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“Night-Sea Crossing” was inspired by a dream. It heralded a personal “dark night of the soul.” The artist found this drawing of great value as transits from both Pluto and Neptune triggered yods involving her Sun, Moon, and Ascendant. Neptune’s themes of loss, disori-entation, surrender, and transcendence are visible in this work, as well as Pluto’s gifts of death and resurrection. Throughout the dark dream voyage, it was reas-suring to recognize symbols relating to two alchemical operations also shown in the drawing: “Calcination,” when limiting mental constructs are burned away, resulting in a death of the ego; and “Dissolution,” when the ego is immersed in murky waters until buried emo-tions surface and dissolve from the powerful forces of the unconscious.

The term “Night-Sea Crossing” refers to the Sun’s night-time journey. As it sinks over the ocean in the west, it was thought to be swallowed by a sea monster and to face perils and ultimate death as it traversed the watery abyss. Finally, the Sun is reborn, rising again in the east. The journey’s end signifies resurrection, enlightenment, or the overcoming of a challenge. Besides creating personalized healing mandalas, Jan Severson has begun a series of drawings based on the psycho-spiritual aspects of alchemy. Its themes and sym-bols are strongly represented in the lives and dreams of herself and other seekers. Jan may be reached at [email protected]. For more information on her creative process and to view other works, please visit www.MNartists.org

© 2004 Jan Severson – all rights reserved

by Jan SeversonIm

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What is mostunusual aboutTHE HUMAN DESIGN is that its magnificent complexity results in something simple, direct and immediately useful. It is like an ancient palace whose marbled ball-rooms and golden lamps can collapse into a tiny mountain tent. Instead of carrying this modern wonder in your backpack, you can carry its pure symmetry in the center of your being, and allow its brilliance to unfold in your life.

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For course details: VividAwakenings.com/Genoa.jsp Call 505-955-1772

Books, CD’s, Videos, Visit our Website, Online Store, and check out our Weblog

4 www.mountainastrologer.com Feb./Mar. 2006 * The Mountain Astrologer 5

Live Astrology Readings!Now, you can have an in-depth personal consultation with a live astrologer.

Our team of expert professional astrologers are waiting at the end of the telephone. Call with your birth details and they will instantly calculate your birth chart and offer their insight.

Helene Schnitzer, completed a 4-year professional training course in astrology & studied Jungian psychology. She turned professional in 1986. Helene has written articles forvarious publications, translates astrological literature and has her own column. Her approach is psychological, practical and based on her experience, so here is someone you can really talk to! Helene's specialities are relationships and Astro*Carto*Graphy. [ID: 600]

Paul Newman,has been a professional astrologer for over 15 years. He studied at the Faculty of Astrological Studies and now teaches and lectures on astrology. Besides contributing articles to the Mountain Astrologer, Astrological Journal, and other astrologi-cal publications, he wrote & illustrated the humorous book, �You�re not a person�just a birth chart.� He specialises in personal forecasts, career and relationship issues. [ID:699]

Stephen Bendixson, practices astrology on both sides of the Atlantic. With a BA from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota, MN, Stephen trained under the renowned astrologer Jeffrey Wolf Green. In 1995 after studying Jeff Green's Evolutionary Astrology at the Pluto School for three years, Stephen set up as a consultant astrologer and teacher in Topanga, California. [ID: 123]

Nick Dagan Best, first learned astrology in his native Montreal, then went on to study with the New York City chapter of the NCGR (National Council for Geocosmic Research) and earned a Level III certification. He is trained in Astro*Carto*Graphy [Locational astrology] and has worked with many people in creative fields (filmmakers, actors and musicians). Nick lives in Montreal, Canada. [ID: 523]

Samuel F. Reynolds, learnt his astrology at the Wisdom School and has reached Level II from NCGR. He also has an MA degree from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA and is a published poet, author and professional actor. Samuel has written for the Philadelphia Tribune, and other newspapers. From his office in Manhattan, he advises creative people all over the world, on how to advance their personal and professional goals and needs. [ID: 227]

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TMA AnnouncementsASTRO-COACH RETURNING NEXT ISSUENicki Michaels’ column will resume in the April/May 2006 issue of TMA. In the meantime, please visit the Ask Astro-Coach Archives on Nicki’s Web site, www.BeyondSunSigns.com where you will find many questions and answers from previous columns. Also, Dana Gerhardt will be back in the June/July issue, as part of a new novice section we are developing for the magazine.

PRICE CHANGES COMINGStarting with the April/May 2006 issue, our cover price will go up to $7.95 in stores. Canadian prices will also go up one dollar. This is the first increase since 2001 and is necessary because of higher costs (especially shipping) connected to supplying stores with TMA. We are not planning any price increases in 2006 for subscribers and encourage our store-buying readership to consider subscribing at this time, to save money. We never sell, rent, or give away our subscribers list.

READERS, WRITE US!... with your questions, concerns, or to tell us which articles you especially liked (or didn’t like). If you want your letter to be considered for publication, please title it “Letter to the Editor” and include your city and state (or country) of resi-dence. We will notify you if we intend to publish your let-ter. Our Managing Editor, Janette de Prosse, is in charge of fielding your comments, so you may write to her directly, either via e-mail ([email protected]) or surface mail: The Mountain Astrologer, P.O. Box 970, Cedar Ridge, CA 95924.

TMA TO SHOWCASE ASTRO-STUDY AIDSWe will soon be publishing a list of astrological study aids (excepting books, newsletters, software, and audio lectures/courses). If you have an exclusively astrological educational product including specialty reference materials, DVDs, posters, or other visual media, contact Mary Plumb at [email protected] before February 28, with a short decsription of your product.

SUBSCRIBER ALERTUnless you have paid for first-class mail delivery, please do not call or e-mail the subscription department until the first day of the issue month to report that your magazine has not arrived. For example, you’re welcome to contact us on April 1 if your Apr/May issue has not arrived. For your con-venience, we post the first two weeks of the upcoming Fore-cast Calendar on our Web site as a service to any readers who do not receive TMA in a timely manner because of local postal problems.

ADDRESS CHANGESYou can avoid problems with a delayed or missing issue by giving us your address changes as soon as possible. Please call us at (800) 287-4828, or e-mail your address change to us at [email protected]. We’ll reply within 2 business days to confirm that your new address was received.

*Dear Readers, By the time you read this, Pluto will have reached 25° Sagittarius for the first time since the 1760s. It is creating some action in TMA’s “natal” chart this year (Venus con-joined Uranus at 25°+ Sagittarius on November 24, 1987). And by the end of March, Pluto will be within shouting dis-tance of entering Capricorn, which becomes exact in January 2008. With Pluto at 0° of a cardinal sign, Uranian astrologers might see this as everybody in the entire world having a Pluto transit — all at once. Check out Part 2 of Edward Gillam’s article on Pluto in Capricorn in these pages. It is interesting to me that humanity is about to reach out and touch Pluto for the first time by launching a space-craft called “New Horizons” to that distant planet. Launch is planned for January 11 or shortly thereafter, with the Moon out of bounds in north declination and a tight par-allel of Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. Of course, the spacecraft is powered by plutonium, and there is a 1 in 350 chance that an accident during the launch could release radioactive plutonium somewhere near Cape Canaveral, according to an Associated Press report. Astrologers will note that the spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Pluto in 2015, during a Uranus–Pluto square! Back to the present, all the articles in this issue are exceptional and will make good winter reading. And for those of you who read the magazine but don’t understand half of it because you are relatively new to astrology, hang in there. Starting in June, we will be introducing a user-friendly nov-ice section to help you get up to speed. In upcoming issues, we will feature articles on practical topics like astro-gardening, astrology and flower essences, choosing the right time for an event (aka electional astrology), and family dynamics. If you are new to TMA and hungry for all the high-quality articles you can get, we have about 35 back issues (from 2000 through 2005) still in print that can be ordered through our Web site, www.mountainastrologer.com Happy reading!

—

a Letter from the Publisher

TMA Web Site Exclusive!

Don’t miss Christine Broadbent’s forecast:

“The Dance of the Planets in 2006”

This bonus article is available to all readers at

www.mountainastrologer.com


Feature Articles

The Hidden Messages of Water Signsby Vaughn Paul Manley

This article explores the stun-ning presence of the water element in the Vedic chart of Dr. Masaru Emoto, whose microphoto-graphs of water crystals have affected our perception of reality — as water itself is affected by what it’s exposed to.

Astrological Triage: Finding the Pulse in the Chart

by Bill Herbst

The task of identifying what makes a person tick — zeroing

in on the important stuff in that person’s chart — is a crucial one for a consulting astrologer. Bill Herbst calls this “finding the essentials of the natural hierarchy.” He explains how it’s done, step by step, and then offers some well-known examples to illustrate his points.

An Interview with Deborah Houldingby Garry Phillipson

This regular TMA contributor was first propelled into astrology through the back door. She talks about this, describes some memorable chart readings, discusses why she gravitated toward horary astrology (“all horaries are special”), and tells us how astrology helped her through a life-threatening illness.

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Issue #125 • February/March 2006

58 Pluto into Capricorn,Part Twoby Edward Gillam

In this article’s conclusion, subtitled “Confronting the Limits of Everything,” we examine Pluto’s influence on how we will face the issue of Earth’s limited physical resources. Activism, anyone?

Riding the Wave: The Progressed Lunation Cycleby Frédérique Boele

Just as the Moon pulls the tides in our oceans, its progressed phases pulse through our charts with a similar ebb and flow. On the wave from New Moon to New Moon, we take a true hero’s journey.

Neptune's Wild Watersby Carolyn Bufkin

This New Orleans astrologer’s first-person account of Hurricane Katrina shows us the many facets of Neptune — fear, unity, despair, compassion, fog, redemption — as they surfaced in her life during the storm and its aftermath.

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2 Artist’s Showcase featuring Jan Severson

5 Publisher's Letter and Announcements

8 Letters to the Editor

81 Book Reviewscompiled by Mary Plumb

86 Astrology News and Conference Calendarby Gloria Star

88 Humor: Who Dresses Me?by Janette de Prosse

89 TMA Professional Directory

101 Corrections

108 Classified Ads

110 Advertisers' Index

92 Where’s That Moon?

93 Feb/Mar Forecast Calendar by Jeff Jawer

102 New and Full Moon Reports

• Leo Full Moon

• Pisces New Moon

• Virgo Lunar Eclipse

• Aries Solar Eclipse

by Stephanie Austin

106 Astro*Carto*Graphy Maps

107 Feb/Mar Declination Graph

TMA Departments

Forecast Section

PLANETARY CURRENTS SECTION

PLANET TRACKS:

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Article illustrations (except where otherwise noted) by M. Tara Sanders

The Sky Is Talking!by Trish Marie

… and here’s what it says about 2006 and beyond. Amid all the “fun growth opportunities” of the immediate future, it’s easy to think the sky is falling. But we can look to the sky for its eternal and ever-changing messages.

Weighing Inconsistencies in the Natal Chartby Donna Cunningham

Newsmaker Chart: Jacques Chiracby Pat Taglilatelo

In our Mercury Direct section

(stapled in the center of this issue of TMA)

Fate and Astrology: Some Ancient Insightsby Robert Hand

Astrology is not a manifestation of unalterable fate. All energies symbolized by astrological factors have many possible outcomes. The birth chart can tell us much about who we are — but not how we will play the cards we are dealt.

Advances in Astrology Software: Horizonsby Hank Friedman

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About the Front Cover

This Water Crystal image entitled “Happiness” is reprinted here courtesy of IHM Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan, who holds the copyright. For additional information, and to view more water crystal photographs, please visit the English-language Web site: http://www.hado.net


LetterstotheEditor

continued on page 57

Volume 19, No. 2

THE

MOUNTAINASTROLOGER

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Vedic Astrology EditorSpecial Projects

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TEM TARRIKTARNAN GEARYJANETTE DEPROSSEMARY PLUMBRAY GRASSEROBERT BLASCHKELINDA JOHNSENKATE SHOLLYM. TARA SANDERSJUDY SCHWEINJUDITH COOPERANN MEIGSCAROL SPRINGER

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Order using the reply envelope at the center of this issue, or call in with your VISA/MC. Credit card orders only may call (800) 287-4828; overseas, call (530) 477-8839, Mon.–Thu. 9:00–4:00, Fri. 9:00–3:00, Pacific Time. You can also fax your order to us at (530) 477-9423, or use our secure order form at www.mountainastrologer.com

ADDRESS CHANGES: Since we bulk-mail early, we need 4 weeks’ advance written notice of your imminent move. Fax, mail, or e-mail address changes. We will deduct one issue from your subscription if we need to replace your magazine because you did not notify us of your new address.

WRITERS: Thinking of writing for us? Writers’ guidelines are available that spell out our requirements for article queries (see them online at www.mountainastrologer.com). We are not responsible for returning material unless accom-panied by a SASE.

ADVERTISING: Advertising your product or service in TMA is by far the best way to gain visibility in the world of astrology. Request our advertising brochure for prices, deadlines, and specifications. Reserve ad space or get our 2006 brochure by calling our ad manager at (800) 948-8048.

NOTE: The opinions and philosophies expressed by the writers published in The Mountain Astrologer are not nec-essarily a reflection of the opinions and philosophies of the Publisher or the staff. Diversity is welcomed in the spirit of catalyzing discussion. TMA’s role is to be a resource and to provide a forum for the global astrological community. In addition, readers should exercise good judgment when purchasing a product or service advertised in these pages, as we do not investigate each product or service.

© 2006 The Mountain Astrologer - all rights reservedManufactured & printed in the United States

(Wisconsin), using soy-based inks.

The Mountain Astrologer (ISSN 1079-1345) (Feb./Mar. 2006, Vol. 19, No. 2) is published 6 times per year (bi-monthly) by The Mountain Astrologer, 436 Colfax Ave., Grass Valley, CA 95945-6840. PERIODICALS postage paid at Grass Valley, California and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions are $36.00 for 6 issues in the United States. If you want The Mountain Astrologer delivered via first-class mail, add $12 for extra postage. Postmas-ter: send address changes to The Mountain Astrolo-ger, P.O. Box 970, Cedar Ridge, CA 95924-0970.

In TMA’s “Letters to the Editor” section, we do not print the street address or phone number of contributors unless the writer requests us to do so. If you wish to have other readers contact you, please specify the information that should be printed with your letter. We do not print anony-mous letters. Letters may be edited for content or shortened to meet space restrictions, subject to the discretion of TMA’s editorial staff.

Dear TMA: I read Steven Forrest’s “Astrology & Reincarnation” in the Aug./Sept. 2005 issue of TMA with rapt attention. For-rest continues to impress with the clarity of his writing and the obvious care he has for our discipline. That being said, I must admit I’m somewhat troubled by this latest article. While I’m a strong believer in reincarnation (the evidence for it becomes more compelling every year), I cannot support Forrest’s claim that information about past lives can be gleaned from the current birth chart. Even if Forrest admits that his con-structed story of the client’s past life merely “parallels” the past life, there is still no evidence to substantiate that the story has any validity whatsoever. It’s certainly plausible that the natal chart is in some way the effect of prior actions in prior lives, but there is no reason to assume that the cause of those effects is going to have the same astrological signature as the effects themselves. Yet, this is what Forrest’s Evolutionary Astrology requires us to believe. The presumption that the same configuration describes both current-life patterns and prior-life patterns is just that: an unfounded presumption. Evolutionary Astrologers may argue that evidence for their theory is the cli-ent’s response to the constructed story. They report that some clients are emo-tionally moved. There is a resonance to the story in that it “feels right,” and clients may even experience a kind of catharsis or apparent healing. In other

words, evidence in support of the theory is the extent to which the client feels “helped” and is able to identify with the general tenor of the past-life story. However, there are alternative explanations for why this effect occurs. My understanding of Evolutionary Astrology is that the practitioner for-mulates a past-life story on the basis of what is observed in the chart, begin-ning with the South Node. After ana-lyzing the sign, house, aspects, and ruler of the South Node, a great deal of information is synthesized into a single, coherent story that eventually encom-passes most of the horoscope. It should come as no surprise that the client feels an emotional resonance with the con-structed scenario, for it is based on the current-life chart. After all, this is what a horoscope depicts: a story replete with specific characters (planets) performing roles (signs) in relationship (aspects) to other characters in various life-contexts (houses). We all recognize that the chart sym-bolizes the story of the current life, but it can do so in a variety of ways, depend-ing upon the individual’s level of inte-gration and maturity. As people develop and evolve over the course of their lives, they live out their charts on different lev-els; the same chart can symbolize mul-tiple story possibilities. The story as lived and told by the client is merely one pos-sibility that reflects the symbolism of the chart. Many other stories would fit the chart just as well. This is why the fic-tional works of an author tend to repeat specific themes and plots, for such sto-ries are metaphorical equivalents of the author’s character structure as reflected in his horoscope. Stories that evolutionary astrologers construct about their clients’ past lives are analogous to the stories that authors of fiction create, since in both cases the guiding template is the subject’s horo-scope. Such stories quite likely do depict the psychodynamics of the current life, as symbolized by the client’s birth chart. If the astrologer is skilled, the client is naturally going to resonate with the story of his life retold from a different perspective. However, a fictional story generated from the horoscope can be meaningful, not because it parallels the


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The Sky Is Talking!What It Says about 2006 and the Years Ahead

by Trish Marie

I have a friend who quips, “If the world didn’t suck, we’d all fall off.” This is something I keep in mind

whenever “problematic” transits are coming up. Astrologers know that the aftermath of difficult transits can bring blessings that might not have been possible without the “deconstruction” brought by those transits. A job loss can metamorphose into a dream career. Relationship dramas can lead to health-ier pairings. A forced relocation often proves to be fortunate. However, astrologers also know that when a client is still in the midst of, say, a hard Saturn, Uranus, or Nep-tune transit, it may be safer to mention the “growth opportunity” from behind the safety of a locked door. When one series of difficult transits follows another, we may end up at OBAFGO: “Oh Boy, Another Fun Growth Opportunity.”1 In the late 1990s, several planetary alignments suggested that we have entered an OBAFGO tunnel. These alignments will culminate in 2009–2010, forming a cardinal grand cross — a pattern that deserves special atten-tion. Before we look at the charts them-selves, let’s consider some relevant background information from outside the realm of astrology.

Repeating Themes A while back, a newspaper article caught my eye: “Stock Up Now,” the headline warned. It was actually the date printed in bold beneath the head-line that I noticed: 2010. The article outlined the prediction of Fortune 500 business consultant Harry S. Dent, Jr.

that the years 2010–2020 will produce economic setback and deflation rivaling the Great Depression. Dent bases his prediction on the historic decade-long “trough” created whenever a generation retires and ceases making the kinds of purchases that drive economic growth — he also factors in the unprecedented size and influence of the Baby Boomer generation, many of whom will reach retirement age in 2009–2010.2

The Baby Boomers have garnered notice and concern since their emer-gence.3 These hippies of the 1960s became the activists of the ’70s, only to morph into the stockbrokers and soc-cer moms of the ’80s and ’90s. Now the Boomers (historically, a demanding gen-eration) are marching en masse toward their retirement years, and governments the world over are wondering how to cope; far more people will be retiring than there are young workers available to contribute to the various economic and health care systems that currently support retirees. This may be a minor problem com-pared to other dilemmas now becom-ing visible on the horizon. One of these is the “Peak Oil” issue. Briefly stated, many experts believe that world oil pro-duction is about to peak — or already has. If this is true, the implications are far more profound than a lot of Ameri-cans realize (they seem to think that an oil crunch primarily affects the size of SUV they’ll drive). Oil warms us, cools us, grows and transports our food, and lights our homes; it produces our paper, clothing, computers, detergents and other household products, vinyl, paint,

ink, fiberglass, and those plastic water bottles that have become an essential component of everyone’s daily gear. In our homes and offices, we are liter-ally surrounded by oil-derived prod-ucts. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the average Westernized human is using oil-derived products nearly every moment of the day. Even the sheets we sleep on at night are made with oil-grown crops (cotton) or derived from oil itself (polyester). It’s a wonder that we don’t pay homage to oil just as the Native Americans did with the corn and the bison that they depended on for their existence. Draft-horse breeders, are you paying attention? There may be a golden opportunity here! Astrologically, the timing involved is intriguing. Many of the experts who are worried about the Peak Oil issue believe that the world will become painfully aware of the impending crisis around 2010–2012 and that the fol-lowing decade will be one of profound adjustment to a rapidly altering world economy. There’s more: In 2005, the scien-tists who worked on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment issued their report, and the findings are grim. The global environment is deteriorating far faster than we Americans in our clean, rich country can appreciate. The world ecosystem is, in fact, potentially on the verge of a catastrophic collapse. Scien-tists say that, sometime within the next several decades, the situation will reach a critical juncture. We humans will either roll up our collective sleeves and fix the problems or else reach a point of


no return from which we descend into ecological hell.4 Then there’s global warming … The good news is, the sky isn’t fall-ing — it’s talking. Astrology is a symbolic system that illuminates connections between seem-ingly unrelated phenomena. Working with this system every day, astrologers become attuned to recognizing patterns and noticing repeating themes. The more a particular “theme” repeats via various aspects in an astrological chart, the more likely this theme will manifest. Astrological phenomena are “repeating the theme” that these are no ordinary times we live in — as if we didn’t have enough evidence in the trauma of 9/11, the strange (and some would say inconclusive) U.S. presiden-tial elections, the U.S.–led invasions of sovereign nations, the terrorist attacks in London subways, the tsunamis and hur-ricanes and earthquakes that effectively destroy major cities! One of these astrological phenom-ena is an event visible to anyone with an unobstructed eastern or western hori-zon and skies dark enough to see the Milky Way clearly. At the winter solstice, you can watch the Sun rise or set at the place where the Milky Way contacts the horizon. Kids these days are so hard to impress (and their parents, too). So, if the alignment of the winter solstice Sun with the Milky Way doesn’t seem very remarkable, consider that the last time it happened humans were just beginning to get the hang of agriculture. To most modern, “enlightened” people, the Milky Way (at least, what can be seen of it in the world’s increas-ingly light-polluted skies) is merely a pretty river of light against the velvet backdrop of the night sky. But our dis-tant ancestors saw this river as a cru-cial axis connected to the rise and fall of world ages. It was the baseline from which one of the great cycles of nature could be gauged: precession — the slow wobble of the Earth’s axis that gradually changes Earth’s relation to the sky and, indeed, changes Earth’s alignment with the galaxy itself. Living in close connection with nature, our ancestors observed the lives of plants and animals, the monthly movement of the Moon, the seasons

produced by the path of the Sun, and the patterns formed by the planets and stars. They saw that all of this exists in the form of cycles that have a birth, reach a moment of culmination, and then wane toward dissemination and “death,” the beginning of a new cycle. Just as individual lives are a series of small cycles within larger ones (we are each familiar with cycles of the hour, the day, the week, the IRS filings …), so too is history a series of small cycles within larger ones. The ancients realized that the intertwined cyclic motion of the various components of the heavens, existing as they did within the frame of time and space, creates a marvelous “clock” that could give clues about the potential urgency of any given moment of time. The workings of an old-fashioned clock make a good analogy: The hands of such a clock are driven by a series of interlocking wheels (cycles); the movement of each wheel affects, and is affected by, the move-ment of all the other wheels. The winter solstice is an astrologi-cal event whose import is echoed to this day in yearly celebrations such as Christmas. To have the solstice align with the Milky Way was an event of such magnitude that many ancient cul-tures worked out in advance when it would happen. The Maya knew that the precession of the equinoxes would bring the winter solstice in line with the Milky Way near the beginning of what we call the 21st century, and they fig-ured this out long before the European conquerors (just getting over their fear of a flat Earth) arrived to tell the Meso-americans how backward they were. Specifically, the Maya realized that the winter solstice point would cross the dark band that bisects the Milky Way in the vicinity of the galactic equator at the winter solstice on December 21, 2012.5 They named this event “The End of the Fifth Sun” — an ominous name that we won’t worry about too

much, because few of us are Mayan. (The Classic Maya didn’t survive the End of their Fourth Sun; they were destroyed by warfare, overpopulation, and an ecological catastrophe that was primarily self-inflicted.6 Apparently, the environmentalists in their culture were considered “wackos,” too.) The Mayan Long Count calendar was doubtless worked out by the obses-sive historians among them. I suspect that the average Maya-in-the-street was a lot more interested in what was going to happen within time frames more eas-ily applied to his daily life. Should he plant corn or cocoa, or forget both and just go fishing? People don’t change, and what astrology has to say about tomorrow, next week, next month, next year is far more engaging to most of us. (And that’s a good thing, because this astrologer couldn’t pay her bills if she relied solely on clients who wanted a transit reading for the year 2805.)

Entering the Tunnel In March 2005, columnist Mark Morford wrote an essay (published as Pluto stationed retrograde), asking whether we are entering a new dark age.7 He compared the stressful, even “dark” feel of current days to the opti-mism that existed less than a decade ago. He suggested that this does not feel like a blip on the radar screen, but rather as though we are entering a “very long, bleak tunnel.” Morford’s obser-vations certainly align with those of astrologers; many of us have noticed a general “ramping up” of the level of personal crisis and challenge in the lives of our clients. All tunnels, even metaphorical ones, must have a door — an entry point. Astrology is composed of ever-moving cycles within cycles; because of this, the moment of “birth” of any par-ticular period of social change can be legitimately debated. For this astrologer, however, the doorway to the current tunnel is the grand cross solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 (see Chart 1, p. 12). The eclipse chart (set for Washing-ton, D.C.) features a grand cross involv-ing the eclipsed Sun and Moon and the malefic planets Mars, Saturn, and Uranus. The grand cross occurs in the powerful middle degrees of the fixed

Many of us astrologers have noticed a general

“ramping up” of the level of personal crisis

in the lives of our clients.


signs — halfway between the begin-ning degrees of each of the four car-dinal signs. The cardinal signs initiate change, and the fixed signs preserve the status quo. Thus, this degree area can be said to represent the point where the impetus to transform meets resistance to change. The Sun, Mars, and Uranus are all in signs that they rule, whereas Saturn — the planet most associated with the integrity of the “foundational” aspects of our lives (economic and emo-tional supports) — is not as strongly placed in Taurus. The sign of Taurus rules the material world: food, shelter, and the money that buys these things. Since nothing demonstrates our val-ues quite as clearly as what we are will-ing to spend our money on, Taurus also represents personal and collective value systems. Do we buy bombs or books? (Do we support candidates who pre-fer bombs over books?) Do we invest time and money in healthy communities and families, or in stuffing our lives with material goods? What did this eclipse mean for the country and the world? I can’t really say. What I can say is that this eclipse became a major (OBAFGO) pivot in

the lives of my clients. I saw that, after a period of extreme instability and stress, their lives began to improve to the extent that they embraced change that better reflected their current emotional and material resources. The people who had the greatest struggle were those who clung to a vision of themselves that was no longer in sync with current reali-ties. Although this could be true of any-one at any time, the differences became extreme in the months and years follow-ing this eclipse.

Holy Cow!The Grand Alignment in Taurus From Babylonian times, the 20-year Jupiter–Saturn cycle has been a mainstay of predictive astrology. This cycle is famous for its relation to the downfall of U.S. presidents — that is, every president since 1840 elected in the year Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in an earth sign has died in office. The most recent Jupiter–Saturn conjunc-tion occurred in Taurus in May 2000. The conjunction (though it was exact in late May) was part of the “Grand

Alignment” of all seven classical planets in Taurus earlier that month (chart not shown). Solstices aligning with the Milky Way, grand cross eclipses, grand align-ments — perhaps it is light pollution that keeps our leaders from realizing that something potentially wicked this way comes, for the skies themselves have been anything but silent! At this lineup, Jupiter and Saturn were close to the Sun — so close that they rose or set with the Sun and were thus made invisible by the Sun’s glare. Looking too closely at the Sun can burn our eyes. Planets that disappear into the Sun’s rays get burned, too; what those planets represent becomes over-whelmed by powers beyond easy con-trol. The Jupiter–Saturn conjunction occurred in Taurus, the sign concerned with money, food, and shelter. The folks at Greenpeace like to say that, when all the fish are dead and all the water poi-soned, we’ll find that we can’t eat or drink money. Ultimately, Taurus tells us whether or not we have sustainable value systems. Besides the too-close proximity to the Sun, this Jupiter–Saturn conjunction has another problem. It squares Ura-nus, “the Great Awakener,” in Aquarius. A square symbolizes forced change and Uranus represents technology. Uranus itself conjoins the asteroid Juno, which is connected to issues of shared resources,

Chart 1: Grand Cross

Solar Eclipse of August 1999

Chart 2: 2006 Cancer

Ingress

Charts use Koch houses and the True Node and are cast for Washington, D.C.

From Babylonian times, the 20-year Jupiter–Saturn cycle has been a mainstay

of predictive astrology.


fairness and equitability, and feelings of powerlessness — thus, a “fair” share (or lack) of resources will be a concern and part of the stress. Neptune (ruler of oil) in early Aquarius squares Venus in Tau-rus, the sign of its rulership. Pluto, also connected to oil (underground wealth), conjoins Chiron the Wounded Healer in Sagittarius and quincunxes the Tau-rus planets. Bernadette Brady tells us that a quincunx “wants to move you into a new situation whether you are ready for it or not.”8 Remember when we were kids and played hide and seek? The shout, “Ready or not, here I come!” inspired either desperation or glee, depending on how well we had man-aged to hide ourselves. Whether a quin-cunx is fun or trouble depends partially on how well prepared we are to meet the incoming energy. The Jupiter–Saturn conjunction of 2000 may very well herald a 20-year time span when some force beyond easy control dramatically alters our rela-tionship with oil (the primary means by which the modern world sustains itself). This would affect our relationship with emerging countries who want to share in the lifestyle we’ve become accustomed to; for instance, China is as determined to become a dominant economic and military power as the United States is determined to remain the dominant eco-nomic and world power. With current

technology, these goals take oil — lots of it. We could all just agree to equita-bly share what remains of the resource. We can even begin now to dramatically reduce our dependence on oil, buying more time to develop viable alternatives as well as reducing the impact of any shortages. Or we can blindly proceed as though it’s business as usual and wait to see what kind of “new situation” we get shoved into.

A New Day Dawning The waxing square of the current Jupiter–Saturn cycle occurs from Decem-ber 2005 to October 2006. At this phase, we have the greatest influence over how enormous the upcoming problems con-nected with the culminating phase in 2010 will eventually become. Astrologer Dana Gerhardt says that we “decide our futures” at the waxing square.9 This waxing square occurs in sync with the 2006 Cancer ingress. An “in-gress” chart is cast for the moment of the equinoxes or the solstices, when the Sun enters one of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn). The ingress

chart sets the tone for a quarter-year span of time. At the Cancer solstice in 2006 (see Chart 2, opposite), problem child Mars and perpetually grumpy uncle Sat-urn, both in Leo, join forces in opposition to Chiron — representing pain that heals. The opposition squares the trigger of a Moon–Jupiter (inflated emotions) oppo-sition, forming a fixed grand cross. The Sun, representing the state of the “body” (nation) and connected to leaders in gen-eral, is opposed by Pluto, symbolizing deep-rooted problems, hidden threats, and “underground elements” made vis-ible. The Sun also forms a septile with its own dispositor, the Moon; this aspect (51°25'), based on one-seventh of a cir-cle, suggests chaotic emotional conditions and links the Sun–Pluto opposition with the fixed grand cross. The Mars–Saturn conjunction speaks to continued demands upon the U.S. military, but given the current Bush administration, it doesn’t take an astrologer to figure that out. Yet, an astrologer can see that the Mars–Saturn conjunction is ruled by the Sun, which sits on the cusp of the 12th house, a house associated with all manner of misfortune, particularly that involving secret enemies, hidden dangers, power-lessness, and Fate (in the sense of being in the hands of powers beyond one’s control). This alignment also conforms to one of the patterns characterized as

The 2006 Cancer ingress chart could suggest that the

stars are recommending a course correction.

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particularly dangerous by the authors of Mundane Astrology: “Saturn in [the] first [house] with Sun in twelfth: particu-larly destructive. Mars in first with Sun in twelfth: aggressive use of force but not always destructive.”10 The Moon aligns with and the Sun parallels the fixed star Hamal (Alpha Aries). Hamal is associ-ated with “violence, cruelty, head injury, suffering in love.”11 The medieval astrol-ogers who wrote about fixed stars were all morbid pessimists, but Hamal at the very least suggests independent thinking and headstrong attitudes that can bring either gain or pain.12

Mars in this ingress chart repre-sents the government, since Mars rules the 10th house. Mars also conjoins the asteroid Icarus — anyone familiar with the myth of the young man who flew too close to the Sun will recognize that Icarus is related to overreaching, rapid rise, and abrupt downfall. Between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enormous domestic demands caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the current administration’s insistence on tax breaks (especially for the rich-est Americans), it seems quite clear that we are reaching too far and asking for

a fall. The alignment possibly speaks to a further stretching of resources — con-flict with Iran or another country. Ret-rograde Uranus rules the 7th house (relationships) and is situated in the 8th house (beginnings and endings, shared resources), hinting at the sudden break-down of key alliances. Perhaps most ominously, Venus conjoins Caput Algol (Beta Perseus). Representing the severed, snake-cov-ered head of the Gorgon Medusa, this star is not surprisingly considered the most troublesome of all difficult stars (snake-covered, severed heads being problematic entities). In a chart, this star can indicate literal or metaphorical decapitation: to “lose one’s head.” This chart’s Venus rules the 4th house (the emotional and physical security of the nation) and is the intercepted ruler of the 10th house of government. The 2006 Cancer ingress chart could easily be read as a crisis caused by a catastrophic loss, with an emo-tional and poorly thought-out response that strains key alliances. Oh, wait —

we’ve already done that with the inva-sion of Iraq. Well, the chart could also be read as national recognition of a looming crisis that brings about a scram-bling to stockpile the world’s remaining resources, complete with “headstrong” attitudes and tunnel vision (come to think of it, we’ve done that in Iraq as well). You know, this chart could simply suggest that the stars are recommending a course correction. There is no better time to make such a course correction than the First Quarter phase of a cycle — in this case, the waxing square of the Jupiter–Saturn cycle. What sort of a course correction? Here’s one clue: Every single cardinal ingress chart from now through 2012 will have the Sun (the source of power and life) conjunct, square, or opposed Pluto, ruler of purging and transforma-tion. Since an ingress chart holds sway for a quarter of the year, and since Pluto will be in a stressful aspect to each ingress chart’s Sun through 2012, we are essentially entering a period strongly affected by Pluto’s energy. Pluto tends to cut out whatever is inessential — as many people who have felt Pluto’s touch by transit can attest. Yet (to bor-row a phrase from my long-distance hik-ing pals), the secret to staying light on our feet is never to carry anything we can’t reasonably use. By any standard we care to apply, there is a tremendous

Chart 3: Sagittarius

Full Moon of June 2008

Chart 4: Solar Eclipse of August 2008

The energy of the transits must be expressed — yet how this energy

gets expressed is largely up to us.


amount of “fat” and wastefulness in modern societies (par-ticularly the United States), having large ecological and social costs. Pluto is demanding a healthier approach. We can begin a collective “diet and exercise” routine now, and our cultures could head into the crunch time ready for a marathon — or we can wait until we need the cosmic equivalent of emer-gency surgery. Cardinal Degree Activation:Ready or Not, Here It Comes! The Sagittarius Full Moon in June 2008 features a Moon–Pluto conjunction, with Pluto teetering on the edge of 0° Capricorn (see Chart 3, opposite). The Astrologer’s Hand-book states that Moon–Pluto conjunctions can be expressed as either creative genius or destructive emotionality.13 Venus, the planet of social restraint, at 0° Cancer opposes obses-sive Pluto, and she’s combust — too close to the Sun and thus overwhelmed: Social restraint will be sadly lacking. The squares of Sun–Venus and Moon–Pluto to Uranus make the energy unstable and trigger-happy. Uranus represents “bolts from the blue” in the form of sudden flashes of genius or other shocks to the system. Soon after this Full Moon, the cosmos (knowing that humans have short attention spans) reinforces the message with a total solar eclipse on August 1, 2008 (see Chart 4, opposite). Mars opposes Uranus at this eclipse; the planet that rules fire challenges the planet that rules explosions. Explo-sions can be useful — they represent a “breaking out” of something — and this particular eclipse is part of Saros Series 10 South.14 This eclipse family, Bernadette Brady writes, “concerns itself with breaking out of a very negative situation where no hope can be seen to a more positive space contain-ing many options … The solution is shown by the Cosmos and needs to be taken up without too much delay.”15 These charts show that energy focused creatively on a seemingly hopeless situation can effect a solution — and such an out-come is much more likely when we think rationally, instead of responding out of fear. However, it remains to be seen exactly what problems we will be called upon to solve. In the eclipse chart, a Chiron–Neptune conjunction lies along the axis of the Moon’s nodes, an axis of Fate. Neptune rules liquids and gaseous substances, including oil. Chiron’s status as the Wounded Healer is pretty well known. “Physi-cian, heal thyself” apparently applied first to Chiron. But for Chiron, a half-divine (thus immortal) centaur poisoned by Medusa’s venom, the only cure was through the release of death — a doorway technically denied an immortal (prov-ing that everything, even divinity, has its downside). Even-tually, Zeus granted Chiron’s request for death, releasing Chiron’s spirit into the sky where he became a constellation. It’s one thing for an immortal to ask for death — as a child of Zeus, Chiron had to know he’d get special treatment no mat-ter which side of death’s door he stood on. It’s another thing entirely for a human to embrace “death,” for we are mere mortals and understandably rather attached to our lives. Thus, Chiron represents a deep (hidden) and toxic pain, but one that we’re terrified to let go of, for fear that we’ll “die” — lose some essential part of ourselves.


Chiron is the wound that drives us to heal ourselves — if we first allow it to “kill” us, if we first break our depen-dence on the pain. These charts seem to be asking us to release dependence on something we think we can’t live with-out but that, in reality, is toxic. The End of the Fifth Sun At the Libra equinox in 2009, the Sun is close to an exact square to Pluto at 0°41' Capricorn (chart not shown). From this point on, the stimu-lated cardinal degrees begin to express their power. Saturn, the planet of tra-dition, at 26° Virgo conjoins the Sun and opposes Uranus, the planet that shatters traditions. The opposition is a phase of unleashed passion. Passion is often fun and always interesting; for instance, we can be passionate about jogging because we’re delighted to dis-cover our couch-potato bulk turning into a lean, mean, running machine — or we can become passionate about jog-ging because a mugger is on our heels. To take an example from the headlines dominating the news as I write this, pas-sion about flood control can be inspired by a desire to nip potential problems in the bud — or by a city sitting on its roof-tops waiting for rescue. We still have time to determine which sort of passion will dominate in 2010. By the Cancer ingress of 2010, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto are well in orb of a cardinal t-square. Charles Har-vey says that the Uranus–Pluto contacts are involved with “the radical restruc-turing of peoples and nations.”16 Rein-hold Ebertin describes Uranus/Pluto as the “collapse of the old order of things, the construction of the new.”17 Also, Saturn squares Pluto; according to Har-vey, this combination is connected to “emerging nations and very deep cul-tural transformations, purgations, and ‘resurrections’.”18 I tell clients that the energy of the transits must be expressed. This is not an option — yet how this energy gets expressed is largely up to us. The more consciously we embrace the transit

dynamics, the less dramatic their mat-erial manifestation. The positive ramifi-cations of a transit can be enhanced if we take advantage of moments that are particularly open to redirection, such as right now (2006). Take, for exam-ple, the Uranus–Pluto square that’s in orb beginning in 2010. This transit will come; we have no control over that. Ebertin says that the positive expres-sion of this square is the “attainment of great objectives by an immense appli-cation of effort, the bringing of new things into being, the creation of new conditions of living”; he lists its nega-tive expression as “acts of violence, subversive activities, putting the gun to someone’s head.”19 The cosmos is giv-ing us plenty of advance warning that foundational structures will change, and if we don’t want to be forced “at gunpoint” to change along with them, we’d best start working on our prob-lems now. The stars are not FEMA (the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Authority) — they don’t give warning and then just leave us stranded in the dark. The stars have served as guides through troubled waters and wild terrain since time immemorial. The alignment of the winter solstice Sun with the Milky Way tells us that the changes that are coming — the changes we must make — will be big ones. “Tweaking” the sys-tem will no longer cut it; our culture is due for a major overhaul. The August 1999 solar eclipse was a “foreshock” that signaled growing stress within the system. The Jupiter–Saturn conjunction in May 2000 ushered in a new 20-year unfolding of history; that alignment squared Uranus, “the Great Breaker”20 — an aspect that describes forced change shattering traditional realities. Innovation doesn’t need to be birthed by desperation, but we can wait for that mother, if we wish — the stars are saying that innovation will come, one way or another. The diffi-cult ingresses and eclipses of 2006 sug-

gest stressful conditions that incline us toward emotional reactions with little regard for future consequences. This is what our grandparents called “jump-ing from the frying pan into the fire.” A much more carefully considered response would be advisable. The word “consider” literally means to consult the stars.21 The stars suggest that we may be “encouraged” via world events to develop a healthier approach to our global and individual environ-ments. We may also be encouraged to release our attachment to a “wound” that is killing us. Neptune rules oil as well as the interconnectedness of the environment as a whole. Its 2008 con-junction with Chiron the Wounded Healer, late in the sign of technology and energy systems (Aquarius), implies that a painful release is needed before we can move into a more holistic place in terms of energy production and con-sumption. Remember that, in astrology, we look for repeating themes. At the end of this decade, several planetary cycles — each of which has the power to alter the basic structure of nations and cultures all by itself — will form a grand cross in the early degrees of the cardinal signs, the most powerful area of the zodiac. These aspects predict a crisis that tar-gets basic economic and governmental structures. Astrologer Jane Axtell writes: “Ptolemy said that mundane [astrology] was easier than individual chart work, and he was correct. In mundane predic-tion, it’s a given that if some awful pat-tern appears strongly, a fool will appear to act it out.”22

Yet, this doesn’t mean that our in-dividual actions are powerless to redi-rect the tidal energy. Quite the contrary — individual actions become critical in such times. Anyone who thinks their actions are irrelevant because they’re just one small person has never tried to sleep with a mosquito in the room. Enough mosquitoes (tiny though they are) can redirect the energy of a whole campground of humans trying to sleep. Not to compare the astrologically astute with a hoard of mosquitoes (then again, those critters do come out with the stars) — but the more people who make al-ternative energy choices, who carefully consider a political candidate’s level of

The stars have served as guides through troubled waters and wild terrain since time immemorial.


evolution and awareness, who exem-plify the virtues of walking softly on the Earth, and who deal gently with each other, then the more consciously our cultures can live these upcoming tran-sits. This is a much better option than trying to live through them! After all, whether a period of challenge feels like a crisis — or an opportunity — often de-pends on how well we’re prepared to meet it.

