Origin of the classic rulerships

The classic rulerships as they are handed down from Ptolemy are as follows:

•  Moon rules Cancer (4th sign)
• Sun rules Leo (5th sign)
• Mercury rules Gemini (3rd sign) and Virgo (6th sign)
• Venus rules Taurus (2nd sign) and Libra (7th sign)
• Mars rules Aries (1st sign) and Scorpio (8th sign)
• Jupiter rules Pisces (12th sign) and Sagittarius (9th sign)
• Saturn rules Aquarius (11th sign) and Capricorn (10th sign)

It is easy to see that there is a system to the rulerships: The Moon and the Sun are similar to the Queen and the King in a game of chess, and the 2 Saturn-ruled signs, Aquarius and Capricorn, could represent the opponent's King and Queen. This means that Mercury and Venus represents the "court" of the Sun and the Moon, while Mars and Jupiter similarly represents the court of the opponent's King and Queen.

For a long time I wondered what the (astronomical) reason behind the rulerships was – and if the rulerships changed, once you move to Southern hemisphere. Then I discovered, that planet Earth's orbit around the Sun isn't circular, it is instead elliptic, and the earth is closest to the Sun in July and August, when the Sun moves through Cancer and Leo – and this is true no matter if you are in the Northern or the Southern hemisphere.

Something similar is true for the Moon's orbit around planet Earth: It is closest to the Earth, when it is in Cancer / Leo and furthest from planet Earth, when it is in Capricorn / Aquarius. I concluded that the Sun’s and the Moon’s rulership of Leo and Cancer has something to do with these eliptic orbits.

The invisible centre of the ellipse

The next question that popped up in my mind was: Why aren't the classical rulerships symmetric - with the Sun ruling both Cancer and Leo? Actually I am not the first person to ask this question - I have been told by an astrologer-friend that some ancient Greek astrologers used the Sun as the ruler for both Leo and Cancer.

I haven't come up with a final answer, but I think the answer has something to do with the following: A circle has only 1 centre, an ellipse has 2 centres. To make gravity balance in an elliptic orbit there has to be a magnetic field in the second centre, even if it is empty. This magnetic field in both orbits (the Moon's orbit around the Earth and the Earth's orbit around the Sun) can actually be measured, I have been told. How about if the Sun represents one centre in the ellipse – and the Moon somehow represents the empty centre? (I am aware that there are two ellipses, and I am putting the theory forward as if I was talking about only one ellipse.)

The new rulerships

In the classic rulerships the Sun ruled the day and the Moon ruled the night. Each of the other 5 planets then ruled 1 day sign and 1 night sign. For instance, Mercury's day sign was Gemini and Mercury's night sign was Virgo. A night sign was defined as being either an earth or a water sign, while a day sign was defined as being either an air or a fire sign.

Then the "new" or "outer" planets were discovered, one by one:

• Uranus (1781)
• Neptune (1846)
• Pluto (1930)
• Makemake (2005)
• Eris (2005)

These have been assigned the following astrological rulerships:

• Uranus rules Aquarius
• Neptune rules Pisces
• Pluto rules Scorpio
• Makemake rules Virgo
• Eris rules Taurus

There is consensus in the astrological communities about the first 3 rulerships on the list, while the last two rulerships are my idea – based on the writings of Liz Greene and Linda Goodman, who both agreed that true rulers were missing for Taurus and Virgo.

I find it interesting that the outer planets were assigned night signs in 4 out of 5 cases; only Uranus got a day sign while Saturn kept a night sign.

Furthermore some astrologers have formulated an interesting "musical" theory about the first 3 outer planets. They say that the vibration from

• Uranus is one octave higher than the vibration from Mercury. For instance, while Mercury is communication, Uranus is communication by radio wave.
• Neptune is one octave higher than the vibration from Venus. For instance, while Venus is love between two people, Neptune is the brotherly love between people of the same faith or political conviction, like e.g. international socialism.
• Pluto is one octave higher than the vibration from Mars. For instance, while Mars is "regular" war, Pluto represents nuclear war.

From this theory we can deduce what Makemake and Eris represents.

• Eris is obviously a higher vibration of Jupiter. Think about it: Saturn (= profession, fate) rules the 2nd sign (= money) seen from Sagittarius, which is associated with the 9th house: Religion, travel & education. And Saturn (= profession, fate) rules the 9th sign (religion, travel, education) seen from Taurus, which is associated with the 2nd hous (money). Since Jupiter represents going abroad, then Eris must represent the globalization, we are experiencing these times. And since Jupiter represents "regular" travelling, Eris must represent travelling in space...? Eris and Makemake was in exact trine in 1969, when man visited the Moon for the first time. For these reasons I believe Eris is exalted in Sagittarius and has its fall in Gemini.
• Makemake is a higher vibration of Saturn; please read the chapter on Virgo and Capricorn in Linda Goodman's "Love Signs", and you will understand why. So, if Saturn represents time, does Makemake then somehow represents travel in time? I am pretty sure that the experiments going on in the nuclear accelerator in Cern, Switzerland, somehow has to do with Makemake's astrological meaning. On a more concrete level Makemake represents modern gadgets like smartphones. This is not a deducted theory – it is based on observations of transits and progressions. For instance when the progressive Moon made an opposition to my radix Makemake, me and my wife were arguing with each other about the configuration of a smartphone. Think about it: The 6th house, which is associated to Virgo, represents small things and details, and a moderne gadget like a smartphone represents man's effort to reduce the size of our electronic calculation powers. Since Makemake is closely associated to computer thechnology, it is only fair to say that Makemake is exalted in Aquarius and has its fall in Leo.

 As for the first 3 outer planets, I believe that

• Uranus is exalted in Scorpio and has its fall in Taurus. Uranus represents among other things revolution, and revolutions have a tendency to become extreme and turn out violently (= Scorpio).
• Neptune is exalted in Leo and has its fall in Aquarius. Argumention: Leo represents entertainment, while Neptune represents movies. When Neptune passed through Leo in the ”roaring twenties” Hollowood bloomed.
• Pluto is exalted in Gemini and has its fall in Sagittarius. Argumention: Single children seem to be born in either Taurus or Sagittarius, while middle children with many siblings seem to be born in either Gemini or Scorpio. Both Mercury and Pluto (the rulers of Gemini and Scorpio) have a ”doubling” or ”multiplying” effect. Gemini is associated with the 3rd house, which represents siblings. And Saturn (= fate) rules the 3rd house (= siblings) seen from Scorpio. Furthermore Scorpio and its associated 8th house represent sharing, while Taurus and its associated 2nd hous represent property (= not sharing). Everybody, who was brought with many siblings know that sharing is what you are socialized to do, when you have many siblings.

 Copyright Eskild Rasmussen