Using Astrology in Your Writing Practice
You can definitely skip this first section if you’re already familiar with the basics of astrology, but I want to do a very quick overview for those who are just starting out.
The first thing to know about astrology is that there is not one unifying type, theory, or interpretation. There are many traditions, schools of thought, and blends that various astrologers use. I use whole sign (and mostly follow the Hellenistic tradition with some modern thrown in for good measure), so that’s what I will be talking about going forward.
I can’t speak to alternatives such as Placidus, because I know very little about it and it just doesn’t work for me. However, it’s worth reading about the other types in case a different system resonates more with you. No system or tradition is THE one — it’s a matter of preference and resonance.
Your rising sign (ascendant) is the most important piece of information in your natal chart when working with whole sign (or most Western systems, for that matter). The ascendant is what structures your chart’s houses, and because it changes every couple hours, it’s crucial for having a full picture of your chart. Here is an article from CHANI about what to do if you don’t know your birth time as well as one from Alice Sparkly Kat with a post-colonial perspective on the subject.
Pulling Your Natal Chart
I like to use Astrodienst, but you can use whatever site/app you like. Just be sure you select a Whole Sign chart — not Placidus, which many default to — to use the house system.
Houses and Signs
Using whole sign, you can see your chart as being divided into 12 houses, each representing a core part of you.
Each sign gives its own flavor to the house. For instance, whichever house Gemini occupies will likely have a lot of curiosity, communication, duality, and adaptability in that area. It can also have inconsistency and perhaps flightiness as well. If that is, say, your 7th house of relationships, you may find that you are really open-minded when it comes to your partnerships, or that the partners you attract are intellectual and communicative.
Knowing your houses is the first step in understanding how current astrology may impact you. In our example above, a full or new moon in Gemini will activate or pull focus on 7th house things (like relationships/partnerships).
It’s worth learning about all 12 signs, even if you have an “empty” house in a particular sign, because they all still play a part in your natal chart as a whole. Again, with the Gemini example, that interpretation stands irrespective of what’s “in” the house. If there are planets in that house, that adds another dimension to the discussion, but for now, just knowing that each sign matters in your chart is the main takeaway.
We’ll talk more shortly about which houses and planets relate to writing and art.
Where to Start
We already talked about houses and signs, so here are a few other parts that are important in your natal chart.
Signs and their rulers: As I mentioned, each sign matters. You can also get to know their rulers — this gives you even more info about each sign, and can help you start connecting the dots in your chart.
Planets and luminaries: The luminaries (sun and moon) and each planet live in a house in a particular sign. You can get to know these figures — what they mean, what they represent, how they affect us — and then apply that to what you know about the signs and houses.
Points, nodes, and asteroids: Like the planets and luminaries, these all mean something important in your chart. Points, like the ascendant and midheaven, the north and south nodes, and significant asteroids (Chiron is the most common) all live and express themselves through the signs and houses.
Elements and modalities: The elements (fire, water, earth, air) and modalities (fixed, mutable, cardinal) are useful to understand and apply, but in my opinion, they can be learned later on if you want, once you have a solid grasp of the basics.
Aspects: Aspects (conjunctions, sextiles, squares, etc.) can be tricky to learn, but are really important in your chart. Here is where you really begin to see yourself reflected in the stars. Because they can be a bit complex, I recommend not worrying too much about these until you feel like you have a solid understanding of your chart without them. From there, you might take a class on aspects, find an app or site that explains them (CHANI is great for this!), and/or focus on one aspect type (conjunctions and/or aspects to planets/points you’re interested in are good places to start) at a time.
Your Chart + Writing & Creativity
Whew! We’ve covered a ridiculous amount already, but I want to get into the actual question — how to use all this in writing. If you’re overwhelmed with info right now, come back to this later! There’s no rush to figure it all out this second.
When it comes to writing and creating, your natal chart is a powerful tool in learning how you create, what you need to create, why you are drawn to certain topics or genres, and for self-knowledge in general (which is crucial to writing, imo).
Your Big 3
Do you know your sun, moon, and rising signs? You’ve got some delicious data already!
Our sun shows us both where we shine and where we illuminate others. It also highlights the ways we express ourselves.
Our moon shows us what we need to feel safe, our emotional landscape, and our interiority.
Our ascendant marks the moment we draw our first breath, and everything in our chart is built around that moment. So, it indicates your identity and sense of self. The ruler of your rising sign is your chart ruler.
