The Seanie B situation - Solar and lunar principles

If you are a fan of the bizarre and intriguing show Lost like I am, then you probably want to have some answers as to what the writers are thinking and where the plot is going. There are several bloggers or people on Youtube who do just that. One of them was Seanie B whose videos on Youtube were very popular and he even made some radio and TV appearances explaining the mysteries of Lost. I, too, used to watch his videos and found them very interesting, well thought-out and providing valuable information, even though he has this very flat, bland, emotionless voice with no colour or intonation which annoyed me after a few minutes.
It turns out he was a fraud. He has been consistenly stealing from other blogs and sites and presenting their ideas as his own, many times word for word, not even bothering to mention them as sources. What's the big deal, you might ask. It happens all the time, everywhere, so why would someone lose some sleep over it? What interests me, however, is the reaction of his strong fan base when YouTube pulled down his videos. A huge number of people defended his actions, saying that no harm was done, that he was more interesting than the blogs he was stealing from, that the Internet is free and everybody can steal apparently whatever they like and so on. I believe this is evidence of the solar and lunar principles in action and depending on whom you side with, it shows which principle you adhere to.
The lunar principle is extremely subjective. When you love someone, they become "your people" and they cannot do anything wrong. It is impossible for you to think they are capable of wrongdoing, because this will contradict the love you are feeling and how can you love someone immoral? But because you want to keep this love at all costs and this love is more important to you than common sense morality, you ignore their dark side or try very hard to find excuses. The upside of the lunar principle is that you are able to form deep and true relationships with other people. The downside is that you run the risk of losing your rationality.
The solar principle is extremely objective. The Sun is the light of consciousness and what is important for you is to bring everything to light. So, you may love someone, they may be part of your clan and tribe, but you cannot turn a blind eye to their shortcomings. That would be unfair and very unevolved behaviour. The upside is that you keep your rationality and are able to develop a sense of morality. The downside is that you shy away from relationships exactly because people are human and it is not possible for you to love and disrespect someone at the same time.
Those who live their lives according to the lunar principle need to learn that you can't condone everything your loved ones do and those according to the solar principle that faulty behaviour doesn't necessarily make people unworthy of love. For both principles therefore, the lesson is the same: It's OK to love someone who makes mistakes.


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A blessing in disguise - Mercury retrograde

No, it's not yet another attempt by a modern astrologer to prove that in God's creation everything is benign. But I feel that there is some truth in the Christian maxim which says that "All things intermingle for good for those who love God". This is not the same as saying that everything is good. Instead, good and bad are quite distinct and both exist, but there is a possibility to make good use of bad things. This doesn't mean that bad changes its nature. Bad is bad.
So, retrograde Mercury is bad. All those things we read in astrology books and magazines, yes, they do happen. Things get lost or misplaced, we sign or buy things and everything goes wrong, we say things we regret afterwards... But we can't freeze life every time Mercury goes retrograde, not only because it is impossible, but also because, after all, these things don't happen to all of us.
In his book Horoscope Symbols, Robert Hand explains that when a planet goes retrograde, it is, in fact, closer to earth than usual, so, if anything, it is stronger. Remember, this is a criterion used in traditional astrology to determine the strength of certain fixed stars. The closer, the better. It's also an argument traditional astrologers make against the use of outer planets, saying that they are ineffectual as they are not visible with the naked eye. So, instead of calling them weak, we should start regarding retrograde planets as being more powerful. When a planet goes retrograde therefore, everything connected with this planet comes to the foreground, for good or for ill.
Mercury is about communication and intellect (Gemini), distinction and order (Virgo), if we want to summarize him, somewhat awkwardly, in a few words. If we show respect for this deity in our lives, then Mercury's retrograde period passes by harmlessly. But if we don't, we pay the price. If we don't have order in our houses, then we will lose things. So, this is a time to realize how much we need order, if we don't want such a thing to happen again. If we do not think things through, this is a time to suffer the consequences. It's as simple as that.
The most frequent occurrence, I think, when Mercury goes retrograde, are the misunderstandings that take place. We say one thing, but mean another. But it's not that we've suddenly become unclear, we've always been that way, it's just that other people were able to read between the lines or the matter in question was not that important. In Mercury's retrograde periods, we realize that we have to make an effort to become understood. So, our communication skills become better if we manage to keep this up after Mercury has gone direct.
We also fall out with friends and colleagues, because we can't seem to be able to keep our mouths shut. But, viewed from another perspective, we are finally being honest and saying things we've kept inside for so long. We do it badly and offend people, because when you bottle up emotions, you give them tremendous energy, so, when you finally burst, all hell breaks loose. If only we could find the strength to show a certain amount of honesty earlier.
We should, therefore, use these periods to improve all the things Mercury rules and we are given the chance to learn from our mistakes. What usually happens, however, is that we forget all about it when Mercury goes direct and things go back to being dangerously normal.

