Back Again to Basic Astrology

Over the next few posts I’m going to deconstruct some charts and give some tips for those who are interested in learning the art of astrology better. I will do this hopefully, as clearly as possible and also talk about transits and how they effect us and our charts. The subjects will be anonymous for their privacy. I’ll start with this chart:

Let’s start with the basics. On the far left, the symbol that looks like a Roman number II but joined together is the symbol of Gemini. The house it rules is the first house, meaning at the time this person was born Gemini was the constellation rising in the east. The glyph that is a circle with a dot inside is the sun and this person’s sun is in Libra in the 5th house.

The house systems can be difficult to understand so I’ll break it down into very practical easy to understand mechanics. Each house represents a different time of day, always.

At the top of the chart, the culmination point or 10th house, represents, the mid-point of the day. Here’s where charts seem counter-intuitive; the sun actually rises from the east or 1st house and then goes into the 12th house, the 11th house, 10th, 9th and so on. Why the western chart was set up like this, I have no idea.

So the 12th house actually represents the period of time just after dawn for about 2 hours, the 11th house the morning and the 10th from approximately 10AM to 12 PM, the 9th house is usually from about 12-2 PM, the 8th 2-4 PM, the 7th 4-6PM, 6th 6-8 PM, 5th 8-10 PM, 4th 10PM – Midnight, 3rd Midnight – 2:00 AM, 2nd house 2-4 AM, the first house 4-6 AM. These times are approximate depending on the time of year and the exact time the sun rises that day. So if it rises at 6:11 AM then the 12th house is from about 6:11 AM – abouy 8:11 AM and the rest of the chart of course adjusts accordingly.

So an astrologer, based on the time of year, place and date of your birth should have a pretty good idea of what house your sun will fall in and a narrowed down idea of what your rising is. For example if  a client was born at 11:00 AM on February 3rd you would know immediately their sun was in the 10th house because the houses in the chart revolve around the placement of the sun. Meaning, depending on where the sun was in the sky, it will fall into a particular house, like this fake client who has sun in the 10th near the culmination point of the day. The signs or constellations in general move through a house in approximately 2 hours, hence the breakdown of the houses. The closer a person is born to the equator the more equal the houses will be, meaning each sign will move at about the same speed through the sky therefore making the houses fairly equal in size (by degree). However the closer a person is born to the north or south pole the more unequal the signs move, and they actually sort of pile up on each other causing what is known as an interception. An interception is when more than one sign occupies the same house or place in time/space at once. This creates uneven houses where some houses are very large and others small in a person’s chart. For example someone with Virgo at 0 degrees intercepted in their 2nd house will have an opposite interception on the other side at 0 degrees of the 8th house as these two houses are mirror opposites of one another in the sky or to put it simply; the 2nd house is 2-4 AM and the 8th house represents 2-4 PM. The second house occupies a parallel place below the horizon of the rising as the 8th house above the horizon of the rising.

So to get back to the fake client born 2/3 at 11:00 AM we know they have a 10th house sun and if they were born in Central America they you count backwards 2 signs and they would have an Aries rising. If however they were born far North or South it becomes a bit trickier to tell right off the bat. However if someone was born on the equator in winter, or summer or anytime of year it would always be the 2 hour interval. This is what makes astrology complex mathematically. All I can say is I’m happy to use a computer to do the calculations, it’s a million times faster. I used to do them many years ago and it was fatiguing. But it did help me understand the basic dynamics of how the stars, constellations and planets fall in a chart and see the patterns in it rather than it being a crazy bunch of glyphs that had no relation to one another. So enough super technical stuff, let’s dissect the chart a bit and I’d love it if other people would use their intuition and knowledge of astrology to point out things and explain them in the comments section. 

Even though there is no birthdate or time on the chart I posted we know immediately this is a young person because he/she has the outer planets in a configuration only seen during the 1980s. The outer planets are Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. They are generational planets. Some astrologers have argued because they move slowly and effect such large groups of people they are not relevant to individuals. I however completely disagree with this notion. People are products of the time they grow up in and are just as influenced by their peer group as they are by their families. We are complex beings. Especially when a person has an outer planet making either intense aspects or rules the sun, moon or rising, this intensifies the individuals connection to their peer group. 

