Joan Porte – Page 55

Ben Franklin Boldly Lived His Chart

Ok I promised I would look at Ben Franklin’s chart and, as usual, Ben does not disappoint. In fact, his chart is so easy it explains itself! Look at his Aries ascendant with Neptune in the first – Aries, the sign of the leader combined with Neptune the dreamer. How many of Ben’s dreams that he used his Aries leadership energy to invent do we still use? The Franklin Stove, the postal service, bifocals and the lightening rod, to name a few.

More fascinating is his second house. He has Saturn, the Part of Fortune and his South Node in Taurus all in the second house, the house of self worth and possessions. (Taurus vibrates to the second house – so this is a double whammy of Taurian power here.) The first thing that jumps out is that Ben had very good karma in that area from his past lives. Taurus South Node – this is someone who dealt with money and goods in his past life- and he did a good, honest job of it because he was able to retire from his printing job at thirty years old and live quite well. The Part of Fortune is where we receive benefit from others. It is clear that he was able to receive a great deal of good will from others from the treatment he gave them in prior lives.

When you add the task master Saturn in Taurus to the second house you see someone who applies the stubbornness of Taurus and the methodical thinking of Saturn to amass a nice fortune for himself and his family.

Ah speaking of family! Look at this 5th house, the house of creativity and the ultimate creative act, having children. We see the trickster Uranus there – the one sudden change and just a deep level of quirkiness. We know that Franklin blamed himself his entire life for the loss of his young daughter from small pox because he didn’t give her the new vaccine. In addition, his son was illegitimate although raised by his wife as her own. His son became governor of the State of New Jersey and remained loyal to the Crown. The kicker here is that Franklin and his son suddenly and irrevocably split at the beginning of the Revolutionary war yet, Franklin would raise his son’s son – who by the way was also illegitimate.

Franklin was estranged from his own father and ran away from the printing shop of his older brother. Did I say Uranus makes things quirky?

I have to smile when I see his Sun in Capricorn in the 10th house – the house of career status and the structures that keep society whole – and his Venus also Capricorn 10 but sitting right on the Mid Heaven. The Mid Heaven is the vibration for our career. Can you see how it was easy for Ben to charm the pants (perhaps literally) off of French society as he tried to get them to side with the Colonies? He imported coon skin hats – something he never wore back home – but which furthered the image of the wild Colonist which the French just loved. He was the toast of France. (Much to the chagrin of the dour John Adams who despised Franklin. Ut oh. I see a synastry chart of these two in my near future.)

Why did he spend so much time overseas? Between London, Paris and Amsterdam, Franklin spent more than thirty years in Europe. Take a look at his 9th house, the house of seeking beyond our borders – of seeking and learning the ways of other cultures and other religions to find our own truth. He has Mars in its ruling sign of Aries, Pallas Athena, the warrior/healing goddess and Vesta, the goddess of the burning heart’s desire also in Aries in the 9th. If this was a chart of someone who didn’t have the Taurus and Pisces influences his does, we could be seeing the chart of an invading military authority. Franklin is more nuanced that that. Yes it was a time of war and he was there doing the bidding of country at war but he used the more placid aspects of his chart to finesse out of these countries what was needed for battle.

He also has Chiron, the sacred wound indicator in the 9th. He was born with a fear of not knowing he could connect to the sacred, or would not find his own truth. He didn’t shirk from this fear however. I believe his alms giving to different religions was really part of his search.

His wife, by the way, never left America and spent most of their marriage managing his affairs here as he charmed his way through Europe. In fact, he didn’t even return when he was told she was sick and then died. Remember the shadow of Aquarius (which is in his 5th) is the inability to get close to people – a very impersonal touch. The 5th vibrates to creativity and also has an influence in finding marriage partners. His marriage was tinged with co-dependence. He has Juno, the goddess consort in Libra in the 7th, the house of partnership. Libra rules his 7th house. Libra is all about the other person. Someone embodying the positive effects of Libra would be very caring toward the partner. With his Jupiter opposite dreamy Neptune – he was off shooting the Moon and having quite the co-dependent relationship with Debra, who remained behind, raising the kids and keeping the house.