References and Notes1. The word “Fun” is sometimes replaced with another F-word.

2. Joseph Montes, “Stock up now — expert,” in The Flint Journal, March 17, 2004, p. B2.

3. This is to be expected of a generation with Pluto in Leo; these people are going to be noticed (Leo), one way or another. This astrol-oger recognizes that social scientists, like most people, rarely pay enough attention to the sky over their heads, and I define the Baby Boom-ers as the Pluto-in-Leo generation. Pluto’s generational influence makes a better base for demarcating generations than using an arbitrary year — and this method also allows those of us with Pluto in early Virgo to cut ourselves out of this problematic group.

4. A copy of the Millennium Ecosystem Assess-ment is available at www.millenniumassessment.org

5. Bruce Scofield, “The Long and the Short of the Mayan Calendar,” in The Mountain Astrolo-ger, Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005, p. 42. Also see Bruce Scofield’s Web site: www.onereed.com

6. Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Group, Inc, 2005, pp. 157–177.

7. Mark Morford, “Is This a New Dark Age?” March 25, 2005; www.sfgate.com

8. Bernadette Brady, Predictive Astrology: The Eagle and the Lark, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1999, p. 29.

9. Dana Gerhardt, “Moonwatching: The First Quarter,” in TMA, April/May 2002, p. 84.

10. Michael Baigent, Nicholas Campion, and Charles Harvey, Mundane Astrology, The Aquarian Press, 1984, p. 248.

11. Anthony Louis, Horary Astrology Plain and Simple, Llewellyn Publications, 1998, p. 241.

12. Bernadette Brady, Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998, p. 228.

13. Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker, The Astrologer’s Handbook, Harper & Row, 1973, p. 288.

14. Eclipses repeat in 18-year cycles called the Saros Series; eclipses in a given Saros Series have the same basic nature.

15. Brady, Predictive Astrology, p. 323.

16. Baigent et al., Mundane Astrology, p. 181.

17. Reinhold Ebertin, The Combination of Stel-lar Influences (COSI), American Federation of Astrologers, 1972, p. 198.

18. Baigent et al., Mundane Astrology, p. 183.

19. Ebertin, COSI, p. 198.

20. “The Great Breaker” is this author’s own nickname for Uranus.

21. The word “consider” is derived from the Latin sider, or sidus — a constellation of stars. “Sidereal” is another word from that root, as is (surprisingly) “desire.”

22. Permission to quote granted by the author.

© 2006 Trish Marie – all rights reserved

Trish Marie is an equestrian, freelance writer, and astrologer. She has delineated the charts of many horses as well as dogs and cats. She once interpreted a mule’s chart; since that time, whenever she is asked what she does for a liv-ing, her husband pipes in, “She writes horo-scopes for mules.” Of course, Trish interprets people’s charts, too, and writes an astrological newsletter that is e-mailed, free of charge, to all interested parties. She can be reached at (810) 742-7268, or e-mail: [email protected]


Part Sixteen:

Who Are You, Really?Weighing Inconsistencies in the Natal Chart

by Donna Cunningham

Esse

nti

al E

lem

ents

of Chart

Interpretation

V planetary currents V

Many newcomers to astrology first go beyond Sun signs by order-

ing a computerized interpretation of their birth charts. They frequently com-plain that the write-up was unsatisfac-tory because, over and over, one part of the report would contradict another. My reply is that various pieces of a report can’t help but be inconsistent with one another for the simple rea-son that human beings themselves are inconsistent. Our behavior in one area of life may be strikingly different from our behavior in another. We may be tyrants at work and pussycats at home. Or we may spoil our children but be critical and demanding of our mates. People who think they know us in one context may be startled when they encounter us in another. One psychological defense mech-anism that we may use to resolve inconsistencies in our nature is com-partmentalization. Here, we contain unacceptable parts of ourselves by rel-egating them to certain narrow areas of life. Fortunately for diagnostic pur-poses, the astrological chart comes equipped with handy-dandy compart-ments called houses. When a difficult part of our chart — and our nature — is in a certain house, we may act out these qualities primarily in the context of matters related to that house. Suppose a romantic prospect you meet at a business luncheon has Venus and Jupiter conjunct, on one hand, but also has a conjunction of Mars and Saturn. If Venus and Jupiter were in the 10th house, the individual might appear extremely cordial, open, and pleasant in work-related situations like

the one where you met. If you started a romance with this person, however, the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Scorpio in the 5th that you ignored would kick in, because you’ve shifted to a 5th-house basis for the connec-tion. Then, you’d experience how closed, controlling, and perfectionistic the person can be in a relationship. Let’s say that we pride our-selves on being tolerant and accept-ing of others’ ideas (Sun and Venus in Pisces in the 3rd). Yet, we cannot abide lapses in certain spiritual disci-plines or politically correct viewpoints, so we become quite judgmental and preachy (Mars in Virgo in the 9th). Or, maybe we don’t usually mind other people’s business (Aquarius rising), but when it comes to really close friends (Moon in Capricorn in the 11th), we can become down-right managerial. By confining our less-than-wonderful qualities in neat compartments, we escape having to acknowledge our flaws. Planets in the 12th house (things we hide from our-selves and others), when not woven tightly into the rest of the chart, are especially prone to being disowned. Some core qualities, like those related to major aspects to the Sun and Moon, will not limit themselves to the houses involved. A person with the Moon conjunct Pluto, regardless of the house involved, is likely to have trust and security issues that reverber-ate with almost all of life’s most impor-tant dimensions. An individual with the Sun conjunct Saturn is likely to struggle with self-doubt and the need to suc-ceed in many areas of life, not just the

matters of the house where the con-junction is placed. Other, less overriding placements may be compartmentalized, however, especially if the planet involved has few aspects to planets in other seg-ments of the chart. The planet may also find release through an aspect to the Ascendant — the outward expres-sion of the personality — or to the Midheaven, where it may be chan-neled into career performance. Lack-ing aspects like these (and thus lacking certain kinds of tools to actualize the planet’s needs and drives), the planet is effectively “boxed in” and is there-fore most likely to play itself out pri-marily in the matters of that house. Suppose that an otherwise peace-loving woman, perhaps with the Sun in Libra, has Mars conjunct Uranus in the 5th house, forming no more than a sextile to any other planet and no aspects to the Ascendant or Mid-heaven. Neighbors who see her as easy-going and agreeable may be in for a big surprise if they happen to do something that she views as a threat or a rebuke to her children. Given that 5th-house setup, injustices to offspring would be a hot button. That’s one land mine you don’t want to step on! What if it’s your daughter’s chart we are talking about, and your out-of-control, preteen grandchildren are the ones depicted by her Mars–Uranus conjunction? She claims that they are just adventuresome and high-spirited, but you’ve been meaning to tell her that you don’t want the boys climbing the roof when they visit. It’s not safe, and there’s already been some dam-


age to the shingles. Can you find a time when she might be more amena-ble to your request to rein in her kids, and conversely, can you predict times when that conjunction might deto-nate? For sure, you wouldn’t want to try it when transiting Mars is setting off the conjunction. You’d also be pru-dent not to raise the issue when the monthly Moon is crossing that con-junction, nor when it is opposite or square it. A good bet might be when the Moon is crossing her Libra Sun. Contradictory parts of our charts sometimes remain hidden, since we often squelch the facets of ourselves they represent — emotions or needs we find unacceptable. Then, the monthly orbit of the Moon crosses that part, and we have an “episode” where we release all the emotions or needs we have been holding in check all month. (“I don’t know what got into me!”) Often, under a slow-moving transit or progression, a chart feature that has been boxed in comes to the forefront, and people see a new and unsuspected side of our character. (This is as true of the desir-able but undeveloped gifts and inter-ests shown by a boxed-in planet as it is of the less-desirable features.) Such periods can be magnificent windows for more fully integrating the energies of such a planet and upgrading how we express them. The planet would also be emphasized if we moved to a location where it was on one of the four chart angles. Another way we tend to resolve in-consistencies in our own nature is by assigning them to other people, using the defense mechanism called projec-tion. Disclaiming certain unacceptable qualities of our own, we may choose other people to live out those qualities for us — and then criticize them for it. We’ve spoken about oppositions and that the planet at one end of the op-position is often projected onto other people. Contradictions are inherent in oppositions: Two planets placed in op-posite signs and houses are both com-pelled to find expression somehow, if only through other people. However, projection can also involve the qualities of a single dis-owned planet, which might primar-

ily be assigned to people who fill the roles of a particular house for us. The matters of the house in question, again, show which people we draft to do that. In the 3rd house, it could be our siblings; in the 4th, one of our parents; and in the 11th, we may pick friends to live out these qualities for us. For instance, the woman with the Mars–Uranus conjunction in the 5th may subconsciously egg on her children in their rebellious behavior, thus living out her own Inner Rebel through them. Suppose we are generally accom-modating and willing to help others (the Sun and Jupiter in Pisces), yet in some situations, we just don’t want to be understanding or helpful. In fact, we might even be feeling downright mean-spirited. Maybe the person who is asking the favor has Mars on one of our tougher planets — like Saturn in Aries in the 7th. We need an out, so we use another person as an excuse: “Oh, I’d love to watch your five little ones while you apply for food stamps, but my husband is such a bear, and kids get on his nerves.” In fact, some people who have planetary contacts with our worst chart placements typically bring out the worst in us. For example, beware of friends with something on your shopaholic Neptune in the 2nd, for they’re not the folks to go to the mall with — they’d happily enable you to max out your credit cards. Other friends and associates, however, sup-port the parts of our chart that we want to strengthen and develop but that have been underemphasized. That’s part of why we treasure friends like these. Suppose you have Mer-

cury and Neptune in the 3rd, but you’ve never had the courage to try your hand at writing, and now transit-ing Neptune is trining those planets. You might want to join a creative writ-ing group whose leader has Jupiter or Mercury conjunct your natal Mercury or Neptune. When analyzing a chart, if what you see in one part contradicts what you see in another, how do you syn-thesize these factors? Accept that both parts of the chart are true, though they may operate in separate areas of life. House placements can give you some clues about that. Or else, these parts may operate at different times. Watch-ing the monthly orbit of the Moon can help to identify when you’ll be meeting Dr. Jekyll and when Mr. Hyde might show up. Finally, there are times when motives and emotions are so mixed that two extremely contradictory parts of one human being may be oper-ating at the same moment. That’s when you begin to fathom how very complex each person — and each chart — can be! At that point, you’ve passed out of the realm of astrology and into the realm of psychology. I am reminded of what Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:

A foolish consistency is the hob-goblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers …

— “Self-Reliance” in Essays: First Series, 1847 (http://www.emersoncentral.

com/selfreliance.htm)

© 2006 Donna Cunningham – all rights reserved

Donna Cunningham, MSW, a long-time TMA contributor, is now publishing new works in e-book format. This has been an excerpt from Astrological Analysis: Selected Topics in Chart Interpretation. Students might be interested in the revised and expanded 2005 version of An Astrological Guide to Self-Awareness, her clas-sic text of beginning and intermediate astrol-ogy. To see samples of Donna’s work, visit http://www.moonmavenpublications.com. Donna is also teaching a distance-learning course in Chart Synthesis at the Academy of Astro-Psychology. For information about Donna’s services, call (503) 291-7891, or visit her Web site: http://www.DonnaCunninghamMSW.com

Do I contradict myself?Very well then I

contradict myself.(I am large, I contain

multitudes.)— Walt Whitman, from “Song of Myself” (1855)


“Mary Reilly”

Newsmaker Chart:JACQUES CHIRAC

Sponsored by AstroDatabank at http://www.astrodatabank.comText provided by Pat Taglilatelo, Editor

Equal houses, True NodeJacques Chirac

November 29, 1932; 12:00 p.m. GMTParis, France (48°N52', 02°E20')

Rodden Rating: AASource: Quoted BC/BRSource Notes: Cadran No. 18 quotes birth certificate 4/1995.

V planetary currents V

Biography:

This French politician was elected president of France in 1995 and again in 2002. He served as prime minister in 1974–76 and 1986–88 and as mayor of Paris in 1977–95. His long political career includes service from the munici-pal to the national level in elected posi-tions as well as political appointments. Chirac was the only child of an air-craft company executive and a home-maker. He spent his summers in the serene southwestern area of France vis-iting relatives. After working on a cargo ship for a summer, he earned his degree in political science at the prestigious Institut d’Études Politiques. In 1953, at age 20, he won a scholarship to study at Harvard for the summer, working part time in a sandwich shop. He read history and poetry and was fascinated by Chinese and Japanese civilizations. Though he had already met his future wife, Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, he had a romance with an heiress from South Carolina. She called him “honey child” and chauffeured him around in a white Cadillac. Chirac returned to Paris to marry Bernadette on March 16, 1956. To this day, she is his biggest supporter.

After serving in the French army in 1956, Chirac attended L’École Nationale d’Ad-ministration, the train-ing ground for the élite of France’s civil servants. Thin, nervous, and fast-talking, he launched his political career in 1962 when he landed a position in the office of Georges Pompidou, who was then Charles de Gaulle’s prime minis-ter. In 1967, Chirac was elected to the national assembly and, a year later, was appointed to the Ministry of Economics and Finance. In 1972, he was named to the post of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and in 1974 he became Minister of the Interior. Shortly thereafter, his patron Georges Pompi-dou died, and Chirac was named prime minister by the new president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. In 1976, Chirac resigned from office because of politi-cal differences with the president and formed his own party, the RPR (Rally for the Republic).

Chirac was elected mayor of Paris the following year, and he held that post until 1995. In the meantime, with his political influence on the increase, he became prime minister for the second time, serving under President François Mitterand from March 20, 1986 until May 12, 1988. When Chirac was the mayor of Paris, he overrode a ban on a Madonna concert in 1987, after listening to her music. The singer later kissed him on both cheeks and donated the con-cert’s proceeds to AIDS research. In 1995, Chirac made a third attempt to become president, with his most trusted aide, his daughter Claude, managing his campaign. Her hard work and his backing of the Madonna concert helped


him to capture the support of youthful voters. Chirac’s victory ended 14 years of socialist rule. As president, he had promised to reduce France’s 12% rate of unemployment by offering tax breaks to businesses hiring new employees. Chirac enjoyed glamorizing his public persona and remained close friends with Gregory Peck until the actor’s death. Despite his intelligence and education, he does not want to be viewed as an intellectual but as a man of the people. Called “le bulldozer” for his fierce deter-mination, Chirac is not known for his diplomatic skills. “Chirac cuts through the crap and comes straight to the point … It’s refreshing, although you have to put your seat belt on when you work with him,” said an anonymous British diplomat, cited on the Wikipedia Web site. Hugh Schofield of BBC News has said: “Jacques Chirac is a political beast par excellence.” Chirac’s name has occasionally been mired in scandal, including alle-gations of illegal party financing while he was mayor of Paris and charges that he received favors from Saddam Hus-sein. But in 2002, he was considered one of the most powerful political lead-ers in recent French history. As the lead-ers of the United States and Great Britain advocated war on Iraq, Chirac spoke up for his country in mid March 2003, insist-ing that “Iraq does not represent today an immediate threat that would justify an immediate war.” Although 80% of the French population praised his stance, by 2005 his political leverage had declined. By summer that year, his approval rat-ing was as low as 39%. In the autumn of 2005, an impoverished immigrant popu-lation, feeling disenfranchised by the lack of employment and supportive govern-ment policies, began rioting and burning cars throughout France. Chirac’s cam-paign promises had not been fulfilled, and France’s sluggish economy and the high numbers of jobless people were laid at his door. The president was accused of being slow to respond to the increased violence permeating the country. Chirac’s personal life has also had its ups and downs. Depression and anorexia have plagued his eldest daugh-ter, Laurence, a physician, and in April 1990, she tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a fourth-floor window.

In 1992, daughter Claude’s husband, Philippe Habert, was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. On July 14, 2002 in Paris, at about 9:55 a.m. MEDT, an extremely dis-turbed neo-Nazi made an assassination attempt on the president, pulling a rifle from a guitar case and firing one round at Chirac’s motorcade before being sub-dued. The shooter was captured and identified as Maxime Brunerie, born May 21, 1977 in Evry, Essonne. On September 2, 2005, President Chirac was hospitalized in Paris, with a vascular problem affecting his eyesight. Though details remained sketchy, CNN reported that he had suffered a hematoma, a blood clot resulting from a break in a blood vessel wall. His health has been cited as an obstacle for him to overcome if he decides to seek re-election in 2007.

What Do You Think? Chirac has been a career politician and quite a controversial officeholder. His political principles are difficult to define, and he has been accused of con-tradicting himself in his own stands on issues. Where in the chart is the lifelong politician whose political actions often seem to be contradictory? How would you characterize his style of leader-ship, astrologically? Will he weather the recent storms in his own country? Chirac’s chart shows some complex astrological patterns: two stellia (one in Virgo and one in Sagittarius) and two yods, both involving the Ascendant. Jupiter is the apex of a nearly exact yod involving the sextile between Uranus and the Ascendant. Also, the Ascendant is the apex of the yod formed by a sextile between Jupiter and Pluto. How would you synthesize these planetary configura-tions in your interpretation of his chart? Chirac has been described as a man of big appetites — for food, money, sex, and political clout. What in the chart reflects such hunger?

You are welcome to participate in the conversation at http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/ChiracJacques.htm There you can find a detailed biog-raphy, read others’ answers to all these questions, and add your own comments.

© 2006 AstroDatabank – all rights reserved

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by Vaughn Paul

Manley

The Hidden Messages of Water Signs

Dr. Masaru Emoto’s Vedic Chart

The water crystal photograph on this page, entitled “Love and Gratitude,” is reprinted here courtesy of IHM Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan, who holds the copyright.


Vedic astrology has become pop-ular in the West as an impressive pre-dictive system, but that’s where its usefulness ends — at least as far as many people are concerned. The signs, for instance, are rarely mentioned in Vedic chart analysis; that territory is left to Western astrology. Recently, how-ever, I came across a chart that strik-ingly demonstrates the relevancy of the signs in the Vedic system better than any chart I’ve seen. You may know of the Japanese scientist, Dr. Masaru Emoto, whose groundbreaking research with water has earned him worldwide recogni-tion. In his New York Times best-selling book, The Hidden Messages in Water,1 Dr. Emoto presents his stunning pho-tographs of water crystals, which dem-onstrate how our thoughts, and even symbols of our thoughts, actually affect the molecular structure of water. By tak-ing high-speed photographs of water frozen below –13° F, he discovered that the water crystals that formed vary in shape according to the specific thoughts, music, written words, or even pictures that the water is exposed to. Beautiful, symmetrical water crystals developed when the water was exposed to positive

vibrations, but the opposite was the case when the water was exposed to negative vibrations. In February 2005, I met Dr. Emoto during one of his lecture tours in Hawaii and got up the nerve to ask him for his birth data. I had to — I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see his chart. “Sure, I love astrology,” Dr. Emoto said, as he wrote out his birth information. I felt like a kid with a new toy. I couldn’t wait to go home, punch in the data, and start playing. What would the chart of someone devoted to researching water look like? When his chart coalesced on the screen, everything you might expect was there. To begin with, most of his planets are in water signs Cancer and Pisces and in the 4th and 8th houses (see Chart, below). These are considered “water houses” since they correspond to the water signs Cancer and Scorpio, respec-tively. Also, there is a tight trine between Jupiter and the Moon, two watery plan-ets, and both are located in water signs! Furthermore, Neptune, another watery planet, is sitting close to his Midheaven.

(However, the outer planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are not recog-nized in classical Vedic astrology.) And if this weren’t enough, Dr. Emoto has also been passing through a planetary period (or dasha) of the Moon since about the time his first book on water was published. The Moon represents — you guessed it — the water element. My computer screen was fogging up from all the moisture! The truly mysterious characteristic of his chart, however, is the density of planets in the 8th house. Five planets are crowded there, including Pluto and Rahu (the North Lunar Node). At first glance, this might confuse even a sea-soned astrologer, since the 8th house is known as the house of death, losses, obstacles, upheavals, chronic illness, and so on. You wouldn’t expect this in the chart of someone with widespread fame and profound influence, since the 8th house often represents chal-lenges to the career. In Vedic astrol-ogy, the 8th is the most malefic of the three malefic houses (the 6th, 8th, and 12th), also known as the trik houses. If I surprise you with the archaic word “malefic,” suffice it to say that the 8th house is generally not pretty. How-ever, a deeper understanding of the 8th house, as we shall see, clearly explains Dr. Emoto’s transformational research with water, as it does his fasci-nation with Hado, or the life force, and

Dr. Emoto's Vedic Chart The truly mysterious characteristic of

Dr. Emoto’s chart is the density of planets

in the 8th house.

Dr. Masaru Emoto

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his spiritual mission to heal the Earth through “love and gratitude.”

Natal Chart AnalysisSagittarius Rising Dr. Emoto’s Ascendant is at 5°26' Sagittarius in his Vedic chart. Conve-niently, his Ascendant remains in Sagit-tarius in his Western chart as well. This sign certainly describes his adventur-ous spirit and willingness to explore unknown territory through his research. Before Dr. Emoto’s pioneering work, no one had even ventured to photograph a water crystal, even though our bod-ies and the Earth itself are comprised of approximately 70% water. He writes, “One day I casually opened a book to words that jumped off the page: ‘No two snow crystals are exactly the same.’ The next moment I thought, ‘If I freeze water and look at the crystals, each one will look totally unique.’ And that moment marked my first step on an adventure into a new and unexplored world.”2 He had just embarked on the proverbial “endless journey,” the ideal situation for any Sagittarian. Sagittarius is the sign of the vision-ary teacher. Anyone who has read one of Dr. Emoto’s books knows that it’s easy to come away inspired and uplifted, which is indicative of a Sagit-tarian job well done. He writes, “What you really know is possible in your heart is possible. We make it possi-ble by our will. What we imagine in our minds becomes our world. That’s just one of the many things that I have learned from water.”3 Since Sagittarius is the mutable fire sign, Sagittarians are good at exercising their creativity and will, and they like to encourage others to do so, too. They help us to adapt and mold ourselves into better indi-viduals. Of all the signs, Sagittarius is the least likely to become stuck. Jupi-ter, the ruler of Sagittarius, is a planet of expansive possibilities; it stretches us out of our ordinary mind-sets. Jupi-ter’s gift is to teach, inspire, and uplift. He is actually called guru in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India. Another of Jupiter’s names is jnana karaka, or significator of wisdom. With a Sagittar-ius Ascendant, and therefore ruled by Jupiter, Dr. Emoto certainly wears the

hat of a visionary spiritual teacher as well as that of a scientist.

Six Planets in Water Signs A striking feature of Dr. Emoto’s chart is that he has six planets in water signs: the Moon, Jupiter, Mercury, the Sun, Rahu (the North Node of the Moon), and Pluto. This certainly explains his affinity with the water element — and I don’t just mean that he likes baths or jumping in the ocean. Dr. Emoto began researching water in 1989, ten years before his first book on water was even published.4 Think about it. For him to be able to sustain this kind of interest over an extended period of time, you would expect to see strong influences in water signs in his chart. The two lumi-naries, the Sun and Moon, are the pri-mary personality indicators, along with the Ascendant. The fact that the Sun, Moon, and the Ascendant lord, Jupiter, are all in water signs (and water houses, as we shall see) explains Dr. Emoto’s enduring interest in water research. Mer-cury, who represents our intellectual interests, is also located in a water sign.

In Dr. Emoto’s case, Mercury also rep-resents career, since it is the ruler of his 10th house. The water signs are the subtlest and most intangible signs, opposite the physi-cal and tangible earth signs in the zodiac. The water element takes us into the mysterious hidden realms of the imagi-nation, intuition, feelings, and the uncon-scious. Just having the Sun and Moon in water signs would be enough to suggest someone with deep sensitivity, intuition, empathy, and receptivity. Adding Jupi-ter, Mercury, Rahu, and Pluto (as in Dr. Emoto’s case) means that these become exceptional character traits. Of these six planets, five are in the cardinal water sign of Cancer, which suggests Dr. Emoto’s ability to assert his Cancerian traits confi-dently in the world. Of all the water signs, Pisces is the most sensitive and intuitive. Dr. Emo-to’s Pisces Moon helps him to take his research in surprising directions. He writes, “When your heart is open to possibilities, you start to notice small things that can lead to enormous dis-coveries.”5 He reveals that his intuition


carried him through the early stages of his research: “There was nothing to assure us that our efforts would even-tually pay off. Oddly enough, I never doubted that they would. I knew with certainty that my hypothesis was correct and that the experiments would go well — I just knew it.”6 I have since learned, from someone who worked with Dr. Emoto, that he relies on intuitive guid-ance much of the time, especially when making decisions regarding his work. His Pisces Moon, receiving a trine from Jupiter in Cancer, reflects this ability to trust his intuition.

Six Planets in Water Houses These six planets are not only in water signs, they are also in water houses. This is because they fall in either the 4th, 8th, or 12th houses, cor-responding to the water signs Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, respectively. If you thought Dr. Emoto’s watery qualities were already exceptional, they just got doubled — and then some. Every qual-ity that can be ascribed to the water signs also applies to the water houses: subtle, intangible, hidden, mysterious, imaginative, intuitive, etc. This makes sense, because (as I pointed out earlier) the water houses are opposite the earth houses. I live in Hawaii, and each time I go snorkeling I’m amazed by another world that lies beneath the ocean — a world not seen from the surface. Like-wise, the water houses are houses of

depth, seeing beyond the obvious to a subtler level of profound insight. In Vedic astrology, these are also called moksha houses, or houses of liberation. They are the most mystical houses, and they relate to the transformation of conscious-ness. With six planets in moksha houses, this is definitely Dr. Emoto’s realm.

Special Emphasis on the 8th House Of these six planets in moksha or water houses, five line up in Dr. Emo-to’s 8th house. We’ve already men-tioned that the 8th house is considered the house of death, losses, obstacles, upheavals, chronic illness, and so on. Although this is true, these indications have little relevance to this analysis of Dr. Emoto’s chart. Therefore, let’s look beyond the ordinary. Within the water house trinity, the 8th house represents the greatest depth of insight, corre-sponding to Scorpio, the most pro-found sign. It is the house of research because it is willing to explore the fur-thest beneath the surface, to seek out root causes. It’s bored with anything less. This is why the 8th house is asso-ciated with occult knowledge, meta-physics, and psychology. It also relates to the secrets of nature, some of which Dr. Emoto’s research reveals.

The basic drive of the moksha or water houses is transformation; with-out this, there is no hope for liberation. The farther below the surface the water houses take you, the deeper the trans-formation. The job of the 8th house is to take you the deepest. It is where we face our most profound fears and psy-chological issues, like the fear of death and separation and the issues of power and control. It is preparation for the final stages of ego dissolution repre-sented by the 12th house. The 8th is known as the house of change: intense, sudden, and dramatic change. But it doesn’t just create upheaval and leave us in a sobbing heap on the floor. Its purpose is to effect a deep shift of con-sciousness. The 8th house, therefore, relates to transformational healing of body and mind, such as vibrational medicine, that works on a subtle yet profound level. This is the level where Dr. Emoto operates. Here’s another point: The 8th house is not only the house of death (mrityu bhava), it is also the house of life (ayu bhava). As long as there is life force, there is no death, which explains why the 8th house is known as the house of longevity. It is the house of subtle energy — chi, prana, and the life force. Quantum physics demonstrates that the highest concentration of energy lies at the subtlest level. Likewise, the most shakti, or energy, is associated with the subtlest house, the 8th house. Dr. Emoto’s water research, in typi-cal 8th-house fashion, was fueled by his fascination with Hado (rhymes with “shadow”), an old Japanese word syn-onymous with chi, or life force. Dr. Emoto says, “Hado signifies the world

The fact that the Sun, Moon, and the Ascendant lord,

Jupiter, are all in water signs explains Dr. Emoto’s enduring

interest in water research.

Dr. Emoto's Vedic Chart

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of subtle energy related to conscious-ness.”7 His main interest in photograph-ing water was to make the intangible tangible, or as he says, “to try to put Hado energy into a visible form by using water crystals as material and can-vas.”8 If one could demonstrate that our thoughts actually affect the molecu-lar structure of water, the implications would be vast. It would mean that we can literally transform ourselves and our world. This is exactly what Dr. Emoto’s work has proven.

Multiple Raja Yogas in the 8th House If we seek an astrological explana-tion for Dr. Emoto’s success, we will find it in a very special union of planets in the 8th house. Jupiter, the Sun, and Mercury (the rulers of the 1st, 4th, 9th, 7th, and 10th houses, respectively) form several examples of what is called a raja yoga, or royal combination of planets. A raja yoga is formed when the ruler of a trinal house (1, 5, or 9) combines with the ruler of an angular house (1, 4, 7, or 10). Vedic astrology has hundreds of

such yogas, or planetary combinations; each bestows different effects. Raja yogas increase the success and status of the individual by enhancing the posi-tive indications of any house in which they’re located. In Dr. Emoto’s case, this indicates an exceptional ability to suc-ceed in 8th-house areas like research, psychology, occult studies, transforma-tional healing, and vibrational medicine. It’s interesting that Dr. Emoto received his doctorate in alternative healing. His raja yogas in the 8th house would also indicate, on a personal level, that he has a strong life force, good longevity, and a profound sensitivity to subtle energy.

Dasha Analysis If the raja yogas in the 8th house indicate Dr. Emoto’s overall success, then what accounts for the extraordi-nary heights of success he’s reached in just the past few years? Before the year 2000, he was virtually unknown, espe-cially outside of Japan. Now, he’s an international phenomenon. How can this be explained astrologically?

In Vedic astrology, the timing of events is indicated through the analysis of the dashas (planetary periods).9 The natal chart shows what is likely to happen in one’s life; the dashas reveal when. A dasha represents a segment of time that is ruled by a specific planet, like a chap-ter in the book of one’s life. Each major chapter or mahadasha (great dasha) ranges from 6 to 20 years in duration. These are then broken down into sub-dashas (bhuktis) and sub-sub-dashas, which allow us to progressively define narrow ranges of time. Although transits and other methods also play a role in the timing of events, the dashas, as a unique predictive system, have contributed the most to the popularity of Vedic astrology in the West. Dr. Emoto began his ten-year mahadasha of the Moon in March 2000, nine months after he published his first book on water research, Mes-sages from Water. During this period, he has achieved phenomenal fame, wealth, and success. Think of the dasha planet as being turned on like a light switch. The planet’s general characteristics and

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what it represents in the chart become highly activated during this time. For instance, the Moon generally repre-sents water, the mother, and the mind (manas) — our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. The Moon is a sensitive, care-giving planet, and Moon dashas are often periods of service to others. These general qualities are represented in Dr. Emoto’s Moon dasha period. His work involves water, is service-oriented, and focuses on healing the mind. The next step is to look at the Moon’s position in his chart and the aspects and yogas that it is involved in. The Moon is placed in the sensitive, intuitive, and spiritual sign of Pisces, in the 4th house of the mind and emo-tions. The Moon is the lord of the 8th house, receiving a tight trine by Jupi-ter, the planet of wisdom, from the 8th house. This brings in a strong influence from the 8th house during his Moon

dasha, indicating a focus on research, psychology, spiritual transformation, and subtle vibrational healing. Jupi-ter’s influence also gives him abundant opportunities to travel and teach. Jupiter and the Moon’s aspect is a phenomenal connection between these two benefic, watery planets. Not only are they in a tight trine within one degree, but Jupiter is also located in the Moon’s sign, while the Moon is located in Jupiter’s sign. This is called a mutual reception, or parivartana yoga in Vedic astrology. It creates a much closer con-nection, like a wedding, between the two planets. This is a very positive and expansive combination. But it gets even better. Jupiter is also in Cancer, the sign of its exaltation,

which heightens Jupiter’s benefic quali-ties. Also, we can’t forget that Jupiter is in multiple raja yogas with Mercury and the Sun — an extremely com-passionate, loving, positive, and spiri-tual combination. Jupiter is a spiritual teacher or missionary, interested in the welfare of humanity. Dr. Emoto has been on a mission to share his mes-sage of love and gratitude during his Moon dasha. In a recent interview, he was asked which water crystal photo-graph had the most profound effect on him. His answer was, “A water crys-tal after showing the words ‘Love and Gratitude.’ I found this to be the most beautiful and it touched my heart immeasurably.”10 He writes, “Indeed, there is nothing more important than love and gratitude in this world. Just by expressing love and gratitude, the water around us and in our bodies changes so beautifully.”11 Dr. Emoto’s message is of transformational healing, both per-sonal and planetary, which naturally comes about as we express love and gratitude toward everyone and every-thing, including ourselves.

We astrologers love to find repeating patterns —

the more the merrier, since each one adds to

a clearer interpretation.



An important technique in Vedic astrology is to ana-lyze the chart from various alternate Ascendants. Placing the Ascendant where the Moon, Sun, or mahadasha planet is located gives a more complete picture of the likely effects of a dasha period. In Dr. Emoto’s chart, when you look at his connection between Jupiter and the Moon from each of these alternate Ascendants, you’ll see that they form raja yogas in every case (but not from the original Ascen-dant). For instance, when you make the Moon the Ascen-dant in Pisces, Jupiter becomes the ruler of the 1st and 10th houses and is placed in the 5th house. The special connec-tion between the Moon and Jupiter (discussed above) then becomes a combination of the rulers of the 1st, 5th, and 10th houses, which forms a raja yoga. This indicates that Dr. Emoto’s dramatic rise in success and status is strongly reinforced during his Moon dasha. Seeing these repeated patterns helps to build solid conclusions regarding the results of a dasha period. With this understanding of the Moon and Jupiter’s extraordinary connection in Dr. Emoto’s chart, is it any won-der that he was instantly catapulted into fame and fortune during the Jupiter bhukti of his Moon dasha? This 16-month period saw the release of the movie, What the Bleep Do We Know? which highlighted his water research. Shortly there-after, his book, The Hidden Messages in Water, hit the New York Times best-seller list. When I met Dr. Emoto, he had already passed from his Jupiter sub-dasha and was then in his sub-dasha of Saturn. He was on a world speaking tour; he mentioned that his health was suffering but that he felt guided intuitively to do the world tour anyway. Saturn is placed in his 6th house of illness, indicating the potential for health chal-lenges during his Saturn sub-dasha. Dr. Emoto’s Moon mahadasha represents a time when he is able to reap the benefits of the research and writing that he accomplished in his Sun mahadasha. During that six-year mahadasha period, from 1994 to 2000, he wrote many books on Hado and conducted his ongoing experiments with water. In his chart, the Sun is within 5 degrees of Mercury, the planet of writing. As I mentioned, the Sun joins Mercury and Jupiter to form several raja yogas in the 8th house of research, trans-formation, and subtle energy. Dr. Emoto will remain in his Moon mahadasha until March 2010. January 2006 – June 2007 marks his sub-dasha of Mercury, which indicates an increasingly career-oriented time of writing, publishing, and public speaking.

Conclusion By now, it should be abundantly obvious, from an astrological standpoint, why Dr. Emoto is engaged in water research of a transformational nature. He has many influences in water signs and water houses by watery planets, especially Jupiter and the Moon. We astrologers love to find repeating patterns like this. The more the merrier, since each one adds to a clearer interpretation. Vedic astrology is a powerful predictive system that typi-cally has little to say about the signs in chart interpretation. It emphasizes the houses, which is quite the opposite of Western


astrology. As James Coleman points out, “[Western] astrol-ogy is heavily weighted toward signs and only makes a cur-sory nod toward houses.”12 These imbalances are certainly optional — not eternal verities. The influences of the houses and the signs must certainly apply in both Vedic and Western systems, if there’s any validity to them, which there certainly is. I see them as untapped resources available to anyone who, like Dr. Emoto, cares to look beneath the surface, in typical 8th-house fashion.

Chart Data and SourceDr. Masaru Emoto, July 22, 1943; 4:50 p.m. JST; Yokohama, Japan (35°N26'; 139°E39'); A: Author quotes Dr. Emoto as giving him the time of 4:45 p.m. after a lecture in Maui, Hawaii. Dr. Emoto asked author to con-tact his older sister to confirm. She later quoted the time of 4:50 p.m.

References and Notes1. Masaru Emoto, The Hidden Messages in Water, Beyond Words Publishing, 2004.

2. Ibid., p. xx.

3. Ibid., p. xxii.

4. Masaru Emoto, Messages from Water, Hado Kyoikusha Co., Ltd. (Japan), 1999.

5. Emoto, Hidden Messages, p. xx.

6. Ibid., p. xxi.

7. Emoto, Messages from Water, p. 7.

8. Ibid., p. 115.

9. For further information about the dashas, see Linda Johnsen’s article, “What’s Your Dasha?” in The Mountain Astrologer, Oct./Nov. 2005.

10. “How Water Reflects Our Energy & Vibrational Frequency: The EDGE Interview with Dr. Masaru Emoto,” by Insiah Vawda Beckman, April 2004, http://www.edgenews.com/issues/2004/04/toc.html

11. Emoto, Messages from Water, p. 95.

12. James Coleman, “Introducing House Astrology,” in TMA, June/July 2005, p. 63.

© 2006 Vaughn Paul Manley – all rights reserved

Vaughn Paul Manley, M.A., has been a full-time professional Vedic astrologer since 1992. He maintains an active Web site at www.lightonvedicastrology.com, where he offers online courses, articles, monthly newsletters, and celebrity astro-profiles. He has a master’s degree in counseling psychol-ogy and is a certified teacher with the American Council of Vedic Astrology (ACVA). Many of his articles have been

translated into Japanese, and he has taught several seminars in Japan. His renowned teacher, K. N. Rao, runs the world’s largest astrology school, in New Delhi, India. Vaughn Paul lives in Maui, Hawaii and is available for consultations at (808) 573-6577.



by Bill Herbst

W hen confronting a universe as vast as that of astrology, students are fre-quently overwhelmed. They may be

captivated initially by relatively superficial and simplistic astrology, such as interpretations of their basic “personality type” found in Sun-sign books. However their interest is piqued, though, they soon discover that astrology is not sim-ple and straightforward. As students enter the world of more technical astrology, each text-book bought or article read leads deeper into dark woods where they often lose their way. The more students absorb, the more confused they can become. Sorting through the immense

tri·age (trē-äzh) n. 1. A process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. 2. A process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority.

amount of symbolic data contained in charts and the analytical techniques for interpreting that raw data can cause cortical brownout in even the brightest minds. Since all the symbolic information in a given chart is at least potentially significant, how can students of astrology “separate the wheat from the chaff” to clearly comprehend the core meanings of a chart? As in medical tri-age, the challenge is to quickly assess which indicators are more essential and which are less so. It’s not a question of “chaff,” finally, but of varying degrees of “wheat.” Focus on the essentials and let the rest tag along for the ride.


Textbook delineations (to which students tend to devote a great deal of time and study) do not begin to address this issue. In fact, those com-binations of two factors (e.g., Sun in Capricorn, Venus in the 8th house, Mars square Uranus, etc.) are often misleading in the overall scheme of interpretation. The implications of such limited, written delineations are fre-quently contradicted by other factors in the same chart. Further, even a moun-tain of such piecemeal delineations often results in little or no coherence. Masterful interpretation is not achieved by assembling delineations. The art of astrology involves learning to read the equivalent of medicine’s vital signs. We need to monitor the heartbeat by finding the pulse in each chart, what “makes it tick.” Astrology embraces a diverse set of specialized disciplines that are liter-ally and figuratively all over the map — natal astrology, progressions, reloca-tions, synastry, horary, cosmobiology, harmonics, etc. Despite the breadth and specialization in astrology, however, most of those systems are based on common elements. (Note: The informa-tion in this article refers to natal astrol-ogy; much of it, however, applies to other types of astrology as well.) Planets, Signs, Houses, and Aspects comprise the most fundamen-tal building blocks of the astrological language. An understanding of cycles and their phases adds an invisible fifth element that informs and connects the other four. Within these interactive lay-ers, and between them as well, a natu-ral hierarchy of values exists. Not all astrological symbols carry equal weight. Some indicators are inherently more important than others for building a coherent interpretive framework from the ground up. An astrological chart is essentially a blueprint, much like the wiring diagram of a circuit board that transforms energy for a specific purpose. Symbolic points in the chart represent the various com-ponents, each of which performs a spe-

Astrological Triage

cific function (somewhat like resistors or capacitors).

Planets and Other PointsThe most important components come from the realm of planets. In a par-ticular chart, a given planet (function) may be elevated in importance, less emphasized, or more prone to stress and breakdown. In all charts, however, a natural hierarchy of functional signifi-cance applies. We can divide the points in the chart into naturally weighted groups. Historically, three points com-prise the most important group, stand-ing head and shoulders above the rest: the Sun and Moon (technically termed “lights” or “luminaries”) and one point from the houses, the Ascendant (roughly equivalent to the eastern horizon). These are called “Power Points,” and their supreme significance as functions is unquestioned. To those three, I would add a fourth point, the planet Saturn, for reasons detailed below.

• The Sun in any chart indicates the central source of power, the way the chart (or, in natal astrology, the person described) plugs into and absorbs life energy. It is our connection back to Cos-mic Central. The Sun is the gravitational center of the life. Through expression of its sign and house associations, it per-forms the functions of integrity, coher-ence, and core meaning. The Sun is both the top dog and the bottom line in terms of life purpose.

• The Ascendant operates as the interface between the inner reality and the outer environment, revealing how the Sun’s energy will be most naturally expressed. The Ascendant is the lens through which we focus our inner light and shine it into the world. The only exceptions to this are during brief moments of reactivity, when the Moon predominates, and extreme crisis, when the Sun takes over and expresses itself directly.

• The Moon shows the immediate, auto-matic, and first response to any stimulus from the environment. As a protective function, the Moon also reveals our day-to-day needs, how we nurture ourselves and others, and the ebb and flow of feel-ings in daily temperament.

• Despite its omission from the traditional Power Points, Saturn has always been considered crucial as the arbiter of time and maturity, the great teacher of lim-its and boundaries on the long, slow pathway to adulthood. More important even than its linkage with ambition and authority is Saturn’s function as a reality indicator, showing in each chart where life bursts the bubbles of our subjective fantasies and makes us deal with what objectively is, as opposed to our personal projections of how we hope or wish real-ity could be. Saturn’s cycles — espe-cially those to the Sun, Moon, and angles — are among the most significant of all transits, revealing the skeletal structure of natural growth schedules, upon which everything else hangs. The first Saturn return around age 29 is frequently a life-changing crossroads, separating the end of extended childhood from the begin-nings of true adulthood.

