Planetary Rulerships
Planetary rulerships describe which planet has primary authority over each zodiac sign. These relationships form the backbone of traditional astrology: they reveal who sets the tone, who holds the keys, and which planet speaks the native language of each sign. Rulerships show where a planet feels at home, where it’s challenged, and how it expresses its power.
This page gathers the essential rulership structures — classical rulerships, modern rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls — and presents them in an easy, navigational format.
How to Read Rulerships
Rulerships describe a planet’s natural domain. When a planet rules a sign, it expresses itself with ease and authority. Exaltation shows where a planet performs at its highest potential. Detriment and fall show where the planet’s energy becomes strained, inverted, or redirected.
You don’t need to memorize the system. Just let the rulerships give you a sense of where each planet feels empowered, challenged, or transformed.
How to Use Rulerships in Your Chart
Rulerships help you understand:
- which planet rules each house in your chart
- where a planet’s influence extends beyond its own placement
- why certain signs amplify or soften a planet’s expression
- how to track transits through the lens of planetary authority
- how to interpret dispositor chains and chart flow
Use this page to identify the ruling planet of each sign and follow its movement through your chart. The ruler tells you where the story originates — and where it travels next.
Rulership Types
The traditional rulership system used for centuries — Sun through Saturn — based on symmetry, visibility, and planetary order.
The updated rulership system incorporating Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto as rulers of Aquarius, Pisces, and Scorpio.
Signs where a planet expresses its highest, most refined qualities — a place of honor and elevated performance.
Signs opposite a planet’s rulership — where its energy becomes challenged, inverted, or redirected.
Signs opposite a planet’s exaltation — where its expression becomes unstable, humbled, or stripped down to essentials.
How rulership chains create movement through the chart — showing which planets lead, follow, or redirect the narrative.
Rulership Directory
- Aries: Mars (ruler), Sun (exalted)
- Taurus: Venus (ruler), Moon (exalted)
- Gemini: Mercury (ruler)
- Cancer: Moon (ruler), Jupiter (exalted)
- Leo: Sun (ruler)
- Virgo: Mercury (ruler), Mercury (exalted)
- Libra: Venus (ruler), Saturn (exalted)
- Scorpio: Mars (classical ruler), Pluto (modern ruler)
- Sagittarius: Jupiter (ruler)
- Capricorn: Saturn (ruler), Mars (exalted)
- Aquarius: Saturn (classical ruler), Uranus (modern ruler)
- Pisces: Jupiter (classical ruler), Neptune (modern ruler), Venus (exalted)
Cross‑Links
Explore more planetary tools and reference pages: