astrological symbols

Symbols for the classical planets, zodiac signs, aspects, lots, and the lunar nodes appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved.{{cite book

| title = A history of ancient mathematical astronomy

| last = Neugebauer

| first = Otto

| date = 1975

| pages = 788–789

}} In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there was a circle with the glyph representing shine (File:Sun symbol (medieval).svg) for the Sun; and a crescent for the Moon.

{{cite book

| url-access = limited

| last1 = Neugebauer | first1 = Otto

| last2 = Van Hoesen | first2 = H. B.

| date = 1987

| title = Greek Horoscopes

| url = https://archive.org/details/greekhoroscopesm00neug_004

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/greekhoroscopesm00neug_004/page/n6 1], 159, 163

| publisher = American Philosophical Society | isbn = 9780871690487 }}

The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Classical Greek papyri.

{{cite book

| last = Jones | first = Alexander

| year = 1999

| title = Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus

| isbn = 9780871692337

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8MokzymQ43IC

| quote = It is now possible to trace the medieval symbols for at least four of the five planets to forms that occur in some of the latest papyrus horoscopes (P.Oxy. 4272, 4274, 4275 ...). That for Jupiter is an obvious monogram derived from the initial letter of the Greek name. Saturn's has a similar derivation ... but underwent simplification. The ideal form of Mars' symbol is uncertain, and perhaps not related to the later circle with an arrow through it. Mercury's is a stylized caduceus.

| pages = 62–63

| publisher = American Philosophical Society

}}

The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus. Annie S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century,

{{cite web

|title=Bianchini's planisphere

|publisher=Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of Science)

|location=Florence, Italy

|url=http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html

|access-date=2010-03-17

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030005806/http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html

|archive-date=2009-10-30

}}

shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.

{{cite journal

| last = Maunder | first = A.S.D.

| year = 1934

| title = The origin of the symbols of the planets

| journal = The Observatory

| volume = 57

| pages = 238–247

| bibcode = 1934Obs....57..238M

}}

A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th-century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols.

The modern sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot ({{unichar|2609|Sun}}), first appeared in the Renaissance. (The conventional symbols for the signs of the zodiac also develop in the Renaissance period as simplifications of the classical pictorial representations of the signs.){{cn|date=November 2022}}

The modern sun symbol resembles the Egyptian hieroglyph for "sun" – a circle that sometimes had a dot in the center, ({{unichar|131F3|EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPH N005}}).

Similar in appearance were several variants of the ancestral form of the modern Chinese logograph for "sun", which in the oracle bone script and bronze script were 25px.

It is not known if the Egyptian and Chinese logographs have any connection to the European astrological symbol.

Symbols for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were created shortly after their discovery. For Uranus, two variant symbols are seen. One symbol, File:Uranus symbol (fixed width).svg, invented by J. G. Köhler and refined by Bode, was intended to represent the newly discovered metal platinum; since platinum, sometimes described as white gold{{efn|Today, white gold means a silvery alloy of gold mixed with another metal, usually nickel, silver, or both.}} was found by chemists mixed with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols for iron, ♂, and gold, ☉.

{{cite book

| last = Bode | first = J.E.

| date = 1784

| title = Von dem neu entdeckten Planeten

| trans-title = About the Newly Discovered Planet

| publisher = Beim Verfaszer

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZqA5AAAAcAAJ/page/n98 95]–96

| bibcode = 1784vdne.book.....B

| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZqA5AAAAcAAJ

}}

{{cite book

| title = Report on the history of the discovery of Neptune

| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uyANAQAAIAAJ

| last = Gould

| first = B. A.

| publisher = Smithsonian Institution

| date = 1850

| page = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uyANAQAAIAAJ/page/n8 5]

}}

An inverted version of that same symbol, 16px was in use in the early 20th century.

{{cite book

|title=Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

|year=1950

|edition=2nd, unabridged

|chapter=Appendix: Signs and symbols

|at=Astronomical symbols: Uranus

|publisher=G. & C. Merriam Webster

|place=Springfield, MA

|isbn=9110494065

}} {{ISBN|9789110494060}}.

