Saturn Move Away From My Door

Oh crap I thought as I looked at my own little cute birth chart…. Saturn has just entered my first house. Now I don’t want to hear from Saturn anti-defamation league but there can be some real issues when Saturn comes near a personal “planet” – Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury and Venus – or if it hits the house of personality – the first.

Saturn is necessary for us to have order – it rules the bones of people and societies – so it is a necessary little devil. However, the shadow is that it can be so restrictive that it will lead to depression, or at best a sour mood. I was waking up annoyed at the new day – NOT something that is common for me; I did not want to interact with people – again not my thing. It would have been more worrying had I not be able to say – Ah Saturn having its way.

The benefits of Saturn in the 1st is that it will help me work on parts of personality and physicality that I know needs some tweaking, which is why I have started walking every morning religiously and watching my diet – for serious.

One of the many great things about Astrology is to know what the heck is happening to you. So now I won’t worry about the shadow and will instead concentrate on the good it can do me. Had I not known, I could have wasted valuable time worrying that perhaps I was becoming a mean old lady.

Yeah I know hard to believe – because I am soooo lovable………….

Happy Equinox – beginning of Cardinal time.

The Autumnal Equinox will soon be upon us – September 23, 9:04 AM is when fall arrives in the Washington, D.C. area. Yippee… I love fall and winter – sorry for those who are cold-boned but I can’t wait for fireplaces, sweaters and stews.

This is a time when the Sun reaches a “balance” and the day and night will be equally long. It is also the time when the Sun will be at zero degrees Libra, moving into the Constellation of Libra. All of the equinoxes and solstices happen when the Sun is moving into a Cardinal astrological sign.

Cardinal signs are the movers, the shakers the doers. If you are born with a well aspected cardinal sign on your ascendant you are apt to be someone who takes lead, takes charge of things. The Cardinal Signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

When people take on spring cleaning in March (Aries) and fall cleaning in September (Libra) they are doing Cardinal activities. Cancer time is summer the time for planting and Capricorn happens around the winter Solstice activities when the houses are full of people and activity.

Fixed signs are those that exhibit stubborn resolve to forge ahead no matter what. Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius are all fixed. Taurus follows Aries so you need to cultivate and watch your garden to make sure it grows. Leo is in rule in summer when, for me anyway, you have to get the resolve to face another hot day. Scorpio is the time of Halloween and moves us into the other fixed tradition of Thanksgiving when much attention must be paid to working hard on the harvest and Aquarius is in the dead of winter when it takes a lot to get through the cold.

When the Sun goes into mutable signs, Gemini, Virgo Sagittarius, Pisces we are less concerned with tromping ahead and slugging it out. Gemini is late spring, early summer when we can relax and exchange in mental exchange of ideas, Virgo early harvest when we can see what foods we need to gather to care for our bodies. After Scorpios hard work, Sagittarius can lay back and shoot his arrows into the sky looking for the truth and then Pisces, ah other-worldly Pisces – March brings buds of spring and the time to think of rebirth and new worlds.

So enjoy this Cardinal time. Celebrate the Equinox and get to harvesting your thoughts for the winter to come!

The Second House- Survival!

I know I have spent a ton of time of the 1st house or ascendant. It is a really important house, OK? However, there are other houses in the sky as they say. The second house is one easy to misinterpret. The traditional assignment given it is that it is the house of resources and money. Oh, have a strong second house and you will put Bill Gates in the poor house. Wrong! As is typical for much of Western Astrology that explanation is too pat, too compact, too trite.

The second house resonates to survival. More specifically it resonates to that which we need to ensure our survival…material goods upon which we rely to keep going. Yes, there is an aspect of money especially in a capitalistic society such as ours. Someone with a strong, well aspected second house is going to want more, as George Carlin would say, “stuff.” A person whose second house is badly aspected may fall into squandering money or even hoarding things. However, it is not all about money.

What resides in the second house is the question, “what do I need to keep me satisfied and comfortable?”

A heavily Aquarian second house is going to make a person really not concerned at all with wall paintings and McMansions. A car will have four wheels and an engine, of sorts. Work will be done for the pleasure of work or for the social good it will do and there will be little worries about building a pension. Top off the house with a strong Capricorn influence and that person will be toiling day and night perhaps in a job they hate to have the ability to buy what they want and to save up for old age. If Taurus alights there then hours will be spent a Neiman Marcus and Dolce and Gabana.

Each one of the latter two people will argue until death that all of things around them are totally necessary for them to survive. They don’t do it for the “stuff”. They do it for that inner feeling of peace of survival those goods bring them. That is the key to the second house.

With my Saturn in the second house I hated being a consultant because the paychecks were sporadic and the contract could be canceled at any time. (Saturn is ruled by Capricorn.) I had to build a business – steady and reliable. Now friends tell me to give up all other sources of income and rely solely on astrology. The picture is romantic – living in a small house with few financial responsibilities surrounded by my charts. But Saturn keeps screaming at me – are you nuts, you need money coming in regularly, you need security, and you need to save for your even older age? The idea threatens me at the level of basic survival and I shudder at that thought.

That is what the second house does to us. Pretty important little guy, No?

