Singletons

 

September 16, 2005 (with chart)

 

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/sept16.html

 

Eric,

 

My specific question is: How do you handle/interpret singletons?

 

Tonight what struck me was natal Mercury retrograde at 29+ degrees of Aries, M.C. 2+ degrees of Taurus, and making no other obvious contact with other planets in my birth chart save a 3 degree orb trine with Chiron, 5th house. Then I realized that Mercury rules 11th house Gemini (where natal Venus is) and 2nd house Virgo (where natal Saturn resides). It seems that points to some writing ability as well as my incessant critical internal dialogue which plays into significant self-doubt (2nd house) and subsequently limits the social and financial rewards for my efforts (11th). Mercury's last degree placement in a sign also suggests to me that a personal growth area is getting that energetic self-criticism more into Taurean determination.

 

So while I had previously looked at Mercury as a "singleton" in my chart (don’t know if that’s the right word), what I'm wondering is if these are the kinds of processes you use in looking at planets which at first blush seem to be all alone.

 

Best regards,

 

John

 

 

Dear John,

 

It seems you've got the right idea in how you're proceeding. I would not, however, be so quick to give something a label like "singleton" and devise a special way of handling it. It's clear that your Mercury is in a special condition and can't have a rule applied to it.

 

Mercury carries a lot of weight in your chart. Besides holding the last degree of a sign, it is:

 

-- the highest traditional planet in the chart, granting what is called "accidental dignity"

-- the ruler of your 2nd house (money) and your 11th house (community, aspirations, rewards from work)

-- the ruler of your South Node in the 2nd house, suggesting that it is deeply involved with your values system and your past history

-- it is retrograde, suggesting further involvement with the past

 

I do have a method for handling retrograde planets, which involves using progressions. On the sixth day after you were born, Mercury stationed direct. Using progressions, we can look back to when you were six for some information about what that Mercury represents. Do you know anything about your life at that time?

 

Next, when you were about 16 days old, Mercury (now moving direct) crossed your MC and entered your 10th house and made an exact trine to Chiron. Using progressions, this corresponds to events around the age of 16 or 17. What do you remember about that era in your life, in any context at all, or as associated with the themes of the houses and the planet involved?

 

I think you can see from this that rather than applying an interpretive rule, I am applying a technique you can use to explore the actual territory that your chart symbolically represents. It takes a little time to let go of the reflex of interpretation. And what I have found through much experience is that the best way to explore the chart is to explore time.

 

Given this, I will pass along two additional moments in history that may be meaningful to you: the spring of 1977, and then the autumn of 1977. In the spring, Chiron crossed your Mercury and MC; in the fall, it was discovered. What do you remember about those times? What do people you knew back then remember? What was the "before and after" scenario?

 

I'm curious to see what you discover.