Horary astrology - not so plain and not so simple

I'm paraphrasing the title from Anthony Louis's book on horary astrology, which doesn't seem to be as clear-cut as I originally thought. First of all, when you get into it you will come across the usual confusion and contrasting opinions existent in all astrological schools. In relationship questions is the 7th house only the marriage partner or every significant other? Should we use minor aspects or not? Outer planets? Midpoints? The list is endless. Almost all astrologers swear by their methods which leaves the poor apprentice very muddled trying to find a way out of all this mess.
I prefer to use horary when I want to ask a chart a very specific question. If I want to find out about the kind of relationships a person forms, the natal chart is better, but for a specific relationship and its' particular problems, horary seems to be more effective. However, you eventually come across a horary chart that seems to give a pretty definite answer, which is unfortunately completely wrong. Here is an example:


This is a true case where the astrologer was asked "Am I pregnant?" as the querent tried to conceive the previous night. What does John Frawley have to say about this? I quote from his book The Horary Textbook: "The clearest and strongest testimony is finding Lord 5 in the 1st house, close to the Ascendant. This gives a clear picture of the baby (Lord 5) inside the mother and is a definite Yes. With so clear a picture of the situation, we do not need an aspect linking the mother and the baby". In this case, we have exactly that. Lord 5 (Mars) in the 1st house. We need not, therefore, look any further. But let's be virgoan about this and pretend that we are not completely satisfied by Mars's placement almost 13 degrees away from the Ascendant, which is not what John Frawley would call close. The Moon (querent) is in the 10th house in Pisces and is just separating from a trine to Mars. We would interpret that as the event having already happened. So we have Mars in the 1st house, trining the Moon, with both significators in the most fertile of all signs. What more could we want? Yet, the querent was NOT pregnant and she had to undergo an operation to remove a cyst that prevented conception.
One way out would be to take modern rulers as significators, so in this case, Pluto. But once we go down that road we can never go back. We cannot use Mars and Pluto alternatively, so that we get the answer that we want every time. What's more, the outer planets so far don't have any exaltations and falls, no terms and bounds and no triplicities. We would first have to incorporate them completely, before we are able to use them in a horary chart.
But that wasn't the point I was trying to make. I'm not trying to show the weaknesses (or lack thereof) of horary astrology, but this example made me speculate on how we should use horary astrology. Let's say that the astrologer in question did not use horary astrology and the querent was just there for a consultation based on the natal chart. Having a child would still be her top priority and that's why she knocked on the astrologer's door. The astrologer would analyze her birth chart and all the significators of children and use all the usual predictive methods, except horary. What if her 5th house and all her significators were badly afflicted and in barren signs? Based on the ancient rule that no matter what a certain method promises, unless it is also promised in the birth chart, nothing will happen, the querent would get a totally different answer.
Of course one could argue that there is a strange sychronicity about these things and a genuine horary question would never go against the nativity. Still, it would be a good idea to check the natal chart first, wouldn't it? The same way we do with progressions and transits. If, for example, Venus is your 7th house ruler and is conjunct a badly afflicted Saturn in the progressed chart, you can't expect much from a Jupiter transit in your natal 7th house. Why not do the same with horary? In the above chart, the separating trine between the Moon and Mars would simply indicate that she has recently had sex and had the circumstances been better (which we would judge from the natal chart) it would have led to conception, but, alas, it's not in the cards for her at the moment.