How to read a chart as a whole

1 Not everything is equally important

When we are looking at an astrological chart for the first time, we’re like newcomers in London. We know nothing. There are about twenty-five thousand streets

We start spotting major landmarks: Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross Road, the nearest tube station etc. 

Hence the first and most important principle to read a chart: let’s identify the main spots and avenues. 

Here is another metaphor: The chart is a kingdom. The Sun is the King, the Moon is the Queen. The ruler of the Ascendant is the Prime Minister. Not everyone is equally important.  

There are four strongholds: the four angles. Whatever planet is found there has special powers.

The South Node tells something important about the Kingdom’s history. 

The North Node tells something important about the current political orientation. 

Starting with these will never be wrong.  

Every planet may be more or less powerful, and more or less in agreement with their sovereigns the Sun and the Moon, and with the Prime Minister.  

We want to know who are the ones who have the greatest power, and we want to know what they want. The result may be a comedy, or a tragedy, often both at the same time.

2 The Sun and the Moon 

The King, the Sun, symbolises our conscious ego. It’s a work in progress. The Sun wants to shine the light of our most authentic and creative Self. He wants a United Kingdom (literally): the Sun wants integration of all the bits and pieces into a coherent whole. This is not granted from the start. The Sun is turned towards the future. 

The Queen wants life. Her concerns are much more down to earth. She wants food, shelter, emotional connections, safety, and of course children from the Sun. She remembers the past and reproduces patterns. 

Any creation is a child. Whatever we do with our life  is our creation. 

Whatever we generate is born from the Sun and the Moon.

My book. Published by the Wessex Astrologer. Available worldwide on most online stores.

I won’t say more about the Sun and the Moon, because the purpose of this post is how to read a chart. It starts with deepening our understanding of all the symbols. May I suggest you read my book here?

How well do the King and the Queen get on together? 

How powerful are they?  What do they want?

These questions will help us understand the Sun-Moon relationship. A chart as a whole is a web of relationships, built around this one.

Other important questions will be: How well do the King and the Queen get on with the Prime Minister, and with any power to be reckoned with? How do these powers themselves get on with one another? 

These questions can be studied for every planet using the same method as I am presenting here focusing on the Sun and the Moon. 

3 What does the Sun want? 

I’ll talk about assessing the Sun’s power later. For now, what does he want?

This is primarily shown by the sign and house the Sun is in. Signs can be thought of as mindsets. 

Houses are more concrete areas of life.

For instance, a Sun in Sagittarius wants knowledge, truth, and to expand beyond ordinary limitations. It wants to go see what’s on the other side of some fence or border. It wants to go on a quest for meaning, break free, things like that. Sagittarius the explorer can also become a guide or a teacher.  

Notice that I am not making a description of character traits. Sagittarius folk may often be optimistic, risk-taking, bigger than  life and awkwardly straightforward, but character traits are side products, and they don’t derive from the Sun sign only. 

If we understand the signs, we know what they want, at a high level of generality. Sagittarius wants knowledge, but knowledge of what is not said by the sign. Sagittarius wants to see the big picture. Sagittarius wants expansion, but it may want to expand the family business, their circle of friends or their mind…  We need to be able to think in the abstract. Then, for precision, we look at the rest of the chart, starting with the main avenues, or the main players according to your preferred metaphor.  

It will be clearer with an example. Let’s think of a Sagittarius Sun in the fifth house. 

As a fifth house Sun, it wants fun, creativity and self-expression. It wants to show something, maybe have or interact with children. 

Common themes to the sign and the house may provide good leads. 

Education may be a big theme in the life of such a person: being on a mission to open minds.  However, this is only a possible interpretation. 

Another could be: Sagittarius wants to go beyond the limits, fifth house wants to have fun and show something to the world, a fifth house Sagittarius could appear on a documentary about extreme sports, jumping  from a mountain in a flying suit. (If Mars,Jupiter and the Fire element are prominent, this interpretation is more likely than otherwise. My example is extreme for the sake of clarity.) 

