Looking At Charts
October 15, 2004 (with chart)
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/oct15.html
Hi Eric:
I enjoy your articles very much. I consider myself a novice astrologer and only
deal w/ natal charts... not ready to tackle forecasts. Anyways, I have a very
interesting chart and have found many "coincidences" in it and am
somewhat curious if these things show up in most charts and are as obvious. I
would like to see if this is a trend or I'm making something out of
nothing… I think it's very interesting and would love someone that has
more knowledge and expertise than me to see if these are things that most
charts also 'tell'. I'm hoping there may someday be additional things to
discern in chart readings if in fact these are valid. I was born on October 2,
1966 at 4:48 am in
Deb
Dear Deb,
The entire phenomenon of astrology is based on synchronicity. Synchronicity is
the idea that the universe is in sync. No, it's not a bunch of teenage hotties
singing in harmony dancing around on pedestals, but rather a quality of
unusually appropriate timing, of symbols and reality matching up by strange
coincidence, and the apparent alignment of forces seen as meaningful to the
mind perceiving it. I am hearing a lot of synchronicity stories these days.
When doing esoteric work of any kind, it's always good to
remember that no matter what we may perceive 'out there' it is being perceived
'in here'. Any time continuity of symbols and events is perceived in the world,
the one thing they all have in common is the perceiver. This goes all the way
down to the level of bugs and grass, for example, when you open the Daily Mail
and read the horoscope and say Wow! That's right on! It may have something to
do with the astrologer, but mainly a horoscope is accurate because you say it's
accurate. I am fully aware that this paragraph seems to turn reality and
astrology on its ass, but the world still has a lot of working out to do where
cause and effect are concerned.
It is true that there may be various energetic causes
between the planets and sentient things. Many physicists are comfortable with
the apparently well-established scientific reality that every particle in the
universe exerts a force on every other particle. So why Pluto, the Moon or the
asteroid Garcia should not have an effect on your life, or my life, or that of
a tree, is really the question -- rather than "how could it be
possible?" The issue comes down to making sense of those causes and those
effects, and that is what astrology seeks to do. And it's doing this with a
tool called consciousness, and consciousness is what you or anyone brings to
astrology, and what is observing all the coincidences in your chart.
However, the funny thing about astrology is that it has a
number of preset rules. It's not a case of meaningful anarchy or making up a
story. Astrology can be debated, based on its long-established traditions.
Astrologers use a lot of intuition (a Pisces factor) but they also apply many
technical guidelines that set the parameters for interpretation (the crucial
Virgo attribute of the work), or which give weight to certain factors. What is
interesting is that rather than hampering intuition, the grounding in
technicalities, for most astrologers, assists intuition. It creates a safe set
of boundaries within which the discussion of an issue can take place.
Within these rules, when reading a chart, sometimes
something extremely interesting happens: the chart begins to repeat the same
message over and over. Each technique you apply you see the same basic theme.
This includes some remarkable thematic associations that often develop between
transits and progressions occurring simultaneously (for example, a New Moon in
the progressed horoscope occurring the same day as a New Moon in the actual
sky, when there should be no reason for this at all). In fact, if you want to
learn progressions, the easiest way is to look at the progressed charts for
intense transits (such as the Saturn return or Uranian opposition) and study
the links in the themes. Basically, all of astrological interpretation is built
on this phenomenon of themes being associated with one another, most
importantly connections between the client's life and the ideas in the chart.
This is the real miracle, and it's so transparent we tend to look right through
it.
Anyway, I went through a stage fairly early on in my work,
about a year or two into professional reading, where charts started doing that
like crazy. Between what the client was saying and what the chart was
presenting, a kind of symbolic rhythm would develop, and suddenly every house,
planet and aspect was saying the same thing -- based on the rules of
astrological interpretation. And these rules, while they do exist in my mind,
also exist on paper, in books, in tradition, and in the minds of other
astrologers, and they can be expressed and discussed. But the important thing
is that the information or confirmation coming from the chart (or cards, or
whatever your divination method) is supportive to both the client and the
astrologer, and has a sense of being grounded. That grounding -- in the
technical rules of astrology -- is what keeps the entire process from being a
game of 'astrology is whatever you want it to mean'.
But remember that different interpretations are possible,
and we get to make choices based on our chart placements and transits.
That all being said in perhaps too many words, let's look
for some synchronicities of meaning in your chart. To my readers: these ideas
may bridge over into advanced astrology, but you have to make that first step
and go there some time. Here is your natal chart, Deb, done with Koch houses
(by the way -- I rotate house systems every few years so I don’t get
stuck in any one).