Some basic explanations here readership’s are the planet that rules the constellation. So:

Mars rules Aries and the 1st house

Venus rules both Libra and Taurus and the 2nd and 7th houses

Mercury rules Gemini, Virgo and the 3rd and 6th house

Moon rules Cancer and the 4th house

Sun rules Leo and the 5th house

Pluto rules Scorpio and the 8th house

Jupiter rules Sagittarius and the 9th house

Saturn rules Capricorn and the 10th house

Uranus rules Aquarius and the 11th house

Neptune rules Pisces and the 12th house

This means that the 12th house has Piscean qualities and so does Neptune, same with all the other associations given above.

So back to the chart above we see a strong grouping of planets in this persons 5th and 6th house. This means these areas of his/her life will be more emphasized in this person’s chart then in most. This person needs a creative outlet as the 5th house rules Leo things like children, hobbies, creativity, the arts, drama, acting, theater, performing and gambling. The 6th house is more practical and has Virgo elements in common such as: service, a person’s job, health, health care, nutrition. With Mercury and Venus in the 6th house (Mercury is the natural ruler of this house although in this person’s chart Pluto rules it as Scorpio is on the cusp) making a trine or positive aspect (approximately 120 degrees apart makes a trine) this person has good communication with their mother who is likely to be from a foreign land (not born in the same country as the child) and with Venus conjunct Mercury in Scorpio also included in this trine to the Moon Jupiter conjunction, this person is likely to be very intuitive, perhaps psychic especially in relationships with women and their mother. This person is likely to be highly sensitive to his/he environment and this sensitivity because it is in the 6th house can lead to health problems. Ok, I’m going to go more into this tomorrow, it’s getting really late and this is going to take awhile to explain…

Best wishes and many blessings to all you kind souls,

Denise

Back To Astrology…

I’ve gotten several requests for how to figure different issues out in terms of astrology such as: when the best time to start a business is and just general information about how to use astrology to help with people’s personal lives.

Astrology is a complex art and it would be difficult for me, even impossible for me to detail the best time to start a business or how to fully interpret a chart in a few posts but I do plan on giving some tips and also I highly recommend this series of books authored by Marion March and Joan McEvers which break down the basics of astrology allowing each individual to put it together in a way that makes sense for them. Here are links to each of the books in the series:
The Only Way to Learn Astrology, Volume 1, Second Edition
The Only Way to Learn Astrology, Vol. 2: Math & Interpretation Techniques
The Only Way to Learn Astrology: Horoscope Analysis Vol. 3
Only Way to Learn About Tomorrow
The Only Way to Learn About Relationships, Vol. 5: Synastry Techniques
The Only Way to Learn about Horary and Electional Astrology, Vol. 6

I started off as a psychic (professionally) and was born with that ability, have always had dreams that came true, knowings, visions, etc. In my teen years when my ability got to be too much for me to handle I tried to turn it off only to find it come back times 100 when I moved out on my own. I was overwhelmed and began studying methods so I could control the ability rather than it controlling me. I learned to read the tarot, and pretty much every form of divination. Studied with a number of old time occultists and learned many tricks on how to stop and start the ability at will, how to psychically protect myself and how to focus the ability so that it could be used in almost any situation. It wasn’t until I was working in my early 20s as a professional psychic that I met many astrologers who started teaching me the art. I did not learn from this set of books, but from other astrologers who all recommended these books once they came out (however by then I already had my system down) and also from earlier books that were more esoteric and not as well organized as this series is. 

It certainly helps a person’s work as an astrologer if they have psychic ability although it is not required to do a good job. And actually astrology is a tool that can be used by everyone to help see them through difficult times by explaining the lessons to be learned and by the gift of knowing the situation a person is in at that time is not permanent but temporal. It also can give clarity when we are lost, and give a person a place to direct their energy.

We are all born with different talents and abilities. It’s always been my theory that we all have some gift given to us, something we are brilliant at, which if tapped into, will not only provide for us financially, but add to the greater collective good, if we use it. However, most people don’t use their true gift because they are encouraged to become this or that by their parents who are often trying to be practical, and have the best intentions by doing so. Often however people are encouraged to go into fields which may pay well at the time they go into them, but they find that not only are they miserable in their job/career the path they have chosen but as time marches on their forced profession becomes antiquated and less and less practical.  

