Whoa! Look at this Pluto on the IC!

This Pluto on the IC! 

As usual when reading a chart, I look first at the angles. They are the most powerful places.  I trust the time of birth is exact and I say Whoa! This Pluto on the IC! Three degrees orb is tight. That’s a big Pluto. 

Reading charts seems like a very complex business, but the job can be enormously simplified thanks to prioritisation. We could almost read this chart by reading only one thing: Pluto on the IC. 

It feels like an abyss opening under a cradle, like the embrace of a crocodile’s jaw, a fascinating black hole. 

Confronted with this power, consciousness can’t bear it. Half of it passes out, the other half splits and turns away, focuses on the light and quickly forgets! Forget what? Who knows what it was, once it has sunk into unconsciousness… There is a shadow, somewhere, that’s all. 

This Pluto doesn’t seem to challenge the personal planets with hard squares or opposition, but Pluto is Pluto and the IC is emotional foundations. 

Black Moon Lilith in Scorpio makes Pluto more intense. 

Black Moon Lilith in the 4th house adds emphasis to the difficult energies associated with home and emotional foundations.

Pluto conjunct with the IC counts as a BIG Pluto in the 4th house, even from the 3rd house side. 

We may also notice that Black Moon Lilith opposes Chiron, the wounded healer energy. 

The interaction of these two rather painful ones won’t make things better. No need to split hairs.

Pluto being super important, and Mercury very emphasised in the chart of a Gemini, the tight Pluto-Mercury trine can be understood as an essential pillar in the architecture of this chart. 

A trine is an easy flowing aspect, it won’t make Pluto easy but Mercury is likely to be somewhat nuclearly powered. What is the word for the extreme opposite of naive? If this person was a dog, they would sniff passengers boarding planes for  the drug squad and detect the smallest amounts the trafficking guys would be hiding even under layers of fat within their own bellies. 

On the other hand, trusting is not Pluto’s natural attitude. Have a little chat with this Mercury-Pluto combination and the outcome may be that they will quickly know more or less everything about you, but you won’t have a clue about them, and you may not even know that you don’t have a clue. 

Trust issues. 

• Is it difficult to trust? It’s ok if you’re not willing to talk about it…

So with Pluto and Lilith there is something like an abyss where there should be emotional foundations, but maybe there is also a miraculous suspension bridge hanging over the void thanks to Pluto’s regenerative power,  and let’s look somewhere else now. 

The Sun, Venus and Mercury are in Gemini. What a contrast! Here comes the dancing trickster, the social butterfly, in the 11th house, a happy house resonating with the voices of friends, camarades, mates, companions, fellows, peers, we’re all in it together, all in it together, all in it together, sing with me! 

Who is in charge of the mailing list, who shall print the agenda for the next meeting, who will take notes and write reports, who will keep things clear, clean and well organised thanks to the professional attitude of a Capricorn Moon in the 6th house seeking for security and contentment in the contemplation of a well done job in a well ordered world? 

Interestingly, Saturn, ruler of this 6th house of work and daily routines takes us to the 3rd house of learning, communication and connecting with the close environment, as if being a Super Gemini wasn’t enough! And there is a trine being the Sun and Saturn. This Gemini may be more poised and grounded than average. But how do you get grounded with a black hole where there should be foundations? I bet you hold on to what you can, so far we have work and friends or community. 

What happens when blending Capricorn and Gemini? The quick and the slow, are they antithetical or can they find a way to function together? The multitasking and the long-term goal energies, can they co-exist? The curious and the serious? The quick and the serious? The ever changing and the focused? The communicator and the professional? The one with little wings at the ankles and one who is working to pay the bills ? 

I am starting to suspect that maybe this is the chart of a carrier pigeon. 

Thinking of Gemini and Capricorn, one thing that comes to my mind is “disconnection”. Gemini is famous for its tendency to be like two or many people living in the same body. One of them could be a Capricorn! 

In the Zodiac, Gemini and Capricorn are ‘inconjunct’, and in this chart, Venus in Gemini and the Moon in Capricorn are connected by an inconjunct aspect, which is a bit of an oxymoron, because inconjunct etymologically means unconnected. In ancient astrology, they considered only major aspects. The word “aspect” etymologically means looking, like in “spectacle”. Planets in inconjunct signs were understood as placed in each other blind spots. 

I am a modern astrologer, I do consider so called minor aspects like the quintile or the semi-sextile (technically the two are ‘inconjunct' in the traditional sense of the word). 

I don’t think there is a total disconnection, because, to borrow a principle of neuroscience, ‘what fires together links together’. Planets are activated by transits. When a planet passes through Aries, Libra, Virgo or Pisces, it simultaneously sends a harmonious major aspect and a tense one, one to Gemini and the other to Capricorn. 

