Consultations and Tutorials

As the stock market and 401K’s have ticked lower, the number of people wanting to learn astrology or have astrology sessions have ticked upwards. 

At this time most of my work is over the phone or on Skype. People who are closer to where I live and work (southern New England) have the enviable option of an in-person meeting with charts in front of us – just like the good old days!

I send charts ahead of time; we talk at our scheduled time; I send you a CD of the voice recording unless you have set up your own. If we are meeting, for the first time, you would have already filled out a questionnaire: I get some basic information about you and find out what is most important to you at this time.

Topics for our sessions may include (1) ongoing personal issues such as work and love, education and family; (2) timing for life changes or specific events; (3) compatability, and (4) relocation.  My style of astrology mixes modern with traditional methods, attempting to take the best and most useful from both. 

If we do ongoing astrology education work, we first assess where you are in your studies and experience and then sequence a learning plan.  In this way our work is individually tailored and flexible to your needs.

Prices are $120 for a first-time session of 75-90 minutes;
$85 for yearly or periodical updates;
$60 for ongoing consultation or tutorial. 
For payment, mail me a check or we can work through PayPal (adding an additional $5).

          There are some openings and operators are standing by (e-mail or phone).

2009 Spring Equinox

March 20 is the “first day of spring” and people get all excited, even if it doesn’t look much different from the day before and the following day may be even colder and more blustery – or we might get a blizzard.

          From an astrological point of view, spring equinox (“equal night”) is the instant when the Sun is at 00°Aries 00’00”. This position is defined as where the Sun is when it is at the spring equinox. Does this seem circular?

          Here is the astrological chart for the spring equinox.

This is the unique moment in which the Sun is upon the celestial equator moving north.  At our earthly equator the Sun would be directly overhead at the equinox.  In the days and weeks afterwards we would notice the Sun being gradually north (left if facing east) until the Sun is directly overhead at about 23° North Latitude -- the summer solstice. This is when the Sun is at 00° Cancer and is directly overhead at the “Tropic of Cancer.”  

          The designations of the cardinal signs with the equator and tropics, with the equinoxes and solstices, is a feature of the tropical zodiac and does not correlate with specific constellations of the zodiac.  In fact, below is a picture of just after sunrise after the spring equinox and it’s quite revealing.

The Sun is slightly to the right of due east leaning south.  This gives you a sense of the slant of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun that is divided into the familiar twelve signs of the zodiac. 

          In the above graphic, we can locate the Sun is between the constellations Pisces and Aquarius and it isn’t as far as the constellation Aquarius.

          There is a different zodiac called the sidereal zodiac that measures the stars and planets in twelve equal-sized chunks that are close to the actual constellations and are named after them. The first twelve-part zodiacs were sidereal.

In ancient times the Sun was early in the constellation Aries it was the spring equinox.  Due to a sight wobble of the earth as it rotates, there is a very slow regular movement of the skies that we call the precession of the equinoxes, and this means that over a long time the place of the spring equinox is between the constellations Pisces and Aquarius, as we see above.

Because of the precession of the equinox, fixed star positions are oiten in the sign following the constellation of the star, e.g., the “Heart of the Scorpion” and the “Eye of the Bull” are in the signs Sagittarius and Gemini respectively, the Gemini twins Pollux and Castor are in Cancer, and alas the Heart of the Lion will soon enter Virgo!

This also means that the planets and angles in your chart are mostly likely in the previous sign from the tropical positions you are probably accustomed to.

          There is some attractiveness to the sidereal zodiac and many western and especially Vedic astrologers swear by it. Interestingly, there are many different sidereal zodiacs, as you could tell from any astrology software.  Interestingly, one calculates 0° Aries and the start of their zodiac using the Sun’s spring equinox position. 

          It is often said that the Hellenistic astrology and astronomer Ptolemy developed the tropical zodiac by stressing its correspondence to the changing seasons.  Indeed the tropical zodiac depicts the relationship of the sky to the earth not the fixed stars to each other.

          The tropical zodiac has much to do with the changing amounts of sunlight during the year as well as the changing movements of the sky during the day.  What I find wonderful about the tropical zodiac is that it creates these beautiful symmetries.

          One has to do with the twelve signs and how long it takes them to rise, between what was once known as “crooked” (fast-rising) signs and “straight” signs (rising more slowly). We can subdivide these into degrees, and this is the origin of progression the angles. “Ascensional times” are more extreme at farther north and south latitudes and more even closer to the equator.  They are also symmetrical to 0° Aries and its opposite 0° Libra, between the fast-rising and slow-rising signs in the northern henisphere.