The confusion of Libra

It is no wonder why my astrology teacher pounded into my head that I should try to forget at least 70 percent of what I learned of “boxy Western astrology.”  Keep the basics but leave the silly interpretations behind, he would say. It took me a while to figure out what he was saying but it became very clear when we dealt with a sign near and dear to my heart…..Libra. And happy birthday Libra Sun people!

I have Libra rising. Remember, your rising sign or ascendant is the sign on the Eastern horizon at birth and it really dictates our outward persona – how we express ourselves to the world. Every analysis I read when I started out insisted that a Libra rising person likes to bring order and balance and is a born diplomat and is all about being the epitome of balance and harmony. Huh? Me? It drove me loopy until the universe sent me into the wonderful world of evolutionary astrology.

Libra is about trying to FIND balance not being balance. Libra rising and to a lesser extent Libra Sun people go to extremes in their quest to seek balance. We often have co-dependence issues because we are so attuned to “the other.” Many Libra risings spend a good chunk of time running around saying in essence, do you like me now, well, if I do that will you like me then?   Yes, the answer to your question is yes. Sally Field is a Libra rising person. (“You like me. You really like me.)

Venus Libra people use their romantic entanglements to search for self as well. They literally learn who they are through the other person. Well, so and so liked it better when I responded this -so that must be right. However, I got a negative reaction from so and so, therefore, maybe I need to work on it more. It is all through the eyes of other with Libra. We have a really hard time coming from a point of ME.

Libra rules the 7th house – the house of close personal relationships with other people.

The shadow comes into play when we continue to seek approval — and never feel satisfied with our own views and beliefs. Be careful Libras! At some point we have to stop with worrying about everyone else. It is one thing to learn from others it is another to spend life without any self awareness.

What in the universe is a “house”?

You know sometimes the simplest questions never get asked or answered. We astrologers forget that words and phrases we so often toss around without thinking are not ones that everyone else uses in their every day lexicon! Nothing is more annoying that someone addresses me in “shop talk” so I want to take a few minutes today to get back to fundamentals.

For instance, what is a house? The famous song talks about the Moon being in the 7th house. Where is that house, 7 Moon Lane? A house is nothing more than a 30 degree swath of the sky. Because we live on a relatively circular planet that travels in a relatively circular path around the Sun, we perceive the sky above us as a circle and a circle has 360 degrees. Because there are twelve houses, each house is 30 degrees of the circle. But why twelve houses?

The ancient Sumerians and Babylonians are credited with devising the astrological system we now use in the West although it is entirely possible that some other civilization came up with the whole thing and these guys get the credit because they had a written language. So the Sumerians and Babs could have cribbed the whole system from someone else and just wrote it down. Regardless of the oddities lost in the mists of history, twelve is a very powerful number. It is a number that vibrates to the wisdom of a powerful circle. There were twelve tribes in Israel, twelve disciples followed Jesus, there are twelve months in the year, and our modern clock is divided into two groups of twelve hours. It is considered to be the ancient number of completion as it signals the end of childhood and the beginning stages of adulthood. Additionally, the ancient numbering and measuring systems are based on this number, as evidenced by terms such as a dozen (12), a gross (12 times 12), a shilling (12 pence) and a foot (12 inches). So 12 was a number of power, wisdom and a power circle – makes sense they would use it for the zodiac as well. Therefore, the zodiac pie is divided into 12 equal 30 degree pieces.

We anchor that pie in the sky, if you will, with the Eastern and Western horizons. The Eastern horizon is the point where the 1st house begins and then the circle moves in a counter clockwise direction down to the second house and up and around again so that the 12th house borders the first.

Each house influences a part of our life but more on that later. I will spend some time on each house in the next few months.

Happy 4th all — of July not house…although the 4th house vibrates to home, hearth and patriotism!

Full Moon Baby

My niece had her second child last week and yes, I am one of those wacky astrologers who tracks the chart and see how it moves and what the possibilities are as labor progresses. Those of you who read “In the Lion’s Den” where I chronicled my life among Leo rising people,  will be amused to learn that the new baby is Leo rising! Come to think of it, my niece is also Leo rising. Lions, lions all around!

The baby has another astrological distinction in that she was born during the Full Moon. We consider the Moon “full” when it appears totally lit and totally round and we can see it as clearly as we ever can. This is because it is the furthest from the Sun and is out of the grasp of the it’s rays. The Moon is always “full” we just can’t see it when the sunlight is normally hogging a lot of the space. On a chart, we can always spot someone born under the full Moon because the glyphs for the Sun and Moon are on opposite ends of the chart – they are 180 degrees from one another.

I was amazed when, years ago, I worked for an engineering group and learned that many nuclear power plants add extra security during the full Moon. These button down science types acknowledge that something happens to some people during that time. How astrological of them! Of course, we are all aware of the term “full Moon madness.” Since the Moon controls our emotional energy, people with high strung Moon placements do feel the difference when the she is at her most powerful.

 What does this mean for people born under the full Moon? While I am certain that my little great niece will not turn into a werewolf, she will have a hard time connecting her emotions. Expressing her emotions, understanding them, feeling and channeling them will all be hurdles for her to conquer. And during those times when the Moon goes “full” every month, if it is a constellation that activates her Natal Moon, she is going to be a bit off kilter for a day or so.

