Modern Rulerships Overview

Modern Rulerships. The modern system of rulership starts from the traditional scheme but assigns the three outer planets, discovered only after the invention of the telescope, to rule three signs whose nature seems to match them. This reflects a view that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto express the deeper meaning of those signs more fully than their traditional rulers. Uranus is given rulership of Aquarius, Neptune of Pisces, and Pluto of Scorpio. The other nine signs keep their traditional rulers unchanged. Many modern astrologers treat the outer planets as the primary rulers of these three signs while still recognizing the older rulers, Saturn for Aquarius, Jupiter for Pisces, and Mars for Scorpio, as co-rulers that share the role. This approach is common in modern Western and psychological astrology, where the outer planets carry a great deal of weight. Whether to use traditional or modern rulers is largely a matter of which tradition an astrologer follows, and many keep both in mind, reading a sign through its old and new rulers together. The older scheme is set out in the Traditional Rulerships subsection.