Ask Christine Astrology

You’ll remember that I put up a horary chart a few weeks ago asking about the weather for my 4th of July family barbecue. (Here’s the original post if you missed it.) My prediction was “a hot summer day, but not an uncomfortable one, and not too dry.” I was right on two counts. What we actually got was surprisingly mild (comfortable) and slightly damp (not too dry) weather - but not what you’d call hot.

We woke up to rain in the morning (the Boston area has had its own monsoon season this year, with regular afternoon thunderstorms almost daily since the solstice), and I thought my prediction had gone astray. But the rain had stopped completely by 3pm, the start time of the party. We had mild temperatures and that not unpleasant hint of humidity that follows after rain. We left all the windows open for the breeze, and half our guests congregated on the back porch where we were grilling, where the fresh air was anything but oppressive. No direct sunlight, as it was overcast, but no extremes of any sort.

My thought on this outcome versus my prediction is that, since the North Node increases what it contacts and the South Node decreases, the presence of Mars on the South Node should have told me to tone down my overall forecast from “hot” to “not too hot.” Also, my notion that “Sun/Venus are also widely sextile Mars, another indication that the humidity is pleasant and not unbearable” proved true. It wasn’t prime suntan conditions, but it was utterly comfortable.

Notes for the future: I wonder if I should have considered the trine from the Moon, which is in closer orb than the wide Sun/Venus sextile? Or maybe Moon opposite Sun indicates the all-day cloud layer that never quite let the sun shine through.

My friend has sent an update on the woman asking, “Is he the man of my life?” two months before her wedding. (See original post and chart.) Apparently the wedding has been postponed for now. I hope everything works out for the client, though, considering she went to the trouble of consulting an astrologer about her relationship, she clearly had her own doubts about it.

Also, that extra-important Mercury - the planet that all her significators and her fiance’s were focused on - turned out to be a close friend who hangs out with them all the time. That was one of the possibilities I considered, as the chart’s 11th house includes intercepted Gemini, ruled by Mercury. How close is close? Mercury’s just a couple of degrees from the querent’s significators, Sun and Venus, so verrrrry close.

Hooray, a cosmic challenge from Beth Turnage! She’s just answered a horary question for a client who wants to know if she should start a blog; but when I pointed out that Beth’s software was giving her the wrong ascendant, she replied, “Then how would you interpret the chart you propose? I’m sure Catherine would appreciate a second opinion.” Can do, Beth. And awaaaaaay we go…

Question: I’m thinking about starting a blog that deals with world religions and how their beliefs can help us deal with emotions. Would this be a good venture or would I just be spinning my wheels?

(Chart data: 17 June 2008, 6:05pm EDT, Middletown, CT 41N34 72W39. This is the time and place of the question as Beth originally received it. Click to enlarge the chart.)

A late degree of Scorpio is rising, so the querent is signified by Mars and the Moon (co-ruler of the querent in a horary question). Some believe that a late degree rising means the question comes too late or is being asked from desperation, as if the querent has exhausted her other options. It does NOT mean that the chart is not radical, i.e. unfit to judge. You can judge a chart even when it has a late degree rising; it may simply mean that the moment for the opportunity has passed.

What signifies the question? She is not asking, “Should I start a blog?” for its own sake. She wants to know, “Would this be a good venture?” In other words, “Can I profit from blogging?”

In questions of profit from a given endeavor, we must turn the chart and look at the 2nd house from the house that stands for that endeavor. So, “How much can I earn from this job?” The 2nd from the 10th (the job) is the 11th (the salary). “How much can I get from my ex-husband?” The 2nd from the 7th (the ex) is the 8th (his money).

“Can I profit from blogging?” Well, what is blogging? Is it one’s creative art (the 5th house)? Or is it more like publishing one’s knowledge (the 9th house)? (It’s not the 3rd house, as that is related to one’s elementary-level knowledge. John Frawley points out in The Horary Textbook that you could ask something like “Can I profit from my ability to read and write?”, so the knowledge there would be in the 3rd and its profit in the 4th.)

