The Sun/Pluto aspects - Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson

No, I'm not going to blame the tragic deaths of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson on Pluto. This aspect may have had something to do with it, but I'll focus on the meaning of the Sun/Pluto aspects, irrespective of whether the people who have them, manage to live long lives or not. Pluto may be highly regarded in modern astrological circles, but we need to go beyond fancy words like deep passion and transformation if we want to be honest with ourselves and with Pluto.
Because Pluto has a lot to do with fear, I think. Modern textbooks stress survival when it comes to Pluto, but survival is guaranteed only by living constantly in fear. When you have the Lights strongly aspecting Pluto or Pluto is angular in your chart, you have not yet left the jungle. You live in a state of constant alertness, waiting for the next predator. But humans, as a species, have consciously decided to abandon the jungle, which may have had its' negative consequences insofar as we lost our respect for instinctual life, but still, it was our choice and we made it. Which leads me to believe that Sun/Pluto aspects are much more difficult than Moon/Pluto ones. We may think that the Moon is sensitive and, of course, by it's exaltation in Taurus, is directly opposed to Scorpio and plutonian qualities, yet, as it represents the irrational mind is closer to Pluto than we think. In fact, it's because the Moon understands and values Pluto that it strives for a Taurus-like existence. It wants to protect itself against the part of life Pluto represents. But the Sun has nothing in common with Pluto. It doesn't understand it. The Sun is the rational mind and it's because of the Sun that we made the conscious choice to abandon the jungle. We don't believe any more in the survival of the fittest, but in the survival of all. So, when you have a Moon/Pluto aspect, jungle mentality comes natural to you, which, naturally, is extremely wearisome, but you don't question it. It's just who you are. On the other hand, with Sun/Pluto aspects, you are not genetically predisposed to jungle life, but life seems to constantly throw predators at you and you feel like someone who was born in the "civilized" parts of the world, but by a mysterious twist of fate, you are forced to live in the jungle.
So, it's quite understandable that Michael Jackson was obsessed and paranoid, surrounding himself with little kids, aiming at capturing an innocence that, alas, was not meant for him. And I'm sure Farah Fawcett's Aquarius Sun in the 8th house oposing Pluto had a hard time trying desperately to live in an idealised Aquarian world, but plutonian reality constantly undermined her efforts.
I'm not a psychologist and I don't have any easy solutions for dealing successfully with these aspects. However, I think that one major step towards a solution would be to accept the inevitable. I'm not talking about surrender. It's one thing fighting against the inevitable trying to change your reality and another riding along with it but at the same time fighting for a place in it.

Psychological astrology par excellence - Richard Idemon

When you start your astrological studies with modern astrology textbooks, you feel enchanted at first. Suddenly, all the mysteries of your life seem to become clear and you don't feel alone any more. There is a reason for what is happening to you and that reason is your astrological chart coupled with pretty words like karma, transformation and so on. But after you start to share your knowledge with friends or clients, you realize that you are repeating yourself. Every other chart has a Venus - Pluto or a Moon - Uranus aspect and you get bored with saying the same vague things over and over again. What's more, you realize that other people don't share your enthusiasm with this higher knowledge and can't relate to what you are saying. They want more concrete stuff and there's nothing wrong with that. As a result, you start questioning your astrological knowledge, especially if you are very earthy or have a prominent Saturn in your chart and either you go over to traditional astrology or try to find people who know what they are talking about and are capable of passing it on to you.
One of these people was Richard Idemon. He may not have written any books himself but thanks to Gina Ceaglio and Howard Sasportas, we have some of his seminars published in two books, The Magic Thread and Through the Looking Glass. These books are full of valuable pieces of information, especially Glass which is my favourite, and they are very interesting to read. I think what sets him and Liz Greene apart from other modern astrologers is that they are not so spiritually-oriented and they like to call a spade a spade. In fact, I don't think that they are astrologers per se, but psychologists who also use astrological jargon. Richard Idemon in particular, really gets you involved in what he is saying. You cannot help but admire Liz Greene for how effortlessly she seems to produce her words of wisdom, but with Richard Idemon you get the feeling that he is not pontificating, instead he is right here suffering along with you all the way. He is passionate, funny and he likes to tell stories from his personal and professional life. I highly recommend these two books, even if you are not into psychological astrology that much.
Richard Idemon was HIV-positive and committed suicide in 1987. He was very private about his chart when he was alive, but now that he is dead, his chart is included in the Astro-data bank for everyone to see. So here it is:



At the time of death (22/02/1987), he had a progressed Sun-Saturn conjunction in Aries, progressed Ascendant opposite the progressed Mars-Uranus conjunction in Taurus and transiting Pluto exactly - to the minute - opposite his natal Uranus in the 8th house.

