expressive, driven by attention and momentum. They warm a room.
- Earth (element) Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn. Earth signs are practical, patient, attentive to the body and the bottom line. They build slow…
- Air (element) Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. Air signs live in language and ideas, in the space between people. They are the connectors.
- Water (element) Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces. Water signs feel before they think. They run on emotion, memory, undertow.
Angles and houses
- Ascendant Also called the rising sign. The zodiac sign on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. Often the first impression y…
- Midheaven The point at the top of a birth chart, the noon mark. Symbolically, your public role, the work you are seen doing.
- House Twelve slices of a birth chart, numbered counterclockwise from the ascendant. Each house carries a life area: 1st is sel…
Motion and timing
- Retrograde When a planet appears to move backwards through the zodiac from Earth's perspective. It is an optical illusion (the plan…
- Transit The current position of a real planet in the sky, read against your birth chart or against today's general weather. Ever…
- Ingress The moment a planet crosses from one sign into the next. Mercury entering Gemini, for example. AIstra often mentions ing…
- Moon phase Where the Moon is in its 29.5-day cycle: new, waxing, full, waning. AIstra mentions the current phase because the Moon's…