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.

You know that drop-down of house systems (Placidus, Koch, Equal House) you see in your astrology software but never think about much? For horary astrology, the one I was taught to select is called Regiomontanus, named for a German mathematician and astrologer born June 6, 1436, in Bavaria. Not that he was born Regiomontanus: that’s a Latinization of part of his German name, Johannes Mueller von Koenigsberg.

What little I know of him, you can learn too from Wikipedia. You’ll learn that he lived to about age 40, and became famous in his lifetime for his extensive writings. During his life, he published maybe 1/4 of what he hoped to write. But his ephemerides were widely used - even by Christopher Columbus, some 28 years after Regiomontanus’ death, to predict a lunar eclipse and use that knowledge to save his skin.

I must admit, trying to understand the rationales behind this or that house system - great circles, right ascensions, prime meridians - leaves my head befuddled. Deborah Houlding has written a quite elaborate and detailed article about house systems which you can read on her website, Skyscript.co.uk if you’re very curious. 

Meanwhile, I like birthdays and will happily observe that of a long-gone scholar, born 572 years ago today, whose efforts influence my own. Thanks, Herr Mueller von Koenigsberg!

A heartfelt thank-you to Paul Wade for selecting askchristine.wordpress.com as his Site of the Week this week. Paul’s own site is fun to explore, full of resources and links for astrologers of all levels, so please stop by chez Paul and say hi.

Meanwhile, remember that tomorrow, June 7th, we’ll see Mercury cazimi, in Gemini, retrograde. You might like to… write with your non-dominant hand. Write in an ancient language (retrograde = going back to the past). Tell stories of your childhood. Or your great-grandparents’ childhoods. Hit the library. Study history. Edit your novel. Take back something you said.

What would make this the best possible Mercury retrograde for you?

Is the astrological work you do “for entertainment only”? New Consumer Protection Regulations go into effect in the United Kingdom on Monday which will require astrologers and others to put just such a disclaimer on their services.

According to BBC News and The Times Online, astrologers will now be forced to tell clients that their work is “for entertainment only” and not “experimentally proven.” Also included in the new laws: psychics, mediums, spiritualists, faith healers, and other practitioners of “paranormal activities.”

David Wighton, providing business commentary for Times Online, writes, “Some (astrologers) have argued that it is unfair to treat them differently from religions that offer promises of eternal life, although these promises are no more proven.”

My question to astrologers in the UK and elsewhere: how do you feel about the prospect of being forced to provide a disclaimer? To astrology clients: does this affect how you feel about approaching an astrologer for a reading?

For everyone finding their way to askchristine.wordpress.com for the first time - whether it’s via Lynn Hayes’ and Julie Demboski’s blogs, your own searches, Astrology News, or Astrology Blogger - welcome! Read, comment, browse, explore, enjoy!

I was fascinated to see the conversation that erupted after Lynn Hayes picked up the discussion about the ethics of predicting death from an astrological chart. It’s over here if you’d like to see - especially visit the comments section on that blog post.

The only time I’ve ever been asked directly about death was more than 10 years ago, when I was a modern astrologer. I was doing speed readings at a small, private party; the hostess gave me the birth data for all six of her guests ahead of time, and I met with each one privately for 15 minutes to talk about their charts and provide quick transit-based forecasts for the coming year. I remember one woman asking me point-blank, “I would like to know when and how I am going to die.” I was floored. I believe I gave her a non-fatalistic reply about how it’s not necessarily shown or set in stone, etc., but the truth is that I did NOT want to touch that question. Nowadays I don’t think modern astrology could even have provided her with an answer.

Here’s where I stand on it now, having forsaken modern astrology for the traditional perspective. I believe it is possible to predict death, possibly not to the date and time but certainly to a given season of a given year. I suspect it is possible to anticipate the likely cause of death, too. I don’t know how to do it - yet. I would like to know how it’s done.

Would I ever actually do it? Living in the litigation-happy United States, I probably would not. In an ideal world, I would like to believe that anyone who comes to me with a question they expect me to answer with astrology ought to be prepared to hear the answer. However, I have no idea what to do about self-fulfilling prophecies, or about those who let their own thoughts about the prediction cause them stress or grief. And I really don’t know what to do about clients who, given what they asked for (if not what they wanted to hear), sue anyway.

That said - I would definitely not volunteer information about a person’s death if they aren’t bringing up the topic themselves. I can’t imagine what’s going through the mind of the 21st century astrologer who would actually bring it up without the client’s requesting it. Warnings of danger, sure. But unsolicited information about the end of life? I don’t think we live in a time or a culture that supports having that knowledge.

What do you think? Have you ever been asked to talk about death - astrologically or otherwise?

(I did not put her in the box of astrology books. She’s the one who decided it was a nice place for her bath.)

Happy birthday wishes to John Frawley today, May 16th, as the Sun transits past Caput Algol. Woohoo! If, after all my “Frawley says this” and “Frawley says that” all the time, you still haven’t read anything he’s written, go pick up free downloads of the first four issues of his Astrologer’s Apprentice magazine and have a look. Or poke around his website for excerpts from the magazine and more. Always worthwhile, always insightful, very much fun. Enjoy!

