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.
How about an astrology retreat in Turkey?

The houses are moving!

First thing, you exist.

That’s strong, that’s powerful, that’s Angular, that’s First House.

Succedent Houses are Houses that come next.

Planets located in the second house are following those that are located in the first, in primary motion, that is clockwise.

These planets will rise next.

The Second house is a Succedent one.

You exist, and now you are hungry

You want food, you want money

Cadent Houses are Houses that fall over.

(form latin cadere, to fall)

Angles are peaks. After any summit comes decline.

After angular you fall into cadent.

That’s clockwise logic, aka Primary Motion. It’s worth repeating.

The IC is an anti peak, a reversed MC so to speak

The cadent house that falls after this anti peak actually starts climbing.

It’s the third house, aka House of the Goddess. The Moon is happy there.

She is a mirror as you know.

Of course Houses don’t move. At least not literally.

Houses are like stables.

A stable, is it a building, or a team of race horses? Or a team of race cars?

Angular, Succedent and Cadent Houses, understood as teams of planets and signs, race clockwise, in daily motion. It’s more like a procession than a race actually.

Planets placed before the Sun in this procession are called Oriental. (This is notion that emphasises once more the importance of how things move)

In this procession, the First house comes first, the Second succeeds, the Third comes next but the Third is also preceding the Fourth team, falling away from the angle that the Fourth is reaching.

However, in a natal chart, all motions are stopped in their tracks.

A chart is a snapshot, a frozen moment. In a chart, the Houses, like the signs and planets are fixed. Houses get activated anticlockwise by transits or progressions. Thus, again, the First comes first, followed by the Succedent second, the Third precedes the Fourth and the Fifth succeeds to it etc.

Now, this doesn’t deny the symbolic value of planets moving in primary motion, ascending through 12th, 11th and 10th houses, then declining and setting at the 7th place and so on.

We can perfectly look at things from various points of view.

To sum it up: the names of the Houses (Angular, Succedent, Cadent) describe the movement of the planets (and signs) contained within them in primary motion, clockwise.

The meaning of the houses is in great part derived from the highlights of this movement: planets (and signs) rise, culminate and set, they ascend and descend, day after day.

However, this clockwise movement is crossed in the opposite direction by the movement of the same planets moving in secondary motion, anticlockwise through the signs of the zodiac.

It’s worth meditating, because cosmic movements and life on earth reflect each other…

Jean-Marc Pierson

I am an astrologer. Yes I do read charts, and I teach. Here is the homepage.

Astrology and Identity

For astrologers, our identity is symbolised by the Sun, and by the Fire element.

This identity is supposed to be unique. I love the saying:

"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."

Spiritual folks talk about a "Higher Self": there is an identity in a spiritual sense that is more authentically us than the little ego.

Can this "Higher Self" have a gender? A gender is a category. In this temporary incarnation, I am a man.

I may have had past incarnations as a woman. I also had a life as a rabbit, but mostly as a human being. This Higher Self which incarnated many times as a woman, many times as a man and once as a rabbit is now me, a man. Higher Self must be beyond gender.

The big problem with identity is that we don't know ourselves.

"Know yourself" was written on the portal of Apollo's temple in Delphi. Lao Tzu said "He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened".

Throughout ages and traditions, self knowledge has been what we should strive for. It's not a given.

Because we don't know ourselves, we identify with a number of things. I identify as a storyteller, as a man, as French, as an astrologer etc. But this is my ego.

When we know ourselves, the ego dissolves. The ego may not like it but it's just a temporary illusion, a psychological construct.

The Sun in the chart symbolises both the authentic Self and the ego, which is the temporary illusion we entertain about this authentic Self we don't know yet.

The ego is like the snake that sheds its skin. It dies and is born again, always trans-forming. There is a sign and a house for that: Scorpio, eighth. What is real and eternal does not transform, has no form but can take form.

The Moon has another conception of the word "identity". To be fair with words, the Moon doesn't care about identity. The Moon belongs.

With the Moon we absorb our environment. Ideas like "intersectionality" are typically from the Moon. You are defined by where you belong.

Here are our roots in the material world: I was born French, my Frenchness is obvious when I record a podcast or a video. I am a man. I am white. Was born like that. It's Moon stuff.

I am middle aged. I have not always been middle aged, and won't always be, but that's part of my 'identity' for now. Boom, baby. The Moon always changes.

I am a man. There is a biologically obvious dimension to it (I don't do dick pics but I could if there was a philosophical purpose).

Biology is able to mix up its own categories, however in the majority of cases we are clearly born male of female. That's sex. Gender starts with sex but goes further.

We have absorbed and internalised all kinds of expectations about how we should be. All the influences we absorb are symbolised by the Moon and the Water element. Maybe Venus as well. Water and Earth, the archetypal Feminine energies take from outside in.

Some of the influences I absorbed contribute to my well being, others make me suffer. I do rebel against the influences that make me suffer, I want to break free from them.

How? There may be more than one way. I believe in Kind acceptance and Understanding of what is, in the "here and now".

On earth, we live within the Moon's orbit, in the world of forms.

Forms may be illusions but they are our reality. The spiritual path is striving to look beyond the world of forms and awaken the Sun within.

Jean-Marc

Astrologer, storyteller

I can read your chart! I can also show you how to read charts, possibly in Turkey in October 24. Here is the homepage Have a look, there is even a contact form!

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

The Spirit of Fire and the four elements.

If life was a table and the four elements were its legs, would one be more essential than the others? No. 

How about the four elements?

The number Four symbolises life getting anchored in the material world. Most animals have four legs. Our houses have four sides, our rooms four walls. East, West, North and South get us oriented. There are four seasons. 

Four feels balanced and stable. Two axes form a cross, four right angles, a square. 

However, if we were to bump into the four elements at a spiritual party, one of them would attract our attention more: Fire. Here we have warmth and light in eternal abundance! 

Life is a flame, and so are you. Creation is a deflagration. If God was invited to the party, It would appear as Fire and Light. Could you imagine God as a handful of dirt? 

Now, when you think of it, God could appear as the wind, even though, when clothed in wind, God is invisible; holy, subtle and spiritual no doubt, but not appearing at all. God could also, why not, be a sea mother, a fluid immensity out of which creatures emerge. God could even be a handful of dirt after all, a mother of seeds, Sacred Nature, when you think of it. Still, before thinking of it, Fire came First. 

God is like the Sun, Fire suits It best. 

You may wonder what the connection between the element Fire and God has to do with astrological interpretations. Just follow the thread:

God is the creator, people with a fire emphasis are creative. They see life as a stage, they aim at performing well. Saving money or finding emotional security is less of a concern for them than expressing their sacred fire. 

They are powerful, maybe not all powerful, but at times, at risk of believing they are… until the possible burnout. 

God is said to provide, fire people are often quick to pay for the drinks, even when they know you have as much money in your pockets as they have. Question of prestige! 

More than others, they draw self-confidence from the intuition of what’s divine within themselves. Isn’t it written that God created us to his own likeness? They dare knowing they are beautiful, which can be done in a healthy way, or not… 

Is Fire the supreme element then? Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no. Symbols are not rigidly defined concepts. 

Empedocles, the Greek philosopher who had the idea of considering the four elements as the four roots of everything, didn’t consider Fire as the super root of the others, otherwise he would have simply stated, in opposition to Thales, who thought that everything came from Water, that it’s actually Fire that the whole world comes from. But he didn’t.

When we look at the world through the  prism of the number four, there are four dimensions, and they are all equally essential.  

South is not a more fundamental direction than East, West or North. We may like it more, and turn our back to North, but without North, we would have nowhere to turn our back to, and South would vanish. Similarly, Fire, as an element, is only one of them. 

Symbols are evocations. Ordinary logic is not relevant to describe how pictures articulate their powers of evocation. Sometimes Fire conjures up the intuition of the One and Only Being, and sometimes Fire is one amongst four equally essential elements. And sometimes, both at the same time, which is logically absurd, but metaphorically why not. 

By the way, do you think that the elements mean something specific in the context of astrology?

Or do Fire, Water, Air and Earth mean what they mean, whether they appear in poetry, myths, dreams, spiritual visions, alchemy, magic or astrology?  Neptune’s answer is: astrology is not a waterproof box separated from the universal language. As without so within, as within so without. So… 

Fire!

We may  light a candle on an altar. 

We may call home a “hearth”, cook on the fire and share  as family members. 

We know that guilt or shame, as well as anger or desire at times burn like hell.  

God once appeared as a burning bush. 

Sometimes, there is a little flickering light at the end of a tunnel. 

For astrological interpretations, as always, follow the threads. For instance, we’re used to thinking of family life as symbolised by the Moon. The Moon symbolises women and mothers. But men have a role to play. Even in modern times, when switching roles happens, we still want Water and Fire together, they are the life giving elements. 

Fire in a chart may burn in the hearth, for instance in the 4th house, and make it warm there. 

How could Fire mean only one thing? Life gives us so many experiences of it. 

The warmth of a stove 

The pain of being burnt

The light of a candle in a dark place

The spectacle of moths throwing themselves into the flame (like us!)

A wildfire engulfing forests and witches

Body temperature, human warmth

Fireworks, celebrations…  

Every spark, every twinkling star becomes a metaphor for soul and spirit to tell their stories. 

Symbolic language unfolds along the lines of lived experience. We need to surrender and let the symbols speak. 

Now, don’t worry. The standard interpretations of what it means when you have an element strongly emphasised in a chart will be very often true. 

Fiery people often have this tendency to steal the show… until you meet one who apparently doesn’t. Then it is time to remember the difference between a little flame and a blaze, a servant of the Secret Fire and a fire spitting dragon, or between a blacksmith and a cook… 

Look at what houses are involved for clues about what interpretations are more likely, along with what planets are involved, follow the threads, let inspiration fill in the blanks, and  good luck! 

Jean-Marc

Blog posts written over the years have become a book, and got great reviews. To know more about that, and about me as an astrologer, storyteller and teacher (a retreat in Turkey is planned in 2024) visit my homepage!

Jupiter square Pluto

Jupiter wants to know. Pluto’s abode is the dark underground.

Jupiter speaks of growth, luck, enthusiasm, faith and expansion.

Pluto has an instinctive sixth sense that has always been very useful for survival in extreme settings.

Jupiter rules over laws.  Pluto knows the law of the jungle . Jupiter wants civilisation.  

What are laws exactly?

In Jupiterian fashion, let me embark with you on a journey.  

What are laws? 

Let’s take an example: E = mc2

You know this equation, it’s one of the most famous laws of physics. But how do you know it? I am not asking if you learned about it reading a book or if it’s your cat who told you. I’m asking: “What is your mind doing when you know?”  

