June 24 - Jul 01 sun signs

June 24 - Jul 01


This week sees no serious movements in the heavens, so I will discuss the Mars Ingress into Cancer June 24, 2015, 11:32:53 pm Geelong Victoria Australia. The blowup which has happened for many people over the past few weeks has been about communication, information, and short trips, but will take on a more personal and sensitive twist and be revisited in a couple of weeks. Be prepared for misunderstanding and bitterness to become more personal as Mercury conjoins Mars in Cancer.

The Venus/Jupiter conjunction which happens in Leo early next week, July 1, 2015 5:50:46 pm. Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets in the heavens and they make quite a spectacle in the evening sky together! Go out and have a look one evening, (especially if you are a Leo) these are the two planets which usually make us feel good about ourselves.


The moon is waxing to full this week, so seeing our labours bearing fruit is a big part of this cycle.


Aries- While sensitivity will annoy you for the next month or so, a period will exist in the middle of this week where sensitivity is not so bad. Be prepared for your opinion to change back again as the week progresses.


Taurus- Enhance the sensitive soul this week for a better perspective on an otherwise irritating week. Judgement will seem harsh for a while yet. Being oblivious to it will help, but it will not get to the root cause.


Gemini- While this week starts with sensitive folk being helpful, as the week progresses the shine wears off. You are still a chatterbox, and you are still going to make progress on your goals, it just does not feel as good.


Cancer-The week begins with tension, but make use of the ease that follows it for reinforcement rather than just resting. This will make the coming difficulty easier to deal with. Be careful not to let anger take control this week.


Leo- What seems helpful becomes tense and then it all gets easier, use that ease to your benefit. You feel like you can do no wrong at the moment, use it-it will not last forever. If familiarity has bred contempt, a more objective look might be useful.


Virgo-Helpfulness is your key for making lemonade out of lemons this week. Expect help from unexpected sources.


Libra-The week starts off looking promising but ends up being more of the same. There is help coming from expected sources this week. Use your ease of communication to your advantage.


Scorpio- Things seem “righter” than they have for a while, and helpfulness becomes something you can do later in the week. Concentrate on the big picture and do not let minute details or petty feelings grind you into the dust.


Sagittarius- It is hard to win an argument this week, but taking into account the perspective of your opponent helps. The last part of the week feels better than the first and your luck still holds.





Capricorn- Things start out difficult this week but end up alright. The big picture is always your friend, and allies are hard to come by at the moment. There is always some joy in seeing the perspective of another, but it is hard going at the moment.


Aquarius- Leave things go for the first several days of this week, then ease yourself into a helpful position for a couple of days. There is benefit to seeing the opposite point of view.


Pisces- Winning debates was never your strong suit, though you can expect help from unusual sources at the moment. Do not rest upon your laurels, build yourself up while you can. Life will continue to leave you feeling a bit out of sorts for a while yet.

June 17-24 Sun Sign....

I am a bit late with this week's sun sign, but I have a couple in reserve.... what I am doing is a major reshape of Musical Harmonics to make the aspects experienced by Venus and Mercury more consistent with how other aspects are calculated.... more on that as I get the work up to speed then revamp the website...in the meantime , here are the sun sign columns that I have missed.....