Quite a chart you have there, Deb. Notice the ANGULAR
planets: your 1st and 7th houses are loaded. (Note to readers: the 1st house
starts below the left horizontal line, and you count anti-clockwise. Here is a directory of the
little symbols). You are born in one of the very peak moments of 1960s
astrology, which was THE most intense time of the 20th century. And because the
planets fall in your 1st and 7th houses, you embody the themes of this era
personally. I have done a whole series of articles called Born in the Sixties,
to which I refer you. It's off our main topic but worth a look for anyone born
in the 1960s.
Our topic is chart synchronicity, or coincidence of theme. I
would love to begin by pointing out an interesting one in your chart -- a nice
one, too. You have Taurus on the 9th house cusp (to see house cusps, look in
the outermost ring, that's the line with the number '17 (Taurus symbol) 13'
after it. Right there, you have the Moon's north node (a little horse shoe) in
Taurus, and the Moon in Taurus. The Moon is about to cross its own north node.
That suggests it's on the brink of some kind of revelation. On the cusp of the
9th house (spiritual matters, higher self), we could say that your Moon and
node tell us you're on the brink of spiritual transformation; that you may live
with the feeling that you are in a constant state of deliverance from the
strange forces of the world (8th house), into the light of justice and reason
(also 9th house).
Now for a pick-up of this theme elsewhere. Any time you're
examining a house and its theme, one thing you do is look at the planet
associated with the sign on the cusp of that house. Since you have Taurus on
the 9th house cusp, we look to Venus for information, as Venus is the ruler of
Taurus. We find Venus in your 1st house. She is in Virgo. And not only that,
she is in the very last degree of Virgo. This is like a holographic copy of the
Moon on its own node: Venus, in the last degree of a sign, is about to change
signs and become something new. Thus we could say she is about to transform
herself. This is another way to describe the Moon on the 9th cusp on her own
node. The same language could apply to either.
But Venus in this condition gives us additional information.
Notice that she is the planet with the highest number next to her. She has the
highest degree; she is the latest planet in any sign; these all mean the same
thing. This is a tricky position because it's like Venus can do nothing until
she reaches the next sign. So the feeling is like you're suspended on the brink
of transformation, but can't really get there so easily. Yet getting there is
inevitable.
Venus is also a potent messenger for your identity as a
woman. In Virgo -- the sign of the Goddess -- she is placed quite powerfully,
and the implication (because she rules your 9th house) is that your deepest
spiritual connection is to the feminine aspect of the Divine. And yet, because
she is placed so late in the cycle of Virgo, she needs to get beyond the idea
of the Goddess and the associated idea of what it means to be a woman, and
plunge into the reality, the ambiguity and the direct experience of the beauty of
what it means to be a woman. We could say that a big part of your spiritual
development (9th house ruler) is invested in your ability to really polarize
into your feminine identity (Venus on the edge, about to enter Libra, a sign
which Venus rules) -- and to experience this as a direct expression of the
cosmos.
Let's call a new theme -- letting go of ideas and emerging
into direct experience. I'm not looking at your chart now; I'm going to take a
peek and see if I can find that theme again. Ah, well, easy. Virgo rising: more
Virgo (you have a LOT of Virgo in your chart). Same basic ideas as above,
suggesting that your whole Virgo identity is profound, supported by many
planets. Now, Virgo is ruled by Mercury. All the planets in Virgo are ruled by
Mercury. And where do we find Mercury? In Libra! In this sign, you could say
that Mercury is being and not thinking. Mercury is also in the 2nd house, the
house of self-esteem. To find your self-esteem, you have to take the leap from
the idea of who you are (Virgo rising) to the reality (its ruler, Mercury, in
Libra).
Now let's hop-scotch on the theme of self-esteem. Let's read
the ruler of that house, the 2nd house. Libra is on the cusp; Venus also rules
Libra; where is she? She is on the brink of transformation, about to fly into
Libra. We have come full circle.
You could basically keep doing this all day. You could add
planets, you could relocate the chart, you could make progressions of various
stripes, you could do whatever you want, and you would still find these themes,
each of which would say the same thing in a little different way -- and you'll
eventually get it!
You can even cast a chart for this moment (horary astrology)
and find something interesting; I just did. What I find as of 12:53 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 in
Remember, you can go wherever you want, but you can't jump
out of the universe.
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