On Saturn in Capricorn

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We’re almost there—Saturn finally enters Capricorn in a few days after about 2.5 years hanging out in Sagittarius. The sagacious Saturn comes home to roost in the sign of the Letter of the Law, the sign of commandments and structure and strict judgment, the sign of Wisdom, the sign in which Caesar Augustus was born. Saturn, who is the greater malefic, is perfectly comfortable here and has everything he needs, unlike to cause problems unless provoked—say by Mars opposing him from Cancer or squaring him from Aries (which we won’t get for a while).

Saturn in Capricorn, though never fully “benevolent,” desires the best for the matters under his care and sets boundaries for his cattle, fences in his crops, and gives his workers schedules to assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities to the best of their abilities. Saturn in Capricorn—especially for those born around late 1988 to 1991 or so—demands that we assume fully the responsibilities that are ours to assume and set boundaries, learning how to say “no” in a way that encourages growth and not needless suffering.

Saturn in Sagittarius has been creating gaps and divisions between ideas and nations and journeys, making those far-flung reaches of our world even more distant. Yet he asks us as he comes home to Capricorn: “how shall ye bridge these gaps that I have made? Entropy belongs to life indeed, but it must be held in balance by connection, construction, and order, lest the world fall apart.”

It’s always so easy to say “no” to the other in order to say “yes” to ourselves, but in ways that are destructive and diminishing to people whose lives we have the opportunity to impact for the greater. We relinquish our opportunities to be agents of healing for the sake of getting our own desires fulfilled and our attachments assuaged. Remember too that Saturn rules Aquarius, the Social Worker of the zodiac.

Depending on the houses which Saturn rules in your chart, this may mean saying “no” to a promotion that won’t ultimately move you in the direction you want to go, or “no” to a parent who continues to try to parent you. It may mean saying “no” to things that bring you a lot of joy, not because those things are “wrong” in and of themselves but because those matters cause you to be so inwardly-focused that you cannot see your fellow human in need. That human is you, too, Saturn reminds you. The best way to honor this season is to learn how to construct healthy structures and disciplines for yourself—and for many, though the idea of asceticism might make us queasy, the benefits of saying “no” can make us appreciate the blessings in life all the more.

Where do you need to say “no” in order to free up the resources that building bridges within your own heart and world will require? Where are you over-invested and over-exerted in your life? What tethers you to the glimmering delights of the world such that you can no longer see the light of God in the people you meet from day to day? What benefits might come if you allow yourself to be freed by Wisdom that rightly and sweetly orders all things?

Consider the spiritual progress made by those who have said “no” to the things that we find ourselves attached to and instead have built systems of discipline in which they can explore their own Interior Castles—and consider what opportunities await you as you respond to Saturn’s invitation to do this work.

Saturn in Capricorn does not demand that we become monastics, but he does demand that our lives be ordered toward life and abundance for both ourselves and our neighbors—Saturn is, after all, a farmer, and without fences, furrows, schedules, tilling, hauling, composting, and patience, nobody gets to eat.

The prayers for Advent include this Saturnine invocation to the ordering energies of God, and may it be a blessing for you as you make ready for the Sun’s own ingress into Capricorn during this season of light: “O Wisdom, who proceedeth from the mouth of the Most High, stretching from one end of the world to the other, rightly and sweetly ordering all things: come to teach us the way of prudence.”

Peace and all good, friends.

Horary adventures: “Am I being cheated on?”

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Since I’m currently a student in the School of Traditional Astrology‘s Horary Practitioner’s Course, I thought it would be a good idea to start posting horary judgments so that y’all can see, one, how the process works, and two (and more importantly), how the practice of horary astrology is directly applicable to modern life.

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I got a phone call back in November from a former coworker and good friend who has had some fairly poor luck in relationships over the past few years. She is a successful vocational counselor for adults with disabilities and a competitive fitness model of Iranian ancestry and holds dual USA/Canadian citizenship, all qualities which are signified by Sagittarius and its ruler, Jupiter.