Let us say in this case that blogging is an expression of one’s knowledge, and that the querent is hoping to profit from her knowledge of world religions. So, the blog itself is the 9th house and its ruler; profit from the blog is the 10th house and its ruler. The 9th in this chart has Leo on the cusp, so the blog is ruled by the Sun. Virgo is on the MC, so its profit is ruled by Mercury.

Now you need to find out two things: is there any money to be had (look at the condition of the significator of the profit), and is any of it coming to the querent (see if said money is forming an aspect or otherwise connected to anything representing the querent or her money - the 1st or the 2nd house).

Let’s start with the first part. Profit is ruled by Mercury. How is Mercury? Wow - by essential dignity, its sign placement, it’s very strong! Mercury in this chart is in its own sign, Gemini, so at first glance we would think there is a huge reserve to be tapped. The better the essential dignity of the planet, the better the quality of what it represents. So this Mercury is potentially rich.

But that alone doesn’t tell the whole story. How is Mercury by accidental dignity? Not so good. At 13 Gemini 05, it is still retrograde, just 6 minutes of arc from stationing. It’s moving incredibly slowly, which is very uncomfortable for the winged messenger, and it’s retrograde: traveling “in the wrong direction.” The querent’s own expression “spinning my wheels” is a particularly apt description of the image we get here: a traveler that’s trying to get moving but only becomes more stuck.

So, the money could be good, but something about it is molasses-slow and moving in the wrong direction. Now let’s address the second condition: can we connect the money to the querent somehow? To do so, we want to find an astrological connection between Mercury, the profit, and something representing the querent or her own money: so, 1st house, Ascendant, Mars (ruling the 1st), 2nd house (her money), 2nd house cusp, or ruler of the 2nd (Jupiter).

1. Is Mercury located in the 1st? No.
2. Is Mercury applying to aspect the Ascendant? No. It stations at 12 Gemini 59, long before it can get anywhere near Taurus, the opposite sign to Scorpio.
3. Is Mercury applying to aspect Mars? No, there is a separating sextile between Mercury at 13 Gemini and Mars at 21 Leo. Separating aspects won’t help us. We want an applying aspect to describe what’s coming in the future.
4. Is Mercury located in the 2nd? No.
5. Is Mercury applying to aspect the 2nd house cusp? No. The 2nd house cusp is 26 Sagittarius; Mercury is approaching its station, and for these purposes, we do not carry it through station and allow it to reverse direction to perfect the aspect. Station is the end of the road.
6. Is Mercury applying to aspect Jupiter, lord of the 2nd? No.

So, unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if blogging would be a good source of income for the querent. That doesn’t necessarily mean that she should completely drop the idea. Mars, her significator, is ruled by the Sun, signifying the blog - it’s clear she loves this topic and the knowledge and is more motivated by sharing what she knows than by the money. But if profit is the point of the effort, she may be better advised to seek other ways of bringing in some cash.

Questions, comments, clarifications? I’d love to hear from you.

My husband loves 4th of July fireworks, and this year we’ve invited his family to come barbecue with us and then go downtown to watch the fireworks. My horary question this afternoon: what sort of weather will we have for the party?

(Chart data: 17 June 2008, 5:12pm EDT, Boston, MA. Click to enlarge the chart.)

I am asking specifically about the weather for a party, so I’ll look at what’s happening to the lord of the 5th house, the house of fun and entertainment. If I had a more general question about, say, the weather all summer long, I’d look at the 1st house, describing general conditions where I am.

Aries is on the 5th house cusp. The ruler of Aries is Mars, so Mars is the significator of the party. (Hot, dry, cardinal Aries is, by the way, an appropriate description of a barbecue (cooking) party with fireworks afterwards.) But note that the 5th house cusp describes the party, not the weather at the party.

How will the weather be? Start by looking at the sign that Mars, the party, is in. In this chart, Mars is at 21 Leo 53. Leo is a fire sign: hot and dry. So the day will be hot and dry. Perfectly reasonable for a July day in New England.

