I will still be publishing articles regularly through The Mountain  Astrologer and answering reader’s questions about their charts through my Dell Horoscope Advice Column.  To submit a question, send your complete birth information and details about the situation to me via email to ehockaday@dellmagazines.net.  (Your name, birthplace, and current location will not be published.)

If you haven’t followed Skywriter very long, you can download an index of over 560 articles by subject, complete with active links, here: 1-Articles Index Skywriter 7-2011.  OR, see the list of categories on the right hand side of the page.  OR, use the search engine at the top right hand side of the blog.

To see a complete listing of my ebooks, including my Outer Planet Trilogy, see: Order My Books.

• If you’re coming to the United Astrology Congress in New Orleans over Memorial Day Weekend, do come and introduce yourself.  I’ll be speaking there twice and would dearly love to meet you in person.

I’m hoping that after a few months rest I’ll once more get up in the morning eager to write something for you.  There are still lots of topics we haven’t covered. So, it’s arrivederci, not goodbye.   All my best, Donna.

 One of the ongoing missions of this blog is to spread word of identity theft scams so my readers don’t fall for them. Today I want to mention some astrological transits that might signal vulnerability to identity theft and also to tell you about some inexpensive new ways of protecting yourself. 

You may have heard on the news that thieves now have devices that can read credit card and banking numbers from a distance. For instance, they could park outside a Target store or near an ATM machine and pick up credit or debit card numbers or even insurance cards that people inside are carrying. This is a scary thought, but until now there hasn’t been a way to block them. 

There is a slim, pocket-sized aluminum wallet that has room for 10-12 credit, debit, insurance, and ID cards. The aluminum alloy blocks electronic scanners from picking up anything that carries your information on a (RFID) chip. You can get these attractive wallets at Bed Bath And Beyond, Target, or Office Depot stores around the country, most likely at the cash register, for $10.99. You can also order them online for even less at http://alumawallet-blog.com .  

You may also have heard that if you pay your bills by check, thieves can erase the amount and the name of the payee by using common household products, then substitute a much larger amount made out to their own names. At the grocery store checkout counter, I found a package of two gel pens for about five dollars with an ink that cannot be erased because it sinks into the fibers of the check. The product is the Uniball Signo 207 at 207  or http://uni-ball-na.com.  

Just as I was preparing to write this piece this morning I also found something disturbing in USA Today. I assume I’m not alone in imagining that OnStar is a benign corporate entity devoted to protecting us and keeping us safe on the road – surely one of the last corporations to have our best interests at heart. Alas, my naïve fellow consumers, that is not the case. 

Unbeknownst to us, OnStar has been selling private information about us gathered through their digital connections to our cars. They were forced recently to notify customers of this practice and of their privacy policies by e-mail, no doubt cloaked in unreadable legalese designed to discourage busy consumers from reading the material.

Here, from wired.com is a summary of the situation:

“OnStar last week began e-mailing customers about its update to the privacy policy, which grants OnStar the right to sell GPS-derived and other data in an anonymized format. That data might include a vehicle’s location, speed, odometer reading and seatbelt usage. Senator Schumer also asked the company, a General Motors subsidiary, not to sell that data.

“OnStar said it does not sell the data, but reserves that right. And the company, with six million customers, said it will turn off the two-way communication between a former customer and the service upon request — though OnStar will continue to track former customers who simply cancel their account”.  

(See the rest of the story here: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/09/senator-onstar-brazen-privacy-invasion/  )

Astrological Signatures Of Identity Theft

I have long believed that identity theft is related to both Uranus (computers and modern technology) and Neptune (fraud and deception). Uranus also represents our identity, in that it shows what is unique about us. Identity theft first came to our awareness and became a problem for the masses during the era when Uranus and Neptune were in mutual reception.

 That is to say, Uranus was in Pisces – Neptune’s sign – while Neptune was in Aquarius – Uranus’ sign. That astrological condition went on from part of 2003 to part of 2010. (Before that, the two planets were both in Aquarius from 1998 to parts of 2003.) 

What are some of the signatures you might look for in a chart to see if a person might be vulnerable to having their identity stolen? Although these same transits have many different interpretations and represent many possible events and situations, it is simply good sense to increase your protection against identity theft by becoming more watchful and cautious if you have any of these aspects coming up in your chart: 

• Uranus or Neptune transiting the 2nd, the house of earned income, particularly if they’re aspecting natal planets in that house.
• Uranus or Neptune transiting the 8^th, the house of debts, particularly if they’re aspecting natal planets in that house.
• Transiting Uranus or Neptune aspecting a natal planet in the 2^nd or 8^th.
• Transiting Uranus or Neptune aspecting the Sun, another indication of our identity.