However emphatic other points in the chart may seem, these four are never trumped. Other planets may vie in a given chart for admission to the elite club, but these are permanent members. The Sun and Saturn are the alpha and omega of every chart — the beginning and the end. The Sun is the giver of life on Earth, and Saturn is the last body routinely visible to the unaided senses, so it represents the limits of the material world. The Moon and Ascendant modu-late the Sun’s energy within the defined Saturnian limits. The second group on our weighted scale includes the rest of the tradi-tional, visible planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. These planets tend to act as modifiers to the more central Power Points, in much the same way that adjectives refine nouns. Each has its own function, of course (which I’ll forgo listing here), but unless elevated by their condition in a particular chart, they are far below the fundamen-tal importance of the primary group. Three other points can be added to this group, those of the remaining

The art of astrology involves learning to read

the equivalent of medicine’s vital signs.


house angles: Midheaven (MC), Lower Heaven (IC), and Descendant. The third group contains the outer planets — Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — which act as wildcards or challenges to the basic operation of the system.1

The last group includes all the other points: nodes, asteroids, Centaurs, fixed stars, Arabic Parts, etc. Individual astrologers may have personal favorites among this final group, which incline them to emphasize one or more of these points in their interpretative frame-works. For instance, Chiron is gaining increasing acceptance in astrology, in no small part because the Chiron return at age 50–51 seems, for many now-older astrologers, to carry as much impact as the Saturn return at 29. To list another example, many astrologers pay particu-lar attention to the Moon’s nodal axis, because of its metaphysical implications as a “spiritual” indicator of soul evolu-tion, past and future (South and North Node, respectively). Despite their popu-larity, however, neither Chiron nor the Moon’s nodes can be considered by any reasonable standard to carry the inter-pretive weight of the Sun, Moon, Ascen-dant, or Saturn.

Mangling the Hierarchy The tendency to latch onto a minor point low in the hierarchy and elevate it to supreme status is a pitfall to which many students are particularly vul-nerable. Once imprinted, that minor point always grabs the student’s atten-tion first, becoming the fulcrum around which the entire interpretation of the chart is constructed. For new and inexperienced astrol-ogers, especially, it’s easy to imag-ine drawing up the chart of a friend, who then innocently asks you to sit down with him and “explain” or “inter-pret” his chart. It’s one thing to under-stand the chart in your mind; it’s quite another thing altogether to verbally perform in the setting of a “reading.” If you’ve never done that before (or worse, tried a couple of times with embarrassing results), the challenge can be a real freak-out. Stage-fright alone is often withering, as are the sand traps and water holes involved in play-ing “cosmic authority.” (Who among us shoots par on that mystical golf

course?) So, we take our best shot, so to speak, by going straight to whatever symbols or interpretive techniques we feel we know best. I sympathize with students who fixate on certain lower-level points. If you’re drowning in a sea of confusion, and a life preserver floats by — a sym-bol that you really “get,” meaning that its implications and interpretation make clear sense to you — of course you will grab it and hang on for dear life. I presume that all astrologers, whether beginning students or experienced pro-fessionals, go through evolving phases in their understanding of astrology, peri-ods when they are enamored with cer-tain analytical indicators. That’s natural. The trick is to integrate those specialized interests into the overall hierarchy of values and meanings in the chart. In discussing these pitfalls, I do not mean to imply support for an institu-tionalized astrological dogma where cer-tain points of view are outlawed. Every astrologer is and should be free to fol-low his or her individual inclinations or personal passions. Part of what makes astrology so rich is that it allows and even encourages divergent perspectives and unique skill sets among its practi-tioners. Developing a specialty can be very rewarding on many levels: boost-ing confidence, attracting clients, carv-ing out a niche for oneself, etc. That said, however, obsession with a specific astrological technique or interpretive approach does not invalidate the funda-mental hierarchy of values in the system as a whole. Fixation is a sorry substitute for a comprehensive understanding of the natural order in astrology. Having defined a hierarchy of points, we can move on to astrology’s three other elemental levels. Where do signs, houses, and aspects fit in the natural order?

Signs and Houses Signs and houses are related. Each is a twelve-fold breakdown of an Earth motion. Signs are based on the yearly cycle of the Earth moving around the Sun. The tropical zodiac is Mother Nature’s year projected into the heav-ens, describing seasonal phases. So, signs are a symbolic representation of sequential growth processes in life.


Houses are based on the daily cycle of the Earth rotating on its axis — one 24-hour period, containing the alternating rhythms of night and day, up and down, rising and setting. Houses are a means of differentiating space as well as time. Signs show how the functions of the planets and points manifest: urgently and fast (Aries), stolid and slow (Taurus), with careful precision (Virgo), social sensitivity (Libra), pen-etrating depth (Scorpio), or bound-less enthusiasm (Sagittarius). Signs are processes or styles of living that define twelve different filters through which to interpret and interact with life. Houses show where the functions express themselves: in the home (4th), at the office (10th), among friends (11th), or through illness and healing (6th). Houses are arenas of life expe-rience that operate as twelve different doorways into manifestation. Both signs and houses are frames of reference, ways of pinpointing objects or positions in the sky. Signs are collec-tive, however, whereas houses are indi-vidual. When we locate a planet in a certain degree along the zodiac, this is a

moment in time that applies for every-one on the Earth. When Mars is mov-ing through Aries, it’s there for all of us. Conversely, when we locate a planet in the houses, we are pinpointing its posi-tion not just in time, but in space as well. When Mars is overhead (in the 10th house) for one person, it is setting (in the 7th house) for someone at a dif-ferent location on the Earth. Therefore, signs refer to collective time, and houses refer to personal space. Okay, that’s cool. But what rela-tive weight do we give to signs and houses in the natural hierarchy? In the horseracing terminology of “win, place, and show,” planets clearly cross the fin-ish line first. But which level takes sec-ond place — signs or houses? That’s a difficult question to answer. Which is more important, time or space? Collec-tivity or individuality? In my opinion, signs are the most overemphasized element of astrology. They are discussed and written about more than any other level. One rea-son that signs are so popular is that they are generic and easily accessible. In natal astrology, we can identify the sign positions of many planets in some-one’s chart even without a birth time — just by the day, month, year — yet still come up with a fairly exhaustive inven-tory of what are commonly called “char-acter or personality traits.” For many

students, delineations of planets in signs are the first meanings they study in depth, at least partly because so much of the mass-market astrological literature focuses on that level. Houses, on the other hand, lend depth and specificity to real-world, seri-ous interpretation. They are custom-tailored to an individual life in ways that (to me, at least) are so much more revealing. Happily, we need not elevate either element above the other. Signs and houses work together in interpre-tive technique through the structure known in classical astrology as dig-nification. Each of the major planets is associated with certain signs of the zodiac in one of four ways: rulership, detriment, exaltation, or fall. (Due to limited space in this article, I’ll address only the first of these four traditional categories: rulership.) A planet is the “ruler” of the sign with which it shares most qualities in common. Most students learn rulerships early on: The Sun rules Leo, the Moon rules Cancer, Saturn rules Capricorn, etc. Planets are assumed to be “stron-gest” when placed in the sign they rule. Some astrologers use an equivalent sys-tem with the houses, but those associa-tions don’t apply nearly as well. Saturn may well be “strengthened” in Capri-corn over Cancer, but it’s definitely not “stronger” in the 10th house than it is in the 4th. People have just as much trou-ble with ambition and career when Sat-urn is natally in their 10th house as they do with personal security and family when Saturn is in the natal 4th. So, rulership might incline us to conclude that signs are more impor-tant than houses, because of their closer connection to planets/points, or at least the major planets, which are the most important points. That conclu-sion is deceptive, however. When we put together all three elemental levels of planets, signs, and houses in a given chart and then apply rulerships, houses rebound impressively. The reason lies in the magnificent interpretive subtlety and texture that emerge through the under-standing and use of what are termed “occupied” and “ruled” houses. If the Sun is in Aries in the 7th house, then we look for Leo in the

Astrological Triage


chart — the sign naturally ruled by the Sun — and discover that Leo is on the 11th-house cusp. The Sun “occu-pies” the 7th house, but it also “rules” the 11th house. That tells us not only that the central life purpose (Sun) will be expressed through committed, equal partnerships or marriage (7th), but also that the partner will need to be a friend (11th) as well. Another interpretive level of the same configuration might be that dealing with the public (7th) is central (Sun) and that such dealings will most naturally occur through organizations (11th) to which the person belongs. Put the Sun in the 7th house again, this time in Pisces, and Leo will likely be found on the 12th-house cusp. That combination produces a very different set of possible interpretations. Marriage (7th) is now tied to acts of selflessness (12th). Partnerships (7th) could be fantasy-based (12th), producing either ecstasy or insanity. The partner might be psychologically or physically ill. Con-tracts refuse to conform to logic, and commitments become devotional. Both hypotheticals place the Sun in the 7th, but notice how different the interpretations are! Through this technique, signs be-come the connective tissue that defines the matrix of relationships between planets and houses. Interpretive depth and subtlety take a dramatic leap for-ward. In the chart, whole worlds open up that were previously invisible to the student’s eyes. But wait, we’re just getting started. Even the interpretive worlds of occupied and ruled houses pale in comparison when we factor in aspects.

Aspects Aspects in astrology are arcs based on fractions of the circle: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, etc. When two planets/points are angularly separated by one of these special arcs — 0°, 90°, 120°, or 180°, for instance — they are said to be “in aspect.” Aspects show how the individual points in each chart are hooked together into a kind of functional circuitry. (Remember the old gospel tune, “Dry Bones”? “Your backbone connected to your shoulder bone, your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone, your neck

bone connected to your head bone …”) Aspects are a little like the connective tis-sue of sign rulerships, only much stron-ger. House connections revealed through sign rulerships have a marvelous subtlety, whereas aspects carry a direct and often profound impact. Aspects are very helpful for rearrang-ing the planetary hierarchy when appro-priate. This is most obviously the case when less important planets are as-pected to one or more of the four criti-cal points at the top of the list:

• Any planet in aspect to the Sun is involved in the essence of the life pur-pose and the motivational engine that propels us forward.

• Any planet in aspect to the Moon is involved in daily temperament and the ebb and flow of automatic responses and short-term needs.

• Any planet in aspect to Saturn is involved in personal defense, long-term ambition to overcome obstacles, and necessary duties or self-restraint.

• Any planet in aspect to the Ascendant is involved in the natural and active self-expression of the native.

The tighter the orb of these aspects, the greater allowance should be made for increasing the weight of the lesser planet involved. The nature of the aspect is also significant. With the major aspects at least, planets/points can be connected in any of three ways: conjunct, where their functions are fused and operate as one; in soft aspect (trines or sex-tiles), where their functions are sepa-rate but cooperative, implying smooth habituation and steady durability; or in hard aspect (squares and oppositions), where the functions are polarized, tied together stressfully, causing mutual exclusivity and alternation — as if two people with conflicting viewpoints were struggling at a podium for control of the microphone.

Here are examples from natal astrol-ogy of how the three categories work:

• Sun conjunct Uranus indicates a life pur-pose that is inherently radicalized and eccentric. Individuality and originality are themselves central themes in the core meaning of the life.

• Sun trine Uranus indicates a life purpose that is augmented by individuality or originality, which adds new and unusual

The Sun is both the top dog and

the bottom line in terms of life purpose.

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dimensions that are easily integrated into the core meaning of the life.

• Sun square Uranus indicates a life pur-pose that is highly charged with inner conflict between authority and rebellion. The core meaning of the life may be con-servative at times, but it will be disrupted by explosions of radical individuality, implying sudden and dramatic shifts in life direction.

We Interrupt This Broadcast for a Word from Our Sponsor … Right about now, I can imagine that some readers are thoroughly bewil-dered. I can almost hear students think-ing, “Bill, I thought you were going to simplify interpretation for us, but all you’ve done is make it more compli-cated than ever!” Well, please hang in there with me. We’re just about to get to the sim-plifying. To recap, we’ve established a

natural hierarchy of planets/points. In charts, the meanings of these points are revealed through various interpretive techniques involving signs, houses, and aspects. The first way we’ll move back toward simplicity is by removing all but the most important points from the charts of two well-known people and one infamous event.

Lucille Ball For many decades, Lucille Ball was the Queen of American Television. From 1951 to 1957, she starred in I Love Lucy, the archetypal sitcom that has run contin-uously in syndication ever since. Show business has two halves: show and business. Beyond the obvi-ous fame of her huge stardom as a ditzy “clown” comedienne, Lucille Ball was a tough, no-nonsense business-woman. She became a force among the power players of Hollywood, pav-ing the way for women who have fol-lowed in the long, ongoing struggle to be taken seriously and to achieve equality in male-dominated industries.

Her father died before her birth in 1911, but Lucille Ball made up in ambi-tion what she lacked in parental protec-tion. A strikingly beautiful redhead, Ball initially wanted to be an actress, but that desire was rebuffed, so she went into modeling instead. Being chosen as the “Chesterfield Cigarette Girl” in 1933 opened doors to Hollywood, however, and she was soon an aspiring ingenue in the studio system. Parts in 60 films over the next 15 years provided constant work but no breakthrough roles, leaving Lucille

Astrological Triage


Ball mired in second-tier supporting parts to more famous leads or as the less lumi-nary star of many B-movies. Along the way, in 1940, Ball mar-ried Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, and the two embarked on a tempes-tuous long-term marriage that would reshape their lives. Due to separations by work (and, in part, Arnaz’s sporadic infidelities), the couple nearly divorced in 1945. In an effort to keep the mar-riage together, the couple turned to the fledgling medium of television, with the intention of creating a show where both partners could act together. I Love Lucy was the spectacular result. Chart 1 (below) shows Lucille Ball’s natal chart: a planetary splash pat-tern,2 filled with aspects — grand trines and kite patterns galore, plus a major t-square. The chart is a potential quag-mire for the astrological student, since nearly everything is connected. How do we make sense of that maze? Chart 1a shows the same chart in simplified form, highlighting only the essentials of the natural hierarchy — the Power Points, their main aspects to other planets, and the most significant houses. If all we knew of Lucille Ball were her public persona, we might assume that the chart was “all business” — dou-ble Capricorn (Moon and Ascendant) for ambition, elevated Jupiter in the 10th for social success and recognition,

8th-house Sun for money and power, plus Sun in Leo and Saturn on the cusp of the 5th house to define a hardwork-ing actress. Certainly all those textbook interpretations are reflective of her life. But look again at the essentialized Chart 1a. Lucille Ball’s life path is defi-nitely one of ambition, career, and per-formance. But the deeper story, the inner journey, tells of a great love in conflict. The obstacles to her cultural success pale in light of the deeply pri-vate melodrama of a romantic union that she reached for but that, once gained, she could not hold. The 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th houses are the essential arenas of her life experience. The 1st contains the Moon and is ruled by Saturn. The 7th is ruled by the Moon. The 8th is occu-pied and ruled by the Sun. To these three we add the 4th and 5th, which are included because of the Mars–Saturn conjunction that tightly squares the Sun. Mars occupies and rules the 4th, while Saturn is effectively in the 5th. (Note: Cuspal zones — where the effective arc of a given sign or house transitions into the next — occur much earlier in houses than in signs. Traditionally, only the final 1°–2° of a sign are consid-ered transitional. In houses, however, the last quarter of the visual space in one house represents a zone of grad-ual fade-out and fade-in to the next

house. The Gauquelin data support the view that the cusp is the strongest area of house influence, rather than the beginning of the house, whereas sign cusps operate more as entrances. Thus, in Lucille Ball’s chart, Mars is late in the 4th house but rules the IC as a re-emphasis of the 4th, while Saturn is only 2° shy of the next cusp, thus defi-nitely associated with the 5th.) In this chart, the conflict between eros and agape is withering. Lucille Ball’s 8th-house Leo Sun finds fulfill-ment only in union with another, who is as important to her as her own ego. The square from the Sun to the Mars–Saturn conjunction in Taurus pulls in the 4th and 5th houses in a planet/sign/house/aspect matrix that pits the longed-for conservatism and permanence of home, family, and stability against the impetu-ous, all-or-nothing intensity of sexual combustion through romantic flames. Fire versus earth. Passion versus posses-sion. Loyalty versus betrayal. The double-Capricorn Moon and Ascendant are revealing and mislead-ing. They show Lucille Ball’s tempera-mental ambition, a drive for conscious self-expression that was also an uncon-scious need — but obscured beneath that calculating, hard surface was a warm, beating, and often bleeding heart. Look to the other side of the chart. Neptune in the 7th is romantic

All charts use Placidus Houses and the True Node.

Chart 1 Chart 1a

Lucille Ball


but easily deluded, prompting seduc-tion followed inevitably by betrayal. How could one so seasoned in worldly cynicism (Moon and Ascendant in Cap-ricorn) be so easily fooled in marriage? Her vulnerability wasn’t hidden or kept secret; it simply operated in a different realm than her ambition. She tried to solve this dilemma by fusing together her own career with her husband’s, but even that came undone. All her long-held, hard-won, dogged ambition finally paid off (Jupi-ter in the 10th house sextile the Moon in the 1st), but even as Lucille Ball achieved the absolute pinnacle of out-ward success through recognition, fortune, and power, she could not rec-oncile the paradoxes of her central life purpose. I look at her chart and imagine that she would gladly have given up at least some of her success for more per-manent happiness with Desi. This is not to suggest that Lucille Ball failed in her life. Paradoxes are never resolved. If we’re lucky, we arrive at a point of appreciation, respect, and acceptance. At the height of her fame, her marriage to Desi Arnaz ended in divorce, and both of their lives began a

long, slow fade from the limelight. They remained lifelong friends, however, and that may have been enough. One great but doomed love is all that most of us could handle anyway.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Who would have imagined, while watching Arnold’s painfully bad (and uncredited) bit-part performance in Robert Altman’s 1973 movie, The Long Goodbye, that this awkward Austrian bodybuilder (and seven-time Mr. Olym-pia) — with his bulging biceps, glisten-ing pecs, and comically thick accent — would rise to become not merely one of the biggest box office draws in Hol-lywood, but eventually the governor of

California? Whoa. No one underesti-mates Arnold now. Chart 2 (opposite) shows Schwarzen-egger’s natal chart, and Chart 2a pro-vides the contrast of the simplified chart. Like Lucille Ball, Schwarzeneg-ger is a Leo Sun and Capricorn Moon, and both of these people have Sat-urn in major aspect to the Sun, so we see uncanny parallels in the resolute-ness of their disciplined ambitions. Both were largely self-created and willing to engage in self-parody, especially in the personae they adopted as performers. The similarities end there, how-ever. Whereas Lucille Ball’s life pur-pose focused on union with a partner, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s life purpose is primarily self-centered. That’s not to imply that his marriage to Maria Shriver is unimportant; Saturn’s rulership of the 7th house implies that committed part-nerships are serious. The other three emphasized houses carry more personal implications. Schwarzenegger used his physical body (1st and 2nd) as the lime-stone block through which to build, sculpt, and perfect himself (6th). He did so with almost inhuman dis-cipline. The Sun–Saturn–Pluto conjunc-tion in Leo in the 2nd house made for unbelievable drive, supported by his Capricorn Moon willingness to push him-self as far as it took to succeed, whatever the cost in sweat, grit, and self-sacrifice. Schwarzenegger’s chart is all about over-coming limitations, pushing the envelope to transform himself into a larger-than-life figure, both literally and mythically. And what is success to Arnold? Money and power, essentially. Good health perhaps. Strength and fitness cer-tainly. Schwarzenegger’s primary life purpose (Sun conjunct Saturn and Pluto in Leo/2nd) is to rise from the dark pit of insecurity to the heights of gloriously positive self-esteem by applying extraor-dinary discipline to prove his worth, in the most densely physical ways possible, as the Man Who Has Everything. Or, at least, Everything He Wants, as we shall see momentarily. I include Schwarzenegger’s chart in this article because it illustrates an impor-tant principle of the natural astrological hierarchy, namely, that wildcards (excep-tions to the rule) do exist and need to be factored in. One conspicuous combina-

Astrological Triage


tion is missing from the simplified chart that is critical to understanding Schwar-zenegger’s basic nature and life story, as well as whatever destiny holds for him. As seen in Chart 2, Mars conjunct Uranus in Gemini in the 12th house is a pairing not necessarily elevated in stan-dard methods of assessing the hierar-chy of meaning. In this case, however, we should definitely push that pair of symbols closer to the top. First, they are the leading planets of Schwarzenegger’s bowl pattern.3 Second, with the excep-tion of a waning quincunx to Jupiter, Mars and Uranus are nearly unaspected by the rest of his chart, thus they “stick out like a sore thumb.” And third, they are effectively the only planets above the horizon (Mercury is a mere 1° above the Ascendant). Most of all, Mars and Uranus de-serve increased consideration because the rest of Schwarzenegger’s chart is so deadly serious. That is indicated by all the core placements. This is one tough guy. But just when we presume that Ar-nold is all work and no play, that Mars–Uranus conjunction in Gemini/12th comes out of nowhere, providing an al-most comic contrast in unexpected and shocking lightheartedness. Suddenly Ar-nold transforms himself from Mr. Seri-ous to The Prankster, almost like a little kid just playing in the sandbox. This is a great social boon to Schwarzenegger, as

it leavens a very cold center. Mars and Uranus in Gemini can’t provide much real warmth, but they sure do promote adolescent fun. Two implications stand out with Mars–Uranus in Gemini/12th: One is that Arnold is more archetype than real-ity. In his Hollywood career as an actor, he wisely chose to play mythic or even “inhuman” characters. Think Termina-tor. He made himself into the archetype of maleness, an impressive if sometimes grotesque testosterone fantasy. This was not merely a result of natural endow-ment, but a calculated career strategy that Schwarzenegger manipulated mag-nificently into a star franchise. Subtlety is not part of his over-the-top persona, but so far (through the caution of Saturn with his Leo Sun), Arnold has usually understood when he went too far and needed to pull back into more human dimensions. The second significant (and dan-gerous) Mars–Uranus factor is that what

Arnold wants is sacrosanct — whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. He is disciplined to a fault (Sun–Saturn–Pluto), but within that dutifulness Schwarzeneg-ger makes time to go after whatever arouses him. Arnold wants a Hummer, Arnold buys a Hummer — or two or three. So, desire counts big-time, and not only in acquiring the possessions that symbolize cultural status and finan-cial success. Where the willfulness of Mars–Uranus becomes problematic is in Schwarzenegger’s sexual history and attitudes about gender, specifically toward women. Schwarzenegger has gotten great mileage out of the admo-nition, “Don’t be a girly-man.” It’s Arnold’s number-one stock joke and a huge crowd-pleaser among his follow-ers. Mars and Uranus lurking together in the 12th, however, can be trouble-some. His public insults of California nurses have already cost him dearly. And some of the more private sexual episodes from his earlier life may even-tually come home to roost in uncomfort-able scandals that could adversely affect his public standing and political ambi-tions (which are, of course, boundless). Precisely because the rest of Schwarzenegger’s chart is so conser-vative, so driven by ambition, and so completely wrapped up in social suc-cess and acceptance, this wildcard factor

The chart and the real-life subject of the chart are necessary in tandem

to produce an artful interpretation.

Chart 2 Chart 2a

Arnold Schwarzenegger


bears watching. Even if his act is clean now, Arnold’s somewhat lurid past may return to haunt him in the future. Fan-tasy is all well and good, as is sexual playfulness, but Sun–Saturn conjunc-tions have a way of forcing reality to puncture dreams.

9/11 World Trade Center Attack Our third example is not a person, but an event. No one reading this arti-cle needs an introduction to 9/11. That sunny morning in mid September 2001 is the most recent addition to the list of watershed moments, turning points, and great tragedies in American history — not merely because of its intrinsic signifi-cance, nor its sad status as a harbinger of the fear and revenge that followed, but also because millions of us witnessed the second of two airplanes crashing into the Twin Trade Towers live on television, as it occurred. We then watched, mesmer-ized, as the towers burned and later col-lapsed, obliterating the skyline of New York in smoke, dust, and debris. More words have been written about 9/11 than any event since the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Astrologers contributed their

share, mostly by analyzing the chart for the moment and place the first airliner hit. These analyses dredged deep into the bowels of technical astrology, pulling out all the stops in the hunt for a “smok-ing gun” that would reveal the cosmic signature of meaning. Can we see the core meanings in the chart without re-course to complex or arcane analyses? Astrology cannot accurately distin-guish between the potential for mean-ing and actual events that occur in real life. Although many astrologers noted the dangers of the 2001 Saturn–Pluto opposition on the horizon axis of the U.S. Sibly chart, none of us could have

predicted the exact moment and precise nature of the tragic events that occurred. We are left to analyze the chart in hind-sight, looking backwards via the rear-view mirror. In pure abstraction, any chart could have myriad meanings, but we’re dealing with real events as lenses. Those events shape the meanings in specific directions, allowing the chart to clearly emerge. Essentially, this is a feedback loop: The chart gives us a kaleidoscopic view of infinite possibilities for that moment in time and space. Then we look at real life, at what actually is. That reality highlights certain levels of the chart, bringing them into focus, which narrows the symbolic possibilities and sharpens our perceptions by adding implications that we can then apply back to the real-life events, which in turn change how we see those events. If we follow that loop around five or six times (or 90–100 times), our understand-ing of both the real events and the chart may end up quite different from our first impressions. In other words, the chart and the real-life subject of the chart are necessary in tandem to produce an artful interpre-tation. Charts without a corresponding reality we can learn about are just sym-bolic abstractions. Exploring the real-ity is critical to understanding the chart. We look from one to the other, and each morphs in our vision into sharper, deeper

Chart 3 Chart 3a

World Trade Center Attack

Astrological Triage


clarity. Some layers fall away while oth-ers rise into the foreground. The final note to add is that your interpretation will be unlike mine, since the observer matters, and we see through different eyes. So the chart, the subject, and the observer create unique trifocal lenses. No two astrologers will ever interpret charts quite the same. That’s part of what makes astrology so amazing; it’s not “objective truth,” but rather “creatively enhanced meaning.” When we are reverent and thorough, we may get to some understanding that approaches the truth, or at least comes as close as mere mortals ever can. Chart 3 (opposite) shows the reg-ular chart for the World Trade Center attacks, and Chart 3a gives the simpli-fied version. From my perspective, when held up against the actual events that occurred, the 9/11 chart refers to a mes-sage, a press release, or a teaching about home and the world and the new con-nectedness between those levels of life. The message is delivered as a karmic visitation, a nightmare of helplessness, retribution through violence, moral–

philosophical conflict, and profound mis-understanding. Two possible paths are indicated in the aftermath, either toward armed camps marked by parochial unconsciousness, extreme propaganda, and further vengeance, or toward an eventual reconciliation through increased tolerance, mature understanding, and global healing that are long overdue and crucial to civilization’s future. Sounds grandiose, right? Well, let me break down all of that into bite-sized chunks: First, look at the emphasized houses in Chart 3a: the 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. Saturn rules the 4th, Saturn and the Moon occupy the 9th, the Moon rules the 10th, and the Sun rules the 11th and occupies the 12th. What an odd and unusual align-ment! The last four houses of the upper hemisphere, the 9th–12th, symbolize the realm of collective or shared experience, life in the outer world of society and culture. These are contrasted with the 4th, the most personal, subjective, and private area of roots and family. The 9th–12th houses are, at their broadest, international in scope, while the 4th is

local to the point of provinciality. Here we have big world and small world, public and private, the future played against the past. At every level imaginable, this chart has to do with home and secu-rity as personal comforts confronted by the impersonal evolution of civilization as a whole. In the 20th century, wars had already disrupted hundreds of mil-lions of private lives, homes, and fami-lies elsewhere in the world, and finally, in 2001, that shock came to the United States. The suicidal hijackers were saying, “Since you will not leave our homelands alone, we will attack you in yours!” To many Americans, unaware of the extent to which the American empire — economic, political, and mili-tary — has reached into every corner of the world (and sometimes very unpleas-antly for those affected), this message seemed utterly perverse, but it was no less obvious on that account. For only the third time ever (fol-lowing the British invasion in the War of 1812 and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941), Americans felt

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the terrible, gut-wrenching jolt of seeing our own soil violated — this time in the sacred castles of New York and Wash-ington. We thought we were safe (4th house) from the havoc of the world (9th–12th), but we found out that the world is shrinking very fast, and everyone’s home, both here and abroad, is now vul-nerable. The U.S. will never again be completely secure (4th) until we reorder, reorganize, and re-envision the world (9th–12th) as a safe place for all. The Moon is in Gemini in the 9th house, conjunct its own North Node and ruling the Midheaven. Mars opposes the Moon from Capricorn/3rd, conjunct the South Node. The aggression (Mars) was a response (Moon) to what the attack-ers saw as the provocation of America’s ongoing military presence in the Middle East, a message (3rd/9th) concerning the sanctity of Muslim homelands (Cancer Midheaven). The message has implica-

tions for the future (North Node) but is concretely delivered via means that are from the past (South Node in the 3rd) — namely, through intentional physical violence aimed at institutions and gov-ernment (Mars in Capricorn), with real people important only as statistics of incidental collateral damage, merely a tally of blood in defining the cumulative impact. The attackers didn’t care who they killed; the more people dead the better, in their gruesome arithmetic. By turning airplanes into missiles (or, more accurately, spears), the attack-ers used primitive Martian means to deliver the message that their needs are not being met and that they don’t want their lands ruled by America. Into this protest was woven an additional mes-sage of religious fundamentalism (Sat-urn in the 9th): “Oh, and by the way, we don’t like your religion, either!” Mer-cury on the Ascendant and trine Saturn suggests that this message was delivered bluntly but effectively, as if by shouting to make oneself heard. The Sun in the 12th, under great pressure at the apex of a t-square with

Saturn opposite Pluto, implies forced surrender, victimization, or helpless-ness. For everyone from firefighters and citizens in New York to the mil-lions watching on television, the sense of helplessness was palpable. This was a nightmare (12th), more like a disas-ter movie than a real event. The media went nuts, rewinding the video clips to show the planes crashing into the towers time after time, which only increased the shock of seeming unreality. The towers were down, then they were up, then they fell, again and again and again. People ask how this attack could have happened, given our supposedly sophisticated systems of civil and military air control and defense. The t-square in the 9/11 chart speaks directly to bureau-cratic breakdowns and lack of coordina-tion between various official chains of command. The Sun in Virgo/12th sug-gests that we were confused or not pay-ing attention, and both Saturn and Pluto square the Sun imply conflicting or blocked lines of authority. More impor-tantly, however, the t-square implies that we will probably never know the truth,

Astrological Triage


which has been destroyed, classified as state secrets, or buried under a mountain of misinformation. Beyond questions of how 9/11 happened, why did it happen? Why did the U.S. arrive at this tragic cross-roads? Once again, by not paying atten-tion (Sun in Virgo/12th) or, more subtly, by not living up to our stated idealism (Sun rules the 11th) and suffering the karma that comes from hubris or abuse of power (12th-house Sun severely afflicted by Saturn and Pluto). Much of the rest of the world is not pleased with the overreach of the Pax Americana. Obviously, that same excess pride and abusiveness also apply to Islamic mili-tants. Killing does not lead to recon-ciliation. In addition, the 3rd–9th–12th t-square from mutable signs indicates the likelihood of serious misunderstand-ings, as though the adversaries don’t speak the same language and cannot comprehend each other’s respective motivations, intentions, or grievances. In the aftermath of 9/11, we have seen those misunderstandings com-pounded on both sides by further whole-sale slaughter. Unfortunately, diplomacy and communication (Mercury exactly on the Libra Ascendant in a grand trine with Saturn and Uranus, also in air signs) were jettisoned early on. The impulse to respond instinctively with military force (the Moon effectively in Cancer oppos-ing Mars in early Capricorn) may have been pragmatically unavoidable, as was our government’s retreat into fear and authoritarian measures, such as the Patriot Act — thus keeping the entire nation locked in the grip of the t-square involving the Sun, Saturn, and Pluto. The 9/11 chart does offer other ways out of the cycle of violence, however: law-ful respect for the sovereignty of others’ homes and cultures (the 9th-house Can-cer Moon rules the Cancer Midheaven and disposits the elevated Jupiter) and the disciplines of healing through compassion, understanding, and forgiveness (the Sun–Saturn–Pluto t-square releases into the Piscean 6th house). The fact that those paths have not even been considered by the powers-that-be on either side of the conflict is very sad and a profound loss for humanity. The essentialized chart displays all too plainly the tragic fashion in which 9/11 has played out.

As I stated earlier, your view may be quite different and equally valid, of course, but all I’ve written here is con-tained in the chart that my eyes see.

Conclusion The natural hierarchy of meanings is finally about keeping astrology simple, or at least simple enough that we don’t get lost in complexity. Common sense dictates checking the hierarchy first and returning to it whenever necessary, to stay grounded in the fundamentals. A particular chart may rearrange the hierarchy to some extent. In extreme cases, the emphasis on one or two sym-bols is so dominant or skewed from the norm that the expected hierarchy seems to be overturned — trumped, as it were, by a wildcard. For instance, although we cannot assert that the Sun is always and inevitably more important than Venus in interpretive synthesis, we can presume that this will be true in more than 99% of all the charts we examine. In the rarest of cases, Venus’s condition might be so critical in a given chart that it competes with the Sun for interpretive emphasis, but even there the Sun is still the indicator of central power, core vitality, and gravitational coherence in the chart. And it’s darned difficult to trump that. In the vast majority of charts, the natural hierarchy holds true and remains an invaluable tool for deciphering the function and meaning of whatever the chart describes, whether a person, a relationship, or an event. In genetics, we are now learning that all life on Earth is composed of the simplest imaginable building blocks of genetic code. Out of that elegant simplic-ity, however, endless variations emerge, so that life eventually manifests in all its breathtaking complexity. Genetic code is 99% identical for all life forms on the Earth. The amazing and bewildering dif-ferences between species and individuals lie in the engineering of that last 1%. The same holds true for astrology. Deciphering complexity begins with an understanding of simplicity and ends in organic wholeness. Wonderful inter-pretive subtlety can be achieved by remembering and applying the natural hierarchy of meanings. Good astrologi-cal triage requires it.

Chart Data and SourcesLucille Ball, August 6, 1911; 5:00 p.m. EST; Jamestown, NY, USA (42°N06', 79°W14'); AA: Biographer Kathy Brady quotes birth record.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, July 30, 1947; 4:10 a.m. CED; Graz, Austria (47°N05', 15°E27'); A: Doris Chase Doane quotes a colleague, from him in 1979.

World Trade Center Attack, September 11, 2001; 8:48:26 a.m. EDT; New York, NY, USA (40°N43', 74°W01'); news reports.

Notes1. In my own practice with clients, I elevate the outer planets above the second group of visible planets, not because they are more important natally (they aren’t), but because their longer and more potent transits carry profound sig-nificance in our individual human lives. Outer-planet transits are a critical part of my work.

2. Planetary patterns were originally written about by Marc Edmund Jones. They are based on general shapes the planets form en masse when dotted around the wheel. Jones defined seven planetary patterns: Bundle, Bowl, Loco-motive, Seesaw, Fanhandle, Splash, and Splay. Each pattern reveals a characteristic psychologi-cal attitude that refines interpretive clarity. The importance of leading and trailing planets is associated with some patterns (Bundle, Bowl, and Locomotive), as are the concepts of the singleton (Fanhandle) and emphasis by hemi-sphere. Planetary patterns were designed for use with the traditional ten major bodies com-mon to the astrology of the mid-20th century. The addition of many of the more recently dis-covered minor bodies — asteroids, Centaurs, etc. — tends to distort the patterns in the chart, making them less relevant and reliable for astrol-ogers so inclined. Nevertheless, the basic prin-ciples of planetary patterns provide an insightful adjunct to overall interpretation.

3. See Note 2.

© 2006 Bill Herbst – all rights reserved

Bill Herbst is an associate editor of TMA and a frequent contributor to the magazine. He recently moved to Olympia, Washington. The expanded 2nd Edition of his textbook, Houses of the Horoscope, will be published this fall by Serendipity Press. Contact Bill via e-mail at [email protected], or visit his Web site at www.billherbst.com to read other essays, request a personal session, or subscribe to his free monthly e-mail newsletter.


by Garry Phillipson

Deborah Houlding is familiar to many as the editor of the Traditional Astrologer magazine, which ran from 1993 to 1999 and helped to arouse inter-est in various facets of astrology’s history and tradi-tional philosophy. Her book, The Houses: Temples of the Sky, has received widespread acclaim for reminding us of the need to reunite modern astro-logical principles with their underlying philosophy and the most consistent line of traditional teachings. Deborah is also known as one of the foremost practitioners of horary astrology, which she has been teaching to students around the world since 1990 through lectures, residential seminars, and correspondence courses. Her workshops have been delivered in places as far apart as Hawaii and Tas-mania. Her articles have graced the pages of most of the well-known astrological journals and have been translated into many languages. She currently runs her own school of traditional astrology which offers certificate and master’s-level horary courses, exemplifying the methods of William Lilly. Besides her writings, presentations, tutorials, and consulting work, Deborah finds time to host and maintain Skyscript (http://www.skyscript.co.uk), one of the most active Web sites dedicated to exploring the philosophy and practical applica-tion of astrological symbolism. Deborah lives in Nottinghamshire, England and may be contacted by e-mail through the Skyscript Web site.

An Interview with Deborah Houlding


Garry Phillipson: If you think back to when you first heard of astrol-ogy, were you inclined to believe that it would work as soon as you heard of it?

Deborah Houlding: No. I started studying astrology in 1986 when I was 23 — not really through my own choos-ing. I’d made a friend of a woman who was older than me, and she badg-ered me into going along to some local classes so she could get a lift in my car. I saw astrology as something only the “loopy set” believed in. But then my only exposure had been through Sun-sign col-umns in newspapers and magazines. At school, we would hang around on rainy breaks and read each others’ horoscopes so we could laugh and wind each other up. And, of course, the same thing hap-pened when I left school and started work. The idea that astrology could be taken seriously didn’t enter my head. That was fairly typical for the area I came from and the group of people I mixed with: To say you “believed in astrology” was akin to saying you believed in fairies at the bottom of the garden. Plus, my background was very down-to-earth. I was taught to believe in myself, but I think my family felt uncom-fortable around people who proclaimed passionate or literal beliefs about any-thing — be they psychics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or even the local vicar. We were embarrassed on their behalf! My dad would often say things like: “When you’re dead, you’re dead, and that’s it!” and “the only thing religion has ever done is cause wars.” When I started studying astrology seriously and exploring other occult studies, some of my close friends and family were a bit concerned for my san-ity. They thought I might get involved in a cult that would take my personality away! But I suppose that dropping in on your average, working-class parents and saying things like “I’ve been doing some automatic writing but stopped when I realised the Moon was square Saturn” is bound to sound bizarre!

GP: At what point did you become convinced that there was “some-thing in it”?

DH: Not for a long time. Having seen various interpretations of personal birth charts, I was convinced that people placed too much emphasis on com-ments that essentially applied to every-one. I was very sceptical and saw it as a lesson that people often take out of an experience what they expected going into it. But I was interested in exploring the theory of astrology almost from the start, and I did seem to shine in that local class. There was a group of about a dozen of us. After the teacher had fin-ished explaining something, she would set us little assignments to be completed in class. She was a very clever astrolo-ger and had obtained a Ph.D. on a the-sis related to astrology, but she didn’t always allow for our elementary level of comprehension. People would sit around saying, “Uh? What was that all about? What am I supposed to be doing?” and I would quietly re-explain what I thought I had understood myself in a way that made better sense to them. Consequently, people started to treat me as if I had a natural affinity for the subject, but it was more a case of the near-sighted leading the blind. Towards the end of the course, one of the organisers for the arts council who were hosting the classes came in and asked to have her horoscope drawn up and interpreted. To my horror, the task was thrown to me. That was my first experience of writing an interpretation for someone else. I had a week to com-pile it, and I didn’t know where to start. Very little of what I’d learnt in the class had really sunk in, so I bought a copy of the Parkers’ Compleat Astrologer and compiled the whole interpretation based on snippets I found in that. I was very determined that there wouldn’t be any-thing vague and no phrases that could be left open to interpretation. Where the Parkers wrote that a certain planetary placement might suggest the possibility of loss of a father figure, I wrote, “your father died while you were a child.” From other snippets I can’t remember now, I told her what he had died of. From the fact that Gemini was on the

Descendant, I told her she was divorced and currently in her second marriage — to a much older man, because Saturn was in the 7th house. Because Venus was conjunct Mars in the 3rd, I told her she had a very competitive relationship with her sister and was always falling out with her. I told her all sorts of things based on reasoning that ought never to be repeated, and I described in narrow detail the state of her finances, her atti-tude towards her work, and her only son. All of this, I realised, was a figment of my imagination, because I knew nothing about the woman and didn’t for a moment expect any of it to be true. My approach was based on an adverse reaction to being given the task in the first place. It was my way of showing that I wasn’t going to get drawn into the self-delusion game. The interpretation was going to be very black and white, and if it was all wrong, at least I’d know to stop wasting my time. After the organiser had been given the report, she came bursting into the class, unable to contain herself about how accurate and detailed it had been. Everyone was amazed, most of all me, because the reaction I’d anticipated hadn’t materialised. But it still didn’t convince me that there was anything to astrology. I simply took it as incredibly good luck that the profile I’d built just happened to match reality. Other peo-ple thought I knew what I was doing, but I was very aware that I didn’t and that I’d just cobbled together some ran-dom comments that somehow fell into place. And I still decided that I must have left my comments too open to interpretation, or that she’d overlooked parts that weren’t relevant because of the bits that were.

GP: It sounds like you were still pretty much a sceptic. So, why did you carry on with astrology?

DH: Regardless of whether I believed in it, my first exposure to astrology as a system left me intrigued — because of the way it presented ideas to me that I’d never had the chance to explore before. I have always been interested in peo-ple and in understanding their emo-tional and instinctive reactions. I think

Deborah Houlding


that, even as a child, I was fascinated by observing people and being able to play psychological games with them. So, ini-tially, it was the psychological element of astrology that drew me into it, and I simply suspended the need for belief. I was pregnant with my third child at this time and running a business, so I didn’t get much time for myself or for contem-plating things like “what is the meaning of life, anyway?” Astrology gave me an avenue to investigate my own thoughts and reflections on life and to develop an interest in philosophy and cultural and historical insights. I was always fasci-nated by that aspect of it. That led me to eventually enrol in the Faculty [of Astro-logical Studies] correspondence course; I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of the exercises, and they gave me a valid reason to make time for myself at night when the children were asleep and the house was quiet. Two years after I started studying astrology, two years of suspending my disbelief for the sake of the pleasure it gave me to study it, I remember being struck by the realisation that astrology actually works! Up until then, it had really been the means through which I developed a lot of other latent inter-ests. It was a very powerful moment in which I let go of my innate disbelief and realised I loved the subject and trusted it completely.