For instance, right now, you may not be really interested in thinking about the theory of relativity. Just knowing that you know is enough for now. You vaguely remember: Einstein, energy and matter, ok, what’s next?

We are very often juggling with words with very little of what they mean present to mind. I could tell you a story about a cat, which may or may not belong to Schrödinger, and then ask you: what colour did you picture this cat in your mind? And if you’re like me, you notice that you can listen to a cat story without visualising a cat in your mind at all! Strange, no? 

Or maybe you did visualise a cat, but it’s was just a vague cat,  nothing but a botched mental representation with very little in common with a real meow that moves, climbs on the fence, walks on top of it, jumps onto the roof of the garden shed, and surprises a squirrel!…

If you don’t take the trouble of holding a substantial cat in your mind when I’m talking about one, I’m sure that when it comes to E = mc2 not much is happening either. 

Mercury is a trickster. It gives us words to talk about things, language is a fantastic tool, but we become, as the philosopher Wittgenstein saw it, “bewitched by language”. Language is like a game we’re playing, we follow its rules and we don’t need to know what we are talking about to make it work. We may not even notice how disconnected from reality we are.

Jupiter, the truth seeker, is looking for the real thing. Are laws real things? Take E = mc2   Mercury knows the formula. How does Jupiter know such a thing? Like this:

Imagine a light bulb, with a filament in it. Try to be empathetic. Be the filament. Feel how it feels to resist an electric current so hard. Feel it in your body. You’re so strong! You become incandescent. Your body radiates light. It’s your very body which is turning into light, you’re losing weight in the process - even though you’re not losing much, you’re nowhere near vanishing, the proportion of your physical body that turns into light is soooo tiny actually. To get an idea of how tiny it is, imagine that you have to multiply it by a huge number, the speed of light squared, and the speed of light, it’s huge, look at the stars… 

So yes, the proportion is tiny, but still, you are turning into light. You are it.  

Geniuses like Einstein can hold mental pictures so vividly that they can even feel the maths! Or should I say “intuit”?  

A number of geniuses have said that they saw the results before doing all the calculations needed to prove they were right. 

Einstein was a Pisces and Cancer Rising, with Moon in Sagittarius. With such placements, you don’t forget Jupiter in the closet. His Jupiter in the ninth house was squared by Pluto and opposed by Uranus… 

Pluto destroyed the old worldview. To be able to conceive energy and matter as only one thing, there was a need to drill  holes in the old habits of thinking. Newtonian physics had to fall apart in Einstein’s mind. Pluto touching Jupiter gave Albert a mental power as strong as a rhinoceros charging an elephant. Einstein was posthumously diagnosed with autism. We know how intensely autistic people can obsess over what interests them. 

Mercury uses reason and logic to check whether Jupiter saw right or if it was just a bit drunk. It’s important to check. Not any vision is true.

Mercury focuses on the signs and the relationships between signs, but the law is what is actually happening. Laws are the cosmos’ organisation. The most fundamental laws are gravity, electromagnetism and two others that are active at atomic level. Jupiter makes the world hold together. A key word is “integration”. No wonder it was called the Great Benefic! 

Pluto is a disintegrating force. How can so much energy be released from such a small bomb? (It’s not Einstein who made it by the way). 

In Hiroshima’s event chart, Uranus is bang on the MC. Pluto is conjunct the Sun and connected with Jupiter by a semi-square. 

To sum it up, with Jupiter square Pluto, expect a radical tension between forces of integration and disintegration. 

There are other laws that are not natural but debated and voted in parliaments. here is a similar problem: connecting formulation and reality. Reality is: People are such as they are, there is room for trouble. They have useful instincts and intense emotions, but with only instincts, life is hell. Pluto’s world is not a happy one. Philosophers called it the state of nature. 

Therefore we make laws, by Jupiter. Do you know that the first cause of death among lions is other lions? It would be the same with us, but we declared that killing other people is a crime. Society  punishes criminals. As a result, we keep the peace, not always, but often enough to make a difference. Thanks Jupiter, good job, oh Great Benefic!

However, writing laws is complicated. We should not kill other people, but  what if we were defending ourselves? If we were defending ourselves, but our life wasn’t threatened, was our response proportionate to the aggression? If our response was not proportionate, could the judge and the jury believe that we genuinely believed it was? ….

The spirit of the laws is that we should do our best to live in peace, respect others, be fair etc. In practice, we need to write down, formulate, precise particular cases… Formulation is Mercury’s job, however Mercury’s job is also to find loopholes in the service of those who are willing to take advantage of the imperfections . Pluto keeps oozing through the cracks. 

When Pluto squares Jupiter, it’s not easy to uphold the rule of law, both within societies or within ourselves. We have sneaky shadows. They find their ways through our ethics. 

Thanks to Jupiter and Pluto’s conflict, we can enjoy Western movies. Pluto loves that game: get them to draw their gun first, make sure there are witnesses, and kill them legally, you, the fastest shooter in the history of the West. 

Do you prefer thrillers, detective stories? Pluto loves them as well. For those who respect the laws in real life, but fantasise anyway, going to the movies is a compromise.

And sometimes, it’s not a movie, all hell breaks loose. Corruption is a permanent threat, and the climate is changing. 

There are also moral, or spiritual laws. For instance, the Golden Rule: 

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" has a flavour of the laws we make: it tells you how to behave. But this is also a law that we should understand rather than just do as we are told: karma says that what comes around goes around . It makes sense to sow what we want to reap. 

Jupiter the Truth Seeker takes us to seek God, or Moshka, Nirvana, Enlightenment, Ultimate Reality. From the spiritual dimensions, or from the collective psyche, it gets experiences that are quasi impossible to translate into plain language. We get symbols instead, like our zodiac. However, with Pluto, nothing is safe from corruption. Sometimes we kill in the name of God, and the Devil laughs. 

May all the beings be happy!  

Jean-Marc Pierson

In October 2024, there will be an astrology retreat in Turkey. Click!

I offer readings, classes and I have written a book. To know more, click!

Thank you for your attention.

Pluto square Moon

Moon square Pluto. Ouch, it’s a difficult one. 

Caveat:  Planets and aspects may be strong like big blows in the face, or soft like shoulders clad in velvet rubbing. Every planet comes with an invisible dimmer switch. So do aspects. How intense was the light at the moment you were born?

The Moon square Pluto that worries you may be a mere skeleton in a well forgotten closet, or a cohort of demons making your life hell day in and day out. 

In general, with this aspect, expect rubble. 

“Rubble” is an evocative way to say: “destruction followed by regeneration of something that means home to you”. 

Followed by regeneration, yes.  “This too will pass” is a valid mantra, it applies to rubbles. Keep calm and carry on is a relevant exhortation. (When you need to hear that, you’re in trouble)

The optimistic word in “destruction followed by regeneration of something that means home to you” is “something”. It may not be the end of your entire world. Only something. 

“What means home” is more subtle than just home. Our interpretations can be literal only once in a while. An earthquake, a landslide, bombs falling or damages caused by time and neglect can cause roofs and walls to collapse, literally. Then you’re dead, or homeless. 

However, we are symbolic beings. The Moon means home, home means environment, environment is family, tribe, village, city, nation, environment is nature, it’s the little piece of land we belong to (rather than the opposite) and it’s the blue planet that owes us… 

When transiting Pluto squared my natal Moon, I left France and came to England. It was my decision, it was a good one, it was time to close a chapter and get a fresh start. I needed to shed my old skin and leave it behind. I had spent eighteen years of my life in Drôme Provençale, in the South-East of France. I loved it so much there. My heart had made roots. When Pluto squared, I left. I hope I’ll get another life and live there again. I want another youth. I loved it so much but it’s all over even though still living in spirit. 

Rubble can be metaphorical; other related pictures can be relevant, the snake tearing its own skin apart, the uprooted tree… 

As a Scorpio Sun with Cancer Rising, I could only be especially sensitive to a Pluto square Moon transit.

The Moon rules over the inside world, which contains our most vulnerable side. There is a need for wrapping and warmth. Nurturing, nourishment, safety… 

We are spirits in the material world. We inhabit bodies, courtesy of the Moon-Mother. Our body is our home. It is a home that needs a home. For some, this home feels like a prison. A future butterfly must feel trapped in the cocoon. One day, it will break open. Transformation is permanent. 

Our spirit is wrapped up in layers of soul, like an onion. There is an etheric body, an astral body and many other bodies. We are made of inner layers and we belong to outdoor layers, family, natural habitat, village or city etc.  

When Pluto squares the Moon, the question is: what layer, or what layers are being torn? Is it physical, emotional, social, mental…? 

We may dream that our house is falling apart, the earth shaking and trees being uprooted.  Then wake up, sweating and feel so relieved that it was “just a dream”.

But what is happening in our dreams, isn’t it a real psychic event?

The world of dreams could erupt and overwhelm our consciousness, people with white blouses would call our case a “psychosis”. Our mental world is also a home. (Who lives in it?) 

Pluto squaring the Moon may simply find us struggling with insecurities. We may feel tormented by inner demons. In the outer world, our house could stand still, as if nothing was going on. Neighbours won’t know anything about our underground fight for mental survival. 

In my understanding, when we go through hell consciously, in the world of our own feelings, we are diffusing the destructive energies. We are sparing ourselves painful manifestations in the physical dimension. Paying attention to our inner life is worth a thousand talismans. 

I with you fertile daydreaming and cogitations!

Jean-Marc

PS Check this: Astrology Retreat in Turkey 2004

PPS And for readings, classes, more about my book, contact etc, welcome to the homepage

Mars in Cancer

A warrior with a sword, holding a baby with his other arm, engaged in a fight. That could be Mars in Cancer. 

He has promised a dying friend to protect this baby and here he is, fighting bad guys who would prefer this little one dead. A question of inheritance or succession, poor baby. 

Mars is in fall in Cancer. Planets in detriment face a special challenge: the conditions are not favourable to the full expression of their energy. It’s certainly more difficult to fight holding a baby. Mars in Cancer has a particularly vulnerable side but it may win anyway. 

Symbolic language is the opposite of literal. The baby may be an inner child, with dreams, imagination and old traumas. 

Soldiers fighting to defend their countries have also a metaphorical baby on their arms. 

