The Virgin of Guadalupe

The Astrology of a National Symbol by Luis Lesur

The Virgin of Guadalupe is the female face of the divine who has the most followers in the Western world. Her shrine in Mexico City receives 20 million visitors per year, many more than Fátima (Portugal) or Lourdes (France). Only St. Peter's Basilica in Rome receives more pilgrims in the Catholic tradition. The Virgin stands in the main altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York (on the right-hand side), and in Nôtre Dame in Paris, she is granted her own chapel. In Mexico, where the Virgin of Guadalupe originated, (1) and especially among the millions of Mexicans who live in the United States, she is — even more than the Mexican flag — the most beloved emblem of national identity. This applies even to non-Catholics.
Could astrology help us to understand what lies behind the huge popularity of the Virgin of Guadalupe? Is it possible to get a meaningful horoscope from a legend? In the following discussion, I will sketch out some ideas from my book, The Secret Codes to the Virgin of Guadalupe. (2)
The story tells us that, just a few years after the conquest of Mexico by Spain, the Virgin Mary appeared several times to the Indian, Juan Diego, on the hill of Tepeyac. The first time was before dawn on December 9, 1531, when she told him to go to Bishop Zumárraga and ask him to build a chapel for her there. The priest asked the Indian for proof of the apparition. On December 12, the third time the Virgin spoke with Juan Diego, she told him to cut some roses as a testimony to Zumárraga. When he returned to the bishop, everyone present saw that the cloth in which the flowers were bundled had been transformed miraculously into a portrait of the Virgin. This image, so the Church tells us, is the same one still on display in the Basilica of Guadalupe.
Historians have established that the painting is the work of the native artist Marcos Cipac, who inscribed the date: 1556. On the other hand, the narrative of the miracle was published for the first time nearly one hundred years later, in 1648, and there is no solid evidence that the legend was known before then. Some specialists maintain that the story is contemporary with the painting and that it came originally from the script of a religious drama. Others believe that the story is even more modern, arguing that the language in which it was written (Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs) does not have the syntax that was used in the mid-16th century.
If we accept that behind the Virgin there lie a myth and a historic reality, the search for her horoscope could follow either of these two paths. The first approach would be factual: Try to establish, through historical documents, when the image was painted and when the account was published; then select the more appropriate of the two and deduce, using rectification, the exact time. The second approach would be to take the literary dates and clues given by the narrative as points of departure for the rectification. It seems to me that this offers us a unique opportunity to explore the possibility of a mythological date as an "astrological moment," so I lean toward the second option.
Let's begin our search through the ritual process of rectification, which we astrologers use to determine the legitimacy of a speculative horoscope. The first step is to choose which of the four apparitions is the most appropriate. The two dates of greatest significance seem to be December 9, 1531, the first time (the "birth moment") that Juan Diego spoke with the Virgin; and December 12, 1531, when the image materialized on the cloth holding the roses, also a "first." The biggest difference between these two dates is the position of the Moon. (3) On the 9th, the Moon was in Capricorn; and on the 12th, in Aquarius. We would prefer the first placement, because Capricorn has traditionally been associated with Mexico. It is impossible to find a direct relationship between Aquarius and either the symbolism of the Virgin or that of this country.
On the other hand, at dawn on December 9, the Sun and Moon formed an antiscion. (4) This could be an important clue. Let's see why: The Virgin of Guadalupe belongs to the genre known as Virgins of the Apocalypse, because this iconographic depiction of the Catholic virgin is inspired by the following passage from the Apocalypse of Saint John:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. (5)
The perfect astrological match with this description would have been a New Moon or, even better, a solar eclipse. A nonastrological book about the Virgin of Guadalupe (Eclipse of the Divine Sun, written in Mexico in the 18th century) concurs with this point of view. Although none of the dates indicated in the text correspond to an eclipse or a New Moon, (6) at dawn on December 9, 1531, there is a configuration between the Sun and the Moon, an antiscion, which is interpreted in a similar way to a conjunction. On December 12, however, there is no link at all between the two luminaries.
Having established that the most appropriate day is December 9, 1531, we must now decide on the time. The tale itself shows us that the search shouldn't stretch beyond dawn. The text states specifically "much before dawn," not just "before dawn." This emphasis provides a new clue. A poor peasant in any part of the world — now, as centuries ago — normally begins the day at 3:00 a.m. and has completed several tasks before sunrise. From this point of view, any time after 5:00 a.m. is definitely not very early. If we base our analysis on the rhythms that have ruled life in the countryside for centuries, we can reduce our search to approximately the two hours between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. Using these parameters, the Ascendant must be in either Scorpio or Sagittarius. How do we decide which one? Let's have a look.
The hill of Tepeyac, where the Virgin appeared, was originally a sacred place for the Aztecs. Cihuacoatl, the Serpent Woman, was worshipped here in the form of Tonanzin, Mother Earth. Indeed, some think that the reason that the image was made and displayed in the chapel on the Tepeyac hill was to neutralize the cult of the Aztec Goddess that was still being worshipped there. However, to the dismay of the friars, there was no initial success, and the Indians continued to associate the Virgin of Guadalupe with the pre-Hispanic Goddess for a long time.
Now, among the 12 labors of Hercules, the one associated with the sign of Scorpio is the confrontation with the Hydra, a creature with the body of a dog and nine serpent heads, one of them immortal. Another myth associated with Scorpio is that of snake-haired Medusa. If there is any sign that recalls the goddess Cihuacoatl, the Serpent Woman, it's Scorpio. In this case, even the substitution of a female deity associated with the serpent by another purely protective deity reminds us of Perseus who, to rescue Danae, the "good mother," battles against Medusa, the "bad mother." I think, by now, we have a convincing argument for Scorpio as the sign of the Ascendant, but there's more to come. (7)
One characteristic that distinguishes the image of Guadalupe from nearly all the other representations of the Virgin Mary is its extraordinary similarity to the external parts of the female genitalia. Even the cloak that she wears resembles the labia of the vagina. We are talking about the threshold through which we all must pass to enter the world, as the artist Gustave Courbet reminds us with his polemical painting, "The Origins of the World." As we know, Scorpio rules the genitals. However, it's worth remembering that German astrologer Reinhold Ebertin associated specific parts of (human) anatomy not only with signs of the zodiac, but also with each of the 360 degrees in the zodiac. In accordance with this correlation, the degree that rules the external female genitalia is 12° Scorpio. That degree crossed the Ascendant between 3:12:53 and 3:17:10 in the morning, within the range we have established as possible. If we base our analysis, as we have done so far, on the appearance of the painting, to refine the Ascendant, I believe that we have found the exact degree. But we can be even more precise.
During the four minutes when the 12th degree of Scorpio was on the Ascendant, the planetary hour changed. The hour of the Sun ended and the hour of Venus began, at 3:16 a.m. Erich Neumann, in his classic book, The Great Mother, tells us that the mandorla that represents the female genitals is an emblem of the goddess Aphrodite. It's obvious that the silhouette of the Virgin of Guadalupe forms a perfect mandorla. The planetary hours are attributes of the Ascendant (they change with the primary movement of the heavens, which also determines the Ascendant), so they color the appearance of whatever is made manifest in that moment. As a result, I have no doubt that the Virgin of Guadalupe would have appeared at the hour of Venus: a few seconds after 3:16 a.m. on December 9, 1531, on the outskirts of Mexico City. Moreover, with this rectification we find that the lunar nodes are close to the midpoint between the Ascendant and the Midheaven (MC). It seems appropriate that the nodes should be linked to the angles of this chart, because they are the head and tail of the fire-colored dragon that stands before the Virgin of the Apocalypse in the well-known image by William Blake. This creature also appears in a great many popular illustrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Finally, I would like to mention that at 3:16 a.m. on December 9, 1531, an observer on Tepeyac hill would have seen to the east the last stars of the constellation of Virgo, the virgin, standing perfectly over the horizon. (8)
I am aware that my rectification is somewhat unconventional — based solely on a legend and the appearance of a painting. To carry out a rectification based on events, as is the current fashion, we would need to know exactly what we are drawing a horoscope of. If we are talking about the miraculous appearance of the Virgin, it's difficult to know what we are dealing with, so there's no way of knowing beforehand which are the relevant events.
In this particular case, however, having now established the horoscope, I think that it can give us important clues for understanding, at least in part, the nature of what was born then. Let's begin with the Sun and the Moon. The former is in Sagittarius, which reminds us that this sign has been assigned to Spain (and Portugal), at least since Ptolemaic times. Following this line of thought, it is interesting that, when the original inhabitants of Mexico saw the troops of Hernán Cortés for the first time, they thought the riders and their horses were only one monstrous creature. There is even a famous painting by David Alfaro Siqueiros (with whom Jackson Pollock studied) representing this as a powerful, albeit wounded, half-human, half-horse beast. The painting is titled "The Centaur of the Conquest."
The German-born astrologer, engineer, and printer Henrico Martínez published the first astrological work of the New World in 1606. (9) In this book, he tried, among other things, to establish the astrological sign of Mexico. Since he was unable to follow the criteria that had been used in the past in the Mediterranean basin and Europe, he decided to take as a starting point the horoscope of the Creation of the World. He placed this in Damascus, with Cancer on the Ascendant. Martínez relocated this map to the coordinates of Mexico City and concluded that the sign of Mexico is Capricorn.(10)
A Novo Hispanic theologian without any astrological pretensions wrote at the end of the 17th century that "in the Virgin of Guadalupe the Spanish Sun and the Mexican Moon are united" — precisely what is true of this horoscope: the Sun in the sign of Spain in antiscion with the Moon in the sign of Mexico. The marriage, admittedly forced, between the two radically different cultures produced something new: mestizaje (mixture of races). Of all the signs of the zodiac, there are only two that are represented by the union of creatures of a different nature: the half-human, half-horse Sagittarius and the half-goat, half-fish Capricorn. One of the characteristics that distinguishes the conquest of Mexico from other conquests, even in the Americas, is precisely how generalized the mestizaje is. In Mexico, there are fewer inhabitants with purely European or purely Indian blood than anywhere else in the world. An observant visitor will realize that, even though Mexico has many Western facets, including the language, it is not really the West: It is a mixture, an intersection, a mandorla.
One immediately obvious characteristic of this horoscope is the t-square between the Venus-Sun-Moon conjunction in opposition to Saturn — and all of them square to Neptune, Chiron, and the Moon's South Node in Pisces. The closest contact to this configuration, a square within only 6 minutes of orb, occurs between Saturn and Neptune. The aspect was exact the following day. Because of the surprising appropriateness of the descriptions, I would like to quote what two astrologers have said about the contacts between these two planets (italics added): Liz Greene stated: "Form and formlessness collide, to create either the gift of incarnating vision or the refusal to be psychologically born." (11) Charles Harvey wrote: "Saturn-Neptune is the process of ‘materializing the spiritual and spiritualizing the material' " and "It is the Our Father prayer which impels the aspiring soul to bring Earth into conformity with Heaven." (12) It seems to me that these descriptions capture, in a surprisingly literal way, what happened to Juan Diego, according to myth, at the foot of the Tepeyac hill in December 1531.
But the question remains: What really occurred in December 1531? Let's try to answer this by looking at what was happening at the seed moment, when Saturn and Neptune were together for the last time. The conjunction took place twice in 1523 and once at the beginning of 1524, and during the last pass, Jupiter also joined them. (13) Perhaps the most relevant event to take place in Mexico at that time was the arrival of the first evangelizing priests. Until that moment, the conquest of Mexico, which began a few years earlier, had involved mainly death, destruction, and pillage. The arrival of these monks was the first gesture of an attempt to reconcile Europe and the (by then) mortally wounded New World. Eight years later descends an image for collective inspiration, which attempts to bring the earthly into conformity with the heavens, spiritualizing the material and materializing the spiritual. Thus rose radiant the Guadalupan mandorla, the intersection between two worlds. The only possible reconciliation after the conquest was that victim and victimizer become identical, incarnated in a new lineage: the mestizos. Conforming to the perfect order of the heavens has always been the most powerful way to achieve social or political legitimacy.
Beneath the painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe, holding her up, we have "Cherub-like, a human soul whispers, seeking to manifest," which is the Sabian symbol of the 14th degree of Leo, (14) the Midheaven of this chart. What the soul whispers is gradually taking the form of what he is carrying over his head: the body of a new nation.
This article doesn't claim to provide an in-depth interpretation of this chart, but I can't resist mentioning the following: Any practitioner of psychological astrology who finds the Sun in a t-square with Saturn, Neptune, and Chiron would suspect a difficult and absent father figure. In this case, the astrologer would not be mistaken. In Mexico, a country packed with monuments and heroes, there is not one statue of Cortés. No street bears his name, nor is there anyplace where he is remembered. He's simply not here.
I'd like to end with some transits and progressions to this chart:When the Mexican War of Independence began on September 15, 1810, Uranus was one degree from the Ascendant of this horoscope and Chiron's antiscion was at the same minute. When independence was finally gained, on September 28, 1821, there was a conjunction between Uranus and Neptune at the natal Sun/Moon midpoint, and Pluto was in conjunction with natal Chiron in another of the corners of the "t-square." When the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848 — which made official Mexico's loss of half of its territory to the U.S. — the Descendant and IC by solar arc were a few minutes from natal Saturn and Neptune, respectively. When the 1910 Revolution began on November 20, Pluto activated this same configuration again by transit (a square within one minute of arc to Chiron). During the massacre of hundreds of students in Mexico City on October 2, 1968, Pluto was on the empty leg of the t-square. On September 19, 1985, when nearly 20,000 people died in an earthquake in Mexico City, the transiting Sun (26°34^ Virgo), the progressed Sun (26°05^ Pisces), and the natal Sun (26°39^ Sagittarius) formed an extremely narrow and rare t-square. Also at that time, the MC by solar arc was 10 minutes from the conjunction with the natal Ascendant. On that date, the progressed Ascendant (Naibod in longitude) was 9 minutes of arc from the conjunction with natal Pluto. The difficult situation in this year's presidential election in Mexico has never happened before, and it coincides with Pluto in Sagittarius touching the mutable t-square. From the beginning of 2005 and for several years to come, Pluto will be at the zone of mutable signs that forms the principal configuration of this proposed Guadalupe chart: its t-square. On previous occasions, this has coincided with great changes in the social and political structure of Mexico. It is reasonable to expect something similar on this occasion.
This article has been adapted for an international audience from the book, Las Claves Ocultas de la Virgen de Guadalupe (The Secret Codes to the Virgin of Guadalupe), by Luis Lesur, which was published in Spanish in Mexico in 2005, by Random House Mondadori. This article was translated from the Spanish by Barbara Kastelein; astrologer Lynn Bell also made some comments on the English manuscript.
Chart DataVirgin of Guadalupe, December 9, 1531 OS; 3:16 a.m. LMT; Mexico City, Mexico.
References and Notes1. She takes her name from a Spanish Virgin who, according to tradition, appeared to a shepherd called Gil Cordero in the Villuercas mountains in Extremadura in 1322.2. The Secret Codes to the Virgin of Guadalupe (Las Claves Ocultas de la Virgen de Guadalupe), by Luis Lesur (Random House Mondadori, 2005), is available in the United States, but only in Spanish.3. According to the Julian Calendar, which was used in those days, on December 12, 1531, at 10:40 a.m., the Sun entered Capricorn. However, the moment of entry is too late, if we follow the story word for word. 4. The origin of antiscia (plural of antiscion) seems to lie in Paleolithic times and has to do with the indirect observation of the solstices. The point on the horizon where the Sun will rise on two dates equidistant from the solstices are antiscia. The points in the zodiac that are equidistant from the Cancer-Capricorn axis are in antiscion to each other.5. This quotation from the King James Bible is the motif of the William Blake painting "The Great Red Dragon."6. On September 10, 1531 there was a solar eclipse that squared the Sun on December 9 (within 7 minutes of arc). The previous New Moon was on December 8, around midday.7. The New Spain astrologer Henrico Martínez associated the constellation of Pegasus with Mexico at the beginning of the 17th century. Since then, and especially during colonial times, the story of Perseus, Medusa, and Pegasus has been used politically. For example, Perseus was Spain; Medusa, the Aztecs, with their human sacrifices; and Pegasus, the Vice Regal period that arose from the conquest.8. According to the software program, Starry Night (Complete Space and Astronomy Pack).9. It was called Reportorio de los Tiempos (Report of the Times) and was reprinted by the Mexican Ministry of Public Education in 1958.10. I have consulted with various experts in classical astrology who have told me that the Martínez relocation probably qualifies as the first of its kind.
11. Liz Greene, The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption, Samuel Weiser, 1996, p. 435.
12. Charles Harvey, Anima Mundi: The astrology of the individual and the collective, CPA Press, 2002, page 166.
13. The conjunctions between Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune take place every 179-180 years and are probably related to the birth of new religious ideals. During February 13-24, 1524, six of the visible planets, as well as Neptune, were in Pisces. Martin Luther's ideas were traveling fast, just seven years after his 95 theses were proposed. Based on this conjunction, the astrologers of the time predicted great floods, which didn't happen.
14. From The Astrology of Personality, by Dane Rudhyar, Aurora Press, 1991, p. 286.
BibliographyCampion, Nicholas. The Book of World Horoscopes. Cinnabar Books, 1995.Cornelius, Geoffrey. The Moment of Astrology. Arkana, 1984.Greene, Liz. The Astrology of Fate. Samuel Weiser, 1984.
© 2006 Luis Lesur / Mountain Astrologer / Astrodienst - all rights reserved
Luis Lesur is an astrologer with more than 3,000 clients in ten countries. He is the author of two books published by Random House. His work combines classic techniques with the astrology of the second half of the 20th century. For him, Liz Greene is no less important than Guido Bonatti. He believes there is no one real astrology but, fortunately, there are many. He currently lives in Mexico City with his wife, Barbara, and their children, Sofia and Daniel.