Another symbol, File:Uranus monogram (fixed width).svg, was suggested by Jérôme Lalande in 1784. In a letter to William Herschel, Lalande described it as "a globe surmounted by the first letter of your name" ({{Langx|fr|un globe surmonté par la première lettre de votre nom}}).

{{cite journal

|first=Francisca |last=Herschel

|date=1917

|title=The meaning of the symbol "H+o" for the planet Uranus

|journal=The Observatory

|volume=40 |page=306

|bibcode=1917Obs....40..306H

}}

After Neptune was discovered, the Bureau des Longitudes proposed the name Neptune and the familiar trident for the planet's symbol, though at bottom may be either a cross File:Neptune symbol (fixed width).svg or an orb File:Neptune orb symbol (fixed width).svg.

{{cite book

| last = Gould | first = B.A.

| date = 1850

| title = Report on the history of the discovery of Neptune

| publisher = Smithsonian Institution

| place = Washington, DC

| page = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uyANAQAAIAAJ/page/n25 22]

| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uyANAQAAIAAJ

}}

Pluto, like Uranus, has multiple symbols in use. One symbol, ♇, is a monogram of the letters PL (which can be interpreted to stand for Pluto or for astronomer Percival Lowell), was announced with the name of the new planet by the discoverers on May 1, 1930.

{{cite journal

| last = Slipher | first = V. M.

| date = 1930

| title = The Trans-Neptunian planet

| url = http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-journal_query?volume=38&plate_select=NO&page=415&plate=&cover=&journal=PA...

| journal = Popular Astronomy

| volume = 38 | page = 415

}}

Another symbol, popularized in Paul Clancy's American Astrology magazine, is based on Pluto's bident: File:Pluto symbol (large orb, fixed width).svg.Unicode request L2/16-067R, [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16067r-astrological-plutos.pdf Astrological Plutos]

The astrological symbols for the first four objects discovered at the beginning of the 19th century — Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta — were created shortly after their discoveries. They were initially listed as planets, and half a century later came to be called asteroids, though such "minor planets" continued to be considered planets for perhaps another century. Shortly after Giuseppe Piazzi's discovery of Ceres, a group of astronomers ratified the name, proposed by the discoverer, and chose the sickle as a symbol of the planet.

{{cite book

| editor = Bode, J.E.

| year = 1801

| title = Berliner astronomisches Jahrbuch führ das Jahr 1804

| trans-title = The Berlin Annual Astronomical Handbook for the year 1804

| volume = 1804 | pages = 97–98 |language=DE

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6GElAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA98

}}

The symbol for Pallas, the spear of Pallas Athena, was invented by Baron Franz Xaver von Zach, and introduced in his Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beförderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde.

{{cite journal

| last = von Zach | first = Franz Xaver

| year = 1802

| title = [no title cited]

| journal = Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beförderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde [Monthly Correspondence on the Advancement of the Terrestrial and Celestial Sciences]

| volume = 6 | pages = 95–96 |language=DE

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nR04AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA95

}}

Karl Ludwig Harding, who discovered and named Juno, assigned to it the symbol of a scepter topped with a star.

{{cite journal

| last = von Zach | first = Franz Xaver

| year = 1804

| title = [no title cited]

| journal = Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beförderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde [Monthly Correspondence on the Advancement of the Terrestrial and Celestial Sciences]

| volume = 10 | page = 471 |language=DE

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vnIEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA471

}}

The modern astrological form of the symbol for Vesta, ⚶, was created by Eleanor Bach,

{{cite web

| title = Asteroid symbols

| series = Graphics

| website = suberic.net

| url = http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/graphics/astro/asteroids.html

| access-date = 2010-05-20

}}

who is credited with pioneering the use of the big four asteroids with the publication of her Ephemerides of the Asteroids in the early 1970s.

{{cite web

|title = Eleanor Bach

|series = Memorial for Astrologer

|website = Solstice Point

|url = http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologersmemorial/bach.html

|access-date = 2010-05-20 |url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101130075136/http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologersmemorial/bach.html

|archive-date = 2010-11-30

}}

The original form of the symbol for Vesta, File:Vesta symbol (original, fixed width).svg, was created by German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Olbers, having previously discovered and named one new planet (as the asteroids were then classified), gave Gauss the honor of naming his newest discovery. Gauss decided to name the planet for the goddess Vesta, and also specified that the symbol should be the altar of the goddess with the sacred fire burning on it.