Here’s the thing, if we follow our gifts we are rewarded. If we try to be too logical and do what will pay the most we end up chasing a dollar, and as we’ve seen it doesn’t lead to anymore stability than following our natural gift. This is one of the great gifts of astrology, it enables us to be clear about where to direct our energy and what our true gifts are as well as when the timing in our life will come together with our goals.

I was talking to a musician the other day, he and his wife (who is a writer) both felt when they made their choices at an early age to follow their dreams they were being crazy, foolish and impractical. This is how their families made them feel. He was encouraged to go into a trade and make a good honest living. Well, as he could see 20 years later, he had actually carved a niche for himself and was just as stable as a guy who became a plumber. Actually more stable than someone who took up a trade at least at this juncture in time. He made the point that he felt bad for those people who had abandoned their dreams only to find themselves out of a job now as well as unhappy in their career choice. They often thought they were making a sacrifice to have stability and family taking up what they thought was practical only to have it snatched away from them. (This is an issue I will go into in my next post.)

When my father was born in 1914 (crazy, huh, he was 24 years older than my mother) being a mechanical engineer was the highest paying gig there was. Of course his mother who was very worried about money and status, forced him into that profession. He died in 1977 and even by that time all the big sky scrappers had pretty much been built along with the subway systems in major cities (of which he engineered many in Chicago when he was younger). So by the end of his career he was doing industrial buildings, and had his own construction business which wasn’t very stable. We had wildly varying income flow when I was growing up and of course when he died, it was just all around bad , but you see my point.

What may seem very stable at one point in time can collapse, to be replaced by something else. At this point in our history as Americans we export very few products overseas, mostly we export our culture which is art, music, film, TV. We don’t make many things anymore.

40 years ago when my grandmother worked at US Steel in Gary, Indiana if you would have told someone America would be producing almost nothing they would have thought you were a crazy person. “But America is known for making the best products in the world. We are known for our great craftsmanship, and innovation.” Well, now that would be Japan for autos and everything else is made in what used to be an industrial joke, China.

Back to astrology again. The thing about it is every planet rules different professions, industries and they can be very diverse. For example: Neptune rules music, film, photography, oil, fisherman, drunks, drug addicts, psychics, spirituality, gurus, spiritual products and anything to do with the sea, so boats, boat making etc. Now depending on what house Neptune falls (as each house has a meaning) and what sign we can narrow down how Neptune will act in a person’s chart. This along with aspects the planets make to each other and a weighting system, a lot can be told. But still there are many permutations of each planet and each house, even how aspects work. This is where intuition comes in handy, or if one is a more left brained full blown astrologer some strictures and systems that an astrologer develops over time as their personal guide.

To make things more complicated there are numerous types of house systems based on different theories. I use the old stand by Placidus, but many people prefer Koch, or any variety of dozens of different ways to break the heavens down. And to even further complicate things there are 2 entirely different types of astrology, Western/Tropical and Vedic/Sidereal. Tropical uses the ancient placement of the heavens and Sidereal the actual placement. As the poles have shifted (they are always on the move and go completely through a constellation over a period of about 2000 years — we entered the Piscean age around the time of Christ and are now getting close to the Aquarian age) the placement of the stars within the constellations shifts. Currently, the two systems are off by about 24 degrees. So unless a person is born at the end of a sign, such as a Capricorn born on January 20th, then that person would sidereally be a Sagittarius.

There is good news though for anyone interested in studying the ancient art of astrology, as long as a person commits to a system it seems to work. It doesn’t seem to matter which system, somehow there is enough repetition and synchronicity in the stars for all of the different permutations of astrology to work. Astrologers generally arrive at the same conclusions no matter what system they use. I suppose it’s like the old adage all roads lead to the same mountain peak. Or to be more contemporary, astrology is fractal, a microcosm of the macrocosm, and when examining a chart the system a person uses, decodes the chart according to the strictures of that system. 

I have found that for westerners the western systems works best as the eastern/vedic type of astrology has a tendency to be more fatalistic which is appropriate in countries and cultures where people have arranged marriages, or are tracked in certain ways and given less freedom to pursue themselves than in western cultures. I would imagine for those who are born and live in those cultures it would be best to stick with the astrology of that culture as it would be most accurate to the environment. 