To qualify this description a little, we can look at the dispositor of the lord of the 5th house - that is, the planet ruling Leo, where Mars currently is - that is, the Sun. Sun in this chart is at 27 Gemini 02. Gemini is an air sign: hot and moist. So Sun in Gemini increases the heat and adds a little humidity. I note that Sun is also conjunct Venus, the lesser benefic, also in Gemini; so I would say that Venus lends a temperate and pleasant note to the day. Sun/Venus are also widely sextile Mars, another indication that the humidity is pleasant and not unbearable.

So the judgment is clear: a hot summer day, but not an uncomfortable one, and not too dry. If you wanted to keep tweaking your judgment, you could factor in the trine from the Moon in hot, dry Sagittarius; you wouldn’t consider the quincunx from Jupiter, since the quincunx is not a Ptolemaic aspect. Finally, I notice that Mars is on the South Node, which could mean something goes awry at the barbecue… but hey, at least it’ll be a beautiful day.

Practically every question under the sun has a place in a horary chart. And relationship questions are certainly not beyond the scope of what a horary chart can address. So how come, when you ask a question like, “Is he the one?” or “When will I find my soul mate?”, the horary chart won’t necessarily play along? Why, as I’ve been taught, does the chart about “soul mates” usually instead describe the next significant relationship to come along, instead of the big kahuna?

Maybe the problem is that we’ve got the definition of soul mate all wrong. What is a soul mate, after all? Is it someone who intuitively “gets” us, the one chosen at the dawn of time for us, the one who completes us? I’m starting to think that this concept of soul mate - one ideal partner among the billions available on the planet - is not necessarily one supported by the universe we currently inhabit.

Perhaps the soul actually requires something very different, a completely other education, than what we’ve come to expect a soul mate to deliver. It may not all be the Libran ideal of candlelight dinners and red roses, but there are those who say that the partner you find is the guru you need at that time. I think the chart delivers what we’re asking for; but we don’t realize that we’re being told exactly what we need to know.

Maybe when we ask for a soul mate, instead of expecting “the one who completes us” in some idealized, romantic way, we can expect the one who reflects us: one who shows us what we need to do in order to grow. If the next relationship to come along does not match our expectation of what a soul mate is for, perhaps it’s our expectations that need to change.

Chart example: Is he the man of my life?

(Chart data: 9 June 2008, 9:35am in Paris. Click to enlarge the chart.)

The querent (not a client of mine, but a friend of a friend who showed me this chart) is engaged to be married. The wedding is two months away. If I were her astrologer, I might like to ask her, “What brought this question on? Are you concerned that you shouldn’t go through with the wedding?” This is just to be certain I understood exactly what the question is. I might also ask, “Is there anyone else involved?” before setting the chart… just in case.

For a question like, “Is he the man of my life?”, we want to investigate a few things. One, what sort of person is he? Look at his significator(s). Two, is there mutual interest between the two of them, or is something else getting in the way? Look at the receptions between them. Three, will the relationship last? Look at the Part of Marriage.

Leo is rising, so our female querent is signified by the Sun (Lord 1), the Moon, and Venus (natural ruler of women in a heterosexual relationship question). Aquarius is on the 7th house cusp, so her fiance is signified by Saturn only. (We can’t give him the Sun, natural ruler of men in a heterosexual relationship question, because it is Lord 1, so the querent has first dibs on its services.)