 No doubt, there are additional transits that could indicate a time frame in which we should be especially watchful and cautious.  

Case Example: In 2004, I was briefly the victim of identity theft. No damage was actually done, because I realized the minute I sent an e-mail with the requested personal information (birth date, address, and Social Security number) that something was very wrong. I immediately contacted the company the request purported to be from  and was told it was a scam. 

That very night, I contacted the credit card companies and closed those accounts and reopened new ones. The very next morning I was at my bank when it opened and closed all my accounts there, reopening them with new numbers and new passwords. After watching all those accounts closely for several months, I breathed a sigh of relief. I subsequently signed up for LifeLock.    

The reason this “non-event” was significant was because it made me realize that ANYONE who isn’t aware of these dangers can become a victim of ID theft. The experience sent me on my quest to inform readers about new scams as they arose.   Oh, and it was my 15 minutes of fame because a local television station came out and interviewed me for their news program.

What were my transits at the time?  Uranus in Pisces was on my South Node in the 8^th house, which represents – among many other things – debt, credit cards, and other financial dealings where our own money is not involved. Natally, Uranus squares that node, along with Saturn and Venus, and so transiting Uranus was squaring that conjunction. In addition, Pluto in Sagittarius opposed my Mercury. 

Readers, if you have seen the chart of anyone whose identity was stolen, please tell us in the comment section what the transits were. It would help all of us. 

Note: For those of you who have written to ask, my hand injury is still a problem, however, there are good signs of healing, and I am hopeful. I am getting great pain relief from acupuncture. I thank you all for your concern and your healing thoughts and prayers. (For background, see Update: I’ve had a lot on my hands!)

More articles about identity theft on this blog:

• Fraud Alert for PayPal Users–Fake Account Statements sent by Identity Thieves
• NEW SCAM ALERT–Telephone Denial-of-Service Scam
• SCAM ALERT–Fake Antivirus Warning with Virus Attached
• Jury Duty Scam Alert
• Two New Spam Scams to Beware of

INDEX OF SKYWRITER’S 500+ POSTS by category. Excellent resource for students. Save it to your hard drive rather than print it, and then all the links are live. (Download it here: 1-Articles Index Skywriter 3-2011.)

If you’re enjoying this blog, sign up for a subscription, and get a FREE EBOOKLET for Skywriter Subscribers: Mothers, Daughters, and the Moon, a 50-page excerpt from The Moon in your Life. Read more about it here: New: Free Booklet For Skywriter Subscribers! 

To sign up for a subscription, go to the top right hand corner of the blog and click on “Subscribe.” Then send me an email with your subscription confirmation or an email post and ask for the booklet in the subject line. If you’re already a subscriber and want a copy, forward the most recent email post to me at moonmave@spiritone.com.

I’m beginning to see improvement, slowly. I can bend the fingers in the most injured hand, and, with acupuncture, I’m getting substantial pain relief. I still must limit my time on the computer to two 15-minute periods a day, so forgive me if I cannot answer your e-mails.

I’m also slowly making friends with my voice recognition software, Speaking Naturally. It hasn’t been easy, what with the language barrier. (It doesn’t speak astrologese and seems reluctant to learn it.) The other day, it wrote quincunx without a hiccup, but then there’s not another single word in English that it could mistake for quincunx.

I’ll be filling in occasionally with excerpts from other written material. The following is an excerpt from a longer article on trines in my ebooklet, Aspect Analysis: the Building Blocks of Chart Interpretation. This 8-part tutorial reprinted from my series in The Mountain Astrologer includes step-by-step instructions on how to analyze conjunctions, sextiles, squares, trines, quincunxes and oppositions.

Aspects are the building blocks of serious astrology, moving you beyond single chart factors to integrating the many features a chart contains. Not only are they crucial in natal charts, they modify the qualities of transiting planets, progressions, and chart comparison. They powerfully impact outcomes in such diverse branches of our field as electional, horary, medical, and mundane.

Got Trines? You Must Be Living Right!

©2009 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

 Trines are considered a lucky aspect that flows so naturally that accomplishing things seems effortless to the outside observer. Trines are 120° (plus or minus 5°) and four signs apart, though not always four houses apart. Most trines consist of two or more planets in the same element — air to air, fire to fire, water to water, or earth to earth. 

Because opportunities related to the planets in the trine tend to be handed to people who have it, a sense of entitlement can creep in. They may come to regard these perks as their due, simply because of who they are and what they represent to others in that sphere of life.  