As for the Mafia, aggression and family are central values. I remember Al Capone had Mars in Cancer. At the time of writing, I googled “famous Mafia bosses”. I picked up two, randomly, Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano, then searched for astro data. Both had Mars in Cancer. I tried another one, Toni Giancana. Mars in Libra… but a Cancer Sun, and Pluto in Cancer trine Moon. Frank Costello. Mars in Aries, but… Cancer Moon in the 12th, Cancer Rising.  This is not a valid statistical study, but a strong first impression: these five mafia bosses all had whether Mars in Cancer, or Cancer higher than Mars in the chart hierarchy. I wonder how much Cancer we would find in the chart of the Godfather. 

As an idealist, I hope that one day, people will know how to live without violence. Will Mars disappear from the sky? Probably not. There must be peaceful ways for Mars. The energy of the warrior in Cancer can also be the energy of providers, (hunters), nest builders, sport teachers for children, cub scout leaders… (Akela!)

Here is another series of pictures for Mars is Cancer: A baby playing with razor blades. Is it going to self harm or will it rather experiment with a little brother? It doesn’t know it’s playing a dangerous game… yet. 

A variation on this theme: a child with a loaded gun. Or a knife. Or his bare fist, I love dramatic pictures for entertainment and clarity, but it may be just a child fighting. 

Check the third house for clues about peers and neighbourhood. 

Now, a domestic abuser is nothing but a child in an adult body. Children need to test boundaries. Adult abusers are responsible for the actions of their inner disturbed child indeed. They should test boundaries in psychotherapy. 

There is no precise grammar with symbols. Mars in Cancer may take active care of the baby, or be the baby, baby. 

In other words, the same energy - and therefore the same symbol - can mean the abuser, the abused, or the protector. We can also be our own protector indeed, both fierce and vulnerable. 

In Cancer, energies can be maternal or parental, responsible, nurturing, providing materially and emotionally, or childlike, sensitive and imaginative, or even  childish, dependent, passive aggressive, manipulative and full of needs. 

They can also be tribal. Family or nation, with their codes and values may dictate how Mars should act. Individualism is in exile in Cancer. Mars is found there wearing a scarf, the colours of his team. Mars in Cancer has a family name and he is following a flag… 

The antidote to negative expressions of an energy is cultivating the positive side. Not cultivating the positive side is the equivalent of offending a god, the negative side will be the curse. 

There is a giving and a receiving end. Cancer is not traditionally considered a dual sign, but the glyph: ♋︎ shows a double design. We are used to thinking of it as representing a woman’s breast, or the eyes of a crab. We shouldn’t let the interpretations we already know get in the way. Symbols are magical doors. It’s possible to find out more. The doubled design looks like a 6 or a 9, could that be the beginning of a spiral? We can draw it turning from inside out or from outside in. One provides, one takes in. 

Someone loving my book!

The more challenged a Mars in Cancer is, the more likely it is to manifest as immature, driven by its own needs. If you’re reading the chart of an older person, don’t tell them they are still immature, how could you know? They may have  learned their lessons. 

Mars in Cancer may act with sensitivity, or be motivated by emotions, dreams, imagination or memories, it will know how to appeal to emotions when leading the team, it may manifest as a paternalistic leader or a strong minded woman, maybe a midwife… 

Now, if Mars is in Cancer, its ruler is the Moon. A planet in a sign loves and depends on its ruler. 

Signs are mindsets, houses are more concrete. If the Moon is in the fourth house, it will take the power of Mars in Cancer at home, if it’s in the fifth, it will appear as the rule of a game, in the context of creative endeavours, love life, or be expressed by a child. 

For now, let’s just imagine Mars in Cancer being ruled by a Virgo Moon. There is no precise grammar with symbols. The Moon rules, beyond that, let’s just let images mix. 

The warrior with a baby on his arm is fighting the energies of chaos. Hostile germs are waiting in ambush. The immune system is powerful. Well supported by Mars, good exercise and herbs, antibodies and life energy will shake off the disease! 

Or maybe it was an accident? Reeducation is a fight. 

This interpretation would be particularly relevant if Mars or the Moon, is in the sixth house, or rules it, or makes a strong aspect to a planet placed in the sixth house, or to the ruler of the sixth, or indirectly, if the sixth house is emphasised in the chart, I just don’t want to repeat this all the time!

A child with a loaded gun with the Moon in Virgo could be very skilled at hitting the center of the target - It’s a question of precision after all.  It may be a young chemist who knows what powders to mix and in what proportions to prepare his own explosives. Exciting! With a bit more maturity, he could be serving his country in the army as an explosive expert. 

Not everyone with Mars in Cancer and the Moon in Virgo will handle explosives in the army, even with 10th house (career) or 11th house (groups) emphasis of course. The Moon rules emotions, and if she rules Mars in a chart, there should be some metaphorical fireworks in the interpretation, unless Saturn blocks or dampens it all. 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures conjured up by Mars in Cancer and what comes up with a Virgo Moon. These are only illustrations. What I wish to convey is a sense of how to juggle with pictures to explore in search of relevant interpretations.

Jean-Marc 

To know more about my book, astrology readings and teachings, visit my homepage. Don’t hesitate to use the contact form.

Soon to be announced: an astrology retreat in Turkey in Autumn 2024

My teaching style is flexible. I love answering questions, because the best time to explain something is when the question comes up in the student’s mind…

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

Homepage

Blog posts written over the years are no longer available on this blog, they have become a book.

Visit my homepage for more information about it, about astrology readings, coaching or classes…

Spiritual Enzymes

The symbols of the zodiac are spiritual enzymes. 

The anonymous author of “Meditations on the Tarot”  - A Christian Hermetist - introduces the Major Arcanas as “Spiritual enzymes”: they have the power to stimulate and awaken deep layers of the soul when we contemplate them. I have no doubt that the zodiac is the same. The twelve signs are authentic symbols, let’s say arcanas. 

Symbols are not mere conventions, like ordinary words. If you don’t know that the French word “bateau” means “ship”, you won’t be able to guess. The sound of the word “bateau” has nothing to do with any sound that may suggest a ship. You can calligraphy the word with great art, it won’t look like a ship at all. 

Symbols on the other hand are like tips of icebergs: if you see the tip, you can have an intuition of the whole iceberg. 

Imagine being new to the world like a child, and you see an iceberg for the first time; however you have previous experiences of  floating things. 

Intuitively, you are using the law of analogy: this new thing (the iceberg) must behave like things you already know (the yellow duck in the bathtub, a piece of wood in the river...) so there must be a  part of the iceberg below the surface. Intuitively you also understand density, because you have experience of small and heavy things versus bigger but lighter ones. 

You can feel the approximate size of the immersed part of an iceberg, even without previous experience of icebergs. You apply the law of analogy: you assume that it goes with this new thing- the iceberg - like with the things you already know.  

Symbols invite us to a similar intuitive understanding. They appear as the tip, they mean the iceberg. Thanks to the symbol, we should be able to guess the whole thing without opening a textbook. 

One day a guy called Archimedes found the exact formula for floating bodies, but he would never have been able to discover the scientific formulation if he hadn’t had first the lived experience of things floating or sinking. 

The famous esoteric law of analogy states that we can similarly get intuitions about the invisible worlds. 

Symbols are tips of spiritual icebergs. Don’t take the metaphor too literally, this doesn’t mean that the spiritual world is cold like Antarctica. It’s only the tip versus hidden part that is supposed to make sense! 

Symbols show something we know, the head of a ram, a bull, two twins etc. or imaginary creatures like a centaur or a sea goat - but these are made of parts that belong to the world we know: a  horse and a man, a goat and a fish…

The other side of the equation, the hidden part belongs to dimensions that are beyond the grasp of our senses. Symbols mean psychic energies or spiritual realities, you may think of “the occult”. The word “occult”, as you know, means “hidden”. 

The law of analogy, as an esoteric principle, states that “As above, so below” and we understand that “above” means the heavens, the spiritual world, and “below” is down here on earth. 

So, paradoxically, our world below is like what is above, it is a reflection of the psychic or spiritual dimensions,   but at the same time, there is a radical difference between what’s familiar and what’s beyond our grasp, what’s transcendent, mysterious, unutterable, ineffable, you name it. 

Another disorienting theme in esoteric thinking is the coincidence of opposites -This simultaneous likeness and radical difference may be an example of it. 

I believe paradoxes to be only confusions though.

Our everyday mind is limited. It is used to deal with finite objects or bodies. We live in a three dimensional space, we are unable to imagine a four-dimensional one. Try, imagine a house: it has a certain length, width and height. Can you create a mental picture of a house with a fourth dimension? No. Could God design worlds with four, five or more dimensions? Why not! It’s just unimaginable for us, humans. So let’s just accept that there can be reality beyond our understanding, with a tip of the iceberg that we can perceive: symbols, messages from the Mystery.  

We have a linear perception of time: the past is behind, the future is ahead. Some people say that ancient folks had a circular definition of time, but I’ve never heard of old Hindu or Chinese sages mentioning that with time, our physical body will get young again, and we will have our childhood a second time. But what if there were more than one dimension to time? We can certainly imagine puzzling stories, but we can’t hold clear mental pictures of alternative realities. Our reason is stuck in this one. 

Symbols have a foot in our world, and the rest in the unknown. The foot we can see is an integral part of the rest, it has the power to conjure it up, or simply to mean it for our intuition to get it and feel dizzy. 

However, if we admit that we are spirits, created in the likeness of God as some old texts claim, these mysterious, sacred and ineffable dimensions of “above” are also within ourselves. We are made of them. Therefore, when we try to understand symbols, we are trying to remember who we are. My faith, or intuition, is that we also have within ourselves the ability to become conscious of the Mystery of who we are, and understand it, not with reason, but with what is called “Nous”in the Corpus Hermeticum, the Higher Mind . The search for Truth is meant by the Ninth House.  

Blog posts from past years have become a book…

Symbols are spiritual enzymes. Astrology is a spiritual path. 

Jean-Marc

Homepage

Astrology and the Greek Sphinx

Let me tell you a story that you already know: Oedipus meeting the Sphinx. This will lead us to astrological principles, you’ll see.  

The sphinx had the body of a lioness, a human face and wings. Her job as a monster was to ask a riddle to passers by, which they couldn’t answer and as a result they were killed. 

The riddle was:  “What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” 

Imagine the random passerby cornered by the sphinx; he is in a state of panic, he is thinking of all the animals he knows, tries to remember the weird ones, like the frogs who start their life as tadpoles, but with frogs the legs count doesn’t match, it must be an insect,what insects do I know? Spiders, flies, caterpillars…  

Time’s up! What’s your answer? Huh… A butterfly? Wrong! 

And the sphinx jumps at the poor guy’s throat… 

Like all previous victims of the sphinx, this one used his mind as if he knew only the Mercury side of it. He had been to school, he had a functioning third house, he could count and classify according to rational criteria, but with this kind of mind, he couldn’t save his life. 