So, what sort of person is he? He’s represented by Saturn at 2 Virgo 52 in the second house. He is probably older, stern, of a scientific or analytical mindset; in her house of finances, he may be interested in her money. Saturn has no essential dignity or debility in this part of Virgo: he is peregrine, without any particular rudder or motivation here. Also, and somewhat troubling, Saturn only has scant interest in our querent. It is in the face of Lord 1 (Sun), so he only barely likes her personality; it is in the triplicity (good) and the fall (ugh) of Venus, so his attitude toward her as Woman is mixed; and it is in no dignities or debilities of the Moon, so - can it be? - he has no special interest in her heart. This is especially strange when you consider that Moon is just separating from conjunction with Saturn. They look like they share similar values, but he doesn’t care for her feelings. To me, that’s not promising for long-term happiness. (She as Sun/Venus in Gemini likes Saturn all right. She’s in Saturn’s triplicity, an essential dignity comparable to friendship. We can’t expect all relationships to show ideal conditions at all times; if both parties were in each other’s triplicity and there were other indications of stability of the relationship, I’d vote yes for its success.)

What is he interested in, then? Being in Virgo, Saturn shows a great deal of interest in Mercury. That’s funny. All the querent’s significators are ruled by Mercury, too. She’s represented by Sun in Gemini, Venus cazimi in Gemini, and Moon in Virgo. And Mercury is retrograde in its own sign, separating from conjunction with Sun/Venus. Could Mercury be someone our querent has recently broken up with but hasn’t gotten over? Alternately, since Mercury rules this chart’s third house and a Mercury sign makes up the brunt of the eleventh, I wonder if it’s a sibling, neighbor, or friend who’s somehow important to the soon-to-be-married couple. (This is why you need to ask the querent what’s going on before you look at the chart. You don’t want to introduce extra characters into the drama without good reason.) This is another red flag to me.

How will they get along after marriage? To answer this, we can look at the Arabian part of marriage, calculated as Ascendant + Descendant - Venus. In this chart, it’s at mutable 21 Pisces 09, ruled by Jupiter in its fall in cardinal Capricorn. The mutable Part of Marriage suggests much changeability and the need to adapt; its ruler in its fall in a cardinal sign suggests a rapid decline, something that’s over soon after it begins. Again, not especially promising for the long haul.

So, is he the man of her life? I have my doubts. Talking to the client, I might gently suggest that there is some unresolved stuff around a third party that she needs to consider before getting married - someone of critical importance to both of them - and explain that this chart doesn’t carry the signs I’d hope to see for a lasting relationship. But I’d choose my words carefully. We are not all-knowing, and we must not utterly destroy hope if we can possibly help it.

Funny I should write about receptions in the astrological chart the other day - specifically the hypothetical dynamic between Mars in Leo and Sun in Gemini. Tonight I wrote up a horary chart for a woman asking if the guy she has a crush on at work is “the one,” and if I could tell her when they’d be together, if ever. Scorpio was rising, so her significators were Mars in Leo and Moon in Taurus. With Taurus on the descendant, his significators were Venus and Sun, both in Gemini.

What could I tell her? Mars is ruled by Sun, Moon is ruled by Venus, she’s clearly smitten with him. But he, alas, does not reciprocate her feelings. Sun is in the face of Mars, Venus (in this chart) is just 10′ of arc from entering the face of Mars, so there is a teeny weeny bit of interest from him. But to quote John Frawley in The Horary Textbook, this is “better than indifference, but not by much.” Frawley’s example of reception by face continues, “Will she go out with me?… Yes, she will - if her boyfriend is out of town, her fridge is empty and there’s nothing on TV.” Ouch.

Very few horary charts are going to be grand-slam positive, all-systems-go affirmations of your intentions. Often they can give insight on a relationship; it’s just not always the insight you hoped to receive. I think, too, that some clients secretly expect that the astrologer will not only read the stars but also rearrange them into a more favorable alignment. Me, I’m just a translator, checking my cosmic phrasebook and consulting the old texts for a read on those particularly tricky idioms.

A coworker came by Friday afternoon with a question she hoped astrology could answer. “I haven’t seen my silver heart bracelet since last Saturday, when I was out with friends. We went to one restaurant, then another for dessert, and then I came home. Can you help me find my bracelet?”

Chart data: May 9, 2008, 4:09pm EDT, Boston, MA. 7 Libra 11 rising, Moon at 20 Cancer 02.

(Click to enlarge the chart.)

I know astrologers who are fantastic at finding lost objects with horary. I’m not great at it. I know how it’s supposed to work; it’s just that I usually cast charts that say right off the bat, “It’s hopeless, they’ll never find it.”

In this chart, Venus as ruler of the 1st represents the querent; her co-significator is Moon in Cancer. Notice right away that the querent at 11 Taurus is combust the Sun at 19 Taurus. Lord 1 combust can mean that the querent is unable to see the object - you know, the way things can be in plain sight, you just completely overlook them. Also notice that both Sun and Moon are above the horizon; this is a positive sign, suggesting “the lights are on” and what’s lost may be found.

For a lost object, we have three options: ruler of 2nd, ruler of 4th, or “natural” ruler of the type of item. That shows us Mars (Lord 2) in Cancer in the 10th, Saturn (Lord 4) in Virgo in the 11th, or Venus (natural ruler of jewelry) in Taurus in the 8th. (It’s not a problem to have the querent and the object signified by the same planet.)

Because Lord 2, Mars, is in the Moon’s sign, and Moon rules silver, which is what the bracelet is made of, I’ve honed in on Mars as my most likely candidate. The first thing I want to know is whether there’s even a chance of recovering the object, by looking for an applying aspect between Mars and Lord 1, or Mars and Moon. I’m looking for something that shows the object returning to the querent. The problem is that there is no such connection with Mars and my coworker. Mars is at the last gasp of Cancer, at 29 Cancer 59′45″. It will change sign before Moon or Venus (my coworker’s planets) can aspect it. When an aspect is prohibited by one planet’s changing sign, that’s called frustration.

So, right away, I am pretty sure the bracelet is gone for good and my coworker won’t recover it. Bummer.

There’s something I’m curious about, though. Can I fairly say that Mars, once it changes sign, applies immediately to square the 2nd house cusp, and take that as showing the bracelet’s return to the querent’s pocket, metaphorically speaking? I know it’s a reach. Let’s imagine that I can, just for the sake of illustrating what you’d do next if you had a lost object horary on your hands.

If I can determine that the bracelet will return, then I have to describe where it is. Mars in this chart is in the 10th house. This could indicate either her work office or her home office, if she has one. It could also indicate the living room in her home.

Where exactly in this space is it? Mars at the cusp of one sign and entering another can indicate the doorway of the space. Mars in a water sign can indicate a damp space (near a fish tank?); it can also mean a comfortable space, such as a chair or sofa. Mars about to enter a fire sign can mean the bracelet is near a heater or near the walls.

What else can we see about Mars? It’s widely opposite stationary Jupiter in Capricorn. Jupiter means BIG things, royal things, expensive things, purple things. Think large, generous, spreading, proliferating; like a big climbing ivy. The opposition would tell us to look across the room from that big Jupiter thing.

So perhaps the bracelet is in her living room, wedged in a sofa cushion where she can’t see it, or between a sofa and the wall. It could be across from something big and expensive (and, I don’t know, broken or jammed, from Jupiter’s being stationary - stuck - and in its fall - poor condition).

But, again, that’s with the understanding that we are reaching for the Mars square 2nd house cusp to promise recovery. And that may not quite be practicing by the book, as I’ve said.

You can understand why these charts are the toughest ones to get right. First, if you judge “you won’t find it,” you look like you’re not even trying. Second, if you do think it can be found, you’ve got to make seven planets represent the sum of creation, and come up with a plausible description of the location from that.

So I’ll suggest to my coworker that she go through her living room carefully, focusing on the sofa. It’s worth a try, anyway.

I’m still thinking about my husband’s question about the sex of his sister’s baby. A colleague points out that Mercury’s location in feminine Pisces and quite close to superfemme, dignified Venus in Pisces would make it more feminine than masculine in this chart. That would tip the balance toward girl-baby, not boy-baby. I can see that.

For bonus points, I decided to consult The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology by the Persian scientist/astrologer/philosopher al-Biruni, written in 1029 AD or so. He’s got lists of Arabian parts (lots) for determining this and that. One of them is called “As to whether expected birth male or female.” Perfect, I thought.