Another could be: A musician (fifth house) playing world music (Foreign culture = Sagittarius) 

If Venus and Neptune are emphasised in the chart, something artistic is more likely than extreme sport. 

It’s not possible to know what particular interpretation will be the right one with only the Sign and House combination, but we get the  mindset. We’ll make more sense later. 

Now, let’s follow the rulers. 

Jupiter rules Sagittarius. The Sun is the King, but in Sagittarius, it is in Jupiter’s home. 

Figure 1: Sagittarius Sun in 5th, Jupiter in 7th, Mars-Saturn on the MC

If Jupiter is, let’s say, in the seventh house, we can safely guess that this Sun’s pursuits are not meant to be lived alone. The whole adventure involves partners, maybe a significant other. If Jupiter is afflicted, it’s likely to be complicated. Let’s hope it’s not! 

Notice that I will keep using words like “likely” or “chances are that” and the conditional tense. Every placement suggests various meanings. 

We have to think in Venn diagrams fashion: possible interpretations that are common to various indicators, are more likely to be the case. 

The fifth house is also the house of romance, and the seventh house of marriage. There are other meanings to both houses, but these two work well together. This is a clue. 

We can combine possible interpretations and craft sentences such as:

Showing (Fifth house) who you are (Sun) to strangers (Sagittarius, Jupiter) and becoming partners (Seventh House). This sentence makes sense and includes common or compatible meanings of the various indicators involved. 

The fifth house is the house of children as well, if romance leads to marriage it may take us back to the fifth house of children and education.

We may or may not be on the right track, so we are going to wonder what’s going on with Venus, the planet of love and partnerships, and the Moon, which means wife, mother and family among other things.  We’re also going to look at the fourth house to see if private life seems to be important. 

We are looking for many clues pointing in the same direction. It’s a detective job. If all clues seem to point out nothing in particular,  maybe we haven’t found the unifying thread yet, or it’s the chart of a very unfocused personality.

It’s actually much easier when we have feedback as we go along!  

If the ruler of the Sun is not the same as the ruler of the house where the Sun is, we can also find some indications looking at the house ruler. If the cusp of the fifth house is in Scorpio, it’s worth looking at Mars and Pluto, the traditional and modern rulers of the sign; they are in charge of the business of the house, along with the Sagittarius Sun. Are they powerful? What do they want? Are they connected with the seventh house in any way?

Do you remember the metaphor of the twenty-five thousand streets of London? 

If following a thread feels like getting lost in a labyrinth, we can stop and look somewhere else.  But at times, we may realise we are on a big avenue. 

In my example, we have a fifth house with Mars and Pluto as rulers, and a Sagittarius Sun- King in it. Jupiter shows that this Sun King wants a seventh house vibe associated with his fifth house. 

Let’s say that the seventh house is in Aquarius, therefore it is ruled by Uranus and Saturn, and that Saturn is conjunct Mars. (See Figure 1 above)

Beyond the basic interpretation of what a conjunction Mars-Saturn means in general, in this particular case, it also means that the rulers of the fifth and seventh houses stick together. The fifth-seventh house connection that was already big for being Sun’s business,  now comes across as a very big artery! 

And if this conjunction Mars-Saturn happens to be on an angle of the chart, it becomes extremely powerful, like two ministers acting like one (conjunction) who have been given full powers by the Sovereign. This 5th-7th big artery reveals itself as Super King Size now! 

We won’t always find such big obvious convergence of meaning, but when they are there, we shouldn’t miss them. 

When studying a chart,  follow similar threads to study what’s going on with the Moon, with the ruler of the Ascendant, and with planets that have special powers (for being conjunct to an angle, or conjunct to the Sun or the Moon, or tightly aspecting them).

Then, see what converges towards common or compatible interpretations, and what contradicts or conflicts.  

Let’s not forget the aspects! 

I hardly mentioned them in the previous paragraphs only to keep things clear, but they are no less important. 

The tightest the aspect the more important it is. Suppose the Sun is at fifteen degree Sagittarius, and Mars at fifteen degree Libra? This is a sextile, that is a major aspect, and it’s exact to the degree! Not to be missed! 

Mars gains in importance through this major connection. The Sun King and Mars, the First Knight, get on well, this emphasises what they have in common: strength, assertion and action. 

Figure 2. Mars at 15°Libra, Sun 15° Sag, Jupiter in 7th

Like in the previous example, Jupiter, ruler of the Sun in the seventh house. If Mars is in Libra, the seventh sign, the theme of partnership, common to the sign and to the house that is naturally associated to it, is emphasised. 

The aspect links not only two planets, but the two houses they sit in, and also the houses they rule… On this picture, there are two connections between the 4th and the 5th houses, the sextile between Mars and Sun,  and the fact that Mars, ruler of the 5th house, is in the 4th; there is also a connection between the 10th and the 4th houses (Mars ruler of the 10th house), there is a connection between the 1st and the 5th (Sun, ruler of the Ascendant, in the Fifth house, cumulates the functions of King and Prime Minister) and there is more, but… 

…never forget: as soon as following such threads becomes more confusing than enlightening, we stop and come back to something simple. What could a 4th-5th house connection mean? The first idea that comes to mind is that the 4th house is home, and the 5th children. In a chart where partnership is important, you see where it may be going.

Also, to avoid getting confused by a huge amount of interconnections by aspects, we better start ignoring most of them and focus on the exact or most tight ones, especially those involving Sun, Moon and the most powerful planets. (I will talk about assessing power soon!) 

Conjunctions are the most important aspects, followed by the major ones (trines, sextiles, opposition and squares), and then minor aspects. Very tight minor aspects may be more important than loose major ones… 

My grandfather: an example of a Sun-Jupiter conjunction. 

A Sun conjunct Jupiter in Taurus he expressed powerfully and cheerfully Taurean values. My grandfather’s Taurean style was enlarged to Jupiterian proportions. I suspect he was Leo Rising. 

Fig 3 My grandfather. Birth time unknown, my guess.

Born in a working class family, he took evening classes and climbed to become the equivalent of an engineer in metallic construction: we have Jupiter for acquiring knowledge and personal development, Taurus for something as down to earth as metallic construction and the Sun to bring the spotlight on this and make it a main avenue.   

He also played the trumpet, the piano, the organ, and he led the local marching band over more than fifty years. Taurus is ruled by Venus, goddess of the arts, this includes music. You can see why I think he was a Leo Rising, with the MC somewhere in Taurus. He was well known where he lived and quite proud of his achievements. 

He was not especially bothered by religious questions, but he went to church as he was the organist.

Venus, ruler of Taurus… was in Taurus as well, in domicile, and suffered no special affliction: no hard aspect, no major killjoy hitting this Venus on the nails. He could thrive. There was a great coherence in his personality. 

Now, I have to be precise that he had Mars in Scorpio opposing his Sun-Jupiter conjunction. This opposition came with flaws, he might have demonstrated too much authority at times, especially in his family (Mars likely to be in the fourth house) . He had the reputation of being fussy (the obsessional trait of Scorpio adding to the Taurean stubbornness) however, the tension was not so great as to disintegrate the coherence of Jupiter-Sun-Venus united in Taurus, and reinforced it instead. As a grandfather he was wonderful. One day, he told me: “I am not going to tell you what you should do, I’m too old for that now”. 

Any aspect emphasises traits that planets have in common: Sun, Jupiter and Mars are the three rulers of the Fire signs, so there is a lot of Fire in my Grandfather’s chart: energy, willpower, leadership, creativity… but still,  mostly in Taurus style. He used to say: “Why go on holiday when you feel so well at home!”

A less cheerful example 

I once had the opportunity to look at the chart of a person who was regularly going in and out of psychiatric hospital: it looked like two stelliums opposed to each other, with a bunch of hard red lines in between, and other than that, not much. There was no easy way to find where the central power could be, neither for the astrologer, nor for the person who lived the energies.

Remember

Challenging aspects push the common features of the planets involved toward excess. However, as the old saying goes: Stars impel, they don’t compel. It is possible to learn our lessons and become wiser. 

Challenging aspects also signal conflicts between the planets’ incompatible traits. It’s also possible to become wise enough.   

Sometimes everything seems to get scattered in all directions, and sometimes we come across  convergent themes. 

4 The Moon Nodes 

After the Sun (What does it want?) I could now talk about the Moon, or about the ruler of the Ascendant, but I’ve always found the Moon Nodes so meaningful that sometimes, I look at them even before looking at the Sun. 

There is no absolute order in which to look for clues. 

Figure 4 Sophie Lloyd

An example will make things clear: Check Sophie Lloyds chart. She is a musician, she has a successful channel on Youtube. She plays hard metal, she looks sexy like a Scorpio Rising who doesn’t hide, her fingers are running on the guitar with the dexterity of a knitting expert, she is a Virgo Sun.

However, many people may be Virgo Sun, even in the tenth house, and Scorpio Rising, with a Taurus Moon in the seventh house, and not be highly expressive stage performers. 

But let’s notice: the South Node of the Moon is in Aries (Fire!),  in the fifth house of self-expression.

Like in my previous examples, following the rulers gives precious clues. This fifth house’ cusp falls in Pisces, the traditional ruler of which is Jupiter, and Jupiter literally amplifies the Virgo Sun with its knitting fingers on the guitar’s handle by a trine. 

We can also think of the Sun as the natural ruler of the fifth house, and because the South Node is in this house, the Sun is more prone to express its presence in the tenth house as a professional artist. 

Saturn is conjunct the South Node, it’s a planet that can be very beneficial to whoever wants to be professional. For success, better be serious about it. 

Following Mars, ruler of the South Node in Aries, the connection by conjunction to Venus and opposition to Neptune is consistent with art and in particular music. 

It is of course much easier to look at someone’s chart and see how their placements come together to mean what they do, than to start with the chart and figure out what all these placements together may mean, but that’s also why it’s exciting to play at being detectives and try and reconstruct the whole picture on the basis of many clues. 

The North Node of the Moon

is often interpreted as life purpose. The Nodes are places where the energies of the Sun and the Moon meet. The North Node says something very important about our life direction, but doesn’t cancel out what the Sun wants, or what the South Node is familiar with. 

We don’t have to think in terms of “either…or…” when two indicators seem to show different directions. It can be “and”. 

This is worth repeating:

We don’t have to think in terms of “either…or…” when two indicators seem to show different directions. It can be “and”. 

For instance, if your Sun is in Aries and the North Node in Libra, there seems to be a contradiction - but there is not. Libra may want more cooperation, more partnerships, more justice, more fairness… and this can be pursued without playing doormat to make it work. Two warriors united may be loyal and fair with each other and nonetheless be warriors. 

South Node and Sun: my brother 

My brother is a Sagittarius Sun and Rising, with the Sun conjunct the Ascendant. Sorry, I won’t show his whole chart! His Moon is in Gemini. Both Gemini and Sagittarius seek knowledge and love movement. Sagittarius wants to expand, go further, beyond the limits, not to say off the charts… 

From these placements, you wouldn’t guess he has always been passionate about manual work. However, he has the South Node in Virgo, so we can expect technical skill. This South Node is near the MC so we can expect something professional or something coming with a reputation, and Mercury, its ruler, is conjunct the Sun and Ascendant in Sagittarius. 

Legos were his first passion. He learned carpentry with the “Compagnons du Devoir”: It’s a French organisation of craftsmen dating from the Middle Ages. The training includes taking a tour around France and doing apprenticeships with masters over five of six years. He eventually settled abroad where he works for castle owners…

 You can see the Sagittarius vibe  working on a Virgo basis.

There is a similarity with our grandfather’s Sun conjunct Jupiter in Taurus: Jupiter rules Sagittarius, Virgo and Taurus are Earth, we get growth and expansion in the Earth element… But the Taurus Grandfather lived his entire life where he was born.  

The general rule to understand the nodes is similar to what I’ve shown about the Sun: Firstly, follow the rulers. You may also use the natural rulers associated with a house: Mars for the 1st, Venus for the 2nd, Mercury for the 3rd etc. Then check the aspects. Conjunctions and squares to the Nodes are always very meaningful. I’ll talk more about the Nodes in another post.  

5 An important principle is: What is important is repeated. 

Let me just repeat: What is important is repeated. 

For instance, imagine a chart with the Moon in Pisces square Venus in Gemini. See it in your mind.

I have talked about the Sun a lot, let’s take an example with the Queen in it!

With a Moon-Venus square, there is a tension between the urge to belong somewhere (tribe, family, ethnic background, country…) and the urge to relate. Sometimes with this aspect there can be a conflict between mother and daughter, or between family and partner, or even between wife and mistress,  or within the individual, between pleasure and security, tastes and needs etc. 

This tension can be better understood through the signs and houses involved. 

Now if Jupiter, ruler of the Moon in Pisces,  and Mercury, ruler of Venus in Gemini, form a harmonious aspect, it will help harmonising Venus and the Moon. (See it on your mental picture please!)

Conversely, if Jupiter and Mercury are conflicting, you can say: “double whammy!” A square between planets in Gemini and Pisces, plus a square between Mercury and Jupiter! 

Same thing if Mercury and Neptune are in aspect indeed. 

The Moon rules over Cancer and Venus over Libra. If, on top of what precedes, you find a square between a planet in Cancer and another planet in Libra, you can shout: “Triple whammy!”  

If, using the modern notion of natural rulership, you associate the fourth house with the Moon, and the seventh with Venus, and you find a conflict between these two houses, like a square between their rulers or between planets placed in them, or between a planet placed in one of them and the ruler of the other… you can shout again! “Quadruple whammy!” 

I could go on and on, but hopefully, you have understood how to look for connections between various indicators surrounding the Sun, the Moon or any planet for that matter. 

6 How powerful? 

May I repeat? We want to assess what every actor of the cosmic drama wants, and also how powerful they are, in order to understand who leads the game and in what direction; or, if no strong leadership is obvious, what are the warring factions.  

The power of vitality is in the Sun’s hands. Its role as sovereign is to integrate the various energies into a functioning kingdom. 

The angles (Asc, Dc, MC and IC) are the places of maximum power, for any planet. If the Sun is there, it’s an especially powerful one. The personality will be solar, even if the sign is not Leo. 

When I look at a chart for the first time, I  look at the angles before anything else. These placements are always master cards. 

Some sign placements are a priori more powerful than others: 

In Leo and Aries, the Sun is in dignity, so it is more powerful; in Aquarius and Libra it is in detriment, so in principle less powerful, but it’s only one thing amongst others. 

Figure 5 Abraham Lincoln (Source: astrodienst)

Abraham Lincoln had the Sun in Aquarius and conjunct the Ascendant. A powerful Sun is fitting for an American President, especially of his stature. Aquarius is just the right sign for one who puts an end to slavery. 

Some houses are also more powerful than others: the angular houses, the first one being first, offer more power. 

The sixth, eighth and twelfth houses are the most problematic houses. But again, a handicap doesn’t mean your horse doesn’t have what it takes to win the race. 

The Sun can be supported or afflicted by the aspects it receives. I mentioned signs and house placements to get them out of the way, but personally, I see aspects and connection by rulership as more important. I already talked about them when asking the question: What does the Sun want? Now, we are asking: How powerful is it? 

Abraham Lincoln’s Sun also received a tight trine from Mars in Libra. A harmonious connection is a synergy: by definition, this means that the power that results from their association is greater than the sum of their two powers taken separately. 

Some aspects are in principle harmonious: conjunction, sextiles, trines. But wait, remember the idiom: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” A trine with a badly afflicted Saturn is not the same as a trine with a harmonious Jupiter or Mars, or with a Saturn without major afflictions. 