If we consider only major aspects, each sign is connected with eight signs of the zodiac. So half of the activations of inconjunct planets happen simultaneously. 

For instance, when a planet transits over 12-13 degrees Aries, it squares the natal Moon in Capricorn and sextiles the natal Venus in Gemini. 

The result is a simultaneous activation in a bitter-sweet fashion. 

Venus and the Moon are the feminine planets, they want bonds. Sometimes they bond in their own way in their own time, but at times they realise they can’t be happy together. 

Venus in Gemini in the 11th house is likely to love having loads of friends, and possibly flirt in a light hearted way, and the Moon in Capricorn in the sixth would rather have a daily timetable with only one stable and reliable one. Try to compromise when you’re living in the same body and get regularly activated at the same time!  

Talking about disconnection, in this chart, among the five personal planets, aspects are very rare. There is only one major aspect: a wide trine between the Moon and Mars (it doesn’t appear on the chart above because of the settings). Other than that, there is the quintile between Venus and the Moon, and that’s all! 

The Moon herself is not very connected with the whole. Other than the inconjunct aspect with Venus, a trine with Chiron and a semi-square with Uranus the disruptor, all of it problematic, nothing. 

The Moon shares with the 4th house the meaning of emotional foundations and origins, and we’ve already talked about Pluto, the disintegrator. Of course, Pluto is also the energy of regeneration, of rebirth after initiatic death, let’s not forget the silver lining. 

All this makes me think of an old tale: Donkey Skin. After the death of her mother, a princess had to flee her house because her father, the King, wanted to marry her. To survive she found a job as a servant, she  worked hard like a Cap Moon in the 6th… There will be a happy end indeed, but in the meantime, we can imagine a happy-go-lucky-anyway girl, smiling to everyone, talking with the birds, Disney like (even if the original tale is from the Grim Brothers), sharing with her many friends her hopes and wishes. 

Friends, hopes and wishes are traditional interpretations of the 11th house. It’s also a house where we find help, protection and support. And it’s the house of groups and communities. Are friends and communities suitable alternatives to the 4th house?  

Note for astrology students:

I don’t know if my interpretations are correct, but for now I better not care. I could wonder anxiously: my interpretations are consistent with the chart, but is it exactly that? Maybe I’m forgetting other possible interpretations, maybe I haven’t taken important things into account….? 

Such thoughts are just paralysing. We won’t get far walking on eggshells. Better weaving some interpretation and keeping the question marks hanging. 

How do you think Sherlock Holmes was thinking, when confronted with difficult cases with only a few clues that didn’t seem to make sense? I bet he was telling many possible stories to himself, discarding only what he was sure was wrong and keeping the rest like drafts on his mental desk… 

In other words, better brainstorm than brain freeze! 

Understanding a chart is not all deduction and logic. It’s rather induction, intuition and poetry. We can’t get rid of the irrational, but we can ask the irrational for help. We can ask guidance to our subconscious mind, or to God, or to our spirit guides. We can throw our question in the air and trust we’ll be able to hear the answers. It’s divination. 

Now, we could wonder. 

What is this Mars conjunct Chiron doing in the 10th house? It would not be a good idea to wonder that. Reading a chart is prioritising, and there are much more important indicators to look at before this Mars. 

Look around! 

The evolutionary path, as shown by the nodes, is always so telling, and here, the South Node is in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus in modern astrology, and the North Node is in Leo, ruled by the Sun. What’s striking in this context is the Sun-Uranus opposition which amplifies the opposition of the nodes. Moreover, Uranus is conjunct the cusp of the 5th house, naturally associated with Leo in modern astro, and the Sun is in the 11th house naturally associated with Aquarius. 

Aquarius and Uranus represent here the energy that is familiar, innate, the default settings of the personality. Leo and the Sun represent what the person aspires to. It’s a story of a new dawn, of a new sun who dares to say something like: 

“Hey, I am who I am, I am me, enjoy my light and my warmth, or get on with it! I don’t want to be like you think I should be anymore! I want to be like life makes me!” 

Of course it’s difficult, when the habit is to behave like Uranus/Aquarius, according to ideas, in the head, relying on the social group to exist as a member. 

It must help to have Leo Rising on this path though. People with this Ascendant are often noticed. They stick out from the crowd. With an Aquarius South Node, it may be uncomfortable. 

“Hey, why are they all looking at me? I would prefer to be invisible but I can’t hide!  Well, better get used to it and hold the light now it’s on me.”

This is still happening in the 11th house, Uranus is playing rebel-weirdo in the 5th of self-expression, the Sun wants to play authentic self among others in the 11th. 

Now, it’s time to notice that Uranus also rules over the 7th house of the other, and Leo over the 1st house of Self. The nodes are also suggesting an evolution from being in a relationship to being oneself. 