{{cite book

| last = von Zach | first = Franz Xaver

| year = 1807

| title = Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beförderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde

| volume = 15 | page = 507 |language=DE

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_Rw4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA507

}}

{{cite book

| last = Carlini | first = Francesco

| year = 1808

| title = Effemeridi astronomiche di Milano per l'anno 1809

| trans-title= Astronomical Ephemeridies of Milan for the year 1809

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LPMNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA100

}}

Bach's variant is a simplification of 19th-century elaborations of Gauss's altar symbol.

The symbol for the centaur Chiron, ⚷, is both a key and a monogram of the letters O and K (for 'Object Kowal', a provisional name of the object, for discoverer Charles T. Kowal) was proposed by astrologer Al Morrison, who presented the symbol as "an inspiration shared amongst Al H. Morrison, Joelle K.D. Mahoney, and Marlene Bassoff."

{{cite journal

| last = Morrison

| first = Al H.

| date = 1977

| title = Chiron

| journal = CAO Times

| volume = 3

| page = 57

}}

A widely used convention for other centaurs, proposed by Robert von Heeren in the 1990s, is to replace the K of the Chiron key glyph with the initial letter of the object: e.g. P or φ for Pholus and N for Nessus ({{unichar|2BDB|Pholus}}, {{unichar|2BDC|Nessus}}).

Symbols for other large trans-Neptunian objects have mostly been proposed on the Internet;{{cite web|url=http://www.suberic.net/~dmm/astro/tno.html |title=Symbols for large trans-Neptunian objects |publisher=Suberic.net |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2018-03-22}} some created by Denis Moskowitz have been used by NASA{{cite web |url= https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/what-is-a-dwarf-planet |author= JPL/NASA |date= April 22, 2015 |website= Jet Propulsion Laboratory |title= What is a Dwarf Planet? |access-date= 2021-09-24}}

and are used by the popular open-source astrological software Astrolog, as well as being used less consistently by commercial programs.

The symbol for retrograde motion is {{not a typo|℞}}, a capital 'R' with a tail stroke.

{{cite book

| last = Randall

| first = Sidney

| title = The ABC of the Old Science of Astrology

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m1antzbw_DcC&pg=PA14

| date = 2006

| page = 14

| publisher = Cosimo

| quote = ...the {{not a typo|℞}} with the stroke across the tail stands for Retrograde.

| isbn = 978-1-59605-920-7

}}

{{cite book

| last = Lilly

| first = William

| title = Christian Astrology

| date = 1659

| pages = 35, 37

| url = http://www.skyscript.co.uk/texts.html

| quote = A chart with {{not a typo|"℞"}} by a retrograde Jupiter appears on p. 35; on p. 37, describing the construction of the chart, Lilly says: "And because [Jupiter] is noted Retrograde I place the letter 'R', the better to informe my judgement."

}}

{{cite web

|url=http://janetsplan-its.com/info/MercRetro.shtml

|title=Mercury Retrograde

|last=Booth |first=Janet

|work=JanetsPlan-Its.com

|date=2005

|access-date=2010-10-20

|quote=The symbol for retrograde looks like an "R" with an "X" going through it, the same as the symbol for a prescription.

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114084238/http://janetsplan-its.com/info/MercRetro.shtml

|archive-date=2010-11-14

}}

An 'R' with a tail stroke was used to abbreviate many words beginning with the letter 'R'; in medical prescriptions, it abbreviated the word recipe (from the Latin imperative of recipere "to take"{{cite web

|url=http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=recipe

|title=Recipe definition

|publisher=M-w.com

|date=2007-04-25

|access-date=2010-01-22

|archive-date=2007-10-17

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017165739/http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=recipe

|url-status=dead

}}), and in missals, an R with a tail stroke marked the responses.

