This piece is the second in a collection of Facebook posts on beginners astrology.
“A few more posts on astrology for beginners. Most people are introduced to the subject through Sun signs and assume that this is what it is. Even though they learn that there are many more aspects to the subject, they believe planets in signs to be the most important theme.
This is not the case. In fact this obsession with signs is less than a 100 years old and entirely driven by the media.
Obviously it would be impossible for magazines and newspapers to produce individual horoscopes for each of their readers so they chose to do it on a collective basis.
This could not be done on a what time of day you were born basis, so had to be set up on a what month were you born in.
Astrologers have been drawn into this Sun sign obsession by their own need to make a living and the opportunities that this media approach opened up for them to target larger numbers of people.
So now, if you read any books on astrology, they will inevitably start with Sun signs, go on to discuss the other planets in the signs, from there (if there’s room) will include houses and if you are very lucky there will be something on aspects.
A few years ago I did some research on astrotwitter analysing every tweet made about the subject. Fewer than 1% of them made any reference to aspects.
It is my contention (supported by many others), that this obsession with signs has taken us further away from the real power of the subject, to describe the life themes of the person rather than the character.
Many traditional astrologers have been drawn to this branch of the subject because they felt the 20th century obsession with signs had lost something.
This is why there is such a stronger focus on houses and rulerships in traditional astrology.
The way most people learn about astrology now is a step by step, single placement method. This is encouraged by the vast majority of books on the subject.
You start with the Sun sign and there’s a few pages on each, then the Moon sign and the others.
Then we get onto what each planet in each house means and there’s a paragraph for each one. Eventually we get the same for the aspects.
So people (myself included) are introduced to astrology by learning to read charts in this way.
I would like to encourage a different approach.
I feel that the place to start with a chart is just to look at the overall pattern, not with separate placements.
Are the planets all bunched together or spread out? Is the spread even?
Is there are concentration in one hemisphere?
Are the personal planets in one area and the outer ones in another?
Which angles (Ascendant, Nadir, Descendant, Midheaven) have the strongest concentration of planets?
Is there a singleton planet off somewhere else?
Are there two separate concentrations that seem to be at odds with each other?
If we start to approach a chart in this way we can straight away get a sense of the main thrust of the person’s life.
Will they be mostly driven to focus on career (top of the chart), home and family (bottom), relationships (right side) or own stuff (left side)?
Are the other planets that try to distract them from these targets?
Are their personal planets saying they want to go in one direction but the patterns made with non personal ones suggesting that life will have other ideas?
Once we have a sense of the general thrust of a person’s life we can start building on that.
Which planets are they? What types of energy want to focus on career and what types on relationships for example.
Once we have a sense of which area of life the person has to focus on, we can then look at signs.
The signs will tell us how they will do that, what personal qualities they will bring to that quest.
By setting about understanding a chart in this way, we build a better understanding of how someone’s life is likely (and meant) to play out.
I feel that obsessing with signs first is trying to put the cart before the horse.
It may well be that an understanding of the signs provides us with a good description of what is in the cart.
The planets will tell us about the horse.
The houses will show which way the horse is going and the desired destination.
And the aspects will tell us what it will meet on the way, as in obstacles, diversions, complete changes in direction and even highway robbery.
There are obviously some charts we there is a strong crossover between signs and hemisphere emphasis. One that springs to mind is Lucy Lawless, who played Xena The Warrior Princess.
Xena is often used as a typical Aries type.
She has the Sun and Moon in Aries, but also the Ascendant, and her lights are right on it.
Some one with the Sun and Moon right on the Ascendant would have a very primal energy, one that demands expression. Her own direct personal concerns would dominate her life and everyone around her, or at least that would be her aim.
The fact that these placements are also in Aries, the first sign, the sign of assertion of the life force does give this extra power.
But it’s my view that the main thing that makes Xena uniquely that character is the fact that the Sun and Moon are right on the Ascendant.
I know someone who was born the day after with the lights at the bottom of the chart who is a very different character and is much more focused on home and family.
I have come across two others also born on that day that have very different lives.
Contrast Xena’s chart with Beyonce’s.
Again there is a strong emphasis on the left hand side of the chart and a focus around the Ascendant.
Beyonce is also a very powerful energy that demands to be expressed onto the stage of life. Another kind of primal force.
But the type of energy expressed is very different.
While Xena is all Aries, Beyonce is all Venus in Libra with some Scorpio/Pluto energy thrown into the mix as well.
It’s my contention that if Beyonce had been born 12 hours earlier (or later) and that stellium had been around the Descendant her life would have been dominated by the themes of her partner/marriage and we would probably have never heard of her.
So you can actually learn a lot about someone’s life without even having to consider signs.
When I first did a beginners thread a few days ago I included King Charles’ chart.
With the focus down the bottom of the chart, he is essentially a private person with his family and inheritance being the main theme. He would be happiest at home chatting with his vegetables.
But the Moon won’t let him do that. The Moon at the top of the chart will pull him away from his natural area of focus and force him to deal with and take a prominent role in the world out there.
It is also a fact that Moon is in the same degree (0 Taurus) as his mother’s Sun so you can see how her themes have dominated his life.
Contrast Charles’ chart with that of his son, Harry.
The emphasis here is in the upper half. It’s not so concentrated around the Midheaven but there is a spread across the top half of the chart. So Harry is someone who would naturally be drawn out there into the world but also have quite wide ranging interests within it.
For home the singleton planet that pulls his attention away from where he would naturally go and forces him to deal with other issues is also the Moon, down there at the bottom.
So someone who would be a natural out there in the world is constantly being asked to deal with family issues that distract him from his own purpose.
Also it’s very interesting to note that Harry’s Moon at 21.20 Taurus is exactly opposite Charles’ Sun at 22.25 Scorpio.
So Charles’ themes pull Harry away from his own natural direction in a similar way to how Liz’s themes pulled Charles away from his.”
To be continued.
Posted 10 Jul 2024
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