“Hey partner, I can see you! I was like you in my previous life, and even when I was so young that I didn’t know better! But now, I am like the Sun, we can be together but I won’t compromise about who I am to keep the peace!” 

All this was more important than looking at Mars, and now we can think that Mars is the Sun’s ally, his job is to fight to assert what the Sun wants to express… and it’s near Chiron, wounded, having to heal. 

Mars and Chiron are in Taurus. Pluto is in Libra. They are both playing in Venus’ garden. Taurus is the sign of the flesh, bulls are rarely ethereals.  Earth is the element of the body. Other than Mars and Chiron, in the Earth element there is the Moon, tucked in the 6th, one of the difficult houses, with this semi-square with Uranus, a very mental energy that doesn’t like the reality of the flesh too much…

We may wonder…  It may be easy to be loved and surrounded by many friends, but how is it to be oneself and engage in more intimate interactions? But of course, we won’t expect an answer if we’re asking the question. Privacy is privacy.  

With a dominant Pluto, there is room for a host of anxieties, and Gemini may prefer to surf the waves than dive into the sea. 

Connection, disconnection, reconnection…  It could also evoke the story of Isis and Osiris, the latter being cut into many pieces and reassembled by the former. Collecting scattered bits and pieces… was Isis a Gemini?

The Saturn Sun trine must be of great help. Saturn brings endurance and determination in the long run. A Capricorn Moon is a determined one, and I guess its concern for down to earth reality, getting up in the morning, going to work to pay the rent like the princess who became a servant of the tale, helps keeping oneself in one piece. 

Donkey Skin will let her skills speak for herself… Of course she will get noticed. 

Another very important aspect in this chart is the Mercury-Neptune opposition. 

In this chart, Mercury is the final dispositor of everything. It’s quite remarkable, we can start from any placement, for instance Uranus in Scorpio is ruled by Pluto and Mars, both are ruled by Venus and Venus is ruled by Mercury. The Ascendant is Leo, ruled by the Sun, ruled by Mercury. 

Mercury has an essential role and that’s how we can only notice the tight Mercury-Neptune opposition. There may be fog. There may be a huge Pisces like sensitivity contrasting with the sharpness of the Gemini mind. There may be dreams and movies, imagination…  

There are two kinds of every sign. There are Gemini that are more intellectual, and Gemini more emotional. Both types are curious, quick to change, moving at high speed, and this second type may also be moved at high speed, whilst still quick to change, multi dreaming between two phases of multitasking, laughing, crying, melting and wondering who on earth they might be, but that’s precisely what they are supposed to create. 

And now, it’s time for me to be humble. Have I been a good diviner, with the help of the Great Spirit and the support of the chart? I don’t know. It’s never granted. But that’s not what matters most. What matters is that these symbols have often proved to be the best catalysts for having real conversations about what’s essential, if only with oneself, and sometimes with others. 

A Gemini is likely to agree, when we can speak about it, we can live with it. 

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrologer, Writer, Storyteller

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How to get it wrong (to read a chart as a whole)

First part: Charts have deceiving looks. 

Second part: But the way we look at them is no better

First part: Beware of optical illusions! 

1 If several indicators are very close to one another,  the chart is likely to display the symbols next to each other, and not in front of the little lines that indicate their exact position. You may see them far away from where they really are. 

Also, you may not notice which ones are very close to each other, and which ones are more distant. Orbs matter though.   

So put on your glasses, look at the little lines!

2 On Astrodienst, the default settings are 10 degrees orb for conjunctions, oppositions, trines and squares. You will see the same coloured lines for these aspects, independently of how tight they are. 

For instance, imagine  a Moon - Mars - Saturn T-square, with Saturn at the apex. The Moon is always a big player. 

 Let’s say the Moon - Saturn square is exact, and therefore really strong, but the  Moon-Mars opposition , and the Mars - Saturn square exist with a 9 degrees orb. 

Interpreting the Moon- Mars opposition without describing the Moon Saturn square first would be the equivalent of talking about a piglet in the room, whilst ignoring there is an elephant. Your interpretations won’t impress the querent. The other way round, starting with the elephant will be spot on, and then going as far as pointing out the piglet running between the elephant’s paws will come across as the cherry on top of the cake.  

4 Some aspects may be minor but they do exist! 

In the astrodienst format, minor aspects are represented by dotted lines. Semi squares or sesqui-squares are almost invisible.  However, they may be exact to the degree or almost, and therefore more powerful than a loose major aspect. Again, put your glasses on!

Check the grid under the chart, and be prepared to calculate mentally. If Pluto is at 9 degree Scorpio and Venus at 24 degree Sagittarius, how tight is this semi square? 

5 On astrodienst, if you’re using the default settings, Chiron is shown, but without aspects. I like it this way. It’s better not to have too many lines criss-crossing a chart. Sometimes people show charts with aspects to the angles, to the nodes and to a number of asteroids as well, and the result looks like a nervous breakdown. 

