Fixed Stars

The fixed stars are the individual named stars used in astrology (Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares, Sirius, Algol and the rest), distinguished from the planets by their apparently unchanging positions relative to one another. In a chart a planet or angle conjunct a notable fixed star is read as taking on that star's character.

Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos assigns each prominent star a planetary nature, Aldebaran is of the nature of Mars, Regulus of Mars and Jupiter, and the medieval Arabic and Latin traditions added magical images and used the brightest stars, the "behenian" stars, in talismanic magic.

The great fixed stars carry strong and often fated reputations in the tradition (Regulus the royal star of honour and downfall, Algol the most ill-omened point in the sky, Spica a star of gifts), and they are read chiefly by conjunction with the planets, the angles or the lights. Their slow movement by precession, about a degree in seventy years, means their positions must be updated over the centuries.

The atlas gives each star its position, its Ptolemaic planetary nature, and its traditional meaning and magical use. The stars sit among the finer factors of the chart alongside the decans and the constellations they belong to.