While Venus and Mars get the more popularized Hero and Heroine archetypes and journeys, Mercury is not to be dismissed. This is the planet of the mind that can help us gain awareness of mind over matter. I call this the Trickster Journey, as our minds often plague us with tricks. Mercury is often associated with trickster energy and is a similar archetype to other trickster mythological figures such as Loki and Hermes.

We take 3 Mercury journeys over a year, a quicksilver planet with range and versatility—a hard planet to pin down.

Rules: Gemini (the Messenger) and Virgo (the Alchemist)

The planet just in from us, a sister, a planet of values, love, and beauty. Venus takes us on a new heroine’s journey about every 19 months.

With this inner journey, we learn a lot about using our voices, determining and developing our values, and standing up for ourselves with heart and justice.

We learn about autonomy and self-worth, moving from maiden to crone as we move through each journey.

Rules: Taurus (the Lover) & Libra (the Diplomat)

Our hero planet is the one that takes us out into the world to discover ourselves and our spirit. While Venus shows more about our sense of being, Mars is a doer.

Our Mars (Hero’s) Journeys have a two-year cycle, the longest synodic period we have with any planet due to our similar orbital speeds.

This is a journey about individuation. We move from a somewhat inexperienced and grandiose quality at the start of a Mars journey, to humility, and then sacrifice with purpose and duty above personal glory as wise and mature heroes by the end.

Rules: Aries (the Solar Warrior) & Scorpio (the Lunar Warrior)

Our Seeker, Preacher, Professor, Conquerer, and Philosopher. You may wonder how this archetype holds both Conquerer and Philosopher. If you look back through history, its the Emperors who held principles and studied the world that stand out as grand figures.

We need vision in order to even conceive of conquering new terrain in life, and of course as a metaphor this doesn’t mean needing to be an Emperor, General, or warring person—it’s more a nod to taking on things bigger than yourself that push you to broaden life, develop perspective, and find guiding principles.

Our Jupiter archetype is just as likely to show up as an Explorer or Professor as an outright Conquerer, such as its namesake, Zeus. I like to equate its journey with the Pilgrim’s Journey—always seeking a greater perspective.

Rules: Sagittarius (the Guide) & Pisces (the Dreamer)

The Initiate brings us to the person we could be if we applied ourselves, focused, trained, and went through the step-by-step proceses of building ourselves with master in order to be masters in the world.

Not all of us step up to the plate with this journey. It is the farthest out planet of the traditional rulers and the easiest one to turn our backs on.

This is our C-level executive, seasoned and with long term plans. To attend to our Initiate’s Journeys, which last about a year, is to say yes to focus and dedication. How often do you do this?

Of course, this doesn’t mean you need to be a CEO of a big corporation or a career-driven person in general. It simply means you take on the challenge to be great at something—an instrument, woodworking, photography, farming, child care…. You dedicate yourself to a specialty.

Saturn likes us to learn things in time tested ways for timeless results. This often means being a student or disciple of another who was once a student of another master. Going through your paces and through the right channels. This planet takes us on the journey of the Initiate.

Rules: Capricorn (the Architect) & Aquarius (the Social Architect)

The Sun, our center and life-giving force, has a lot to do with spirit and consciousness. It relates to our seasons, age, and growth.

There is this underlying thing of it being connected to aging and maturity as well as to the causal realm.

How I see it is it helps us to even wake up to our causal tier to see the archetypes developing in us and helps us to center in and realize our becoming. Who we are. Day afer day, year after year, what are your patterns, what do you wake up to that you hadn’t seen last year, what dies in you, what is newly born in you—these are all ways in which I connect with Sol.

Who are you becoming? Today, this year, this decade? Make it conscious and see that spirit become.

Rules: Leo

Luna is Earth’s own little mirror and guard, separate from anything else in the solar system. It is an Earth satellite and companion. It holds some of our most human notes such as emotion, intuition, memory, and how we respond.

There are many patterns we could track with Luna. She appears to be all over the place, but there is method in her seeming unpredictability. There are many patterns that pop out when you study her. The pattern that most aligns with the other Journey structures is her 29-day lunar phases, tracking this emotional journey from new moon to new moon.

Each new moon sets the tone for a new inner journey to reflect on a dimension of self and life and more deeply come to know, or recognize, it.

Rules: Cancer (the Mother)