However, Chiron in a strong aspect to a personal planet is a meaningful and powerful indicator. Don’t forget to notice. 

6 Another way to make too much of a big deal of a piglet whilst ignoring the elephant herd is to forget that the most powerful indicators are those that move the quickest. Look at what’s going on around the angles first, then the luminaries, then the personal planets. 

If you get excited about a Jupiter Neptune trine because it is exact, and neither Jupiter or Neptune is conjunct to an angle or a luminary, or ruler of the Ascendant, and there aren’t important placements in Sagittarius or Pisces… then, this aspect may be a big piglet, but it’s not an elephant, not even a small one.  

Maybe you’re reading a chart with piglets only? You better check before elaborating on this Jupiter Neptune trine. 

NB:  Conjunctions are the most powerful connections. After them consider tight aspects, especially the major ones. If you have a stellium, you won’t see colourful lines across the chart, but don’t downplay it. Imagine a huge blue and red spot around it. 

Second part. About wrong and right ways to approach a chart.

Have you already played chess? 

If yes, you have probably lost at least once because you were so excited about your attack that you forgot to pay attention to your opponent’s point of view. You were moving forward like a bulldozer. You couldn’t think of anything else. You had built a fortress to protect your king, but a side door was left open. Before you knew it, you were checkmated. 

To get it wrong with an astrological chart is very similar. Imagine.  You have identified a planet as a main player. So you dig and dig, you focus on what this planet in this sign and in this house may mean, but the deeper you dig the narrower your horizon becomes and you end up unable to get out of the hole you dug for yourself! 

I am not saying not to dig at all. Not digging is the opposite way to get it wrong! Some unstable minds  jump like fleas from one placement to the next. Oh this Venus in Leo! And it’s in the ninth house! But Mars is in Scorpio, that’s tough! In the First House, woah! Moon in Aries that’s impulsive, but opposite Saturn, sometimes it’s not! …So much about the art of getting nowhere. 

So yes, when you spot a dominant energy, dig, but not too much. A chart is made of placements and bridges between them. Bridges are aspects, or rulership relations. 

For instance, if you get so fascinated by this Uranus conjunct the MC in Aries that you immediately set up to re-read the entire book by Liz Greene’s about Uranus, you’ll end up confused. In the book you get a rich tapestry of life. So much width and depth are wonderful, we need culture and intelligence, but hours later you’ll still be wondering: what does this Uranus conjunct MC in Aries mean exactly?... 

There is no exact answer to a precise question about a particular chart in a rich tapestry…  

You need to sum up all you know to “get the vibe” as clearly as possible, and move on. 

With Uranus, there is something different. Thinking outside the box, or behaving like an outsider, an outcast or a rebel. Could be an interest in science, politics, technology or an ideology. A rejection of nature and the body maybe. 

Sometimes, with Uranus you’re just different. You may not even know why and how. You’re a weirdo. There are many kinds of weirdos… 

At some level, there is a normal way, and there is breaking away from it. Difficult to be more precise. 

With Aries, it’s easy to feel that it's likely to be a tad more extreme as it would be anyway, with a leading, pioneering or competitive strike. Both Uranus and Aries want independence and have things going their own way. It feels rather uncompromising, radical. 

Keep the question marks hanging and look around. What else? 

From this Uranus in Aries, you can spot that it is ruled by Mars, in Aries as well, conjunct the Moon, and the Moon happens to be the Ascendant ruler, making it even more important. That’s a huge focus in the tenth house, and in Aries… 

There could be a lot to say about this, but again, don’t keep stuck here.

Look around. Don’t miss that Uranus is also connected with Mercury by a square. Moreover, Mercury is also conjunct with the Ascendant, so this aspect is important like a first class elephant. Even more so if you notice that the Sun is in Gemini. Mercury rules it, is dominant and squares another dominant planet! It’s huge!   

Mercury and Uranus have common grounds: the mind, the nervous system, communications of insights, weird communications… Remember that Aries rules the head. This could be a big brain. This could be a mad one. And Mercury is intense, it’s conjunct Pluto. 

Again, don’t dig a hole so deep that the horizon disappears. Look around!  Yes, Mercury is conjunct Pluto, and Pluto conjunct the Ascendant, itself ruled by the Moon, and squaring it… Great emotional intensity here, connecting the Ascendant (the guy himself) and the tenth house (his social status). With Mum playing a part in the drama, probably. Moon also rules memory and imagination, not just Mum and emotions… 

Feel the vibe, keep the question marks hanging, keep wandering through the chart, follow its roads, cross the bridges, keep moving…  Looking at the whole architecture. Think like a spider, because it’s a web.

There is much more in this example chart of course, but you see the way to proceed. 