Copernicus and Astrology

Copernicus too lived in an age when astronomy and astrology were inextricably connected. Astronomy was generally seen as a theoretical underpinning of astrology, problems and events in the one, having serious implications for the other. Both areas, however, seemed to be far from perfect. At Cracow, Copernicus learnt astrology as well as astronomy. He studied the Alfonsine Tables, read the works of Peurbach and Regiomontanus, who, inspired by ancient astronomy, sought to reform theoretical astronomy, fully aware that improvement in astronomy would lead to improvement in its practice, astrology. One of his teachers at Cracow, John of Gogów, wrote on the astrological consequences of a planetary conjunction. The University of Bologna, since 1404, required its professor of mathematics and astrology to issue annual prognostications. Thus Domenico Maria issued prognostications, which gave for the following year the date of Easter, phases of the moon, weather forecasts, times of eclipses (if any), various auspicious and ominous dates, and general predictions for the year. Copernicus thus lived in a time when astronomical events were impregnated with astrological meanings.
He was equally aware of criticisms of astrology, such as the famous attack in Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Disputations against Divinatory Astrology (Disputationes adversus Astrologiam Divinatricem, 1496). In book X, chapter 4, of this work Pico pointed out that ancients and moderns disagreed over the ordering of Mercury and Venus, which suggested that the basis for gauging planetary influences was shaky. Copernicus settled the ordering of planets in the De Revolutionibus (book I, chapter 10). By 1535, Copernicus had an established reputation for his accurate computations, and his almanac prepared for 1536 was circulating as the best one available. Reforms in astronomy implied improvement in astrology, and some contemporaries looked to the De Revolutionibus with that result in mind. So in 1541, Reiner Gemma Frisius (1508-55) wrote how the De Revolutionibus was an eagerly awaited work from a skilled mathematician which would hopefully end the astronomical errors and uncertainties that beset the astrologer. For others, the attraction of the book lay in its tables, which in turn had astrological implications.

Uranus and the History of Science

Uranus in signs and the Scientific Discoveries

This article highlights the extraordinary importance of Uranus' position in signs and its association with the main scientific discoveries and theoretical advancements of the humankind along the history of science.

