This Month’s Declinations

The following graph depicts the planetary declinations of the Sun through Pluto for the given month, with more months below.

Declinations Graph

Declinations January 2020

For a listing of Declinations (non-graphical) see the Declinations Ephemeris page.

How to read the Declinations Graph:

What Is Declination?

Planets travel in a 360-degree circle around the Sun, but they do not constantly stay at the same latitude. In fact, they are always moving up or down. These “ups and downs” are measured as the distance between a planet’s current position and the earth’s equator (as projected into the sky). This measurement is known as declination.

This graph shows you the declinations for each planet for a period of one month.

A good example to see this is the Moon since you will see a whole cycle of the moon every 28 days. In the example above, you can see when it makes its maximum up and down, and when it hits the center each month.

How Do I Use The Declination Graph?

The Declination Graph is another way of looking at aspects. To use this graph, just find the planet(s) you are interested in and look at their positions in the graph. When you see planets that are at the same degree (either up or down), they are said to be Parallel. If they are at the same degree but one above and the other below the middle line (celestial equator), that is called a Contra Parallel. These aspects are similar to the conjunction and the opposition aspect.

Parallels exist when there is a conjunction. The meaning will be determined by the planets involved and the houses and signs that they are in. But when two planets are conjunct and parallel, that means they share the same celestial latitude as well as degree.
Contra-Parallels exist when there is an opposition; like the Parallel, it will depend on the planets and their house positions. When two planets are opposed and parallel, that means they share the same celestial latitude, as well as opposing degrees.

There is a special time when the planet is at Zero. This is when they are neither up or down from the celestial equator (the middle line in the graph). This is a time when the planet is going to be strong and the principles of that planet will be emphasized.

You might also be interested in Out of Bounds planets (when planets exceed 23 degrees and 27 minutes of declination, either North or South).