My last recommendation is to simply be polite with your subconscious mind and with the astrological angels that only want to help. 

Ask, let the questions hang for a while and trust.  Open a book at a random page, look through the window, forget about it and come back later. 

The chart I used as an example is John Nash’s, genius, mathematician, Nobel Prize. He also struggled with schizophrenia and believed he was communicating with extraterrestrials. 

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrologer, storyteller, writer

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How to read a chart. Where is the Earth? Why is it the Moon?

The Moon is mother, says the astrologer. 

The Earth is our mother. Traditional cultures with roots have been saying it since ancient times. In Greece she was called Gaia.

Where is the Earth in the chart? The usual answer is that it’s at the centre, half way between Ascendant and Descendant, where the horizon crosses the meridian.

 The Earth is where we are looking at the Heavens from, we can’t see it over our heads moving from sign to sign! 

Some chart types, for instance on Astrodienst, include a small circle at the centre. That’s where we are.

Here is another answer: Where is the Earth? It’s the Moon! 

This is not to be taken literally. I’m not that confused. 

Let me explain:

Traditional cultures with roots have been saying, since ancient times, that we are children of Heaven and Earth. 

There is a fundamental duality in us. We are spirit and matter, we are body and soul, we are from above and we belong below. The planets must express this fundamental duality if they are talking about us. But, of course,  the Earth is nowhere to be seen up there! 

But look. The Sun is a Sky wanderer. The Moon is close to the Earth. The Sun is Father, the Moon is Mother. They are the Yin and the Yang, they tell us about the fundamental duality. 

So, is it Sun and Moon, or Heaven and Earth? 

Such a question could be asked by someone with an overactive left-brain, and a sleepy right-brain, the one that understands metaphors. It’s both! It depends on the mood of the storyteller.

The Moon changes, she waxes and wanes, she dies and is reborn. Her phases reflect the phases of mortal life. She is our mirror. Nature, tides and plants do what she does.  She means home, influence of the environment, emotions and instincts, generation. Along with the first house, she means something about our body. Yes, she means Earth. 

The Sun looks immortal by comparison. Always round, always radiating light and warmth, it’s the most potent source of life and energy we know, and if it’s a source, it’s like God. It’s  Spirit bursting out in Heaven.

Now, when we are reading a chart, it doesn’t help to think that the Sun is a symbol of the Ultimate Source… unless we connect it with the idea that there is a divine spark within us, a creative spark that is busy creating ourselves from within. For more about the Sun, read The Sun is the Heart of the Chart.

All the efforts and aspirations to become who we want to be, our dreams and ideals, our callings belong to the Sun. This immortal part is not vulnerable. Only its creation is, that lives in the flesh, in the Moon’s realm.    

In another post, “Self or Ego, what is the Ascendant?", I used the metaphor of a submarine -a metaphor for the Ascendant - driven by a pilot - The Sun - used to explore the depth of an ocean - a metaphor for life on earth. 

Seen from the lightness and freedom of the spirit world, incarnating on Earth can be compared to getting down to the bottom of an ocean; the soul in the body can feel imprisoned, like in a submarine. 

How we appear on earth, with a body and a temperament, is shown by the Ascendant and the First House. Our goals and intentions, our life purpose and the heroic journey of becoming who we want to be is shown by the Sun.

Thus, the fundamental duality can be symbolised by the Sun versus the Ascendant, or by the Sun versus the Moon. Symbols are flexible. What if we consider the three of them together? Ascendant, Sun and Moon are the “Big three”, the most fundamental indicators in a birth chart.  

As part of a Sun-Moon-Ascendant Trio, the Moon is the soul, or psyche.

The psyche is an intermediary. She has a foot in the eternal world of Spirit, and a foot in the changing and mortal world of Nature. She is a medium. She rules over dreams, not the solar dreams of who we want to be, but the watery dreams, the messages. The Moon rejoices in the Third House. In our sleep, in our daydreams, in the flow of our thoughts and feelings, sometimes in a blurred way, sometimes clearly, we are connected with the great sea, whilst living in this body. 

Jung would talk about the function of intermediary of the Anima or Animus between the conscious ego and the collective unconscious. 

Again, the left-brains may be irritated, and ask: “So, the messenger, is it the Moon, or is it Mercury?”

They can work together! The Moon provides a flow of emotionally charged pictures, and Mercury articulates words to describe them. Thot, the Egyptian God of learning and writing, to which Hermes became assimilated in Hellenistic times, was God of the Moon. 

In this body, energies flow, or get blocked at times, causing diseases. If the Sixth House is more powerful than the First and the Moon, we may need some healing. Check also the Sun for the heart, upper spine and vitality. 

The Moon is Mother. Mothers are women, and women are witches, aren't they? They gather in a clearing in the middle of the woods to dance bare feet under the Moon when she’s full. They know the plants and they know how to bind, because they care for tribes and families.

They belong to the Earth and they extend invisible roots into the psychic dimension, where the light of the Moon reflects that of the Sun. 

Applying this to the metaphor of the submarine, the Sun is the driver, it is us, with individuality,  intention and purpose. It is the Heart. 

 The Ascendant is the submarine, with an emphasis on its outermost layer. The Ascendant says something about how we appear, with our body and face, behaviours and temperament, and how we interact with the surrounding world.  

The Moon is the flesh of the submarine and its Mama. (You know how submarines reproduce). The submarine’s Mama is outside and inside. Outside, it’s another submarine, which belongs to a whole family of submarines sharing characteristics, and it’s the environment where sustenance is found. Inside, it’s all the maintenance, health and safety systems, including the desire to have babies. 

The Moon is the psychic world that mediates the Sun-Ascendant connection. She is Earth and more…

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrologer, Storyteller, etc.

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The Sun is the Heart of the Chart

Some people don’t relate to their Sun sign. It’s annoying! The Sun is the most important and the most influential of all the indicators. 

Astrology is a language of metaphors. For instance, the Moon has been a symbol for women since prehistoric times. One obvious connection is that both Moon and women go through monthly cycles. So women are like the Moon or vice versa.

So let’s look at the sky. What is the most important thing up there? 

The Sun is the most powerful, the most visible, the most influential of all the indicators in the birth chart. It is the most essential of all the heavenly bodies, for us.

So how come some people don’t relate to their Sun sign? 

A way to answer this question is to look for dominant energies. The Sun may be the king but sometimes kings have powerful ministers. 

 A planet conjunct to an angle of the chart, or very emphasized by aspects from the Sun, Moon and personal planets can become so dominant that its influence eclipses that of the Sun sign, and also of the Moon sign and Ascendant.  

Another way to become dominant for a planet is to rule over many other planets or points like the Ascendant or the Moon nodes. If there are, for instance, three planets in Virgo and the Ascendant and the South Node are in Gemini, Mercury becomes very important, even if the Sun is not in one of these two signs. 

So what happens then?

If, let’s say, Venus is dominant, even if the person is neither Taurus nor Libra, they will display Venusian traits, which will make them rather Taurus like, or Libra like - or a bit of both. Let's say Venusian. 

If Mars, Jupiter or Saturn are dominant, I think it's very important to remember that these three planets traditionally rule two signs each. 

If Mars is dominant in a chart we can expect Aries like traits, and Scorpio traits as well. When Mars is taking action boldly and energetically, Mars expresses its Aries side. But when Mars is waiting in ambush, resisting in the face of adversity or thinking of a strategy it's more like Scorpio. The sign in which Mars is placed and the overall balance of elements should give clues as to how this Mars is more likely to express. 

In all cases Mars dominant in the chart of someone with a soft sign like Cancer or Libra will give the person traits which are not part of the stereotypical description. 

Now stereotypes are just stereotypes. What is essential is deeper.

There is another and complementary way to explain why some people don't relate to their Sun sign: it is to say that they haven't understood what their sign is about. 

When you read standard descriptions of Sun signs, they describe how people born with this Sun sign are. Virgos are supposed to be fussy, picky, neat and organised. A good deal of them are, but there are also messy Virgos. So let's drop this idea of Sun signs as immutable characters, all cast in the same mould, as fixed in their ways as Greek marbles. 

If we come across a messy Virgo, a shy Leo, a silent Gemini, a sleeping Sagittarius… Instead of thinking that they are not how they should be, let's ask:

"What is the Sign about?" 

The messy Virgo may be intellectually very sharp. Their mind may be the most organised mind you'll ever come across. If you could visit their mental world... you would realise the description of the textbooks applies, but in their head, not in their house. 

It's possible that in the chart, the Sun or Mercury are afflicted by challenging oppositions or squares from other planets, and this generates disturbances. So to deal with the threat of chaos, Virgo separates their own universe into two distinct boxes. In one box, chaos wins. Investing energy in this box is of no use, let's be pragmatic and practical. In the other box, order is firmly established and maintained. That is the best possible use of the energy.

Take some distance and you'll see that this Virgo is really a Virgo even if the living room is an abomination.

With Virgo there is a strong urge to discriminate, analyse and organise. But it won’t be expressed exactly in the same way for every single Virgo. 

My father is a shy Leo. I've seen him many times being the silent one in family gatherings. He is nothing like the boisterous and egocentric stereotype of Leo. He is a Libra Rising - so Venus becomes his chart ruler and Venus is conjunct Pluto and conjunct the MC. This brings a very strong Plutonian influence. Other placements in his chart are not supportive of Leo energy - rather the opposite. Sun conjunct Neptune, Mars in the 12th house for instance.