GP: What happened? Did this reali-sation dawn because of some par-ticular chart reading, or was it just a result of sitting and pondering? And do you have a chart for that moment?

DH: I don’t have a chart for the moment, but I have often thought of it, and sometime afterwards, I realised I was having my Jupiter return at the time. Jupiter is on the Mid-heaven of my chart, with Nep-tune in a close trine from the 5th house (see Chart at right). I remembered it as a very posi-tive Jupiter–Neptune experience because of the idealistic sense of pure love, trust, and expansion of mind. I was looking at a chart at the time; I can’t remember whose chart it was,

but this time, instead of analysing it (like I usually did), I just lost myself in it. It was like a momentary lack of concentra-tion where the creative part of my brain must have found time to rise up and kick a bit of space for itself alongside the rational part. Before that, my approach to “studying” a chart was to take each part of it to pieces and make lots of little notes that I later had to wrestle with to rule out the contradictions and generate themes for my analysis. But, this time, the connection of everything to every-thing just made perfect sense, and I had some sort of emotional or sympathetic reaction to the energy of that chart. I felt very strongly affected by it. I’m sure it’s a common experience amongst astrolo-gers that you start to feel the energy of the chart to the extent that you feel the physical disabilities of the person whose chart you are looking at and become affected by their manner of expression and sense of humour. But it was my first experience of reading a chart as a whole, where everything fit perfectly and nothing left me confused. Appropriately, I was on my knees bending over the chart. I remember that because, although this didn’t occur to me until later, there was a quality of feeling very special, but also very hum-ble and blessed; that was really why I was so awed by it.

Of course, logically, it was probably the turning point where I simply relaxed into astrology and let all the bits I’d been learning fall into place so that I could express it fluently. Before that, I thought I’d never get the hang of interpreta-tion and wondered how some people were able to make a living as astrolo-gers because the work involved seemed endless. The moment was all the more magical for me because of the sense that I had “found” astrology (or astrology had found me), despite all the odds: an initial disinterest, a cynical approach, a disapproving family, ridiculing friends. Lots of practicalities had made me feel I was acting selfishly to pursue my study of astrology, and there were limits to how far I could get with pursuing it. It was also the realisation that all the bar-riers had been removed. Life had con-spired to find ways for me to pay for the courses and books I needed, despite my concerns about the cost, to give me the time I thought I didn’t have, and I’d slowly gained the full support of my hus-band, friends, and family.

GP: Presumably, you learned mod-ern astrology to start with. So, how did you get interested in horary and traditional techniques?

DH: It is a similar story to what you will have heard from other people who turn from modern to traditional techniques. Initially, modern astrology seems to hold such promise, and the psychologi-

cal element is very satisfying. There is a feeling of so much to learn and so

many useful techniques to mas-ter. But eventually, I felt that, no matter how many techniques I threw into the interpretation, none of them were reveal-ing more depth of detail; they just brought more of the same. I knew that astrol-ogy was capable of deliv-ering more than that. The psychological element was

an important part of it, but I knew that astrology should

be capable of describing life in much more vivid detail; there

were actual events that I ought to be able to discern, not just emotional reac-tions and “trends of experience.”

Deborah HouldingPlacidus houses,

True Node


Although my modern training had opened me up to a lot of new perspec-tives, it had also knocked out of me all expectation of accuracy and precision. I was being taught to compile interpre-tations that reminded me of the ones I had disliked at the beginning — very long and wordy, high on psychologi-cal principles, low on actual real-life content. I knew this was pleasing to my tutors, who were taking me in that direction, but I was getting increasingly dissatisfied and unmotivated — and astrology, as I was developing it, didn’t seem to match the expectations of peo-ple I knew who wanted chart interpreta-tions. In terms of offering potential client satisfaction, it struck me that there was something more valuable in my clumsy and naïve first attempt, where I’d relied on nothing more than the Parkers’ book and the inclination to let astrology sink or swim. I carried on like this for a while, but in the end I lost all the pleasure and motivation. I felt astrology was much more powerful than the way I was being taught to express it, but I didn’t know how to develop myself towards that. And it was clear that the training I was receiving wasn’t going to deliver. So, I dropped out. I felt quite dejected, but I couldn’t find a good reason to carry on. None of the books I was reading were stimulating me or holding my attention. I felt saturated by psychological analysis and rational debate — and drained of inspiration.

GP: So, then what happened?

DH: Another of life’s conspiracies. About a year before this, I had heard about a book called Christian Astrology which was very expensive, but because I was so curious to read everything that I could at that time, I put it on my Christmas present list. But I didn’t get it. Six months after “giving up” on astrology, my husband surprised me with the book. I think I made some dis-paraging remark about his inept sense of timing — to buy me a book about a subject I’d lost interest in six months before. [smiles] I stuck it somewhere and forgot about it. Months later, I came across it and flicked through it. It didn’t mean much to me, so I put it back. I had sev-eral occasions when I felt obliged to read it, just because it was a present, but each time, I couldn’t gather enough interest to get past the first few pages. Eventually, one night, I picked it up and made a committed attempt to read it. The old-fashioned language, typeface, and weird spellings completely put me off — I couldn’t understand it. I got very frustrated and threw it on the floor. I was quite shocked to realise how angry the book had made me. It seemed like we were having a bloody battle! I put it back on the shelf but couldn’t take my thoughts off it. I was in and out of the book all night, not able to settle into it but not able to settle into anything else, either. Sometimes, I’d get through quite a few pages — but then I’d realise that I was only so far along because I hadn’t understood what I was read-ing and had let my thoughts drift some-where else.

Finally, I decided that I wasn’t going to be defeated. But instead of expecting this “William Lilly” to talk to me in my language, I would make the attempt to listen to him in his lan-guage. I mentally visualised him sitting in the chair across from me, speaking the words as I read them. This was the only way that I could control my eager-ness to “get through” the book, so I proceeded to read it at a pace where I could absorb it slowly and take it in. If there was a word I was unfamiliar with, I visualised Lilly instructing me to hold back on my impatience, as all will be explained in due course. After a few pages, I was completely engrossed and couldn’t put the book down. Even now, whenever I refer to the book, I never feel as if I am just looking up a comment but that I am “consulting” with Lilly, who sometimes laughs at my frustration and impatience. You have to take this attitude with Christian Astrology. If you really want to understand Lilly’s approach, you need to let him speak to you. This just isn’t a book you “get through,” and you can’t rush the process; deeper meanings are always revealing them-selves. Every time I reread a passage from Lilly, I discover a deeper principle that I didn’t recognise before. It’s not that Lilly was perfect or that his book should be regarded as a “sacred” authority. Of course not! Chris-tian Astrology wouldn’t be anywhere near as enduring, if that were the case. But he left within it the spirit of a mature astrologer desiring to teach us young ’uns. Anyone can tap into that and get a wealth of wisdom out of it, provid-ing you are prepared to enter his world

Deborah Houlding

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and take the trouble to look at astrology through his eyes. That doesn’t mean you should stay there, of course. I hate to see horary judgements written as if Lilly had penned them in the 17th century! Lilly expressed himself according to the man-ner of his day, and we should be doing the same. I don’t see any conflict in bringing psychological understanding into horary, either; Lilly did so, though discreetly. Psychological insight is very easily incorporated into horary, provid-ing you use it to elucidate the meaning of traditional methods and don’t distort the techniques. The techniques need to be preserved, because they are so effec-tive for providing description and detail, so we can get a finely tuned understand-ing of how a situation has arisen and where it is heading.

GP: I wonder if you could describe a reading which shows astrology working with the kind of precision you’re talking about.

DH: One situation, which wasn’t just dependent on horary, was where I did a reading for the manager of the com-pany who printed the Traditional Astrol-oger magazine and the reprints I used to supply. He would see these strange, obscure texts being brought in for repro-duction. When he asked about them and I explained what they were, he

made it very clear he was a sceptic. One day he asked me — in that manner that sounds like somebody is putting you to the test — if I could tell him if and when his wife would get pregnant. I did the chart, but I saw a pregnancy followed by a miscarriage. I spoke to him about that but explained that sometimes these things happen for a reason, to bring undiscovered problems to light, and that he shouldn’t take that as an indication that they would never have more chil-dren. (They had one son but had been trying for another child for more than ten years.) Later, he announced that his wife was pregnant, and I congratulated him; then, sadly, she miscarried, and I com-miserated. We didn’t really talk about the horary — to be honest, I felt quite bad about it, and he seemed to become even more sceptical in his attitude. Quite a long time afterwards, after not mentioning astrology at all, he sud-denly said he’d be interested in hav-ing his birth chart interpreted, “just out of curiosity.” A week later I gave him a reading, based on his birth chart and transits, and a consultation chart, drawn for the time the consultation started. (I usually do this when I give a birth chart reading, and use it like a horary, to show me the issues that are most relevant at the time.) During the process, he became very ashen as I went into detail about

his life, his relationships, and the situ-ations he was involved in. I warned him that, during the weekend, the Moon was hitting a prominent collec-tion of hard contacts, so he needed to avoid acting rashly, because the chart was suggestive of a car accident. He asked about the pregnancy matter, and I assured him that his wife was already pregnant with a baby girl. She obvi-ously wasn’t aware of this yet, because it was so recent, but it had happened, and it would be successful. He totally rejected this and said it was impossible, but I was convinced and insisted on it. At the end of the reading, when I asked if he felt it was informative, he just said that it left him feeling “shaky” because it was so hard to take it all in. Afterwards, always, that’s when I get my doubts. I was kicking myself for not saying something safer, like “I’m sure she’ll have a successful pregnancy soon.” I know how disturbing it is to have hopes raised and then dashed to the ground. But that wasn’t what the chart indicated, particularly the con-sultation chart; the significators for his wife’s pregnancy were very positive, but they were also separating, so it had to have already happened. The technique constrained me, so it wasn’t possible to interpret it any other way. I didn’t see him until the next week when I went in to collect some maga-zines. As I entered the building, he was


gushing: “If I didn’t believe in astrology before, I do now! My wife has just been confirmed pregnant and some idiot drove into the back of my car on Sat-urday, even though I was driving care-fully.” They had a baby girl, of course, and I subsequently worked on a lot of business horaries for this man.

GP: You said a little earlier that psychological insight and horary work are perfectly compatible. I wonder if you could say something more about that.

DH: Many horaries don’t necessar-ily predict something that is going to happen; their value is in revealing an emotional problem that is stopping the querent from living life to the full. This can happen a lot in relationship charts where the querent needs a real-ity check, because they need to “let go” and move on from someone they are convinced is their soul mate. We might think that we are just in the rather neg-ative business of disappointing people in their hopes and dreams, but horary astrology often presents a very impor-tant opportunity to help them out of a harmful self-delusion. One particularly poignant exam-ple concerned a mother asking about the whereabouts of her missing son, who had “disappeared” in a shipping accident five years before. She refused to accept that he was dead and spoke about how her life had been one tragic event after another since the night it happened. She wouldn’t tolerate any-one trying to convince her that her son had died; she said she would know if this was the case, but she was so sure that he was alive (suffering from mem-ory loss) that she hadn’t shed one tear, had refused to attend his memorial ser-vice, and had thrown out any friends who had tried to persuade her other-wise. Her intolerance of people who tried to get her to see the situation dif-ferently had caused her to lose her marriage, her friends, her job, and her health; she was struggling for money,

and the week before she asked the question, there was a fire in her home, so the house had been destroyed, and she felt that she was left with nothing and no hope, only the painful need to discover what had happened to her son. The chart is very powerful in how it deals with the issues involved and connects them all to an underlying cause of denying her son’s death. For-tunately, the woman had been to one of my talks, so she knew enough about the techniques I used for me to let her see for herself just how clear the chart was in describing the manner of his death. She was signified by Saturn ret-rograde in Pisces, very appropriate for a woman in denial, unable to cry and express her grief. Her son’s significator was separating from hers by opposition (showing the painful and abrupt sepa-ration between them); it was located in the 8th house, combust, and separated by five degrees from the 8th-house ruler. There was no alternate judge-ment possible but that he had died in the accident. Her significator was retrograd-ing to the opposition of the 8th-house ruler, showing her need to return to an unprocessed past event which had to be confronted despite the pain involved. I explained that death normally involves a process of loss, grief, acceptance, and then recovery, but by denying her grief in the one loss she couldn’t bear to face, she was trapped on the threshold of loss, so nothing in her life was able to be creative or productive. I knew the con-sultation was successful when she finally broke down and started to cry. The pur-pose of this chart was to get her out of her own denial and put her in touch with the grief she was rejecting. Horary charts don’t have to be about mak-ing predictions for the future; they are only about understanding the problem that concerns the clients and finding the best way to help them deal with it pro-ductively. Very often, that involves tak-ing clients back to a point in the past, encouraging them to break through their fears, and allowing them to look at their own issues clearly.

GP: These sound like very special readings. Do you find that astrol-ogy always works so well for you?

DH: I’d say all horaries are special. I can’t understand it when astrologers talk about “percentages of success.” I have never experienced a chart being “wrong” or, in some way, not use-ful — providing it is a sincere question received personally from the que-rent about a situation they are directly involved in. And by “sincere” I mean pertinent and touching upon a real issue, not just that they really, really want to know (or think they do). I don’t believe that horary is as reliable in any other circumstance, such as predict-ing results of sports contests, politi-cal events, or “third-party” horaries (where someone is asking about some-one else’s business). The closer you get to something fundamentally impor-tant, the more reliable and powerful the astrology is. So, if astrologers are find-ing that only some of their charts “per-form,” they ought to reflect upon the kinds of issues they are dealing with and whether they are too busy trying to get a successful prediction to see the bigger, or the deeper, issue. But there are lots of questions that I instinctively know I don’t want to get involved in, usually because when I explore the issue there doesn’t seem to be any way I can bring a positive ben-efit to the client. For example, I had one lady ask if I would do a horary one morning just after an interview, to tell her the results of the phone call she was expecting that afternoon. I see no point in that; she may as well just wait and see. It’s too late for me to make a difference or offer any suggestions, and I don’t like it when people try to use horary to “test something out” or just to satisfy their whims. I use my common sense to filter out the ques-tions that don’t seem to be appropri-ate. Consequently, it’s very rare that I get charts showing the traditional warn-ings against judgement. Of course, you often get people disguising what they really want to know behind a contrived question — and people who don’t realise that beneath the question they are asking lies a much deeper issue that deserves to be explored. But the chart reveals what the problem really is, so questions are less important to me than the state of the person I’m work-ing with. If the querent is upset or really

Deborah Houlding


concerned about something, you can guarantee the chart will be clear and meaningful.

GP: I remember you wrote up the astrology of your illness in the pen-ultimate issue of The Traditional Astrologer (March 1999). Without asking you to go over old ground, I wonder if you could explain what role astrology played in your deal-ing with what must have been a hugely traumatic episode.

DH: In the broad sense, astrology made me much more informed about what I was suffering from and the likely con-sequences of it than any of the conflict-ing advice I received from the several doctors and consultants involved. In October 1998, I learned that I had a slow-growing brain tumour whilst I was lecturing in Australia, on quite an inten-sive tour where I was pulling in time for health checks during lunch hours. I saw the doctor in Adelaide, the consultant in Brisbane, and received my results the day I flew to Sydney. I was literally

all over the place and buffeted between “you probably don’t have this” to “I’m sure you don’t have this, but it would be very serious if you did” to “yes, you do have it, but I’m sure you’ll be fine, don’t worry”! Whenever someone suggested a possibility, first “it might be worth you seeing a consultant,” then “it might be worth you having a scan,” etc., I drew up a chart to check out the reality of the concern, expecting it would show that my fears were groundless. But all of the charts were very clear in indicating that the tumour was real and a problem that needed to be dealt with. So, I knew what was happening even before the tests, let alone the results. And, of course, I had other astrologers around me — they knew what was happening, too. Although the charts revealed a seri-ous problem, they also indicated that the tumour would be benign and not malign, and that took some of my fear away from the start. The last chart I did was the event chart for the MRI brain scan, and that was actually quite scary — but only in the sense that

it confirmed the reality of the prob-lem and the serious consequences of it not being attended to. Honestly, I was more in awe of the clarity. The chart made me very certain of what to expect, and I marvelled all over again at how the symbolism in a chart set for a moment I had no control over could be so clear and descriptive. It made me reflect upon how we really don’t need to try to elect the best moment for things to happen, because every-thing happens at the perfect moment anyway, and things that are meant to be, will be. So, from possibly the most threatening chart I’ve ever done for myself, I experienced the greatest sense of calm and the realisation that life’s natural rhythm is sublime. I also knew that, although the event was wor-risome, it could have been a lot more serious but for the weird sequence of events that allowed me to discover the tumour much earlier than I could have done. So, I couldn’t help feeling that my interests were being looked after, and because of that, I didn’t really have anything to fear.

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That was probably the last chart I did for several years. Of course, the whole experience was a shock to begin with, but ever since that time, I’ve had a much greater belief that we don’t need to manipulate our actions towards astrology by electing times to do things or worry about the consequences of hard transits. We should just do what life stirs us to do at the time it stirs us to do it. Astrology helped me to cope with that experience, but the experi-ence itself has had a deep impact upon my relationship with astrology. What I realised at that time was, because of my belief in astrology and the sense of trust it has given me, I know I don’t have to keep looking at astrology to understand how to live my life. The real issue is much less about look-ing ahead to the future as making full use of the here and now. So, as long as we use our judgement and aim to apply wisdom and a sense of con-science, there are no upcoming “bad-transit periods” that we need to waste time worrying about. All of the transits are bringing something useful — expe-riences that we need even though it’s often hard to see why at the time.

GP: I understand that, after you recovered from your illness, you got back into astrology mainly by creating your Web site. Anyone who has visited the Skyscript Web site will know that it looks great but, more importantly, it’s a huge resource of astrological informa-tion. I don’t know anywhere else on the Web where you get the same intelligent debate as on the Skyscript forum. So, it seems to me that the site epitomises a com-mon thread which I see running through all your astrological ven-tures — namely, a desire to make information available and acces-sible in a form that people can understand. In that way, your aim is similar to the one Lilly had in writing Christian Astrology. Do you see it that way?

DH: There is an element of that in it. Not everyone is in an easy position to attend good astrology classes, and there are lots of students who are still not encouraged to explore the value of the history and development of astro-logical ideas. So many astrologers are being taught to use techniques without any explanation of the underlying phi-losophy that supports them; then, a lot of astrologers are still unaware that tra-ditional techniques exist which would allow them to add more definition and depth to their interpretations. So, I do want to be involved in help-ing to bring an awareness of this and, more importantly, to be involved in the process of exemplifying traditional tech-niques so they can be understood within their proper context. But I certainly don’t want to oversimplify techniques such as horary or make them so easily available that they are devalued by people who try to use them without proper training, reflection, and discrimination. I am concerned about the Web, in that regard. Even though I try to make sure that the information on Skyscript is of good quality, I see the danger of people thinking that practising horary requires no more than reading a few articles and asking a question. I have a short introductory horary course on the site — or at least the start of one. I’ve been put off developing it further by the realisation that some people think it covers all they need to know, rather than being a simple introduction to what horary is and how it works. Being a beginner is not so much the prob-lem — we all start somewhere — but a student once said, after a course in horary, “I know just enough now to be dangerous with this.” Although it was a joke which didn’t really apply to her, there are some people who do bring the phrase to mind.

GP: You seem to have a very clear, black-and-white approach to life. I’m thinking specifically of how you gave astrology up completely. And I’m wondering whether this character trait might have some-thing to do with why you find that astrology works so clearly. It often strikes me that doubt, or a half-hearted approach, can prevent

anything useful coming out of a reading — in fact, you alluded to this earlier. So, well, let me make the question as broad as possi-ble: What qualities, would you say, make a good astrologer?

DH: First of all, doubt is something that we all have to deal with, because even people who have a very strong conviction about astrology will still experience doubt in themselves and their own abilities when they first start to perform it as a service. After all, the claims we make about astrology are quite monumental. The half-hearted approach could well be a response to that — “I don’t want to get this wrong, so I’ll play it safe and avoid saying any-thing too specific.” We can’t avoid the doubt, but since we base our profes-sion upon claiming to help other peo-ple overcome theirs, then we ought to be competent at keeping our own fear in place and not allow the qual-ity of our work to be affected by fear. Some students need to be encouraged to pretend to be confident to begin with, because their fear-ridden doubts make them freeze at a time when they need to be creative. They just need to get into the habit of knowing when to respond to doubt and when to ignore it. Ultimately, they also need to realise that fears can only be overcome when there is a willingness to face up to them in the full acceptance of the risks involved. This often requires a leap of faith, and astrologers don’t get any-where without taking at least a few of those. There’s a process involved in devel-oping confidence. I personally found the experience of moving into professional practice nerve-wracking. I was riddled with doubts about my abilities for a long time — before and after every consulta-tion. I used to think it is only a matter of time before someone calls to complain that none of the things I said six months ago came true. Every time a past client called and introduced themselves, my heart would stop — but they’d be call-ing to thank me and ask for some more work. It took me at least five years to get over the worst of my insecurities. So, I don’t think it’s natural for anyone to be devoid of doubt when it comes to

Deborah Houlding


the practice of astrology, no matter how much they believe in the system as a whole. But the things that struck me as being a big risk to comment upon in the early days now go unno-ticed as too obvious to hesitate over. As for being very “black and white” in my approach, that’s only after I make deci-sions, and I usually put myself into positions where I can’t turn back, because otherwise I know I will. [smiles] You have no idea how much I struggle to make decisions in the first place; I often vacillate and convince myself that I need to consider everything. As for the qualities that make a “good astrologer,” they can be quite variable — and it depends upon how you’re applying the definition. Do you mean a good, effective, con-sulting astrologer (as opposed to someone who understands the theory of it and talks about it in the abstract)? It’s usual to expect any subject’s “experts” to be good in the practice of it, yet we have this strange situation in astrology where quite a few of our experts (authors, lecturers, commentators, and researchers) aren’t naturally good, or at least relaxed, in one-to-one consultations, and by their own admission seek to avoid them. That might be put down to the fact that clever people spend much of their lives buried in books, yet astrol-ogy requires good “people skills,” so the best consulting astrologers are not necessarily the ones with the best reputa-tions or the ones who are most educated in the techniques involved.

GP: So, some astrologers hold themselves back — just wanting to avoid being wrong, period — and don’t commit themselves fully, either by not reading charts at all or, as you say, being so vague that they can never really be wrong.

DH: Yes. The problem is that a lot of astrologers acquire the theoretical knowledge of how to interpret a chart but don’t simultaneously develop the confidence or the skills required to create a sound judgement and deliver that effectively. So, we have some very knowledgeable astrologers building their reputations on analysing what other astrologers do and offer-ing insightful critiques of other people’s techniques, yet they can’t demonstrate the effectiveness of these in their own work. I’ve also heard a lot of astrologers admit that, after graduat-ing from reputable courses, they couldn’t take the leap of faith required to put everything they’d learned into practice. And some astrologers remain “perpetual students” addicted to learning more and more, investigating this approach and that approach, so they know an awful lot, but they don’t do charts or would never venture to share their judgement with some-one else, publicly or privately. I’m sure there is a problem with how most astrologers are educated. The onus seems to be very strongly on devel-oping rational knowledge of techniques, with not nearly enough focus on training people how to put them to work in real-life situations. I’d like to see more students encouraged to study using a structured approach but placed in situations where they need to make judgements with no books to refer to, so that they get used to the process of overcoming their doubts and realising that the chart in front of them, and their

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own creative knowledge, are the only things that matter in the end. Before Spiritualist mediums work in churches, whilst they are in development, they go through a process of being called a “fledgling,” where they are put into the same situation as qualified mediums and expected to conquer their fears of the process. But they have a safety net, because people are aware that they are only learning, so it’s not a big deal if they make a mistake, and the expecta-tions aren’t out of proportion to what they can feasibly deliver. I’m not endorsing people reading charts any way they like, but this sort of experience actually makes you realise how important it is to study the tech-niques and understand the method you are working with. So many people have spent years studying astrology only to end up as “hindsight readers” or inter-preters of charts with such wide signifi-

cance that they know no one is going to take them to task over it, or the judge-ment can’t possibly be proved right or wrong. When someone is doing this, they are still regarding astrology as something outside of themselves, rather than an art that becomes illuminated through their own engagement with it. It’s as if they are thinking: “The chances of me saying something that is wrong are considerably increased by the act of saying anything at all.” If someone has the will to be a good astrologer, then no personal incapacity exists that will stop that person from being a good astrologer, providing they maintain their integrity and invest in the necessary experience.

GP: Thanks, Deborah, for making time for this interview. It’s been absolutely fascinating, and frankly I’m in awe of your ability to pull so much knowledge together in so practical a way. You’ve given a huge amount to the astrological community, yet you always pro-mote astrology rather than your-

self. So, I think you deserve much wider recognition as one of astrol-ogy’s leading figures, and I hope this interview can do a little bit towards that. Thank you, indeed.

© 2006 Garry Phillipson – all rights reserved

Garry Phillipson has been studying astrol-ogy since 1976. His book, Astrology in the Year Zero, is on the syllabus of courses at Kepler College, Bath Spa University, and the University of Kent. Garry is currently studying for a Ph.D. in Astrology and Cultural Astron-omy at Bath Spa University. He can be con-tacted at: [email protected]; Web site: www.astrozero.co.uk

Deborah Houlding


client’s past life but because it parallels the client’s current life — like a parable — and thus has great explanatory and emo-tional power. It can objectify psychological issues and themes in a manner that affords real insight. Unfortunately, Evolutionary Astrology misleads the client (and perhaps the practitioner) into believing that the made-up story parallels a real past life. It is far more likely that the story actually symbolizes a fictitious parallel life — a life that parallels the current life of the individual in meaning and qual-ity. Whether you put this story in the past, the present, or the future doesn’t really matter, as long as it accurately symbolizes the client’s real-life story. If Forrest merely claimed that a parallel-life story could be constructed from the birth chart that helps to objectify the client’s psychological issues, then the client’s response to this hypothesis would constitute evidential data in support of the theory. For it’s likely that such a story would be meaningful and helpful to the client. However, for Forrest to go further and claim that the helpfulness of the story constitutes evidence that it parallels a “real” past life is unwarranted. If the client is helped, this merely confirms that fictional stories derived from the birth chart can be helpful. To say any more than this is to stretch the significance of the client’s response for the sake of confirming the presuppositions of Evolutionary Astrology. Forrest tries to provide support for his theory by interpret-ing the chart of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy. After a quick overview of the chart, he con-cludes that a conventional interpretation would not account for what we actually know of Oswald’s life, that he was a somewhat paranoid and even violent individual who associ-ated with dark figures in a criminal underworld. Forrest then proceeds to interpret Oswald’s chart from the perspective of Evolutionary Astrology, concluding that it was Oswald’s dark and troubled former incarnation that instilled in him a capacity for “detached or dissociated violence” and “issues with figures of authority.” He points out the striking tension between the karmic story of Oswald’s prior life and the gentle, domestic tone of his more basic astrological signa-ture. “The truth of his life,” exclaims Forrest, “is almost com-pletely inconsistent with anything we might detect through more conventional astrological means.” He goes on to assert that Oswald’s chart is “a true test of this new branch of astrol-ogy: a situation where conventional astrological analysis would fail embarrassingly.” In my opinion, Forrest’s “test” of the merits of Evolution-ary Astrology merely amounts to ad hoc reasoning; everything in Oswald’s chart that could be interpreted as contradicting his fate is cited as evidence that a conventional approach is inad-equate. Conversely, chart factors that are actually consistent with Oswald’s known character are appropriated in support of Forrest’s past-life analysis. By dividing the chart in this way, Forrest simply attempts to validate his own presuppositions. One doesn’t have to be an Evolutionary Astrologer to conclude that someone with the Sun opposed Saturn is going to have issues with authority, regardless of whether that aspect

LetterstotheEditorcontinued from page 8

involves the lunar nodes. Even more ominous, Oswald’s square from Saturn to Pluto suggests that he harbored dark feelings toward the existing government and its political rep-resentatives. The square from his Sun to Pluto (applying at 7 degrees) symbolizes a wound to his sense of identity that could contribute to an underlying paranoia, combined with feelings of disempowerment and persecution. Likewise, Venus conjunct Mercury in Scorpio squaring Pluto is consis-tent with Oswald’s known underworld associations and his penchant for spying. Add Mars in the 8th opposed Pluto and squaring the Venus–Mercury conjunction in Scorpio (a lethal t-square), and you have a pretty good signature of someone

continued on page 84


Pluto into Capricorn, Part Two:

Confronting the Limits of Everything

by Edward Gillam

P luto’s transit through Capricorn, commencing in 2008, will herald a dramatic phase of deep planetary and personal trans-

formation. Political, economic, social, and cultural structures will be tested to the limit by Pluto’s urgent call to action. Although many changes will be felt and made on the collective level, each of us will have to respond in individual terms to the planetary dynamic. Three key themes were identified in Part One of this article. Firstly, newly emerging nations throughout the world may demand increasing political self-determination through a series of funda-mental changes in political structures and values. In the first part of this article, I outlined key political dimensions of these changes involving the United States and nations in South and Central America and Eastern Europe. A second theme is a global confrontation with the limits of the physical resources of the planet. Thirdly, larger numbers of young people may resort to direct political action, in response to these dramatic issues. Part Two of the article focusses on the second and third key issues.

Ecology and Green Consciousness The years that brought dramatic political change in Eastern Europe also saw the rise of green consciousness throughout the Western world. In the early 1990s, the growing awareness of humankind’s impact on the ecology of the planet began to hit home. The movement spearheaded by groups such as Green-peace (the campaigning organisation) and the Green Party (an emerging political party in Europe and the U.S.) began to influence political debate; the issues of global warming, con-sumerism, air pollution, fossil-fuel consumption, and deforesta-tion caught public attention. It seemed that the major issue of the 1980s, the threat of nuclear war, was replaced in the early 1990s with the apocalyptic vision of ecological devastation.


The challenge in discussing these issues using an astrological model is that there are no ready-made charts for ecol-ogy, animal rights, the environment, pollution, or global warming. Instead, we must turn to charts that encapsulate some dimension of this area of inter-est and use them as exemplars or para-digms. Useful charts in this context are the ones presented in Nicholas Campi-on’s Book of World Horoscopes for the development of nuclear technologies and fossil fuels (not all of these charts are shown). Table 1 (below) summarises key cardinal placements in these charts. One of the keys to understanding these charts is the Cancerian empha-sis. It is important to remember that 20° Cancer–Capricorn marks Pluto’s helio-centric nodal axis. This is the degree axis on which the Sun, the Earth, and Pluto’s geocentric nodes are aligned twice each year on January 10 and July 10.1 Two crucial charts for the devel-opment of nuclear technologies are presented in the Book of World Horo-scopes. The chart for the first atomic bomb test (see Chart 1, p. 60) has Saturn at 16° Cancer and the Sun at 24° Cancer; their midpoint is 20° Can-cer. At the bombing of Hiroshima, the Moon was conjunct Saturn at 18° Cancer (see Chart 2, p. 60). In both charts, the connections to Pluto’s nodes are clear. Furthermore, Robert Oppen-heimer, the nuclear physicist who is called the “father of the bomb,” had the Moon at around 23° Cancer (chart not shown); however, according to AstroDatabank, his chart is rated DD

Table 1: Planets in Cardinal Signs in Nuclear Technology and Oil-Related ChartsChart Date Aries Cancer Libra Capricorn

First controlled nuclear reaction

Dec. 2, 1942 JU 24°34' Can R MO 01°21' LibNE 01°46' Lib

First atomic explosion

July 16, 1945 MC 16°41' Ari NN 09°00' CanSA 15°38' CanSU 23°35' CanAS 27°26' Can

NE 03°55' LibMO 15°08' Lib

Bombing of Hiroshima

Aug. 6, 1945 VE 01°42' CanNN 08°53' CanMO 18°00' CanSA 18°13' Can

NE 04°21' Lib

First oil strike Aug. 28, 1859 JU 17°17' Can AS 13°30' Cap

Formation of OPEC Sept. 14, 1960 MO 7°20' Can ME 3°33' LibVE 14°13' Lib

SA 11°49' Cap R

(no verifiable birth time). A pre-dawn birth would give him the Moon near Pluto’s nodal zone of 20° Cancer.2

These explosions harnessed humankind’s control of physical mat-ter — down to the atomic level. Oppenheimer, the scientist who was instrumental in developing this awe-some control of nature, is recorded as having said at the Alamogordo atomic test: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of Worlds.” Oppenheimer was alluding to Hindu scripture and the ter-rible power of Shiva. Intriguingly, the Alamogordo tests were code-named “Trinity” — perhaps by Oppenheimer (who had taught himself Sanskrit, the language of Hindu scripture) in a ref-erence to the divine Hindu trinity of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Pre-server, and Shiva the Destroyer. In this context, Pluto (discovered after Uranus and Neptune) becomes the third god: Shiva, the Destroyer of Worlds. A chart that adds another dimen-sion to the connection between nuclear energy, ecology, and transformation is set for the sinking of the Greenpeace ves-sel, Rainbow Warrior, in Auckland Har-bour, New Zealand during July 1985. The Rainbow Warrior was used to mount

an internationally prominent campaign against French nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean. Through direct action, Greenpeace managed to focus the world’s attention on the tests undertaken by the French government on Moruroa Atoll. On July 10, 1985 at 11:49 p.m. NZT, two explosions rocked the ship, causing it to sink. Portuguese photogra-pher Fernando Pereira was killed by the second blast as he went below to col-lect his camera equipment. Two French secret service agents were accused of the crime; they pled guilty to charges of manslaughter and received a ridicu-lously light sentence. The implications of state-orchestrated terrorism, enacted by a liberal Western democracy, reverber-ated around the world. The chart for this event is not immediately striking — no Pluto ris-ing, no Mars–Uranus conjunction on the Midheaven. However, the clue to its relevance in this context is the potent Sun–Mars conjunction in the 4th house in Cancer (see Chart 3, p. 63). The degree area of the conjunction (18°–20° Cancer) is on the heliocentric north node of Pluto. The true power of the chart is revealed using midpoints, the

The psychological reality of limitation may be devastating to a Western world raised on

the expectation of ever-increasing consumption.


Chart 1: Alamogordo Atomic

Explosion

Chart 2: Hiroshima Bombing

All charts use Regiomontanus houses and the True Node.

astrological method popularised by the German astrologer Reinhold Ebertin. The 45° dial shows the following mid-point combinations: SU = SA/UR; and MA = VE = PL/AS = PL/MC = SU/MO. The Plutonian connection is now made clear through the placement of the Pluto/Ascendant and Pluto/MC mid-points with Mars, Venus, and the Sun/Moon midpoint — all focussed on Plu-to’s nodal zone in Cancer. Pluto will transit its south node, opposite these Cancerian degrees, around 2016–2019 before moving on to hit Saturn’s heliocentric south node at about 23° Capricorn. Although these astrological events are many years in the future, I believe that it is important to be mindful of them even in the middle of this decade. The implications of the com-ing transit of Pluto through this degree area in Capricorn are awesome. Even if the actual events around that time are not devastating, the ecological “mind-bomb” will explode in the consciousness of the world’s population at this time. During these few short years (if not earlier), the limits on unbridled con-sumption will have to be confronted. The potential shortages of energy, water,

land, and other resources may be man-ageable, but the psychological reality of finitude and limitation may be dev-astating to a Western world raised on the expectation of ever-increasing lev-els of consumption and material satisfac-tion. Readers should note that this period (2016–2019) refers back to the time of the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression, when Pluto transited the opposite degrees of Cancer. This was sig-nified in the U.S. Sibly chart by the tran-sit of Pluto square Saturn and Chiron.3 It is also worth noting that the Uranus–Neptune conjunctions of 1993 fell in the same degree area. Early that year, Ura-nus and Neptune connected at around 20°–21° Capricorn, conjunct the helio-centric south node of Pluto and near the heliocentric south node of Saturn. This degree area of Cancer is a fascinating one, and the richness of the stellar and planetary symbolism is intense. Within a degree of the north nodes of Saturn and Pluto are placed the ecliptic degrees of the major stars of

Gemini: Castor and Pollux. The fixed star Wasat — identified by Vivian Rob-son as “of the nature of Saturn … gives violence, malevolence, destructiveness as a first principle …”4 — is in the 18th degree of Cancer and lies on the eclip-tic. Slightly beyond the zone, at 25° Cancer, lies the ecliptic degree of Pro-cyon. Nicholas de Vore, in his Encyclo-paedia of Astrology, also characterises 20° Cancer as the degree of limitation and hindrance and 23° Cancer as the degree of forethought.5 This is clearly a powerful section of the zodiac. Pluto’s transit opposite it, from 18° to 24° Cap-ricorn, will confront us with the latent power of this degree area during an awesome period of change. Henryk Skolimowski published his book, A Sacred Place to Dwell, in 1993, when Uranus conjoined Neptune in Capricorn; he suggests that our relation-ship with the Earth become one based on notions of stewardship rather than exploitation. Skolimowski, a visionary thinker, writes: “In order to bring back the battered Earth to blossom, we need a right political system, which will foster life-enhancing values. Green politics, as based on ecological values, is an imper-ative of our times. With the Greening of God, it cannot be otherwise in the realm of politics. Ecological Democracy, pre-serving and enhancing the rights of all, is a matter of common sense and his-

Pluto in Capricorn One potential manifestation of the Pluto transit in

Capricorn is a resurgence of direct political action on a scale

not seen since the 1960s.


toric necessity.”6 Although develop-ing new political systems is more than a matter of good ideas, Skolimowski and others have pointed us in the direction of new modes of organisation.

An Intergenerational Revolution United by Astrological Cycles In the final portion of this article, I will address one potential manifesta-tion of the Pluto transit through Cap-ricorn that will affect all our lives: a resurgence of direct political action on a scale not seen since the 1960s (Viet-nam War), the ’80s (nuclear weapons), and the early ’90s (Central and Eastern European revolutions). During the Full Moon of February 15–16, 2003, millions of people around the world voiced their unease at the thought of an allied military invasion of Iraq. In London alone, it is reckoned that one million people marched peace-fully in opposition to the war. What was inspiring, apart from the size and non-violence of these global demonstrations, was that people united across religious, cultural, and ethnic divides. Although this lunation did not show an obviously heavy emphasis on Capricorn energy (chart not shown), Venus was conjunct Chiron in the middle of that sign — a placement suggestive of the key issue of peace. This conjunction was in hard aspect (semi-square/sesquiquadrate) to the lunation axis at 28° Leo–Aquarius.

The lunation axis was angular in Lon-don, lying across the meridian (4th–10th houses), with the Sun conjunct Uranus. A fascinating feature of the event was the involvement of parents and chil-dren in the demonstration. Indeed, in Britain, many teenagers had led local protests with the support of their teachers and parents. These young people were experiencing a powerful generational transit of Pluto conjoining natal Uranus and semi-squaring natal Pluto. The resur-gence of popular direct action, compa-rable to the nuclear disarmament days of the early 1980s, suggested that politi-cal activism was far from dead. The inter-generational nature of this activism draws our attention to a socio-astrological phe-nomenon that could play a decisive part in the political drama while Pluto transits through Capricorn. Table 2 (below) summarises, in broad terms, the transpersonal connec-tions between individuals born in suc-

Table 2: Summary of Broad Outer-Planet Placements by Decade (1960–1999)Birth

DecadeOuter-Planet

KeynotesTransiting

Pluto in Capricorn

1960s UR conj. PL in Vir; NE in Sco Trine UR–PL conj.; semi-square NE

1970s UR in Lib; PL in Lib Square UR; square PL

1980s NE in Cap; PL in Sco Conjunct NE; semi-square PL

1990s UR conj. NE in Cap Conjunct UR–NE

cessive generations from the 1960s onwards. The Plutonian link between generations is possible due to the rapid movement of the planet through Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius and the con-centration of outer planets in a small section of the zodiac because of the transpersonal conjunctions in the 1890s (Neptune–Pluto in Gemini), 1960s (Uranus–Pluto in Virgo), and 1990s (Uranus–Neptune in Capricorn). The cross-generational Pluto tran-sits will begin to occur as soon as Pluto moves into Capricorn. The generation born in the 1980s may instigate politi-cal activity as they experience a pow-erful collective transit: Pluto conjunct their natal Neptune placements early in Capricorn. Political activity will be very dynamic during 2012–2015, as Uranus and Pluto transit the middle decan of Aries and Capricorn, respec-tively. These transpersonal planets will be moving in and out of exact square


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Chart 3: Sinking of the

Rainbow Warrior

Chart 4: Brightlingsea Protest,

Full Moon of Jan. 1995

with each other during this time. These years may see the combined efforts of an intergenerational alliance making sig-nificant changes to the political status quo. There may be another high focus as Pluto moves through the degrees of the Uranus–Neptune conjunction of the early ’90s around 2018–2020. This intergenerational revolution will focus on a variety of issues. These include overconsumption, hypermobil-ity, energy demand, and the destruction of natural resources and ecosystems. Social justice, peace, and equality may also become broad-based issues. Dur-ing the years of Pluto’s journey through Capricorn (an earth sign), the empha-sis will be on what we do more than what we think or feel. In fact, this revo-lution may be just as much about grand gestures and mass action as recognis-ing that the myriad of small choices that we make each day have an impact far beyond our own personal horizons. It will be up to each one of us to make small but significant shifts in our actions. Capricorn, after all, is the cardinal earth sign: What we do will make a difference. One example of the type of politi-cal activity that may be prominent in the coming years occurred in Brightling-sea, Essex, in England during Decem-ber 1994 – February 1995. This small coastal community was galvanised to act together to end the export of live

animals to continental Europe through their local seaport. Many of the towns-people decided that they no longer wanted to support a trade in live ani-mals that they had come to see as cruel and unnecessary. This activism took place over several months, but the period in mid January to early February 1995 provided one of the focal times. The Full Moon chart for January 16, set for Brightlingsea, shows the lunation axis exactly aligned with the separat-ing conjunction of Uranus and Neptune in Capricorn (see Chart 4, below). An eighth-harmonic pattern is formed with Jupiter and Venus conjunct the IC and Saturn on the Descendant. Combative Mars rises in the 12th house. During Pluto’s transit through Cap-ricorn, we will see the widespread ac-ceptance of the concepts of the Gaia

hypothesis and the “act locally, think

globally” mind frame. The con-

cept of “small is beautiful”

will gain common

currency. In fact, downsizing may be-come an imperative that supports global survival, rather than an idiosyncratic lifestyle choice embraced by a small cross-section of society. The Brightling-sea protest and the antiwar demonstra-tions give us two manifestations of these ideas in practice.