Then comes Oedipus. He is in a modified state of consciousness. How come? He had recently heard, from an oracle, that he would kill his father and marry his mother. 

This prediction is uttered twice in Oedipus’ story: the first time, his real parents, the King and Queen of Thebes heard it. They abandoned baby Oedipus to a certain death. However, he was saved by a shepherd and eventually adopted by the sovereigns of Corinth. 

Oedipus believed that the King and the Queen of Corinths were his real parents. He loved them. In that mythical time, oracles were taken very seriously. How shocked he must have been when he heard about killing one and marrying the other!

He had decided not to return to Corinth ever. He would never see his parents again. He heard about the sphinx; he decided to try to solve the enigma, thinking that if he died, it would be just as well. 

He was not in an ordinary state of consciousness that’s for sure. When you really despair, when you believe there is nothing you can do,  you become calm, and as it happens, stillness of mind is a key. 

Not only Mercury rules the mind, but also Jupiter.

Jupiter rules the opposite signs to the Mercury ruled ones. A key word for the Ninth house is “Higher Knowledge”. This may mean more than going to university as opposed to primary school. It means thinking the other way round so to speak. 

(For those who don’t like associating Jupiter and the Ninth House because it’s too modern for their taste, just consider that knowledge is a common theme to Jupiter and to the Ninth House in traditional astrology. However I could have made my point opposing Mercury and the Sun, which has its joy in the Ninth House, and also means consciousness or intelligence, “the instrument of perception of the soul” according to Valens).

In front of the sphinx, Oedipus doesn’t search his mind. He remains still. He is not afraid of dying. He holds the question in abeyance… 

A picture comes up. 

At the centre of the picture… It's him! Of course, we always look away from ourselves, but the essential answers point towards our own chest! 

Four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening… it’s not the rational mind that was needed, but the one that knows poetry. The morning is not a literal morning, it’s the dawn of life; the legs are not literal legs either. 

In another version of the myths, morning, noon and evening are not mentioned. The question of the sphinx is just: “What walks on four legs, then on two, and then on three?” 

Those who are stuck with literal thinking are like dead, like killed by the sphinx. Those who can see are alive. The sphinx could tell us: Look at me: I have the body of a lion, wings, and a human head. If I am not a metaphor, what can I be? Some signs of the zodiac, in particular the goat with a fishtail or the centaur that shoots an arrow say it as well: Don’t take anything too literally or you’re dead to the Mystery. 

We need this analogical way to look at life to solve riddles, and in our particular case, to read astrological symbols and charts. This involves being able to still the mind. It’s a spiritual quest, in the sense that we need to understand the spirit, rather than the letter. 

In spirit, poetry is a valid way to describe reality. Poetry is made of analogies. Life is like a day. Our own personal morning is characterised by the sign which was rising when we were born.  That’s how we appear, which does not mean “how we look” only, but how we transition from not being there to become present. Pick-a-boo, here we are. 

We may be souls, but on earth, we appear thanks to our body.  The First House rules the body. It’s not logical, it’s analogical. We are like the Sun, our life is like a day, the Ascendant describes how we rise from absence to presence... The Descendant shows how we disappear. The MC how we culminate, when we reach maturity and the IC is a hidden place where beginnings and endings are one and the same.

Astrology is a language of symbols. Symbols are the language of the Great Mystery. When the sphinx asks: “What has four legs, then two legs, then three legs?”, it also shows (rather than says) that nothing is permanent. Forms are transitory. Can we silence the ordinary mind, look with the eyes of the soul and remember that which has no form within ourselves? When we  do, we are closer to the stars, and more apt to interpret their language. 

As William Lilly put it: “...for the more holy thou art, and more near to God, the purer judgement thou shalt give.”

Jean-Marc Pierson

Astrologer, Storyteller, Writer etc

  Homepage (To know more about Magical Doors and what I offer as an astrologer)

Primary and Secondary Progressions

 Nowadays when we talk about "progressions" we are actually talking about "secondary progressions" because there is a more ancient technique called "primary directions". 

The fundamental idea behind this technique is the same as that of secondary progressions: there is a correspondence between the day and the year. 

The day and the year are two fundamental cycles, defined by two fundamental motions: the primary motion is the daily rotation of the earth around its axis: the Sun, the Moon, the planets and the stars seem to be moving around us, they rise, culminate and set, day after day. 

Check my homepage…

The secondary motion is the movement of the Sun and all the  planets through the zodiac. For the Sun, it takes one year. Of course, as we know, the Earth revolves around the Sun. Seen from Earth, the Sun goes through the zodiac. 

Notice that there are 365 days in the year, and 360 degrees in the zodiac. So the Sun moves at the pace of almost exactly one degree per day. If we were children we could draw a big yellow Sun with legs walking around the zodiac; each step would measure a degree. The approximation is good enough to work as a symbol.

Now imagine the first day of the life of a baby. Let's say, me, as an example. I was born when Cancer was rising, more precisely the degree 22 of Cancer. Some people would say that's a killer degree but you can see I'm still  alive. The Sun was in Scorpio, degree number 12. 

During the first hours of my life, after Cancer, Leo came to rise, then Virgo, Libra, Scorpio... There was a moment when the 12th degree of Scorpio, the degree of my Sun sign, was rising. Changing my time of birth on astrodienst I could easily calculate that it would actually take 12 hours before the exact degree of my Sun came rising. 

You may find it surprising: 12 hours to get from 22 degree Cancer to 12 degree Scorpio? If the movement of the signs rising on the horizon was regular, in 12 hours, we would have seen half of the zodiac rising on the horizon! We should see Capricorn 12 hours after Cancer! 

But no, the geometry is a bit more complex, the axis of the earth is tilted, the earth doesn't revolve in perfect alignment with the zodiac; as a result there are signs that rise quicker, they are called signs of Short Ascension, it take them less than two hours to rise;  these signs are Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus and Gemini in the Northern Hemisphere.

Pisces and Aries are the quickest. If you are Pisces or Aries Ascendant, bravo! You slipped through the narrow window!  

The signs said of Long Ascension are the other half of the zodiac, from Cancer to Sagittarius. These signs take more than two hours to rise.

So from 22 degree Cancer Rising to 12 degree Scorpio it took 12 hours. 

So in my case, the primary direction of my Ascendant to my Sun is useless, because in this system, one hour becomes 15 years. 

(Twenty four hours would become 360 years so you can guess that the base of this system is to make one degree correspond to one year, because the Sun moves of one degree per day through the zodiac, but three hundred and sixty degrees per day in primary motion. Primary motion is the course of the planets through the sky from Est to West during the day)

My directed Ascendant would only conjunct my natal Sun when I would be 180 year old!  - This would certainly be a time of major achievement and brilliance if I lived that long. If my Sun was in the first house, I would have had a better chance of living a major moment indicated by this technique. Same with the MC and a Sun in the 10th house. 

It's also possible to progress planets with these methods, with some added complications that I'm not going to explain here. 

 Just remember that this ancient technique was used in Hellenistic and Mediaeval Times, and, what’s most important, the idea is that what happens at the beginning of life, not only the fixed birth chart, but how the movement carries on during our first hours means something that can be translated into years of later life. 

 Secondary progressions, or simply progressions, which are much more in use nowadays, are based on this same symbolic equivalence: one day becomes one year. 

I suggest you make a little pause, flush your mind of whatever confusion may be lingering, and be merry: from now, it's going to become much easier, and also more useful. 

With secondary progressions, the positions of the planets on your, let's say, 20th day of life are the progressed positions of the planets for your 20th year. 

It is the same thinking: the small cycles - the days at the beginning of life - are a kind of miniature representation of the big cycles - the years to come. 

By the way let me point out that seeing  correspondences between the houses and the signs is completely consistent with this most ancient way of thinking. . The small cycle is a miniature representation of the big cycle. The year is in the day. In the year there are 12 signs, in the day there are 12 houses. So it makes complete sense to consider them as analogically related. 

Back to progressions. 

With secondary progressions, one day stands for one year. 

In fifteen days, the Sun will have run through almost exactly fifteen degrees. It's easy to calculate! 

Thus, it takes fifteen years for the progressed Sun to move half a sign forward. Thirty years per sign. As you can see, that's really slow. 

In fifteen days, the Moon will have moved through half of the zodiac and a little bit more. A Moon cycle, from New Moon to New Moon, is twenty nine days and a half. A progressed Moon cycle is twenty nine years and a half - which is roughly the same speed as Saturn's. 

The progressed New Moon - when the progressed Moon conjuncts the progressed Sun - is a very meaningful time, marking a new beginning. If you're using Astrodienst, in chart type, choose "natal and progressed Moon". You'll see where it happened in terms of sign and house, but what I find the most revealing are the dates. For me, for instance, my last progressed New Moon was towards the end of 1994 and that's at that time that I found out that I could be a good storyteller and writer, which is something that would become very important in my life. 

New starts are not always obvious, they are little seeds, but with hindsight it's possible to understand what started growing then.

The progressed phases of the Moon are in my view the most worthy thing to know about progressions. 

The progressed Moon, like Saturn, takes about two years and a half to travel through each sign, and on average the same time through houses. Our current mindset is more specifically focused on the themes associated with this sign and house, and possible aspects to other planets, when there are. 

In general, when checking progressed planets, the important moments are when something changes. The moments of change are when something happens.. 

That's when we notice, when we have to adapt and adjust to new conditions. Things can happen within our own psyche, usually progressions are said to be about the development of our own energies and transits are more like external conditions, but I don't agree with this view, because what's going on within ourselves and what comes from outside is so interrelated that we can't make such a clear distinction. 

In the progressed world, changes happen when the progressed planet ingresses into a new sign or house, when a progressed planet goes retrograde, or becomes direct if it was retrograde, or when it forms aspects to natal and progressed placements. 

Check if any planet changed direction during the first months of your life, if yes, at what age this moment corresponds in terms of progression. 

For aspects, take tight orbs, otherwise the timing will span over years! 

Looking at the birth chart, it's possible to guess which major aspects are likely to be formed in the months to come. 

No need to stress out and try to know everything in one go. No need to spend hours writing down all the aspects between all the planets that happened over these two or three first months of life. No need to turn our studies into a nightmare. There is too much anyway. We can just check major conjunctions that will be formed by the Sun and the Moon to get a first feel without panicking. . 

For instance, my natal Sun is on the degree 12 of Scorpio, my natal Mars on the degree 23 of Scorpio. Moving at the pace of one degree per year, my progressed Sun did conjunct my natal Mars when I was 11. Around the same time I had a transit of Pluto on my natal Moon, so we could have looked only at transits and guess times were difficult.