So over the next couple of weeks I’ll try and give some basic break downs of how astrology works, and how people can interpret their own charts, and even perhaps find the best time to buy cars, set up business, etc. I will use the charts of some of the people who have written me via e-mail without of course using their names so they can remain anonymous.

If anyone has an astrological question about how to read something in their chart or wants me to cover a specific astrological question you can e-mail me at: happypeopleusa@aol.com. I will use your info and question anonymously to be answered on the blog. I may not be able to answer everyone if there are too many questions, but I will try.

Best wishes and many blessings to all you good people,

Denise

Answering Readers’ Questions…(India & Pakistan War?)

Hi everyone. Hope everyone had a good holiday for those of you in the US. And I’m very sorry for those who went through the horrors in Mumbai. Wishing all the people of that city much peace and healing in this very troubled time for them. I will focus on issues regarding this area of the world in this post.

 

Nitin

Hi Denise,

hope u r well. thanks for all your contribution for the blogs. My main concern was always qantas and another recent incident 3 days ago mean a qantas airplane had to shut down one engine and land on one engine only. My gut feelings are not good.

Also i would like to mentioned that i had the weirdest dream the previous week and it looks like nightmare. Then came the Mumbi attacks. I just learned that a family friend who was staying at the Taj got killed. may be my dream was an omen.

Now the next question is Will India and Pakistan go to war?

why i think it is imporant to ask this question is because it would have an impact in the war on terror in Afghanistan. I feel a new test for president elect Obama on international affairs is coming.

Hi Nintin,

I thought of you when I heard there had been a crash of a training jet. I think it was New Zealand Air which of course is not even the same country, but it is in the general area of Australia. I always think its best to trust your own intuition especially if you or someone you love is directly involved with the issue at hand. You more than anyone will be plugged into the zeitgeist of that company especially if you are an intuitive type which it seems you are. So trust yourself. What’s the worst thing that can happen by doing so? If you work for them, you get another job and nothing goes wrong with the company. Well, maybe its because you were meant to move on with your life. And even that is a good reason to listen to your intuition. 

I want to stress here for EVERYONE: ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INTUITION! It will never lie to you. It will never lead you astray. It will always guide you, if you let it. It is intuition that saves peoples lives in crisis situations. IF SOMETHING OR SOMEONE DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT — TRUST YOURSELF! Forget being polite, forget social morres. I have hear countless examples of people trusting themselves and barely escaping serial killers and those who went against everyone intuition and were later nearly murdered. 

Why do you think all the animals on the island of Sumatra started walking up hill hours before the tsunami hit? Trained elephants were seen literally breaking free from their chains just hours before the water rose. These were animals that had never exhibited this behavior before. The answer is simple. They have instinct — intuition. Something we all have, but humans turn it off, and chose to listen to our logical brain. We talk ourselves out of our feelings, often at our own peril.

So if your about to get on an airplane, and you suddenly feel really panicky, and have no logical reason why, have always been fine before a flight, and just start to sweat, or itch, or something weird as you stand in line to get on — bail out. I hearby grant you permission! Death isn’t an worthy test of your psychic abilities. 

It’s my feeling that in the case of 9/11 and in Mumbai, Madrid and in London were these attacks have taken place, more people were not killed because they did get a weird feeling, and people trusted it. There should have been more people who died in all of these situations which tells me, and it should tell everyone, some part of us knows danger and that part is ALWAYS to be TRUSTED. Above and beyond logic, psychics, preachers, priests, gurus, presidents, authorities, whomever. 

Now for your next question. I’m going to post both the charts of Pakistan and India here and do some analysis:

OK, I know I posted a lot of charts, some are comparisons from India’s side, then from Pakistan’s side of the equation. It’s interesting to see how at the very beginning both of these countries were very similar, and would have gotten along like twins. 

Then the second chart for Pakistan when it became an Islamic Republic, still has some commonality with its mother country, but takes a strong turn. 

Looking at the transits on the start date of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and onward, Pluto was at 0 degrees Capricorn (a critical degree) exactly opposing India’s Mars and in Pakistan’s original chart, their Mars as well. It was also making an exact inconjunction to India’s rising. Pluto rules nuclear power, mind blowing experiences, the occult, death, the hidden and unseen, power over others and Mars rules aggression, war, fighting, guns, weapons of all kinds, the military, etc.