June 17-June 24....Cancer ingress June 22

The Cancer ingress (June 22, 2:33:53 AEST) was chosen for the launch of my Sun Sign column because it contains many elements personal to me and to Musical Harmonics, my Astrological system. The ingress itself has Moon sextile Sun, Mercury and Venus at musical octave intervals with the Sun, and Mars conjunct Sun, so it is a very good starting place having lots if beginning energy and the two octave intervals by which Musical Harmonics is defined. As a sun sign column, each and every planet has its own bearing on the sign, and that will be my focus, though I will introduce each week with some ingress or other piece if Astronomical/ Astrological trivia.
This ingress sees a waxing sextile (crescent) Moon, Mercury as morning star and at 22.5 degrees from the Sun, so it is visible in the morning (Mercury can turn as little as 18 degrees from the Sun and as much as 29 degrees); Venus is visible in the evening and at just under 45 degrees from the Sun in the other direction! (Venus always turns around the 46 degree mark from the Sun); Mars currently rises with the Sun, and will not be seen on its own until early August, at which time he will be seen in the morning; Jupiter is currently visible in the evening, a little further out than Venus at the moment and Venus will go retrograde (in front of the Sun) before Jupiter catches it up; Saturn is currently retrograde in motion (appears to move backwards to us), but is visible at night and will remain so until it moves forward and joins the Sun. Uranus is still in Aries, Neptune is still in Pisces, and Pluto is still in Capricorn; all three are separating from the Sun and would be visible in the morning if we could see them.
This ingress of the Sun is followed in short order by an ingress of Mars into Cancer later that same day. Mars in Cancer is a mixed blessing as the aggressive nature of Mars stirs up the water of Cancer, but martial aggression is not a natural energy in water. Interesting times ensue.
In my home of Geelong, the (helpful) sextile between Sun and Moon is exactly bisected by the MC/IC axis and the Ascendant of this chart makes a Sextile with the Sun and Trine with the Moon; all up very good aspects for beginning a venture. Remember that this ingress marks the winter solstice, and the future gets brighter from here!

Aries- What has seemed like assistance now comes with emotional baggage late this week. Good things happen for you when you take people for what they are rather than making them fit your mould. Remembering to work with sensitivity rather than against it will help.

Taurus- The time for battling it out in your own ends this week with some assistance coming from a sensitive source. Be prepared for some challenges though, as not everything is a rosy as it looks. Learn to find challenge in an opposing point of view.

Gemini- Assistance is one thing, but familiarity can breed contempt, but it stops towards the end of this week for a while. Although this looks tragic it can feel strangely comfortable if you let it.

Cancer- The sense of being “all alone” ends at the end of this week. It has felt as if the world is in love with its own voice and just cannot help itself. More sensitive voices begin to be heard this week, and you will find strength in emotional security.

Leo- While assistance will seem to stop in one sense, there are several other ways in which it keeps going. Life feels like it is on a winning streak this week, so keep it going. Helpfulness is a key energy for you.

Virgo- Relentless chatter will seem more useful by the end of this week, though it is still annoying. Go with it, it is useful as well as irritating. By the end of this week you will feel much more in control than you have until now.

Libra- What has been useful information will become a source of mild irritation later in this week. Stay with it a little longer, but be prepared for a change. Finding a useful context for conflict will be helpful this week.

Scorpio- Things are looking up towards the end of the week, with some real relief coming from the “lack of clarity” that has plagued you these last few weeks. Look for security in more sensitive sources by the end of this week.

Sagittarius- The time for information overload is drawing to a close. Find security in the things you know well for a while, as other things make little sense. Regroup for a little while.

Capricorn- The time for being on your own is finished but it is time now to learn from the adversity that you now face. The tendency to be in control needs to be kept in check at the moment, other people do not appreciate it.

Aquarius- If you have not used the ease of the last month to regenerate and renew yourself, the time is fast drawing to a close. By the end of the week you will a harder time of it, and you will need to win more debates to maintain your edge.

Pisces- Things will get easier as the week progresses, and if you turn adversity to your advantage you will reap the benefits. Do not be lulled into a sense of idleness this month, use the time to rebuild and regenerate. Life has been a struggle. Relax a little and rebuild. 

June 10-June 17, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn

Three major events occur this week as Mercury goes direct, Neptune goes retrograde, and Saturn pulls back into Scorpio.