Often, windfalls come without much effort, so people with a predominance of trines can become lazy and take these benefits for granted, with an attitude of “God will provide.” Still, trines can be a mixed blessing — it depends largely on the planets involved. With a Saturn–Pluto trine, for instance, the goodies can come with so much baggage attached that they almost aren’t worth it.

Thinking Inside the Box: In each part of this series, I present a graphic creation that provides an overview of an aspect — not of the pair of planets concerned but the essence of that angle itself. How does it feel? What emotions and patterns of response typify a trine versus, say, an opposition? Here’s what a trine feels like to me: Affinity of the Planets: When analyzing an aspect, the first stage should be to reflect on how well the two planets partner one another. Venus and Saturn aren’t particularly compatible in nature. No doubt, if you had the aspect, you’d stand in line for hours to trade up for a Venus–Jupiter aspect. I think you’d be wrong, though.           

Venus–Jupiter folks are warm, enthusiastic, and welcoming — to each and every person they meet. And they do meet so many of them, because they’re forever on the go. If you were in a housing crisis, they’d probably text you from Tahiti with a digital hug to explain why they can’t help you pack to move.            

Venus–Saturn people, by comparison, might be more reserved and formal, but they’re solid and steady, a source of practical support and sage advice when you need them. They’d have your move organized and a reliable moving company hired before you finished asking.           

Because of their stability, social skills, and willingness to support those with similar goals, people with Venus–Saturn conjunctions and trines often attract friends and suitors among successful, slightly older people who then become mentors and protectors. 

Love affairs in youth often involve older partners — almost like father or mother figures — who help them acquire a social polish that might not have been learned at home. (It’s an aspect that often confers upward mobility.) At midlife and beyond, their partners are often younger.           

Not as trendy and fashion-forward as Venus–Jupiter or Venus–Uranus people in their sense of beauty, Venus–Saturn folks are likely to have an elegant, classical look. In fact, there’s an air about many of them that just says class. They often age beautifully — it’s those enviable cheekbones. They grow in poise and confidence as they come into their own, professionally and socially.            

There is a kind of luck that happens with Venus–Saturn aspects, since Venus (along with Jupiter) is a good luck planet. Because of Saturn’s presence, there are windfalls due to an innate instinct of timing — being the right person in the right place at the right time. Then, too, you’ve worked hard to prepare for what you’ll be doing, so your good fortune isn’t entirely an accident. With breaks like these, observers rightfully remark, “You must be living right.” 

Roles of the Elements and Modes: Part of why trines work so effortlessly and seem so harmonious is because the two planets are generally in the same element. They’re like two people who meet and hardly even have to get acquainted, because they have a great affinity for one another. They have so much in common that it’s a meeting of the minds.           

With trines, one planet in a water sign supports another in a second water sign — they flow together in a perfect blend, without resistance. One planet in fire supports another in a different fire sign — it adds fuel to the blaze. Similarly, earth solidifies earth, and air uplifts air.  

Though the planets in a trine are in the same element, the modes (cardinal, fixed, and mutable) are mixed in this aspect. Each mode adds something that the other is lacking and needs in order to keep moving forward — it’s not a competition but a natural alliance.          

Take the earth signs Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo. Their productivity and fruitfulness is enhanced by cardinal earth (Capricorn) setting a goal and initiating it, fixed earth (Taurus) keeping a steady focus on achieving it and sustaining the efforts, and mutable earth (Virgo) adapting to changing conditions and figuring out how to fix the various snags that appear along the path.             

Sign/House Combinations: Understanding the houses involved in the trine is important, for it shows two areas of life enhanced by the ways a person’s innate abilities support one another. 

If you have a Venus–Saturn aspect of any sort, you too can hope to get better as you get older, but if you have the trine, you probably already possess many of the necessary qualities. A classic style quite possibly comes more naturally to you than to most people, and the mature years are bound to be your best ever.  

We’re old a lot longer than we’re young, and there’s no reason that we can’t live and love and keep on growing for all of our years. The current transit of Saturn through Venus-ruled Libra is an excellent opportunity to discover more about how to bring those sterling qualities to the fore. 

NOTE: This has been an excerpt from my ebooklet, Aspect Analysis: the Building Blocks of Chart Interpretation. To order it, go to http://www.paypal.com and create an account, if you don’t already have one. Then tell them to send me $8 and give them my email address, moonmave@spiritone.com. You’ll receive the booklet by email.