See his Moon in Pisces in the 11th house? He was using this very spiritual Moon in the house of group friendship and group activities that help the public good – to work his Venus charm to forge a new nation! His Moon also explains another aspect of his personality. Franklin was a vegetarian who believed in reincarnation who gave money to pretty much every church in the Philadelphia area. While he was not a person who believed in organized religions, he had a strong Piscean belief that we all must find a connection to the universal god-source. At his funeral, representatives from every church marched in the procession.

I don’t think there is much doubt that Franklin embodied and lived his North Node in Scorpio in the 8th house – that is the sign and the house of personal power and transformation. His North Node is conjunct the goddess asteroid Ceres (which is now considered a mini-planet). Ceres was the Roman name for what we call Mother Nature and was the ultimate nurturer. By using his personal power and transforming himself from printer to inventor to diplomat to statesman, Franklin nurtured an imprinted a new nation as no other “Founding Father” did.

Next time, Thomas Jefferson. In this day of hatred, religious intolerance and a total lack of knowledge by some of our Constitution and the ideals of those “Founding Fathers”, it is important to look at this Father who kept a Koran in his home and held an Iftar in the White House.

Unity March September 12, 2010

I am so tired of hate and fear mongering in our current dialogue and discrimination against religions some deem lesser than theirs. However, I want to talk about positive events and not dwell on the negative. I will leave that the so called “main stream media” who loves to churn fear into ratings.

On September 12, 2010 at 12:30 PM – there will be an interfaith Unity Walk in Washington DC – promoting peace and understanding among people of all religions and spiritual ideas.

http://www.911unitywalk.org/

(Hold onto your hats kids. Ramadan ends on September 11 this year.)

You know, Ben Franklin was a vegetarian who believed in reincarnation – (dang I have to do his chart!) but he contributed money to temples and churches of all faiths and denominations because he believed so fiercely in religious freedom. Where are you now BEN? Well, he is in the hearts, minds, souls and soles of those of us who will march together on the 12th.

I am sure the media will pay much more attention to the hate marches that will take place on the 11th, which this year also marks the ends of Ramadan but it is important to be a part of brotherhood, don’t you think?

Of course, I had to whip up a chart for the day – and two things struck me. First, there are 4 “planets’ in the 12th house – the house the deals with our connection to the cosmic consciousness – the universal source. Mars and Venus are in conjunction with one another – giving marchers the strength of Mars energy behind our ideals of a more beautiful world. Mars is in Libra; the sign of the dealing with other but Venus is already in Scorpio – the sign of passion.

Also in the 12th are the Moon and the asteroid Pallas Athena both in Scorpio. The city of Athens was named after Pallas – she is the goddess of war and healing. (She killed and then she healed.) This conjunction indicates a fruitful environment for sympathetic understanding and a rapport among people on a very deep, visceral and emotional level. A wonderful time for a unity walk.

In the 5th house, the house of creativity, we have a conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces. OK, here is the fun part, Pisces vibrates to the 12th house- that house of our connection with the universe, higher ideals, the god-source etc. Jupiter is all about expansion, and cultural and religious exchanges and going beyond our village to understand how other people survive and thrive. Uranus, rules Aquarius, is the epitome of brotherhood and understanding. (Yes, let’s all sing the song –“This is the dawning….”)

Putting those two together is a harbinger for a wonderful day of unity. Right? Well, yes but there is a rub. Both planets are in retrograde – which means they need a new and different way of expressing themselves.

The way I see, the unity walks here in Washington and others in major cities around the country will NOT be headline news. No, we will see all of the hate speech and signs instead. We just have to hope that there are others who have turned away from the main stream media and have found other avenues for peace and understanding.

August 28, 2010 – and I don’t like it.

I recently posted to my Facebook page a note about there being no hope for American politics if the allegedly unbiased media allows stories of hate and disinformation such as the so called ground zero mosque to distort reality. Progressives have almost no outlet for information dissemination with FOX, the arm of the radical elements of the GOP, spewing distortions on a 24-7 basis and the main stream media lapping up everything they say and pushing it out as viable news. (Remember Shirley Sherrod?) It is one stream of nonsense after another blown up as a major news story and then drummed into our brains over and over.

On August 28th Glenn Beck is planning another hate-a-palooza here in Washington, called the “Restoring Honor Rally.” He claims he had no idea it was the anniversary of the historic Martin Luther King speech on the same Washington Mall. Oh please..and they just happen to be having the rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, right?