Let us deal with Mercury Direct first. Mercury begins its forward movement again on June 12 2015. This basically means that parallax has finished its magic and Mercury resumes forward motion, but this time from its Morning Star mode in lower ecliptic longitude than the Sun. Mercury changes course at about 4° gemini while the Sun stays steady at about 20° gemini. Of course, Mercury has to build up speed slowly until June 25 when he reaches his maximum elongation. For all of that time (Jun 12- 25) Mercury is still moving slower than the Sun and is still capable of playing his “misunderstanding” game. Whenever Mercury us on the near side of the Sun he is capable of playing his tricks. While he appears to move away from and slower than the Sun it is more likely to be a misinterpretation of valid data that brings us undone. Misinformation per se was more likely to occur as Mercury appeared to move toward the Sun (May 7 - 31).

So we are not out of the woods yet as far as Mercury is concerned!

Now for neptune….Neptune goes retrograde in Pisces this week, but what does that mean? What does it actually mean when Mercury goes retrograde for that matter? 

We orbit the Sun at a fairly even pace (1° per day give or take a bit). So does everything else orbit the sun at different rates. Mercury and Venus are closer to the Sun than we are, therefore they go between us and the Sun on a fairly regular basis (3 times or more per year for Mercury, about once in 18 months or so for Venus as we keep closer to Venus’ pace). The rest of the planets (Mars through Pluto) travel further out from the Sun than us, therefore they only conjoin the Sun when they are on the other side of it. When they are on the near side, they oppose the Sun from our perspective. For inner planets like Mercury and Venus, maximum elongation is as far as they can visibly go from the Sun and retrograde motion happens as they move between us and the Sun. For outer Planets like Neptune, the square transit happens when they are visibly as far from the Sun as we can see them, and retrograde motion occurs when we make our pass between them and the Sun. This outer planet retrograde is made a little more confusing when you consider that the nearer an outer planet is, the less time it spends in retrograde transit, but that is a story for another day.

To map the cycle of Neptune, it was on the far side when it was conjunct to the Sun on Feb 26 at 7°15’ of Pisces, it goes retrograde this week at 9°49’ of Pisces, (it went retrograde last year at 7°35’ of Pisces) it opposes the Sun on September 1 at 8°24’ of Pisces and it goes direct again November 19 at 7°01’ (previous Neptune Direct was 4°47’) of Pisces and it conjoins the Sun again early on Feb 29 next year at 9°29’ of Pisces having advanced 2°14’ since its last conjunction and gone backwards 2°48’ in the same cycle!. However when comparing like figures with like figures a steady progress of 2°14’ becomes visible, and any discrepancy is seen as a variance in earth’s movement rather than a variance in Neptune’s orbit.

So it goes retrograde this week in Pisces. With outer planets (Uranus,Neptune, and Pluto) I tend to discount their retrograde status because they are far enough away that they are retrograde a lot of the time (June12-Nov 19-over 5 months) and their presence in the sign that they inhabit (Pisces for many years yet with Neptune) gives their flavour to that sign for the duration. Also the three outer planets cross the same degree of the Zodiac many times before they move on, adding gravity to their transits of specific degrees. To work out whether that degree is affected in your chart requires having an Astrologer cast a chart for you. If you have the right details (date,  TIME, and place of birth) astro.com can erect a free chart for you. A useable chart can be erected for midday if you do not have a time. 

Neptune goes retrograde a 9° 49’ of Pisces this week and it goes direct again at 7° 1’ of Pisces in November, so anything between 6 and 11 degrees of Pisces, Cancer, or Scorpio is under Neptune’s “image is everything” spotlight. Neptune is predominantly image focussed rather than reality focussed. This means that under Neptune’s influence we can be oblivious to details where our image is concerned.

Saturn returns to Scorpio for a little while this week. It turns Direct at 28°16’ of Scorpio on Aug 2 this year, and it returns to Sagittarius for good on September18 later this year. Saturn provides much needed structure for the water signs (Scorpio, Cancer and Pisces) who are under a long-standing Neptune transit, so they had best make use of it while it is still available. Use the Scorpio transit of Saturn to ground those pesky details for the high-flying plans (Neptune) that you have. Mercury and Mars can also be good for that, so there is always hope, but you are wise to make use of Saturn while you have him. Saturn in Scorpio can as easily be a drag if you let it (death, destruction, accountability) so why not use it to your benefit? We are the sum total of the choices we make, and Saturn likes to remind us of those, so make wise choices!