 Many of you have been writing to ask about my hand problem and why the long absence, so I thought I’d just write a short blog post to bring you up to date. I had two terrible falls in June where I landed on my hands and injured them, though nothing was broken. Then I sprained both wrists trying to compensate for not being able to use my hands. So it’s been a really rough summer, with lots of pain, and I haven’t been able to be on the computer very long at a stretch. 

Skywriter’s readers, hearing about this at an early stage, sent in about 50 recommendations for curing arthritis. I actually considered for a time turning this into an arthritis cure review blog, but then I realized that would entail as much writing as this astrology blog, and astrology is much more fun to write about. 

Well I finally found out from my doctor what the trouble is. My doctor explained the x-ray, saying that the bones in my hands are thinning out, and that the falls really just brought a long-term, slowly progressing condition to a head. For a writer, of course, this is the worst possible news. My doctor and I are looking into medications and other possibilities. 

The first solution was to learn how to use voice recognition software, so that I could dictate my articles rather than use the keyboard. I purchased NaturallySpeaking 11.5 and have spent the last month trying to get it to cooperate. I am told that it will learn anyone’s vocabulary and vocal patterns. 

Right! I’ve spent hours trying to teach it astrology. I can dictate simple English text like the paragraphs above with a fair degree of accuracy, but I have laboriously spelled out every astrological term and it’s not having any of it. It has the terms in its dictionary, but that’s not the same as matching pronunciation with words.  

The worst was trying to dictate my advice column for Dell horoscope, some 3000 words jammed with jargon. It took about three times as long as usual. Each paragraph takes about10  minutes to dictate. 

Finally, I just lose any semblance of patience, and commence to curse. Oddly enough, it doesn’t have any problem at all with rendering that perfectly. I’d even go to so far as to say it’s a bit of a potty mouth. I suspect it was previously owned by a parrot that was previously owned by a sailor. 

But I am determined to soldier on and get this software to work. At least Mercury in Virgo is a good time to do those sorts of corrections and detail. 

Anyway my dear readers, I do miss you a lot, and I miss all the fun we have on this blog. I still have all the excellent suggestions about articles that come from the contest, and I have a notebook full of article ideas besides.  

So readers, I will get back to regular blogging, as quickly as I can. Drop a note in the comment section to say hello. Donna

 Yesterday’s announcement of the opening of the second Saturn return blog was marred by one small mistake, a typo in the link to the blog. If you didn’t get there yesterday, here’s the correct link: 2nd Saturn Return Blog. I also want to share answers to a couple of questions from the comment section. 

Elena, who’s facing her third Saturn return, asked how I would distinguish between the first second and third returns. 

 Here’s how I would explain the three Saturn returns – each is the culmination of a stage of maturation, focused in the areas of life represented by the house Saturn is placed in natally and by natal Saturn’s aspects.

Saturn represents important roles we play, such as wife, parent, boss, or teacher. The return may focus on adjusting to those roles. It is also a mini life review, an interval in which we ask ourselves and are asked by our surroundings,” how’m I doing?” 

At the first Saturn return (age 28-29), you are beyond a doubt fully adult, and faced with major personal and vocational choices and their consequences – commitments, responsibilities, and the limitations they entail. In other words, you focus on your roles.

You may have to play catch up if you have been neglecting the positive qualities of Saturn, such as structure; discipline; desire for quality and accomplishment; maturity; authority; perseverance; and realism. 

At the second Saturn return (age 58-60), you are likely to have completed your responsibilities in those adult roles. You now need to assess whether they still serve you and to begin planning for your senior years as Saturn cycle continues to evolve.

So there may be sadness as those roles draw to a close and anxiety about providing for yourself as a senior. You face the consequences of choices you made around the time of the first return, and you come to terms with your personal limitations and the limitations of significant others. 

Although I have no experience with the third Saturn return (86-88), I would imagine that it is another life review, with ample time to ponder how we’ve done in our lines and to reap the rewards and benefits of service provided to our families and communities.

It is a time of fully emerging as an elder with experience that can benefit others. And, yes, increasing limitations may cause us to spend time seemingly idle and alone, but it can be a time of grace at a life well spent. 

Carrie asks, “This next year or so, my husband will have both his second Saturn return and a Jupiter return. I wonder what those together mean?”

 My answer: It’s actually quite common, as that’s an age where the Jupiter cycles and Saturn cycles coincide. It was great for me when it happened, and I figure it’s the place where AGE meets WISDOM. A nice boost for the process of digesting our life experience and reaping the well deserved rewards.