When we see more than one indication that something is going on, we can think that the hammer is hitting the nail insistently. There were nasty little bullies in my life at that time. 

The progressed Moon progresses at the average speed of one degree per month. Again the degree is a really meaningful unit, a month is a unit of time that comes from the length of the Moon cycles.  

So if we were children, like I said with the Sun, we could draw a Moon with legs, and she would progress at the pace of one degree per step.

Looking at our natal Moon we can guess at what time the progressed Moon will conjunct certain planets. My own progressed Moon came in conjunction with my natal Saturn when I was nine year old. I went to another school and there was a very stern teacher. 

Stephen Arroyo says that ninety per cent of what's going on in a person's life can be seen through transits.

So it's good to know about progressions, and especially about the progressed Moon and its phases, but it's all rather time consuming so we better prioritise and focus on the big, the obvious and the essential.

Good day or Good night! 

Jean-Marc Pierson

Margory Orr, a seasoned astrologer and author, has written a wonderful review of my book: Magical Doors.

You can read it here: https://star4cast.com/astrology-a-gateway-into-a-magical-universe/

You can also go back to my homepage (yes, you are on my website here!) and contact me for a reading, a class or an astro story.

Saturn in Pisces

Saturn sets up boundaries.

In Pisces… Could there be boundaries made of water?

I see a castle of old, with a princess locked up in the highest tower, walls, and a moat around them.  A prince is fishing whilst his faithful horse is taking swimming lessons. 

I see an ocean, and people in love, or believing they are, living on two separate continents. They are having a virtual relationship on the internet but they are just dreamers. 

I imagine a mysterious place, the Island of Avalon. It’s magically protected. If you’re not invited, you simply won’t find the way.  Lost in the mist you’ll end up back to square one, in Glastonbury. 

If Avalon serves as a metaphor for the sacred place of vulnerability within,  Saturn in Pisces protects it with smokescreens, illusions, camouflage. If you’re a wallflower, you know how to make yourself invisible.

If you’re wandering in the wilderness, hungry and trying to catch  fish in a river (how often did you experience this?) you know how slippery fish are. You also know that water deflects light. The fish is not where it seems to be. The Piscean theme of escapism suits Saturn, concerned with protection. 

Interpreting astrological symbols is exciting and confusing. I’ve started following the thread: Saturn is boundaries, could there be boundaries made of water? However there is no precise grammar with symbols. I could have wondered: What happens when boundaries are confronted with water? 

Here comes the idea of a porous membrane. There is a boundary, which plays its role whilst remaining open to exchanges with the environment. Fluids pass through. This can be a very healthy expression, if the environment itself is healthy.

Another image is a crumbling wall. There was a boundary, but when the weather is wet and mutable, forms dissolve. Saturn in Pisces may mean weak boundaries.

This leads us back to the strategy of using water as a boundary, to compensate for the lack of firm structure. Escape rather than fight, or even better, don’t be there at all! Castaneda once asked Don Juan if his magic could protect him against a man waiting for him with a gun. “If a man was waiting for me with a gun” answered the sorcerer “I wouldn’t go”. 

As I said, there is no grammar with symbols. Saturn in Water can be incredibly strong like a crab’s hard shell, or an oyster’s; it can be a dam, the banks of a river or a canal; it can be waterproof. 

We can’t avoid speaking of a spectrum. With a crumbling wall, Water wins, Saturn disintegrates. With a porous membrane there is a balance. With a waterproof material, Saturn wins and contains. 

Saturn in Pisces can be a bottle, a jar, a barrel, and when this translates into psychic stuff, we talk about containing our emotions, or of  bottled-up feelings (Stuck energies that need healing to be able to flow again) 

How can we know what interpretations will be relevant to a particular chart? The more we follow the threads the more Saturn in Pisces may mean one thing and its exact opposite, or a middle term, or even something else! 

The negative interpretations, like weak boundaries when we would need strong ones, are more likely when the placement is afflicting/afflicted. 

Some interpretations will also make more sense than others in the context of the houses involved, of the planets connected with it through aspects and so on. 

If we are reading a chart to understand a person, we have to accept that we won’t get anything more precise than what human beings can be. We are complex. The same individual can manifest various and contradictory expressions of the same placement, according to time and circumstances. 

I started this post associating Saturn with boundaries, which is a relevant interpretation, but not the only one. 

In the world of Pisces sensitivity, Saturn can be spiritual discipline: yoga, meditation, prayer…  or the psychological healing work, possibly involving seeking professional help or even becoming a professional helper, or the hard work of the artist. 

Saturn wants “things” to become structured and concrete, in the Air and on Earth.  

In the Air, Saturn is a great intellectual planet, it is in domicile in Aquarius. 

If you approach astrology with a strong Saturn for instance, you won’t be put off by words like: celestial sphere, prime vertical, meridian, ecliptic  and so on. You’ll be able to hold clear mental structures in your mind. 

As with boundaries, mental structures in Piscean waters may manifest on a spectrum, from their complete dissolution ( - Shall I cut the pizza into four or eight parts? - Four, I am not too hungry) to relevant expressions to the context of mutable waters. 

Mathematics, for instance, when not a confusing labyrinth apparently designed to make students feel stupid, can be a springboard to glimpses into infinity. 

Only trying to imagine a line that is so thin that it has no thickness at all, but extends towards infinity in both directions can be a mystical experience. 

It confronts us with the limitation of our mind, and presents us with the challenge of an intuitive, transcendental jump. 

This is my idea of sacred geometry. 

Saturn in Pisces then may mean the mind, standing on scaffoldings of its own making, contemplating the paradoxes on the edge of reality. 

As ruler of Capricorn, let’s come back down to earth, Saturn wants “things” to be, not only intellectually coherent and logical, but also downright concrete. Saturn is in Pisces, asking: What makes it difficult to make your dreams come true? 

An answer is contained in the question. Dreams are dreams. They can be the obstacle. Do you want to fly like a bird? You may find happiness hang-gliding. Do you want to fly without using a man made device, with your own wings? Astral journeying may satisfy you, but is it within your reach? 

You would like to have many friends and live together on a farm,  be a solitary hermit living in the mountains, whilst being the next Steve Job? Good luck! Have you made your bed?  

On the other hand of the spectrum (yes I like bad puns), a friend with Saturn in Pisces on the MC told me she wants to climb the mountain of her dreams; knowing her, I have no doubt that she will do what it takes to make some of them come true, as she has  already done. 

Saturn in Pisces can provide inspiration and perspiration. 

On this watery note, the topic is infinite but today, my words end here. Thank you for your attention. 

Jean-Marc

I am an astrologer, a storyteller, a writer, and the homepage is here

Jupiter will blow your mind!

In Magical Doors, I introduced Jupiter as the “Miracle Grow” energy, the astrological fertiliser. Whatever it touches becomes bigger. 

Other essential keywords for Jupiter are “knowledge” and “understanding”.  Looking at the bigger picture, our mind expands. The biggest picture may well be what we call “worldview”. 

Today, I’ll add another key word: “Assimilation”. Following this thread, we’re going to understand Jupiter better, and in particular why it makes sense for Jupiter to rule Pisces. Jupiter is more similar to Neptune than we think. 

What is knowledge? If you’re asking what’s the capital city of Lithuania, I know the answer: It’s Vilnius. But to really know Vilnius, I would have to go and live there. I would know the sound of its streets, what they like to eat, how they treat one another and many other things. 

I would get more than lovely memories: we assimilate our experiences. They nourish us. They make us grow. What we live becomes us. 

This is also true about culture. Our inner life is enriched by the books we read, the music we listen to etc. Cultivating our inner fields, we grow. We understand better. We know more. We become wiser. Our worldview becomes more colourful, our philosophy more refined, our beliefs more inspired.  

Assimilation is also a word we use about the process of learning. Students do more than memorising information. They understand how things come together. They can explain.

One becomes a mathematician, another a carpenter, a flautist or simply themselves with “that kind of personality”. 

What we assimilate shapes us. 

Someone said: “Culture is what is left when everything else is forgotten”. 

I would say: 

We stand under what we understand. 

Let’s keep digging!  

A healthy baby assimilates nutrients from its food. The food becomes its own flesh and blood.

An empire expands by invading neighbouring countries and assimilating them into itself. From the point of view of the Empire, the process is straightforward enough.   

How about the point of view of the neighbouring countries? 

Their boundaries have been rendered ineffective. 

The identity of colonised people is at risk of getting dissolved as the bigger thing takes over. 

These themes are typical of Pisces: issues with boundaries, dissolution…  In an Empire, or a union like the United States or the European Union, or the United Kingdom, the many become One. (They may or may not like it) 

Being absorbed is a kind of expansion. A whole new world is there, for the better or the worse. 

In some cases, the culture of the conquered strongly influences that of the conquerors. Our astrology, for example, has Hellenistic roots and planets wearing Roman names. 

Assimilation is a two way process. 

 Jupiter is the traditional ruler of both Sagittarius and Pisces. There are two sides to assimilation: one is actively pursuing and assimilating, the other is surrendering and being assimilated. Yang and Yin business. 

Conquered people have to surrender. Jupiter is usually considered benefic, but it’s really a question of point of view! 

Surrendering is an ambiguous concept. For warriors it means defeat. However, for mystics and lovers, it is a valued attitude. It means letting the Great Spirit, or Love, take over. 

We are like countries, and we are like lovers. Sometimes surrendering is defeat, and sometimes it’s virtue.  

It’s not always clear when it’s one and when it’s the other. There are two fish. They swim in opposite directions, and they are always together… 

Jupiter, the planet of growth, is called a social planet by astrologers, and rules the process of socialisation. 

As they grow up and assimilate life lessons children learn to become autonomous, acquire critical thinking, self determination and all that individualising jazz . At the same time, parents and teachers don’t wish for them to rebel against the social order. 

Social integration involves some amount of surrendering. There are laws and customs.  (“Laws” is another central key word for Jupiter.)

Society is neither the kingdom of Heaven to whose rule it would be good to surrender wholeheartedly, nor an enslaving hell to which individuals should resist at all cost… But it’s a little bit of both! 

This double bind is reflected in the interpretations of Jupiter we find in astrological literature: people stamped with Jupiter’s seal are said to love freedom and independence. 

They may be explorers, adventurers, truth seekers. The Sagittarian type has the reputation of being ignorant of social graces, at times so blunt you wish them back to the savanna. The Piscean type may identify as an outcast, as “not made for this world”... and escape obligations and duties. 

