O! TL;DR reference
The planets at a glance
tl;dr
- Astrology uses ten bodies: the Sun and Moon (the luminaries) plus Mercury through Pluto.
- Each moves at a different speed — the Moon crosses a sign in ~2.5 days, Pluto takes years.
- The faster a body, the more 'personal' its placement; slow outer planets mark whole generations.
Ten bodies, ordered by speed
| Body | Glyph | Full cycle (one orbit / zodiac loop) | Class | Rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | ☉ | ~365.25 days | Luminary | Leo |
| Moon | ☽ | ~27.3 days (sidereal) | Luminary | Cancer |
| Mercury | ☿ | ~88 days | Personal | Gemini, Virgo |
| Venus | ♀ | ~225 days | Personal | Taurus, Libra |
| Mars | ♂ | ~687 days (~1.9 yr) | Personal | Aries (Scorpio, classical) |
| Jupiter | ♃ | ~11.9 years | Social | Sagittarius (Pisces, classical) |
| Saturn | ♄ | ~29.5 years | Social | Capricorn (Aquarius, classical) |
| Uranus | ♅ | ~84 years | Transpersonal | Aquarius (modern) |
| Neptune | ♆ | ~165 years | Transpersonal | Pisces (modern) |
| Pluto | ♇ | ~248 years | Transpersonal | Scorpio (modern) |
Why speed matters
A body's orbital period sets how long it stays in one sign, and that drives how astrologers read it. The Moon changes sign every couple of days, so it is treated as the most personal and fast-moving marker. The Sun, Mercury and Venus stay close to the Sun and never stray far from your birth-month sign.
Jupiter and Saturn — the 'social' planets — take years per sign and are shared by everyone born in the same span. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto move so slowly that everyone in a generation shares the same sign placement, which is why they are called transpersonal.
Notes on the table
- Cycle lengths are sidereal orbital periods (one full loop against the stars), rounded.
- The Sun and Moon are not planets astronomically, but astrology counts them among the ten 'planets' of a chart.
- Rulerships show the modern assignment first; the classical ruler is noted in parentheses where it differs.
- Pluto is a dwarf planet astronomically (IAU, 2006) but is retained in astrological practice.