I will write a paper about planetary cycles and put it permanently on my website shortly because this topic is likely to come up many times in the future and I do not want to spend the rest of my life repeating myself.

I will do sun-signs in a separate post this week.

Venus enters Leo

On June 6, Venus enters Leo and it continues to pull away from the sun, but more slowly. It actually reaches its maximum elongation sometime on June 7th and from then heads back towards the Sun. Venus is very bright in the evening sky at the moment, and Jupiter can be seen a little further from the Sun.

Of course, Venus is still moving forwards, it is just that the Sun is moving forwards faster than Venus now. Eventually Venus will go retrograde which happens when parallax takes over and Venus appears to move backwards across the face of the Sun.

I view Venus at this elongation to be equivalent to an opposition transit. At this time, people with strong Leo in their charts should be feeling suddenly refreshed, almost as though a piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, and what has been a pretty good ride until now has gone into overdrive. Those with a prominent Leo will feel on top of the world until Saturn reaches Scorpio next week. 

Taureans and Librans will become more assertive under the Venus in Leo transit. 

Aries- Helpfulness will still win the day for our Ram, though some active conflict turns quiet which makes his world calmer if nothing else. Things look better than they are,so be careful, they also look better at the start of this week than the end.

Taurus- Remember that adversity is what we are here for and your attempts to help may be interpreted as conflict. Helpfulness will be a key energy of yours as you assert yourself. You will be putting yourself out there a lot more than is comfortable. Get used to it.

Gemini- Putting your foot in your mouth has been the order of the day, and will be until Mercury goes direct. Help is coming from self assured sources later in the week, and your best emotional efforts fall largely on deaf ears. Creative solutions are still good for you, but get used to going through all of your modes really quickly as Mercury pulls away from the Sun on the helpful evening side.

Cancer- The feeling like you are out on your own feels stronger this week as Venus says goodbye and joins Leo. You can still offer emotional support, and that becomes important later in the week.

Leo- The feeling that you can do no wrong is increased this week as Venus joins your cause. This will last until Saturn makes its way into Scorpio later in the month. Now is the time to make the most of positive perspectives! Make your plans and see them come to pass.

Virgo- Have you ever felt like you just cannot win? As Venus goes into Leo even things that looked OK on the surface appear to be taken away from you! It will be a while before things change much, so it is better to see adversity as something that makes us stronger rather than just giving up!

Libra- Mercury’s retrograde transit appears to be working to your benefit. It helps more when Venus enters Leo and you get to shine a little brighter! Make the most of good times while they last! Emotionally, you can be more useful than you think.

Scorpio- The feeling like you are all alone in the world increases as you feel cut off even by people who were just leaving you alone anyway. Saturn will bring some much needed order to your world in another week. Emotionally, you can be helpful to others this week.

Sagittarius- With Venus’ slide into Leo, you are starting to feel like you can do no wrong. Be careful of overconfidence, Saturn is still in your house, and Mars is opposing it along with Mercury Retro so you can slip up more easily than you think.

Capricorn- Being mindful of life’s bigger picture is what is getting you through this time of “not very much happening”. Helping others is what you are best at this week.

Aquarius- Feeling a little more positive this week as more things go your way. Seeing the other point of view will help you a lot here. Being a positive influence will not help as much as it should this week.

Pisces- “Being where the conflict is not” will be a key energy this week, and seeing obstacles as things to be overcome rather than being victimised by them will help a lot. You can be more help than you might otherwise feel this week.

