Finding Success with Mercury Retrograde

Currently, Mercury is retrograde.  It will be until Sunday, September 12th.  Anyone interested in Mercury retrograde (which happens for about 3-1/2 weeks three times a year) already knows the standard dogma.

That is, "Mercury's retrograde, the sky is falling, don't do anything!"  Or, "Re-decorate, re-vise, re-do..."

Both those approaches have legitimate reasons for their persistence.  They are true in many instances.

However, there are some positive sides that don't get much exposure.  With Mercury retrograde, we can revisit the past.  It is a wonderfully fruitful time to work on mysteries of the past.  These would include, genealogy studies, history, and memoirs and diaries.  If you have interest in these subjects, you may be more likely now to find your answers.

Even those with only interest in themselves can find the time to write about their own pasts.  And with a little bit of psychological insight they may find answers to their own personal mysteries!

May we all be patient with ourselves and choose to find our answers when the time is right.

Lalia

Venus & Mars Get Together

We are planting new seeds for personal relationships today and this month.  Venus and Mars are traveling together all through the sign Libra.  They conjunct today at 13+ Libra.  How can your life improve?

Consider the house receiving the action of Venus's dalliance with Mars.

<> First house: more popularity and sex appeal.


<> Second House: more money and possessions, gifts?

<> Third House: more excursions and enjoyable weekends.

<> Fourth House: home décor improvements.

<> Fifth House: a new lover, a child’s accomplishment, and new creativity.

<> Sixth House: You’ll either read or write the manual on how the emotions and athleticism of sex and love help everyone’s health.

<> Seventh House: new partnership, or great improvements in partnerships.

<> Eighth House: great sex adventures, or hitting the jackpot.

<> Ninth House: great adventures of mind, body or spirit.

<> Tenth House: winning the contest, beauty, popularity, or other look-good and feel-good items.

<> Eleventh House: your organization wins its contest, or your friends do.

<> Twelfth House: you have a rich inner life full of dream and meditation positives.

This house is energized for about a year, so choose your adventures wisely!
 
Best wishes for delight!  Lalia

Criminal Motivations as seen by Astrology--Joran van der Sloot

Joran van der Sloot has recently been a news headliner.  He was a suspect in the still-unresolved disappearance of Natalie Holloway five years ago, May 30th, and is the confessed killer of Stephany Flores on May 30th of this year.

Here are my comments, based on the information from Wikipedia: born on 06 Aug 1987, no time given (I used noon) and Arnhem, Netherlands.


First, some of what I'm going to say makes him appear to be totally obnoxious and this should not be construed to apply to the hundreds or thousands of people with similar charts. Always consider that Hitler had a bunch of astrotwins who did not start the biggest war of the last century.


Back to van der Sloot: A noon chart has four personal planets in the 10th house, three--Venus, Sun and Mars, in Leo. Depending upon your orb, you get some or all of them in a Grand Fire Trine with Saturn, Ceres and Uranus in Sag, and Jupiter in Aries! He's got a lot of other things going on, but this overwhelming Fire energy really explains it all. Venus-Sun-Mars in Leo, a self-absorbed, sexually motivated, energetic person. Trine Saturn in Sag, probably the restraining hand of his father, Paulus, who died in February of this year. Saturn in Sag is the least restrictive of all Saturn placements, and combined with Ceres and Uranus, makes him an agent of Uranus--the Awakener, or the Rebel--in this lifetime. Ceres is associated with death and mothering. Then we have Jupiter in Aries adding fuel to the fire!


What else? The day of his arrest, we have Venus transiting his (noon) MC. Transiting Mars is at 29 Leo, having touched the whole array of the Grand Fire Trine over the proceeding days. Transiting Saturn is opposing transiting Jupiter and both planets form difficult aspects with Sloot's natal Jupiter. Secondary progressed Moon is at 29 Libra, again setting off the natal Jupiter, as well as heralding a change of life when sp Moon changes sign in a couple of weeks.


