posted February 17, 2007 10:01 PM              

Rulership and exaltation are forms of essential dignity - that means they are signs which are naturally harmonious with that planet's energy and thus makes it stronger in a chart.

Detriment and fall are debilities, meaning those signs are unsympathetic to the planet's energy, making it harder for the planet to express itself in the chart.

Here's a chart w/definition of rulerships.

Here's a chart w/definition of exaltations

A planet is in detriment if it is in the sign opposite of its rulership. So the Moon, which is in rulership in Cancer, is in detriment in Capricorn.