What are chart dominants?
Chart dominants represent the prevailing influences in the birth chart. Based on the distribution of planets by sign and house, certain energies have a stronger influence in the chart than others. The prevailing signs, houses and planets are referred to as chart dominants. You can also look for predominant elements and modalities. Dominants are unique to every chart.
How do we look for dominants?
Determine the following placements in the chart and see which sign / planet / house is predominant overall:
- Sun, Moon, Ascendant and Ascendant ruler by sign
Ascendant ruler is the planet that rules the sign on your Ascendant; check the list below to find the ruler of each sign
- 3 or more planets in a sign
planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
- Sun, Moon and Ascendant ruler by house
- 3 or more planets in a house
- planets in aspect to the Sun or Moon
aspects: conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition
- planets on an angle
planets that are within 10° of one of the angles (Ascendant, Descendant, IC or MC)
In order to use this technique, you need to be familiar with the astrological alphabet, so I am adding the list of corresponding signs, planetary rulers and houses to help you find your dominants.
SIGN - PLANETARY RULER - HOUSE
Aries - Mars - First house (H1)
Taurus - Venus - Second house (H2)
Gemini - Mercury - Third house (H3)
Cancer - Moon - Fourth house (H4)
Leo - Sun - Fifth house (H5)
Virgo - Mercury - Sixth house (H6)
Libra - Venus - Seventh house (H7)
Scorpio - Pluto - Eighth house (H8)
Sagittarius - Jupiter - Ninth house (H9)
Capricorn - Saturn - Tenth house (H10)
Aquarius - Uranus - Eleventh house (H11)
Pisces - Neptune - Twelfth house (H12)
An example
Let's take a look at an example, so that you can follow the steps yourself.
The steps: The chart (click to enlarge):
1. Sun, Moon, Ascendant and Ascendant ruler by sign
2. 3 or more planets in a sign
3. Sun, Moon and Ascendant ruler
by house
4. 3 or more planets in a house
5. planets in aspect to the Sun or Moon
6. planets on an angle
1. Sun in Libra, Moon in Gemini, Ascendant in Capricorn,
Ascendant ruler is Saturn in Aquarius
2. Sun, Mars and Mercury in Libra
Libra is the dominant sign
3. Sun in H10, Moon in H6,
Ascendant ruler is Saturn in H2
4. Sun, Mars, and Mercury in H10
Tenth house is the dominant house
5. Sun conjunct Mars and trine Saturn
Moon trine Mercury, Mars and Jupiter and square Neptune
6. Mercury conjunct MC
Mars and Mercury are the dominant planets
After you have found your dominants, read the corresponding article(s) about the particular dominant(s) to understand their meaning and their purpose. If you also have a predominant element or modality. you can learn more in the articles Elements and Modality.
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