At the same time, we learn that Jupiterians may be Very Important Persons playing a role in society, doctors, lawyers, teachers, preachers, lecturers, priests…  They may assimilate and represent a social or cosmic order and its laws. They believe in civilisation, promote culture and moral principles. 

The same individual versus society dilemma characterises Uranus, in a more radical version. Jupiter rules over mutable signs, it has more flexibility. Mutable signs bring change. Jupiter talks about the process of assimilation - integration. Uranus shakes the fixed state of affairs when it looks outdated. 

Conclusion

We may have a sense of identity, personally or collectively, but in reality, with Jupiter minds and cultures can get mixed. Melange is everywhere. Nothing is permanent. 

If the cosmic energies were playdoughs of various colours, and we let Jupiter lead the game (by switching off Saturn) we would see all the colours and forms blend. We would end up with a round brown ball representing nothing, as I did when I was in nursery school.

Conversely, if we switched off Jupiter and gave full powers to Saturn, we would stare stupidly at our sticks of playdoughs. We would demonstrate absolute respect to their initial forms and colours. Nothing new would appear and life wouldn’t happen.

Identities are illusions, by this I mean they are not absolute, but for life purposes, Saturn needs to  balance Jupiter and preserve forms and identities for some time. 

When we meet Jupiter in a chart, we get clues about what we want to assimilate, how we try to understand the laws of life and society (worldview, philosophy, beliefs), and also what style of higher order we feel called to surrender to. 

I hope I’ve been able to bring some elements to understand Jupiter. There is always a lot to chew with this one. Assimilate well! 

Jean-Marc

On this blog there is a homepage,. I am an astrologer. How about taking a class?

Homepage is here

A post on this blog that students of astrology may find particularly useful is “How to read a chart as a whole”

It’s here

May all the beings be happy!

Jupiter in Scorpio and the eighth house

I threw the Astrodice, with the question: “What should I meditate on now?”

I got Jupiter, Scorpio and the eighth house. I didn’t like it too much. 

Jupiter is a teacher. It would come to me later, to help me understand Scorpio and the 8th house better.

“Later” happened on the bus. I felt a tightening in my chest. Anxiety or heart attack? I’ve never had a heart attack, as far as I know. I’ve had panic attacks manifesting as the feeling that there is something wrong in there in the past. A few years ago, I felt so bad that I went to the hospital. I had nothing, and I passed off as an attention seeker. 

I told myself it was most probably just anxiety. 

I watched the people on the bus. They looked alright. They seemed to feel secure, well anchored in their bodies. I felt that mine might just break down, something inside would get torn, I would find myself like a wingless bird floating above a collapsed nest, about to be carried away by I don’t know what whirlpool… 

I could tell myself that it was most probably not happening, that it was just one of these moments, that this one too would pass etc. But I could also tell myself that one day, sooner or later, death will come. One day, there will be no passing of the panic attack. 

On that day, I better be able to stand firm within myself and witness the flesh getting torn apart without getting torn apart with it. Holding on to the present moment and see… Santa Maria, a bit of help is welcome please! 

Jupiter in Scorpio. If Jupiter is a teacher, this teaching is not an intellectual one. It’s more like training. Remembering where there is trust inside, how to call, pray, reconnect with a hidden dimension, call it spirit, a place where consciousness and eternity live together in peace…

This one too passed, I was just a guy standing on the bus.

Scorpio is a Water sign. Water is creative, but not from scratch. Under the surface lurks stuff that was seeded, planted before, days or ages ago. When we are confronted with it, we might get swallowed, possessed, immersed in states of being that feel like being caught by the monster from the wardrobe. 

We don’t need logic but faith, courage, firmness… We need to be able to light our own light and be able to surrender. 

As usual, thoughts of compassion for the others, all those souls who live, like us, in breakable and corruptible bodies, help finding the centre. The heart. Recall the heart is the meaning of a pain in the chest. 

On the same day the Astrodice gave me Jupiter, Scorpio and 8th house, a friend sent me a sad message. She was so hurt because of love life things that she felt like life was not worth living... 

Saying words of despair is not jumping through the window, but they express well how it hurts. The pain is real. I’ve been there, or not far.  Feeling betrayed, rejected, treated like worthless, being used and powerless, whilst craving for love. I can understand.

The old scars are still bleeding. 

Jupiter is the explorer, the truth seeker. In Scorpio it wants to understand the deep layers and the unprocessed pains they conceal. Understanding is healing. 

We have to understand in our flesh, not just intellectually, that a wound is just a wound, not a law of the universe. 

We may have to cry, we must be moved to understand intimately.  

With the Water element, understanding is swimming. 

Jean-Marc

On this blog there is a homepage, with a contact form between other things.

It’s here

A post on this blog that students of astrology may find particularly useful is “How to read a chart as a whole”

It’s here

I wish you deep inner peace and trust in the Great Spirit!

Sidereal or Tropical?

 Vedic astrologers use the same zodiac as Western astrologers… but with a 24 degrees shift!

You can be born an Aries in Western, and be a Pisces in Vedic. I have listened to a video about Pisces by a Vedic Astrologer… Everything he says is very similar to the Pisces I know as a Western Astrologer. So, there is a real contradiction.

In Western astrology we call our zodiac “Tropical”. For us, Aries starts with the spring equinox, around the 21st of March. In you live in the Southern hemisphere, Aries also starts at that time, but for you it’s Autumn. 

What matters is that the tropical zodiac is based on the seasons – not because of the weather, but because of the equinoxes and solstices. 

Even our prehistoric ancestors, without any idea of the earth being round were able to observe that the days and nights become alternatively longer and shorter. 

If you watch the horizon every morning and every evening all year round, as you do when you have no internet connection, no TV, no radio, no books, no electricity and the local story teller has been eaten by a giraffe, or maybe a tiger, you keep watching and you can see that the Sun doesn’t rise and sets always at the same place.

In the Northern hemisphere, in Autumn, the Sun rises not exactly East, but a little bit further South every day, and it sets, not exactly West, but a little but further South every day as well. At the Winter solstice, the time of the shortest days, the points where the Sun rises and sets are as close to each other as they will ever be. After the Winter solstice, everyday the Sun rises and sets a little further North. When the lengths of day and night are equal, it is the equinox. The Sun carries on rising and setting a little further North on the horizon every day until the summer solstice – this point will apparently remain stationary for three days or so before the movement is reversed. 

Equinoxes and solstices were times of celebrations. When Christianity took over, the people would have gone to both Christian and Pagan celebrations. The churchmen decided to celebrate Christian ceremonies at the same dates as the Pagan ones to prevent this from happening. Thus, we have Christmas at the Winter Solstice – Just a few days after it actually, when it becomes possible to observe that the Rising and Setting points are now moving in the other direction. The solstice is a kind of stationary time.  

Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the first Full Moon after the equinox.

I mention this to emphasise the importance of solstices and equinoxes as part of human life. 

They are astrological events: they are special moments of the relationship between Earth and Sun. For me, this alone is a powerful argument in favour of the tropical zodiac. Seasons are defined by equinoxes and solstices. Each season is divided in three equal parts, so we get twelve signs or one month each. 

More than 2000 years ago, at the spring equinox, the constellation that could be seen on the Eastern horizon just before the Sun rose was Aries. I say “just before” because once the Sun is rising, you can’t see stars anymore, but you can guess they are still there. According to Robert Hand, we don’t know if Babylonians were aware of the precession of the equinoxes. Given that the earth is wobbling on its axis - like a spinning top but more slowly - we don’t get the same constellation rising at the time of the equinox. 

Since the time of Jesus-Christ it was Pisces, but now, we are at the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. Our zodiac signs are not aligned with the constellations anymore, but we don’t care. They are just named after them. 

I was listening to Chris Brennan recounting the history of astrology on his podcast, and I learned that the Babylonians standardised the zodiac to include twelve signs of exactly thirty degrees each by the fifth century BC. This is worth thinking over. The constellations are of unequal sizes. In some cases, they overlap. When the zodiac became standardised, it became detached from the irregular reality of the constellations. 

When people argue that the sidereal zodiac – the zodiac that is used by Vedic astrologers – is the right one because it takes into account the real position of the constellations, they are wrong: the sidereal zodiac is also a zodiac of twelve equal signs of 30 degrees each and this is not the reality of the stars. Even if the current position of the constellations aligns better with the signs named after them in sidereal than in tropical, the constellations still are of unequal sizes and sometimes overlap. The sidereal zodiac doesn’t reflect this reality. The sidereal zodiac is defined thanks to the Fixed Star Spica. When the Sun opposes it, it is the beginning of the sidereal zodiac. (I should actually say “one of the sidereal zodiacs is defined thanks to Spica, there are other systems) 

Thinking of how important solstices and equinoxes are as astronomical events, and to the fact that the zodiac was standardised by the Babylonians in the fifth century BC – and therefore detached from the constellations, I had come to the conclusion that the tropical zodiac was the right one. 

I’ve come across a video by Vic DiCara. He mentions some passages of major Vedic texts which define the beginning of the zodiac at the equinox. Vic DiCara is a Vedic astrologer who uses the tropical zodiac. This definitely confirms my opinion. 

Still, how come the whole Vedic system that uses the sidereal zodiac works then?

I am thinking of various possible answers. I’m not happy with answers like “Choose the one that works for you”. I want to understand what’s going on if possible! 

Robert Hand, when asked the question about Vedic versus Western and the problem of sidereal versus tropical answered with another question: 

“What language is the right one? French or German?” 

Robert is a top scholar but I am not satisfied by his answer. You can’t say that 2+2 = 4 in one language, that 2+2 = 5 in another and be right in each language just because it’s another language. If the description of Pisces by a Vedic astrologer is the same as what a Western astrologer would say, but this description applies to someone who is actually an Aries in Western… this does not work. 

It’s possible to say that maybe the Pisces description applies to the Western Aries person but “at another level”. I’m not happy with that either. If an Aries Sun can identify as a Pisces Sun at another level, everyone of us can identify with any random sign, and with any random birth chart for that matter. 

So, if Vedic works, I think it’s because they have other techniques than the zodiac placements. For instance, they put a lot of emphasis on the lunar mansions, the Nakshatras; In Vedic the house placements and the aspects remain the same as in Western… so they have enough of it right.

Or maybe there is another explanation. 

But before that, I have to talk about another problem we have with the tropical zodiac. Aries is the beginning of spring… in the Northern Hemisphere, but not on the Equator, where days and nights are always the same length, and not in the Southern Hemisphere where the seasons are reversed. In the Southern Hemisphere, Aries starts with the beginning of autumn. 