She has been in an on-again, off-again thing over the course of about seven months with someone she met at her gym. She has finally broken things off because her boyfriend was caught lying several times and was being generally duplicitous and emotionally manipulative. My friend suspected several times that he was cheating on her but wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt. He never did come clean with her and she’s not having any contact with him at this point, but she’s looking for some kind of closure and asked me, based on what she had told me, whether I thought he had been cheating on her or not. So, I cast a chart!

The chart is radical because my friend has been worrying about this for a long time and has been losing sleep over the whole situation. This is confirmed by the planetary hour agreeing with the ruler of the Ascendant. She needs an answer to the question just to assuage her own fears.

My friend, the querent, is represented by Jupiter in the 11th rising toward the 10th house (Sagittarius on the ascendant). She has a birthmark on her neck (Taurus on the 6th house cusp). She is indeed Jupiterian; she really wants this relationship to have worked out, perhaps over-much. Jupiter is peregrine in the 11th house and applying to a trine with Neptune. Jupiter is also under the beams, leading to my friend not being able to exercise sound judgment or discernment; and yet, because of the quality of Scorpio, I have the suspicion that deep down my friend already knows the truth.

The quesited, her ex-boyfriend, is represented by Mercury in the 12th, right on the border between Scorpio and Sagittarius. Woof. The quesited has being duplicitous and overtly lying to the querent about where he’s been going, what he’s been up to, etc., just generally being a sneaky boy—such is the signification of the 12th house placement, where we look to find enemies lurking in the shadows and the causes of our suffering. He has been engaging in behaviors to make my friend feel like their relationship troubles have been her fault, not his. My thought is that his behavior is making him feel guilty and incapable of feeling connected to the querent, such that he’s over feeling sorry for himself in the 12th with no real desire to stand up and make an upright decision. Mercury in Sagittarius can’t make good decisions.

The Moon—traditionally a female image—is in 7, right on the angle, and in the domicile of the quesited. Another woman in the quesited’s home, huh? HMM. She applies to an opposition with Saturn in 1, who rules 2 and 3. We saw this same configuration in the relationship chart this last week; my friend makes decent money and is self sufficient and as the ruler of her ex’s derived 2nd, the Moon applying to Saturn makes it look like her ex was after her money (from her report, he had ongoing financial troubles during this time too).

Mercury has just changed signs to the sign on the first house cusp, so he is waffling in the midst of his own duplicity: since he is in Jupiter’s domicile and terms he’s interested again but this is a fresh development and is more of a passing feeling than any real intent to reconcile. He is in his own face, so he perhaps imagines that there is something that he can actively do to try to get back with my friend, but his being in detriment overpowers any shred of good intention he might have and overall he doesn’t have a strong sense of what he’s doing. Moreover, he’s coming to this position from his connection to Gemini as the sign on the 7th house cusp, a waffling sign if there ever was one. Sagittarius is too a double-bodied sign, just as Gemini is, so there’s another testament to his not being able to make up his mind. He’s quite literally out of his element here!

We have Mars in detriment in Libra near the MC (though not super close, still in an angular house), ruling the 4th, the 11th, and the 12th houses. This relationship began quite suddenly and had a lot of energy at the beginning but that energy seems to be waning; Mars is not making any aspects, and is just generally being destructive as his power is unfocused in his sign of detriment; anything can set him off. From what my friend told me, several major fights had occurred between her and her ex in the weeks preceding the asking of this question.

Now, in regard to the actual question of whether the guy was cheating, I want to get to a third party somehow; the guy’s significator is in the querent’s 12th, so he’s been duplicitous at best, and the Moon being angular in Mercury’s domicile (though having now separated from her opposition to Mercury) is a strong testament that there has been another woman in his affairs just recently.

My judgment is that, yes, my friend was being cheated on, and she made the right decision to cut things off because her ex couldn’t make up his mind as to what he wanted, nor were his intentions entirely pure.

Now, this question was asked just over a month ago; as it turns out, just recently we’ve confirmed that this was indeed the case! My friend made the right call.

Do you have a burning, personal question that you think might be right for a horary reading? Get in touch!