{{cite journal

| editor-last = Smith |editor-first = Frances Gurney

| author = E.B.G.

| title = (Review) The Prescriber's Complete Handbook

| journal = The Medical Examiner, and Record of Medical Science

| date = 1852

| volume = 8

| page = 804

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1hYCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA804

}}

{{Multiple image

| align = left

| image1 = Nuremberg chronicles f 11r 2.png

| caption1 = A late-15th-century manuscript with the twelve zodiac symbols. Note the flat Cancer, upright Sagittarius and cursive Capricorn.

| image2 = 12 houses of heaven.jpg

| caption2 = A mid-18th-century manuscript with symbols for the signs and planets. Note the distinctive shapes of Virgo (6), Scorpio (8), Capricorn (10) and Aquarius (11).

| image3 = Astrolog.png

| caption3 = A wheel chart produced by Astrolog, showing symbols for the signs of the zodiac (outer ring), classical planets, dwarf planets and asteroids (inner ring). In the inner ring, clockwise from Gemini, are the Moon, Ceres, ascending node, {{dp|Sedna}}, Uranus, {{dp|Eris}}, Chiron, Neptune, Pallas, {{dp|Gonggong}}, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, {{dp|Quaoar}}, Juno, descending node, Venus, Vesta, {{dp|Haumea}}, Mercury, Mars, {{dp|Makemake}}, Hygiea and {{dp|Orcus}}.

}}

{{clear}}

{{further|Zodiac|Astrological sign}}

{{further|Planets in astrology}}

{{further|List of asteroids in astrology}}

Since the 1970s, some astrologers have used asteroids and other celestial bodies in their horoscopes. The symbol for the first-recognised centaur, 2060 Chiron, was devised by Al H. Morrison soon after it had been discovered by Charles Kowal, and has become standard amongst astrologers.{{cite web

| last = Faulks | first = David

| date = May 9, 2006

| title = Proposal to add some Western Astrology Symbols to the UCS

| page = 4

| url = https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06171-astroprop.pdf

| access-date = November 20, 2017 | url-status=live

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615214658/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06171-astroprop.pdf

| archive-date=June 15, 2018

| quote = In general, only the signs for Vesta have enough variance to be regarded as different designs. However, all of these Vesta symbols ... are differing designs for 'the hearth and flame of the temple of the Goddess Vesta' in Rome, and can thus be regarded as extreme variants of a single symbol.

}} In the late 1990s, German astrologer Robert von Heeren created symbols for other centaurs based on the Chiron model, though only those for 5145 Pholus and 7066 Nessus are included in Unicode, and only that for Pholus in Astrolog. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but for bodies outside this list, there is often very little to no independent usage beyond the symbols' creators.

The Hamburg School of Astrology, also called Uranian Astrology, is a sub-variety of western astrology.{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16064-uranian-planets.pdf|title=L2/16-064: Extra Symbols from Uranian Astrology|date=2016-03-06|first=David|last=Faulks}} It adds eight fictitious trans-Neptunian planets to the normal ones used by western astrologers:

{{further|Astrological aspects}}

In astrology, an aspect is an angle the planets make to each other in the horoscope, also to the ascendant, midheaven, descendant, lower midheaven, and other points of astrological interest. The following symbols are used to note aspect:{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17020r2-fdbk-extra-aspect-sym.pdf|title=L2/17-020R2: Feedback on Extra Aspect Symbols for Astrology|date=2017-01-24|first=Michel|last=Suignard}}

;Russian aspects

In addition to the aspect symbols above, some Russian astrologers use additional or unique aspect symbols:{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16174r-astrology-aspects.pdf|title=L2/16-174R: Extra Aspect Symbols for Astrology|date=2016-06-09|first=David|last=Faulks}}

• Alchemical symbols
• Aztec calendar
• Behenian fixed star
• Classical elements
• Earthly Branches
• Gender symbols
• Heavenly Stems
• Maya calendar
• Monas Hieroglyphica
• Planet symbol
• Nakshatra
• Navagraha
• Sexagenary cycle
• Sri Rama Chakra
• Vedic astrology

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Astrological symbols}}
• [https://marthalangwescott.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Glyphs-and-Keywords.pdf Glyphs and keywords for asteroids (often different from the astronomical ones)]

{{Zodiac}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astrological Symbols}}

Symbols

Category:Astronomical symbols

Category:Religious symbols

Category:Symbols

Category:Western astrological signs

Category:Heraldic charges

Category:Unicode