If you’re having your 2nd Saturn return, do visit the blog, or if you know someone who is, pass trhe link along. 

 Were you born sometime between 1951 and 1953, while Saturn was intermittently within an 8° range of a conjunction to Neptune? (For most of you, both Saturn and Neptune are in the sign Libra, but for some Saturn is in Scorpio, though still within 8° of Neptune in Libra.)

If so, your second Saturn return is coming, off and on, between September 2011 and September 2012. Saturn takes about 28-29 years to orbit the Sun and come back to the sign and degree it was when you were born. That’s referred to as a Saturn return. The first return happens in your late 20s, and the second happens between 58-60.

For your particular age group, this may well be a challenging period, because you were born with a mixture of Saturnian and Neptunian qualities, and this is a period when you’ll be reassessing how well they work together.   

Give yourself time to face and address the major issues and life patterns that Saturn-Neptune conjunction has meant over the years, so that this does not have to be a time when they come to a head in a negative way. Instead, you can use it productively to conquer some of your barriers and build a more solid foundation for your senior years. 

Mimi Boothby, CJ Wright, and I have created a new resource, the 2nd Saturn Return Blog. There will be articles, free downloads, and group discussions on that blog to help you understand the issues at stake in this especially intense second Saturn return. As of today, it’s officially open—if you’re in that age group, drop on by.  If you know anyone who fits, pass the word along.   

Note to younger readers: Are you having your FIRST Saturn return? That would be age 28-29, born with Saturn in Libra during 1980-83. The articles on Saturn in Libra will apply to you, and it’s good to know what house is affected.

Otherwise, the rest of this project is not for you because you don’t have Neptune conjunct Saturn. Instread, many of you were born with Pluto conjunct Saturn, no picnic either. Visit http://saturnsisters.com/ with the Saturn Sisters: Sherene Schostak and Stefanie Iris Weiss, resident astrologers. Order a Saturn return report and have a look at their book, Surviving Saturn’s Return.

UPDATE: 10/29/2011.  In case you think you’re facing this life passage alone, I’m delighted to report that we’ve had well over a million page hits on the Second Saturn Return blog already! Now what we need to get the discussion going is for more of you to share your journey by visiting  2nd Saturn Return Blog.

 As my regular readers know,  I’ve injured my hands and have to take it slow with writing, but am filling in with collections  of past posts.  Below is a list of links to articles that have appeared on Skywriter that are meant for professionals or those who hope to become astrologers.

• Q&A: What Professional Astrologers Want to Know
• English For Astrologers–No Astrologese Please
• Astrologers’ Hang-ups about Money—How they Hurt our Clients
• Awful Things Astrologers Say to Clients
• Real World Astrology—Continuing Ed for Professionals
• Tips for Working with Teenagers’ Charts
• Chart Clues to Marriage—Will You or Won’t You?
• More Insights into Healing Grief and Loss
• Horary Happenings—Why I’m a Believer, Not a Practitioner
• Career Quiz—Guess the Chart Placements
• What Planet Rules Mentorship? Saturn or Chiron?

Working with Difficult Transits in a Client’s Chart:

• Facing the Difficult Potentials of a Transit
• Talking to Clients about Difficult Transits–Readers Have Their Say
• Tough Transits: Best Case/Worst Case Scenarios
• Why I Don’t Believe those Scary Predictions
• A Promise Fulfilled: When Transits Echo Natal Aspects
• In the Eye of the Storm—How Outer Planet Transits Work
• Why Transits to the Birth Moon are so Challenging
• How Outer Planet Transits to the Moon Affect Family Life
• Risk Assessment: Observations on Mars Conjunct the Ascendant and Danger
• Transits to the Vocational Houses–Temp Job or Career Departure?
• John Edwards’ Rise and Fall–a Stellium Meltdown
• Catastrophobia: What Causes it and How to Heal it
• What to Tell Astrology Clients about Pluto in Capricorn
• Pluto Problems Got You Perplexed? Here’s What Helps!

Another Link post: Astrological Insights into Family Life

 Readers, did any of these articles speak to situations with clients that have been hard to handle?  Tell us about it in the comment section.

I’m not in a writing mode while my hands heal, but with Mercury retrograde, I thought I’go back into my blank books and dictate some handwritten articles from months back with voice recognition software. Here are some stories I’d like to see share about the magic of horary astrology. I swear to you that they are 100% true. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 Circa 1969, East Village, NYC. I’d been soaking up every bit of astrology I could for about a year, taking several classes a week, when I started to get intrigued by horary astrology. You can get a definite yes or no answer from a chart set up for the time a question is asked—how cool is that?  

