Luminary

Definition

A luminary is one of the two great lights of the chart: the Sun or the Moon. Older astrology used the term as a technical category because the two bodies are not planets in the strict ancient sense but the two heavenly objects that shine. Reading the luminaries is usually the entry point into a chart. They carry the load-bearing themes of identity and felt life, ahead of all the other planets.

In context

If a planet sits in close aspect to one of your luminaries, that planet's signature is no longer one voice among many. It gets amplified, because contact with a luminary lights the planet up. The Sun and Moon are also the two bodies that define the solar return and the lunar return, the most-read cyclic charts. Most natal readings open by placing the Sun, the Moon, and the Ascendant before adding any further detail.

To go deeper

Luminary names a small group of two bodies:

• Personal planets: the wider category.
• Solar return: annual return of the Sun.
• Eclipse: when the luminaries meet on the nodes.