We also need to consider that different planets have different powers. For instance: Do you know the saying business coaches like to repeat: “Your network is your net worth”. Mercury or Venus are not powerful in Mars’ style, but they are good at connecting. You may not be the strong guy, but if you have managed to have the strong guy on your side, you see what I mean. 

We can also consider that a square between easy going and otherwise well aspected planets is likely to be energising rather than afflicting. 

There is always an ambiguity when we come across disharmonious aspects: they can be lived as energy consuming conflicts, or be solved and turned into an even greater power.  

Don’t forget the first principle: when we are exploring the main roads, there is no need to get lost in the little streets. A general impression is enough. (It takes some experience).

People can cope with a reasonable amount of tension. 

Besides aspects, let’s not forget rulerships. 

Still talking about the Sun, it’s also very important to consider that it may be afflicted by difficult placements in Leo, the sign it rules.

Saturn, Chiron, Black Moon Lilith, afflicted planets in Leo weigh on the ability of the Sun to shine and thrive: if the Moon is in Leo, and tightly squared by Pluto in Scorpio, it’s also a thorn in the Sun’s side. 

Conversely, supportive placements in Leo, for instance Jupiter without major afflictions in Leo will boost the Sun’s radiance and power. 

The Sun can also suffer or benefit from the state of the planet that rules the sign and, if it’s not the same, the house in which it sits. 

For instance, if the Sun is in Libra and Venus is squared by Saturn. The Sun wants to shine in Libra fashion, but Venus square Saturn shows that a heavy load is getting in the way of the Libra Sun. 

If the Sun is conjunct the South Node, or square (or semi-square) to the Nodes, its energy is problematic and needs adjustment. A problematic Sun may scorch rather than shine, be too self centred, the ego may be a bit inflated, pride may be a problem… 

To assess other planets’ power, the principles are the same, plus one: The Sun and the Moon give power. They are the lights. 

When I look at a chart for the first time, just after checking the angles as places of maximum power, I look at what planets may be conjunct, or make tight aspects to the Sun or the Moon. 

I’ve said a lot in this paragraph, but to keep it short: check the aspects and the connections by rulership.

7 What’s going on with the Moon 

The relationship between the King and the Queen is one of the fundamental questions. The Moon needs to be studied in the same way as we do with the Sun.

The Sun-Moon relationship  can be studied through their respective placements, the aspects between them, or between their rulers or planets they are ruling over and the phase of the Moon in the natal chart. 

The Moon Nodes are also an expression of the relationship between Sun and Moon. The Nodes are named after the Moon, but they are the places where the Moon crosses the Sun’s path (the ecliptic)  

Studying the Moon as I have shown with the Sun may lead to a very different portrait. There will be convergent and conflictual themes to various degrees. 

As the Moon points at our origins and childhood, she shares with the South Node the meaning of “Square One” or “Launching Pad”.

Once we are launched, we may be happy with it… or want to change course at all cost! We may struggle with an “emotional straitjacket”, with “toxic inherited patterns” or “old traumas and shadows” possibly inherited from our ancestors, but it may also be our own karma… 

Whatever the words we use to talk about it, it’s there, it has deep unconscious roots, and we do the best we can to survive and find a way to express our Sun, our own authentic self. 

But there are also people who have good enough parents, feel good in their own skin, find out early what they want to do with their life and do it without self-sabotaging as they go along. We can guess their Sun and Moon are in agreement. 

Figure 6 Barack Obama (Source: Astrodienst)

Barack Obama’s chart

His Sun is in Leo, in domicile, good point, in the sixth house, which is not a powerful house, but it is conjunct an angle, that’s the most important fact. It’s a powerful Sun. 

His Moon is in Gemini, and conjunct to the IC, another angle of the chart. So here we have a powerful king and a powerful queen. The Sun and the Moon are not connected by aspects, but Gemini and Leo are compatible signs. We could say his Sun and Moon are sextile by sign. 