Conclusion The regenerative potential of Pluto is legendary. Pluto’s destructive power exists to create the space in our lives to build new opportunities. What is torn down is tired and outdated. What is built new is fresh and more suited to our current needs. However, accepting this as a matter of faith is never going to be easy. In the Tarot, the arcanum of the lightning-struck Tower is followed by the arcanum of the Star. The promise of the Star is rebirth into a new future. This is the glory of the Tower–Star pairing: What is destroyed gives way to the glory of rebirth into new life. This death–rebirth archetype is also the dynamic that Pluto sets up in the psyche. By focussing on new life and envisioning a just future for the Earth, its ecology, and the human community, Pluto’s radical restructuring at collective and individual levels may be made bearable and even-tually fruitful. It is time to begin envisioning the exciting potential of Pluto’s dark wealth

Pluto’s destructive power exists to create the space in our lives

to build new opportunities.


for revitalising our society. We need new ways of forming relationships with each other; we need to develop a sense of our responsibility for the stewardship of the planet. It will be too late to do this once Pluto has moved through Capricorn. We can begin from the premise that the Earth is a paradise — a “sanctuary,” according to Skolimowski — that deserves our due care and attention. The Earth surrounds us with its love and generosity; it indulges our collective immaturity with great for-bearance and infinite wisdom. As astrologers, we are uniquely placed to provide leadership and guid-ance in the years to come. Our aware-ness of the cycles of the solar system — the cosmic framework for social, polit-ical, and economic change — places us in a privileged and responsible position. Are we ready to play a part in leading change towards more meaningful struc-tures in our society? As a community, do we have the vision, unity, and depth of spirit to answer this call? Or will we just follow where others lead? Pluto in Capri-corn will test all of us — each in our own way — just as it will confront our socie-ties with a time of reckoning. It is time for us to join together, as a global community, to return the Earth’s

loving kindness many times over. It is time to confront the limits of everything. Please begin now — there is no time to lose.

I would like to thank my colleague, Jill Whitman, for her editorial advice and her patient help with this article.

Chart Data and Sources(in order of appearance)

Alamogordo Atomic Explosion, July 16, 1945; 12:29:21 p.m. GMT; Alamogordo, NM, USA (32°N54', 105°W57'); Nicholas Campion, The Book of World Horoscopes (BWH), 2nd edition, Cinnabar Books, 1995, Chart 441.

Hiroshima Bombing, August 6, 1945; 8:16 a.m. JST (–09:00); Hiroshima, Japan (34°N24', 132°E27'); BWH, Chart 442.

Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, July 10, 1985; 11:49 p.m. NZT (–12:00); Auckland, New Zealand (36°S52', 174°E46'); from press reports summarised at www.geocities.com/shipwrecks_magazine/rainbow.htm

Antiwar Full Moon, February 16, 2003; 11:51 p.m. UT; London, England (51°N30', 00°W10'); date of demonstrations from press accounts at the time.

Brightlingsea Full Moon, January 16, 1995; 8:26:20 p.m. UT; Brightlingsea, Essex, U.K. (51°N49', 01°E02'); source: eyewitness account at www.chaos.org.uk/~maureen/bsea1b.html

References and Notes1. Bernard Fitzwalter and Raymond Henry, Dark Stars: Invisible Focal Points in Astrology, The Aquarian Press, 1988, p. 110. For more information, see the sidebar material pub-lished with Part 1 of this article in The Mountain Astrologer, Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006, p. 53.

2. Robert Oppenheimer, April 22, 1904; 8:15 a.m. EST; New York, NY, USA (40°N43', 74°W00'); DD: Church of Light quotes Gilbert Ibarra 11/1964; other birth times are given.

3. See Table 1, in Part 1 of this article, TMA, Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006, p. 55.

4. Vivian E. Robson, The Fixed Stars and Con-stellations in Astrology, The Aquarian Press, 1969, p. 216.

5. Nicholas de Vore, Encyclopaedia of Astrol-ogy, Littlefield, Adams and Co., 1977.

6. Henryk Skolimowski, A Sacred Place to Dwell: Living with Reverence upon the Earth, Element Books, 1993, p. 50.

© 2006 Edward Gillam – all rights reserved

Edward Gillam has been working with astrol-ogy since 1992. His interests include mundane astrology, the seventh-harmonic chart, and the interface between the horoscope and astron-omy. His articles have appeared in The Moun-tain Astrologer and the Journal of the Astrolog-ical Association of Great Britain. He has also lectured at conferences in the U.K. For more information, please visit his Web site: www.asteria.freeserve.co.uk/edgillam.htm

Pluto in Capricorn


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A D V E R T I S E M E N T


The Progressed Lunation Cycle

by Frédérique BoeleIntroduction Every month, an invisible New Moon signals that we can make a fresh start; as the cycle progresses and the Moon waxes, we can learn, grow, and invest. During the second half of the cycle, after the Full Moon, we may reap what we have sown; we can reflect upon and eventually bring to a close whatever was conceived at the beginning. Dana Gerhardt introduced readers of The Mountain Astrologer to this monthly cycle in her excellent “Moonwatching” series.1

The progressed Sun and Moon perform the same dance every 30 years — the timing is entirely

dependent on our personal birth chart. Secondary progression is a technique that symbolically advances

the natal chart by one day for each year lived. Thus, for a 40-year-old person, a progressed chart shows

the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets 40 days after birth. When the progressed Moon (moving

at approximately 13 degrees per year) joins the progressed Sun (travelling at 1 degree per year),

the individual experiences a progressed New Moon for a period of three and a half years. For people who

were born during a Last Quarter or Balsamic phase (that is, towards the end of the lunation cycle) this

could happen very early in life.

Riding theWave


On the other hand, those born at a New Moon or Crescent phase would have a progressed New Moon in their mid-to-late twenties. The progressed lunation cycle thus beats a slow but deeply meaningful rhythm in our lives, one that we may easily overlook but that can actually put even slow-moving Pluto transits into a larger context. Therefore, it is worthwhile to pay attention to our current progressed Moon phase so that we can attune ourselves to it. As we trace these progressions through the chart, we are confronted with the fact that planets travel through the houses and signs in a counterclockwise direction. Although we see the Sun rise in the east, moving clockwise over the eastern horizon (the Ascendant), crossing the MC at noon, and setting in the west (on the Descendant), this is an illusion created by the daily rotation of the Earth. When we draw a chart, however, we fix the horizon at the moment of birth, and thus — in a sense — we stop the Earth rotating. As a result, we see transits and progressions descending over the Ascendant and rising over the Descendant; this is why, in astrological charts, the houses and signs are laid out counterclockwise. Although many of my observations about the lunation cycle are not vastly different from those of others who have written on this subject before me, readers will realise that I use a different framework when relating the phases to the houses or signs.2 Many astrologers assume that the conjunction (and thus the New Moon) is equivalent to 0° Aries, and they derive all other aspects and lunar phases from that point (e.g., the First Quarter is like Cancer, the opening quincunx is like Virgo). However, I firmly believe that the conjunction and start of the cycle should be compared to the IC, the cusp of the 4th house. Aries and the Ascendant are associated with the dawn, the beginning of spring (in the Northern Hemisphere), a radical break with the past and, of course, the moment of birth. This is why Aries is usually considered the first sign of the zodiac and why we start counting the houses from the Ascendant. But birth, however important a beginning, is only the continuation of a life that was

set in motion at conception. Likewise, midnight is the time when the old day dies and the new day is born. The IC is often thought to represent the end of life; it makes sense to conclude that, in a cycle, the IC is the beginning of new life as well. I am therefore convinced that the “conjunction = 0° Aries” theory is in need of revision. If my conclusions do not seem to contradict other authors very much, this is because (in my opinion) few astrologers have applied this theory consistently. Instead, most have relied on their own observations and experience, and I will do the same, since I don’t think that the meaning of the lunar phases can be entirely reduced to the conventional interpretations of the houses. Still, I do believe that linking the start of the lunar cycle to the IC will shed new light on the cycle, and I hope to explore this further here.

The Progressed New Moon (Angular Separation of Sun and Moon: 0°– 44°) The progressed

Sun–Moon conjunction is one of the most pivotal times in our lives, since it signals both the beginning and the end of the lunation cycle. Our New Moon phase may, therefore, start with an overriding sense that something is finally over. Paradoxically, the conjunction, as it closes the circle, can represent a more definite separation from the past than any other aspect of the lunation cycle, so we may be confronted with losses and terminations. Often, a period of mourning and reorientation is called for. This may be a low point in someone’s career — a time of obscurity, unemployment, and confusion. After ten years as British Prime

Minister, Margaret Thatcher was forced to resign during her progressed New Moon. When both Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were at this phase, they experienced the breakup of the Beatles. The end represented by this phase may even take the form of a major achievement which has no obvious sequel. Buzz Aldrin became the second man to walk on the Moon but suffered subsequently from severe depression, which may have had something to do with a feeling of “What next?”3

However, as one cycle ends, another begins. We can compare the New Moon to the midwinter point or to transits over the IC — the lowest, most private, and most obscure point of the chart. The image is that of a seed, ger-minating but still hidden in the ground, or a human egg cell, fertilized by a sperm, growing and separating whilst the mother does not yet know she is pregnant. As these images show, begin-nings at the New Moon phase are often small and hardly visible to the naked eye. We may be in the dark during the progressed New Moon as plans, proj-ects, or even our new identity have not quite crystallised yet. So, especially with young people, the progressed New Moon can mean confusion about which direction to take. It is a kind of dream-time, when many things may occur to you, but only one or two will eventually take root. It is wise to allow the young New Moon types their dreamtime and avoid pressuring them into making a premature commitment. At the progressed New Moon, we are all rather like young children. In myths and stories, the young hero often

starts his life in obscurity, in what we might call a 4th-house situation. He (or she) may be vulnerable, hidden, isolated from the world — or merely innocent and comfort-able in a restricted, womb-like environment. We can think of Siegfried being raised under-ground by gnomes who nour-ish the roots of the Tree of Life (which we can associate with the IC/MC axis); Frodo Baggins in his Hobbit hole; or Harry Potter in his cup-board under the stairs. During

It is worthwhile to pay attention to our current progressed Moon phase so that we can attune

ourselves to it.

Harry Potter


the New Moon phase, we may find our-selves in a similar situation, and it could be helpful to think of ourselves as expe-riencing a hero’s childhood, no matter what age we really are. Since the progressed New Moon is like a transit over the IC, this phase often means that we will have to move and establish new roots somewhere else. More often, however, there is a dis-tinct movement towards home. As we retreat from the world, we seek a safe place to hibernate or weather the crisis. We may learn that we must reconnect to our roots. This can happen quite lit-erally. One client of mine had to move back in with her mother after having suffered a crushing career disappoint-ment. Another client had spent most of her childhood abroad; at her pro-gressed New Moon, her parents repatri-ated and even moved into the ancestral home. The progressed New Moon may mean that, after we’ve travelled far and explored many things, we finally come home, to do as our fathers did and their mothers before them. We have a new appreciation of our parents’ val-ues or find out things about our per-sonal background that we had never known before. On another level, and perhaps more to the point, the pro-gressed New Moon and its “homecom-ing” theme4 may be about finding our point of gravity, what lies at the root of our personality and our being, the core of our existence. We come home to ourselves. Doing so, we could discover that pursuits we had either abandoned or shelved indefinitely, during the last cycle, are now revived. We may pick up, once more, the musical instrument that has been gathering dust for the last ten years or decide to finish the col-lege education we had to interrupt for unforeseen reasons. If we have stuck to our dreams all along, the progressed New Moon could indicate a move to a higher level to reaffirm who we are and what we are about. The old theme acquires a new dimension, often in the form of a career challenge. I have been comparing the

New Moon to a transit over the IC; when that happens, the MC is activated as well. The progressed New Moon can therefore mean that our station in life is changed. During this phase, Neil Arm-strong, an enthusiastic amateur pilot, joined the Navy to fly missions in Korea; John Paul II became Pope. The Beatles met Brian Epstein and signed their first recording contract during John Len-non’s progressed New Moon. We may continue what we were doing before, but instead of playing at the amateur level, we are now in the major leagues — and all of a sudden, it’s a whole dif-ferent ball game.

The Progressed Crescent Moon (45° – 89°) If the cycle starts at the IC, it follows

that at the start of the Crescent phase, we are halfway through that part of the cycle that corresponds to the 5th house. The 5th is the house of the Sun; in this house, we express ourselves so we can become a unique individual. In myths, this is the moment when the son of a virgin feels compelled to search for his father, when fairy-tale heroes go off to hunt for golden apples or life-giving elixirs — all symbols of solar energy. The hero decides to leave home to seek his fame and fortune, thus embarking on a quest for self-discovery. In the same way, when we are at the Crescent phase, we must take a risk in order to create our own story. We must leave home, go to school, start dating, or bring a child into the world. Circumstances sometimes force us to take action when we would rather remain passive, but the new cycle must start and we must make it our own. Since the Crescent phase follows the New Moon period of dreams, dis-orientation, and lazing about, the semi-square (45°) urges us to do something. The challenge here is to start moving, even if our direction and our goals are not very clear. We may decide at this stage to get a job, no matter what, just to get some work experience under our belt. We must set out on the journey, even if we are not perfectly sure where the journey is going to take us.

If during the progressed New Moon we suffered depression, unemployment, obscurity, or hospitalisation, the Crescent phase could be the time to re-emerge. If at our progressed New Moon we rediscovered an old dream, we must now take the first steps to make that dream come true — perhaps start taking music lessons or business administration classes. After the progressed Sun–Moon sextile (60°), we find ourselves in the part of the cycle that corresponds to the 6th house; we may discover that we have to do some hard, tedious work to realise our dreams. Since we are nearly always new at what we are doing in the Crescent phase, it is characterised by a steep learning curve. We must learn how to live with a new partner, how to parent a newborn child, or how to cope with a new job. In stories and folktales, this part of the Crescent phase corresponds to the moment the hero or heroine is asked to render a service, perhaps by freeing a trapped animal or helping an old woman. Sometimes, our protagonist must serve an apprenticeship. We are in the 6th house; we must work and learn and adapt and prove ourselves worthy. Some heroes now meet the mentor who will prepare them for their heroic career: This is when Arthur meets Merlin, or when Jason and Achilles spend time with Chiron.5 The moral of these diverse stories is the same: If the heroes are helpful, diligent, or attentive enough, their efforts will not go unrewarded, and they themselves will receive help, advice, or maybe a magical amulet or sword for protection during the adventures that await them. At this stage, we would be wise to accept help and guidance, for thus we may acquire skills and experience that will stand us in good stead later on. And we need support, because at the Crescent phase, we are young and inexperienced in the new world we now inhabit. We may prefer at this stage to be part of a collective of people with roughly the same ideas and aspirations. Maybe we need to depend on a tradition, a teacher, or a senior colleague to teach us the rudiments of what we are trying to learn, or to hold onto our parents’ values while we are raising our own children. At

Riding the Wave


this stage, we must be open-minded, willing to defer judgement, and eager to experiment and adapt. It would be advisable to honour our need for structure and security to protect the new. In fact, we must create a kind of safe learning environment for ourselves. At this time, it is not such a good idea to stop, reflect, evaluate, or analyse our inner doubts, because we don’t yet have sufficient perspective to realise how valid our experiences are or where they will take us. If circumstances are ideal, however, we can make amazing progress during these years and become very successful. John Lennon was going through his progressed Crescent phase at the height of the Beatles’ popularity, but he was still in the typical Crescent situation of operating within a group of childhood friends under the strict management of Brian Epstein. When Lennon entered the next phase — the progressed First Quarter — his life would change markedly.

The Progressed First Quarter Moon (90° – 134°) During the

Crescent phase, we crawled out of the egg; supported by our parents, we experienced rapid growth. For a while now, we have been practising flapping our wings, flexing our flight muscles, and preparing for takeoff. Now, at the First Quarter, it’s time to fly. So, regardless of our age and circumstances, the progressed First Quarter usually brings a clean break from the past, the cutting of the umbilical cord, and greater independence. When this phase arrives, we may want to turn away from a familiar but too-restrictive environment, so we will quite likely undergo tests of strength, courage, and judgement. Looking at the Diagram (below), we can see why this is so and what other themes may be playing out at the First Quarter. If the progressed New Moon can be compared to transits to the IC, it follows that the progressed First Quarter is similar to planets crossing the Descendant. All cycles can be represented by the pattern of a wave; the Diagram shows how I think the lunation cycle (and, indeed, any other planetary cycle) relates to the four angles of a chart. The lowest and most amorphous point of the wave (and also of the chart) is the IC: the point of midnight, the proverbial seed,

The Beatles

The Progressed Lunation "Wave"


invisible, hidden in the ground or in the womb. Next, from New Moon to Full Moon, comes the waxing half of the cycle; the wave goes up and reaches its zenith, or apotheosis, at the point of noon, the MC: the highest point in the chart. Then follows the waning part of the cycle when the wave goes down. Halfway between New Moon and Full, we reach a critical juncture as we cross the Ascendant/Descendant axis. At this point, we leave the private realm of the chart’s lower hemisphere and enter the public arena of the upper hemisphere. If we have been taking instructions while adhering to certain traditions, we may now feel ready to make our own choices, formulate our own philosophies, or decide on our own methods. We may feel prepared to start our own business or, if we are already self-employed, to take on a bigger challenge: enter a new market or launch a new product. If we have been writing a book, the progressed First Quarter is an appropriate time to send the manuscript to the publishers. Whatever happens, it is clear that at the First Quarter we may have to face competition and the judgement of others; to many of us, this is undoubt-edly a frightening prospect. On the eve of the publication of The Lord of the Rings, during his progressed First Quarter, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote, in a letter to a friend: “I am dreading the publication, for it will be impossible not to mind what is said. I have exposed my heart to be shot at.”6 Under these circumstances, it is natural to turn to friends and allies so that we do not have to face the enemy alone. When we have to manage without the support of parents or parental figures, our peers become more important. At the progressed First Quarter, we may therefore need to associate with kindred spirits, join clubs, or find partners to help us through this rite of passage. From this perspective, we can also see why leaving home — especially for women — has throughout the ages been almost synonymous with getting married;

the spouse in many ways replaces the parent of the opposite gender. So, weddings are quite a common event at the First Quarter. Princess Diana is a prime example; her wedding at her progressed First Quarter also heralded the beginning of her life as a public figure and her rivalry with Camilla Parker Bowles. However, because of the First Quarter tendency to break away from the past to gain independence, divorces are as common as weddings at this phase. When John Lennon reached his progressed First Quarter, he divorced his first wife, married Yoko Ono, and started his solo career — all typical First Quarter actions. Those who are too young to get married may meet a very significant other in the form of a new sibling, whose birth could mean companionship as well as new responsibilities and competition for mother’s attention. And since the 7th house rules enemies as well as partners, the progressed First Quarter could also mean having to face the bully at school or in the office. After leaving home to start our heroic journey, we cross the boundaries of what is safe and familiar and enter a strange and dangerous topsy-turvy land. Here, we are faced with “the Other,” on which many hopes and fears can be projected. The First Quarter phase therefore represents 7th- and 8th-house issues. Little Red Riding Hood ventures into the forest and meets a wolf. Is the wolf a charming creature, or is she in mortal danger? Heroes now find them-selves abandoned by their guides or companions and must face many dan-gers alone. Princesses marry a Beast or a Bluebeard or make promises to a frog. Their parents are gone, so these characters must now make their own judgements in their dealings with these creatures.

As previous examples have shown, not all progressed First Quarters are so dramatic. For many children, this may simply be the next step towards inde-pendence, taken with confidence and encouraged by the parents. Some of us may even choose not to take the plunge — at least at this stage. The young bird on the edge of the nest is either going to fly or die trying, but we humans may decide that we are not quite ready to make that leap. In that case, the Full Moon and Last Quarter phases will defi-nitely remind us of what we have failed to do. However, for most of us who are approaching the progressed First Quar-ter, it is time to take a deep breath and trust our wings.

The Progressed Gibbous Moon(135° – 179°) During the years preceding the progressed

Full Moon, our world widens and opens up new vistas. We may visit a big city or travel to the mountains for the first time, or perhaps we are introduced to world literature or a higher form of educa-tion. We are meeting life at a level that teaches us about the vastness of the uni-verse, and we begin to realise that it’s a big world out there. In the 30 degrees leading up to the progressed Sun–Moon opposition, we are in the 9th house, so we are natu-rally expanding our horizons. In stories, we find the hero flying on a magic car-pet or a mythical bird to some faraway land in order to fulfil his quest; with the Full Moon approaching, we may feel the same kind of exhilaration. However, in these foreign parts, the hero may well encounter hulking giants with voracious appetites. Everything grows big during the Gibbous Moon, including problems and powerful emotions. The Gibbous phase starts where the First Quarter phase ended: in the 8th house. Ideally, the confrontation with the Other during the First Quar-ter has transformed us. We may have bonded with our significant other so we are now stronger and more complete. Having faced the challenge and discov-ered our hidden strengths, we may now see the future beckoning and set our

Riding the Wave

Diana and Charles


sights higher than before. Many new possibilities present themselves; we may believe that we can reach for the stars. We might, literally or symbolically, have conceived a child and feel it growing inside us; a woman heavy with child is an apt image for the Gibbous Moon. On the other hand, the confronta-tions at the First Quarter may not have gone so well. We may have suffered defeat or betrayal, and now we feel traumatised, frustrated, and powerless. Like Bluebeard’s wife, we discovered the bloody heads in the secret chamber. In this case, our tension, anxiety, and dissatisfaction are rising, and we look for a way out. As the Moon waxes, our feel-ings will be increasingly difficult to con-tain or conceal. In either our enthusiasm or our growing discomfort, we could eas-ily overdo things during this phase. Because we sense that we’re approach-ing the crest of a wave, we are very willing to invest our time, money, and effort. We may sacrifice sleep, eat too much fast food, smoke too many ciga-rettes, or get ourselves deeper into debt. We may take on an ever-growing work-load as we climb the corporate ladder, and children could become more insis-tent in their demands for freedom. For some of us, all this may become just too much. At his progressed Gibbous phase, Salman Rushdie had to go into hiding, as religious outrage over his book, The Satanic Verses, reached fever pitch and resulted in a fatwa, a decree condemn-ing him to death. Initial successes could occur at this period, usually promising even bigger rewards in the future, but there may also be outbursts of impatience or anger — the warning rumbles of a working volcano. Towards the end of the Gib-bous phase, we are in labour. Whether we have a child, an emotional break-down, or a scientific breakthrough will be revealed by the Full Moon.

The Progressed Full Moon (180°– 224°) At the progressed Full Moon, we reach the

zenith of the lunation cycle, so we can compare this to the highest point of the


horoscope: the MC and the 10th house. Simply stated, at the Full Moon we expe-rience either a climax or an anticlimax. Having reached Saturn’s house, we expect either a concrete achievement or a disappointment. Both hopes and fears may now materialise. At the Gibbous phase, we were pregnant; now we are delivered of our baby, be it a real child, a theatre production, or a new idea. So, for some of us, the progressed Full Moon means a high point in our life or career, the realisation of a dream. In stories, heroes reach the apotheosis as quests are fulfilled and fire-breathing dragons are slain. The story of the sacking of Troy is probably the best example of such a dénouement. The giant horse statue laden with warriors (Jupiter, 9th house, Gibbous) gives birth to ultimate victory for the Greeks — but death and destruc-tion for the Trojans (Saturn, 10th house). In fact, Greek poets relate that the event took place during a Full Moon.7

We are now at the MC — very much out there on the world stage and in the public eye. This does not necessarily spell good fortune or success, however. A scandal may bring us much unwanted attention. We might also have to face the

inevitable consequences of our excesses during the Gibbous phase — and suffer burnout or a heart attack. Our reckless-ness could result in a crash or accident, bringing us to a dead stop. We may feel that we have reached the limit of our endurance and run away from an unten-able situation, or we may simply not get the prize or promotion we had been looking forward to — not necessarily because we are undeserving, but because there is little room at the top and there can only be one winner. At Al Gore’s progressed Full Moon, he was defeated in the 2000 U.S. presidential election that he had probably expected to win. John Kerry suffered the same fate during this phase of his lunar cycle in 2004.8 Failure or success, the progressed Full Moon always brings a release of energy, as we experience the relief of a definite result. We have run up against our limitations and must now resign ourselves to the situation. Or else we have scaled our mountain and can now spend a few moments enjoying the view. Ideally, therefore, the Full Moon brings a sense of liberation. Our goals achieved, we can now treat ourselves to a holiday. Subsequently, the latter part of the Full Moon is often more quiet than the exciting but hectic Gibbous phase. For the time being, our strug-gles are over; we can look at our situa-tion and achievements dispassionately

and set ourselves new objectives. Some-times, however, an emotional crisis is needed to clear the air first. Detachment and separation are major themes during the progressed Full Moon. The distance between the Sun and the Moon is now at its maxi-mum, and this may lead to polarisation in our lives at this stage. We may think in black and white and wish to shed that part of us we feel is evil, heinous, or destructive. We want to rid ourselves of our demons and leave our old life as far behind us as we can. I know sev-eral people who decided to emigrate at this phase — and others who felt they should at least take a trip around the world. At the MC, we are opposite the

Riding the Wave

The Ten Commandments

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4th house, so the progressed Full Moon may find us very far from home. It is not uncommon for children to experience their parents’ divorce at this stage: Their father and mother are now worlds apart. This ultimate separation also occurs during the shamanic quest for a heal-ing or revitalising vision. After mortifica-tion or even the (apparent) death of the body, the spirit is released and is able to travel to other spheres. It may ascend to the heavens or descend into the Under-world of the ancestors — in astrological terms, to travel up or down the world axis of the MC/IC. In fact, the crest of the wave, as seen in the Diagram on page 69, represents the point of great-est enlightenment. At the Full Moon, both solar and lunar forces are at their peak: The Moon is most visible and dra-matic as its reflects the Sun’s light with maximum effect, whereas the MC is the Sun’s province, the point of noon where the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky. With all this light, we must see clearly. For this reason, the Full Moon is often cited as a time for visions and revelations. We are on top of the world, talking to the gods. The religious quest and spiritual fervour of the 9th house and the Gibbous phase now crystallise into a concrete vision, a religious con-version, or articles of faith. Clearly, this is the moment when Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinaï or when Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha. According to legend, it was also during a Full Moon that Siddhartha liberated himself from all worldly illu-sions and became the realised Buddha.

For some of us, the awe we experi-ence during the late Gibbous and early Full Moon phase can be an inspiration to find our true vocation and a career direc-tion. At his first progressed Full Moon, six-year-old Neil Armstrong was taken up in a small aircraft and fell in love with flying and space. His second progressed Full Moon, 30 years later, found him in outer space on the Gemini 8 mission — very far away from home, indeed!

The Progressed Disseminating Moon (225°– 269°) At the Dissemi-nating phase, we often

see the beginning of the “homecom-ing” theme that characterises the sec-ond half of the cycle. In the first half, we were busy leaving home and break-ing free from the past, but after the Full Moon, we have to return — bringing with us, however, our experience and insights to change and improve the sit-uation or place we came from. In this way, we revisit the past and change it at the same time. We are now in the 11th and 12th houses, so the gifts of the Full Moon must somehow be assimilated by the collec-tive. We must share our illumination or our success with others. This is when Moses comes down the mountain with the stone tablets to give the law to his people. Similarly, if we have just spent a year in India with our guru, we now have to come home and use our changed atti-tude in a new job. Our sabbatical year

or our maternity leave is over, and we return to a familiar routine. We may also build on what we achieved at the pro-gressed Full Moon: We can now take our diploma to the job market or use our prize to get funding for the next proj-ect. Neil Armstrong continued his space flights to become the first man on the Moon. His comment — “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” — expressed a very Dissemi-nating (or 11th-house) sentiment. If the progressed Full Moon brought disappointment or downfall, the Dissemi-nating phase often means that we are try-ing to come to terms with the facts. The sense of detachment and crystallisation of the latter part of the Full Moon con-tinues into the Disseminating phase; we may reflect on what happened, evalu-ate our actions, lick our wounds, and draw our conclusions. If we have found a vocation, we must take subsequent action. This means that we now find our niche or place in society. We may join a movement or political party or otherwise seek out kindred spirits. For example, 15-year-old Paul McCartney joined the Bea-tles at this phase. We may start to build networks to further our newfound cause. For some, the return after the heroic deeds and high drama of the Full Moon is an even greater challenge than the journey outward. The adven-tures of Odysseus really began after the successful sacking of Troy; he had to overcome many dangers while sailing through a dreamlike seascape of won-ders (12th house). Today’s war veterans may experience the same frustrations and difficulties. They feel lost and alien-ated returning home after having lived through battle and extreme conditions in distant lands. They may feel, in fact,

The Trojan Horse

Neil Armstrong


that they have not really come home at all but are still far away in spirit. Those who fled from what seemed to be insurmountable problems at the progressed Full Moon may find them-selves on the run or in hiding — unwill-ing or unable to face the problems they left behind. Others are quite comfortable in the service of their chosen causes. Our jobs or institutions may provide us with a collective identity that protects us like a warm blanket. During the reinte-gration process that is typical of the Dis-seminating phase, we may add more and more water to the wine of our Full Moon convictions; we could even be in danger of forgetting what we knew then with such absolute clarity. In stories, we recognise these 12th-house themes when we read about heroes in exile or imprisoned or wander-ing the wilds. Or perhaps they are quite comfortable and happy, like enchanted sleepers or Odysseus’s men who vis-ited the lotus eaters and, drugged by the honey-tasting flowers, forgot they had a home to go back to. Similarly, spirits who have transcended their worldly existence and reached Nirvana may decide never to reincarnate again. The Disseminating phase can there-fore be a rather quiet time when we are hiding out, underachieving, or forget-ting, to some degree. If we are, how-ever, the Last Quarter will sound an unforgiving wake-up call.

The Progressed Last Quarter (270° – 314°) The progressed Last Quarter can be com-

pared to transits or progressions to the Ascendant (see the Diagram on page 69). This means that we move from the collective and public 12th house to the extremely personal 1st house. The Last Quarter can therefore be as painful as birth; we have to leave the womb, wake up from a long sleep, and face who we are, alone and separate. This crisis can also be compared to the sobering expe-

rience of having to retire; we suddenly find we are no longer part of a collec-tive and have lost our public, social, or corporate identity. We must now return to our essential self. The Last Quarter of the cycle corresponds to the first three houses, the main building blocks of our personality. The progressed Last Quarter thus raises urgent questions about who we are, what we want, and how we see our destiny. Examples of these questions are: “I want to have a baby before I am too old, but will I be strong enough to raise it on my own?” “What do we really want to do and experience before we marry, settle down, and start a family?” “I’d like to start my own business, but I’ve been putting it off. Should I try it now that the economy is about to go into recession?” At the Last Quarter, we should shake ourselves free from distractions, refocus, and return to ourselves. In sto-ries, we are told of the hero’s return. For those who have been adrift, in hiding, or in exile, it is time to come home, dis-pose of the tyrants and usurpers, and claim their inheritance. When Odysseus arrives back in his native Attica after wandering the seas for many years, he is alone and desti-tute and goes unrecognised. Now he must prove himself to be the rightful king and, by feats of strength, reclaim his wife and his throne. A modern vari-ation on this well-known theme would be Nelson Mandela; after nearly 30 years in prison, he was released during his progressed Last Quarter and faced the challenge of becoming South Afri-ca’s first black president. Like the First Quarter, the pro-gressed Last Quarter may bring tests of strength and courage. Especially for young people, the Last Quarter phase may be very similar to a First Quar-ter experience: Both can mean a step towards greater independence and self-

realisation. (In fact, at each phase of the cycle, we may be confronted with issues related to the house opposite the one where we currently are.) However, there are differences between these two phases. As we have seen from the above examples, our concerns at the Last Quarter are more about the future than about the past. At the First Quarter, we may worry about being ready; at the Last Quarter, we tend to be afraid that we have left things too late. We may feel that we must set out on a journey with winter or old age approaching. Another difference we can sometimes observe is that, at the Last Quarter, the rebellious spirit — characteristic of both Quar-ter phases — is not so much directed against our personal background, par-ents, mentors (4th, 5th, 6th houses) but against a collective, history, or society in general (10th, 11th, 12th houses). At his progressed Last Quarter, Muhammad Ali changed his religion and his name, in defiance of the status and history of blacks in America, and thus forged a new identity for himself. At the Last Quarter, we are force-fully reminded that the cycle is nearing its end. We may have to steel ourselves in anticipation of a crisis, or perhaps we are offered one last opportunity to make a dream come true. In most cases, therefore, the Last Quarter will spur us into action.

The Progressed Balsamic Moon (315° – 359°) As the Progressed Moon approaches the

conjunction with the progressed Sun, our world shrinks. People who sup-

Riding the Wave The progressed Last Quarter raises urgent

questions about who we are, what we want, and how we see our destiny.

Muhammad Ali


ported us and structures that provided us with a sense of security and iden-tity may fall away, leaving us lonely and vulnerable. Dreams that sus-tained us might have to be abandoned or indefinitely postponed. Our plans may be thwarted; our efforts could fail. Our physical health may deterio-rate and require extra care and atten-tion. So, we must go inward — retreat, regroup, and recover — before we are ready to move back out into the world again after the conjunction, during the New Moon and Crescent phases. The approaching progressed New Moon could be the winter of our discon-tent, when we have to lie low, go into hibernation until light and life return. The progressed Balsamic Moon, lead-ing up to that time, may therefore test us severely. Vincent van Gogh suc-cumbed to physical weakness, mental illness, and despair during this phase. Muhammad Ali was stripped of his world boxing title and barred from the sport because he refused to be drafted into the army, for religious reasons. However, the progressed Balsamic Moon need not always be so dire. Although some of these losses and endings may be forced upon us, there are other possible scenarios. During the cycle that is com-ing to an end, we have been confronted with many challenges, some of which we may have shied away from. Now, at the eleventh hour, we believe that “it’s now or never” and say good-bye to emotional crutches, illusions, fears, and frustrations. This is a perfect

time to get rid of negative attitudes and inhibitions that are holding us back. In fact, since we are feeling less robust, we may lack the energy to sustain our inhi-bitions and defences, so we can now free ourselves from them. Quite often in these cases, we regret that we haven’t done this sooner. This phase may there-fore be a time when we finally admit to our true feelings or problems. After many years, we may declare our love and commit ourselves to a relation-ship — or face our inner scars and seek counsel and healing. At this stage in our lives, we should find closure to clear the decks for the next cycle. In doing so, it is important to find the right words to say what has remained (perhaps too long) unsaid — or words that will encapsulate our past experiences. This last part of the progressed lunation cycle corresponds, after all, to the 3rd house. Our last words, to anyone or on any issue, take on tremendous importance. We may

want to write our memoirs or describe our emotions to an analyst. The Beatles Anthology, a ten-hour TV documentary in which the Beatles tell their own story, was produced in 1995, when both Paul McCart-ney and Ringo Starr were experiencing their Balsamic phase. We may also need to express deeply felt inten-

tions or beliefs. It is interesting that Win-ston Churchill’s famous war speeches (“We shall fight on the beaches …” or “Never in the field of human con-flict was so much owed by so many to so few”) were made at his progressed

Balsamic Moon. Especially the second time round, we may feel that we have a lot to say during this phase. Deme-tra George and Dana Gerhardt associ-ate the “Dark Moon” with the old crone or wise woman. Old women may be past heavy physical tasks or childbear-ing, but they tell children the stories that contain the seeds of wisdom to be passed on through generations. At the progressed Balsamic Moon, we may want to take on that role. One of the images used for the Balsamic Moon is that of the ripe or rotten fruit releasing the seed. Since we are stripped of everything superfluous, we are reduced to our essence. Block-ages are removed, issues are resolved, and everything falls into place. This means that at the Balsamic phase we may find ourselves doing exactly the right things and meeting exactly the right people — things and people that are, in fact, essential to us. At this stage in our lives, therefore, we feel like con-serving our energies so we can focus on a few core activities. However, we might lack the strength, conviction, or resources to follow through. During this phase, van Gogh had come into his unique expressive style and reached the height of his artistic powers, but he was penniless, isolated, and physically weak-ened, and he could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. The seed is small and vulnerable, and we must protect it against the oncoming upheaval of the New Moon. Projects and relationships started during the Balsamic phase may thus experience an early crisis. Once our relationship or project has survived this test, it will be all the stronger for it and can endure to face the next cycle.

van Gogh

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The above examples may not inspire much hope, but sometimes we also experience the most gratifying aspect of this phase. The second, wan-ing half of the lunation cycle is, after all, associated with “reaping what you’ve sown,” and at the Balsamic phase the harvest may well be ripe for the pick-ing. The rewards and recognition that we have been hoping for could now, perhaps rather late in the day, finally be ours. Long-held dreams may be ful-filled as we cash in our savings, and long-term projects are finally completed. This may be the time when we really come into our own. Eleanor Roose-velt saw her Declaration of Human Rights accepted by the United Nations at her progressed Balsamic Moon. Nel-son Mandela became president of an apartheid-free South Africa. Winston Churchill became Great Britain’s war-time leader, a job he felt he had been preparing for all his life. Five years later, at his progressed New Moon, he could celebrate victory over Adolf Hitler, and the job of a lifetime was done. For even as the Balsamic Moon hands us our final reward, the future and the changes of the New Moon are never far away.

New Moon Revisited During the progressed New Moon, we must become whole within ourselves. The Sun and Moon, the two lights and the most powerful entities in our chart, are joined. And where before spirit and soul, mind and body, masculine and feminine, identity and roots have

been separate, they now become one. Going through the Balsamic and New Moon phases, we are compelled to take back those parts of ourselves that we have projected upon the world so we can reintegrate them within our personality. For some of us, this may mean having to delve deeply within our subconscious to salvage parts of ourselves we had forgotten. Some people will have to go through a mourning process to internalise the loved ones we have lost. The progressed Sun–Moon conjunction could represent a death–rebirth experience not unlike a heavy Pluto transit. For some, the conjunction is less dramatic; it simply allows us to touch base, return to the source, and venture forth again, sometimes with increased vigour. Others, however, may find they have now cast off all encumbrances and reached their destiny and the culmination of their ambitions. They may experience their finest hour in the Balsamic and New Moon phases, even if their swan song announces the approaching, inexorable end.

Chart (and Biographical) Data and Sources(in alphabetical order)

Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, January 20, 1930; 2:17 p.m. EST; Glen Ridge, NJ, USA (40°N48', 74°W12'); AA: quoted birth certificate/birth record; birth certificate in hand from Lynne Koiner. The Moon landing occurred on July 20, 1969. Aldrin was hospitalised for depression in Oct. 1971 (biography from AstroDatabank by Lois Rodden).

Muhammad Ali, January 17, 1942; 6:35 p.m. CST; Louisville, KY, USA (38°N15', 85°W46'); AA: birth certificate in hand from Steinbrecher. Ali announced that he had become a Black Muslim shortly after winning the heavyweight title on Feb. 25, 1964. His title was revoked in 1967 (www.AfricanAmericans.com/muhammadali.htm).

Neil Armstrong, August 5, 1930; 12:31 a.m. EST; Washington, OH, USA (40°N34', 84°W12'); AA: Lois Rodden quotes birth certificate in hand that gives Washington township in Auglaize County. Armstrong got his private pilot’s licence on Aug. 5, 1946 (his 16th birthday). He was a Navy aviator from 1949 to 1952 (biography from AstroDatabank). The Gemini 8 mission took place on March 16, 1966; the Moon landing, on July 20, 1969 (news media).

Winston Churchill, November 30, 1874; 1:30 a.m. GMT; Woodstock, England (51°N52', 01°W21'); B: John Addey quotes his father’s letter for 1:30 a.m. Churchill’s famous war speeches were made in 1940 and 1941: “We shall fight them on

the beaches” on June 4, 1940; “Never … was so much owed” on August 20, 1940 (www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=389).

Diana, Princess of Wales, July 1, 1961; 7:45 p.m. GDT; Sandringham, England (52°N50', 00°W30’'); A: Charles Harvey quotes data from her mother. Diana married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981 (news media).

John Lennon, October 9, 1940; 6:30 p.m. GDT; Liverpool, England (53°N25', 02°W55'); A: Lois Rodden quotes his stepmother, Pauline Stone, by correspondence “from Lennon’s aunt who was present at the birth.” Brian Epstein met the band in Nov. 1961 and signed them two months later. Lennon divorced Cynthia Powell on Nov. 8, 1968 and married Yoko Ono on March 20, 1969. His first solo album Imagine was released in 1970 (Frank C. Clifford, British Entertainers, 3rd edition, Flare Publications, MPG Books, 2003, pp. 31, 32).

Nelson Mandela, July 18, 1918; 2:54 p.m. EET; Umtata, South Africa (31°S35', 28°E47'); DD: conflicting birth times, rectified by Noel Tyl. Mandela was released from jail on Feb. 11, 1990 and sworn in as president on May 10, 1994 (news media). Although Mandela’s birth time is suspect, the progressed lunations allow for a wide margin of error — in this case, more than 24 hours on either side of the quoted time.

Paul McCartney, June 18, 1942; 2:00 p.m. GDWT; Liverpool, England (53°N25', 02°W55'); A: Nalini Kanta Das (Tom Hopke) quotes Linda McCartney for the data. McCartney debuted in Lennon’s band on Oct. 18, 1957 and left the Beatles on April 9, 1970 (Clifford, British Enter-tainers, pp. 31, 32).

Pope John Paul II, May 18, 1920; 5:30 p.m. EET; Wadowice, Poland (49°N53', 19°E30'); A: Grazia Bordoni quotes him on Italian TV. Cardinal Wojtyla was elected Pope on Oct. 16, 1978 (news media).

Eleanor Roosevelt, October 11, 1884; 11:00 a.m. EST; New York, NY, USA (40°N42', 74°W00'); AA: birth record in hand from Joan Negus. The U.N. adopted the Universal Decla-ration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 (www.un.org/Overview/rights.html).