I asked a question: “What is my life purpose?” That’s not a proper horary question, but I didn’t know any better, so I did the calculations. (By hand, folks. This was back in the dark ages.) 

The resulting chart was spectacular, though I didn’t have a clue how to interpret it. Every planet had a dozen aspects, and a string of sextiles held them together all around the edge. 

As I finished drawing in the aspects, a pattern began to emerge. Looking at the whole, I began to see that it was a 5-pointed star! It tilted slightly to the left, as did I in the late 1960s.  But a perfect star all the same—clearly it was my fate to become an astrologer!  

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

 Fast forward 6 months, still the East Village. Having received a clear mandate to become an astrologer, I decided I was ready to teach class.  For beginners, at least. (I was cocky then. Still cocky but worse for the wear now.) It was time. 

A bright, lively crowd of lesbian feminists who called themselves The Radical Radishes heard about it and signed up. The class also had another lesbian member – an affluent corporate officer that people would call a lipstick lesbian. I’ d sat next to her on a cross country plane ride and oversold her on astrology. They all took to their studies enthusiastically and thrilled to astrology’s wonders as only beginners can thrill. 

I thought it would be great fun to demonstrate horary astrology. Mind you, I still didn’t know more than the bare basics, like how to find the house that corresponded to the question. I had each of them think of yes or no question to be answered. 

When they all had one in mind, I noted the time and quickly drew up a chart. (By hand, folks.) I then went around the circle, answering each of their questions in turn. There was enough variety that 8 or 9 houses were involved. For some, the answer was yes, for others it was no, and for others it was, “too early to tell.” 

Finally, I got to Lee, one of the most beloved members. She and the corporate type seemed to be developing more than a passing flirtation. They explained that she’d invited Lee along on a trip to Morocco. 

Lee’s question was,” will I make the trip to Morocco?” The answer the horary chart gave was a clear no – at least three different ways. 

Her face fell at the answer, but she shrugged it off philosophically. “Que sera, sera.” 

The next week in class, the Radical Radishes gleefully reported that Lee wouldn’t be there because she had in fact gone to Morocco.” Better check that chart again, Teach!” 

The next class meeting, the Radishes showed up, faces shadowed with grief, eyes red and puffy. They delivered a shattering piece of news. 

“Lee is dead.” 

“She got in a car accident in Morocco and was killed. They buried her over there.” 

We looked at the horary again, which still said no. I don’t remember anything about it now, but apparently the NO answer to the question, “will I MAKE the trip?” meant to COMPLETE the trip, as in make a round trip. Or maybe, the implicit question was,” SHOULD I make the trip,” and the answer was no. 

The class dissolved in the aftermath of this terrible event. I was so spooked out myself that I never touched horary again for 20 years, and I’d never presume to set myself up as a horary astrologer. 

                                                      *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

A MAGICAL MISTAKE

How many of you astrologers have done a session with an absolutely wrong chart and gotten the absolutely right answer? Most of us have done it at least once, and people like myself with Neptune in the 3^rd squaring Mercury in the 12^th have done it more times than we’d like to admit.

 This was especially true in the early days when we did charts by hand using logarithms and half a dozen tables. I didn’t even know what a logarithm was. 

So recently, when I wrote this story, I looked for that horary chart with perfect star that answered my question about what my life purpose was. I’d kept it for 45 years to look at in those intervals when I wondered whether this demanding field was a mistake for my life path. 

I wanted to reproduce it in this article so you all could see it. Of course it was handwritten, so I went to put it into the software for a usable image of the star and the ring of sextiles. 

I was shocked to discover that there is no such chart! The time noted on the chart does not produce anything resembling a star. I thought perhaps I’d done the Greenwich Mean Time wrong, but no matter how long I fiddled with it, there was no star! I have no idea what I did wrong back in the 60s to come up with that exceptional chart, but it never existed in real life. 

So, I must conclude that magic was at work–I am convinced that horary astrology IS magic of the first order. Imagine if I hadn’t made a “mistake,” if there was no star in the chart I looked at, and as a result, I’d never became an astrologer?

So those are some of the reasons I never became a horary astrologer– another being the hundreds of rules you have to follow to give a good answer! I do consult it when I’m in need of a definite yes or no answer for a major life decision. I call my friend Diana Stone, a seasoned practitioner with decades of experience and a classical background in this branch of astrology.  

She has never steered me wrong on these huge questions, and I will do whatever she advises. If you’d like to consult her or to read her suite of Horary Astrology articles about this ancient branch of astrology, visit her website, http://www.dianastone.com. 