Gemini, with the Moon in it, is ruled by Mercury, and Mercury is in Leo, ruled by the Sun. Sun and Moon seem to get on very well, the Moon is supporting the Sun via Mercury. We can think of Michelle Obama.

In Barack Obama’s chart, many other planets are ruled by Mercury, or by planets that are ruled by Mercury. For instance, Venus in Cancer is ruled by the Moon,  and the Moon by Mercury. The Sun is the final dispositor of a great deal of energies. 

There are challenges: in particular, the Moon is squared by Pluto and the Sun by Neptune. However, the Sun and the Moon are in the strongholds, they have maximum power, they are up to the challenges and can turn difficulties into assets. 

The phases of the Moon

I am not going to develop the phases of the Moon in this post. Dane Rudyar said that the phase of the Moon we are born under is as important as our Sun or Moon signs. 

A New Moon makes a native similar to an Aries, attuned to the energy of beginning. A Full Moon shows both Sun and Moon in full power and opposed in a relationship that can be confrontation or complementarity. There is some Libra vibe to it.

The phases of the Moon are eight, and there are twelve signs, so we can’t superimpose the zodiac and its universal archetypes to it - but we can get inspired.

When the Moon is waxing, the energy wants action and manifestation.

When the Moon is waning, the energy wants interiorisation and growth in consciousness.

The quarter phases, when the Sun squares the Moon, correspond to crisis, whether in action (First quarter, waxing) or in understanding (Last quarter, waning). More about the phases of the Moon in Magical Doors, or in a later post.

The purpose of this long post was to set out a few important principles and to make them as clear as possible through a few illustrations. I don’t need to repeat the explanations with the Ascendant ruler or other planets. Some personalities are extremely focused, others are experimenting in various fields, some people are scattered all over the place… Life is diverse and so are the charts.

I hope this helps!

Jean-Marc

If you wish to contact me for a reading or a class, or learn about an astrology retreat in Turkey in 2024, visit the homepage :-)

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Self or ego? What is the Ascendant?

The Sun is said to be the ego. The first house, defined by the Ascendant, is called the “House of Self.”

What is ego? For some people on a spiritual path, the “ego” is the obstacle. I don’t agree with this negative definition. In a psychological sense, the ego is simply our sense of identity, our sense of self. The symbol for the Sun is the dot at the centre of a circle and is one of the most powerful symbols. With this image, we can see the self at the centre.

Since both the Sun and Ascendant are connected to our sense of self, is there some sort of competition between the two?

Liz Greene says that it’s not possible to practice astrology without a philosophy. My philosophy is captured in a basic metaphysical statement: “We are spirits in the material world. The body is our vehicle.”

Since we are spirits, our natural environment is the spiritual world. When we are in the spiritual world, we have no birth chart, no Sun sign, and no Ascendant. The material world is life as we know it on Earth, where we live wearing bodies of flesh, surrounded with the natural world and human society. I believe we regularly reincarnate, and with my underlying philosophy and belief, I have imagined a metaphor. I visualize visiting the bottom of the sea — representative of life on earth and the material world. And the Ascendant, our body, is a submarine, and the Sun, who we really are at the core, our spirit, is the driver.

Imagine you’re planning to visit the bottom of the sea to see the beautiful fish. The sea is very deep, and you can’t go just as you are. There is lots of pressure deep down and you won’t be able to breathe. You need a vessel of some kind — so, you embark in a small one, a submarine.

When you reach the bottom of the sea, there are already many other submarines traveling about. Some, like you, are there to chase and enjoy the fish while others are there to study the ocean floor and the underwater rocks. Others are there to test the new submarine technology, while others are there to control the traffic.

You know that you are you and not a submarine. But to others, you appear as just another submarine. They see the colour and the shape of your submarine. They see your driving style. They see that your submarine gets very excited when there are fish, but that you don’t care much for rocks. You are not a submarine, but that is what the others see. You may even identify with your submarine personality so strongly that you forget life exists outside a submarine — that you are a spirit and there is a whole world beyond what is around you.