Salman Rushdie, June 19, 1947; 2:30 a.m. IST; Bombay, India (18°N58', 72°E50'); A: Catriona Mundle quotes him for “approximately 2:30 a.m., maybe a bit earlier” (AstroDatabank). The fatwa was declared on Feb. 14, 1989 (news media).

Ringo Starr, July 7, 1940; 12:05 a.m. GDT; Liverpool, England (53°N25', 02°W55'); A: Lynne Palmer quotes him; same data by H. Davies in The Beatles, “just after midnight.”

Margaret Thatcher, October 13, 1925; 9:00 a.m. GMT; Grantham, England (52°N55', 00°W29'); A: Charles Harvey quotes Thatcher’s private secretary. Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister on Nov. 22, 1990 (news media).

J. R. R. Tolkien, January 3, 1892; between 8:00 p.m. and midnight LMT; Bloemfontein, South Africa (29°S12', 26°E07'); DD: Humphrey Car-penter quotes letter from father with the approx-

Riding the Wave

Nelson Mandela


imate time in J. R. R. Tolkien, A Biography, 1977, p. 12. Other sources quote other times. The first volume of The Fellowship of the Ring was published on July 29, 1954 (The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. H. Carpenter, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 183).

Vincent van Gogh, March 30, 1853; 11:00 a.m. LMT; Zundert, Netherlands (51°N28', 04°E40'); AA: birth certificate in hand from Steinbrecher. Van Gogh shot himself on July 27, 1890 and died on July 29 (www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/bio.htm).

BibliographyBusteed, Marilyn and Dorothy Wergin. Phases of the Moon. American Federation of Astrolo-gers, 1996.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Fontana Press, 1993.

Costello, Darby. The Astrological Moon. CPA Press, 1996.

George, Demetra. Mysteries of the Dark Moon. HarperCollins Publishers, 1992.

George, Demetra. Finding Our Way through the Dark. ACS Publications, 1994.

Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. University of Texas Press, 1988.

Rudhyar, Dane. The Lunation Cycle. Sham-bhala, 1975.

References and Notes1. The Mountain Astrologer, Oct./Nov. 2001 – Feb./Mar. 2003.

2. I prefer to compare the lunar phases to the astrological houses rather than to the signs. The midwinter sign is Capricorn in the North-ern Hemisphere, but Cancer in the Southern Hemisphere, whereas the IC is always the mid-night point, whatever sign it occupies.

3. When reading the examples of what actu-ally happened at these phases, it is important to bear in mind that these progressed Moon phases are not exact timers; transits and pro-gressions over the angles and other natal posi-tions are far more reliable triggers. Nor can you tell with certainty from one event what phase a person is going through. Learning experiences can happen at any stage of the cycle, and the same holds true for weddings and deaths. All the examples cited must therefore be seen in the larger context of the cycle.

4. This homecoming theme is present throughout the second half of the lunation cycle but is most pronounced around the progressed conjunction.

5. The 6th house refers to aunts, uncles, and mentors. See Steven Forrest, “The Case of the Disappearing 6th House,” in TMA, June/July 2002.

6. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Letters of J. R. R. Tol-kien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter, Harper-Collins, p. 172.

7. Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Combined Edition, Penguin, 1992, p. 696.

8. Chart data for John Kerry and Al Gore can be found in the Oct./Nov. 2004 issue of TMA on pages 10 and 14, respectively.

© 2006 Frédérique Boele – all rights reserved

Frédérique Boele was born on April 13, 1961 in The Hague, Netherlands. She studied English and American literature at Leiden Uni-versity and later studied at the Centre for Psy-chological Astrology in London between 1989 and 1992. Since that time, she has been teach-ing English to the Dutch, Dutch to immigrants and refugees, and astrology to anyone who is interested. She can be contacted by e-mail at: [email protected]

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by Carolyn Bufkin

I am a New Orleans native and resi-dent who experienced transiting Nep-tune conjunct my stellium (five planets in Aquarius) during the wrath and then the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is my story about the types of experi-ences that Neptune brought into my life and how I viewed its effects on other people from New Orleans during its transit in the late summer of 2005. The above-mentioned stellium was written about in Joseph Goodav-age’s book, Write Your Own Horoscope (1968). Goodavage surmised that the “kids” (his term) born around February 4, 1962 with seven planets in the sign of Aquarius (plus the South Node) would reform the world. By the time I was born, on Febru-ary 15, 1962, Venus had moved into 1° Pisces and the Moon had moved into Cancer in a trine to Neptune in Scorpio (see Chart, inner wheel, right). Since the tender age of seven, when I first dis-covered my mother’s intricately drawn circles that contained the most intrigu-ing glyphs inside, I have been fascinated with the study of astrology. From my first Saturn return (5° Aquarius) to my current Saturn opposition, I managed to build a substantial practice as an astrol-oger and psychic. With five planets in the sign of the masses in my natal 9th house, I have been fortunate to counsel lovely people from all over the globe. I can’t say that I have reformed the world, but I have made a concerted effort to

channel the Neptunian emphasis in my natal chart in a positive direction. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Ka-trina aimed her wrath (or, some say, “cleansing ferocity”) on the city of my birth: New Orleans, Louisiana. In my natal chart, transiting Neptune was sta-tioning 5 degrees from my Mars, 6 de-grees from my Jupiter, and 3 degrees from my South Node (see Chart, outer wheel). Never in my life have I wit-

nessed Neptune display his qualities in such an exaggerated form. I experienced the following manifes-tations of Neptune: Fear. The huge round monster Katrina was barreling right toward us, and she was not moving off course. The dissolution of a community. At 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 27, I and thousands of others headed out of the city. In the air, I sensed an eerie

Bi-wheel. Inner wheel and house cusps: Carolyn Bufkin; outer wheel: Katrina makes landfall.Placidus houses, True Node


calm (obviously, the calm before the storm) and a sticky qual-ity from the high level of humidity. On that morning, transiting Mercury in Leo formed a tight t-square with Mars in Taurus and Neptune in Aquarius, so many New Orleans citizens were confused about whether they should leave. My family took decisive action and did not hesitate; traffic flowed incredibly well at the hour when we departed. Mercury also formed a trine to Pluto, which may have helped us to arrive in Houston seven hours later (it was normally a six-hour drive). Unity. With my natal Moon in Cancer in the 2nd house, I had saved our Holiday Inn points in preparation for the day when the “big one” would strike. My family and other evacu-ees of all races and religions huddled together in the lobby of a Houston Holiday Inn. Many homeless souls sat with a dog or cat on their lap in a hotel that does not usually allow pets. Film and visual media. We cried together as the Cas-sandra-like national news reporters warned of the oncoming doom. We saw video clips of a lone saxophonist playing out-side the New Orleans Superdome. The musician said that the city we knew may never exist again. Oh, how our minds deceived us! We put on the pro-verbial rose-colored glasses and, through our lenses, viewed a city that once more missed the brunt of the storm. The hur-ricane did, in fact, strike 60 miles east of New Orleans on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Shepard Smith of Fox National News sincerely believed and reported that New Orleans was not heavily affected, and many people packed up to go back home. The flood. A levee that keeps industrial canal water from flooding certain sections of New Orleans gave way. The cries of nurses were heard over the radio: “The water is rising six inches per minute,” one shouted, “and we must evacuate our patients!” Parts of the city were flooded above the rooftops. Humans, dead and alive, rise up from the tide. One evacuee in our hotel lobby gasped in horror as she witnessed on TV thousands of people who stayed or were left behind in New Orleans wading through the water to the Superdome. The waters also bore the bodies of those who did not survive the floods. Despair. People were crying, “We have no food and no water!” The situation was analogous to being cast overboard from a sinking ship into filthy water. No captain was there to throw a life preserver to the ones left behind. Elderly people died in nursing homes, and many of the sick died in hospitals. Loss of boundaries. Reports of gangs overtaking and raping the evacuees at the Superdome rang through our traumatized ears. A sea of compassion. The federal government and other organizations stepped in and evacuated many people to Houston and other cities. Millions volunteered and donated time and money. Even in our little microcosmic world (the Holiday Inn), church groups brought us pizza, drinks, diapers, and monetary donations from their congregations. (We did not request their help.) The fog. The evacuees at our little hotel walked around aimlessly as if in a fog. They did not know if they even had a job or a home to go back to or whether they should look for work in Houston and enroll their kids in school. Everyone felt lost and helpless.

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Redemption. In the final days of our stay in Houston, I observed many of the evacuees huddled together and praying in the lobby of the hotel. A scene from Atlantis. Three weeks later, I returned to New Orleans. With my Moon in Cancer and Pluto in my natal 4th house, I was intent on checking the condition of my grand-mother’s former neighborhood, where I played as a child. The neighborhood had been full of lush trees, perfectly mani-cured lawns, and huge stucco Mission-style houses from the 1950s. In the wake of Katrina, this neighborhood was immersed under 12 feet of water. For miles and miles, the formerly gorgeous homes had caved in on themselves. The bright Caribbean colors of the houses are now covered by a gray chalky sub-stance. The Saint Augustine-covered lawns that spread like a blanket of emer-ald green are now completely brown and dry after having been submerged under the murky water. At the nearby marina, yachts and boats were hurled on top of each other and clumped together as though someone were preparing the vessels for a mass nautical grave. Faith. Seven miles away from the devastated neighborhood, I found myself on the street where I live. Except for having lost huge oaks and pines, my street was almost unscathed, because it was spared flood damage (I was expe-riencing transiting Jupiter trine my natal Jupiter). Some of the yards were still perfectly landscaped, with hibiscus and camellia bushes glistening in the Sep-

tember sun. The shop that I own, where I perform readings, received eight inches of floodwater — minor, in Katrina terms. Our astrology group is temporar-ily disbanded, since its members have evacuated all over the United States. One group member received 12 feet of flood water in his home and now lives in Memphis, Tennessee.

In my chart, the watery Moon in Cancer gets along with Neptune in Scorpio, and I can usually go with the flow (no pun intended). The Moon also forms a sextile to Pluto, so my family and my city of birth have historically continued to rise up from whatever cat-astrophic forces besiege them. I’m currently witnessing New Or-leans taking toddler-sized steps in its recovery process. For a city in such an advanced and wealthy country, it still — in the fall of 2005 — operates on the most basic tier of life: survival. Gro-cery stores and gas stations are begin-ning to open, and long lines of people await the services offered. Long after

New Orleans has ceased dominating the headlines, church tents continue to feed hordes of people. Before the flood, my astrology prac-tice was busy, and I worked long hours. (With a Mars–Saturn conjunction, I tend to overwork.) Since the hurricane, I purposely perform readings sparingly. I’ve attempted to use all of my planets in Aquarius to call contacts, to find out whether people know of a rental house or a job available to assist my friends and family members who lost their income, pets, homes, cars, and employ-ment. Three of my family members lost their lives to Katrina. As the planet of the sea (Neptune) continues to transit through the sign of the Water Bearer (Aquarius), we may witness more torrential floods and the dissolving of old structures. The natives born around Febru-ary 4, 1962 with so many planets in the sign of the masses may not reform the world, but whatever transformation happens in the macrocosmic world will certainly be reflected in their personal lives. If these natives and others use the higher octaves of Neptune and Aquar-ius to try to help their fellow beings on the Earth, a positive ripple effect may be felt among our great sea of human-ity. A new reality of compassion and communal sharing may replace the old structures.

© 2006 Carolyn Bufkin – all rights reserved

Carolyn Bufkin is a practicing astrologer and psychic who still resides in New Orleans. She can be reached at www.CarolynBufkin.com or by calling (504) 888-8863.

Hurricane KatrinaBoats tossed in New Orleans marina.

Homes under water


compiled by Mary Plumb

Astrology, Science and Culture: Pulling down the Moon by Roy Willis and Patrick Curry, Berg Publishers, 1st Floor, Angel Court, 81 St Clements Street, Oxford OX4 1AW, U.K., 2004. Paper—170 pp.— £15.99 ($25.95) (ISBN 1-85973-687-4). Available from: www.bergpublishers.com One of the larger questions, if not the largest, that haunts the strange subject of astrology has to do with exactly what it is. Is it a science? Certainly it is not an experimental science, and it has no demonstrable mechanism behind its operation. Is it an art? For sure, some astrologers are much better than others at reading horoscopes, so it might be that sort of thing. In this slim but dense volume, Roy Willis and Patrick Curry present a series of arguments that offer us a definition of astrology. This definition essentially joins with the one put forth some years ago by Geoffrey Cornelius. The answer to the question is that astrology is a form of divination. Astrology, Science and Culture is written for those with an aca-demic background; it might be a useful contribution to university pro-fessors who teach courses on the history of science or the history of ideas. The reader is expected to be more or less familiar with many of the intellectual giants in history, psychology, and anthropology, but the reader doesn’t really need to know anything about astrologi-cal symbolism. The text can be heavy going in places, and I did find one sen-tence of 100+ words. The book is heavily footnoted and has an extensive bibliography. It is, thus, an academic book that only a small percentage of TMA readers would likely find interesting or useful. This being said, I wish that the percentage were much higher so that a sophisticated dialogue on the issues raised could become part of this magazine’s agenda. Certain assumptions lie behind the thesis of Astrology, Sci-ence and Culture. First, the book is completely against scientism, which it defines as the idea that everything, in principle, can be explained mechanistically. This opens the door to a description of reality in terms of myth, mind, and consciousness, which is a common approach to understanding in the social sciences, espe-cially anthropology. Humans are thought to be driven by a dia-logical imperative in which mind is a mirror of a living universe.


Myths are, then, the foundations of con-sciousness, and consciousness is how we know anything. Science is one myth among many, a myth of objective con-sciousness. I was surprised to find none of the writings of Morris Berman in the bibliography, since he is a significant proponent of these sorts of ideas; on the other hand, the book is devoid of any references to current brain science. Much is now known about how the brain assembles the world, and some of this knowledge is very recent. It should have been included. If astrology is divination, as Willis, Curry, and Cornelius maintain, then what is divination? One definition given here is that it is a specific form of reli-gious life that merges both the subjec-tive and objective and that its primary purpose is the affirmation of citizenship in a living and enchanted world. This reminds me of Anthony Aveni’s clever-ness on the issue of astrology in his book, Empires of Time. When he finds himself unable to explain the ubiquity of astrology in ancient cultures, he simply calls it a religion — and since we know what that is, the problem is settled. The question of divination, and consequently of astrology, has not been answered by the authors to my satisfaction; ultimately, they have pushed it over to intellectu-als in other fields. In other words, these authors (including Cornelius) have given astrology a label, attempted to prove that it fits, and then apparently passed the buck to the few social scientists who study consciousness. One of the main themes of the book, and the one that may appeal most to the casual reader interested in the history of astrology, concerns the reasons that astrology is not widely accepted. Willis and Curry argue that the enemy of astrology is monism, the idea that only one entity or belief can prevail. We live in a monist culture — one god, one medical system, etc. Capi-talist state-sponsored science is driven by our culture’s theistic and secular monism, and this prevents any serious investigation into astrology. The astrol-

BOOKREVIEWS

oger’s dilemma is that success in main-stream society inevitably results in the loss of enchantment in the subject of astrology. Newspaper columns are dead astrology. But anyone who practices an enchanted astrology will become a fail-ure in mainstream society. Respectable astrology is possible only in a society that is intellectually pluralistic. Astrology, Science and Culture is a demanding read, but it raises many important issues in regard to astrology, consciousness, science, and the domi-nant paradigms of our age. In my opin-ion, it doesn’t really answer the question of what astrology is, but it offers a detailed analysis of how astrology got to where it is today and what its true value to society was, is, and could be.

— reviewed by Bruce Scofield

Temperament: Astrology’s Forgot-ten Key by Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum, The Wessex Astrologer Ltd, 4A Woodside Road, Bournemouth, BH5 2AZ, England, 2005. Paper—218 pp.—£18.95 ($35 U.S. + postage) (ISBN 1-90240-517-X). Available from: www.wessexastrologer.com Dorian Greenbaum is an astrologer trained in history and the classics who also taught children at a Waldorf school for six years. Her book, which is scholarly and yet simply written and organized, explores the concept of temperament, both in its long history in Western thought and as an eminently practical system for contemporary astrologers. The four temperaments (choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phleg-matic) evolved from ideas about the nature of the world. The first part of Greenbaum’s book, “Theory and His-tory of Temperament,” is a beauti-fully documented resource that begins with the roots of temperament in sci-ence, philosophy, and medicine. Tha-les, in the 6th century B.C.E., was the first Greek philosopher who identified water as “the primal stuff.” The chap-ter then elucidates the development of ideas, the use of temperament through Plato and Aristotle, and the Greco-Roman astrology of Ptolemy, Manilius, Valens, and other lesser-known astrol-ogers of the Hellenistic period. The “Flowering of Temperament” hap-pened with the Arabic astrologers of the medieval period and the Renais-

sance; Masha’allah, Al Biruni, Bonatti, Ficino, and Paracelsus are some of the names mentioned herein. The astrolo-gers of the Elizabethan era are covered next; William Lilly is the most famous of these, although Culpeper, Gadbury, and Coley are all included. The history section ends with “The Offshoots of Temperament” and dis-cusses the ideas of Carl Jung, Marc Edmund Jones, and (most specifically) Rudolf Steiner, whom the author con-siders to be the most relevant to con-temporary astrologers. The entire first section is thoroughly researched and is both a compact and detailed history. Throughout this work, Greenbaum offers extensive quotes from primary sources, including her own translations and those by Robert Zoller, Robert Hand, and Robert Schmidt. The astrological specifics were profoundly satisfying to this reviewer; not only does the author give the history of the ideas, but she also describes the various meth-ods and techniques that astrologers have used to determine temperament from the horoscope. Part 2, “Temperament Theory Applied,” is a report on a study the author conducted with 35 children that she taught in a Waldorf school. Rudolf Steiner’s ideas of temperament provide the backbone of Waldorf education; children’s temperaments are identified by their teachers as a matter of course. Greenbaum studied their horoscopes (all charts are provided) to find the cor-relation between temperament recog-nized in life and derived from studying the horoscope. In Part 3, Greenbaum offers her for-mula for assessing temperament from a birth chart. She demonstrates her method with horoscopes of famous peo-ple, e.g., George Bush is “the poster boy for cholerics.” This chapter is practical; the author teaches temperament with key words and phrases (she can be quite funny) and chart examples, not only for the (relatively rare) pure types but also the combined types, such as Choleric/Phlegmatic or Melancholic/Sanguine. Greenbaum provides an intrigu-ing final chapter on assessing what early astrologers called “manners” or the “quality of soul” in a horoscope: “My differentiation between tempera-


ment and personality/manners focuses on what I believe are mostly essential indications in the birthchart for temperament, opposed to (or better, adjoined to) mostly accidental indi-cations for personality or manners, which can be externally influenced.” By demonstrating how early astrologers used temperament, Greenbaum makes an eloquent case that it is a more fundamental basis for interpreting the horoscope than the more recent overlap of astrology and psychology. (She believes that Steiner’s view of temperament is closer to the ancient understanding than that of Carl Jung.) Although the book is well researched, it is very accessi-ble; Greenbaum has a light touch in her attitude and writing style. The layout is user-friendly and spacious, with very clear graphics and charts throughout.

— reviewed by Mary Plumb

The Astrology of Midlife and Aging by Erin Sullivan, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014, USA, 2005. Paper—234 pp.—$15.95 ($22.50 Canada) (ISBN 1-58542-408-0). Erin Sullivan’s latest book addresses the astrology of the years starting with the Uranus opposition to its birth position (here called “half-Uranus”) up to age 90, the third Saturn return. For those readers who are new to this author’s work, her previous books include the widely respected and influen-tial Retrograde Planets (1992) and Saturn in Transit (1991). Erin Sullivan is philosophically minded, and her astrology is informed by her studies in psychology, mythology, and the classics. Her new book includes all of the transits in the generic cycle of the elder years. Though she mentions in pass-ing such uses of astrology as timing hip replacement surgery, her approach is essentially philosophical. The cycles of aging are indeed considered in the text (the second and third progressed lunar return, sixth and sev-enth Jupiter return, Chiron return, etc.); however, Saturn and Uranus are the planets with whom we arrive at “the midlife threshold.” Sullivan takes the reader into the respective mythologies of these two planets with care and deliberation: “These gods, represented by Uranus/change and Saturn/stasis, begin a dance toward the future.” Although Saturn is trine its natal placement at age 40 and in opposition to itself at 44–45, the astrology of midlife begins with the Uranus opposition, between the ages of 37 and 41. Sullivan’s discussion of Uranus includes the core idea of “witnessing,” for “Uranus is the heavens — not a god, not a deity, but a place. A place high up from which earthly activity is observed. You will find yourself watch-ing yourself, witnessing your own behavior and experience from a lofty vantage point.” Uranus gets the most specific attention in the book and is delineated by sign and by house placement during its opposition. The author’s insight into generational aspects is well represented. (One chapter herein, “Generational Impulse,” appeared in her earlier book, The Astrology of Family Dynamics.) She is especially articulate about the unique quality of contemporary midlife, due to Pluto’s erratic orbit; the Pluto square occurred as late as 93 years of age for those with Pluto in Aries (1822–1851) but as early as age 39 for those born with Pluto in Virgo (1956–1971).

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BOOK REVIEWSc o n t i n u e d

If you wish to propose a book for review or contribute individual

reviews, please call Mary Plumb at (541) 488-3048, or e-mail:

[email protected]

Sullivan doesn’t gloss over the more difficult aspects of aging — the chapter on ages 60 to 75 is called “Sans Eyes, Sans Teeth, Sans Everything?” — but the book offers encouragement for a life that continues to grow and develop as age advances. She writes of her hope to contribute to “the acknowledgment and respect and true care for the aging and elders as a class.” Generic astrological cycles provide a clear map through time. In this book, the author delineates the cycles and thought-fully explores the symbolism of the place-ments. This work succeeds in offering a guide to a culture that needs to learn how to treat its elders as human beings “still alive, still growing, and still essential to the collective consciousness.” Erin Sullivan is an erudite astrologer and a sophisticated thinker and writer. Her current book may not be for begin-ners, who could get confused, since the

author’s frame of reference is vast, and the abundant astrological details may be difficult for some readers to fol-low. However, there are graphs and tables throughout the text that display astrological data and help to keep the reader on track and within the time frame under discussion.

— reviewed by Mary Plumb

with a propensity for violence and the capacity to construct a plan for carrying out that violence. In short, a conventional interpreta-tion of Oswald’s natal chart is entirely consistent with his known character and fate. There is no need to postulate a dark, karmic past arising from a troubled for-mer incarnation. He may have had one, but for the purpose of analyzing his actual life it is merely an interesting but unneces-sary (and unprovable) hypothesis. Since this is the case, it should be disclosed to clients that past-life stories based on birth charts are speculative and that they do not necessarily parallel actual past lives. Of course, this should not obviate the fact that past-life stories are interesting fantasies that might prove useful as a way of objectifying present-life dynamics.

— Glenn Perry, San Rafael, [email protected]

Steven Forrest responds: Dr. Perry decries the “presumption that the same configuration describes both current-life patterns and prior-life patterns.” That is indeed the heart of Evolutionary Astrol-ogy. The past is reflected in the present. How could it be otherwise? The symbols that describe unresolved prior-life dilem-mas also prescribe present-life answers and resolutions. Thus, both the future and the past are implicit in the present. The foundation of Evolutionary Astrology is as simple — and as ancient — as that. Symbolism is not literalism and never will be. Counseling-room astrol-ogy is a search for healing metaphors, nothing more. For an increasing number of us, Evolutionary Astrology finds those metaphors more powerfully than any system we’ve known previously. Test it yourself and see. It requires no leap of faith or suspension of disbelief. There is a “chart behind your chart.” We who practice this kind of astrol-ogy have found that knowledge of it deepens our experience of our own lives. Taste and see; maybe it will do that for you, too. And there is room enough in astrol-ogy for many viewpoints.

LetterstotheEditorcontinued from page 57


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Astrology News

by Gloria Star

If you have news or events of interest to the astrological community that you would like to share with TMA readers, please send your information directly to Gloria Star, P.O. Box 311, Clinton, CT 06413; fax (860) 664-4295; or e-mail: [email protected]

Hartford Courant Features Real Astrology

Kudos to The Hartford Courant newspaper and the editors of the paper’s Sunday feature, “Northeast Magazine,” for inclusion of a regular column that employs real astrology. The column, “CT Zodiac,” is written by astrologers Carol and Alphee Lavoie and has included articles about Con-necticut’s governor, Jodi Rell, describ-ing her astrological chart and a few ideas about her future prospects in state politics; the future of the Hart-ford Convention Center; Connecticut’s powerful women (with an explanation of the significance of the Moon in the chart of the state); and more. The col-umn debuted on October 16, 2005. In the November 20 issue of the paper, David Cruz-Uribe, a profes-sor of mathematics at Trinity College in Hartford, wrote to complain about the column. He noted that “begin-ning in the 17th century, it was quickly realized that astrology is not science.” After discovering, on the Lavoies’ Web site, that Alphee specializes in horary astrology, Cruz-Uribe offered to hide an object of personal significance on the campus of Trinity College. He then challenged the Lavoies to find that object using astrology, and he offered as a reward a donation of $250 to their favorite charity. The editor of the Cou-rant responded: “The Lavoies have declined the professor’s ‘challenge,’ explaining that horary is not a par-lor game to find things that have been deliberately ‘lost,’ but rather an ancient technique for interpreting significant matters worthy of deep reflection by sincere participants. They invite him to give his $250 to any charity he feels worthy.”

You can read the column online at www.courant.com/news/local/northeast; scroll down the menu on the right and click on “CT Zodiac.” Applause to Carol and Alphee!

Geoffrey Cornelius Honored with Harvey Award

The 2005 Charles Harvey Award for Exceptional Service to Astrology was presented to Geoffrey Cornelius on October 1, 2005 as part of the banquet celebration at the Astrologi-cal Association of Great Britain’s con-ference held in York, England. Other nominees for the award included Ber-nard Eccles, Dennis Elwell, and Robert Hand. The award highlighted Corne-lius’s efforts in pioneering a revival of horary astrology in the 1970s and his exceptional study of Cosmology and Divination. His career in astrology has spanned more than three decades, and he is currently working to establish astrological study as part of adult edu-cation in the United Kingdom.

When Not to Take the Bait

Some of you may be familiar with Penn and Teller’s television series on the Showtime network. In their show, “Bullsh*t,” they feature sub-jects that they wish to ridicule. Previ-ous shows have slammed hypnosis, 12-step programs, Feng Shui, circum-cision, life-coaching, yoga and Tantra, ESP — well, you get the picture. Dur-ing the early autumn of 2005, the word went out to the astrological commu-nity that Penn and Teller were inter-ested in hosting an astrologer on their show. Although many people might covet their 15 minutes of fame, broad-

cast ridicule is not a desirable way to get there! Several astrological orga-nizations, including AFAN and ISAR, hosted lengthy discussions on their online newsgroups about this “mar-velous opportunity.” Keep your eyes open, though … someone out there may have taken the bait.

Kepler College Hosts Second Commencement

The second annual commence-ment ceremony of Kepler College was celebrated on October 14, 2005 in Seattle, Washington. Six students were awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees in Astrological Arts and Sciences. The six graduates are: Katarina Cam-pagnola, Lisa Dixon, Lauran Fowks, Linda Kaye, Carolyn M. Matthews, and Diana Soto. Also, two students — Karen Drye and Elle Simon — were awarded Associate of Arts degrees in Astrological History and Symbology. Guest speakers for the commence-ment ceremony were Dr. Mark Urban-Lurain and Dennis Flaherty.

In Memoriam:

Astrologer Ananda Bagley died from a fall on October 23, 2005 at the age of 51. He was most widely known as the creator of the ground-breaking Electric Ephemeris software and was a pioneer in the development of tech-nological tools for astrology. Memo-rial services were held in London on November 17, 2005.

© 2006 Gloria Star – all rights reserved

Gloria Star is a professional astrologer who has written, edited, or contributed to 29 astrol-ogy books and annuals.


April 6–10, 2006: Florida Conference on Vedic Astrology, Gainesville, Florida, USA. For info: tel. (386) 418-1147; e-mail: [email protected]

April 8–9, 2006: 15th World Conference of Astro Economics at the Kingston Plantation, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. For info: tel. (815) 464-8200; e-mail: [email protected]; URL: www.astroeconomics.com

April 21–23, 2006: Midwest Astrology Con-ference, “Footprints for the Future,” Cleveland, Ohio, USA. For info: tel. (330) 652-4971; URL: www.MidwestAstrology.com April 28–30, 2006: Conference, “Seeing with Different Eyes” (Cosmology and Divination), orga-nized by the University of Kent, Canterbury, Eng-land. For info: e-mail: [email protected]; URL: www.kent.ac.uk/secl/Div_conf May 6–13, 2006: ISAR’s “Heavens on Earth” Symposium, Tuscany, Italy. For info: tel. (248) 626-3034 or (800) 662-3349 (U.S. only); URL: www.isarastrology.com May 26–29, 2006: 22nd Annual Northwest Astrological Conference (NORWAC), Seattle,

Washington, USA. For info: tel. (206) 930-7613; e-mail: [email protected]

July 6–9, 2006: American Federation of Astrolo-gers Convention, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. For info: tel. (480) 838-1751; fax (480) 838-8293; URL: www.astrologers.com

August 31 – September 4, 2006: Astrological Association of Great Britain Annual Conference, “Astrology, Then and Now,” Hertford University, London, England. For info: e-mail: [email protected]; URL: www.astrologicalassociation.com September 14–17, 2006: Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA) 4th Annual Astrol-oger’s Retreat, Marco Island, Florida, USA. For info: Contact Bob Mulligan, tel. (239) 261-2840; e-mail: [email protected]; URL: www.professional-astrology.org

September 28 – October 1, 2006: Fourth Annual Evolutionary Astrology Conference, Black Hills, South Dakota, USA. For info: tel. (877) 348-5111 (North America); (605) 348-5111 (international); e-mail: [email protected]; URL: www.EvolutionaryAstrology.net

Semi-Annual Conference Calendar

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In our family photo albums, there are a couple of photos of myself and my three younger sisters where we are all wearing matching dresses with those crinoline petticoats. We didn’t look anything like each other. There’s another priceless picture of us sisters, all grown up in the 1970s but still slim — wearing bell-bottoms and either Afro haircuts or long, straight hair down to our tushes. My Aquarius sister doesn’t dress outlandishly (though she loves purple), but she does have a ring on all ten fingers and thumbs and about six holes in each ear. And she won’t leave the house without all her earrings in place; she says she feels naked otherwise. It occurred to me awhile ago that certain planets, at various times, could easily be held responsible for what I choose to wear when I leave the house. Here are my thoughts on the matter:

Uranus in the 1st: In the 1960s, when most everybody was a hippie, I was even weirder — dressed by my Uranus in the 1st house to express my individuality. I was painfully shy in those days, but I had to let people know who I was somehow. One particular outfit stands out in my memory: Right after college, I was working for a finance company as an accounting clerk. I wore this ensemble (if you could call it that) that consisted of bright lemon-yellow culottes, a polyester turtleneck with yellow and salmon-colored stripes, salmon-orange tights, and yellow sneakers! Uranus in the 1st means I have hardly ever worn suits or tailored clothes (yuk).

Venus in Scorpio: On the days (or, mostly, nights) when Venus in Scorpio dresses me, I often wear black, especially in winter. Black slinky, skimpy, see-through things are best. I wore black fishnet stockings in college, and miniskirts after graduation. My Venus in Scorpio really wishes I had been an adolescent during the punk era. I could’ve had purple hair and body piercings and all kinds of wild stuff. Uranus would’ve loved it, too! The best thing about punk fashion is that it’s perfectly okay to be ugly. And I was an awkward ugly duckling all the way through my teenage years.

Stellium in Libra: In the spring and summer months, my stellium in Libra is in charge of getting me dressed — read: pretty in pink. And the brighter the better: shiny pink-glass

earrings in the shape of flamingos (okay, I lied — I don’t actually wear those) and pink hightop tennies. Libra is also in charge of dressy attire, to be sure.

Venus and Libra stellium: On that one and only New Year’s Eve when this Cinderella got a chance to go to the ball, I wore a silver sequined floor-length gown with a tunic and a slit all the way up — and silver tights to match. In the photos, unfortunately, I have red eyes (not from drinking, from the flashbulb). I suppose Venus and my Libra stellium happily teamed up on that outfit.

Notes from a Novice:

WHO DRESSES ME?by Jan de Prosse

go to pg. 108


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February 1—5 Overview: Mars finally moves into new territory this week, when it leaves the “shadow” point of its recent retrograde cycle that began at 23° Taurus back on October 1. This should free up some new energy, but complete liberation from the Bull won’t be felt until the warrior planet enters Gemini later this month, ending the seven-month siege of Mars in Taurus. Mercury steps into a con-tinuing Jupiter–Neptune square, making a square to the former and a conjunction with the latter on February 1. Mercury’s normally narrow focus widens enormously, revealing bigger principles while blurring little facts. On February 5, Mercury squares Mars, as new ideas push up against old methods. Anger is the downside, but clear thinking is a potential plus. But with the Sun conjunct nebu-lous Neptune that night, perhaps no one will notice. The contrast between sharp minds and sensitive souls, though, could lead to some wounded feelings. The mind is flooded with ideas, images, and impressions, with a Mercury–Neptune conjunction on Wednesday (Feb. 1). This is excellent for imagination and for conversation that relies more on intuition than intellect. A Mercury–Jupiter square the same day (17°25' Aquarius–Scorpio) further blurs facts with opinions and beliefs. Although big thinking and grand ideas are to be expected now, details are likely to be weak, so be cautious about the claims you make and the promises you hear. The Moon enters Aries at 2:46 p.m., which does not favor patience. Emotions rise quickly, and words can pop out of mouths without much consideration of their consequences. Yet, this may reveal surprising truths about needs that are normally masked by self-restraint. The planets are quiet on Thursday (Feb. 2), with no meaning-ful aspects in effect. But there’s an important shift on Friday (Feb. 3) when Venus turns direct at 16° Capricorn. After turning retro-grade on December 24, the planet of love is finally stopping its

Forecast Calendar for Feb/Mar 2006by Jeff Jawer

All times given are in Pacific Standard Time. For Eastern Time, add 3 hours; Central Time, add 2 hours;

Mountain Time, add 1 hour; Greenwich Mean Time, add 8 hours.

backward slide. It’s time to start moving out of the past and lead relationships in a new direction. Progress may not come quickly, though, given Venus’s slow speed at her station and the natural re-straint of Capricorn. At 5:31 p.m. the Moon enters earthy Taurus, further slowing the pace as practical matters weigh more heavily now than impulsive desires. The Moon forms a First Quarter square with the Sun at 10:29 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 4), contrasting an instinct for safety (Moon in Taurus) with a desire for innovation (Sun in Aquarius). Bright ideas and idealism can founder on the shores of limited resources and selfish needs. Yet, expansive Jupiter opposes the First Quarter Moon while Neptune conjuncts the Sun, so optimism and vision can overcome our most stubborn doubts. The planetary tides are choppy this weekend, since a sharp Mercury–Mars square (24°13' Aquarius–Taurus) on Sunday (Feb. 5) narrows the focus in the midst of the broad waves of Jupiter and Neptune. Ideally, this planetary combination can direct expansive vision into concrete form. Mars is finally leaving the shadow point of last year’s retrograde in Taurus, giving it more freshness than is usually found in this earth sign. Nevertheless, Mercury–Mars can make an argumentative pair in these intractable fixed signs — a clash between ideas and meth-ods that makes it hard for either side to give ground. The evening is likely to engender more flexible attitudes as the Sun conjuncts forgiving Neptune (17°17' Aquarius) at 9:33 p.m. and the Moon enters mutable Gemini at 11:32 p.m. You might go to bed with a firm idea in your mind and awaken the following morning to the uncertainty (or freedom) of multiple possibilities. The message, perhaps, is that we are swimming in a sea much larger than we can imagine and that navigating through such waters requires an ability to quickly shift perspective from the long view to the im-mediate realities.

BEGINNERS: Planets occupy signs and form exact aspects to one another when separated by the designated number of degrees. The midpoint between any two planets is determined by finding the place in the zodiac equally distant from those two planets. The North Node and South Node are astronomical points (not physical objects) determined by the intersection of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth with the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

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WEEKLY FORECAST CALENDAR

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Week of February 6—12 Overview: The week starts with a Sun–Jupiter square on February 6 that shines light on the longer-running 90° angle between Neptune and Jupiter. The potential for ego expan-sion is enormous. We can puff ourselves up into godlike fig-ures with hopes and expectations far beyond the boundaries of reality. A wider view of who you are and who you can become, however, is a gift when you can gently nurture this dream rather than try to rush it into being. Mercury journeys from a crystal-clear sextile with pointed Pluto on the 6th to the unmarked sea lanes of the Pisces ocean on February 8. This shift is a reminder not to take our thoughts too seriously, because sharp visions may lose their shape as exceptions plague our rules. On February 12, the week is capped off by an explosive Full Moon. The usual tension of the Sun–Moon opposition is heightened by a close square to both lights from contentious Mars; this makes it especially important now to choose your battles carefully. The two significant aspects on Monday (Feb. 6) couldn’t be more different. The Sun–Jupiter square (17°49' Aquarius–Scorpio) is wide open — full of swagger and hope. Self-im-portance can be inflated with self-righteousness, a favored weapon of obese egos. The tense aspect between our cen-tral star, the Sun, and our almost star, Jupiter, one day after the Sun–Neptune conjunction, is about as expansive a pat-tern as we can get. Ideally, it carries us past old boundaries of guilt, insufficiency, and doubt, yet the sheer force of op-timism might carry us right off the map (the map of reality, that is). The smart sextile between Mercury and Pluto (26°04' Aquarius–Sagittarius) operates in a totally opposite way. It narrows the mind, picks through the piles, extracts specific information, and sends precise messages. It’s the auditor who can punch holes in the fat guys’ bloated schemes, the tiny detail that brings down the elephant of illusion. But this perceptive pair can also help us to find the thread that en-ables us to weave our variegated strands of fantasy into the whole cloth of reality. Practical support is added by a clever Mars–Saturn quintile (72°) on Tuesday (Feb. 7) that can find creative solutions to even the most intractable problems. The environment shifts into a more watery (sensitive) di-rection on Wednesday (Feb. 8) at 8:33 a.m. when the Moon enters its home sign of Cancer. We may be more emotion-ally reactive to changes in the environment, but a sense of what’s really needed helps us to gather energy and focus our attention. On the other hand, Mercury’s entry into sister wa-ter sign Pisces at 5:22 p.m. softens mental boundaries as the mind swerves and skids, avoiding fixed positions with the agility of an intelligent escape artist. This is useful if you’ve been caught in a mental cul de sac but is less helpful for those seeking solid conceptual ground. A light hand on the wheel can be an asset when Mars quincunxes Pluto (26°09' Taurus–Sagittarius) on Thursday (Feb. 9). These two tough planets are caught in an awkward tussle for power in which neither is likely to win. Force only pushes us off course, but the flexibility of Mercury in Pisces makes steering around ob-stacles easier than engaging in the trench warfare of Mars ver-sus Pluto. A Mercury–Venus semi-square (45°) that evening makes for thin skin and overreaction to critical comments. The influence of the Moon in Cancer can help, if we’re pro-tective of others, or exacerbate the situation, if we’re strongly self-defensive. The planetary show starts late on Friday (Feb. 10); the

Moon’s ingress into Leo at 7:44 p.m. is the only notable event of the day. This can make for a lively evening that lifts moods and dramatizes emotions leading up to Sunday’s Full Moon in this sign. The long-term transit of Saturn in Leo is a reminder that working with the power of personality is everyone’s task at this time. Going overboard in the need for recognition can be embarrassing, but it’s healthier to face ego needs now than to deny them. There are no significant planetary events on Satur-day (Feb. 11), but the slow beating of the Full Moon drums are more than enough to animate our lives. On Sunday (Feb. 12), Mercury forms a quincunx with Saturn (6°36' Pisces–Leo) in the morning. There’s a nagging quality to this aspect that seeds doubt and criticism to puncture the big Moon-in-Leo balloon. A more attractive version of the Mercury–Saturn story would describe it as the subtle clarity that emerges from thoughtful conversation or serious reflection. At 8:45 p.m. the Moon in Leo makes its annual opposition to the Sun in Aquarius. Leo represents the heart, the individual, and the center; Aquarius represents the network and the group. It’s a battle between the monarch and the masses, the individual and the collective, passionate engagement and intellectual detachment. Under-standing how personal expression and group dynamics serve one another is the form of enlightenment promised now. Yet, Mars’s square from Taurus makes needed flexibility harder to find. Locking down in a fixed position can be useful, though, when the creative forces are locked, loaded, and ready to be fired. A well-directed will blends internal drive with external conditions in a creative tour de force.