This is annoying if we define the signs in reference to the seasons: Aries is the burst of energy as we can see it in spring, or Leo is the expression of mid-summer… In the Southern hemisphere, Leo time is winter time. 

So, to come to terms with this problem we need to stop looking for causes in the world of the senses. Astrology can only make sense in the context of a spiritual worldview. What comes first are not the constellations that we can see in the night sky, nor the seasons such as they pass in temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere.

What comes first is the universal soul, or the collective psyche, whatever you name it. Actually, not even soul or psyche come first, but Spirit. Spirit creates Soul and Soul generates Organic Life, something like that. 

We happen to find a great expression of the symbols of the zodiac, in the right order, as the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, but that’s just a manifestation, not a cause. The archetypal zodiac, with its perfectly balanced geometry, is in the collective psyche, or in the spiritual world, or maybe in something like Plato’s world of ideas. I don’t see how it could work otherwise. 

So, to come back to the question of sidereal astrology. If causes belong to the world of the psyche, universal soul or collective psyche, why couldn’t the sidereal zodiac work for people who belong to a culture which has the sidereal zodiac in their collective mind? Maybe it could become real because it is created as a collective thought? Then it will work for babies being born through that wheel. Maybe? I just leave a big question mark here. 

The only problem we would have, then, would be to know what culture we belong, or possibly are attuned to…? I leave a question mark here, but my opinion is that tropical is the right system.

I am a modern Western astrologer. 

Cheers! 

Jean-Marc

Blog posts written between 2017 and 2019 have become a book

Originally self published, the book has now found a publisher and a new title: 

You can order Magical Doors - The symbols of Astrology -  on most online stores worldwide, and at The Wessex Astrologer. 

How to develop your intuition with astrology

Symbols show what they mean. We can understand them directly.

Take Cancer. Let’s dive into the picture. Let’s pretend we know nothing. Where will this symbol take us?

It's a crab. There is an environment: the sea and its perpetual flux and reflux. Crabs appear on the shores when the tide is low. They disappear when it's high. Tides are following the rhythm of the Moon and like the Moon they come and go.… 

Let’s be carried away by the sound of the waves.

This makes us feel in a certain way. How is it? A bit nostalgic? Dreamy? There are days and there are nights, there are ups and there are downs, sometimes we’re strong, sometimes we’re vulnerable, like babies… 

Life is an eternal return. Women make babies, babies grow up, boys and girls become men and women. They make love, they found families. Women have babies, babies grow up, repeat.

Generations are waves. Waves speak of generations. Out of the water comes the crab, soon to be taken back in its embrace. 

When the Moon, responsible for the ebb and flows, shines over the sea, we enter a world of dreams. We may wish we had a shell like the crab to protect our sensitive mood. We’re swimming in the world of the soul, all pictures and fantasies, yet instinctive and sensitive…

Water is fertile. Water is full of creatures that can't survive out of their environment. Babies‘ world is an emotional bath: in the nursery, when one starts crying, another joins in and soon they are all crying together, it's liquid… Mothers sing nursery rhymes, they don’t try to reason with babies, soothing passes through presence, intonation, feelings. Baby calms down and falls asleep… One wave after another…

Letting our mind and soul be impregnated by symbols allows us to follow threads of meanings. 

Leo. A roaring lion, claiming power in broad daylight. After Cancer, that’s a completely different atmosphere! 

Symbols make us feel the meaning before we find words to describe what it’s about…

Reading the part about Cancer

Focusing on the symbols, we can conjure up the spirit of the energies. “Conjuring up spirits” are words that belong to magic, and yes there is something magical in this poetic approach. Imagination is a way to develop our intuition. Imagination doesn’t mean making things up: imagination simply means forming mental pictures.

However, we shouldn’t naively believe whatever comes up in our mind. Reality checks are necessary. 

Whatever we may come up with has to be consistent with standard astrological knowledge or be rejected. It may also be confirmed by the feedback we can get from others. Coming back to Earth is the healthy conclusion of the process. The alternative is drowning. Beware, Water is also a world of illusions. 

The same imaginative approach works to explore the meaning of complex configurations. This may lead to psychic perceptions at times. 

In a previous post, I used Venus in Leo square Mars in Taurus as an example of the method consisting of combining keywords to make meaningful sentences. Thinking in pictures is the “right brain” complement of this “left brain” technique. 

Venus in Leo. Can you see this beautiful girl? She is the kind that can’t be missed. There is a little crowd of admirers around her. She laughs at their lines when they are good, there is a constant banter going on, she loves it. She decides on every move. She says “Let's go to the bar!” or “Let’s go to the beach!” … They all follow. 

There is one who is not happy over there. It’s Mars in Taurus, her husband. He played the game, and he won. She found him different. He knew how to do beautiful things with his hands. He had a rooted style that fascinated her. She married him. He believed the game was over, but no. The game is never over. It’s just a game, but…

What happens next? I won’t tell you! 

Let the story fall into your mind like a seed. Let it grow like a plant. Play with ideas, let them go, forget about the whole thing, think of your characters again after a good night’s sleep. It’s not assembly-line work. 

Make an independent portrait of Mars in Taurus, before he met Venus in Leo. Love him, love her, understand how a square connection can be so exciting, in the beginning… 

Maybe, something will come up and make you laugh, or touch your heart. We can’t take it for granted but it may happen. Sometimes it takes days, sometimes a split second. Sometimes it’s a good metaphorical story, and sometimes, it’s spot on. 

I leave you to it. 

Jean-Marc

Thinking of taking a class? What I have been describing in this post and the previous one (Sentences with keywords) is a mental gymnastic. Understanding how things work is great, practising it takes training.

There is a homepage on this website, and a contact form! Thanks for your visit!

How to read charts. Sentences with keywords. Leo Venus square Taurus Mars.

Yes it’s me, 20 years ago. I know astrology better now.

If astrology was yoga, I could say: Reading about postures is not the same as practising them! 

Astrology is mental gymnastics. We don’t need more and more information. We need to stretch our muscles. 

When you start learning, you read about placements… and you get confused. 

• Some authors give you various possible interpretations for a single placement. They use the conditional: “People with this placement may…..” We are drowning in uncertainty!  

• Various authors don’t tell you exactly the same things about the same placements. Sometimes they even contradict one another. 

• Try to Google “How will a Venus conjunct Sun in Leo squared by Mars in Taurus be expressed if the Ascendant is Scorpio and the Moon in Aries?” and you’ll realise that you’re all alone with the task of putting all the pieces together.

I propose two methods. One is powerful, easy, efficient but not as subtle as Pisces Mercuries could wish.

The other is subtle, results can’t be granted but it opens the door to intuition and can be, at times, downright magical. In this post, I’ll introduce the first method, based on keywords. 

Keywords are simplifications. Symbols are pictures for a reason. Now keywords are powerful. Just don’t turn them into dogmas.  

You pick keywords associated with the various symbols and you make sentences that make sense.  It’s a good game. It can be played with other students and you don’t even realise you're doing homework. Introverts can play on their own. 

For instance: 

Venus in Leo square Mars in Taurus. 

This person loves (Venus) being seen (Leo) but (square) acts (Mars) like a bull in a China shop (Taurus). 

Bull in the China shop is not a standard keyword for Taurus, but in this context, it wants to be there! Mars is in exile in Taurus, add a square to the exile, especially from Venus, and the outcome is likely to be somewhat awkward. 

This person loves  (Venus)  being seen (Leo) but acts (Mars) with conspicuous (Leo) greed (Taurus when squared)

Notice that the key words may slide along the aspect lines. 

This person values (Venus) art, fun, and glory (Leo) but (square) goes for (Mars) material security (Taurus) 

Or 

This person loves (Venus) art and creativity (Leo) and can’t (square to Mars) get security (Taurus) 

Or

This man desires (Mars-Venus) a high maintenance (Leo) woman (Venus) and can’t get no (square) satisfaction (Taurus) 

I wanted to say YES (Venus) but (square)  I said NO (Mars) 

(Sometimes, forgetting about the signs helps)

Singing (Taurus) is an energetic (Mars)  performing (Leo) art (Venus) - Don’t be too loud though (square) 

Desires (Mars-Venus) conflict (square). 

Sometimes, people in our life become actors of energies in our own chart. Sometimes we swap roles according to circumstances… 

To assert (Mars) good taste, hard work and common sense (Taurus) doesn’t work (square) when you bond with (Venus) a bling bling party animal (squared Leo) 

Go get (Mars)  the goods (Taurus) for Venus (she rules Taurus) but (square) luxury (Leo) items (Taurus) cost too much (square) money (Taurus)

We could go on and on… but if we play this game with friends, we better limit the time. 

Nothing will prevent the players from sharing the fantastic lines that may come up after the time is up during the next meal. (Imagine an astrology  retreat, a swimming pool, palm trees and good laughs…)

Next level: add the houses. We could have started with the planets in houses and added the signs next. Changing the order can help bring up new ideas. 

Venus conjunct Sun in Leo and the tenth house square Mars in Taurus and the seventh house. The Ascendant is Scorpio. 

This person is a socialite. 

Socialite: definition: a person who is well known (10th house, Leo) in fashionable (Venus, Leo) society (Venus, 10th house)  and is fond of (Venus) social activities (Venus) and entertainment (Leo).

But (square) 

This person is a drama queen! (Venus afflicted in Leo) 

She always argues (square, Mars) with her partner (seventh House) who has a reputation (10th house is connected with Mars through the square) of being violent (Mars afflicted), possessive (Taurus) and wasteful (Mars afflicted in Taurus) 

However, nobody knows what’s really going on behind closed doors (Scorpio Ascendant). They must get on very well in bed (Mars, ruler of the Scorpio Ascendant, in Taurus and the seventh house) to be obsessively (Scorpio) addicted to each other (Scorpio, seventh house). Drag me to hell! 

It’s better to play with imaginary charts for a start: not being anxious about being right or wrong, we can relax and be creative.

In spite of the various possible interpretations, the underlying archetypal pattern remains the same. Playing will develop our intuition of the archetypal realm. 

In a future post, I’ll talk about the other method I suggest, which consists of combining pictures instead of keywords. 

Have fun! 

Jean-Marc Pierson

If you feel like learning with me, I offer one to one or very small group online classes. You may have guessed that there are plans (eleventh house) of organizing retreats. Watch this space!

In the meantime, you’ll find plenty of keywords and key ideas in Magical Doors.

Should we forget Mercury? Mercury in Pisces

Just another magical door…

We often mention the big three as the main indicators: the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant, with its ruler, aka “Chart Ruler”. 