Horary - Federer's win at Roland Garros

I cast this horary chart on Saturday morning, after the two players for the final the following day were determined, asking who will win, Federer or Soderling. I will use the John Frawley method for interpreting this chart.



1st step: Determine which house goes to whom. Since I strongly support Federer and desperately wanted him to finally win a Roland Garros title, Federer gets the 1st house and Soderling - his enemy - the 7th.

2nd step: Determine the condition of the houses, if there are any planets afflicting or strengthening them. Federer has neither. Soderling, however, has Pluto right on the cusp, which means that Pluto controls the house and not controlled by it. For me, this is a major testimony that Soderling is going to lose and he is going to lose BIG. But let's humour Frawley and refrain from using any outer planets, even though in this case I think even he couldn't have possibly ignored Pluto.

3rd step: Determine the condition of the house rulers. Federer gets the Moon and Soderling gets Saturn. What we are looking for here, since this is a contest chart, is accidental dignity and not essential dignity. The Moon is in the sign of its' fall, but that needn't concern us. What does concern us however, is that it's less than two degrees away from the 6th house cusp and therefore it is a 6th house planet. Not good. At least it has lots of light. Saturn on the other hand is accidentally dignified by being angular. Both planets are slow. Saturn receives a square from the Sun, which is not particularly harmful, considering that they are both in Mercury-ruled signs and the Sun likes Saturn by being in his triplicity. The Moon (Federer) squares Jupiter, but Jupiter is peregrine. Not much help there. Quite the contrary.

So, if we leave it at that and ignore Pluto, we must decide that Soderling is going to win the match. But we've forgotten antiscia. Is anything there worth mentioning? Yes! The Moon (Federer) is very closely conjunct the North Node by antiscion. This is extremely powerful and could decide a match by itself, according to Frawley. So, combined with Pluto on the 7th house cusp and the fact that it has a lot of light, it's more than likely that Federer is going to win the match, even though he is not in his very best condition. And so it proved. Federer won in straight sets and Soderling admitted that he was completely overpowered by him.

Federer makes history

Mars in Taurus - The eunuch

Even though in modern astrology we don't believe that there are any debilitated placements for any planet, Mars in a Venus sign is like a fish out of the water. In Taurus, Mars falls under Venus's spell and relinquishes all its' power to the goddess of beauty. He is like an army general who, instead of planning the next battle, wastes his time making love to his mistress, to the dismay of his loyal soldiers who once looked up to him. Taurus comes after Aries in the zodiacal order of signs and signals a time for a cease-fire in order for everyone to enjoy all the little pleasures life has to offer.
But Mars isn't like that at all. Mars constantly wants to have something to conquer and once mission is accomplished, he moves on to the next target. Life needs to be full of excitement, otherwise what's the point? Only if you achieve something that you are proud of, can you honestly say that your life's been worthwhile. As a result, you can never relax, you cannot slow down, because it's highly likely you are going to miss something important, a new opportunity waiting for you to grab it.
For all of us, this is not a time to start anew. Instead, the universe is telling us to take things slowly and enjoy the fruits of the efforts we made when Mars was in Aries. Mars in Taurus has a wonderful sexual reputation and men with this placement are considered to be excellent lovers. This is because this Mars has an instinctual knowledge of a woman's body, but, after a while women tend to get bored because, unless there are other chart factors who say otherwise, men with Mars in Taurus very often lack the incentive to fight for their place in the world and they are usually passive, taking things as they come.
Scorpio ascendants, especially now that Venus has also entered Taurus, are going to feel a need to settle down in a peaceful manner. No more grand passions, no more tormented souls, no more grabbing each other's throats, no more pouring your heart out in order to feel sexually aroused and no more all that ghastliness they call love. They will probably want to find a person they can just relax and have a good time with and get a glimpse of what other people call normality. Of course, they may tire of it eventually, but isn't it nice to have a break once in a while?

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.


To read more about this, click here

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.