ASTROLOGICAL LITERACY

March 2025

copyright © 2025 by Judith Hill

Words are communicative tools. As tools, they enable us to effectively communicate precise ideas, and to describe, discern, diagnose and strategize. This is exactly why science, medicine, and botany have invented distinct languages pertaining to their respective fields. Astrologers have done the same thing!

Because discernment skills are inherent to good astrological practice, it behooves the aspiring professional to use and recognize correct astrological terminology. Let’s be real… it’s abysmal out there. Television astrologers are continually referring to themselves as “astrologists”.

The correct word is “astrologer”. Although professional terminology expectations have grown slack in our field, it remains true that one’s more classically educated colleagues will wince at self-descriptors this offensive (think nails on blackboard). Rest assured, the astrologically illiterate will neither notice, nor care. However, we astrologers should care enough to head off the continued degrading of our astrological terminology. To lose a word is to lose a mental tool. This loss decreases our interpretive sharpness.

Here are more personal favorites.

“Stellium”.  Nicholas de Vore’s Encyclopedia of Astrology states:

“A group of five or more planets in one sign or house”. And, he was not including ice comets (Chiron) or asteroids. Back in the day, a “stellium” exclusively referred to the Ptolemaic planets, and was considered a notably rare horoscopic feature.

Fred Gettings, in his Dictionary of Astrology presents a differing view: “A European astrological term used to denote three or more planets in conjunction (or loosely speaking, grouped together in one sign, or even in an arc of less than thirty degrees).”

Again, our forebears included only the known Ptolemaic planets.

Today, nearly everyone’s chart sports a “stellium” because practitioners seem to think it means just two, or maybe three of any celestial body, (including ice comets and asteroids) being positioned in one sign. This terminology misuse now morphs a “stellium” into a common household phenomena, rather than the exceptional occurrence it was once meant to describe!

“Dispositor”:  The term used for the planet that governs the sign that is tenanted by another planet.  For instance, if Venus is in Gemini, then Mercury “disposits” Venus because Mercury governs Gemini, the sign that Venus is tenanting.

The word is not “depositor”, although to our modern mind, this does makes more sense!

Or this gem:  “My Gemini is in my Jupiter”.

The correct statement would be “My Jupiter is in Gemini”.  Enough said.

 Aspiring professionals should obtain one or two respected astrological dictionaries. I highly recommend the two cited above in this article! Commit to understanding as many traditional terms as possible. In polishing your skill level to that of proficiency and excellence, take pride in the venerable and specialized traditional language of your professed craft! 

And please, stop calling yourself an “astrologist”.

ASTROLOGICAL TUTORING SERVICES

Our esteemed Academy Tutor, Marcus Romano, can be reached at: https://www.hillromanoastrology.com