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Week of February 13—19 Overview: Two planets that change signs and then hook up in a major aspect are key to this week’s astrological story. On February 17, Mars finally ends its seven-month stay in Taurus and enters Gemini. A collective sigh of relief may be felt when the weary warrior finally leaves the fixed earth sign behind. Mobility is the chief benefit of this transit, loosening Taurus’s heavy hold and allowing for a greater variety of ap-proaches to life. We’re entering a land of multiple choices, with many forks in the road along the way. On February 18, the Sun leaves Aquarius behind and enters Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac. It’s a period of sinking in, summing up, and looking back before beginning a new annual cycle when the Sun enters Aries. Pisces is sensitive, absorbing impressions through every pore of the skin. We feel ourselves feeling; the fish is aware of the water in which it swims. Normally, this can engender passivity, but the Sun and Mars form an exact square on February 19. So, instead of drifting through a Pi-scean haze or relaxing in the sweetness of spirituality, sharp differences of opinion break the mood. Teasing is common now, but the difference between playfulness and aggression will be difficult to discern. The week begins with the Moon entering Virgo on Mon-day (Feb. 13) at 8:13 a.m., followed closely by a Mercury–Pluto quintile. Both of these positions bring precision, clarity, and ad-vanced analytical skills. Although the Virgo Moon has a critical side that tends to focus on faults, the Mercury–Pluto quintile should be able to solve the knottiest problems. On Tuesday (Feb. 14), Venus sextiles Jupiter (18°21' Capricorn–Scorpio),

the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. The two traditional benefics align to expand pleasure and our understanding of relation-ships. But elaborate presents are not to be expected, as this pair connects in cautious Capricorn and Scorpio. On the same morning, Mercury conjuncts Uranus at 9°52' Pisces, which is somewhat like putting your finger in an electrical outlet while standing in water. Mental shocks, wild thoughts, erratic communication, and brilliant breakthroughs are possible. A Sun–Pluto sextile tonight (26°16' Aquarius–Sagittarius) could pull together the scattered mental forces long enough for the celebratory Venus–Jupiter aspect to shine. Wednesday (Feb. 15) is astrologically quiet until the Moon enters Libra at 9:09 p.m. The Moon in the relation-ship sign sometimes generates harmony, since the instinct for peace and compromise grows stronger. The objectivity of this air sign allows us to step outside of ourselves and break free of reflexive emotional reactions. Libra can also be indecisive, though; that same objectivity disconnects us from our own desires in the interest of meeting others’ needs. There are no significant astrological events on Thurs-day (Feb. 16), which gives us a chance to enjoy the last day of Mars in Taurus. At 2:44 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 17), Mars enters the mutable air sign of Gemini. This will free up energy, making move-ment easier, but this placement is challenging as well. First, Mars is direct, better at following a single course of action than wandering the winding roads of Geminiland. The war-rior prefers to be decisive, which is difficult in the rippling reality of the Twins. Although there is a freeing of forces post-Taurus, gathering up sufficient steam in one place to make a difference may not be easy now. Sticking to a plan can be a challenge, so make your tasks diverse and keep an open schedule for Mars to meander and still make progress. On Saturday (Feb. 18), the open airiness of Gemini is dampened by the ingress of the Moon and Sun into water signs. The Moon enters Scorpio at 9:11 a.m., carrying a denser emotional quality than that of the previous two days. Scorpio may forgive, but it never forgets, so feelings are intensified. Whether we are blasted out with the heat of passion or held in the deep freeze of denial, there’s no escaping the power of the Moon now. At 11:26 a.m. the Sun enters Pisces, as the dammed-up lake of Scorpio is flooded by the ocean sign. Theoretically, the two water signs should work well together since each operates emotionally. Yet, traditionally Scorpio-friendly Mars is not only buzzing around insouciantly in Gemini, but is also drawing close to an exact square to the Sun. This powerful aspect is exact on Sunday (Feb. 19) at 7:33 a.m., setting the tone for a tense day. Yes, this hard an-gle could simply energize the Sun and bring consciousness to Mars — water softening intellect without dulling it, using the mind to understand feelings without shutting them off — but this requires some very slick moves. In support, how-ever, a Mercury–Jupiter trine at 18°37' Pisces and Scorpio combines the mental qualities of these two planets with the emotional ones of these two signs. Emotional intelligence, then, is available to navigate through this tricky time and to help us discuss delicate issues. A slow-moving Saturn–Chiron opposition (6°03' Leo–Aquarius) peaking now sets the stage for woundedness (especially around authority and control is-sues), a powerful subtext of pain and responsibility best met with kindness and patience.

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Week of February 20—26 Overview: Mercury is the key planet in this relatively quiet week. The Messenger in Pisces makes four aspects, in-cluding a quintile with Mars on February 20, a sesquiquadrate (135°) with Saturn and a semi-square with Chiron on Febru-ary 21, and a sextile with Venus on the 23rd. So, rather than wafting through Pisces in a dreamy state, our minds move through competence to doubt and finally to a place of rest. The Last Quarter Sun–Moon square arrives late on February 20. Generally, this hard lunar aspect from Sagittarius to Pi-sces is a fairly gentle one. The mutual mutability of these two signs tends to soften the toughness of the square, but Mars’s close opposition to the Moon and square to the Sun make this lunation edgy. Monday (Feb. 20) at 9:26 a.m., a quintile forms be-tween Mercury and Mars (19°23' Pisces – 1°23' Gemini). This 72° aspect of human genius and creativity links mind and muscle in unexpectedly efficient ways. Although these two planets are square by sign (Pisces and Gemini), they’re not stressed. Instead, we combine imaginative ideas with inventive action. The Moon enters Sagittarius at 6:38 p.m., just a few hours before its square to the Pisces Sun. This Last Quarter square marks the time in the monthly cycle when the fresh impulse born at the New Moon is tested against the responsibilities and demands of the outside world. The Sagittarius–Pisces conflict/contrast is between fiery impulse and watery memory. The Moon in Sagittarius wants free-dom to express its truth without nuance. Feelings burn with a passion that doesn’t abide compromise. Yet, the Sun in Pisces is conscious of universal connections: Every act and thought spread ripples everywhere. The challenge of this lu-nation is to leaven the message with kindness without dilut-ing its meaning. Certainly, the presence of Mars in Gemini tends to bring out the combative side, with quick reactions of hurt, anger, and irritability. This could be a high-strung night; verbal arrows are likely to fly. Being conscious of our vulnerabilities can help to temper overreaction, and we can avoid falling into the role of victim or aggressor. Wounded feelings are a major issue on Tuesday (Feb. 21) as Mercury steps into the Saturn–Chiron opposition with a sesquiquadrate to the former and a semi-square to the latter. It’s certainly appropriate to discuss delicate issues, as long as the desire to solve problems is greater than the need to complain about them. The only notable aspect on Wednesday (Feb. 22) is an uncommon bi-septile (102°50') between Jupiter and Saturn. This two-sevenths of a circle aspect tends to produce strange events. Since Jupiter and Saturn often operate on the larger political or social levels, we could hear weird news about organizations and leaders this week. Individually, a shake-up is possible in long-range plans, such as in career or ed-ucation matters. At 12:16 a.m. on Thursday (Feb. 23), the Moon enters Capricorn. This serious sign encourages dis-cipline and order. It’s a wonderful opportunity to establish new habits, since commitment is Capricorn’s strong suit. Yet, there’s a hard shell to this sign that makes it more difficult to flow with our feelings now. We are not responsible for our emotions, only what we do with them. Responsibility is not repression, it simply implies awareness. Today’s Mercury–Venus sextile (23°14' Pisces–Capricorn) has a softening ef-fect, though. Words are shared with kindness; beauty turns words into music. The maturity of the Moon in Capricorn

combined with this Mercury–Venus aspect makes this an ex-cellent time to work on relationships. The cranky side of the Capricorn Moon may be more evi-dent on Friday (Feb. 24), as this earth sign’s ruling planet, Sat-urn, forms a quirky quincunx with the Sun (5°46' Leo–Pisces). Difficulties with authority, either taking it on or yielding to it, could arise now. The solar will is hard to direct in a straight line. Quincunxes take us off track, requiring adjustments that can sometimes be humbling. Yet, patiently making neces-sary repairs or maintenance, although far from glamorous, can be the kind of nuts-and-bolts work that helps you reach your goals. At 2:14 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 25), the Moon enters Aquarius. The shift from Capricorn to Aquarius gener-ally widens perspectives. The practical concerns of the duty-bound earth sign recede in favor of the idealistic imaginings of the fixed air sign. Aquarius is limited only by ideas; so, in principle, it brings freedom. However, the mind can be the most effective jailer of all. Our fixed ideas and concepts sometimes pin us to a narrow conception of reality. This is a good time to examine our own principles more carefully. If our standards are too high, they may feel out of reach, as we create a perfect world where we can never live. If you have a need to control your reality, allowing yourself to be wrong can be an act of liberation. On Sunday night (Feb. 26), the Sun quintiles Pluto, buttoning up the week with a deep understanding of our purpose and our priorities. The impossible becomes possible — a reasonable result of this extremely creative aspect.

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Week of February 27 — March 5 Overview: Two stations, a planetary ingress, and a New Moon make this a very busy week. It starts on February 27 with another feisty lunation. Uranus is conjunct the Sun–Moon conjunction in Pisces, and Mars squares it from Gemini. What an electric, eccentric, hyper-nervous event this is! Emotions, ideas, and actions pop off in a million directions, until we develop a short-circuit from the information overload. For-tunately, a wide applying trine between the New Moon and Jupiter adds some stability and emotional muscle — enough, perhaps, to wade through the waters without drowning in a sea of confusion. Adding to the dilemma is Mercury’s retro-grade station in Pisces on March 2, not far from a square to Pluto. Riddles, mysteries, and secrets can twist the mind into a deep inner spiral. This can be perfect for metaphysical inquiry, but it can complicate ordinary communications. Jupiter turns retrograde on March 4, which is less obvious than Mercury’s station. It’s a slow process of turning inward to re-evaluate our principles and long-range plans. A counter-current is marked by Venus’s entry into airy Aquarius on March 5. The planet of attraction loves bright ideas and bright people, as well as utopian theories. Intellectual delights, however, will have to be run through the unconscious emotional editing of Mercury and Jupiter retrograde. At 1:56 a.m. on Monday (Feb. 27), the Moon enters Pisces and joins the Sun later in the day. The Moon in Pisces opens our psychic antennae, tuning us into feelings from everywhere. Compassion is the upside, but confusion and sacrifice are potential negatives. Make sure to take care of

yourself now, rather than giving all of your attention to oth-ers. Pisces’s normally muted atmosphere is supercharged today. A Venus–Uranus semi-square at 3:42 a.m. (25°36' Capricorn – 10°36' Pisces) pushes against the water sign’s all-inclusive nature. Relationships require breathing room, so holding on tightly can lead to a sudden break. This, of course, is a theme of the afternoon’s New Moon — with Uranus both best man and bridesmaid at the wedding. You don’t know whether he’s going to run off with the bride or the groom, but you can count on some kind of disturbance. Yet, the lightning strikes of this planet can break open the earth to give the seeds of the New Moon a fresh place to take root. Spiritual awakening is also possible now, in spite of Mars’s aggressive square to this lunation. Sometimes, it takes anger to force a change of perspective. Staying flex-ible is a key to turning conflict into creation now. Energy begins to coalesce on Tuesday (Feb. 28), with slow-moving Mercury forming a square to Pluto at 6:35 a.m. (26°31' Pisces–Sagittarius). Suspicious minds, secrets, and distrust are potentials, but this well-focused pairing can capture a piece of yesterday’s New Moon magic. A Mars–Saturn sextile today (5°30' Gemini–Leo) also concentrates and directs energy, allowing for productivity and efficiency. There’s still some room for delight, though, with a sextile between Venus and Mercury at 2:07 p.m. encouraging pleasant conversation and creative thought. At 1:18 a.m. on Wednesday (March 1), the Moon en-ters fiery Aries, which is helpful for launching new projects. Forward movement is further supported by the Sun’s exact conjunction with progressive Uranus at 10°43' Pisces this morning. Patience is not the strong suit of Aries or Uranus, so it helps to have some new activities to challenge this explosive spirit. War against authority figures is a potential risk now. Effective rebellions require planning if they are to lead to enduring change. Identity crises may happen as Uranus cracks the solar ego. Consciousness-raising is pos-sible, but internal chaos may also ensue. Being open to surprise is one way to invite healthy change. On Thursday (March 2), Mercury turns retrograde at 26°55' Pisces. If it weren’t for that difficult square from Pluto, we might be able to shift mental gears seamlessly now. Between now and March 25, when Mercury turns direct, some extra care with details is highly recommended to help avoid miscom-munication. Friday (March 3) promises some healing and stability, thanks to a Mars–Chiron trine (6°54' Gemini–Aquarius) fol-lowed by the Moon entering Taurus at 2:22 a.m. Inner peace and self-acceptance are Taurean virtues, as is Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. A little indulgence of the senses shouldn’t hurt. On Saturday (March 4), retrograde Mercury squares Pluto. Deep thinking is the gift, paranoia the curse. If you encoun-ter dark thoughts, remember that the reality of your situation is probably better than you think it is. Venus’s entry into friendly Aquarius on Sunday (March 5) ushers in a healthy breath of fresh air and a bit of much-needed detachment and social openness. The Moon’s in-gress into Gemini at 6:37 a.m. gives us another infusion of lightness and flexibility, helping to lift any heaviness you’ve been feeling lately. A day when playfulness takes priority over problems and dealing with practical matters is welcome right now.

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Week of March 6—12 Overview: This week is quieter than the last, but the re-verberations of the explosive New Moon in Pisces may linger. The two most important upcoming events occur within 12 hours of one another. Venus opposes Saturn late on March 10, and Mars squares Uranus on the morning of March 11. The proximity of these quite different aspects can make for a rapid shift of experience. Saturn lends sobriety to Venus, ei-ther deepening or dampening relationships with the weight of responsibility. Mars and Uranus, on the other hand, are Hell’s Angels on hallucinogens, wild forces willing to break through any barriers they might encounter. Commitments made under duress are unlikely to last, so don’t let Saturn corner you into accepting less than you desire. Tension is caused by contrast, so the contracting forces of the Venus–Saturn denial of pleasure provoke the explosive charge of Mars–Uranus. A little less Saturn guilt and repression will reduce Uranus irrationality. The week starts with a Venus–Jupiter quintile (00°51' Aquarius – 18°51' Scorpio) at 2:23 a.m. on Monday (March 6). This creative alignment of the partygoing pair can take de-light in unexpected ways. Have some fun with appearance and attitude, to turn a workmanlike weekday into a holiday. At 12:17 p.m., the Moon forms a First Quarter square with the Sun, marking the first major turning point since last week’s New Moon. The Gemini Moon distracts the devotional Pi-sces Sun. With the Sun still within orb of a conjunction with electric Uranus, screeching sounds can be expected; nerves are taut, tension is high. We are being pulled in more direc-tions than a centipede has legs. It’s impossible to respond to all the calls for attention we’re likely to receive. Yet, there is an island of calm and wisdom in the midst of this emotional hurricane. Jupiter in Scorpio is trine the Sun and Uranus, bringing a long-range view to short-term emergencies. Jupi-ter, the largest true planet, has a sense of perspective in the interest of long-term gain. A Venus–Sun semi-square this eve-ning shows social vulnerability, however, making it easy to take offense where none was intended. Accepting with cool detachment the high intensity that’s in the air gives us more emotional room to reduce relationship anxieties. At 2:38 p.m. on Tuesday (March 7), the Moon returns to its home sign of Cancer. This can help us tune into our in-ner needs, but this cardinal water sign can also stir up even bigger emotional waves. Security, or (more accurately) inse-curity, is the key now. Uncertainties may be dramatized, but truly none of us is completely safe, physically or emotionally. A spiritual perspective, though, can help us to accept life’s dangers without falling into despair. There are no significant aspects on Wednesday (March 8) and only one on Thursday (March 9), but it’s a biggie: Ju-piter, the planetary giant, is in a big, fat trine with the Sun (18°50' Scorpio–Pisces). This exact aspect lifts spirits and opens minds; there are few contacts as fortunate as this one. The “good luck” of Jupiter is not rooted in materialism. Its power comes from vision, the wide view that gives meaning to otherwise meaningless experiences. This is what relieves pain and opens the way to opportunity. The Moon in Can-cer trines both these planets in the morning, creating a grand trine in water that gives us understanding beyond words. This knowing is not new information. It is, rather, the clearing of the clouds that reveals an eternal sky of awareness. The Moon enters Leo on Friday (March 10) at 1:42 a.m.

Generally, we’d expect a boost of energy from this powerful fire sign. However, the weight of Saturn is considerable today, as that planet makes two significant aspects: First, it forms a sesqui-quadrate with the Sun in the morning, a reversal of yesterday’s Sun–Jupiter trine. Rather than an easy aspect with an expansive body, this one’s a hard aspect with a contracting planet. Sun–Saturn is about respect, which is earned but not given freely. If the Leo hunger for recognition is strong, this could become problematic because applause does not come easily now. The second aspect, the Venus–Saturn opposition (4°57' Aquarius–Leo) late tonight, is another reason that approval may be hard to come by. Yes, we can be recognized and loved while the Sun and Venus hook up with Saturn, but love and recognition will probably come without the usual Leo enthusiasm. The Mars–Uranus square (11°18' Gemini–Pisces) on Sat-urday (March 11) is, as mentioned earlier, a total contrast to Friday’s Saturnian environment. Obeying the rules is difficult with this aspect under the most ideal conditions. But the re-strictions imposed by Saturn are likely to trigger rebellion. It’s best to use this inventive force creatively, to do something new, rather than attack something old. Retrograde Mercury conjoins the Sun (21°23' Pisces) at 6:44 p.m., a time for reflection. On Sunday (March 12), an early morning Mercury–Venus semi-square starts the day with heightened sensitivity to words and criticism. The Moon’s entry into Virgo at 2:23 p.m. further sharpens powers of analysis. As always, the key to this lunar placement is to apply its narrow perspective to build, rather than to tear down.

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Week of March 13—19 Overview: There are two major astrological events this week: one with an obvious effect and the other much more subtle. The splashy one is the Full Moon in Virgo on March 14 that also happens to be a lunar eclipse. The usual high intensity of the Sun–Moon opposition is magnified by the Earth’s shadow crossing the face of our only satellite. Full Moons are often times of breakthrough and discovery, but the eclipse may throw us back into the past to examine some unfinished business before we can move ahead. Pisces represents a world without borders, a place where body, mind, and spirit become one. Virgo, on the other hand, is the detail-oriented sign that divides, defines, and classifies. Their opposition is a dialogue of synthesis and analysis. The eclipse, though, suggests that Virgo has gone too far, that we each have categories too narrowly defined to serve their purpose. Pluto is square the Sun and Moon, adding an-other layer of complexity. But the planet of death and rebirth goes well with the dying of old habits associated with a lunar eclipse. This lunation can show you that it’s safe (and fun) to live outside the bubble. On March 15, Jupiter and Neptune form a precise square. Of course, there’s nothing precise about this pair, so don’t count on a visitation from the spirit realm. Nevertheless, a connection between these gaseous giants can provide some form of inspiration. Wisdom can come now from a man in the gutter or a woman living out of a shopping cart. Jupiter in Scorpio doesn’t dress all of its teachers in academic robes or virginally white yoga pants. Truth may arrive in dis-guise this week. The only aspect of note on Monday (March 13) is a crunchy

Mercury–Saturn sesquiquadrate at 8:30 a.m. It doesn’t seem fair that retrograde Mercury in Pisces be subjected to such a difficult aspect from such a hard-to-please planet. If you’re not feeling as bright as usual, you won’t be the only one. To avoid wasting time, communicate carefully and act with cau-tion now. Before the Full Moon eclipse on Tuesday (March 14), Venus enters the fray with a conjunction to Chiron (7°38' Aquarius) at 12:39 a.m. Those of us in the Western Hemi-sphere may sleep through this one, but it is a “woe is me” event waiting to happen. If you’re feeling unloved, the com-ing eclipse can hit the root cause where permanent change can be made. Soothing voices may be heard, thanks to a Mercury–Jupiter trine (18°42' Pisces–Scorpio) at 1:10 p.m. These mental planets in water signs are poetry for the mind, insight beyond grammar, and conversation rich with mean-ingful silence. At 3:36 p.m. the Full Moon arrives, tiptoeing in Virgo lest it disturb the neighbors. But the stress of containing the opposition leads to an emotional outburst. Feelings are strong now, although perhaps hidden by the eclipse squar-ing Pluto. Virgo demands social propriety, but it is better to face our neuroses head on than to continue to sweep them under the rug. Strong reactions to the day’s little challenges are fueled by the deeper issues of power (Pluto), faith (Pi-sces), and duty (Virgo). This is not a time to aim for mastery; simple engagement will do for a start. If you dance with the shadow of doubt, you will find grace in this awkward place. Human beauty (inside and out) is enriched by our flaws, not ruined by them. The Moon entering Libra at 3:12 a.m. on Wednesday (March 15) recognizes that what we have in common is much greater than our differences. Placing the dark discoveries of the lunar eclipse in the light of relationship can reduce the burdens we each carry alone. We are here to help and be helped. The Jupiter–Neptune square wafts in late tonight on a cloud of confusion that pushes zealots to extremes in their need for certainty. But those who accept the mysteries of life can be enriched with the soul’s unspoken understand-ing. There are no aspects on Thursday (March 16), but the Jupiter–Neptune fog lingers throughout the day. The Sun squares Pluto (26°43' Pisces–Sagittarius) at 3:04 a.m. on Friday (March 17), followed by the Moon’s descent into Scorpio at 2:59 p.m. The potential for fear and mistrust is strong. However, the Sun can shine a light into Plu-to’s Underworld if we are courageous enough to look there. Power struggles are a lower-level expression of this aspect, and the Moon in Scorpio underscores the fear that there’s not enough to go around. Both Pluto and Scorpio measure on an emotional level, unconsciously calculating what has to be given to get what is needed in return. But there can be shame in such naked neediness, so most of us turn away from such thoughts. This day offers us another chance to en-gage the shadow, though, and free ourselves from its repres-sive hold. A Venus–Pluto semi-square on Saturday (March 18) continues the theme of measurement. It’s hard now to feel generous with your love or to believe that you are be-ing treated generously. So, talk about what you’re willing to pay and be clear about what you’re buying now. A Mercury–Mars square speeds up thinking and sharpens words. Use the sword of reason with precision, rather than rancor, to heal relationships at this time. There are no significant planetary events on Sunday (March 19).

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Week of March 20—26 Overview: We begin a new astrological year as the Sun enters the zodiac’s first sign, Aries, on March 20. Normally, this is a time to focus on the present, but three outer-planet aspects to the Sun broaden Aries’s usually narrow track. On March 23, the Sun sesquiquadrates Jupiter, followed by a semi-square with Neptune the next day. The Aries Sun thus steps into this slow-moving Jupiter–Neptune square — sort of like a teenager stumbling into a seminary. Aries wants action … now! But Jupiter and Neptune are in the process of work-ing out new long-term visions for the future. Avoid jumping to conclusions; let the truth reveal itself at a more leisurely pace. Also on March 24, the Sun trines Saturn, creating an island of concreteness in the midst of the Jupiter–Neptune fog. Good judgment and self-trust are among the benefits of this positive pairing. Another major feature of the week is Mercury’s direct station on March 25. The communication planet slips into forward gear just one degree from another nerve-wracking conjunction with Uranus. This is likely to man-ifest as fits and starts of awareness, confusion, and misunder-standing until Mercury picks up speed in the days ahead. At 12:43 a.m. on Monday (March 20), the Moon enters Sagittarius just hours before the Sun moves into Aries at 10:26 a.m. The Sagittarius Moon brings out a sense of adven-ture and feelings of restlessness. This dovetails very nicely with the Sun’s entry into a fellow fire sign, providing emo-tional fuel for the new season about to unfold. There can be a reckless quality when these are the dominant forces, so it’s useful to have outlets where we can be too loud, go too far, and take chances without danger of falling on our faces. The gift of these two signs is a spark of enthusiasm, but maintaining it may be a challenge to this cardinal and mutable pair. There are no significant planetary events on Tuesday (March 21), which can allow the equinox fire to linger longer than usual. Life may become more serious on Wednesday (March 22) when the Moon enters sober Capricorn at 7:36 a.m. At 11:11 a.m., the Capricorn Moon forms a Last Quarter square to the Aries Sun. Real-world considerations slam into bright new ideas and either feed them or snuff them out. Combining the youthful fire of Aries with the maturity of Capricorn is a difficult task, but not impossible. The trick is finding room for both the naïve voice of possibility and the wise voice of experience. Saturn’s approaching trine to the Sun adds a much-needed cooling to this mix. When this happens, enough energy is developed to overcome virtu-ally any obstacle. On Thursday afternoon (March 23), the Sun sesquiquadrates Jupiter (3°17' Aries – 18°17' Scorpio), a challenging aspect. Overstatement is almost certainly a sign of insecurity. Making promises beyond one’s reach is another way to compensate for self-doubt. As always, hard aspects to Jupiter are invitations to expansion that include warnings about going too far. Jupiter’s destabilizing influence continues on Friday (March 24), with a quincunx to Mars in Gemini arriving in the wee hours. When these planets misalign like this, it can be hard to hit your target. The journey to any goal may wind up following an indirect route, so leave time to get back on schedule, rather than cramming as much as you can into a single day. Mars and Jupiter can be expressed with high en-thusiasm, as well as anger. The object of praise or punish-ment might not be worth the attention it’s given, though. If

it feels like you’re picking up speed and the Earth is slipping below you, then slow down, refocus, and get yourself back on track. Another tricky aspect arrives at 9:00 a.m. when the Sun semi-squares Neptune. Illusion, confusion, delusion, and other hallucinations are more common now. We may leave reality entirely behind. Certainly, spirituality, imagination, and compassion are offered by Neptune, but we need finesse to capture these with this challenging solar semi-square. Open-ing and receiving are likely to prove more fruitful than grasp-ing and grabbing now. Helpfully, forces of reason are on the way. The Moon enters Aquarius at 11:21 a.m.; this can be a sign of weird ideas, but it also has the intellectual breadth to understand our unstable environment. At 11:04 p.m., the Sun–Saturn trine (4°30' Aries–Leo) frames the day, giving structure and meaning to this otherwise ephemeral time. Saturday (March 25) is full of potential for joyous events. An early morning Venus–Jupiter square (18°12' Aquarius–Scorpio) lifts a glass — no, a whole bottle — to the gods of pleasure. Venus ends the day with a conjunction to Neptune, casting a romantic light on the evening. In between these two events, Mercury turns direct at 13°11' Pisces and Mars trines Neptune. The creative Mars–Neptune connection is the safety net that allows excess without too many consequences. On Sun-day (March 26), Mars semi-squares Saturn in the morning. This is a hard, cold wake-up call that’s softened when the Moon enters forgiving Pisces at 12:33 p.m. A Venus–Mars trine at 6:41 p.m. (19°48' Aquarius–Gemini) wraps the weekend in a joyous ribbon of love and playfulness.


ARIES EQUINOXMarch 20, 2006

Washington, D.C.

Placidus houses, True Node

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March 27—31 Overview: The week is highlighted by a total eclipse of the Sun on March 29. This New Moon in Aries is one of the major kick-off events of the astrological year. The Sun–Moon conjunc-tion in the seeding sign is rich with fresh ideas. Yet, the eclipse literally casts a shadow on the solar show, containing the force of will within the confines of old, unfinished business. Tradition-ally, solar eclipses were associated with the fall of monarchs or heads of state. This may play itself out in the news during the next few weeks, but our personal king or queen is almost cer-tain to take a step backward now. Solid Saturn’s trine to the New Moon point suggests that any reversals we encounter may turn out to be short-cuts in the long run. If you’re impatiently pushing to launch a new project, consider one last look at the master plan before leaping into action. Pluto turns retrograde at almost the same time as the eclipse. This, however, is a very subtle event, a slight shift that suggests that the most powerful transformations are liable to come from within for the next few months. There are no significant astrological events on Monday (March 27). However, individual transits to your own chart can still make this an important day. The Moon enters Aries on Tues-day (March 28) at 12:31 p.m. Traditional astrology ascribes no negative or positive value to this combination, but there is still something askew with the planet of preservation in the sign of the perpetual present. Impulsiveness is one possible consequence, as unfiltered feelings arise and we’re liable to strike out in the mo-ment. This can roil the waters of relationship as diplomacy falls by the wayside. But the spontaneity of the Moon in Aries has a refreshing quality, one that can often reveal the truth in “acci-

dental” ways. “Oops, that just slipped out,” we might say, “I didn’t mean it,” when, of course, we really did. One blessing of Aries, though, is that resentments usually don’t last long. At 2:16 a.m. on Wednesday (March 29), the Sun and Moon join together in their monthly New Moon mating ceremony. This is the newest New Moon of the year, falling in the first sign of the zodiac. This is a time of discovery, though, rather than one of control. We are inexperienced at the beginning of any cycle, so we may act with less forethought than usual. The nature of fiery Aries doubles that. But all is not bright and shiny now, since this lunation is also a total solar eclipse. The ego is forced to take a step back, and will is thwarted, at least temporarily, while old haunts of the psyche are revisited. Im-pulsive behavior may blow up in our faces, so a tad of caution is recommended. Saturn’s trine to the New Moon couple helps to keep whatever fresh impulses or archaic compulsions that arise from getting out of hand. On Thursday (March 30), a Sun–Mars quintile (9°46' Aries – 21°46' Gemini) can help us to weave order back into our lives. Mars, the ruling planet of Aries, is especially important now, so its creative connection with the freshly eclipsed Sun is as welcome as a lifeguard to a drowning person. Intention (Sun) and methods (Mars) that have not come together before may find new connections that allow them to work together effectively. At 1:01 p.m. the Moon enters Taurus, its traditional sign of exaltation, which fosters calm, self-acceptance, and inner peace. The complex drive of the Aries New Moon darkened by the doubting eclipse has made this a confusing week thus far. But the simple pleasures of the flesh and appreciation of what we already have offer much-needed comfort. There are no ma-jor aspects on Friday (March 31), which goes along with the tranquility of the Moon in Taurus to provide a respite from the firestorm of energy that’s recently been released.

© 2006 Jeff Jawer – all rights reserved

Jeff Jawer has been a professional astrologer since 1973 and holds a B.A. in “The History and Science of Astrology” from the Univer-sity of Massachusetts at Amherst. Jeff is a co-founder of StarIQ.com, AFAN, and UAC. He is a frequent lecturer at astrology conferences and maintains an international counseling practice. His new book, Your Astrology Guide 2006, co-written with Rick Levine, is avail-able at Barnes & Noble bookstores and at www.BN.com. Jeff can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]

CORRECTIONS

Oh, What a Tangled Web … Both of our corrections have to do with URLs ref-erenced in the Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006 issue of TMA: First, in Tem Tarriktar’s article, “Winds of Change,” Rich-ard Heinberg’s Web site (given in Note 3 on page 17) should read: www.museletter.com Also, in Demetra George’s interview with members of the Association for Young Astrologers (in the Mercury Direct section), the Web address for Kepler College is incorrect as listed on page 11; it is: www.kepler.edu TMA regrets the errors and is grateful to the readers who pointed them out.

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February 12, 2006 – 8:45 p.m. PSTFebruary 13, 2006 – 4:45 a.m. GMT

Leo Full Moon – February 12—13

The charts for the lunations in this issue are all set on the natural wheel with 0° Aries rising. All references to Sabian symbols are from Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Sym-bolic Phases, Vintage Books, 1973. Leo and Aquarius. Fire and Air. Heart and Mind. The Individual and Humanity. This Full Moon asks us to remem-ber our mission — the reason we chose to incarnate at this time and the part we elected to play at this evolutionary juncture on Earth. The archetype of Leo represents the quest for one’s unique expression of the divine, the embodiment of one’s dharma, or true nature. In the book, An Astrological Trip-tych, Dane Rudhyar wrote that, for the fifth sign, the great-est gift (and challenge) is simplicity — to transcend duality and drama and be simply who one is. Leo is associated with the image of the King and the Lion, symbolizing not ruler-ship over others but the attainment of sovereignty over one-self. Where the Moon at 24° Leo falls in your chart is where you are being called to take the next step in expressing your unique spark of creation. For Aquarius, Rudhyar identified service as the great-est gift — to be a servant of humanity, acting for the good

by Stephanie Austin

of the whole. The Water Bearer pours out his wisdom for the welfare of all. The eleventh sign is the stage of develop-ment where we are no longer enslaved by convention or dogma and live in authenticity, equality, and diversity; kin, race, religion, and nationality are subsumed into the Family of Humankind. Where the Sun at 24° Aquarius falls in your natal chart shows where you are making a break from the past and have the power to operate as an agent of change. Full Moons illuminate the shadow, bringing light to whatever has been in the dark. The shadow side of Leo is self-absorption and a sense of entitlement. The dark side of Aquarius is hypocrisy and heartlessness. This Full Moon also shows where more light and love are needed for ourselves and for the world. Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, is in the third year of his eight-year stay in Pisces, breaking down the psy-chological and social programming that keeps us from see-ing that we are all made of the same clay, the same quarks, the same luminosity. Uranus conjoins Mercury during this Full Moon, encouraging us not only to think different, but also to stop thinking and become receptive to our intuitive wisdom. Jupiter and Mars oppose each other and square the Sun and Moon, forming a wide fixed grand cross — an energy configuration that pushes for the breakup of “fixed” or long-standing patterns. Jupiter in Scorpio square the Sun and Moon helps us to see our fears in a new light, especially the trepidation of being different or dissenting. Jupiter also squares Neptune in Aquarius, making it easier to find com-mon ground and shared goals. Mars’s square to the Sun and

Moon urges us to act on what we really want and need, while the Red Planet’s waning opposition to Jupiter prods

us to let go of what’s unnecessary or unfounded. Chi-ron’s close opposition to Saturn in Leo suggests that sharing our truth can be healing for all concerned and that the most important thing we can do for the world is to become the person we were born to be. This Full Moon turns the light on where we are still trying to fit in, where we are still in the closet, and where our honesty and authenticity can make a dif-ference in the world. The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 25° Aquar-ius implies that we need to act on our highest prin-

ciples: “A butterfly with the right wing more perfectly formed; the capacity to develop the rational and fully

conscious aspect of the mind ahead of normal evolu-tion.” The image for the Moon at 25° Leo advises us to

keep going, even if surroundings are not supportive: “A large camel is seen crossing a vast and forbidding desert; self-sufficiency in the face of a long and exhausting adven-ture.” This Full Moon pushes us to trust and live our truth. “To be mistaken is a misfortune to be pitied; but to know the truth and not to conform one’s actions to it is a crime which Heaven and Earth condemn.” (Giuseppe Mazzini)

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February 27, 2006 – 4:31 p.m. PSTFebruary 28, 2006 – 12:31 a.m. GMT

Pisces New Moon – February 27—28by Stephanie Austin

There’s no more nebulous and numinous New Moon than one in Pisces. Ruled by Neptune, the mythic god of the sea, the Sun and Moon in Pisces bring a double dose of fog, dissolving our usual reference points so that we must navi-gate by our inner compass. The archetypal fish (or dolphin, as it’s often represented) swims in the ocean of life, con-scious of its interconnectedness with all of creation. As the last sign, Pisces comes to accept the infinite and eternal ebb and flow of the cosmos and lives in compassion, trust, and unbroken awareness of the greater Whole. All New Moons are excellent times to set new inten-tions; for Pisces, these come from the heart, not the head — from the soul, not the ego. Silence and solitude facili-tate recognition of the difference. Give yourself some retreat time around this New Moon. Take a walk in the woods or along the beach. Lose yourself in art or music. Read an inspirational book. Watch your dreams for messages from your higher Self. See if you can do nothing for an entire afternoon; it’s hard on the ego but really good for the soul. Simply being frees us up to work on more subtle levels and receive our intuitions more easily. The potential for important insights is greatly amped up by Uranus’s close conjunction to the Sun and Moon. Ura-nus, the archetype of freedom and innovation, brings our attention to the extraordinary and extrasensory realms. Ura-nus was sighted at least a dozen times by a French astron-omer, Pierre Lemonnier, but because of the prevailing mind-set, it was not seen as an addition to our solar system. In another twist of fate, an amateur astronomer, William Herschel, is credited with discovering Uranus in 1781. This planet, orbiting far beyond the bounds of Saturn, shows us that we must go beyond convention to dis-cover something new. It reminds us that we see not only with our eyes, but also with our mind. In Pisces, Uranus blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction, revealing that there is always much more than meets the eye. Uranus is often considered the higher octave of Mercury and, as such, our access to higher intelligence. With both Uranus and Mercury in Pisces, this New Moon opens the doors of perception, providing a fertile time for inspired creativity and fascinating dis-coveries. Uranus is also very close to the degree of his station retrograde last year (10°46' Pisces on June 14, 2005), signaling that we’ve integrated the cosmic lesson provided at that time and are now ready for the next one. Mercury, also in Pisces, tunes us into our right brains. Mercury is in Pisces from February 8 to April 16 and moves retrograde from March 2 to March 25. The Messenger con-tinues to spark new revelations for more than two months, as his approaching retrograde phase doubles the time he

normally spends in the twelfth sign. Pluto in Sagittarius squares Mercury, and both closely aspect the degree of the galactic center (27° Sagittarius), helping to transmit informa-tion from sources far beyond our normal range and awak-ening many people to their true identity and purpose. The Lord of the Underworld’s waxing square to the Messenger makes it easier for us to grasp new truths. And Pluto’s year-long mutual reception with Jupiter in Scorpio (Pluto and Jupiter are each transiting the sign the other rules) keeps the surprises coming. Jupiter’s expansive energy is intensified as he hovers close to his station retrograde on March 4; our beliefs and priorities will look different by July 6, when Jupi-ter turns direct. The Sabian symbol for 10° Pisces confirms that we must rely on extrasensory perception in order to evolve: “An avi-ator pursues his journey, flying through ground-obscuring clouds; man’s ability to develop powers and skills which by transcending natural limitations allow him to operate in mental–spiritual realms.” Watch the signs, trust your soul, and be aware that “everything in this world has hidden mean-ing … people, animals, trees, stars are all hieroglyphics … we think they are only people, animals, trees, stars. It is only years later that some of us understand.” (Nikos Kazantzakis)

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March 14, 2006 – 3:36 p.m. PSTMarch 14, 2006 – 11:36 p.m. GMT

Virgo Lunar Eclipse – March 14by Stephanie Austin

Each month offers a Full Moon; only every six months do the Earth, Moon, and Sun align precisely enough to eclipse each other. As the shadow of the Earth darkens the light of the Moon, we have a special opportunity to see through our fears and discover new truths. Eclipses occur in relation to the lunar nodes: the points in space where the Moon crosses the ecliptic, the path of the Earth around the Sun. The lunar nodes, unlike the planets, transit primarily in reverse, symbolizing a path of Return to the Source. Formed by the Moon, the symbol of the feminine, the lunar nodes represent where we derive nourishment on a cosmic level: the North Node indicating what currently supports our spiri-tual development; and the South Node, what nourished us in the past. Pisces is the sign most concerned with the Return, the remembrance of our spiritual origins. The twelfth sign is the alpha and omega, the emergence into duality and the homecoming to unity. Virgo strives to understand the body–mind–spirit connection and to attain mastery of physical matter. Virgo seeks perfection; Pisces knows that all is per-fection. This eclipse illuminates the truth that matter and spirit are not separate, that heaven is not a place but a state of mind. On September 16, 1997, there was a lunar eclipse

at 23°56' Pisces–Virgo; and on March 12, 1998, a lunar eclipse at 22°24' Virgo–Pisces, activating similar territory in our lives. Insights from those times are being deepened now. This eclipse is strongly affected by Pluto closely squaring the Sun and Moon. Pluto square the Sun helps us to strip away false identifications, reminding us that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than humans try-ing to be spiritual. Pluto square the Moon brings emotional residue to the surface, helping us to recognize our projec-tions and release self-doubt and self-deprecation. Pluto is also very close to the center of the Milky Way galaxy (26°52' Sagittarius), a source of intense cosmic radi-ation. Pluto will be close to the galactic center for most of this year, magnifying the evolutionary impetus of the galac-tic emanations. Orbiting at the edge of our solar system, Pluto represents the boundary between the known and the unknown, the gateway to an expanded sense of identity and connection with the universe. Pluto also helps us to see beyond the myth of the Fall (that we are sinners in need of redemption) and to know that we need only to forgive our-selves for choosing to play the game of duality and forget-ting our divinity. The asteroid Juno opposes Pluto and closely squares the Sun and Moon. As the Roman goddess of marriage and the mythic consort of Jupiter, Juno represents the principle of feminine power and equality. In Gemini, Juno opens channels for information from all sides, fostering new viewpoints and a more equitable exchange between

men and women. The Sun, Moon, Pluto, and Juno form a mutable grand cross, signaling that we’re on

the verge of a radical change in how we relate to each other and the heavens — a shift comparable in magnitude to 500 years ago, when much of the world realized that the Earth was not flat, nor was it the center of the universe, but rather a sphere orbiting around the Sun. The Sabian symbols affirm that we are on the threshold of another major turning point and that the old order has finished its job. For the Sun at 25° Pisces: “A religious organization succeeds in

overcoming the corrupting influence of perverted practices and materialized ideals; the power of the

Soul to intervene in the personal life and to induce necessary catharses.” And for the Moon at 25° Virgo:

“A flag at half-mast in front of a public building; the social acknowledgement of a job well done and a destiny

fulfilled.” We’re ready to take another quantum leap, one that involves the heart even more than the mind: “Every-one sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Who-ever has polished it more sees more — more unseen forms become manifest to him.” (Jalal-Uddin Rumi)

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March 29, 2006 – 2:16 a.m. PSTMarch 29, 2006 – 10:16 a.m. GMT

Aries Solar Eclipse – March 29by Stephanie Austin

A solar eclipse in Aries tells us that we are ready for something new. A New Moon marks the end of a monthly cycle; a solar eclipse marks the close of a 19-year chapter. It’s time to move on and move up in our awareness. With the Sun and Moon close to the North Node in Aries, the message to break out of old ruts and mind-sets is unmistak-able. On March 29, 1987, there was a solar eclipse at 8°18' Aries; events and directions begun back then are ready for completion or the next octave of expression. Where this eclipse falls in your natal chart marks the area of your life where you are ready to take a risk and take charge. Aries, as the first sign, is about moving into the future, into the unknown. It’s about the development of courage, the willingness to try something new and to fully experience the angst and excitement of discovery. Aries is also about independence and assertion, learning to trust one’s instincts and act on them. Six months ago, on October 3, 2005, there was a solar eclipse at 10° Libra, opposite this eclipse, initiating a cycle in relationships, how we form and maintain them. Now we feel ready to explore some new territory in other areas of our lives. Mars, the ruling planet of Aries, is in Gemini and approaching an opposition to Pluto (exact on April 8). This combination directs us to maintain an open mind and to keep questioning our assumptions. Pluto, the archetype of transformation, stations retrograde just minutes before the eclipse, very close to the galactic center, greatly amplify-ing the imperative to re-examine our sacred cows and rec-ognize the power of belief. We have all been profoundly programmed by our family, education, nationality, reli-gion, and the media. Pluto’s station near the galactic center calls us to think beyond our conditioning and expand our understanding of life and our place in it. Where did we come from? Why are we here? The Big Picture coalesces as Pluto aligns with the galactic center. Just as Pluto slows and retrogrades, Saturn gets ready to turn direct on April 5. Retrograde since November 22, 2005, Saturn backtracked from 11° to 4° Leo, giving us time to re-evaluate our goals and strategies. Saturn turning direct in Leo urges us to take a giant step forward in living our truth and accepting full responsibility for our lives. Sat-urn trines the Sun and Moon, shedding light on which forms and approaches will best meet our needs. Mercury is conjunct Uranus in Pisces, encouraging us to keep thinking out of the box and following our intu-ition. Mercury also trines Jupiter, expanding optimism and exposing new possibilities. Jupiter in turn will be completing his third and final square to Neptune this year, which also stretches our minds to new frontiers. Venus in Aquarius con-juncts Neptune, trines Mars, and semi-squares the Sun and

Moon, while Chiron in Aquarius sextiles the Sun and Moon; all of this implies that we are not alone, that many people share our visions, and that new coalitions are ready to be formed. The Sabian symbol for this eclipse at 9° Aries empha-sizes the need to focus our energies and trust our sixth sense: “A crystal gazer; the development of an inner realiza-tion of organic wholeness.” Take time around this special New Moon to tune into your inner guidance, and remem-ber: “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do; the hard part is doing it.” (General Nor-man Schwarzkopf)

© 2006 Stephanie Austin – all rights reserved

Stephanie Austin, M.A., is a full-time astrological counselor specializing in life purpose, career, and transitions readings. Stephanie also teaches astrology for personal and professional development, privately and at John F. Kennedy University. Her background includes a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a mas-ter’s in Consciousness Studies, and deep interests in meditation, nature, and healing. For information on readings, forecasts, and tutorials, visit her Web site at www.EcoAstrology.com

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Map reprinted with permission of Astro Numeric Service


106 107


Out

of B

ound

s

23°27' —

Graphic Ephemeris of Declination – Feb & March 2006

Diagram generated by Janus 3.0


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Saturn and Mars: Sometimes, Saturn sneaks into the bedroom while I am getting dressed: “Where do you think you’re going dressed like that?” And when he shows up, it takes me twice as long to get ready, because he destroys my confidence. My fashion statement ( ! ) then becomes a question mark. If Mars in Libra gets into the act at this point, I can’t decide what to wear, clothes might end up strewn across the bed, and I leave the house way late and a complete nervous wreck.