Astrologically it will be a busy day over Washington. Mars and Venus will be in conjunction in Libra in the first house. Libra, whose shadow is co-dependence and looking for excuses in the “other” – will have a field day with these whiners who we never heard from when Pres. Bush was running up the huge deficits we have now but squawk when President Obama buys a diet Pepsi.

Mars, the ancient god of war, will do his best to add fire and vitriol to the nonsense that poor Mr. Lincoln will have to sit quietly by and listen to all morning. To make matters worse, Saturn, the task master, and Vesta, the asteroid which depicts the spot of our fervent heart’s desire – of extreme dedication – will also be in conjunction with the Venus/Mars duo. It will bring out the the hard core haters and we may be very shocked even by this crowd with what we hear.

If that isn’t interesting enough, the emotional Moon will be in Mars – again the god of war – and in the 7th house – the house ruled by Libra – vibrating to the energy “other person.” I don’t see tell tale signs of violence here – but emotions could get out of hand.

It will be a day of anger squared which will be carried for hours on end by the press. I for one, am tired of it and am very glad that the NAACP will also be on hand to take another stand against hate.

The Astrology of Lobsters – the State of Maine

Still in Maine- smelling the ocean air as I write this. Just had the best lobster spring rolls at the Kennebunkport Inn but that is not the purpose of this blog. Maine became a state on March 15, 1820 as a part of the Henry Clay orchestrated Missouri Compromise. This allowed Missouri to come into the Union as a slave state and Maine, a former arm of the Massachusetts Colony, as a free state. Maine also became the first state to provide freedom and voting rights to all men regardless of color…yes, darn it, only men.

I ran a chart for Maine on their Statehood date – and used the city of Portland as “birth place” because it was the capitol of the State until the 1840’s. Wow – does it surprise me that everyone here is so friendly and it is State where people come to the aid of their neighbors? People come up to you on the street if you look the least little bit lost and go out of their way to give your car the right away. Look at that 11th house! A Stellium is when there are five or more planets in one house. Maine has seven planets, asteroids and stars in the 11th. This is the house of social, group interaction.

The Sun is conjunct Pluto in the 11th so the life force of the State undergoes change and transformation – it came in as a tail end of Massachusetts, a northern wasteland many thought a throw away used only to get Missouri into the Nation with as minimal amount of bloodshed as possible. Now it is one of America’s premier vacation lands and our chief supplier of lobster and blueberries.

Interestingly enough Maine’s North Node is in Aries in the 11th so as a State it will realize its full potential as a leader in group humanitarian activities. Hmmm, what did I say about Maine being the first state to provide freedom and voting rights to men of all races? I think it got off to a good start and it has been making up to women every since. Currently, both Maine Senators are female and Margaret Chase Smith served as Senator from 1949 – 1973 and was the first woman to have her name entered as a presidential candidate by a major political party in 1964.

With the Moon and Mercury also in Aries in 11th it is easy to see how the image of the no-nonsense, straight shooting New Englander came about. They say what they mean and they don’t ramble on about it.

Maine always suffers from the “red headed step sister” image to its sexier New England states. While it did have the Bush’s of Kennebunkport (too bad it is such a pretty little town), it couldn’t compete with the Kennedy’s of Cape Cod. Think of New England sports and skiing in Vermont and New Hampshire come to mind. It takes a few minutes to think of the summer sports on the miles of beaches and the skiing in winter of Maine. The cause for this? I believe it is in the 8th house -the house of personal power. Maine has Neptune there – the planet that deals with spirituality – and Uranus – the quirky quick change artist in conjunction with one another in the 8th. Neptune is great in the spiritual realm and there believe me if you can’t meditate and zone out while looking out from the craggy beaches into the blue clear ocean you will never be able to do so anywhere else. On the physical plain, however, Neptune causes illusion and confusion. People don’t have a clear image of Maine except for lobsters.

Neptune and Uranus together “dooms” Maine to a fuzzy existence without a clear and easy definition. However, I think they wouldn’t want it any other way. It is as though Mainers are saying if you are lucky enough to find us we will be your friends forever. I am so glad I found you Maine – and hope to be your friend for a long time.