Then I looked closer. In my edition of the book, the formula is given as Ascendant + Moon’s dispositor - Moon. But somebody wrote a double-headed arrow over that to indicate that the planets should be transposed, and that the formula ought to be Ascendant + Moon - Moon’s dispositor. Which to use? Heck, let’s calculate both.

I will spare you lots of boring math. You’re welcome. The first formula puts this lot at 2 Gemini 31, telling me to look at its ruler, Mercury. The second formula puts it at 13 Pisces 23, suggesting Jupiter is my key planet. That’s the way you work with parts or lots, by the way; you figure out where the lot is, and then look at its planetary ruler to see what you can learn. (You can look at the lot itself, but the planetary ruler is typically more important.)

How’s Mercury? Oriental, so masculine; but in Pisces with Venus, which is pretty feminine. Sextile Jupiter and Moon in feminine Capricorn. How’s Jupiter, on the other hand? Masculine planet in a feminine sign, conjunct the Moon (which is nearly angular, so accidentally strong), sextile the Mercury/Venus conjunction in Pisces. Girl power continues to predominate.

So maybe it’s a girl.

My sister-in-law is pregnant. Driving home after visiting her last month, my husband wondered aloud, “I wonder if she’s having a boy or a girl?” I looked around, made a note of the town we were passing through and the time, and put up a chart when we got home.

Chart data: 30 March 2008, 8:12pm EDT, Palmer, MA USA (72W20 42N10)

William Lilly says, to determine whether male or female, “See to the ascendant, the Lord that Sign, the Sign of the fifth and Lord of the fifth.” I trust you already know which signs are masculine and which are feminine? No? Okay, fire and air signs masculine; earth and water signs feminine.

He also advises us to look at the nature of the planets themselves. Lilly says the masculine planets are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Sun; Moon and Venus are feminine; and Mercury changes. I’ll explain more about that in a moment.

On to the chart at hand. For this horary, we can’t go to the first and fifth houses as directed, because the querent is asking about his sister, not himself (indeed). We have to turn the chart. What we’re doing is identifying the correct houses for the person asked about.

My husband is the querent. He asked the question about his sister. Siblings are found in the third house. So his sister’s “ascendant” for the purposes of following Lilly’s rules is Sagittarius, the sign on the 3rd house cusp. Sagittarius is masculine. Jupiter, Sag’s ruler, is a masculine planet. But it’s in Capricorn: feminine. So that’s two votes for boy, one vote for girl.

His sister’s baby is the 5th from the 3rd: the 7th. Aries on the 7th house cusp: masculine. Mars, Aries’ ruler, is a masculine planet. It’s in Cancer: feminine. Two more votes for boy, one more for girl.

So I suspect it’s going to be a boy. The tendency is toward the masculine side, with four votes to two. But just for fun, I want to see what the Moon is up to. Lilly says, if the testimonies are split, have a look at the Moon. You want to see what sign it is in, and whether it’s applying to a masculine or feminine planet.

Moon in this chart is in Capricorn: feminine. It’s applying to Mercury. It figures! Mercury, the gender-bender, changes gender depending on what it’s near and where it is relative to the Sun. Mercury is in feminine Pisces and recently conjunct Venus in Pisces. That’s a lot of girl power. But Mercury is also what’s called “oriental of the Sun” in this chart. That is, if we cycle the planets around so that Sun is on the Ascendant (i.e. sunrise), we’d see that Mercury will have risen first, in which case “he is reputed Masculine” as Lilly says.

But that’s still a lot of girl power. This one’s tough. I think I’ll go on record and say it’s going to be a boy. But I’m maybe 60% sure of that. We’ll know by the end of August, I hope!

“Dear Christine: I wanted to know if a long-term, settled and happy committed relationship is likely for me within the next 5-10 years or so.” Read the full question and my answer on Jeffrey Kishner’s Seduction Central.