Readers, have you ever asked horary question? How did it work out? Was the answer you were given accurate? I’d love to hear your stories. Leave them in the comment section.

More of Donna’s Life Story:

• Your Interview Questions for Donna:  Part 2
• 10 Quick Questions You Asked Donna
• Jupiter in the 12th—When Does Good Luck Turn Bad?
• Fitting onto a Blank
• The Incredible Vulnerability a Stellium Creates
• Cancerians, Memory and Emotion
• Venus-Uranus Aspects: Two-Minute Friends and other Modern Relationships
• On Being a Weeble at 67
• Button Jar–A Memoir?

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To sign up for a subscription, go to the top right handcorner of the blog and click on “Subscribe.” Then send me an email with your subscription confirmation or an email post and ask for the booklet in the subject line. If you’re already a subscriber and want a copy, forward the most recent email post to me at moonmave@spiritone.com.

 You know what a piñata is, right? It’s a paper mache thingie filled with candy and other goodies, and at a party, somebody gets blindfolded and whacks away at it. The goodies fly all over and people scramble for them.

 Well, this is a feature for Skywriter in which you’ll get a shower of goodies from time to time that are astrological in nature—sometimes related, sometimes, like today, random. What you get in this series of Cosmic Piñatas are wee bits I’ve collected from the comment section of this blog, from my Dell column, or email exchanges or other venues—treats that I’d like to share. 

 Q: Is the Yod a fated chart feature? It sounds dire!

 A: For those who aren’t familiar with it, a Yod is also known as an Eye of God or Finger of Fate. It consists of three planets forming a triangle. Two of the planets are 60 degrees apart (a sextile), while the point of the triangle is a planet that is five signs (150 degrees) away from both of the others in an aspect called a quincunx or inconjunct.  

That’s a lot of awesome-sounding names for one triangle, and old-time interpretations of a Yod love to awe you by saying that Destiny and Fated circumstances will strike you in the house and sign at the point of that triangle. I don’t know that I buy that—much depends on the particular planets, signs, and houses involved…and on your point of view in terms of how much you believe that outside forces cause your difficulties.  

A more modern, psychological view would hold that the quincunx (a.k.a. inconjunct) aspect is most understandable in terms of a kind of incongruity between the houses and signs involved—that their goals, interests, and activities don’t mesh with one another naturally or easily so it is hard to fit them together comfortably. When two different quincunx aspects form to the same planet, house, and sign, the resulting lack of fit between the three almost forces a creative leap for resolving the conflicting sets of desires.  

Q: A reader wanted to know, “I have Neptune in my 12th house, in Sagittarius like most of my generation. The cusps of my 12th and 1st houses are both in Sagittarius actually. Am I right in seeing this as a sort of “tie” between the two houses, making them more closely related? Would Neptune also therefore somehow affect the first house indirectly?”

A: “Yes, there’s a 12th-1st house tie in your chart. It’s true of anyone with the same sign on the 12th and first. The ties come through the ruler of both houses–in your case, Jupiter, since Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter. In the case of someone with Libra on the 12th and 1st house cusps, the ruler of both would be Venus. And so on.

The ruler of the 1st is considered a very important planet in classical astrology–it’s called the ruler of the chart. So then you’d look at the sign, house, and aspects of that planet for important information about your approach to life. Its house shows ways to find a certain amount of fulfillment and purpose. Here, with it being a double ruler, look for it to show some ways both the 12th and 1st can find their fullest expression.

In your case, Neptune in the 12th reinforces the pull of your energies toward the 12th house, because the 12th and Neptune and Pisces are all similar energies. Study intensively on the planet Neptune. Be vigilant for the negative creeping in and twisting the positive. It is fully possible to begin by serving and end by twisting it into something sick and destructive for both you and the party you’re trying to help. In its negative forms, Neptune is seductive and extremely deceptive and can so easily lead you down the path to self-destruction.

Q: Your tests based on planets in signs, houses, aspects with the Sun, Moon, ASC, and Midheaven were very interesting. What if almost all planets score high? This makes it difficult to find out which one is most dominant. (See: Take the Planetary Tests.)

A: A very good question. Some charts have a lot of oomph–that is, many planets in the angles, many that have lots of aspects, especially many conjunctions, and certain signs or houses strongly emphasized, in which case the scores are probably high on a number of the tests. Others have few aspects, not many connections to the angles, and no particular planets, signs, or houses emphasized, in which case, there are few high scores.