Sorry, have to go – I see a long walk on the beach in my near future. Did I say this place is amazingly spiritual?

The Astrology of Lobsters

Today I am writing to you from the shore of the Kennebunk River which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean up here in Maine. Maine – where you can sleep on the second floor with your windows open in August…where you fall asleep to the distant mournful call of the ever alert fog horns and wake up to the clanking of the ship bells. Maine – where you can start growing claws from eating fresh lobster but get all your antioxidants from the blueberries which are everywhere. Ah…..

It is here on the banks of the river that you can also see astrology in action. Every morning and every evening the tides rush to an recede from the shores – every 12 hours and 24 minutes without fail. When the tide is out the river basin is so exposed that you can actually walk across the rocky floor. When the tide comes in the water is so high it rises the boats that had been asleep on the rocks and you are lucky to get an inch or two into the river bed without falling to your hips in water. Cold water I might add – the water never heats up here even in August.

That my dear friends is astrology in action. It is taken for granted even in the least spiritual circles (although I can’t account for birthers or non-evolutionists because who knows what goes on in their heads) that the Moon controls the tides. Let me repeat that – the Moon controls the tides.

We also get the word lunatic from the Latin for Moon –Luna– because people act oddly during the full Moon. When I worked as a lobbyist for an engineering association many button down collar, conservative engineer types admitted that many nuclear power plants put extra security on during the full Moon because of the increased threats.

OK so the Moon controls the tides and our emotions. Why then is it so odd to think that the Sun influences our inner life force and Mercury our thought patterns and Mars our masculine warrior energy? Is it OK for the Moon to do things because we can’t help but prove it’s power over our lives so we have to accept it?
So many people who accept the concept of full Moon madness scoff at astrology without realizing how incongruous their argument.

Think about it – I know I will but first it is time for another lobster roll.

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Barack Obama will turn 49 years old on August 4th. Sorry – I am going to do a little political rant – so if you aren’t into politics skip this paragraph. Yes, to all who say he is aloof he does have the lion energy of Leo the King at his core. Deal with it. I am sorry, I like the man and I think he has passed a heck of a lot of legislation while trying to clear 8 years of errors in a very short time period. Is he perfect? Has he done everything 100 percent correctly? No. He does have the problem of being human. However, he is smart and doing his best to get us back on the right track.

My diatribe over let’s look at his chart on the eve of his birthday. What I constructed above is a tri wheel. In the middle is his birth chart – his natal chart. The center is his progressed chart. A progressed chart is simply a marking of how the planets have moved in his chart only since his birth. A progressed chart is unique to each person. The largest outer chart marks the transits of the planets on any particular day – these are the same for everyone living in Washington, DC in this case.

Anyone can get a tri-wheel of progression at any time to see what influence the planets are having on your life at that moment.

The first thing that I notice is that his progressed Mercury and Mars are in Libra in the 12th house. Typically the 12th house is one of withdrawal. Planets in the 12th house are often muted and turned inward. Ironically, I was born with Mars and Mercury in the 12th house in Libra – writing is easier than speaking for me and it has taken me years to express my Mars anger and drive overtly and not look for vengeance and to just seethe inwardly.

With his progressed Mercury and Mars in the 12th and in the co-dependent sign of Libra it is no wonder that his orations have been missing the mark of late. It also accounts for his extreme concern with the “other side”. Libra is all about caring way too much about helping other – being co-dependent. This progression will remain in place until early next year…so those of like who like his speeches and want a little more fire will be disappointed for a bit longer.

Even Pallas Athena – the asteroid of androgynous female healing power is transiting his 12th house. So he has a lot of power bottled up in 12.

I am glad he is going on “The View” tomorrow – because transiting Mercury (unlike progressed) is in the 10th house – the house of social status and in conjunction with his natal Uranus and natal Lilith. Lilith is the asteroid who shows where we want to defy society. So he should have a good time with some of the wackier members of the panel.

So wait until next year you fire and brimstone Progressives – our Barack will be back.