Sloot has the natal Moon at 0 Capricorn, and natal Neptune at 5 Cap. The natal Moon in Cap is a classic indicator of closed off feelings, lack of empathy, even cruelty. When conjunct Neptune, could be mentally ill. WHERE is transiting Pluto??? 4 Capricorn! So Pluto is hitting Sloot's natal Moon-Neptune program. Pluto will mean casting aside old ways of living.

Are there positive ways all this fire energy could have been used?  Yes.  Was Joran "fated" to be a murderer?  No. 

What we do know is that he is an energetic powerful young man who has suffered the recent loss of his father.  Joran may have only been restrained by that father.  Without developing self-restraint, self-discipline, the result is what we have seen in Chile.  Joran may very well have committed other similar assaults that have not been revealed. 

My view is that everyone, at every moment, has the ability and privilege of choosing positive ways of being in the world.  Only the person who is at the point-of-choice can make that choice.  May Joran, and the rest of us, choose to move towards Grace.


Lalia



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Santa Claus Meets the Grim Reaper

The Christmas Holidays are set at the Capricorn Solstice, as are many other sacred observances. The Solstice marks where the sign Sagittarius ends and Capricorn begins. Sagittarius correlates with fun, abundance, and plenty of good stuff. Jupiter, the Sag ruler, is closely akin to Santa. But at the solstice, the vibrations change to the clear sight and objectivity of Capricorn. We have Santa morphing into The Grim Reaper—that guy you see with a sickle on all the New Year’s Eve cartoons. This year the planet of transformation and death, Pluto, is right at this point. Let us look more deeply at the old "gifts under the tree" versus “lump of coal” paradox of this season.

The sign Sagittarius is ruled by the planet Jupiter. Jupiter has many images, among them the Divine Teacher or Guru, and Santa Claus. The subsequent sign, Capricorn, is ruled by Saturn. Saturn is the Divine Grandfather or Grandmother. But Saturn is also Father Time and the Grim Reaper.

Jupiter can range from hopeless and dogmatic, to approval seeking and excessive, but is mature and stable when expansive and wise. Similarly, Saturn ranges from bitter and cruel and controlling to ambitious and acquisitive, but when mature and healthy, Saturn thrives on solitude.

Each of us embodies some degree of both qualities. We have our own internal Santa bestowing blessings, and our own internal Grim Reaper taking them away. A healthy, mature life is a creative mixture of the Jupiter’s expansion principle and the Saturn’s contraction principle. Most of us prefer Jupiter to Saturn, though. By secondary progression, a way astrologers use to measure our lessons of this lifetime, usually Jupiter and Saturn make so few changes that they are not important (since they just maintain the influence they gave at birth). However, should either planet change signs (or houses) by secondary progression, this is major!

A more common occurrence is the transits of Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter brings his largesse all around the zodiac in 12 years, about one year per sign. Saturn takes 29 years to go around the circle, about 21 years in each sign. This is good news/bad news. Good news if Jupiter is doing good things and Saturn is not causing troubles. However, the bad news is that it does not last.

How are Jupiter and Saturn influencing you? May it all be good!

Lalia

The British Isles in World History/Astrology

When we turn our eyes on Britain, we have the Coronation of William the Conqueror as the Foundation Chart for what is today the United Kingdom. (We will take up the most-used chart, that of the Unification with Ireland on 01 Jan 1801, at another time.) The coronation of William the Conqueror was at noon on 25 December 1066 at Westminster Abbey. The Sun is the most elevated planet, and participates in the tightest aspects, a quadruple-parallel involving Sun, Midheaven, Pluto and Uranus! Other prominent aspect patterns include an Arrow Yod[1] with Jupiter as the focal planet in quincunx to Moon and Mars and opposed by Pluto. Also featured is an Earth Grand Trine of Mercury, Saturn and Neptune. That Earth Grand Trine is also part of a Kite pattern because Saturn is opposed by the Moon.