Now this may sound very like the Cartesian notion of the ghost in the machine, so please don’t forget that this is just a metaphor. Our bodies are not machines. Body, mind, and spirit are much more deeply intertwined than that. I would rather think of our bodies as extensions of ourselves rather than mere containers. But, hopefully the metaphor is good enough for my point. One day the body dies, and yet we survive. Once the submarine dies, our driving style — our incarnated personality — disappears as well.

This is how I understand the Ascendant and the first house. It is our “incarnated personality.” My view is consistent with what we know about houses: they are about the most material expression of energies. The Ascendant, Descendant, MC, and IC form what astrological tradition calls the Cross of Matter.

The way the submarine behaves at the bottom of the sea is an expression of the intentions of the driver. The submarine is not just a “mask” that hides the authentic being within. There are various types of submarines. In my own chart, Cancer is rising, a very sensitive sign. My submarine carries cameras, probes, and antennae. I’m able to sense the environment with great accuracy. This also makes me somewhat fragile. Please don’t shout in my sonar! I’m here to detect subtle vibrations.

I am driving this Cancerian type of submarine on a Scorpio expedition: my Sun placement. The purpose of this incarnation has something to do with confronting intense emotions, exploring the unconscious side of the mind, and other such matters. If my Sun were Scorpio and my Ascendant were Sagittarius, I would have a thicker skin; and I would confront intense emotions as an adventurer, stepping out of my comfort zone. With Cancer rising, the intensity comes to my home. I’m more like a scorpion hiding under a rock.

We usually say that the Ascendant is how we appear. Words are tricky. To appear means “to look like” — but it doesn’t only mean this. To appear means “to become visible.” The Sun becomes visible in the morning on the eastern horizon. Everything that rises appears in the east. We are spiritual beings. Spirits are invisible. We become visible thanks to our physical body. That’s our Ascendant.

We appeared for the first time when we were born. Planets conjunct to the Ascendant give indications about how we were born. People with Pluto on the Ascendant often had a difficult birth. It felt like a life or death moment. People with Saturn on the Ascendant may well have felt stuck from the start. If it were Jupiter or Venus, the birth experience was most probably far more easy going.

Psychological studies have shown that there is a correlation between how birth happened and how well people do later in life. First impressions and first moments always have a great impact. We appear not only as our body, but also through our behaviour, which is on the surface. If I’m being polite towards you, it’s behaviour. You can see that I’m being polite, but you don’t know why. Maybe I am a complete hypocrite. Maybe I am polite because I have something to sell and it would be foolish to be rude. Maybe I just wish to avoid trouble. But maybe I am genuinely treating you politely because I do respect and love you. What comes up to the surface may come from the depth of my heart. But, if I am a hypocrite or if I am playing poker, then I am using the Ascendant as a mask. We have this choice.

I’ve seen videos where psychologists analyse video recordings of people who are lying like, for instance, politicians. I am not saying that all politicians are lying, but surely some do at times. Looking closely, psychologists can see that the body language of liars betrays them. There are subtle clues. Everything comes up to the surface actually, in more or less obvious ways. However, even if everything comes to the surface, we are not able to show ourselves as we are deep within. We can’t expect people to plug themselves directly into us and perceive our soul with absolute clarity. Maybe a very gifted psychic can do that, but surely not every lover can.

The alternative to being psychically perceived is to express ourselves. Self-expression: this is what the Sun’s mission is. To ex-press literally means to push out. We need to be creative to express our inner spirit. The Ascendant is the way out. For instance, I just imagined a picture book with little submarines of various colours and shapes interacting at the bottom of the ocean. Even a child could understand what I mean, that’s my Cancer Ascendant.

Metaphors are always approximations for the sake of clarity. The Sun is also the central power, so you may imagine the driver of the submarine as being the power generator. Body, mind, and spirit are intimately connected.

I hope I have given you a few keys to imaginatively interpret your Sun–Ascendant combination.

Jean-Marc

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