Uranus in Aries
Hydrogen discovery - Henry Cavendish - 1766Energy conservation law: first law of thermodynamics - Joule - 1843Measurement of light's speed - Fizeau - 1849First particle accelerator - 1928 - Wideroe

Uranus in Taurus
Static electricity - Gilbert - 1600Chemical elements table - Mendeleev - 1687Published the discoveries on terrestial and celestial mechanics (universal gravitation law) - Isaac Newton - 1687Animal electricity - Galvani - 1771Mass conservation in chemical reactions - Lavoisier - 1772Wavelength of light determines its color - Euler - 1768Steam engine invention, the term ‚horsepower' - James Watt - 1769Pendulum demonstration of the Earth's rotation - Foucault - 1851Earth's mass estimation - Airy - 1851Space curving - Riemann - 1854Nuclear fission - Enrico Fermi - 1934

Uranus in Gemini
Optical telescope - Lippershey - 1608, Galilei - 1609Planetary motions law - Johannes Kepler - 1609Existence of sex in flowering plants - Rudolph Jakob Camerarious - 1694Origin and Progress of Language - James Burnett Monboddo - 1773-1776Probability and statistics - Pierre Simon Laplace - 1774Origin of Species and theory of evolution - Charles Darwin - 1859Germ theory on infections - Louis Pasteur - 1862Manhattan project - teleportation / invisibility - 1941First electronic computer - 1945

Uranus in Cancer
Water synthesised from hydrogen and oxygen - Cavendish - 1781Digestion is not merely chewing but is a chemical process - Spallanzani - 1783Nature of crystals - Hauy - 1783Inheritance laws, basis of genetics - Gregor Mendel - 1866Genetic basis for intelligence - Francis Galton - 1869Celluloid invention, first synthetic plastic - John Hyatt - 1869Nucleic acids discovery - Johann Friedrich Miescher - 1871Helical structure of the DNA, our genetic code - Crick and Watson - 1953DNA discovery - Franklin - 1951

Uranus in Leo
Heliocentric theory: the earth orbits the sun - Copernicus - 1543Comet observation and predictions - Halley - 1705Thermometer construction - Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit - 1709Photosynthesis - Jean Senebier - 1788Heat diffusion - Hunt - 1788Animal electricity - Luigi Galvani - 1791Chemical energy converted into electrical energy - Volta - 1792The oxidation occurs in tissues, not in the blood - Ludwig and Edward Pfünger - 1872Electromagnetism theory - Maxwell - 1873 -

Uranus in Virgo
Physiology: blood circulation - William Harvey - 1628Water thermometer - Ray - 1632Critics and corrections on Newton's work - Bernoulli, Berkeley - 1710Energy conservation theory - Leibnitz - 1714Mercury thermometer - Fahrenheit - 1714Plant hybridisation - Thomas Fairchild - 1715Population increases by a geometric ratio whereas the means of subsistence increase by an arithmetic ratio - Thomas Robert Malthus - 1798More accurate determination of the speed of light - Albert Abraham Michelson - 1879The term biology introduced - Karl Friedrich Burdach - 1800Analysis of cell ionic metabolism - Sydney Ringer - 1880Vectorial algebra - Gibbs - 1881

Uranus in Libra
Sound speed measurement - Mersenne - 1636Existence of infrared and of radiant heat - Herschel - 1800Theory of light and colours - Thomas Young - 1801Ultraviolet rays - Ritter - 1801Temperature - volume - pression equation - Gay-Lussac - 1802Partial pressures law - Dalton - 1804Introduction of the term 'subconscious' - Pierre Janet - 1886First connection between two computers, birth of the internet - Leonard Kleinrock - 1969Photoelectric effect - Hallwachs - 1887

Uranus in Scorpio
Hydrodynamics - Torricelli - 1640Electrical induction - Stephen Gray - 1729Phosphorescence - Charles François de Cisternay Dufay - 1730Chemical atomic theory - Dalton - 1808Molecular theory - Avogadro - 1811Chemistry abbreviations, theories on chemistry - Berzelius - 1811Mechanisms of oxidative damage in living cells - H. J. H. Fenton - 1894X-rays discovery - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen - 1895First enzyme discovery - Eduard Buchner - 1896Electron discovery - Thompson - 1896Radioactivity discovery - Antoine Henri Becquerel - 1896

Uranus in Sagittarius
Lymphatic system of the body - Thomas Bartholin - 1652Blood pressure measuring - Hales - 1733Principle of natural selection among human populations - W. C. Wells - 1818Ether - Fresnel - 1818Principles for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics - Jean François Champollion - 1821Chi-square statistical test development - Karl Pearson - 1900Gamma radiation discovery - Rutherford - 1900Conditioned responses theory - Ivan Pavlov - 1902

Uranus in Capricorn
Discovery of Titan, Saturn's largest moon - Christiaan Huygens - 1655Earth development in time - Buffon - 1744First electric engine - Faraday - 1821Isomorphic crystal forms - Eilhard Mitscherlich - 1822Steam-powered freight and passenger service in England - 1825Electric resistance's law - Ohm - 1827Mass-energy formula - Albert Einstein - 1905Senile degeneration description - Alois Alzheimer - 1907Geometric unification of space and time - Minkowski - 1908

Uranus in Aquarius
Observation of blood movement through capillaries - Marcello Malpighi - 1661Ideal gases law - Boyle - 1662Anatomical studies on the brain, primacy to the cerebral cortex - Thomas Willis - 1664Diffraction of light - Francesco Maria Grimaldi - 1665Knowledge comes from the senses theory - Étienne Bonnet de Condillac - 1746Capacitor invention, experiments on electric current - Andreas Cunaeus - 1746Tiny deviations in the Earth's axis caused by the pull of the Moon - Bradley - 1748Magnetic induction - Michell - 1750Description of the Via Lactea, or Milky Way, Multiplicity of Worlds theory - Thomas Wright - 1750Experiments and Observations on Electricity - Benjamin Franklin - 1751Electromagnetic induction - Faraday - 1831Electric telegraph invention - Gauss - 1833Entropy - Clapeyron - 1834Programmable mechanical calculating machine - Charles Babbage - 1834Model of atom, quantum theory - Niels Bohr - 1913 General relativity theory - Albert Einstein -1915Isotopes discovery - Aston - 1919Internet Era - since 1996

Uranus in Pisces
All objects fall with the same speed - Galileo Galilei - 1589Differential calculus - Leibnitz - 1675Classification of plants in terms of genera and species - Carl Linné - 1753Definition of the term infinitesimal - D'Alembert - 1754Analogies between electricity and magnetism - Franz Ulrich Theodosius Aepinus - 1756Latent heat - Black - 1757"The ancient precept, 'Know thyself,' and the modern precept, 'Study nature,' become at last one maxim" - Ralph Waldo Emerson - 1837First photographic process - Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre - 1839Analytic transformations development, the basis of Boolean algebra - George Boole - 1839Doppler effect - Doppler - 1842Hypnotic condition must be learned by the subject - Pierre Janet - 1919Autonomic nervous system - Langley - 1921Unified theory of electromagnetism and gravity - Louis de BrogliePauli exclusion principle - Wolfgang Pauli - 1924Quantum mechanics - Schrodinger and Heisenberg - 1926, 1927Big Bang theory on the beginnings of the Universe - Georges Lemaitre - 1927

Other considerations
There is a strong correlation between Uranus' position in the astrological signs and the hsitory of science, the researchers are more drawn to investigate and publish their discoveries in fields clearly related with the astrological keywords associated with the zodiacal sign of transiting Uranus.
This is a great confirmation of the astrology's influence and it also gives us a better overall understanding of the history of science.
Uranus is back in Pisces now. This means we should expect in the next few years scientific discoveries and advancements that will ultimately lead to a united conception on the natural forces knwon so far and also to a heightened awareness of the influence of the so-called spiritual forces.

The fate of Pluto

Astrology and religion

There is a good analogical relationship between Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and the Holy Trinity as considered by the traditional Christian church.
Uranus would represent the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the eternal Logos or Word. (Uranus is the superior octave of Mercury, natural ruler of communication and ordinary words).
Neptune would represent the Holy Spirit, the "Comforter", the giver of spiritual gifts, a manifestation of God's Love (Neptune is the superior octave of Venus, natural ruler of the ordinary love).
Pluto would represent God the Father, a supreme authority that is beyond anything, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent (Pluto is the superior octave of Mars, natural ruler of will and action).
This seems like a perfect system to describe the Holy Trinity.
But what happens now that Pluto is no longer considered an actual planet, but only a "dwarf planet"? I feel compelled to inquire - is this a SIGN?
What if something is going to happen to Christianity as we know it?
Many of you are probably aware of Malachy's prophecy: in 1139, Saint Malachy wrote this prophecy about future popes, giving a short description for each one of them. The current Pope, Benedict XVI, is the last one described in the prophecy and after him there's only one whose reign will mark the end of papacy. Read a detailed article about this prophecy here.
Should we be very worried about it? Isn't Pluto the astrological archetype of death and resurrection, of total transformation? Why worry over Pluto having the same fate as its archetype?
If religion as we know it will die, it will surely be resurrected in a new form, much improved. The spirit never dies, so spirituality cannot die either.
Maybe this is just a step towards a better religion, a better life and a better world. God knows we need it and look forward to it.
Let me then say: "Pluto is dead. Long live Pluto!", in the traditional style used in various European countries when a new monarch accesses to the throne.

