iVillage

Perhaps the most important first concept to note is that all of these bodies out there are not just isolated entities. They work and hang together as a system, the solar system. And they have all been doing this for a very long time, so they have found just the right distances to keep from one another, and they all orbit around the Sun. This integrated balanced system is older than any time we can measure and will probably last longer than any time we can imagine. By this time in history, this entire system has settled down and has its own unique rhythm and pace.

Where we sit, on Earth, there are two planets inside Earth’s orbit (Mercury and Venus) and a number of planets outside that orbit (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.). Gradually, over recorded time, each of these great heavenly bodies has drawn around it a vast amount of lore and meaning. These are not just a bunch of rocks circling the Sun. There is more and more evidence that not only our entire solar system, but our entire galaxy is a coherent system that somehow communicates within itself, at least enough information to continue to remain intact—coherent.

Perhaps your introduction to this tradition thus far amounts to little more than what we have heard people say, things like “It’s Mercury retrograde, so don’t sign that contact!” or “Have your party on the full Moon; that is when the energy is high.” What we want to do here is to take the time to really get to know the planets and find what they really have to say.