The Clash of Mars and Saturn

Last week I was speaking about astrology to a group when I mentioned that there is precious little difference between Hitler’s and JFK’s charts… except Hitler had that bad Mars- Saturn combination going on which made him a little – shall we say. scum sucking evil. They both had the bull eye’s for charisma and the ability to sway people with speech – it is just Hitler had a bad combination of Mars and Saturn which, when badly aspected is often an indication for violence. The only time when I am doing a synastry chart of two people that I really lay things on the line and say, hey be careful here, is when I see the Mars of one person badly aspected the Saturn of another. That often indicates a propensity for violence in the relationship.

Because the universe just loves synchronicity, I then was asked to do a chart for a person who then tells me he has not a clue when he was born because he was adopted twice and the state in which he was born did not put the time on birth certificates. Hmm. No time. That is an astrologers nightmare because time tells us the rising sign – the indicator of how we express ourselves in the world. It also places all the planets and asteroids in the proper houses.

Through the process of rectification we can try to find the birth time or get close to it so I asked him a few questions. Of course, he had a disrupted home life – 4th house – but I wanted to know if it was just odd or truly burdensome. The tale he told would put Dickens to shame. He was adopted at birth because his parents couldn’t afford another child but his adoptive mother died when he was still a child. Then he was then adopted by an abusive family which he escaped from at 18 and never looked back. Yes, I would say that was burdensome.

When someone is suffering from limitations or burdens I often look to Saturn. Now I know you Capricorns will get all over me but I am sorry – Saturn is an indicator of restriction and boxing in – where you see Saturn in a birth chart it shows the area where people carry worry and concern or are restricted in. When doing a transit chart, Saturn shows us where we are feeling pain and burden at that time.

Had he told me a story of generally happy but changeable home life, adopted here and then suddenly moved to another house I would have looked to the quick change artist Uranus. His story was all very Saturnine, however.

When I computed the chart I noticed something else interesting. On that day, Mars and Saturn were almost in conjunction (sitting right next to) one another. Ah ha – Mars and Saturn – violence – I placed this Mars and Saturn combo toward the middle of his 4th house because the violence began when he was seven and ran the chart from there. I told him to see if the interpretation I did for him resonated in other areas to see if we had hit the hit the right timing and indeed it did. Bingo!

I am so glad he got out of that situation and has not let it shade his adulthood. He is amazingly well adjusted for having gone through that Hell. Saturn and Mars dealt him a bad hand but he overrode it….well Dickens always liked a happy ending.

The House – the angles

As promised I am going to explore each of the houses of the Zodiac. Of course, I won’t go in order – what fun is order? (The darned rising air sign always acts up on me.) However, I am starting with the first house because it is the first of the angular houses – 1, 4, 7 and 10. These are houses of high importance and actually act as anchors of the chart. For instance, yours truly here has NO Earth signs in her char. Not one planet was in an Earth sign when I was born. I am all air and water with a dash of fire thrown in. Now imagine a chart with no Earth to hold it down. I should always “out there” – never focusing – either in the depths of water’s mysteries or just flipping around the atmosphere. (Another reason I hate to go in order.) However, if you look at the angles – the sign on the cusps of those angular houses you see that I have pretty good anchors. Thank the universe for small favors.

My rising sign – is in Libra an air sign, yes but a cardinal sign – a sign of leadership. The cusp* of the 4th house anchor is Capricorn – a cardinal Earth sign which vibrates to Saturn, the task master. My 7th house anchor is Aries – a fire sign but again it is cardinal. Finally my 10th house cusp is Moon Child – another cardinal sign this one in water. I have all 4 cardinal signs on my anchor (angular) houses. These keep me focused – give me a goal and give me the drive to succeed.

Fixed signs – Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius – are signs of strength and stubbornness and they vibrate to the second, fifth, either and eleventh houses. Mutable, more adaptable, less focused signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces vibrate to the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth houses.

That is why it is important to look at the entire chart. Without strong angular houses my chart interpretation would be vastly different. Next time, I will look at one of the angular houses…maybe the first; maybe the tenth….depends on how I feel. 🙂

*The cusps are the signs that sit at the door of each house. Look at the small outter wheel on the chart to find them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

Happy Birthday America. What? You thought a country can’t have a birth chart? Well, I have to admit some of them are hard to find. Some countries that have been around since before dust was invented have no real known birth time. I mean, when did Egypt become Egypt for goodness sakes? However, our chart – that of the USA – is easy because we had a defined time when people signed a document saying – we are now a nation. Those founding fathers were so organized.