Astrology History

Role of Egypt in the history of astrology

Astrology has played a major role in society since the beginning of civilization, and maybe even before that. Its influence can be seen in almost every part of the world. Astrology's history is a long one, and common belief is that its origins lie with the Greeks. However, a closer look shows that the foundations for astrology were laid much earlier than that, and the Egyptians had much to do with this. The Egyptian influence will be discussed shortly; but first, it will be very helpful to describe the history of astrology up to the point that the Egyptians became involved.
The Sumerians, who settled in Mesopotamia around 4000 BC, mark the first example of a people who worshipped the sun, moon, and Venus. They considered these heavenly bodies gods, or the homes of gods. The moon god's name was Nanna, the sun god was called Utu, and the god of Venus was named Inanna. These were not the only gods the Sumerians worshipped; in fact, other gods, especially those of creation, were more important in the Sumerian pantheon. The Akkandians, near Sumer, adopted the sun, moon and Venus gods, changing their names. This was common with the gods in ancient times: the gods were accepted by a society, but their names were changed, depending on who had conquered whom.
The priests of the time who communicated with the gods were the first rulers. Temple systems were created and staffs of as many as several hundred to several thousand people in various roles were "employed" to fulfill various needs of the priests. There were junior priests, counselors, musicians, potters, etc. Later, it became necessary to have military leaders and some of these became kings. These kings usually had in their company a seer, or "baru-priest." This person was an interpreter of the skies -- he would read the sky for warnings, which usually involved eclipses of the moon. It could be said that the "baru-priests" were the first actual astrologers. In order to be able to communicate with the gods, mounds were built which represented shrines. These, over time, grew to larger structures called "ziggurats." (Later, these ziggurats would be used to map the star formations and to watch the sky for omens.)
The Sumerian baru-priests were under quite a bit of pressure to predict correctly. Predictions became more an art than science, since the priests had to be a bit crafty in their work. They did succeed in predicting eclipses with correct mathematics; thus contributing greatly to the later development of the laws of astronomy. (It may be useful at this point for some to make the distinction between astrology and astronomy. Astronomy is the scientific study of the stars and planets and their movements. Astrology is the pseudoscientific study of the influence those heavenly bodies and their movements have on humankind.) Astrology as we, or even the ancient Greeks, would consider it did not exist at this time. The priests were concerned with predicting natural events (weather, eclipses, etc.) in order to maintain their power. Their efforts, however, did contribute to the development of astrology -- they designed a calendar; identified the basic cycles of the sun, moon, planets and stars; and divided their year into twelve months based on the moon's twelve cycles during a year.
The beginnings of actual astrology can be seen during the Old Babylonian period, during the second millennium. The focus of the Babylonians was on the well-being of the kingdom and the king, not of the individual. For this reason, predictions revolved around things that would affect this well-being. The Babylonian priests correctly documented Venus's appearances and disappearances and because of this erratic behavior (due to the fact that Venus revolves about the sun backwards) Venus became associated with love and war. Somewhere around 1300 BC, the precursors of the individual birth horoscopes were formulated. These were merely predictions based on which month a child was born in. By this time the astral bodies have become quite significant at this point.
The Assyrian Era marked a new phase in the development of astrology. This time period lasted from about 1300 to 600 BC The Assyrians conquered Babylon in 729 BC, and the inevitable changing of the gods occurred. At this time, the sun god, called Shamash now, was deemed high god. The state was still considered more important than the individual; thus the omens and predictions were still directed at the events that would affect the state. The Assyrians overcame a long time problem -- they created a consistent and accurate calendar. Star maps were plotted correctly, constellations were formed, and astrolabes, or lists of stars were made. Omens were very important to the Assyrians and the priests-astrologers-astronomers would present their omens to the courts often. Those who could forecast good things were well-respected.
As mentioned above, the Assyrians had developed constellations. In fact, they plotted eighteen all together. Later, by 600 BC, some of these would be combined and some would be deleted to form the twelve constellations of the zodiac. There is a certain amount of controversy over just how these constellations were named. The following is a list of the names: the Latin name first -- the name we are most familiar with, then the Babylonian name. Much of astrology today is based on the relationships these constellations have with the seasons. The constellations should not be confused with the traditional signs of the zodiac, as the latter had not yet been created.
The Assyrians placed as much or even more importance on the five planets they had identified and their movements into these constellations. The reason for this is that they believed the planets were gods or at least the home of gods. The names given to these planets as well as the sun and moon were eventually replaced by the Greek names, then the Roman names, and eventually the English names. In Assyrian times the names were as follows: Sun=Shamash, Moon=Sin, Venus=Ishtar, Mercury=Nebo or Nabu, Mars=Nergal, Saturn=Ninurta, and Jupiter=Marduk. The various personalities and domains of these gods changed with time and change of rulership.
The next phase in the history of astrology is the New Babylonian period (600-300 BC). Some of the prominent astrologers of this period were Kiddinu, Berossus, Antipatrus, Achinopoulus, and Sudines. Up to this point, really the only kind of astrology being practiced was omen astrology, or the foretelling of major events. It was during the New Babylonian period that the signs of the zodiac were invented and horoscope, or birth, astrology had its beginnings. As of 1996, sixteen Babylonian horoscopes have been found and it was not uncommon for these horoscopes to contain little or no prediction. They mostly consist of the position of the skies at the time of conception or birth of the individual.
The Greeks began their immense influence on astrology during the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Alexander the Great managed to spread the Greek way of life, also known as Hellenism, to places such as Alexandria and Antioch. The Hellenistic period spanned from the time of his death in 323 BC to the middle of the second century BC, when the Romans took the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks were responsible for incorporating mythology into astrology. The names we are familiar with today when we think of mythology came into existence. Up to this point, the same gods existed, just under different names and personalities.
This was the age of such famous forerunners of modern science as Plato, Pythagoras, who asserted that the earth was round and traveled around the sun; Leucippus, whose theory would later be the beginnings of atomic science; and Aristotle. Other scientists involved with the study of astronomy, such as Eudoxus, held the opinion that astrology was ridiculous and no one should believe prediction about his life based on which day he was born. Nevertheless, astrologers such as Critodemus, Apollonius of Myndus, and Epigenes of Byzantium continued to refine horoscopic astrology.
The Romans were not as accepting of astrology. About 250 BC, a large number of the common citizenry became interested in astrology, but the conservatives fought against most any outside religion, including Christianity. They presented quite logical arguments against the use of astrology and horoscopes, saying that people born on the same day at the same time had very different destinies, and that people born on different days at different times sometimes died at the same times. Nevertheless, astrology spread into Rome, despite several attempts to expel all astrologers from the empire. Eventually, astrology gained acceptance, mostly because the Romans had a certain respect for the Greeks' education. If the Romans had not finally allowed astrology into their culture, things might have been very different as far as the Egyptians' contributions to the art.
In 331 BC, Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria. This marks the beginning of the Graeco-Roman period in Egypt's history. Alexandria became one of the most famous of the Hellenistic capitals. Hellenism is the term describing the Greek way of life. The people of Alexandria retained some of their Egyptian culture, but it became mixed with that of the Greeks, Romans, Macedonians, Persians, Syrians, Jewish, and Chaldeans. When the Roman Empire began its decline, Alexandria managed to maintain its prestige as a center for cultural activity. By the time Alexandria began its decline, the scientific revolution was over, and astrology was accepted and believed by almost everyone. It was at this time that Claudius Ptolemy surfaced.
Almost nothing is known about Claudius Ptolemy. It is known that he was not Greek and was not even a Ptolemy (that is, he was not related to the Ptolemaic rulers). He was an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who lived in the vicinity of Alexandria. Bits and pieces of information from his writings and from comments from his contemporaries are the only sources of information about Ptolemy's life. He was born in Upper Egypt, and some say that he was the head librarian at the museum or library at Alexandria.
Ptolemy worked from the data of past astrologers to map over one thousand stars. He compiled a list of 48 constellations, and, for the most part, described the longitude and latitude lines of the earth. He was a believer that the earth was the center of the universe and worked to advance this theory. His effort in this area was in his thirteen volume work called the Almagest. Here, the Ptolemaic system is described, thus explaining why some planets seemed to move backwards for periods of time in their orbit around earth. He theorized that each planet also revolved in a smaller circle as well as a larger one. This was called the "epicycle." This theory would survive for 1400 years, until it was finally accepted that the earth was itself another planet in orbit around the sun.
Ptolemy also dabbled in other areas of study. He wrote the book, Geography, and in it created maps and latitudes and longitudes. He studied the refraction of light in his book, Optics. Also, he studied harmonics and wrote yet another book describing his findings. However, it was his work called Mathematical Treatise in Four Books, also referred to as The Prognostics Addressed to Syrus, that would be the foundation for modern astrology as it is practiced in the West. The name we use for the work today is the Tetrabiblos. Nothing is known about how Ptolemy acquired his data for this work; however, his access to the library at Alexandria would be the best guess.
No original version of the Tetrabiblos still exists. All that remain are translations and copies of it, the oldest of which is Arabic and dates only to AD 900. Eventually, the Latin translations became familiar to the Europeans. The English version was translated from that of the Greeks in 1940. There were four books to this work, and each dealt with a different aspect of astrology:
The first book defined Ptolemy's reasoning for practicing astrology as well as astronomy, for by this time, there were many who opposed astrology. He said that it should not be abandoned merely because there are a few people who abuse it. This book also deals with the various alignments of planets, the moon, and the sun. Ptolemy describes in detail which positions are favorable and which are not. He also explained the signs, when they begin, and why they begin there.
The second book of the Tetrabiblos describes astrology as it relates to countries. Ptolemy makes the point that astrological events of countries and race supersede those of the individual. He details which planets rule over which country, and makes the distinction between human signs and animal signs. He notes that human signs cause things to happen to humans and animal signs affect animals. Finally, Ptolemy explains how the planets affect earth. For example, Saturn was thought to cause cold, floods, poverty, and death. Mars caused war and drought. Comets and shooting stars were thought to also affect the weather.
The third book dealt with the individual. The Tetrabiblos examined conception and birth, saying that it was better to work with the conception date and that this date should be known by observation. Several key factors were involved with this aspect of astrology. The sign that was rising at the time of conception, the moon's phase, and the movements of the planets were all taken into consideration. The father's influence was shown through the sun and Saturn, while the mother's was shown through the moon and Venus.
Finally, the forth book of the Tetrabiblos handled matters of occupation, marriage, children, travel, and "houses" of the zodiac. The particular angles of various planets were used to calculate these things.
The Tetrabiblos compiled almost all of the astrological works up to that point. Only very few modifications have been made since then, and most of what we know as astrology comes from this work. Critics claim that it is "tedious and dry" to read, and that there are some contradictions in Ptolemy's ideas. Furthermore, he did not take into account the precession of the equinoxes. He undoubtedly knew about this phenomenon, an overlapping between signs and constellations that gets larger over time (about 5 degrees per three hundred years), but why he did not examine or explain this is a mystery and one of the biggest flaws of his work.
There were also problems with his correlation between astrology and the seasons. His belief that the conception time was preferable to birth time is a misguided one, as conception time for an individual is actually rather difficult to calculate. There were other errors in his work, mostly dealing with beliefs of the time and misinformation about astronomy; however, for the most part, the Tetrabiblos has proved invaluable to this day.
Ptolemy himself seemed to be quite egotistical. It is thought that he may never have actually practiced astrology, and there has not been a single horoscope found that was created by him. Some say that his writing almost reflects an embarrassment about astrology, and suggest that perhaps he might not have been a scholar of the art, but more a reporter of it.
Probably the most disturbing accusation against Ptolemy is that his figures were intentionally skewed and doctored to fit his hypotheses. A study of Ptolemy's figures was done in 1977, and the findings were that most of his data was fraudulent. For more on this subject, one should refer to the book by R. Newton, The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy. It is hard to hold this against Ptolemy; he was, of course, working in ancient times. However, had he used correct numbers in his work, it might not have taken future scholars 1400 more years to correct wrong ideas concerning the universe.
In his defense, he was living during a time when "politically incorrect" beliefs could be grounds for punishment. It actually may not have been safe for him to expose the truth; instead he may have been forced to make his numbers fit into incorrect theories. He knew enough about the truth...the precession of the equinoxes and the theories that postulated that the earth, in fact, revolved around the sun. Apparently, fear for his own life is the reason why he did not act on his knowledge.
After Ptolemy, many astrologers followed. Some notable Egyptians in the field were Paul of Alexandria, Hephaestion of Thebes, and Palchus, though little other than their names are known about these people. Ptolemy's work was continued and commented on by the Alexandrian mathematician Pappus, the mathematician/astronomer Theon of Alexandria, and the Greek mathematician Proclus, who wrote a paraphrase of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos.
After about AD 500, astrology died away for a while. It came alive again in the eighth century when Islam began practicing Hellenistic astrology. It was Albumasar, a Muslim intellectual, who was instrumental in bringing astrology as we know it to the Western world.
In conclusion, it can be said that Egypt has played a major role in the development of astrology. Egypt has had the pleasure of experiencing many different cultures in its land, which has enriched Egypt's history and aided its people to become innovators of new ideas that would last for centuries and even on into today.