          Here’s a lovely graphic from my book.  This is the origin of symmetries to the Aries point and also of what’s called “contra-antiscia.”  Usually they are measured by degree positions, not by whole signs.

There is another symmetry created by the tropical zodiac: from the axis of 0° Cancer to 0° Capricorn.  These symmetries to the Cancer/Capricorn axis are called equal power and have to do with the time the sign (zoidion) or degree is above the horizon.  In the north the shortest times are on the side of 0° Capricorn and the longest times are on the side of 0° Cancer.  This makes sense when you think about the seasons but it’s also the case during any given day. These are called antiscia

I use both symmetries in my own work, for they can bring planets together or planets and angles together. They seem to work extraordinarily well.

          They’re easy to calculate.  By memory or the chart above:

          You can see from the diagram above that there are pairs of signs symmetrical to 0° Aries/Libra.

          In sum.  The spring equinox is a specific astronomical event relating the yearly movements of the Sun to the earth.  The tropical zodiac is based on these specific events and allows this zodiac to contain powerful ways of relating zodiacal positions to others – based on the physical relationship of Sun and Earth.  Therefore the tropics zodiac is a naturalistic phenomenon and the sidereal zodiac more symbolic. 

          Enough of our monthly astronomy/astrology lesson: onto our monthly profile.

Mercurial/Saturnine Rush Limbaugh

This month we’re back to politicians – or are we? 

According to the Democrats (!), Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the Republican Party, yet he has never held elected or appointed office.  He is an extremely influential talk-radio host and self-proclaimed spokesperson for the conservative cause.  He has been a national figure, as an entertainer and opinion maker, for the past twenty years.  He has helped steer many a political cause, his depictions of liberal politicians can be devastating, and he is not particularly beloved by woman.  Yet even some liberals find him an entertaining guilty pleasure.  (I personally plead “not guilty” to the charge.)

          And here is his natal chart:

This chart gets an “AA” rating and the birth time is therefore considered credible.  This is fortunate because if he was born a few minutes earlier he would have Capricorn rising and every planet would be in a different place or house.

          One might see how twelfth-place Sun and Mercury and his Moon in Pisces and think of him as a “new age sensitive guy.”  This is probably not so this time.  However, as one recent workshop participant said, “This is the chart of a bully.”  That sounds about right.

          Some aspects give this away.  It’s hard not to notice that Pluto in the seventh opposes Mars in the first.  This can give more than a little ruthlessness.  Mars is governed by Saturn (not Uranus!) in Aquarius, hence the ideological and stubborn quality of his thoughts and opinions.  If you combine that with a Moon in Pisces you could get someone sensitive to all slights and a happy retaliator,

With Limbaugh you would want to take particular note of his Mercury placement.  Mercury is oriental, rising ahead of the Sun and is in Capricorn, governed by Saturn and in square to an exalted Saturn.  And the close relationship (the word is actually “familiarity”) between Mercury and Saturn give definitiveness and clarity to thinking, maybe with a tendency to be self-righteous and intimidating.  Limbaugh’s weakness and his strength is his utter certainty: this makes him beloved by millions and also the bane of fact-checkers and all admirers of intellectual subtlety and verbal nuance. 

Uranus gives the Saturn/Mercury combination much bravado and, in his case, an ability always to be interesting and controversial.  Uranus always has a willful quality, and, in contact with Mercury, a certain verbal bluntness or unpredictability.

If we look at fixed stars, we would notice that Mercury was angular with both the North and South Scales and with Antares on the day of his birth.  This adds even more loudness and ferocity to his verbal proclamation.

Now the perceptive reader in thinking: but Sun and Mercury in Capricorn are in the twelfth house!  Indeed they are not in an aspect to the Ascendant in Aquarius and typically this is a major impediment.

There is a mitigating factor and that concerns Limbaugh’s Lot of Fortune in Aries.  This may be considered one of the many indications of wealth in his chart (along with his well-endowed second house). Rush’s Lot of Fortune is governed by Mars in the First, meaning that he made his money on his own. Because Mars is in favorable position the red planet would help him to be fortunate in wealth and other ways.  How would this mitigate his twelfth house placements?