 

On Mercury in Scorpio

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Hot-stepping Mercury has swung into Scorpio, where he will stay until just before midnight on the 5th of November*. Mercury joins expansive Jupiter in the watery depths of Scorpio, plunging into the foundations of the earth and assisting Jupiter in bringing light to the darknesses within each one of us and leading us away from our attachments to those things which pass away and toward those factors and people which allow us to experience life transformed and renewed.

In Greco-Roman myth, Hermes was not just the messenger of the Olympian gods, but he also served an important role as a psychopomp, that is, a deity charged with guiding the souls of the departed into the next life in the underworld.

The painting featured in this post is a late 19th-century work by the Hungarian Jewish artist Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, depicting a dark-clad Hermes accompanying the souls of the departed to the banks of the Acheron where they will pass into the next life.

This painting is a stunning image of the resistance with which we approach letting go of our attachments; each of the souls, save those of the very young and very old, grasp for Hermes and attempt to get him to slow down his pace so that they can linger in the twilight of the world above just a bit longer. Yet Mercury stands unfazed amid the souls who are desperate to hold on to their attachments, and peacefully bids them to continue forward, holding his staff of healing out for those who cannot stand on their own.

Consider the mythic parallels between Mercury’s staff Caduceus, the bronze serpent Nehushtan in the Hebrew Bible, and the serpentine figure of the crucified Christ as we see him depicted in Eastern iconography.

In the Greeks’ telling of the mystery of death, every soul’s fate is not behind, but before them; the more ready a soul is to embrace their new reality, the better time they’ll have, and perhaps what for many is Hades can become Elysium. For the Greeks, our experience of the afterlife was determined a matter of virtuous acts; the more virtuous you were in your living, the more peaceful your dying and afterlife would be.

Yet for us, it may be a matter of learning to accept responsibility for our roles in our own stories, examining with fearless honesty (as Jupiter assists us in doing) those areas in which we have failed so that we may properly make amends with parties wronged—including making amends with ourselves.

Mercury’s glide through Scorpio over the next several weeks may help us let go of our attachments to our sense of shame and unworthiness or from the myth of perfection in order to assist us in accepting what we are: souls beloved and being healed. The path of healing is not to avoid things which feel like death, as detachment can indeed feel; the path of healing leads straight through death to the other side.

*Remember that the Fifth of November incident in English history was about throwing off a Protestant parliament to revert back to a Catholic theocracy—in other words, an attempt to return to the world “as it was before,” not dissimilar from the souls clambering back towards the sunlight in this painting. In that vein, it continues to baffle me that the Guy Fawkes grimace has become the symbol for “progress” used by Anonymous.

 

On the Road

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Howdy, folks! I’m digging in for some serious work over the next few months as my progressed ascendant and midheaven change signs to Aries and Capricorn, respectively. Yikes!

So, I wanted to set some intentions for what this space will become over the next several months as I expand my astrological practice and what I am planning to accomplish. This website isn’t just a client portal; I’ll also be writing content in the form of short essays on astrological themes and monthly (or even weekly!) horoscopes for each of the Sun/rising signs.

My goal is to have these written and posted for every Monday, beginning next week (October 23rd.)

Right now, I am running an “open beta” promotion in order to continue to bolster my client base. For a suggested donation of $45 I am offering a 45-minute natal consultation that will review whichever areas you specify. This includes a recording and PDF copies of the charts consulted.

This is so I can develop some additional helps in preparing for consultations so that I can focus my preparatory work; that is, if you want to know about your finances I won’t spend a lot of time studying your chart for your love life!

But, I need to know the right questions to ask so that you feel like you are getting a helpful, targeted reading.

One thing I’m excited about is a forthcoming mini-e-book I’ve been writing on calculating charts the hard way! If you want to learn how to calculate a birth chart the old-fashioned way, it’s not too terribly difficult—this guide’ll give you a nice little step-by-step crash course on basic astrology math.

I know Solar Fire and Astro.com are things and I sure as h*ck don’t write all my own charts out by hand, but I think it’s important that we know how to do this. This resource will be free for folks to download once completed.