Byzantine Astrology

Introduction to Byzantine Astrology

During the 5th and 6th centuries AD, Byzantium (the Eastern Roman Empire) boasted a host of astrologers: Hephaestion, Julian of Laodicea, "Proclus," Rhetorius, and John Lydus. Though their works are singularly unoriginal compilations, they remain the major sources for an understanding of earlier Hellenistic astrology. By the end of the 6th century, however, the general decline of the Byzantine Empire's intellectual life and the strong opposition of the church had combined to virtually obliterate astrology, though some practice of reading celestial omens survived in Byzantium as it did in western Europe. The science was revived only in the late 8th century and the 9th century under the impact of translations from Syriac and Arabic. The period from about 800 to 1200 was the most propitious for Byzantine astrology, though nothing was essentially added to astrological theories or techniques.
For instance, Manuel I Comnenus, emperor of the Byzantine Empire between 1143-1180, utilized astrology in his political and personal life, as well as supporting translations of occult literature in his court. When the Church Patriarch presented Manuel with a letter from a simple monk claiming that the astrological teaching was a sacrilege, Manuel could not allow a charge of heresy to be leveled against him. He composed a defense of astrology, asserting that it was compatible with Christian doctrine. Only as he became ill and eventually died in 1180, on the advice of Theodosius (Patriarch of Constantinople), he renounced to astrology.
Anna Comnena's Comments on Astrology
Source: The Alexiad - by Anna Comnena
Byzantine Princess Anna Comnena (1083-1148) was the daughter of Emperor Alexius Comnenus of the Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire). When the first Crusaders reached Constantinople (=ancient Byzantium, todays Istanbul), Anna witnessed their arrival and their alien customs, and would later record her observations for posterity in a 15-volume work: the Alexiad. She is considered the world's first female historian.
The "Alexiad" of Anna Comnena has long been used as a source of information by historians of the Byzantine Empire. Here's an excerpt from the Book VI of the "Alexiad" where Anna Comnena expresses her views on astrology and astrologers of her time, starting from a fulfilled forecast by the philosopher Symeon Seth on the death of Robert Guiscard:
"A certain mathematician named Seth who boasted much of his knowledge of astrology had forecast Robert's fate by an oracle, after his crossing to Illyria, written this forecast on a paper, sealed it and entrusted it to some of the Duke's intimates, bidding them keep it till a certain time. After Robert's death they opened it by the astrologer's order and the prophecy was as follows: "A great enemy from the west shall fall suddenly after having stirred up great confusion."This caused everybody to marvel at the man's knowledge; and in truth he had delved very deeply into this branch of science, and if I may be allowed to make a short break in the course of my history, the following are the facts about astrological prophecies. The discovery is fairly recent, and the science of it was not known to the ancients. For [149] this method of divination did not exist in the time of Eudoxus, the greatest of all astronomers, neither did Plato have any knowledge of it, and even the astrologer, Manetho, had not brought it to perfection. Now these (astrologers) observe the hour of the birth of the persons about whom they intend to prophesy, and fix the cardinal points and carefully note the disposition of all the stars, in short they do everything that the inventor of this science bequeathed to posterity and which those who trouble about such trifles understand. We, also, at one time dabbled a little in this science, not in order to cast horoscopes (God forbid!), but by gaining a more accurate idea of this vain study to be able to pass judgment upon its devotees. I do not mention this for the sake of boasting, but to prove that during my father's reign many of the sciences made great progress, as he honoured both philosophers and philosophy itself, but towards this teaching of astrology he showed some hostility, I believe because it tended to make people of a guileless nature reject their faith in God and gape at the stars. This was the cause of the Emperor's waging war against the teaching of astrology. Yet in spite of this there was no dearth of astrologers at that time, for the Seth I have mentioned flourished then, and there was also a famous Egyptian, Alexandreus, who was a strong exponent of the mysteries of astrology. He was consulted by many and used to give most accurate forecasts in many cases, not even using the astrolabe, but made his prophecies by a certain casting of dice. There was nothing magical about that either, it was an art practised by the Alexandrians (or by Alexandreus). When the Emperor saw how the young people flocked to him and regarded the man as a species of prophet, he himself consulted him twice and each time Alexandreus gave very correct answers. But the Emperor was afraid that harm might come to many from it and that all would be led away to the vain pursuit of astrology, so he banished him from the capital, assigned Raedestus as his dwelling-place and showed great consideration for him, and his means of living were amply supplied from the imperial treasury. Nay more, the great dialectician, Eleutherius, also an Egyptian by birth, cultivated this art too and carried it to such perfection that he yielded the palm to no one. Later again, a man called Catanances from Athens came to the capital, anxious to carry off the first prize among astrologers and when questioned by some about the date of the Emperor's death, he foretold it as he thought, but was proved wrong in his [150] prognostication. It happened, however, that the lion which was kept in the palace died that day, after four days' fever, so the vulgar considered that the prophecy of Catanances had been accomplished. After some considerable time he again foretold the date of the Emperor's death and was mistaken; yet the Emperor's mother, the Empress Anna, died on the very day Catanances had foretold. Because Catanances had made repeated mistakes in his predictions about him, the Emperor did not like to banish him as he was self-convicted, and also it might seem that he banished him in anger. But now let us return to the point in our history where we abandoned it, otherwise we shall be thought to be stargazers, obscuring the main theme of our history with the names of astrologers."
Astrology in the Byzantine Empire as viewed in Niketas Choniates's History
Another important testimony on the situation of Byzantine astrology we get from the historian Niketas Choniates in his work "O City of Byzantium. The Annals of Niketas Choniates."
As Niketas Choniates depicted him, Alexius III was very keen on astrology and its interpretations of the daily circumstances. Although Choniates considers this a common practice of the emperors of the times, he does not fail to thoroughly criticize it and ridicule those who professed it. He accuses them of denying Divine Providence and perversely turning to interpreting the movements, positions and configurations of the stars, misusing expressions like 'it is fated' or 'what is ordained by necessity...cannot be undone' in order to explain the paradoxes of life.
Niketas' objection to astrology is very well depicted in his account of Manuel I. He blames Manuel for believing in the astrologers as if they were uttering the word of God.
In the episode of Manuel's illness and death, Choniates seizes the opportunity to expose and deride astrologers, as well as criticizing the emperor's belief in their assertions.
"But those pestilential astrologers had the audacity to say that the emperor would shortly recover from his illness...they shamelessly predicted the razing of enemy cities to the ground. What was more outrageous, they, being quick-tongued and used to lying, foretold a great commotion of the universe... the transformation of the whole natural order, thus proving themselves ventriloquists rather than stargazers. They... told the weeks in which these things would happen, and notified the emperor accordingly;... as if they had clear knowledge of the things which the Father has kept in His own power, and about which Our Savior reprimanded his disciples for asking. So not only did the emperor seek out caves... and prepare them for habitation..."
Likewise, Niketas denounces Alexius' inclination on astrology which he finds totally incompatible with Christian faith.