When you find either extreme to be true, you’ve discovered something important about that person. The one with many high scores has a lot going on, can be very intense, juggles and integrates many interests, and make quite an impact on those around them. The one with low scores overall probably doesn’t have many aspects in their chart either, which can mean fewer tools to use to integrate the energies of the planets, and usually makes less of an impact.

If two or more of the outer planets have high scores, then you may have what I call an Outer Planet Person (OPP), someone who is unusual because their issues, concerns, characteristics, and focuses are not those of the average person, but more transpersonal, global, futuristic, etc. As a result of focusing so much attention on several outer planets and their connections to the inner ones, they also generally have greater difficulty fitting in with ordinary people and have many difficult questions, issues, and needs to resolve on a personal level.

Because of juggling such huge issues, OPPS don’t exactly come into their own in their 20s, and are more likely to reach a point of comfortability with who they are during their 40s. That’s when they go through that cycle of outer planet aspects to themselves. Transiting Uranus opposes natal Uranus; Pluto squares natal Pluto; and Neptune squares natal Neptune.

You’ll find lots more in-depth information about OPPS in my ebook trilogy, The Outer Planets and Inner Life, at Moon Maven Publications. Volume 1 deals with the outer planets as vocational indicators.

Volume 2 deals with outer planets and our relationships (aspects to Venus and Mars).

In addition, volume 3 is where you’ll probably find a lot of high scoring folks, as it deals with subgenerations like the Pluto-Uranus conjunction in Virgo and the Pluto-Saturn conjunctions in Leo and Libra.

 Readers, If you get new insights from this or other Cosmic Pinatas, share them in the comment section.  I can’t answer new questions now due to the problem with my hands. 

Other Editions of the Cosmic Piñata Column:

• The Cosmic Piñata, Part 1 — Saturn Transits and Insights into the Houses
• The Cosmic Piñata #2: Treats from other Astrology Blogs
• Cosmic Piñata #3: A Plutonian Potpourri
• Cosmic Piñata #4: Astrological Oddities—or Not?
• Cosmic Piñata #5—Mercurial Morsels
• Cosmic Piñata #6—a Moon Miscellany
• Cosmic Piñata #7: Astro*Carto*Graphy Stories
• Cosmic Piñata #8: Readers’ Observations about Quintiles and other Aspects

If you’re enjoying this blog, sign up for a subscription, and get a FREE EBOOKLET for Skywriter Subscribers: Mothers, Daughters, and the Moon, a 50-page excerpt from The Moon in your Life. Read more about it here: New: Free Booklet for Skywriter Subscribers! 

To sign up for a subscription, go to the top right hand corner of the blog and click on “Subscribe.” Then send me an email with your subscription confirmation or an email post and ask for the booklet in the subject line. If you’re already a subscriber and want a copy, forward the most recent email post to me at moonmave@spiritone.com.

 I miss you, folks! As my difficulties with my hands continue, I’ll present links to some of Skywriter’s series of articles on topics of special interest. Today’s topic is personal finance. 

If any of these articles give you new insights into your own money patterns, share them in them comment section–or just say hello!

Posts in the Astrology and Personal Finances series:

• Astrologers’ Hang-ups about Money—How they Hurt our Clients
• Readers Ask: Q & A about the 2nd House
• The 2nd House and Money Management Patterns
• Your 2nd House—A Clue to Extra Income
• Readers Ask: Q&A about the 8th House
• Everything You Ever Wondered about the 8th House…
• Living Off the Books—an 8th House Quicksand
• Uranus in the 2nd—Freedom & Individuality, vs. Financial Stability
• Saturn and Uranus Transits to the 2nd/8th House Axis
• Neptune in the 2nd—Money, Boundaries, & Codependency
• Neptune Transits to the 2nd-8th Axis—Time to Get Real about Money
• Money and Pluto in the 2nd House—The Haves vs. the Have Nots
• Pluto Transits to the 2nd or 8th —Money Issues Get Murky
• Thought Forms–How They Add to Money Blocks  
• More Help for Money Blocks—Clearing Past Life Barriers

If you’re enjoying this blog, sign up for a subscription, and get a FREE EBOOKLET for Skywriter Subscribers: Mothers, Daughters, and the Moon, a 50-page excerpt from The Moon in your Life. Read more about it here: New: Free Booklet For Skywriter Subscribers! 

To sign up for a subscription, go to the top right hand corner of the blog and click on “Subscribe.” Then send me an email with your subscription confirmation or an email post and ask for the booklet in the subject line. If you’re already a subscriber and want a copy, forward the most recent email post to me at moonmave@spiritone.com.