All three of these tie into our creative selves — the signs they’re in, the houses the sun and moon are in, aspects they make. If you learn nothing else about your chart, knowing about these three pieces can tell you a lot about who you are, and by extension, what you need in order to create.
The Houses
Here are the houses I suggest looking to in your chart:
3rd House: Governs daily communication, writing and making, writing projects, personal rituals
5th House: Governs creativity, creative energy, pleasure, art, self-expression
9th House: Governs higher education, languages, publishing, the arts, divination
The 2nd house represents money and resources, the 6th house talks about our daily lives and routines, the 10th our careers and public personas, and the 11th our communities — these can be interesting to consider in relation to your creativity as well.
And the “underworld” houses — the 4th being ancestry and lineage; 8th being our personal underworld, shadow, and mental health; and 12th being our collective unconscious as well as our hidden life — can be particularly illuminating, especially if your writing or art concerns topics that fall under those umbrellas (yes, hi, it’s me).
Finally, just so I don’t leave any out: Your 1st house of your self, your persona, your identity, and the 7th representing “the other,” committed relationships, how you collaborate — these are also important in different ways.
The Planets
As you can probably guess based on the coverage of the houses, every planet can potentially speak to your writing/process/creative energy, but here are the ones I find to be most relevant to my writing practice:
Mercury: How you think, communicate, and process
Venus: How you seek beauty, your taste, how you relate
Saturn: What you need in terms of structure, where you seek self-mastery, and time in general
The Importance of Self-Knowledge
I cannot overstate how useful it is to have an understanding of how you personally respond to astrology. Once you start tracking, for example, how each moon phase tends to affect you, you can better work with new and full moons. For instance, some people have a hard time in the days leading up to the full moon, so if that’s you, you can underschedule yourself on those days, or avoid creative work if it is difficult. I tend not to work with new moons the day of, and instead have better energy and focus in the day or two after for my rituals and intentions.
Start by tracking your moods, energy, and health in relation to the moon; or, just start tracking and watch the sky. Patterns will emerge over time, which gives you good information you can then use to plan everything from magic to creative projects.
Working with Transits
Transits are the movements of planets through the sky and their interactions on your chart. They tend to reflect current events and personal experiences. Short transits include those of the moon, which last 2-3 days, or Mercury retrograde, which happens a few times a year for 3-ish weeks at a time. Transits like your Saturn return or Pluto transits are longer, as outer planets move much slower. These can often bring significant life changes and deep transformation personally and collectively.
You’re already familiar with sun signs and their seasons, and you may even have a sense of how they typically affect you. Use this knowledge to your advantage by planning your creative projects in alignment with the current sun sign.
Using retrogrades as times of reflection is another simple way to work with transits. Mercury retrograde, though we hear a lot about how “bad” it is, is actually a perfect time to review projects, revise, and reflect.
As you learn more about astrology, you can watch for personal transits to work with. For example, some Jupiter transits can be beautiful moments of growth and expansion. They can also be particularly creative times. I work with Saturn often, and I look for transits that are supportive in creating new or reinforcing useful structures, improving discipline, or refining creative projects.
Planetary Magic
Planetary Magic is a huge topic deserving of its own study, so I’m just going to speak to how I use it in my creative practice. (If you want to learn more, Denning & Phillips are key authors on the subject, and Cristina Farella teaches courses on it sometimes.) My approach might be a kind of bastardization of “real” planetary magic, but it works for me.
To me, planetary magic is about working with the planets in an embodied way, drawing on the specific powers or themes that each one speaks to. I work most frequently with Saturn, as I need the structure, self-mastery, constraint, and boundaries he represents. One of these days I’ll write more about my relationship to Saturn, because it has been incredibly meaningful. (I also have a class in the works about Saturn and structure that I’m very excited about!)
In addition to Saturn, I do work with other planets. As a writer, Mercury is important, and as a Libra rising/Cancer Venus, Venus is a go-to for me as well. I usually work with these planets during retrogrades.
My approach to planetary magic involves:
making altars to planets, often corresponding to an important transit
leaving offerings to them on my altar
reading their Orphic hymn on their planetary day of the week
focusing reflections and creative work around their themes
Each planet has magical correspondences, but most often I make up my own correspondences based on what makes sense to me.
My altars, rituals, and offerings are simple, but you can be as elaborate as you’d like.
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