So rather than asking "What is a Leo like?" Let's ask "What is Leo about?". In short, Leo is about self expression, it is about showing, sharing the light. Being at the centre and radiating energy. 

In my father's case, this was a challenge for him. He had to try hard to be at least a little bit like a Leo. Still he was a Leo. With another Sun sign, he could have been shy, and it would not have been such a challenge for him. He would have accepted it more easily. One day he showed me some self help books in the style of the fifties. “How to overcome shyness” - “Handbook for emotional people”. The Leo urge in him made him try, and I’m sure he tried hard. He fought like a lion. 

 If life is a school, my father had enrolled in the Leo school - but he was still far from the PhD. In all schools there are beginners, intermediates and more advanced students. 

Now, my father was not a complete beginner at the Leo school. He managed to spend his entire professional life on a stage. He was a maths teacher. He was sharing his light. He was making demonstrations on the blackboard. When a maths teacher demonstrates that something is true, he is right, and if you have something else to say on the topic, you are wrong. Students had better shut up and listen. 

My father had a trumpet. He didn't play very often but he had one. He didn’t look like a stereotypical Leo but if you look more closely you find the Leo energy at the heart of the mix. 

To understand what the signs are about, we can remember the stereotypes, but we also need to remember to be a little more subtle about them. The key question is: what is this energy about? 

Let me give you another example: Libra. The stereotype is that this sign suits women better than men, because Libra is all about relationships. In life, romantic partnerships, marriage or long term relationships are certainly a huge topic, but is Libra about that and only that? 

Libra is a cardinal sign. We have a contradiction, because we read in textbooks that cardinal signs are focused on initiating, starting, taking action.... And Libra has a reputation of struggling with decision making. Libra hesitates, that’s the stereotype! It’s the opposite of Aries, Cardinal and Fire, the typical action guy. 

But let’s remember that Libra is Air. Thinking is part of Libra’s field of expertise. As a Cardinal sign, Libra initiates a thinking process. The symbol of Libra, the scales, is an instrument of measurement. You weigh the pros and the cons. You compare. You oppose. You notice how things or people contrast. You perceive nuances. You compare contrasts with other contrasts...  You do that in your mind, then you may join a debate society. You may aspire to sit in parliament and initiate bills, or plead as a barrister. Or maybe you're taking delight in solving equations. In an equation, there are two terms and a relation between these two terms.  

Libra is actually as dynamic and energetic, in the Air, as Aries is in the heat of the Fire. 

So it is possible to be born a Libra Sun and to seek balance between opposites in other areas than romantic relationships. 

That’s all for today. Trying to understand what every sign is about in the great fabric of life is philosophy. It’s deep meditation, it’s contemplation. It’s a lifestyle at the end of the cosmic day. 

Jean-Marc Pierson 

Astrologer, storyteller, philosopher with a homepage.
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Liquid routines and more about astrological interpretations

Astrology is a language of symbols. Symbols are metaphors for invisible realities.

The material world provides us with the pictures we need to describe more subtle levels of experience: “A solid discipline” is only solid metaphorically; we understand perfectly what it means because we have a direct and physical experience of solid things.

Language is packed with metaphors. If you need to take a break, you are not going to literally break anything. Work is hard, so it breaks, like a branch of dry wood or a piece of glass.

Symbols may at times suggest idioms that poets have not rendered familiar yet. If an astrologer tells you about “liquid daily routines” the expression sounds nonsensical, but what if the symbols suggest just that? How about a sixth house with Mercury in Pisces in it?

In this example, a word with a watery root like “fluctuating” could save us from being too surrealist to be paid.

“Flexible” could be relevant as well. The word “flexible” makes us think of a branch of green wood. Dry wood can’t be bent, it breaks. “Flexible” doesn’t apply to liquids but it implies a certain degree of humidity, literally and metaphorically. We may expect rigidity from an excess of the Earth element, flexibility from a good balance between Earth and Water and laxism or indulgence from an excess of Water.

If we wonder about the connection between Water and emotions, we can remember the expression: some people are emotional sponges. Liquid daily routines then may involve some emotional availability on a daily basis.

Language reveals a lot about the meaning of the elements. Once, as I was searching for inspiration for things to tweet, I thought: if the four elements are valid to describe life - or at least to describe the way we experience life subjectively - then they must be reflected in the structures of language. How about punctuation? I had the idea of tweeting:

Fire! Earth. Air? Water…

Language can reveal a lot, but we should become able to get the meanings beyond what is revealed by language, like children who, one day, become able to ride their bicycle without the little wheels.

We can perceive the metaphorical value of the essential qualities - dry, wet, hot and cold - independently of whether or not words or idioms reveal them to us. If nobody had ever had the idea of saying “I am an emotional sponge”, we would need to say it for the first time. It would be weird, but still make sense.