Moon in Pisces: Lastly, my Pisces Moon does not approve of my grandmother’s fox fur (with heads, feet, and tails), so I keep it on a high shelf in the closet. I wore it once — on Halloween — with a purple hat.

© 2006 Janette de Prosse – all rights reserved

Janette de Prosse is Managing Editor of The Mountain Astrologer. Her taste in clothing has never been conservative. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

Notes from a Novice from pg. 88


STAR QUOTES

™Failure or success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain

the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or

against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement

is this wriggle.º

– E. M. Forster,Abinger Harvest

™Human relations are not just fixed in their orbits like the planets – they're more

like galaxies, changing all the time, exploding

into light for years, then dying away.º

– May Sarton

… I …


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Mercury DirectFebruary/March 2006

FEATURES:

Fate and Astrology: Some Ancient Insights

by Robert Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Advances in Astrology Software: Horizons

by Hank Friedman . . . . . . . . . 12

Astro-Cartoons

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Feb/Mar 2006Mercury Direct2 3

Fate and AstrologySome Ancient Insights

by Robert Hand

[Editor’s Note: Latin and Greek words are in bold italic where they are defined.]

O ne of the most common charges lev-eled against astrology is that it limits or denies free will. We are accused

of espousing a kind of fatalism that reduces human beings to playthings of the planets. Yet, almost everyone who studies astrology discovers that this does not seem to be the case. When we counsel clients, we discuss ways of taking advantage of planetary ener-gies, and we try to describe tactics that mini-mize the “effects” (whatever that may mean in regard to planetary combinations) of difficult ones. And then there is electional astrology, which requires that we be able to act freely at an appropriate time — something completely incompatible with fatalism. We are all able to make free choices, rightly or wrongly, and even when we feel something that we think may be “due” to planetary combinations, we also believe that we exert our will to overcome such feelings. Then, at times, we are under such a compulsion to act in certain ways that we are not able to avoid acting in accord with the compulsion. At times such as these, it seems plausible to believe that something outside of ourselves, such as planetary influ-ence, is “forcing” us to act in some such man-ner. Even among astrologers, some argue that freedom of the will is an illusion and that the inability of astrologers to make precise fore-casts is due to deficiencies in either astrologi-cal technique or the astrologer. So, is astrology fatalistic, and what would that mean? I do not expect to give a definitive answer to these questions, but I want to share some insights that I have drawn from one ancient source in particular, along with other insights derived from my study of ancient thought. Then, I will

show what these mean for the study of astro-logical practice. First of all, what do we mean when we talk about “Fate”? No discussion of fate, fatality, and freedom of the will can possibly take place until we look at what we mean by these con-cepts. Too often, these terms are thrown about in debate without ever ensuring that, first, we have reasonable definitions and, second, that we are all using the same ones. Obviously, this is not an issue that can be settled easily. I can-not claim to have the “correct” definitions, and I cannot compel anyone who disagrees with mine to accept them, but maybe we can at least gain some degree of clarity about what each side is saying in the debate. I will exam-ine words that pertain to fate in English, Latin, and ancient Greek — words that have had tre-mendous impact on both the popular and phil-osophical notions of fate. First, let us look at English. “Fate” is obviously our primary word, but we also use words such as “destiny,” “allotment,” or “lot” (as in “his lot in life“) and, occasionally, more elaborate words such as “providence” (as in the term “Divine Providence”). This last word I will take up below, but let’s look at the other ones now. From the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) we have the following definition of the word “fate.”

The principle, power, or agencies by which, according to certain philosophical and popular systems of belief, all events, or some events in particular, are unalter-ably predetermined from eternity.

This definition certainly does a decent job of summarizing common notions concern-ing fate, and it has several components. First,


there is a power of some kind; second, there is the idea of unalterability; and third, there is the idea of predetermination, or determinism. It is not quite as clear that fate is essentially predetermined “from eternity,” because even ancient philosophies differed on the eternity of the universe. So, we have a force or power that causes or determines a particular outcome of a series of events in such a way that the outcome cannot be changed. However, if we look at the origin of the word “fate” itself, we find something quite dif-ferent. The word “fate” is from the Latin fatum, which in turn is derived from a Latin verb meaning “to speak” or “to say” and also “pre-dict” or “foretell.” A fatum is something that has been spoken in the manner of an impe-rial decree or a decree of the gods. As such, it may determine an outcome only insofar as the power of the emperor or the gods is actu-ally capable of making the decree stick! Ironi-cally, the very root of the word “fate” indicates that the source of the power behind the fatum does have free will and is exercising it at the very moment of making its decree. It is clear that there is a bit of a gap between the Latin root concept of the fatum and the English word “fate,” as defined by the OED.1

Another English word for fate is “destiny.” The OED defines it as closely synonymous with “fate.” But the Latin root of the word, the verb destino, shows quite a different range of meaning. Lewis and Short’s Latin dictionary gives the following English words for destino: “to establish, determine, resolve, consider; to design, intend, devote, destine; to appoint, choose, elect.”2 These are mostly words of choice, that is, free will. And we can also see this if we consider the related word “destina-tion.” A destination is something we choose, or that is chosen for us, as a place to get to on a journey. The only way that the original sense of the word can point to fate, as we have seen with fatum, is if some higher power does the choosing for us. So, for both the words “fate” and “destiny,” their original Latin root words imply that fate is the exercise of some higher power’s free will. In either case, we come to “determinism.” From the OED, we see that determinism is the

result of a “necessary chain of causation,” and “causation” clearly means what that word commonly means to most people: something that causes or makes inevitable a subsequent chain of events. From this, we can see that “cause” is closely bound up with fate.

The Greek Roots of Fate The other language that has a great impact upon both philosophical and common notions of fate is ancient Greek. In Greek, the most common word for fate was moira. The three goddesses of fate were even called the Moi-rai (the plural form). Many of us are familiar with the image of the three fates from Greek mythology: Klotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Klotho spun the thread of destiny, Lachesis handed it out, and Atropos cut it off, indicat-ing the end of life. This mythic image suggests dynamic fate that comes from a kind of pro-cess. Yet, the actual root meaning of the word moira indicates just the opposite. In ordinary Greek, a moira is an allotment, a lot, a divi-sion or portion. Except for the word “division,” these are all words that modern English occa-sionally uses to mean fate as well. We refer to someone’s “portion in life” or “lot.” But this is a very different image of fate from what we have described above. It is static, not dynamic. A moira is a part, something spatial allocated to a person, the idea that one’s place in the world, the portion of the world where one lives, is a cause that determines one’s fate.3

There is a second word that played the heaviest role in ancient philosophy: heimar-mene. This word is related to moira and has the same root, but it is derived from a verb, meiromai, which refers to the action of allo-cating or allotting. Heimarmene comes from the past participle of the verb and means “that which is allotted.” By making this into a verb, the static image of fate as an allocation is transformed into the idea that something or someone is doing the allocating. The concept of fate-as-power can be seen here once more. So far, we have two distinct ideas of fate in all of this: a superior power that, by some kind of force, unalterably determines an outcome; and fate as a place, portion, or allotment in life. And these two come together, as we have


Fate and Astrology

seen, in the word heimarmene. So, what was it, how was it different from moira, and what does this have to do with astrology? It actually had a great deal to do with astrology! In the first book of the Corpus Hermeticum (CH), called the Poimandres, we find a statement (translated by G. R. S. Mead) that reflects a widespread belief in the ancient world:

And God-the-Mind, being male and female both, as Light and Life subsist-ing, brought forth another Mind to give things form, who, God as he was of Fire and Spirit, formed Seven Rulers who enclose the cosmos that the sense per-ceives. Men call their ruling Fate.4

The word used in the Greek of the above passage is heimarmene, and the seven rul-ers are clearly the planets. To some of the ancients, at least, astrology was the study of heimarmene. However, this does not quite set-tle things for either ourselves or the ancients. Although it is clear that fate was supposed to determine the outcomes of things, one way or another, it is not clear that it was unalter-able or complete. Was everything subject to fate as heimarmene? Was nothing undeter-mined? Or was fate simply an influence that has some effect in bringing about an out-come? The answer to this will become clear further on. But first, let us turn to a passage from the CH that I believe speaks to our prob-lem and shows very clearly a possible rela-tionship between the various kinds of fate and their relationship to the soul. In addition to the main body of the CH, there are several fragmentary quotations from the ancient philosophical Hermetica that no longer exist in their complete forms. These were collected in ancient times by an anthol-ogist in the 5th century C.E. named Joannes Stobaeus (in the Latinized spelling), who compiled a collection of what he regarded as important philosophical and theological works, apparently for his son’s education. One of these fragments consists of a brief dialogue between Hermes and his son, Tat. The original Greek text is full of gaps and missing words, but it begins with the following request by Tat:

Tat: Rightly, O father, hast thou told me all; now further, pray, recall unto my mind what are the things that Provi-dence doth rule, and what the things ruled by Necessity, and in like fashion also those under Fate …5

And Hermes ends his response with this:

Hermes: Reason [logos] comes under Providence [pronoia]; unreason [alo-gos] falls under Necessity [ananke]; the things that happen to the body fall under Fate [heimarmene].6

In between these two passages, we have passages that will be cited and discussed below, which will help us to understand exactly what the authors of this dialogue were trying to tell us. In the passages we have here, there are three words that pertain to fate: “providence,” “necessity,” and “fate.” Taking the last word first, the one translated as “fate,” we have hei-marmene. This passage clearly states that heimarmene is the kind of fate that deter-mines what happens to the body. This was preserved up through the Middle Ages in the idea that only the body was subject to plan-etary “influences.” There is more to be said about heimarmene and its relation to the physical world, which we will take up shortly. But let’s look at the other two words. The first of the three words, “providence,” is a translation of the Greek word pronoia. This word literally means “knowing before-hand.” “Providence” (from the Latin provi-dentia) means much the same thing. Lewis and Short give a post-classical Latin defini-tion of the word: “the government of the world by infinite wisdom and foresight.” This defini-tion clearly shows the influence of Christianity. There is nothing wrong with this interpreta-tion, but the original sense of the word — and certainly the sense of the word as used in the Stobaeus fragment — is simpler and, at the same time, a bit more complicated. Although the Christian form of the word does imply some kind of predetermination by a higher power, the original and older interpretation does not appear to be a fate-word at all, but


rather a form of knowledge. According to the unabridged Greek lexicon, pronoia also has a clear sense of purpose. In other words, it is a form of foreknowledge that has an intention or purpose. The fact that knowledge is part of this word is extremely important for our under-standing. The second word, the Greek ananke, is usually translated as “necessity,” but it also has the sense of “constraint” and “force.” Here, we have a fate-word that truly fits our conception of “fate” — something that forces an outcome, possibly against our will. It is a word that denotes determinism and was often used as a synonym for heimarmene by the ancients. Perhaps more important, regard-ing modern ideas of fate as we encounter them in astrology, ananke suggests a blind, mechanical power manipulating destiny, not the free will of a conscious, higher power such as a god. And in fact, this view of fate was quite widespread among the ancients, espe-cially the Stoics.7 Cicero, the Roman orator, described fate as follows:

… an ordering and sequence of causes, since it is a connexion of cause to cause which out of itself produces anything. It is everlasting truth, flowing from all eternity. Consequently nothing has happened which was not going to be, working to bring that very thing about. This makes it intelligible that fate should be, not the “fate” of superstition, but that of physics …8

The fate that Cicero refers to in this pas-sage is the Greek word heimarmene, which he explicitly states earlier in the same pas-sage, but this is a view of heimarmene that is indistinguishable from ananke, or necessity. Outside of our passage from the Corpus Her-meticum, it was common in the ancient world to equate heimarmene and ananke. An article in the Dictionary of the History of Ideas (hosted on the Web by the University of Virginia) enti-tled “Fortune, Fate, and Chance” makes this quite clear, and it is clear from many other sources as well.9 Nor was ancient astrology free of this influence. Although Cicero was a

Stoic and a foe of astrology, many other Sto-ics were enthusiastic advocates of astrology. One of the most notable of these was the poet Manilius, who wrote the following passage well known to students of ancient astrology:

The fates rule the world. Everything stands on certain law,

and long seasons are signified by sure causes.

As we are born, we are dying, and the end depends upon the beginning.

From this both wealth and kingships flow, and, more often, has arisen

poverty, and character, skills, vices, and praises have been given to the ones created,

as well as the loss and the gathering of things.10

Here, we see precisely the philosophical attitude that all of astrology has been accused of. But is this what the author of our Her-metic fragment had in mind, disregarding for a moment whatever other ancient philosophies may have taught? No, and this is made very clear in the following passages of this dialogue. As mentioned, the original Greek contains gaps and missing words, but another transla-tor, Walter Scott, has made an effort to edit the Greek into something intelligible, and his result is in broad agreement with Mead’s rendition. The passage is worth citing at length.

Hermes: … there are in us three kinds of incorporeals. The first of these is appre-hensible by thought alone … This is a thing without colour and without shape; it issues from nothing else than the primary intelligible substance.11

Scott (in a note) equates this quite reasonably with divine mind. The fragmentary text con-tinues, and it is clear that the second incorpo-real is irrational mind or soul but is capable of being moved by the first and highest incorpo-real, so that it “is at once transformed into an image of the Maker’s thought.”12 And the third level of incorporeals attached to the self are the attributes of the body itself. Although the body


is material, its characteristics are attributes of form and, therefore, immaterial. The author concludes this middle section by saying:

Now the intelligible substance, if it has drawn near to God, has power over itself, and in saving itself, it also saves the other part [the lower, irrational intelligible incorporeal]. As long as it is by itself, it is not subject to Necessity [ananke], and its choice is in accordance with Providence [pronoia]. But if it falls away from God, it chooses the corpo-real world, and in that way becomes subject to Necessity which rules over the Kosmos.13

Ananke here rules over the cosmos just like the fates of Manilius, but unlike the fates of Manilius, its effects can be overcome by logos, or reason. However one may interpret reason (logos), the decrees of necessity can be over-come. This kind of fate is not due just to the mechanical workings of destiny but requires a lack of reason (alogos) in the soul to become fully effective. In the presence of reason, ananke is not fully effective. The text makes it clear that, whether one has free will or not, the dominance of reason causes an aspect of the self to align itself with providence. What that means we will see below. I cannot say for certain what the original author had in mind, but I can say a few things from a general knowledge of ancient philoso-phy, and I can add to that from my own under-standing of this passage. Then, we can apply it to modern astrology. First of all, logos does not mean “reason” in the everyday sense of the word, as when we say that an idea is “reasonable.” Nor does it mean “reason” in the sense that we often see Reason as opposed to “superstitions,” such as astrology and similar arts. The word logos is derived from the verb lego in Greek, which has several meanings, including “to pick up,” “choose,” “count,” “tell,” and “to say” or “to speak.” Logos itself also has meanings that relate to saying and speaking. It also means “relation, correspondence, proportion.” The logos of something is the set of ordered rela-

tionships that make it what it is. What is of the nature of alogos (or unreason) is that which has no order, no defining relationships, and no pattern or structure. Our word “illogical” should mean “having no order or rationale,” but it has been hijacked by modern so-called “rationalists” to refer to things that are not ordered in a manner acceptable to them. In the proper sense of the word, astrology is not “illogical,” even though its logos is very much out of accord with any logos acceptable to peo-ple who have chosen themselves as the ones to define which logoi (plural form) are “logical” and which are not. The problem is that there cannot be any such thing as an illogical logos. Putting all of this together in terms of our Hermetic passage, we can see that the high-est incorporeal is supposed to align itself with the principle (logos) of having a defining structure, order, and internal form. If we can decide not to get hung up on very undefined words such as “soul, mind, spirit,” we can plausibly say that this higher incorporeal is the part of the soul that is supposed to govern the entire soul in conjunction with the prin-ciples of logos. This soul is “logical,” in the highest sense of the word. The lower aspect of the soul can be guided by it and can attain the same state of being an image of the divine, but it needs to be guided by the higher aspect. Otherwise, both levels of soul fall into com-plete governance by fate, that is, ananke. So, we are moving toward the idea that freedom from at least the lower kinds of fate, heimarmene and ananke, is attained through the activity of a faculty that we can regard as having qualities of wisdom, conscious-ness, awareness, or something of that sort. It is historically plausible that such wisdom or knowledge could liberate an individual from fate, because all of the surviving texts of the Hermetic tradition are examples of pagan gnosticism. This must be distinguished from Judeo-Christian Gnosticism (usually written with a capital G); these texts were conceived in the context of particular currents in early C.E. Judaism and Christianity and, in particular, make theological claims about a saving Gno-sis, a special knowledge needed for salvation in the context of Jewish and Christian theology.

Fate and Astrology


All forms of gnostic philosophy and religion see gnosis, or knowl-edge in general, as necessary to “salvation,” “enlightenment,” or whatever. But in the ancient period in which the Hermetic texts were composed, one part of this salvation, or enlightenment, is liberation from fate! This brings us to two additional Greek concepts and words: gnosis and its opposite, agnoia. Gnosis is defined in the Greek lexicon as “seeking to know, inquiry, investigation.” It is a process rather than a state of knowledge. The word gnosis is also directly connected to the verb in the phrase gnothi seauton (“Know thyself”) written over the entryway to the tem-ple of the oracle at Delphi. Gnosis is the pro-cess of direct knowing through observation and experience. It is not abstract or theoretical knowledge. Agnoia is simply the absence of gnosis. It is usually translated as “ignorance,” although one must be careful with the pejora-tive or negative tone of the word “ignorance.” Agnoia is simply a state of not knowing, and one cannot know or directly experience every-thing. Nevertheless, there are things that one cannot afford to be ignorant of; the part of the soul that would overcome fate cannot be igno-rant of its own nature. So, what do I mean by soul? This is one of those words mentioned above as “very unde-fined,” at least in popular usage. I have found it useful to turn to Aristotle, a philosopher not read very much these days by persons outside of philosophy departments. His treatise on the soul — titled, since the Middle Ages, De Anima — gives very clear definitions of soul.14 Basi-cally, there are two characteristics that define soul. In all living things, soul is what makes a living thing alive. The presence of soul in something makes it alive; its absence makes a thing dead. The second definition has to do with the idea of form or essence. The soul of a living thing is what makes it that specific liv-ing thing and not some other. In particular, in sentient life forms there is a level of the soul that is called “rational” — i.e., “logical” in our expanded sense of the word. (There are also two other levels of the soul that are irrational.) From the rational soul comes speech and

all forms of conscious commu-nication, thinking, consideration, and self-awareness. The emo-tions, impulses, passions, habits, and other unconscious causes

of thought and behavior, as we would con-sider them, belong to the irrational aspect of the soul. This is a doctrine well enshrined in astrology. Here is Ptolemy (Book III) in his dis-cussion of the soul.

Of the spiritual qualities, however, all those which are rational and intellec-tual are contemplated by the situation of Mercury; while all others, which regard the mere sensitive faculties, and are independent of reason, are consid-ered rather by other luminaries of a less subtle constitution and more ponder-ous body; for instance, by the Moon and such stars as she may be configu-rated with.15

The word “rational” in Greek is from our word logos, and the part of the soul that deals with sensation independently of reason is alogos. I believe that these are precisely the first two levels of “incorporeals” referred to in our passage from the CH. The first part that is capable of comprehending logos is also capable of gnosis, and the other part is not — although it can be guided by the part that is. But there is one more thing that we have to understand before we can get to the prob-lem of astrology. This has to do with Aris-totle’s idea of “form” or essence. The form or essence of a thing is what makes a thing that particular thing and not something else. A form we could call “treeness” makes a tree a tree and is different from what makes an automobile an automobile. As stated pre-viously, one aspect of soul, particularly the higher soul, is that it makes a living thing, especially a sentient living being, that living being and not a different one. The soul of each of us is who we are, as individuals; it is our form and our essence. And there is something else about forms for Aristotle and his succes-sors: A form is something that is originally potentially present in some matter and that,

Astrology and astrologers

have always made errors in prediction.


over time, actualizes itself within that matter. Although the seeds of one species of tree look different from seeds of other species of trees, the seeds of the one species look pretty much alike. The mature trees, however, can look quite different, partly due to circumstances of the environment, to be sure, but also due to genetic makeup. Even mature trees have somewhat different “souls” than other trees of the same species. And this is much more true of human beings! Aristotle refers to the soul as the “actuality [entelecheia] of the body,” that is, the manifestation of the soul is the perfect completion (entelecheia) of the body’s poten-tial.16 Few people are aware that Aristotle was an advocate of human potential. So, here is what we seem to know about this ancient conception of fate, based on our passage from the Corpus Hermeticum and fleshed out by Aristotle.

• We have a somewhat (but not com-pletely) unusual variant of heimarmene in that it affects only the body, i.e., it has dominion over the material realm.

• We have a second level of fate called ananke, or necessity, which has domin-ion over the soul only if the higher aspect of the soul abdicates its association with logos. It does this by not pursuing direct knowledge or gnosis and thereby allows the emotional or instinctual aspect of the soul to fall away from its best state.

• We also have a third level of fate called providence, or pronoia, which is associ-ated with divinity. This is the level of fate that governs both aspects of soul when the higher aspect does not fall away from logos.

Fate in the Stars Now let’s apply all of this to astrology as we understand it, not as it was understood by Sto-ics such as Manilius. Our first question is this: Do we have evidence that astrology itself is a manifestation of an unalterable fate (whichever kind it may be)? Does astrology manifest a fate that imposes a higher power against which free will is powerless? I suggest that we do not have such evidence. Many astrologers and schools

of astrologers — both in the past, as we have seen, and some in the present — have thought that astrology does provide evidence of such a fate. When astrologers fail to predict accu-rately, these astrologers believe that this is due solely to deficiencies on the part of the astrol-oger or the system of astrology employed. I have personally heard this claim made by Vedic and modern medievalist astrologers with respect to predictions in conventional modern Western astrology. But astrology and astrolo-gers have always made errors in prediction. There is no credible evidence that any system of astrology has ever approached anything like the complete reliability that one would expect if astrology were a manifestation of unalter-able fate. Our experience of astrology does not support this! So, let’s look at our Hermetic/Aristotelian model. What kind of heimarmene do we see here? It affects only material things such as the body, and it is unalterable. Do we have any-thing like this in astrology? We do! The motions of the planets are highly determined. Other-wise, astrologers from the Babylonians to the present — and astronomers as well — could not predict the positions of the planets for any date in history. And because the motions of the planets are determined, we can make the fol-lowing statement about astrology: Once some-one is born, the dates of every transit, every direction, every progression, and the form and arrangement of every solar return are com-pletely determined.17 This is because the plan-ets move according to natural laws that govern the behavior of matter and energy almost com-pletely.18 But it has never been established that the effects of astrological movements upon the individual — and the individual’s responses to those effects — are predetermined in the same way. In fact, our experience strongly suggests otherwise. Does this mean that we do have free will? That depends upon what we mean by free will. We often seem to have the ability to choose our course in life according to what we want. At other times, we are constrained by circum-stances that appear to be beyond our con-trol, even if these circumstances are not in turn determined by planetary movements. We

Fate and Astrology


must all acknowledge that there are limitations upon our freedom, which come from a wide variety of causes. But even when we can choose our own course, are we really doing so freely? I have to ask what makes us choose what we choose. True free will is a kind of uncaused cause. It is an intention that arises freely within us. It is conditioned only by what we know to be true, so that we take a course of action solely because we intend it. A decision made on the basis of true free will is not predetermined by mental habit, irrational desires, emotional states, or other kinds of mental program-ming. To the extent that one’s will is prede-termined by any of these, the will is not free. It is the action of the second level of mind (or soul) described in our passage from the Cor-pus Hermeticum, the part that, on its own, is not associated with logos. Its very uncon-sciousness, its lack of association with logos, is agnoia, or ignorance. Yet, for the most part, when we make decisions that we believe are based on free will, what we are actually doing is acting in accordance with the unconscious impulses that are the result of the second level of mind. We are not acting freely; we merely act on the basis of unconscious drives. However, sometimes we change the way we operate. Instead of simply and blindly want-ing what we want, regardless of why we want it, we look at our world and ourselves and make an effort to see the truth clearly. We attempt to turn off our emotional drives, to see with detachment — a form of seeing that is often (but inaccurately) called objectivity.19 It is not important that we do this perfectly, although that should be the goal; it is only important that we make as strong an effort as possible. Once we make this effort to transcend agnoia, we have entered onto the path of gnosis. And this, interestingly, is a choice that itself can only be made according to free will. This is a choice that comes about when the higher aspect of the soul begins to align itself with logos. And this in turn brings us to alignment with providence, or pronoia. From what we have seen, what can we say about pronoia? It does seem to be a kind

of fate, but the descriptions given of it, in both Christian and non-Christian traditions, seem to asso-ciate it with a benevolent, divine

will. The passage states: “Now the intelligible substance [the higher aspect of the soul], if it has drawn near to God, has power over itself … and its choice is in accordance with Provi-dence [pronoia].” But if pronoia is a kind of fate, how can the soul gain power over itself by aligning itself with pronoia? The answer, I believe, lies in something like the teachings of Aristotle on the soul. Science (or more precisely, Scientism) would have us believe that soul, in either sense of the word as defined above, arises as a product of completely physical or material activity. Soul is a result, not a cause. But Aris-totle believed, along with many other ancients (including Plato), that soul was a cause. Later authors such as Plotinus, who attempted in many respects to combine Plato and Aris-totle, taught that the realm of soul was prior to the realm of matter, that soul in some way generates matter. Aristotle specifically taught that soul exists as a potentiality in matter and attempts to manifest itself. Because a soul strives to become completely actualized in a material body, which would in turn perfectly manifest the soul, this means that for this to happen in actuality, the soul must exist as a potentiality that in some way can pull us, as body and partially realized soul, toward that perfect and complete manifestation (entele-cheia). But soul meets resistance in this pro-cess. Matter has inertia; things happen that interfere with the process. Just as each acorn does not grow into a perfect oak tree, almost all of us (with the exception of the occasional enlightened being) are the result of the inter-action and conflict between the pull of the soul toward its own perfect manifestation and the distortions that happen as the result of circumstances on the material plane. This “pull of the soul” is pronoia. The contrary pull is ananke. When other people, society, and family have intentions for us that are not in accord with what our souls truly are, when we have experiences in life that damage us and make us fear to change, this is agnoia.

We do not have the freedom to be anything other than

who we are.


When we make decisions in life having pow-erful consequences that make it difficult for us to do what really needs to be done later on, this is ananke. This is the most powerful fate of all in our daily lives. It is not from plan-ets compelling us against our will; it is not a fate induced by a higher power, but rather the consequences of past actions, past decisions made in a state of unawareness (agnoia). This makes us do what we believe we have to do; it is “necessity.” Now, turning for a moment to energies symbolized by the planets and their mani-festations in our lives, one fact is obvious. No matter how elaborate our techniques are for pinning down what will happen — no mat-ter what house system we use and no matter how many planets, asteroids, or fixed stars we use — all energies symbolized by astrological factors have many possible manifestations. We cannot anticipate all of them, nor can we always accurately choose among them. Also, experience with my own clients has convinced me that there are no astrological combinations that are so difficult or malevolent that they cannot be made to work. So, here again are the factors that often prevent the more difficult combinations from working out positively:

• Individuals do not know or understand about something that is available to them to enable them to take positive advan-tage of the energies. (agnoia)

• Their families, social group, or cultural background do not allow individuals to take advantage of possible ways of deal-ing with the energies. (ananke)

• The consequences of past actions have put individuals in positions from which they cannot take advantage of possible ways to deal with the energies. (ananke)

• Psychological damage creates irrational fear in individuals that prevents them from seeing or considering possible strategies for dealing with the energies. (agnoia)

• Irrational emotional drives or impulses within individuals force them into courses of action that prevent them from dealing with the energies. (ananke)

• Individuals are attached in some way to things as they are, which keeps them from letting go and in turn prevents them from dealing with the energies. (ananke)

If all this looks like the law of karma, that is because it is the law of karma, but stated in terms of Western spiritual teachings. So-called malefics or malefic combina-tions symbolize energies that any given soci-ety does not collectively know how to deal with in a positive manner. Plotinus and other ancients were very clear that no astrological energies are in fact malevolent. Nor are they benevolent. They are simply there. Still, as an astrologer, I believe that the combinations within a chart do tell us something very real about who we are, actually and potentially. But the combinations do not tell us whether we will deal with them from the perspective of agnoia or gnosis, or whether we are driven by ananke or are in accord with pronoia. Implicit in all of this is the following idea: The soul’s effort to fully and perfectly realize itself in matter is pronoia, because such self-realization is in accordance with divine will or its equivalent. Also, from the point of view of such a divine plan, it is desirable that each of us become who we truly are as much as pos-sible within the physical universe. How is pronoia a form of fate? Simply put, we have the freedom to align with pronoia or not, but we do not have the freedom to be any-thing other than who we are. And we can man-ifest who we are over the full range of agnoia and gnosis and between ananke and pronoia. At all levels, each of us is somewhat who we are supposed to be, but incompletely and imperfectly so, depending on where we are in the range. And where we are in that range is neither astrologically determined nor capable of being read in the chart. So, where does astrology and astrologi-cal counseling fit into this? We do have two forms of unalterable fate: physical law and physical circumstances (heimarmene), and we are necessarily who we are at whatever level we have attained. The level at which we are who we are is our location in the agnoia–gnosis range. In every situation in life, and in

Fate and Astrology


life in general, we start with physical law (hei-marmene), and we have a choice (and this is a free will choice) whether we pursue a path of gnosis or not (agnoia). Heimarmene with gnosis leads to a life governed by pronoia. Heimarmene with agnoia leads to a life ruled by ananke. The function of the astrologer is to use astrology to help each individual begin a path of gnosis toward self-realization and to help each individual dispel agnoia and thereby cease to be under the rulership of ananke. The irony is that astrology is routinely accused of imposing limitations on the freedom of the will. But if my interpretation of these ancient ideas is correct, the proper function of astrol-ogy is to teach people how to use free will in choosing gnosis, and to increase real freedom of the will by aligning themselves with provi-dence (pronoia). My own experience with cli-ents tells me that there is something to this.

References and Notes1. Interestingly, the Oxford English Dictionary also describes “fate” as a synonym and replacement for the Old English word wyrd, which survives as our word “weird” and originally meant “to become.” All refer-ences to the OED are from the online version at http://dictionary.oed.com2. All references to Lewis and Short’s Latin Dictionary and to the Greek lexica of Liddell and Scott are from an online version at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform3. A fact that seems to be fraught with implications for astrology is that the Greek word for degree (that is, one-360th of a circle) is also moira. This was translated into Latin as pars, from which comes our word “part.” A second word in Greek that has almost exactly the same range of meanings as moira is kleros. It, too, means an allotment or portion. The most common use of the word was to designate a yard or field that was allocated to a farmer. And, intriguingly, the word kleros was also used in ancient astrology to designate a lot, as in “Lot of Fortune,” what modern astrologers call the “Part of

Fortune.” Here, in fact, is the connection between pars meaning “degree” and moira = kleros also meaning “degree.” “Part of Fortune” actually refers to a degree from which comes one’s fortune or luck.4. G. R. S. Mead, Thrice Greatest Hermes, vol. 2, Hermes Press (no date given), 7. This edition is a page-by-page reproduction of the London Theosophical Society edition printed in London, 1906.5. Mead, vol. 3, 55.6. Ibid., 57. The Greek is not in the Mead translation but may be found in the edition of the Hermetica of Walter Scott cited below.7. A. A. Long and D. N. Desney, The Hellenistic Phi-losophers, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1987, 333–343. This consists of translations of fragments of ancient writers on Stoicism and its view of fate and causation.8. Ibid., 337.9. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv2-2710. Marcus Manilius, Astronomicon, Book IV (transla-tion by author).11. Walter Scott, Hermetica, vol. 1, Dawsons (London), 1968, 421.12. Ibid. 13. Ibid., 423.14. I have used the following edition: Aristotle, De Anima, trans. Hippocrates G. Apostle, The Peripatetic Press, 1981.15. Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, trans. J. M. Ash-mand, Aries Press, 1936, Book III, chapter 18, 107.16. Aristotle, De Anima, Book Beta, 19.17. Many astrologers believe that one can alter the outcome of a solar return by choosing where one is located when it happens. This would be an exception to the general principle.18. There is some indeterminacy in planetary motion, but very little. Otherwise, the resulting instability would make the evolution of life in this solar system impossible.19. I say “inaccurately” because this is a change within the subject (oneself), not a change in the rela-tionship of the subject to the object.

© 2006 Robert Hand – all rights reserved

Robert Hand has been a student of astrology since 1960 and a full-time professional astrologer since 1972. His books include Planets in Composite, Planets in Transit, Horoscope Symbols, and Essays on Astrology. He is currently involved in translating medieval Latin astrology texts into English in conjunction with his company, ARHAT (Archive for the Retrieval of Historical Astrological Texts). He also has an active astrological consulting practice in the Washington, D.C. area, is working toward his Ph.D. in medieval history at the Catholic University of America, and is on the faculty of Kepler College. Telephone: (703) 758-7150; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: www.robhand.com


Advances in Astrology Software

by Hank Friedman

HorizonsProgrammed by R. Stephen

Erlewine, Kyle Pierce, and Johan Kruger

Interpretations by John Townley and Michael Erlewine

Matrix Software, Inc. www.astrologysoftware.com(800) PLANETS (752-6387)Price: $299.95

In the June/July 2003 issue of The Moun-tain Astrologer, I compared and contrasted

the astromapping features of eight differ-ent astrology programs. The present review introduces a brand-new stand-alone astro-mapping program called Horizons, which runs under Windows 98 (and later versions of Windows) on PCs. As you might guess, Horizons isn’t lim-ited to the features that already exist in other astromapping software; it has valuable new astromapping capabilities. Like the other pro-grams, Horizons offers a zoomable world map with Astro*Carto*Graphy and Local Space lines, the ability to view maps for specific regions (like the United States or Canada), Local Space and Relocated Charts, Paran list-ings, Eclipse maps, a full time-change atlas, and point-and-click interpretations. Horizons has many settings that you can customize to your preference, including each of the colors in the map — the land, sea, riv-ers, cities (dot and name), state borders, etc. — and line colors for each point (such as plan-ets, nodes, houses) and for theme lines (more on themes later). You can create various color schemes for maps and save and select the scheme you want to use. Horizons allows you

to choose the current location, house system, zodiac (and ayanamsha), Parallax Moon posi-tion, True or Mean Node, and Geocentric or Geographic latitude. You can also add cities to maps. The maps can be copied to the clip-board (to paste into documents) and exported as bitmap (BMP) files. Reports can be saved in Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Hypertext Markup Lan-guage (HTML), or Rich Text (RTF) formats for e-mailing and publishing. Horizons has many features that go be-yond what is offered by the most advanced astromapping programs. For example, it lets you include aspect lines for any aspect set you create, and you can even define new as-pects. Similarly, if you wish to have the pro-gram display midpoint lines, you can select exactly which midpoints to include, with a choice of planets, angles, asteroids, transnep-tunians, the comet Chiron, Black Moon Lilith, and Transpluto. (You can choose any of these points to display as aspect lines on the map as well.) Horizons also offers Theme maps. These show lines that indicate where to go to enhance specific life themes, such as romance, finances, family, career. The Horizons theme maps are so useful because of the Theme Editor, which makes editing themes and adding new themes incredibly easy. You can select which aspects and midpoints to use in each theme. Another important innovation in the creation and cus-tomizing of themes is the ability to add lines for specific house lords. You can use traditional or modern sign rulerships or even create your own set of rulerships. As you move your mouse over a map, Horizons can display the longitude and lati-tude and/or the Ascendant and Midheaven


positions and/or the name of the city at that location on the map. Neat! I particularly appreciate the number of “mouse modes” in Horizons. Each specific mouse mode (chosen by clicking on an icon or using the Options menu) gives you a dif-ferent response when you click on a map with your mouse. The mouse modes include the default zoom-in mode, Local Space, relocated wheel, distance measure, interpretations, and scoring graph. As you might expect, setting the mode to distance measure allows you to measure the distance on the map between any two points. Choosing the Local Space mode, on the other hand, enables you to click on any point on a map and see the Local Space lines (for that birth date and time) radi-ating out from that location (as if it were the birthplace). Zooming in is as simple as click-ing on the area you want to zoom in on. (Hold-ing down the Control key while clicking on a map zooms you back out.) If you select the relocated wheel mode, then as you move the cursor around the map and click on places, a chart wheel appears and is automatically relocated to each new place. Similarly, if you display a Local Space wheel, you can see that chart change as you click on each new place. If you instead select the interpretations mode, then as you click on new places on a map, the interpretations are shown for each place. This feature is very quick and useful. Horizons introduces the concept of scor-ing: For any city or group of cities, the pro-gram displays a bar graph showing each city’s degree of support for several different themes.

(See Figure 1, Scoring Graph, below.) How themes are scored depends upon which map lines you turn on. If you have only the rising/setting and culminating/anticulminating lines on, the graph takes those lines into account when calculating scores. But if you turn on aspect or midpoint lines, they too influence the scoring for each factor. The program allows you to easily create lists of cities and to view the scoring graphs for each place. As you can see from Figure 1, the exam-ple of Juneau, Alaska (for my chart), there is a little bit of support for several themes, but foundations/Saturn is strongly empha-sized in this area, and emotions/Moon is most strongly supported. In the Horizons Quick Score mouse mode, each time you click on a place on a map, Horizons shows you the scor-ing for that place. Horizons breaks new ground with the introduction of two new compatibility chart mapping methods. The purpose of both methods of compatibility mapping is to find the best place for two people to live (or travel or work, etc.). The reason that composite charts have never been mapped before is that composite charts don’t actually exist in space and time — there is no birthplace (or even birth date). The Horizons programmers had to resolve this problem, so they developed a new con-cept of how to map the planets in a composite chart (of two people) by using the geographic coordinates of the first chart selected, in the Composite mode. The other way to map compatibility is more straightforward. In its Relationship mode,

Figure 1: Scoring Graph


Astrology Software

the program uses Davison’s method of rela-tionship charting (the midpoint in time and space between the two people’s charts) to cre-ate a new astromap. These are wonderful con-tributions to the field of astromapping. Note: No matter what kind of map you have displayed (e.g., natal, composite, tran-sit), you can use the point-and-click interpre-tations and scorings. This means that when you are looking at a map for two people (either the Composite or Relationship maps), you can point to a city and see interpretations or theme scores that apply to both people as a pair. Horizons also offers the mapping of tran-sits; solar arcs; secondary, minor, and tertiary progressions; and Cyclo*Carto*Graphy lines. Cyclo*Carto*Graphy combines the transiting outer-planet lines (Jupiter through Pluto) and the inner-planet secondary progressed lines (Sun through Mars). With the Horizons Ani-mate Map function, you can set the speed and interval of animation (any number of sec-onds, minutes, hours, days, months, or years) and the starting date and time. You can then step forward or backward in time, one interval

per click, or have the program automatically move the lines forward or backward in time at the selected speed. Since Horizons is a Matrix program, and Matrix pioneered the plotting of stars, constel-lations, and deep space objects (such as pul-sars, quasars, galaxies, and meteor showers) on maps, it is no surprise that Horizons has a full set of astronomical plotting functions. Horizons provides more options for plotting stellar features than any previous program; you can plot astronomical axes (such as the horizon, ecliptic, and galactic lines) as well as astronomical spheres (e.g., to show the entire galactic sphere on the map). You can also see, on either the Sky or more standard Earth-based maps, the region occu-pied by any point (planet, asteroid, transnep-tunian, etc.) in any house or set of houses. This is a very nice feature, because it allows you to see where planets are placed optimally by house. (See Figure 2, Moon in Houses, below.) Also, you can see the Campanus, Regiomon-tanus, Meridian, or Alcabitius house cusp lines placed on maps.

Figure 2: Moon in Houses


Horizons provides both onscreen and printed interpretive reports for individual cities for each of its maps: For composite, relation-ship, CCG, progressed, solar arc, and transit maps, each report includes delineations for planet rising, setting, culminating, and anti-culminating lines and aspect lines. The natal reports provide interpretations for not only the aforementioned lines, but also the midpoint

lines, parans, and Local Space lines. Horizons even includes a complete editing function that enables you to edit any of the interpretations. Horizons is the next generation of astro-mapping software. It offers significant ad-vances in many areas and is surprisingly easy to use. People who are just starting out in lo-cational astrology as well as advanced practi-tioners of the art will love this program.

© 2006 Hank Friedman – all rights reserved

Hank Friedman is renowned in the San Francisco Bay Area for his astrological and transformative counseling work with individuals and couples. His in-depth astrology readings synthesize Western and Vedic approaches. He helps astrology software com-panies to debug their programs and add new features. Hank has written Astrology on Your Personal Computer and reviews astrology software online and in periodicals. He has helped to supply thousands of astrologers with the best software for their needs; he represents all major astrology software companies and receives the same commis-sion from each. Contact Hank via e-mail: [email protected]; call toll-free: (888) 777-7366; Web site: www.soulhealing.com

ASTRO-CARTOONS

by P

aul F

. New

man

© 2005 Paul F. Newman – all rights reserved

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