Moon's Nodes Astrology

north node, karma and spiritual evolution

The Moon's Nodes are virtual points that represent the intersection of the Moon's orbit with the Earth's orbit around the Sun (the ecliptic). From a geocentric perspective, the Nodes are the direct result of the motionof the Moon and the Sun around our planet.
The Sun is the Soul, our spiritual part. The Moon is the Body, our material part. Where these two, the Soul and the Body intersect, the Life on this physical level, in this universe, appears. The physical life cannot exist without the body, nor without the soul. The Nodes are from this perspective THE LIFE ITSELF !
We should consider them as waves, in a continuum that comes from our habit patterns (South Node) and moves towards an evolution of qualities we need to be developed (North Node), or as particles, considering them just as two points in space, the past and the future; maybe as a wave-particle duality as stated in modern physics.
Their influence relates to the spiritual dimension of our lives, the one that leads to our spiritual fulfillment, to the Divinity from ourselves.
They are considered as planets in the Vedic astrology, but I don't think that is correct, they are *different* from the planets as they represent the intersection between the ecliptic and the Moon's orbit. Also the Moon's Nodes exaltation is traditionally in Sagittarius and Gemini, and that's again somehow wrong because the nodes are virtual points therefore cannot be assigned a real zodiacal sign.
The maximum vibration axis for the Nodes is 0 Cancer - 0 Capricorn. The point of 0 Cancer is assigned to the South Node, while 0 Capricorn to the North Node. The Sabian Symbol of this degree is "AN INDIAN CHIEF CLAIMS POWER FROM THE ASSEMBLED TRIBE". When we look at the symbol for its antiscion, its counterpart (SAGITTARIUS 30), "THE POPE BLESSING THE FAITHFUL", we get to see the big picture, the real nature of this point. These degrees are in antiscia which acts like a kind of conjunction - so the entire story of this degree would be that "Someone (the Indian chief) claims its power WHILE being blessed by God (the Pope)".
So it means acting according to the Will of God ! That's exactly the meaning of the North Node.
The nodes are about spiritual evolution, evolution in general, they act like an axis of energy and information, of a very complex cosmic, spiritual nature that show us the direction of the Life flow through our natal chart. That's why the North Node's domicile is between Sagittarius (the deep understanding of life and all its manifestations) and Capricorn (the will and the power to enact) while the South Node's domicile is between Gemini (superficial, limited knowledge) and Cancer (traditions and customs).
Plato says that the soul comes into embodiment through Cancer and exits through Capricorn. The physical body of a child enters the world from the mother's perineum (ano-genital area) which is be associated with the South Node and exits this world when the brain's death occur, the head being associated with the North Node.
The 0 Capricorn - 0 Cancer axis is the solstice axis, an axis of symmetry of the Sun's declinations along its yearly cycle. Two points situated on one and the other side of the solstice axis are in considered in antiscia, relationship that acts similar to a conjunction only in a more subtle way. The points in antiscia are points where the Sun in its yearly transit has the same declination. The Sun is the Life giver, our source of light and energy and its declination is a measure of intensity of that light and energy.
There is a strong relationship between this theory on the Moon's Nodes, the declination theory and the traditional concept of antiscia.
When projected by the transiting Sun's declination on the solstice axis, the zodiac will become an axis with two ends in 0 Capricorn and in 0 Cancer, divided in 6 regions where the signs of the zodiac are projected (Capricorn and Sagittarius together, Aquarius and Scorpio together and so on).
It is not clearly established why, but it seems like the number 6 is very important in the life of the universe we live in. There is a Light-giver and 6 traditional planets that receive that light. There are 6 * 2 zodiacal signs.
A similar process as in the solar yearly cycle, would occur in the case of the Moon Nodes' cycle.
The 0 Cancer - 0 Capricorn axis is also the Moon's Nodes' vibration axis with six projection regions on it.
The astrologer may overlook the importance of the nodes, but when it comes to see the big picture, the cosmic implications of our lives, the use of the Nodes becomes irreplaceable. The classic interpretation of their influence is that the South Node (referred to as SN) is the karmic luggage that we carry in this life, while the North Node (referred to as NN) is the life path that fulfills us more than anything else. This is a simple interpretation however.
What misses here is an esoteric and spiritual insight as the one provided by the organized esoteric system of the traditional yogi of India, about the seven chakras, their energetic connections and their functions