When reading astrological charts, we have to come up with evocative words to translate the pictures. Our work is poetry. It takes inspiration.

Breathe well!

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrology readings, one to one or small group classes, digging deeper for self-knowledge, healing and empowerment, and an astrology retreat. You on the website, here is the homepage

It's moving! How to use your Right Brain for Astrological Interpretations

If you look at the head of the ram - the symbol of Aries - the two horns seen from the front look like a V or a Y: 

♈︎

Meditating on it you may see the tree of life, or a spring, and get good inspiration from that, but if you were a shepherd watching the head of the charging ram coming up to you, you would get a much more straightforward interpretation. 

These animals are powerful; they compete with the shepherd for the leadership of the flock. 

To interpret symbols, let’s remember that life is movement. 

Don’t ask “What is this?” Ask “How is this moving?” A ram is power in action. It pushes forward and it’s too focused to care about anything else.  

Taking it from there, you can find metaphorical rams in all areas. Some emotions are like rams: anger, excitement, a shot of adrenaline… There are intellectual rams: sometimes we “attack” a problem and sometimes we have a “breakthrough”. At a social level,  the one who turns a  vague group into an efficient team is called a leader. Aries may mean the efficient team or the leader, according to cases. In the eleventh house, it’s more likely to mean the team, in the first, a leader.

A left cerebral hemisphere approach would want a list of defining characteristics. Someone born with Aries predominant in their chart should demonstrate characteristic traits or attitudes. The list is the left-hemisphere ideal, but with life, we will always come across exceptions and contradictions.

A right cerebral hemisphere approach is much more relevant to understanding symbols. Instead of starting from Aries and wondering what it may mean, let’s start from life, and wonder “How are things when they are like Aries in this context?” 

For instance, imagine a monk. You wouldn’t think of a monk as a manifestation of the energy of Aries, but if you start with the knowledge that a certain guy is a monk and that Aries is strong in his chart you will wonder what can be like Aries in the life of a monk. 

At the time of writing, I didn’t know where this example would lead - I chose Aries and monastic life as an unlikely match, at least according to the common stereotypes, to make my point. And then I remembered a funny concept, in Christian culture: the ejaculatory prayer - or ejaculation. In Christian jargon, an ejaculation is a short and intense prayer. For instance: “Thank you Lord!” or “Oh God Help me!”

The etymology of ejaculation traces back to some Latin that means “throwing a dart” - which fits the energy of Aries very well.  

So you see, you may not think spontaneously of the tendency to pray in ejaculatory style when you see Aries in a chart, even if it’s in the ninth house, but in some cases, this will be the right interpretation. 

Within the context of spiritual life, Aries will be the energy of fervour, and in a less desirable expression, fanaticism. 

Let me rewind: I was talking about Aries in religious life as an illustration of the principle of looking at life first, and seeking for how the symbols manifest in the context we are considering, rather than starting with the symbols and trying to remember lists of things they mean. We need to make more use of our right brain. 

In this way, we’ll better understand the essence of the symbols: they don’t mean anything in particular, but they mean something that is common to an infinity of particular things or rather  processes. 

Before this, I started talking about remembering that life is movement. Aries shows a ram charging. Taurus once was a small calf but it kept grazing and it put on some flesh. The Twins are talking to each other and swapping…  

Aries is only one symbol. However, as astrologers, we’re looking at whole astrological charts, and again, an astrological chart may seem like a fixed picture, because we are so conditioned to approach it in left hemisphere style and analyse its parts, but actually it is like the picture of a running horse:

If you believe it's fixed, the picture of a horse with its stretched legs suspended above the ground by no strings, doesn’t make sense. It’s supposed to conjure up the galop, the movement. 

A chart is a particular moment of the movement of the cosmic clock; if we try to see it globally and in motion, we’re closer to reality. 

Let’s be honest though: I am not able to create a mental picture of all the planets moving through the zodiac signs, at their different speed, anticlockwise, whilst the signs with the planets in them are also moving clockwise, on their way to rising, culminating or setting. This is an ideal too. However it’s possible to have glimpses. What are planets doing when they form, for instance applying or separating aspects? In what order will planets rise on the Eastern Horizon? Which will be the first one? We can look at the Sun and the Moon as a duo and take the phases of the Moon into account…   

And we can forget about it, let our right brain work subconsciously and say thank you when intuitions pop in. (It pops better when we asked)

To make the best use of our two minds - our inner twins, the left and right cerebral hemispheres- , let’s remember: 

A balanced approach is like breathing. There are two ways, and there is alternance. 

So let’s stop believing we have to breathe in more and despise breathing out as if it was being lazy. 

Sometimes we need to focus, and sometimes we need to be receptive. 

Our own balance is key. 

Jean-Marc

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