Lastly, I am getting ready to begin the School of Traditional Astrology’s online Horary Practitioners’ Course, taught by Wade Caves. Of all the branches of astrology I think horary to be the most enjoyable and most user-friendly; we’re not talking about the entire destiny of a human life with a horary reading, but rather a specific question. I’ve had some great experiences reading horary charts and would love to take a crack at answering any of your pressing horary questions!

The open beta price for horary consultations is a $30 suggested donation; send me an email and we’ll get you set up!

On Jupiter in Scorpio

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Jupiter enters Scorpio today! The astrological world usually livens up a bit any time one of the outer planets changes sign, as the farther out from the Sun the planet is, the longer it takes to move around the zodiac—and the more profound of a shift we feel as that planet’s energies change style to accommodate their new digs.

Jupiter is the Greater Benefic, the Bringer of Jollity, with ties to faith, philosophy, knowledge, education, and authority. Jupiter signifies freedom, release, and stewardship. Because of his moderately warm and moist temperament (not the literal planet, but the starry archetype! The actual planet would kill us with radiation before we even got to the top of the atmosphere), Jupiter is given to connecting hearts and minds as well as initiating shifts in perspective. He is a healer, a physician, a pedagogue, a friend. If Saturn is the Creepy Uncle, Jupiter is the Cool Dad of the solar system.

We see Jupiter’s archetype manifest in fiction in the persons of Little John of the Robin Hood legend and Professor Dumbledore. In history we see Jupiter’s archetype in the likes of St Nicholas the Wonderworker (from whom the Santa Claus legend derives), capriciously benevolent in all his dealings—yet who famously slugged Arius in the face at the first ecumenical council in 325 CE.

As Jupiter moves into watery Scorpio he will demand of us growth and expansion of the sort enshrined in the Fourth and Eighth steps of the Twelve Steps: “We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves” and “we made a list of all the persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends with them all.” Jupiter illuminates the still and deep waters of Scorpio in our psyches and in our behaviors and asks that we look to the bottom of the sea to find what is lurking within, sharing light and making amends with our shadow sides.

Because Scorpio is a nocturnal sign, Jupiter does not manifest as brilliantly here but his power becomes more focused on this kind of searching work in our psyches. Moreover he expands in this probing fashion whichever area of our birth chart Scorpio is to be found in. For example, in my own chart Scorpio is my tenth whole-sign house; Jupiter is now calling me to examine fearlessly my motivations and decisions surrounding my career, asking me to be true to my sense of vocation over against my desire to chase after dignity and status through ill-intended ego projects.

If you have a night chart, Jupiter is the benefic contrary to sect; the lessons you learn during this 13-month phase of your journey will not come as easily as they will for those of us who have a day chart. Yet the lessons will come all the same.

One more point: as the nocturnal malefic Mars rules Scorpio, Mars has a hand in calling Jupiter’s shots and directing Jupiter’s energy over this period of time. In fact, as Jupiter is in Mars’ house, Mars will be setting Jupiter’s agenda, especially as Mars enters Scorpio not too long after Jupiter does. It’s as though Mars and Jupiter will be teaming up across party lines to do the work in your Scorpio room. Because Mars will be on his own home turf, he’s like to behave himself!

The image that comes to mind is any episode of the A&E show Hoarders; Jupiter is the psychologist and the camera crew who comes into the compulsive hoarder’s home, while Mars is the cleanup crew and the hard conversations that have to happen in order for lasting change to occur in the life of the person who has become so overwhelmed by the stuff they’ve accumulated.

A similar show ran around the same time as Hoarders was on called Clean House, hosted at first by Niecy Nash and in later seasons by Tempestt Bledsoe. The problems were the same, but the tone was night and day—where Hoarders focused on the disasters going on in the house, Clean House focused on the opportunities! So those of us with day charts might get more Clean House and night charts might be a Hoarders situation.

So perhaps this transit will be for you a time of cleaning house in whichever part of your chart Scorpio is to be found in. Not sure which part is which? Run your chart, or get in touch with me and we can sit down to talk about how this next year might shake out for you.

Peace and all good, as ever.