LOVE HANDLES: Practical Synastry in Action

by Steven Forrest

When is the following declaration the saddest, bitterest thing you've ever heard? "I will always be your friend."
Sweet words, most of the time. Real friendship is precious. But most of us have felt that terrible sting--the word "friend" when it comes out of the mouth of someone with whom we are in love in a romantic, mating way. Being downgraded to "friend" means rejection. Something upon which we have staked a big piece of our lives is taken away. We know it and our lover knows it too.
True friendship is a rare and wonderful thing; I don't mean to belittle it. We share interests; we celebrate each other's victories and commiserate in failure and pain. We share values and assumptions. Unspoken understandings abound. Like good jazz players, we even interrupt each other at exactly the right, comfortable moments. You can feel that kind of friendship instantly. You meet someone at a party and there's an instantaneous sense of being on the same page. Everything a friend does is all right.
Compare that kind of easy-going friendship to the turbulence and emotional complexity of a sane, grown-up sexual relationship. They're not opposites, but they certainly feel different. We get to our teens and we know the distinction like we know the difference between kissing grandma and kissing in the back seat.
We don't want erotic contact with everyone we "like;" we usually don't desire our friends-and if those fires get kindled, we sense we're about to muddy the water in a serious way. On the other hand, when our lover says, "I will always be your friend," we know what's really being said: I don't want to sleep with you anymore. I don't want to gaze into your eyes. I want you close but not that close. Goodbye.
So, we are talking about two very different kinds of love: friendship and mating. They sometimes overlap, but knowing the difference helps us keep our lives sorted out. Enter astrology. That happy, easy, schmoozing feeling we get with congenial strangers-what are its astrological correlates? Basically it boils down to easy interaspects: trines, sextiles, certain specific conjunctions. The term "interaspects" originated, as far as I know, with Ken and Joan Negus. Obviously enough, it refers to aspects between two charts-my Venus trines your Sun. It's a useful word and will undoubtedly become part of the basic semantics of astrological practice. Joan is gone now, but her work will live on in that term.
In determining astrological harmony between people, let's add another piece to the puzzle: the Seventh House. If my planets, especially softer ones, fall in your Seventh House, there's usually a friendly connection felt between us. And another: Venus-if there are strong, easy Venus contacts between us, we'll probably like each other on sight.
Naturally most of what we've inherited in the astrological traditions of synastry idealizes harmony between people. The reflexive bottom line is the more easy interaspects, the better. And of course the harder aspects-squares and oppositions-are seen in the opposite way: if you're an Aries you should marry a Sagittarian or a Leo (the trines) and avoid the Capricorns and Cancers (the squares). But those easy interaspects correlate with friendship a lot more than they correlate with passion. Nowadays people often leave relationships because of a lack of that basic heat in the blood. How many of your friends have withdrawn from a sexual bond because "something was missing?" About a zillion, right? And how often do think you might have heard those words in Kansas in 1910? A lot less frequently.
Times change, and astrologers must sometimes get their noses out of their musty books and pay some attention to the changing world. The realities of what I call marriage in this article are morphing rapidly; our skills must keep up if we are to serve our clients well and relate effectively to their realities and to their values. My intention in these pages is to share some of the techniques and attitudes that have proven most fruitful and relevant for me in the modern astrological relationship counselling context-and to warn you away from some planetary lore that has outlived its usefulness.
A moment ago I said "what I will call marriage" because I want to honor a couple of facts: first, God made a lot of gay folks, and I honor their commitments and name them "marriages" in this article. Second, among heterosexuals, not everyone is equally serious about filling out the government paperwork about their relationship status. When I say "marriage" from now on, I just mean a committed, open-ended sexual bond that has lasted for more than a few dozen consecutive weekends, and which both people pray lasts many more.
One of the true paradigm shifts happening in our culture is that marriage is becoming optional. It wasn't always that way. Throughout much of human history, we were agricultural, farm-bound people. If our marriage was a little unsatisfying, the option of getting an apartment across town wasn't nearly as viable as it is today. A man who left his farm would become a bandit or a beggar; the woman who did the same, a beggar or a prostitute. I oversimplify, of course...but not by much. In a nutshell, throughout much of human history, marriage could be equated with survival. An astrologer asked to evaluate a potential marriage would be working within the constraints of that basic assumption: divorce might mean death.
Where marriage could be equated with survival, there was naturally a great premium placed on "harmony"-at whatever cost it might come in terms of magic, passion, and even communication. Anything, including honesty, that might upset the apple cart was feared...and that was a reasonable attitude when separation was potentially life-threatening. All that mattered was that the two people would not press each others' buttons in any ways that could endanger that life-preserving stability. Culturally, we're just coming out from under the thumb of those beliefs.
Harmony has obvious attractions, but let's look as penetratingly as we can at its dark side. Those "good" aspects we're trained to value can get awfully sleepy. When we are in harmony with someone, there may be a lot of unconscious collusion in terms of lies upon which we agree...two drunks deciding whether they're sober enough to make it to the 7-11 for another six- pack before it closes might be in perfect harmony with each other! There are trines and sextiles in action for you! Just as the drunks are about to get into their car and possibly kill themselves or someone else, a friend appears, realizes what's happening, swipes their car keys and tosses them out on the darkened lawn. It's a nasty situation; lots of curses and maledictions-and very possibly lives saved. Welcome to the "bad" aspects...a worthless, misleading term we astrologers really need to dump.
A single person is a perfectly viable creature nowadays. Marriage is difficult. Why bother with it? Even our sexual needs can be met in a variety of other ways, generally without serious recriminations in the modern world. Nowadays, unless we are severely constrained by practical considerations or in severe need of psychotherapy, we tend not to choose to remain in a relationship in which "something is missing."
So what does it take for "something" to be present? In a nutshell, what it takes is a lot of the astrological mechanisms the traditional approaches teach us to fear, loathe, and avoid: "bad" aspects, lots of Pluto action, major Eighth House components.
Go back in your memory banks and think of a relationship that didn't work out. It was passionate, intense, and full of sacred sexuality. You were sure your life would unfold on a loftier level from that first kiss onward; you were destined to be together. And six months later: poof. Any trouble relating to this tale? I didn't think so. Now analyze that relationship from a traditional astrological point of view. Almost guaranteed, you can do an effective post- mortem...."Ah, yes. Look at that. Her nasty, psychotic Pluto was square my poor, innocent Venus," et cetera. A close analysis of the configuration will yield a very precise understanding of what went wrong-but it will lie to you with great authority too! It entirely ignores the higher evolutionary possibilities implied in that configuration. Even more dramatically, that kind of astrological analysis fails miserably in accounting for that feeling of sacred passion, however transitory it might have been.
If your Pluto squares my Venus, you probably have the capacity to see right through any smarmy Venus games I might play. Maybe my sweet manipulations don't work with you; maybe my feather-smoothing diplomacy is as transparent as window glass. Maybe, with you, I just can't hide. Maybe you confront me about that...and of course, as a result, maybe I feel that you are "always on my case," that you've "appointed yourself my psychologist," that your "need for power and control" squelches my sexuality-all the usual interpretations of the configuration. And maybe the truth behind those words sinks our romantic ship, just as the fortuneteller would predict. But maybe, just maybe, I listen to you. You plutonify my Venus, bringing up into my conscious awareness certain slippery, defensive games I play. Maybe I have grace enough in myself, and trust you enough, to let that humble realization happen. Maybe I become a better person for it.
Maybe what I am really saying is that my soul grows because of your impact on me.
"Something is missing." What does that mean? Lots of people would immediately think about sexual passion. They're right. But what sustains sexual passion? Lord knows it's easy enough to turn it on! But lasting passion-there's the Holy Grail. My premise, based on my experience counselling modern people, is that sexual passion is a function of spiritual passion, at least after the first few weeks. What's the half-life of hormones? Not long. And spiritual passion is sustained by shared spiritual growth, which in turn is more a function of the ways we press each other to grow (hard aspects) than it is a function of the ways we quietly collude in denial, sleepiness, and endless television (easy aspects).
I really want to emphasize that what I mean by "shared spiritual growth" has little to do with sharing belief-systems or philosophies, and it has zero to do with any kind of airy "Flight- into-Light." Relationships based on that bank of sand last about a month, and then the two lovers piously declare that "their work together is now finished." What I am talking about is the gutsy, humbling work of revealing-intentionally or otherwise-all our warts and wounds, and slowly unravelling them together...slowly becoming saner and wiser together. Without that shared journey, without that deeper nakedness, spiritual passion does not exist, and sexual passion dissipates no matter how fiery and irresistible it may have been initially. "Something is missing."
Let's keep our feet on the ground, though. If you are in a committed relationship, how many "growth experiences" do you actually want to face in any given week? Common sense: soul-growth is exhausting work, and a little goes a long way. We need some trines and sextiles and happy conjunctions between us, just to be able to deal with everyday reality together.
Now, stretch it out a little: how many growth experiences are appropriate in a given year? A given decade? Do you really want perfect, silent, nothing-happening peace forever with your partner? "Pass the remote control, honey." Remember: that kind of peace comes at the price of sleepiness, collusion, and shared blindness-unless you are already doing excellent work with lepers.
To me, in the realities of the astrological counselling room, there are two immutable premises:
There is no manner of astrological interaction between two people that is so inherently sweet that enough selfishness, confusion about sex, or immaturity cannot turn it sour.
There is no manner of astrological interaction between two people that is so inherently bitter that enough patience, devotion, and humility can not only make it last, but make it something precious to both people.
Underneath those overriding principles, what I like to see when two people are contemplating a commitment is a lot of basic harmony and agreement-especially some significant conjunctions, trines, and sextiles among those three absolute building blocks in the astrological chart: The Sun, the Moon, and the Ascendent. That really helps people "get along." Let me quickly add that I don't mind seeing some significant squares, oppositions, quincunxes or sesquiquadrates among those three either-that's just grist for the evolutionary mill. We need some of both-sleepy peace and lively tension.
One observation that would scare me at this very fundamental stage of analysis would be no major, Ptolemaic aspects among the two sets of Suns, Moons and Ascendents. The old horary dictum "No aspects, no action" applies quite reliably in synastry work, especially there in the "primal triad." Lots of different kinds of relationships work, but I can't think of a deeper challenge than a lack of Ptolemaic interaspects among those three points. That would be a lot like sleeping with somebody from another planet. It represents not so much conflict as a lack of communication, engagement, and energy.
Moving out beyond Sun, Moon and Ascendant and considering all the various planetary aspects, I would say that a good rule of thumb in synastry is the more aspects there are between two people, the more "glue" holds the relationship together, for good or for ill. I am referring here to aspects in general, not just the traditional "good" ones. Even the harder aspects are "glue"-just a more demanding, more passionate kind. My sense is that when we interact socially with people with whom we just don't have much going on aspectually, we tend mostly to make pleasant tribal mouth noises and quickly move on to more interesting fields of energy. If we wind up in bed, or worse, with someone like that, it's the triumph of the illusions created by simple lust or psychological projection over attention to our own hearts, souls, and senses. Mostly, though, those relationships simply don't occur. Ram Dass commented that our sexual centers of perception divide the world into "the desirable," the "competition for those who are desirable," and the "irrelevant." People with whom we don't have much aspectual interaction are basically the "irrelevant," even if they are easy to look at.
Perspective: What I am writing about here, as I have said, is my own experience in the counselling room. I've seen countless astrologically-harmonious couples separate, and I've seen some marriages last lifetimes where a fortuneteller might have been very pessimistic about their prospects. But people self-select for astrological counsel; they are not the general population. I suppose that if I were trying to come up with statistical paradigms for predicting simple stability, and nothing more, in marriage across the human spectrum, I'd go with the old way of thinking: give me tons of trines and sextiles, tons of harmony. Then they can sit peacefully in front of the television together, maybe for decades, and not bother each other very much. But for the kinds of human beings who actually help me pay my bills, that kind of sleepy collusion is not what they're after. These are generally more dynamic, growth-oriented people-or they wouldn't be there in my office! Demonstrably, they'll intervene in their own lives, and they'll often leave relationships that aren't going anywhere. With these kinds of people, I focus a lot of attention on the harder interaspects between them. I try to be realistic; I tell them that there are ways they may never understand each other. I emphasize that this kind of frustration isn't so bad-if they handle it right, it will keep them alert. I only offer to try to help untangle the tangled lines of misunderstanding. I'll try to get Jill to honor the evolutionary reasons behind Jack's need for periodic emotional withdrawl; I'll support Jack in respecting Jill's need to probe into his inner life. I'll try to generate a kind of objective compassion in each toward the other. But I'll never try to get either to compromise their basic natures-that I would frame as a crime against the human spirit.
Even with the easier aspects, I try not to be passive. "Oh this is beautiful" may be an encouraging remark, but it doesn't go very far in terms of specific helpfulness. Say Jill has Jupiter in Sagittarius in her Ninth House. It trines Jack's Fifth House Aries Sun. Everything else being equal, there is a fair degree of adventuresomeness in each of them. They'll sense their energetic harmony ten seconds after they meet; they'll smile-unconsciously anticipating that potential trip to India they'll take together in nine years.