The Sun and the Moon are the King and the Queen, the Chart Ruler is their Prime Minister.

I have never heard anyone make a big fuss of Mercury, unless Mercury happens to hold a special position as Chart Ruler for instance, or as a dominant planet. 

It’s absolutely normal actually. Mercury is a servant. When you go to the restaurant, the waiter is supposed to be there when you need them and to disappear into the background when you don’t. At home, as long as everything is working, you don’t think of the electrician or the plumber; your life doesn’t revolve around the cables and the pipes. 

Same with Mercury in the chart. Its best role is to remain invisible. 

(Please keep in mind that what I am describing in terms of outer life is also a metaphorical description of how the energies combine within ourselves. As within so without and vice versa.) 

The Gemini side of Mercury’s role is to connect, interpret, translate, pass messages etc. It’s a plumber or an electrician “in the air” so to speak. Words are pipes in which meaning flows. 

If you read Dostoevsky you know the author: it’s Dostoevsky. The ideal translator gives you Dostoevsky in your own language. He himself is transparent. You can forget you don’t understand Russian. 

The author himself disappears behind the world he describes. You don’t read Dostoevsky to learn about his health, but to be told a good story about life and people. 

Mercury wants to be invisible. But this of course is an ideal. A translation may be better than another. Various translations may have various qualities: one may stick closely to the original, but the style suffers. Another one is really delightful to read - but at times betrays the intention of the author. One may evoke the feelings of the characters wonderfully, and be rather approximative when it comes to facts… You see where I am coming. 

In the chart, the co-authors are the Sun, the Moon and the other planets. Mercury gives them a voice. Its Virgo side gives them hands.  

You’re going to tell me: “Wait! Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are Gemini! They are not of the discreet kind, if you ask me!” 

We should never confuse energies and people. 

Nobody, not even Boris Johnson, is a pure Gemini. Gemini is an energy that facilitates. If you mix ninety nine per cent of Gemini powder and one percent of sand, this one per cent is going to benefit from such a power of communication that it will make you believe that this grain of sand is a Great Oasis in the middle of the Sahara, with caravans of camels coming and going, and storytellers to entertain one thousand and one nights. You will be talked into the Oriental Magic. When it works well, you don’t see that it’s mostly Gemini powder.

Ideally, Mercury should be odourless and colourless. In reality, intermediaries and servants twist the messages and carry out orders in their own style. If you know how to speak to the receptionist, you increase your chances to meet the boss. 

The Ascendant is also an intermediary: it is the interface between the inner and outer worlds. In traditional astrology, the First House is where Mercury rejoices.  

To explore Mercury’s role further, an example is the clearest way to go. I’m thinking of someone who has Gemini Rising and Mercury in Pisces. 

As Ascendant ruler, Mercury becomes a Very Important Planet. The translator or the interpreter are supposed to be as invisible as possible… except when the time comes that we need them! 

Gemini Risings play a role of connector and facilitator in their environment, and within their own mind. You may go to them for information and news. If you’re not too quick, they will come to you. 

So here is Mercury coming forward and greeting you in Pisces style. She says Hello and you feel an atmosphere. With some people, you need to break the ice. With Mercury in Pisces, the ice melts effortlessly. You get a feeling similar to a cat rubbing its head on your leg. It’s sweet. You try to grab the animal and it escapes. But then it comes back. The boundaries are not too clear, and may change from a moment to the next. You need to feel to know what’s going on. It’s mutable energy all the way down.

André Barbault says there are two types of Gemini, one moving around with his thinking, the other with his sensitivity. Mercury in Pisces will incline the Gemini Rising to express as the latter type. It has what it takes to flirt around if in the mood.  

A Gemini Rising with a solid Mercury in Capricorn would be much more formal, in whatever codes apply. You would be clearly shown how things work.  

Mercury in Pisces feels you. You may not know you’ve been communicating your own psychic atmosphere. The cat may sit on your lap, stay in the room or disappear. It looks like the guardian of an Egyptian temple. You’ve got a message from the Gods. Don’t be stupid, understand without being told.

Mercury in Pisces can talk though. It may love to picture what it’s telling you with sensitivity. It may sing songs and write poetry. Mercury is said to be in exile in Pisces. Poetry is the art of using words to evoke what can’t be said with words, which is precisely the world of Pisces. A planet in exile is confronted with a challenge to its own nature. But it’s not doomed. It might succeed!

I know a Gemini Mercury who spent most of her professional life translating scientific texts. It’s not an easy job, but it’s much more like home for Mercury. 

Mercury’s analytical tendencies are challenged in a fluid world. It’s easy to know the difference between a blue pill and a red pill, but what if you get an infinite variety of shades of violet and so many pills scattered on the floor? 

Listen to the intonations of a voice, observe the non verbal cues when someone is speaking… What do they convey exactly? Mercury in Pisces knows, and it may be able to interpret your dreams. At least they may understand them.

Exploring the beautiful potential of a placement shouldn’t make us forget that if the placement suffers from difficult squares or oppositions, is ruled by a planet who is itself challenged, rules over planets with issues… we may get the flaws instead of the qualities, until the lessons are learned. Instead of poetry we may get nonsense, sentimentality, suggestibility, confusion. The double nature of Gemini combined with the double nature of Pisces may become somehow incoherent. Feelings may pretend to be logic, and two plus two may be five after all. 

But no worries, lessons are there to be learned. 

If we were reading a whole chart, the next question would be: what is this Pisces Mercury, in charge of interpreting?

The urge to take action and get things moving forward of an Aries Sun in the tenth house? Such a Sun is likely to give orders, how will a Pisces Mercury tell you that you’ve got to do as you are told? And what if it’s an Aquarius Sun, with great ideas to share with you in the seventh house, how will Mercury in Pisces interpret them? What is there is a Libra Moon in the mix, with a diplomatic but non negotiable need for fairness? 

But these are other stories…  

Jean-Marc 

On this blog, you can find a special post: How to read a chart as a whole.

I crammed twenty pages with essential principles and illustrations to explain as clearly as possible, and hopefully be entertaining. 

And you may know already, but for those who find out my website for the first time, I have written about Magical Doors.

Check the homepage to know more about it. 

Moon in Aquarius

I have been studying a chart where Cancer is Rising and the Moon is in Aquarius. 

As a rule, the Moon is always one of the top indicators. She is the Queen.

As another rule, the ruler of the Rising sign is also very important. It’s the Prime Minister so to speak.

 Mama Mia! For Cancer Risings, the Moon holds the two functions! Don’t ignore the Sun, but ignore such a Moon even less!

How can I picture an Aquarius Moon? 

When a planet is in a sign, it doesn’t become another planet. Even in Aquarius, the Moon is the Moon, and what it means is a Moon thing.

With the Moon we often talk about cocoons, homes, roots, burrows, places of safety where moms take care of children, and in Aquarius, the sign ruled by Uranus, God of the Sky, the Moon might well be a nest. 

Traditionally Saturn rules Aquarius. It opposes the Sun, ruler of Leo. Nature is the Great Metaphor that holds the door to Spirit. What is able to obscure the Sun and cast shadows? A big dark cloud. A water bearer. An Aquarius.

As a child, I used to wonder why birds build their nests without a roof. Chicks are safe from below, but when it rains, they get drenched. If there is a storm, they feel it to the full. That’s how birds live. They can’t go knock at the foxes’ door to ask for shelter. The little chicks live under the big wide sky, soaking in immensity. As they grow, they train flapping their wings on the edge of the nest, preparing themselves for the big jump. 

How do these images translate in terms of human life, for someone who has Cancer Rising and the Moon in Aquarius?

I belong to the Placidus tribe: for me, an Aquarius Moon in a Cancer Rising chart is not necessarily in the eighth house; it may be in the ninth and be born to be alive and migrate, or in the seventh and be born to fly along with their mate without being able to hold hands whilst doing so.

However a good deal of Aquarius Moons in Cancer Rising charts will be in the eighth house, which is fitting to the sign of thunderstorms and flashes of lightning disturbing suddenly the peace of wide blue skies or starry nights. 

In his “Traité Pratique d’astrologie” André Barbault, who had the Sun, Moon and Jupiter in Libra, describes the psychology of the signs as dialectics between two types.

About Aquarius, he tells us that one type is the wise type, detached, taking some distance from down to earth reality and the world of instincts, loving clarity, ideas and ideals; to the extreme it may even be completely spaced out… the other type is the adventurous type, the eccentric, the rebel, who lives in a state of high tension. It’s the one who plans to steal Fire from the Gods, for the benefit of humanity. The first type loves humanity as well, but would rather suggest meditation. 

Following my own thread of the birds in the nest and the weather forecast, I would call these two kinds the Great Blue Sky Type and the Thunderstorm type; I would expect an Aquarius Moon in the eighth house to belong to the storm, especially if there are tense aspects to the Moon or other placements in the chart, like a Scorpio Sun for instance.

In human life, such storms may be arguments between the parents, separation, divorce, fight over questions of money and custody, sudden loss of loved ones (“Child, they are in Heaven now”), it can be falling from the nest, not finding the strength to fly with one’s own wings, or maybe too much space, too much freedom at an age when we need to feel contained, held, supported and given boundaries… 

It may mean being exposed to anything that is too wide, too open, too unpredictable for a child to feel safe. Finding about porn on the internet at the age of five, becoming aware that Mother Earth and the climate are dangerously changing at six, or being suggested that you may not be a girl after all at seven are possible illustrations; human madness is not limited to nowadays creativity…

Now, what if this Moon in Aquarius and the eighth house was a happy one? Even in the eighth house, it may enjoy the benefit of harmonious aspects and the chart all around it may be full of happy promises. No challenge means doom anyway. 

A Moon in Aquarius could be a home full of friends, a family well integrated in the community, a flock of birds, an uncle who is an inventor, exciting holiday camps, open minded parents, intellectual opportunities… and, for the eighth house, a natural perception of otherworldly realities, transparent friends, choirs of angels, animal spirits, telepathic communications, the ability to fly out of the physical body... Why not? One day we will get there. 

This was my way to follow the thread for today. 

Symbols are magical doors. Another day, you may come across a Moon in Aquarius in a chart, go for a walk to empty your head and daydream, and find another thread, which may, for instance, emphasise more the community and future oriented traits of Aquarius, and start with Mother rather than home. Enjoy the flight! 

Jean-Marc

Margory Orr, a seasoned astrologer and author, has written a wonderful review of my book: Magical Doors.

You can read it here: https://star4cast.com/astrology-a-gateway-into-a-magical-universe/

You can also go back to my homepage (yes, you are on my website here!) and contact me for a reading, a class or an astro story.