A Glossary of Astrological Terms

Use this glossary to look up the meanings of words you come across on this website, or in your astrological reading. Just select the first letter of the word you need and click on it in the table below to go straight to that sector.

E

Earth

Sometimes called Terra. Our planet revolves on its own axis every 24 hours and completes its orbit around the Sun in around 365.25 days. The course of the Earth's orbit lies between that of Venus and Mars. The Moon is the Earth's natural satellite and orbits the Earth in approximately 29 days.

Earth Element

One of the four astrological elements. A feminine element, it stands for materiality, solidity, matters to do with security and so on. The other elements are, Fire, Air and Water.

Earth Signs

Taurus (fixed), Virgo (mutable), Capricorn (cardinal).

Easter

Christian festival of Christ's resurrection, coinciding approximately with the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Easter is named after the ancient German goddess of spring, Eastre. This calendar festival finds its primitive origins in earlier European and Middle Eastern cultures, all of which had major festivals, usually to do with resurrection and/or release from bondage, based around the vernal equinox.

Eclipse

Solar and Lunar eclipses are important keys to political and social events. They are also significant in natal and progressed horoscopes. An eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon align so that, in a solar eclipse, the body of the Moon obscures the body of the Sun and in a lunar eclipse, the body of the Earth obscures the Moon. In each case the Sun's light is obstructed, causing the eclipse.

Ecliptic

The Sun's apparent path through the zodiac, a belt some 15° - 18° wide around the Earth. The name refers to eclipses, which can only occur here.

Eighth House

The eighth segment of an astrological chart. Governs natural changes in life such as birth and death, clearing the way for something better, self-revelations, marriage and business assets, and the resources of partnership.

Election

Chart cast to ascertain the most auspicious time for important events, such as marriages, moving house and so on. Used in Horary Astrology.

Elevated

The closer a planet is to the midheaven in a chart, the more elevated, and therefore the more potent, it is.

Eleventh House

The eleventh chart segment. Governs friendships, hopes and wishes, personal goals, associations, group aspirations, cooperation, bettering the community and humanitarianism.

Elongation

Distance of a planet, measured in degrees, from the Sun.

Emersion

A planet coming from under the Sun's beams so as to be seen after an eclipse or occultation. See Immersion.

Ephemeris

Tables of planetary places used to find their positions in the horoscope. Now widely available in computerised form.

Equator

See Long Ascension and Short Ascension.

Equinox

Equal Night. Point in the ecliptic where the day and night is of equal duration. Vernal equinox is the first degree of Aries and the autumnal equinox is the first degree of Libra. (These points are reversed in the southern hemisphere).

Exaltation

Essential dignity of a planet, possibly even more powerful than being in its own sign. Traditionally, however, exaltation (4 points) is considered less important than rulership (5 points) on the scale of planetary values. See Table of Planetary Values.