William the Conqueror was born in Falaise, France at 4:45 pm local time on 20 October 1028. Until he conquered England in 1066 at age 38, he was known as William the Bastard, due to his illegitimacy. William’s chart features a prominent Sun, closely conjunct both the Moon and the Descendant in Scorpio. Another indication of eminence is Pluto widely conjunct the Midheaven, and in a Kite[2] pattern, a conjoined Kite pattern, with the mixed grand trine of Neptune, Uranus, Sun and Moon. William’s horoscope also features a Scorpio stellium, two yods, and a Grand Air Trine of Jupiter, Mercury and Neptune. The tightest aspects are Uranus’s contra-parallel and opposition to Pluto, and Jupiter’s contra-parallel to the Midheaven.

What does all this mean? Why is it useful today? First, the sign Leo and the Sun, its ruler, do signify kings and people who are highly influential “like” a king. Second, the house positions and degrees in the charts discussed are important to keep in mind when looking at current events and predicting future events. Great Britain, in particular, has a pronounced Leo-Capricorn bias. The US and Canadian Suns are opposed, very closely, to the Sun in both of the widely used charts for the United Kingdom, our father-country.

What else can you learn? Parallel aspects, in which both planets are at the same (or opposite) declinations, are important. They also are frequently hidden by the standard way of looking at chart aspects by longitude. Further, aspect patterns, in which three or more planets form a pattern by aspect, also seem to coincide with important events and important people.

While Britain has the Leo-Capricorn bias in successful ruler’s charts, other countries probably have different signs which better describe prominent people.

You, as an individual, may feel a greater or lesser connection to the British Isles. Most likely your horoscope, and especially if you have a harmonious relationship with the sign Capricorn, will indicate your affinity to Britain. Perhaps in the future we can look at a widely different national horoscope.

These remarks, above are excerpted from a presentation I gave to the Knoxville, Tennessee, Astrology Meet Up. Go to www.meetup.com for information about the Knoxville group or other groups in your local area.

Lalia

[1] An Arrow Yod has an opposition to the focal planet of the yod. Thus the focal planet has three planets (or more) arrayed against it, two by quincunx (150° aspects) and one opposition (180°).
[2] A Kite pattern is a grand trine with another planet opposing one of the three trine planets and sextile both the remaining planets. The grand trine planet with the opposition is the focus planet of the kite pattern.

Mercury Retrograde September 2009

Hi,

Mercury spends about 3 and a half weeks retrograde three times a year. So, it is not the end of the world. That said, here are some particulars that might help.

Mercury retrograde is a perfect time to re-do anything, especially anything that is Mercury-ruled, like going over and improving drafts of written materials, organizing file systems, decluttering, handling health issues that you've neglected and so forth.

If you have personal points and planets in Gemini and Virgo, you need to slow down more than others, as your natural way of being is to proceed without analysis. Whichever houses of your horoscope are ruled by Mercury, that is you have Gemini or Virgo on the cusps of those houses, needs special care. This is why those with Gemini or Virgo on the Ascendant, the cusp of the 1st house, need to be more careful--as the first house has to do with your whole being!

So, does Mercury retrograde until the end of the month mean that you will necessarily have problems? No! But be very careful with any Mercury matters.

Lalia

Leo, Charlemagne, and Charlemagne's Coronation

The sign Leo is associated with royalty and kings and queens. Leo is the sign following Cancer, the sign that has to do with family ties. Royalty implies authority, lineage, biological connection with other royals, charisma and wealth. Not every king has all those qualities. Leo builds on the family connections of Cancer and contrasts with the anarchy and egalitarianism of Aquarius. Kings and Queens usually have the sign Leo or the Sun prominent in their horoscopes.

In astrology we look at the chart for a country or region or era to understand more about that matter. The whole of Western Civilization is said to be under the chart determined when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne at 12:09 pm in Rome on 25 December 800 CE.