Now, maybe eight years later they come to me for a synastry reading. My job is to remind them to book that trip to India! Maybe in the swamp of daily life, they got bogged down in the short view and forgot about it. They've neglected what feeds them as a couple. They need a little reminder about how journeys and shared adventures nourish the good stuff that's at the heart of their purpose together.
The point is that even the "easy" aspects require care and feeding if they are going to develop into everything they can be-remember: their dark side is sleepiness. The treasure may be in the back yard, but they still have to dig it up.
I've been speaking categorically of "easy" and "hard" aspects. Basically, by "easy" I mean trines and sextiles. By "hard," I mean squares and oppositions. We'll speak of the minor aspects in a moment, but right now we need to reckon with the single most important aspect of all: the conjunction. It follows its own separate set of laws, and it doesn't fit readily into an "easy" or "hard" box the way the others do. Here's a good way to conceptualize it:
Some planets naturally feel "soft:" The Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune.
Some naturally feel "hard:" The Sun, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto.
Mercury, as usual, seems to be its own special case. Sometimes it feels "hard," especially when it's contacting a hard planet. Other times it feels "soft," especially when linked to a softer planet.
Now, with conjunctions, the rule is simple. Conjunctions between a hard and a soft planet are "hard," while conjunctions between two "soft" planets or two "hard" ones are easy. It's pretty intuitive really. The Moon likes Neptune-if your Moon conjuncts my Neptune, that generally feels easy and comfortable...just remember that "easy" doesn't mean "good." We could collude like crazy on our emotional illusions until the romantic card castle fell down. But we could also feel a flowing, natural spiritual rapport, an easy Moon-Neptune feeling of knowing each other psychically and psychologically, even without words. Real or illusory, it feels good.
Parallel interactions happen when your Mars conjuncts my Uranus. That's "hard to hard," and while the fireworks can be spectacular, there's a kind of gritty comrades-in-arms feeling that arises. Mars and Uranus understand each pretty well; their rough edges get along. We "fight well," which is a precious skill in the real world of grown-up intimacy.
If my Moon aligns with your Mars-"soft to hard"-that's a different kettle of fish. My sensitivities and emotional needs (Moon) are exposed to all your jagged edges (Mars.) Now, maybe that does them a world of good! Maybe you press me, wittingly or unwittingly, to be more assertive about what I want and need. You are martializing my Moon. From an evolutionary perspective, it may be a very beautiful thing, and it's the astrologer's task to emphasize and support that possibility. But Mars-Moon interaspects still often don't feel very good. Maybe I project onto you the idea that you are "the heavy," while you project onto me the idea that I am "a wimp." Maybe, according to you, I'm always "overreacting," while, according to me, you are always "arguing" or "teasing."
Mercury blends with anything-best to apply our "easy aspect" logic to any interaspectual conjunctions involving Mercury.
I spoke of you martializing my Moon. Earlier I used an example of you plutonifying my Venus. My wife, Jodie Forrest, and I introduced this language in 1989 in our book Skymates: The Astrology of Love, Sex, and Intimacy. The words sound funny, but we've found them to be useful tools for conceptualizing the actual energy-transactions that occur in a relationship. The key is to realize that any interaspect is a two-way street: you do something to me and I do something back to you. If your Sun makes any aspect to my Moon-a classic and common synastry connection-then you solarize my Moon while I lunarize your Sun. You press my emotional needs into active expression, while I nourish and support your pride, self-image, and confidence. Skymates, by the way, is currently out of print, but between the Bantam edition and the ACS edition, there are a lot of them around. Jodie and I are currently re-writing the book and hope to have a new edition out by the middle of 2001.
These "martializing" or "plutonifying" energetic transactions apply regardless of the specific nature of the interaspect-it doesn't matter if it's a square or a trine; mercurialization is still mercurialization. The only difference is that if it's an easy aspect, then we both like the process, while if it's a hard aspect we feel more stressed by it-and maybe more passionate and alert about each other in the long run.
Always, regardless of the technical interactions between the charts, we must recognize that, from an astrological perspective, any relationship can potentially be made to work. My feeling is that once a couple is committed to trying, the astrologer should be committed to helping them. I feel ill and ashamed for us all when I hear clients tell me something like, "the other astrologer told us our marriage was basically impossible." Still, if I had to pick an "ideal," I'd lean toward a lot of major Ptolemaic aspects, with an emphasis on Sun-Moon-Ascendent contacts. I'd put them in a mix of about two-thirds "easy" interaspectual transactions and one- third "hard" ones. That provides plenty of the basic glue that holds people together, plus, through the easy aspects, a real sense of friendship and comfort-and enough evolutionary rocket fuel to keep a sense of "process" alive. That's the gift of the harder aspects. In the world we seem to be entering, that's the formula that works most often in my experience.
Jodie and I went into a lot more detail about all this in Skymates, but here are some key concepts for the various interaspectual transactions. A couple of caveats: In all these thumbnail sketches, I'm leaving out the specific context of the planets in each person's birthchart, which is the eternal curse of any "cookbook" approach. To save space, I'm also blithely neglecting the darker possibilities, and focussing on the higher intentions of the interaspect.
If I solarize a planet in your chart, then I press it to emerge energetically, vividly, and actively in your life.
If I lunarize a planet in your chart, then I nourish and support it, and render it moodier and more aware of its needs.
If I mercurialize a planet in your chart, then I press it to speak, to stretch, to gather more information, to think about itself, and to articulate its nature.
If I venusify a planet in your chart, then I warm it, seduce it, and induce in it a desire to connect with me and exchange energy with me. I may also "civilize" it, and encourage it to beautify itself.
If I martialize a planet in your chart, then I press it toward courage and assertiveness, also bringing out whatever anger or frustration it may contain.
If I jovialize a planet in your chart, then I encourage and support it, cheerleading it on toward wider horizons, a willingness to take risks, and more faith in itself.
If I saturnize a planet in your chart, then I invite it to mature and to face reality squarely. I ask it to discipline itself, to make hard choices decisively, and to bring its intentions into concrete manifestation.
If I uranize a planet in your chart, then I press it toward individuation, toward rebellion against "tribal" mythology, and toward free-spirited experimentation.
If I neptunify a planet in your chart, then I enchant and mesmerize it, softening it and filling it with inspiration, spiritual renewal, and imaginative imagery.
If I plutonify a planet in your chart, then I trigger the emergence of unconscious or wounded material connected with it, challenging it to grow and to implement the soul's healing intentions.
This language also helps codify our understanding of House Transpositions as well. If, for example, my Neptune falls in your Tenth House, I'll have a neptunifying impact upon your career. That may be a big deal, or a very minor part of the picture, depending on two factors: a) the strength of my natal Neptune, and b) the importance of career to you, as reflected in your birthchart. The interaction would also be strengthened enormously if my Neptune made some serious aspects to your natal planets, especially a conjunction with a Tenth House planet of yours, or a vigorous aspect to the ruler of your Midheaven.
Some people get touchy about the term "minor aspects." I can see why; those aspects can be powerful, especially the quincunx. I concentrate more on the major Ptolemaic aspects in my actual work, though. They carry so much energy. My time with a couple is limited so I want to focus on the most important issues, which are generally indicated not only more by major than by minor aspects, by also by only the closest major aspects. I won't even have time to speak of all the squares and sextiles, so I tend not to bother much in practice with the semi-squares, bi- noviles, and sesquiquadrates. That doesn't mean they're not interesting and useful; they just don't fit very well into the context of a one-shot, two-hour session, which is how I work most of the time. If you are drawn to work with the minors, generally I'd say treat them as "hard" aspects and these guidelines should translate effectively.
Classically, the Seventh House is the "House of Marriage." A very common correlate of relationship is to see one person's planets, especially the Sun, Moon, or Ascendent, falling in the other person's Seventh House. It's important not to be overly caught up in the dying notions of "malefic" or "benefic" planets in this regard-my Saturn falling in your Seventh House doesn't necessarily mean I'll be cold or distant, or that I will abandon you. It might mean I'll offer you a serious, mature, growth-oriented commitment. It really depends upon how consciously I am responding to my own Saturn issues, and you can't ever see that in a birthchart. Similarly, while my Venus falling in your Seventh House can certainly suggest a wonderfully tender and romantic connection, it can also mean that I'll manipulate and seduce you.
Even though the Seventh House is still reflexively associated with relationship by most astrologers, all the other Houses are relevant-we're talking about a connection between two human wholenesses, after all. Still, I'd encourage you to pay particular attention to the Eighth House, especially between people who are moving into the newer styles of intimacy where the richness and spiritual relevance of the connection means more than blind endurance. The Seventh House really refers to partnerships in general and the grease it takes to keep them afloat. The Eighth brings in the Plutonian themes of deep, shared inner work and psychological intensity. It's also more connected with the bonding dimensions of sexuality than any other House-if you have a planet there in your own natal chart it will very reliably describe the kinds of people with whom you are likely to have the deepest and most compellingly instinctual sense that you are "supposed to be together." It's about those elusive sexual terms-chemistry and electricity-which no one can satisfactorily define but which everyone recognizes, usually from across a crowded room.
The Fifth House is often trivialized as the "House of Love Affairs." Planets there in your natal chart actually correlate with people in your life with whom there is a feeling of "business that needs to be finished." It's easiest for me to make sense of that perception in evolutionary, reincarnational terms. If you have Neptune in your natal Fifth House, you may really need to claim something back from a person who is an unreliable visionary romantic (Neptune). You may need to release him or just let her go, and that of course is sometimes easier said than done. It's unfinished business from the karmic past, in my view. With Mercury there in your birthchart, the person with whom you've got the unfinished business may be a very good talker. With Mars, someone whose anger is unresolved. You probably get the idea-just think of the darker, more seductive possibilities connected with each planet, and you'll be on the right track.
Those kinds of transpersonal, karmic themes emerge very clearly in interaspectual contacts involving the Nodes of the Moon as well. Reincarnation and the larger metaphysical, evolutionary background against which the astrological story unfolds is a vast subject, really too big to fit into the framework of this article. The best books I can recommend to get you going in that domain are Jeffrey Wolf Green's classic, Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul Through Relationships, and the new book he and I wrote together, Measuring the Night: Evolutionary Astrology and the Keys to the Soul, Volume One. By the way, Volume Two of that work will be available in a few months. It takes the material even further. While I'm plugging books, I was very impressed with the groundedness, style, and wisdom of Terry Lamb's recent synastry book, Born to be Together, which is published by Hay House.
The Fourth House is one of the most basic-and most neglected-parts of the synastry puzzle. Most of us learn in our first astrology class that it's the "House of the Home." We then use it to speak of our physical dwelling places, our families of origin, and our interior psychological worlds. All that is valid, but let's not leave out the notion that the pot of gold at the end of love's rainbow is a stable, happy bond-a sense of "home," created, proven, maintained, and trusted, with a beloved partner. That's a Fourth House reality. Planets there in your own chart indicate your needs and possibly your baggage in that department. If, for example, you have Venus in the Fourth House, then the kind of home that will work for you is one permeated by a peaceful, aesthetic Venusian spirit. That puts some constraints on how satisfied you'll be living with someone who's got Sun conjunct Uranus in Gemini, square Mars, and five planets jumping for thermonuclear joy in Sagittarius!
If someone transposes a lot of their own planets into your Fourth House, he or she is likely to fill you with deep, comfortable feelings of "family." There's just an inexplicable "familiarity" there. Mutual Fourth House transpositions are common between people who go the distance with each other, and that bedrock astrological fact seems to have disappeared from the more generic synastry textbooks. Probably it's a casualty of our pan-cultural loss of those precious psychological crown jewels-our Fourth House sense of community, kinship, and absolute commitment to each other.
One more comment: of all the relationship Houses, I'd say the Fourth is probably the most "adult." I say that because it relates to the stage of relationship where it would be appropriate to consider bringing new life into the world. In a society where "adult" has come to mean "visible genitals," we've got some collective healing to do in that department. I like to think of astrologers as leading rather than following in that great enterprise.
One final comment: a critical link in the synastry chain is the composite chart. There are a variety of ways of calculating them. The one that works best for me is based on the midpoints of the planets: halfway between my Sun and your Sun is our composite Sun, and so on. I like to use the latitude of the place where the relationship started, rather than the current residence of the couple. I'm also very open to the idea of just taking the midpoints of all the House cusps, which is another popular technique.
Composite charts are a big subject, and probably rate a separate article. Basically you interpret them in exactly the same manner as you would interpret a natal chart, except you remember that you are discussing the care and feeding of the relationship as a whole. Sometimes two introverts come together and begin throwing loud parties; sometimes two extroverts come together and move to a cabin in Alaska. These are not laws of the universe, only possibilities within the universe. The Composite chart gets at all that, helping us understand what kinds of shared experiences help keep the couple vital and alive-and that might be different from what they need as individuals.
For some deeper perspectives on the Composite chart, I'd encourage you to find a copy of Jodie's and my Skymates. To dive into the evolutionary and reincarnational dimensions of the Composite, I'd again steer you toward Volume Two of Jeffrey Wolf Green's Pluto series.
In closing, I'd like to affirm that the astrologer's task as a practitioner of synastry isn't to judge anyone's relationships or to prophesy about their longevity. Our task is to read the symbols honestly, to speak of love's highest possibilities and encourage the couple to realize them, all the while warning them about the darker places that misunderstanding can breed.
After that, we make no disempowering predictions; instead we stand back in a spirit of respectful, compassionate good will and pray for the ancient miracle-lasting, living human love...the engine that drives the evolution of our souls.