As above, so below.
When you dive into the question of how or why astrology actually works, you tend to run into a lot of different opinions. But for the most part, they fall into two main categories of thought.
The first is the mechanism theory—the idea that the physical planets out there are somehow emitting a force or a frequency that actively causes our actions down here.
The second is the mirror theory. This is the idea that the planets aren't causing anything to happen at all. Instead, they just happen to be telling an ongoing story that perfectly reflects what is happening down here on Earth and within our individual psyches. The sky is a mirror; the cosmos is a clock.
I’ve always fallen squarely into that second camp. I’ve always believed the sky is just a mirror reflecting Earth happenings, somehow.
But just for a fun thought experiment, I started thinking deeply about what it would look like to merge the two ideas. What if there actually was a direct, tangible correlation between our physical biology and the celestial archetypes? And then it hit me: what if the tiny thing we’re overlooking here is neurotransmitters?
I mean, if anything on a physical level causes us to act in different ways, feel specific moods, or behave one way or another, our brain chemistry is the culprit.
So I started looking into it. It turns out there are over 100 neurotransmitters that science has already identified, and we are still discovering more. Well, there are a lot of planetary bodies and asteroids out there, too. But interestingly, there are about exactly as many main neurotransmitters dictating our daily life as there are traditional planets in the sky dictating our daily astrological landscape.
I started doing the research and drawing the parallels, and I was honestly surprised by how neatly these corresponded and fit into just the right boxes.
Check it out:
1. Mercury ☿ = Acetylcholine
The Cosmic Role: Mercury is the messenger, the planet of intellect, learning, processing speed, data transmission, and the nervous system itself.
The Chemical Reality: Acetylcholine is the primary neurotransmitter of the central nervous system responsible for cognitive speed, alertness, neuroplasticity (learning), and memory translation. It is literally the fluid juice of mental processing, communication, and signal speed.
2. Venus ♀ = Oxytocin
The Cosmic Role: Venus rules love, relational harmony, attraction, beauty, bonding, and what brings us together.
The Chemical Reality: Oxytocin is the "cuddle hormone" and social bonding agent. It drives empathy, trust, collective cohesion, and physical intimacy. It is our deep, biological foundation for attachment.
3. Mars ♂ = Adrenaline (Epinephrine)
The Cosmic Role: Mars is the warrior, action, physical drive, passion, survival instinct, and the assertion of will.
The Chemical Reality: Adrenaline triggers the fight-or-flight response. It instantly mobilizes physical energy, accelerates the heart rate, sharpens focus, suppresses pain, and prepares the body to take immediate, decisive action or defend itself in a crisis.
4. Jupiter ♃ = Dopamine
The Cosmic Role: Jupiter is the planet of expansion, luck, seeking, optimism, hope, and the pursuit of "more." It pushes us to explore over the next horizon.
The Chemical Reality: Dopamine is the chemical of anticipation and motivation. It is the reward pathway that says, "Go get that, it’s going to be great." It drives ambition, curiosity, seeking behavior, and the pursuit of a goal. Jupiter says "expand," Dopamine says "chase."
5. Saturn ♄ = GABA
The Cosmic Role: Saturn is the principle of contraction, boundaries, structure, discipline, and saying "no." It is the cosmic brake pedal that sets limits to keep chaos at bay.
The Chemical Reality: GABA is the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. It acts exactly like Saturn: it puts on the brakes, slows down over-excited neurons, creates boundaries against anxiety, and brings quiet, structured order to a racing mind.
6. The Sun ☉ = Glutamate
The Cosmic Role: The Sun is the central powerhouse, vitality, life force energy, and the light that turns everything on. It is the core spark of consciousness.
The Chemical Reality: Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter. It is the fundamental "on-switch" of the brain. Without glutamate, there is no conscious thought, no neural firing, and no cognitive vitality. It is the foundational light and cellular ignition of the nervous system.
7. The Moon ☽ = Serotonin
The Cosmic Role: The Moon rules the subconscious, emotional stability, safety, nourishment, mood fluctuations, and the rhythms of sleep and digestion.
The Chemical Reality: Serotonin is the master regulator of emotional contentment, well-being, and satiety. Just like the Moon rules the stomach and cycles in traditional astrology, 90% of serotonin is found in the gut, and it directly regulates our sleep/wake circadian cycles (via its conversion to melatonin). It dictates whether we feel safe and emotionally "held."
The Outer Planets: Tapping the Transpersonal
While the traditional planets handle the daily mechanics of the ego, mind, and body, the outer planets represent states of consciousness that break standard reality. Fittingly, their chemical counterparts are rarer, exotic trace molecules that pull back the veil on the deeper psyche:
Uranus ♅ = Endogenous DMT: The planet of sudden awakening, revolution, and lightning-bolt insights maps onto the trace amine that shatters conventional space-time perception for radical cognitive breakthroughs and hyper-dimensional downloads.
Neptune ♆ = Anandamide: The planet of mystical ocean states, dreams, and ego-dissolution maps perfectly onto the "bliss molecule"—an endocannabinoid that softens mental boundaries to create deep, timeless peace and spiritual serenity.
Pluto ♇ = Endorphins: The planet of the underworld, crisis, and deep transformation maps to the chemicals released only under extreme duress, transmuting intense physical or emotional pain into survival power and raw euphoria. The ultimate alchemy of the dark night of the soul.
So, where does that leave us with the whole mirror versus mechanism debate?
Maybe it just shows us that the line between the two is a lot thinner than we think. Whether the planets are actively broadcasting these energies down to us, or the universe is just operating as one giant, interconnected mirror, the result is exactly the same.
The cosmic cycles we track in the sky aren't just abstract concepts happening lightyears away. They are happening right now, in real-time, inside our own biology.
The next time you feel a sudden wave of anxiety, a flash of inspiration, or that deep, peaceful sense of contentment, remember: you aren’t just watching the universe play out its story. You are the literal, physical canvas it's being painted on. We’re just still trying to figure out exactly how…