There was also an exact fatal Neptune opposition from Aquarius transiting the country’s 10th house, opposing the country’s Sun. This was also an attempt on the part of the terrorists to disrupt India’s business and wound the spirit of the country, and the feeling of safety not just for westerners, but for Indian nationals as well.

Transiting Uranus was also making an applying square to the country’s Jupiter in the 6th house (almost exact), giving chaos a greater opportunity. Luck was not on the India’s side. Uranus also was making an applying inconjunction to the mid-point of the natal Sun and Venus, so the health and financial well being were suddenly disrupted, and men, women and children were all fair game to these disgusting vile sickos. 

India (as we all know) has been recently blaming Pakistan for the terrorist attacks, and calling it their 9/11. Now here’s the very scary part: transiting Pluto will be at 2 degrees of Capricorn, going through Pakistan’s 9th house of foreign countries, squaring the countries Mars. This happens around the 20th of January 2009. This could very much mean a retaliatory attack from India against Pakistan at that time, and it could (with Pluto’s involvement) involve nuclear weapons, perhaps not the high powered kind we have, but still. This information may not be known to the general public right away, if ever, or might not come out immediately because of the 12th house involvement. It maybe that India takes out terrorist camps with dirty bombs, or some kind of weapon that isn’t like Hiroshima, but smaller, more targeted and meant to surgically destroy a particular area. But chances are good they won’t just use traditional weapons with this transit and are more likely to use very powerful, surgical type of warheads or nuclear type of weapons.

Transiting Neptune will also be opposing Pakistan’s natal Jupiter in the 5th house in January, exactly. I would think there would be some global confusion in terms of their alliances with other countries at that time, also with Jupiter conjunct Pluto in Leo in the 5th it seems this country has a tendency to control its children to a pretty extreme degree, this Neptune opposition could put these children in real danger. I’ll put this bluntly, it looks like there is a strong element of brain washing geared toward children, and children are often gambled with in order to gain power (Pluto conjunct Jupiter in Leo 5th house), with this Neptune opposition, many of them could die as a result of them being used for a particular ideology (Neptune=loss, 11th house=ideology). So it could be that many of the terrorists and terrorists in training are actually pretty young, some even children.

Then into late February Saturn will retrograde, making a transiting opposition to Pakistan’s natal Mercury in the 12th house (ruler of the 3rd and 6th), I believe causing more conventional type of conflict perhaps an invasion across the boarder from India into Pakistan (3rd house) perhaps even declaring a sort of martial law or a take over of the country (6th house of general health of the country, Saturn being constriction, opposing Mars violence, 12th house behind the scene and ones hidden enemies).

All in all, I’m going to say there is a very strong chance that come early-mid January of this year we will see talks between India and Pakistan break down completely as transiting Mercury will oppose India’s natal Mercury and there is no glue nataly between India and Pakistan, they really do not know how to communicate with one another. Pakistan has Mercury in Pisces in the 12th, very duplicitous, sneaky, religious in an organized religion sort of way, intellectually repetitive and India has Mercury in Leo in the 3rd, very bold, dramatic, intellectual, wordy, perhaps even threatening things they often don’t ever intend to do (under normal circumstances). They are like a goat and a pig trying to carry on a conversation, just doesn’t work. Once talks break down, this is when we will see targeted nuclear strikes coming from India in my opinion toward the end of January and then there is a strong possiblity of a conventional war/invasion in February.

OK, I was planning on going over a bunch more questions tonight, but got very absorbed in all the charts relating to India and Pakistan.

I will get to the question of NIFTY tomorrow. 

Malayali:

Do you have the start date of when that market began? And when trading starts each day for NIFTY? I can run charts based on that and give some analysis. Please post it if you have that info. I will try to do some research myself in the mean time and I will post about it tomorrow.