The ascendant, rising sign, of America – our outward personality feature – is Sagittarius. Makes sense – Sag. is the explorer and expansionist sign. It is the sign that keeps reaching and growing. The downside of Sagittarius is not knowing when to stop speculating or taking risks that are too large and cannot be sustained. We have seen this in economics as well as warfare.

Sagittarius is the sign of spirituality – and we are often called a religious nation. It also makes us prone to the shadow element and that is the dances we do periodically with religious fundamentalists. Does it surprise anyone that when Pluto was in Sagittarius for the last 15 years we saw the rise of the religious right and the president who was wedded to them?

The ruler of our Ascendant, Jupiter, is the 7th house – the house of “the other” and is in conjunction with the Sun and Venus. So we expand to the other and make ourselves known in the world. Venus helps us spread our art and music….our greatest export are movies. Mars is also in the 7th house – and so our warrior strength is also spread around – remember the 7th house deals with other people on rather intimate levels.

Uranus, the quirky changeable guy, is also in our 7th house. We are the nation that comes to the aid of others, yet dropped the atomic bomb – twice. We are based on the great ideas of the Constitution but do things like Iraq and Vietnam. Get the picture?

It always cracks me up that we have Virgo on the Midheaven (career and social status) and Vesta, the burning heart’s desire and ruler of Virgo in Virgo’s 6th house – the house of work and health. Think of it – Virgo vibrates to the 6th house, and is ruled by Vesta. We have Virgo in the house of career – Virgo is all about precise work – being the worker bee – getting the job done. Vesta is in the 6th house – so our burning heart’s desire is to work! Gee, have we been the country of the worker? Are we known to be workaholics-italics? Did we invent the phrase “work ethic”? Too bad this astrology stuff is all hokum.

Neptune is also on the Mid Heaven. Neptune gives a person their spirituality but when it comes to the physical side of things Neptune creates illusion and delusion. So again, we have that very prominent spiritual aspect that we present to the world. However, how many times do we perceive ourselves in a totally different way than others do? To many Americans we are always the good guys with the white hats. We are shocked when we realize that in many parts of the world we are considered aggressors. We just can’t see it. Growing up in North Jersey, the NY Yankees were gods to me. When I go back there I always laugh at the level of Yankee mania. It was stunned when I left the area to learn that the Yankees are hated by the other teams. Remember the play, “Damn Yankees?” Well it is a bit like that – we can’t believe others see is in a different light than we perceive ourselves.

Now I am not really sure if a country can have a “past life” but take a look at our South Node. It is in Aquarius in the 2nd house – the house of self worth. Our North Node is in Leo the nightly lion in the house of power in the 8th house. I am not sure the purists would like this but I think a case could be made that this shows the change in the land that became America from a more Aquarian Native American society to the world dominating Lion American Nation. I am not one to buy into the idyllic concept that Native American society was utopia but you have to admit that they existed in a more laid back – less driven society than the white men who destroyed them. Their idea of what made a person worthy and ours is vastly different and while there were many inter-tribal wars, the concept of being a world military leader was not in their modes of operation.

Our Moon is in Aquarius – ruled by Uranus – the quirky guy. So we are rather touchy people. With the Moon conjunct Athena, the goddess of war AND healing (versatile lass) so again we are emotionally attached to this warrior and good guy image. Our Moon is also attached to Ceres, the ancient symbol of Mother Earth. Mother Earth – abundance – the breadbasket of the world — get it? These images are at our emotional core.

It is funny, our Chronic wound issue, is in Aries in the 5th house – the house of creativity. We are known for work and growth and movement. Do we give a lot of credence to creativity? Not so much – we fear we are not powerfully creative people – we are the worker bees. 🙂

Of course, my buddy Pluto was in Capricorn at the time of our birth – and because it is so slow moving it is just NOW returning to Capricorn again. Reread my entry on Pluto being the changer and Capricorn being the ruler of authority figures. Sadly, we also saw the French Revolution at this time and it was an example of changing authority run amuck.

So there you go America – this is who we are – one big confusing mass of work, growth, meddlesomeness and change that you just have to love. I know I do. Happy Birthday to us all!

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!