Fortunately, by making her parents aware of this they will be able to guide her over the rough spots. That is one of the most wonderful aspects of doing baby charts. Because they are road maps, they show parents what they are in for! Seriously, you don’t start a journey without a map, why start a life?

Baby charts make excellent gifts!

Trapped in the Lion’s Den

You know that old adage, “the shoemaker’s child has no shoes?” Well sometimes the astrologer doesn’t use astrology!

Once a month three friends of mine meet for Saturday breakfast to discuss books of a spiritual or metaphysical nature. It is a great social and educational activity which we have been at for almost two years. The members of the little group are M, a beautiful Libra Sun – Leo rising healer who I would highly recommend to any of you interested in any form of energy work; C, a warm and wonderful Taurus Sun – Leo rising business and personal coach and D, a fascinating and fantastic double Gemini (Sun and rising) who is also an amazing coach. (Anyone looking to further their professional or personal goals needs to see these two. They do wondrous things!)

This month I brought another friend into the group. K is a very spiritual, deep and compassionate facilitator (and yes I would more than highly recommend her too.) She makes a great contribution to the group. However, as I sat around the breakfast table last Saturday I suddenly got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. K is an Aquarius Sun but Leo rising. That makes three out of five people who are, in essence, Leos! Oh what was I thinking? To make my situation more dire, I was without D – my other rising air sign. D had some housing problems and couldn’t join us. It was just me, poor defenseless Scorpio Sun, Libra rising, against three lions!

Remember, your sun sign is inner force what makes you tick inside. For instance, my Scorpio Sun gives me a desire to get to the core of mysteries; it makes me basically secretive and private (no really.) It is a person’s rising sign, the sign on the Eastern horizon at birth, also called the ascendant that gives us the persona we project to the world. Sun is inner – ascendant is outer.

Leo is ruled by the Sun and vibrates to the 5th house, the house of creativity and the projection of creativity. Leo’s gravitate to the spotlight; they feel comfortable in the warmth and light of the Sun. In meetings past it was never uncommon for our two Leo rising ladies to spontaneously burst into song during breakfast. D and I, the two air sign rising people just sit back and thoroughly enjoy the show provided by our 5th house friends.

Because the rising sign is our persona, it often dictates how we physically look. You can always spot a Leo the Lion by their manes! I remember one meeting, C arrived with her hair looking as stunning as always but she ran into the bathroom, pulled out her dryer and curling iron and proceeded to work on it until it met with her satisfaction. Now I am thinking, geez, I don’t take a hair dryer to Europe no less down the street for breakfast. My entire line of hair “product” consists of a bottle of Vo5 shampoo which is on sale at CVS this week for $.77 a bottle. I got three bottles, thank you very much. My hair styling ritual consists of wash, towel dry; take three fingers plump the hair for 20 seconds or until boredom sets in, which usually wins, and walk out the door. Libra – air sign – hair flies in the air. Leo the Lion, mane must obey.

So I go around the table. Next to me is M, coifed to the core. Across the table C sits. Can I find one hair our of place? I would have a better chance finding a sane person in Congress. And there next to her sits our  newest lion, K, her stunning mane pulled back and perfectly framing her face. Note to self: maybe I should find my brush one of these days.

Someone mentions Aquarius and the alleged “Age Of” and that is all it takes for the lions to revert to the 70s and begin to sing “The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” Ok, this is good. I like lion serenades. Then someone says the dreaded words. “Let’s dance.” Dance! Dance! I am air and water (and with a heavy amount of water as I have a Pisces Moon.) Dance! I have not one Earth sign in my chart. I fall down while asleep in bed. However, they are off. M finds her CD of “Hair” and now there are three dancing lions and one Libra rising wishing for her Gemini rising friend to come to her aid.

Ok now here is the battle the Sun and ascendant often play out in our bodies. Scorpio Sun is saying you can’t join in they would know the extent of your klutziness – another secret revealed. Libra rising is saying you are a natural leader* and you can’t lead in dancing so you can’t do it. One of the most overlooked explanations for the bizarreness of human nature is the conflict between Sun and rising signs. If someone is rather contradictory, if their actions can’t be understood easily, check those two signs. If they are vastly divergent, particularly if the Moon is in a contrasting sign, that person is going to be difficult to pin down and often won’t understand what makes them tick.

What made me think it was a good idea to put three lions together? They are dancing around the living room! So I grab my blackberry and text my AWOL Gemini rising compatriot saying basically forget your house, come rescue me!

Seriously, it was a wonderful time and K is a great addition to our group. I just have to pay more attention to those rising signs so we Air signs don’t get burned in the fire!

*Libra is one of the cardinal Signs. There are fixed, mutable and cardinal signs. Fixed gives someone tenacity, mutable more amenable to change and melding and cardinal likes to lead. Mutables are Gemini, Virgo, Pisces and Sagittarius. Fixed are Taurus, Leo, Capricorn and Scorpio. Cardinals are Aries, Libra, Cancer and Aquarius