Astrology Book Recommendations…

Astrology is complicated and there are many facets to it. One very interesting applications is horary astrology, basically a way of applying astrology to answer a specific question. A question is asked, a chart is made for the moment the question is asked and then the astrologer follows a set of guidelines to answer the question. Here are some books for those who are interested in looking into this very fascinating application of astrology that I personally own and really like:

“>
The Only Way to Learn About Horary and Electional Astrology (Only Way to Learn; Vol VI)The Only Way to Learn About Horary and Electional Astrology (Only Way to Learn; Vol VI)“>
Other interesting general books on astrology I turn to as reference from time to time are:
Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology: The Classic Guide to Modern AstrologyAlan Oken’s Complete Astrology: The Classic Guide to Modern Astrology“>
Here’s a book of transits, it is sort of a cook book and good for beginners trying to get a handle on what transits mean:
Planets in Transit: Life Cycles for LivingPlanets in Transit: Life Cycles for Living“>
Here’s another cook book type to help you get a handle of how the planets operate in the houses:
Planets in Houses: Experiencing Your Environment PlanetsPlanets in Houses: Experiencing Your Environment Planets“>
And another good cook book type on astrological aspects is:
Planets in Aspect: Understanding Your Inner Dynamics (The Planet Series)
Planets in Aspect: Understanding Your Inner Dynamics (The Planet Series)“>
These books are for intermediate astrologers, or people who are ready to move on past just the very basics. They are also good reference for a second opinion for any astrologer who just wants another perspective.
Best wishes.

Astrological Recommendations… Learning Astrology. Where to Start?

For those of you interested in taking the leap into the study of astrology. There are some basic things you’ll need. One is an ephemeris, this is a list of the planets, what degree and sign they are in. You will find ephemeris that break down as little as a year or as much as 100 years. I suggest you have one handy to look up transits which I’ll explain a little later.

Now the main thing is understanding the basics. My first book was the A to Z horoscope maker and it’s great for reference but a little confusing. A great series of books that break down everything into an easy system and walk you through the process, allowing you to develop your own style of interpretation are by Marion March and Joan McEvers. The series is called “The Only Way to Learn Astrology.” A bit hyperbolic but none the less a really great group of books. I have listed links to the first few basic ones, as well as links to some ephemeris. I suggest buying an ephemeris for this century and the last for quick reference. Also I like the little yearly calendar/ephemeris for a quick look when on the go. I also like calendars for the home that have astronomical info on them but then again I’m a bit obsessive. You can follow the links to find the series and starter book as well as different ephemeris and calendars.
Llewellyn’s 2009 Daily Planetary Guide: Complete Astrology At-A-Glance (Llewellyn’s Daily Planetary Guide)

Llewellyn’s 2009 Astrological Pocket Planner: Daily Ephemeris & Aspectarian 2008-2010 (Planner)
Llewellyn’s 2009 Astrological Pocket Planner: Daily Ephemeris & Aspectarian 2008-2010 (Planner)
American Ephemeris for the 20th Century: 1900 to 2000 at Midnight/5th Revised
American Ephemeris for the 20th Century: 1900 to 2000 at Noon
The New American Ephemeris for the 20th Century, 1900 to 2000 at Midnight: Michelsen Memorial Edition

Astrological wall calendar:
Llewellyn’s 2008 Astrological Calendar: With Horoscopes for Everyone (Calendar)
The best book on the fundamentals of astrology: This is the first volume in the excellent series:

The Only Way to Learn Astrology, Vol 1: Basic Principles
The second book is about the math, which you don’t need. You can get free charts run on Astro.com
Volume 3 helps you synthesize the information after you learn the fundamentals of the first book.
The Only Way to Learn Astrology: Horoscope Analysis Vol. 3 (Only Way to Learn Astrology)
Volume 4 focuses on predictive astrology:
Only Way to Learn About Tomorrow (Only Way to Learn about Tomorrow)
A basic, go to, concise book on astrology and another good place to start:
Llewellyn’s New A to Z Horoscope Maker and Interpreter: A Comprehensive Self-Study Course

An interesting aside, and just plain fun. Sabian symbols are based on the degree of each planet or house in your chart. I haven’t found then to be amazingly accurate but they are interesting and there is no interpretation skills needed. All you have to do is have your chart in front of you and look up the degree and sign of each planet and get a mini-reading.
Sabian Symbols:
The Sabian Symbols in Astrology: A Symbol Explained for Each Degree of the Zodiac

Best wishes and good luck!