It’s as simple as that. Professional astrologer Julie Demboski is offering speed readings (today? tomorrow, too? not forever, that’s for sure) for just US $10 per question. Click to email Julie for more information.

This is Mercury-in-Gemini swift astrology; not the time for lengthy explanations or astrology lessons. (Though I’m sure you can book a full-length reading if you prefer.)

Go ahead. The time is right. The price is, too. Ask Julie.

Random thoughts as the weekend draws to a close.

• Astrology & ethics: a student of astrology writes to ask if you will join forces with him in applying astrology to solve a missing person case. The student hopes to collect a cash reward for information leading to the missing person. Would you agree to it?

• I wrote a few weeks ago about Saturn’s station in early Virgo. I mentioned, “Lodged in Virgo, the sign ruling the intestines, stationary Saturn is a tummy ache that just won’t move.” This weekend, during Saturn’s station, I visited a relative hospitalized with exactly that complaint. I’ve read in Frawley and elsewhere that second station (the one where the planet finally turns direct after being retrograde) is like an ill person getting up from his sickbed; still severely weak, but just beginning to improve. I hope so.

• A chart I was contemplating this morning had a minor fixed star, Porrima (or Caphir), on the ascendant. This is a star at about 10 Libra, appearing in the sky in the left arm of the constellation Virgo. Virgo, among other things, has been depicted as a winged angel. As I was trying to put together what Virgo’s left arm might signify, the Sarah McLachlan CD on the little stereo behind me played the song “Angel.” Lyrics? “You’re in the arms of an angel, may you find some comfort there.” Chills.

• Planning your next astrological vacation? How about Ibiza? (Stonehenge? Please. So last millennium.) In an article about a new 2009 Audi wagon, which was recently previewed on the Spanish-owned Mediterranean island, reporter Holly Reich manages to work in a nifty side note about Nostradamus. Apparently the 15th century astrologer (he of the cryptically prophetic quatrains) once predicted that Ibiza will be the only habitable place in the world once disaster wipes out the rest of our planet. I’m so there. To paraphrase Emma Goldman, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your cataclysm.”

What 17th century astrologer had horary clients lined up to consult him morning to night? Who was not just the best-selling astrology writer in England in his day, but the best-selling writer, period? Who was known as the “English Merlin” who predicted the Great Fire of London - 14 years ahead of time?

It’s William Lilly’s birthday today - sort of. I’m observing Lilly’s birthday today, May 1st, even though this isn’t the day of his actual solar return. His Sun is actually somewhere around 20 degrees of Taurus. The confusion has to do with the shift from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian one, which Great Britain adopted in 1752, moving all calendars forward about 11 days. So although Lilly is said to have been born on May 1st, 1602, in our calendars that comes out to something like May 12.

If it weren’t for William Lilly and his magnum opus, Christian Astrology, I couldn’t do the kind of astrology I practice today. As a guide to astrological practice, it has no equal. Writing in the English of his day, he distills the knowledge gained from a massive library and years upon years of practical experience so that future students like you and me might benefit.

So I’ve composed a poem in his honor. Please withhold your applause.

I used to think astrology was silly.
Then I discovered William Lilly.

If I’m asked to tell a girl, “Will he
marry me?” I turn to Lilly.

If she wants to meet a Tom, Dick, or Billy,
there is only one recourse. I read my Lilly.

Is the land you would purchase flat or hilly?
I know who can tell you. Ask Bill Lilly.

How healthy & strong is that young filly?
Horses are a 12th house matter, says Lilly.

Frawley put me through drill after drill. He
knew I would learn if I just checked Lilly.

Don’t apply what you learn willy-nilly.
Be methodical. Just like Lilly.

You say modern methods work. I say “Oh, really?
I know what does work, and its name is Lilly.”

Composer, author, and Bard College music professor Kyle Gann recently completed what he considers his magnum opus: The Planets, a 70-minute composition inspired by his study of astrology.

Aside from the major congratulations due anyone who has just completed a major work of art, Gann deserves attention for his very thoughtful post about how astrology has figured into his life and work. He’s a big fan of Dane Rudhyar (not just an astrologer, but a composer too, who knew?) and takes a Jungian approach to the study. And it takes a musician’s sense of time (and timing!) to point out, “Jupiter circles the sun every 12 years and Saturn every 29 years, with a conjunction approximately every 20 years? Now that’s a rhythm, cut me off a piece of that!”

Also don’t miss his list of favorite astrologically-inspired music, from the wonderful Holst Planets to John Coltrane. Time to start your own cosmic playlist, isn’t it?

Listen to MP3 snippets from an early performance of The Planets over here. Scroll down on that page; Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune available.

What do you think? Is this how you hear these planets sing? What’s on your cosmic playlist?

Side note: What must it feel like to be able to start a blog post with the words, “I finished my magnum opus today”?