According to the Hellenistic tradition, the Lot of Fortune can be its own first house.  Differently put, from the viewpoint of Lot of Fortune houses, Sun and Mercury are in its tenth!  This also places Uranus and Saturn angular to the Lot of Fortune and enhances these planets as well. This allows all these planets to help increase fortune for him.

Let’s look at his chart psychologically. 

One traditional method is to look at the planets that claim dispositorship over his Moon in Pisces and Mercury in Capricorn: interestingly it’s Venus in the first -- but “with” Mars and governed by Saturn.  This method is promoted by Ptolemy and in other forms it continues into the Middle Ages.  Perhaps we can look at Limbaugh’s many marriages and indisputable personal appeal among many as an overriding desire to be liked by others.  This may seem strange to some readers here but it may also be true.

Another possibility is to look at his Lot of Spirit.  Symmetrical to the Lot of Fortune, it falls at the last degree of Scorpio. (Aren’t you glad we have the correct birth time?)  Here we find ourselves back at Mars, since now both lots are governed by the fiery planet of anger and outrage…

The Lot of Spirit in the tenth also means that the planets Venus and Mars are angular to the Lot. 

          There is more – there is always more!—but let’s go to what’s happening now.

          For me the eye-popper has been his secondary progressions (not progressives!).  Here is his progressed chart for right now.

Jupiter, Sun, and Mercury are all in contact and each planet is conjunct another within a six month period.

Sun is the planet of self-expression and leadership, Jupiter is the bestower of abundance, and Mercury is the mouthpiece.  To me it feels like a high-water mark for him, being an unashamed spokesperson for the opposition.  Although the Democratic party establishment is jubilant at trying to elevate him to be the voice of the opposition, this is a time in which he could be a very effective voice.

This is confirmed by some of his Hellenistic indicators.  Using decennials, Limbaugh entered a Saturn/Saturn period in 2004, roughly when he admitted to being addicted to painkillers and separating from wife  #3.  Now, however, he is in a Saturn/Sun period.  This seems to accentuate a certain toughness, considering the strong link between Sun and Saturn in his chart.  It appears to me that with his heightened national exposure, Limbaugh is going to have to be a bit more careful.  Or so does his opposition wish – they are waiting for him to make a major mistake.

His yearly projections accentuate Jupiter, however, since this year everything advances eleven signs and his Ascendant profects to Sagittarius.  Jupiter is a pretty good friend of his, and Jupiter and Moon also profect to his Sun and Mercury.  He may need to cut down on the donuts.

If we become modern again and look at his transits, there’s more room for him to be cautious.  Here’s his graphic ephemeris for the first six months of 2009.

Reading this is easy! 

First look up at top and the moving red line – that is Pluto, transiting early in some cardinal sign -- like Capricorn.  Note the black straight lines nearby: they signify Mercury (in Capricorn) and Saturn (in Libra).

Since the beginning of the calendar year Pluto has been transiting Limbaugh’s Mercury/Saturn square.  And the public highlight has been Limbaugh’s statement, often cited and repeated, that he is looking for Obama’s economic plans to fail and for his presidency to fail.  To Limbaugh this is obvious, yet this kind of statement probably keeps many an elected Republicans from a good night’s sleep.

You can see that Pluto forges ahead and retrogrades back to contact Saturn and Mercury, and one may expect more verbal provocation. 

Harder to see in the graphic ephemeris but equally important is Jupiter’s entry into Aquarius and therefore it’s habitation in Limbaugh’s first house. Look for transiting Jupiter moving across his “AS” line in early January. Once again he probably wants to shed some donuts.  It also signifies public prominence for him, for good or ill.

The other transits we need to mention concern Limbaugh’s Moon in Pisces: transiting Uranus is conjunct Moon right about now; Saturn, in retrograde, has moved away but will come back this summer.  These may indicate upheaval and difficulty in his personal life or for his health.  He may have to lay off the prime rib as well as the donuts.

In sum, all of Limbaugh’s predictive indicators point to a strong public profile and not always in a constructive way.  Although his visibility will be at its strongest, I also wonder whether he’s going to be over his head and become a great motivator for Democrats.  This is especially probable if he overreaches, and a friendly dose of Saturn may be helpful.   I also wonder about his health.

Okay, enough of politicians and opinion leaders.  It is almost time for the high holy season – not Easter but the beginning of the baseball season.  I would like to profile a prominent baseball personality of two.  For example, I would love to see birth data with an accurate time for Manny Ramirez or Boston’s own Jonathan Papelbon. Alex Rodriguez would do too.