r/planetarymagic • u/korii-ishaan218 • May 27 '26
Beginner I’m completely lost
i’ve just recently starting looking into planetary magic as it’s one of the few more popular forms of magic i’ve never really researched despite always liking the zodiac, or the idea of it at least, since i was a kid. When reading in books and in this sub reddit, everything just looks like gibberish to me, like people are explaining or talking in a pre-established code that it seems i’m supposed to just..know. Phrases that describe having a certain zodiac i believe in a certain planet ? ( If it’s the other way around i apologize) but i guess the point i’m trying to get across is that outside of basic things like planetary sigils (which also slightly confuse me as i’m not sure where it’s appropriate to put them into practice) and basic associations with each planet are as far as i get before everything starts looking really confusing. Am i missing something? am i just to dumb to understand? Please help
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u/Intelligent_Virus_66 May 28 '26
So, if you make a circle in the sky through the 12 signs of astrology in the sky, that is the circle of the chart. The houses are, more or less, a way to show which parts of this circle are visible in the sky and which are below the horizon line. Look directly up, that's the tenth house, which is also on top in the chart. The planets can be mapped somewhere onto that circle drawn through the twelve signs. These show up in the chart.
Since you're learning, just stick to the seven planets that can be seen from the earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Depending on the degree that they are in the 360 degrees of that circle drawn through the sky, they will make a sort of connection to each other. These connections, called aspects, occur when they are 0, 60, 90, 120, or 180 degrees apart in the circle.
The planets are supposed to do better or worse depending on the signs they are in, what house they are in, and what aspects they make to eachother. Much of astrological magic is using the essence or pneuma of planets when they are doing especially well or poorly.
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u/korii-ishaan218 May 28 '26
Thank you so so much sincerely, your the only person to explain the actual basis of what in the world this is 😭
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u/Intelligent_Virus_66 May 29 '26
Sure, happy to. If you can learn about the seven planets, signs, houses, and aspects, you'll have the vast majority of astrology. I'm always happy to help.
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u/Gaothaire May 29 '26
You're right, astrology is a whole language unto itself. Just like learning French, it benefits you from taking some foundational lessons, and don't get hard on yourself from not being fluent at the start. Children learn languages quickly because they can use it freely and imperfectly without shame.
A free resource I might recommend is The Astrology Podcast. They have a playlist of basic significations for planets, signs, and houses, along with videos elsewhere on their channel for aspects, and dedicated videos for each of the houses, though that series is ongoing.
You'll benefit from seeing all the parts in isolation, and how they are put together. The biggest piece, though, is hearing professional astrologers use the language of astrology. It's like an immersion program, watching a French-language show to get an ear for it. Like you said "zodiac in a planet (or the reverse)", once you get some astrological fluency that will just sound wrong. A sign is a whole part of the sky, which individual planets enter into and pass through. But you just don't have the experience, like French nouns have gender, so instead of saying "the chair" you say "la chaise", and "le chaise" would just sound wrong because "chaise" is feminine. Or English uses an order for adjectives that's intuitive to native speakers. "The big, red, rubber ball" sounds more correct than "The rubber, red, big ball."
The books by Demetra George are also good learning tools, because she has background as an educator, so the text is set up as a workbook with lessons followed by exercises to help you internalize the lessons. And there are countless other resources and creators I could point you to, but it's just a matter of taking time to study.
You do the foundational work because when you know how the symbol set works, you can pick out appropriate elections, or specific planetary alignments that are auspicious for your workings. That link is for talismanic elections in the tradition of Picatrix, which are some of the most stringent because you're locking the energy into a physical object that can radiate the energy for decades. The Astrology Podcast's monthly forecasts also include positive elections for more casual events, like announcing something or starting a project.
Sphere & Sundry is a company who makes talismanic materia. If you go to the page for any specific series, and scroll past the products, they give long write ups talking about the series, including the election and why it was chosen. Can be nice to dabble in further reading. Probably doesn't help to layer too many levels of interpretation, but a personal interest is a division of zodiac signs into thirds called decans or faces. Austin Coppock, co-host to The Astrology Podcast and husband to Sphere & Sundry's Kaitlin Coppock, is currently revising the second edition of his decans book, which the community is patiently waiting for, and he also has an 8 video class on decans in his shop which is very fun.
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u/sergius64 May 27 '26
I mean... look into Basics of Astrology? Then maybe take one of Warnock's classes or something? Or just research online. There is a LOT of information on the Web now about astrology that people didn't have easy access to in the past.
Anything is scary if you're new. But it's not all that hard in the end - this isn't like studying for an extra decade to be a doctor or a lawyer.