Charlemagne or Carolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great, who lived from (742/747[1] – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III[2] on 25 December 800, in an attempted revival of the Roman Empire in the West. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne helped define Western Europe and the Middle Ages. His rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture.

In Charlemagne’s horoscope—which admittedly is speculative—we have many planets high in the horoscope conjunct, some widely, the Midheaven. Charlemagne has Leo rising. His ruling planet, the Sun, is conjunct the Midheaven and Venus and Jupiter. Sun, Venus and Jupiter constitute a stellium in Aries, as well as being the focal point of a configuration known as a talent triangle[3]. [A talent triangle is two planets in trine with both sextile the same planet at their midpoint. In interpretation it indicates a talent which is available to us, but not “fated.” We aren’t compelled to use that talent; it is optional.] For Charlemagne, the talent of Sun, Venus and Jupiter in Aries in the ninth house is the opportunity for becoming a king and later an emperor.

What else do we know about Charlemagne’s horoscope? His Grand Air Trine means he was able to think and speak well. He had the gift of intelligence, thinking clearly, communicating well, and persuading others. His ability to persuade was something he could do by his power of position—kingship—or by his powers of understanding how the world worked (9th house) and being able to speak well. Charlemagne had a Cardinal T-square[4], with Mercury participating out-of-sign, as Mercury was in Pisces. Squares generally, t-squares and cardinal t-squares in particular, motivate people to act. One did not conquer and rule half of Europe without seizing the initiative! Another interesting aspect pattern in Charlemagne’s chart was what is called a Hard Rectangle [four or more planets connected by semi-squares and oppositions]. The Hard Rectangle indicates someone with great will power who would prevail or die trying.

Was there a softer side to Charlemagne? He had Sun in Aries, Leo rising and Moon in Capricorn. Not much of a soft side. Compare Charlemagne to his modern day “twin,” former Vice-President Albert Gore, who has the same combination of these three signs for Sun, Moon, Ascendant.

Let’s look at the horoscope for the Coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor. Here again we have the Sun angular, conjunct the Midheaven quite closely. Aries is rising. Note that the Sun of the coronation chart is 8 Capricorn 28, and Charlemagne’s natal Moon is at 8 Capricorn 18. Also note the coronation Ascendant at 18 Aries 00 and Charlemagne’s stellium of Venus-Sun-Jupiter at 9-16 Aries!

The coronation chart is often considered the Foundation Chart for Western Civilization. The tightest aspects in the chart are the Sun parallel Midheaven, both parallel the North Node. Then look at the close quintile[5] aspect from Sun to Uranus and another close quintile aspect from Pluto to the Ascendant. Finally consider the Jupiter sextile to the Midheaven. Quintiles are aspects of creativity and invention, both of which flourished following Charlemagne’s coronation and have continued to this day.

Unlike Charlemagne’s chart, the coronation chart does have softer placements. Look particularly at the 12th house, which has both Jupiter and Moon in Pisces, though too far from each other to be in a traditional aspect. Pisces is perhaps the softest and most gentle of signs, and is especially associated with Christianity. Here this is a clear indicator of the partnership between secular and religious authority that, again, has continued to the present.

People who share the Sun in Capricorn and Moon in Pisces combination include: John Denver, Ben Franklin, J. Edgar Hoover, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Obama (if born 11 am or later), Edgar Allen Poe, Elvis Presley, and J. R. R. Tolkein.

[1] His horoscope is set for 02 April 742 CE at 12:30 pm local time in Herstal, Belgium.
[2] This was a very politically astute move, combining secular with religious authority to lay claim to the highest political office.
[3] Here it is a “conjoined” talent triangle. Actually three talent triangles with Venus, Sun and Jupiter all constituting the focal point!
[4] Another “conjoined” configuration, this time the t-square. One t-square has Pluto-Moon-Mercury, which is mixed sign; the other is a pure cardinal t-square of Pluto-Moon-Jupiter.
[5] A quintile aspect is one fifth of the 360 degree circle, or 72°.