Sun Sign Column

Mercury conjoins the Sun on the 31st while it is in retrograde transit, so it is about to explode with aspects as it makes its way out to its maximum elongation. Venus is at her maximum stretch at the moment, but is still heading slowly out from the Sun. She is at an octave or opposition relationship with the Sun at the moment. Those unfamiliar with Musical Harmonics will be unaware that I make a full set of aspects for Mercury and Venus with regard to the Sun by working with their maximum elongations.

These sun sign columns are a trial, to see if I can find a voice for myself in the Sun sign world. Using ancient sign relationships, it should be possible to give meaningful but general advice to everyone. (More refined advice comes from a birth chart and solar return charts etc. which I still prefer.) 

I will endeavour to put these up a week in advance and see how they go. For the moment I am using AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) I may move to GMT at some point.

Anyway Enjoy!!

PS..It took me several days to navigate Blogspot with my new computer, sorry about that!!

Aries- Currently feeling helped along by life in general, the major stumbling blocks are in the love life at the moment. Taking notice of the other point of view might help. Emotionally, you will feel better towards the end of the week. Take a moment to regroup rather than just relax.

Taurus- Some help is feeling very valuable in a world which seems mostly unfriendly at the moment. You can make complete sense of situations where others see conflict. Emotionally life is better at the beginning of the week. Conflict will be resolved by looking at the other point of view.

Gemini- You are really feeling this retrograde transit of Mercury with people getting the message wrong (or getting the wrong message!). Conflict is hard to avoid, but clear communication helps. Hang in there. Emotionally your week has a bright spot, but is otherwise lacklustre.

Cancer- While nobody is immune from retrograde Mercury, it has been less personal for you. People still think you can do no wrong, which is useful but not enduring. See it for what it is rather than what you want it to be. Helpfulness gives way to tension which in turn gives way to rest…use the rest to your advantage, you will need it in the coming weeks.

Leo- The feeling like you can do no wrong will  increase in another week or two. Seeing another point of view is essential. The week starts off emotionally dry, but it heats up during the week to leave you exhausted by the weeks end.

Virgo- Remember that difficulty is what we are born for and Virgo has more than its fair share of difficulty at at the moment. Think of the stories you will be able to tell rather than the details which will drive you to distraction. Your emotional week starts off better than it finishes.

Libra- Try to resist the urge to rest on your laurels at the moment, use the time to your advantage as the day is coming when you will need it. Try to be of use where you can. Remember that difficulty is actually your friend. Your week may end more happily than you expect.

Scorpio- Life is happening around you at the moment and the temptation to do nothing is strong regroup and get ready for Saturn to come back into your sign for a brief (but nevertheless telling) visit. Emotionally, you will feel intense in the middle of the week, otherwise you wont feel much at all.

Sagittarius- Being in charge and in control has a good feeling about it. Watching everyone else’s chaos has its merits, but so does lending a hand where it is required. A helping hand will be required of you this week as your clear sight  will be required.

Capricorn- Being somewhat out of sorts is not your natural way to be, seeing the other point of view will help. Seeing difficulty is one thing, offering help is a better thing. There will be better times to get more directly involved.

Aquarius- Your tendency to stay out of personal disputes is admirable. Being a benign help is a better thing than just being an observer. Make use of Saturn (rules and control) wile it is still in Sagittarius, once it gets to Scorpio it is a problem for you. 

Pisces- Your ability to make trouble where it did not previously exist stays with you for the moment. Realise that difficulty makes life interesting. Emotionally there is a brightspot midweek but mostly your success will require seeing alternative points of view.

Rod Stroke...Hangup keys

This is a chart done for the period of time in which I treated my strokes as priority number one....the period of time in which I made  looking after myself more important than any other priorities.

I have selected a New Moon chart because there is some discrepancy between the way my wife remembers the events and the way I do and a stroke is where large chunks of the brain become useless for a time. I had lost a lot of functionality over that period but, for all that I had lost, my sense of “reading awareness” never went anywhere; I could still read a chart and cards, even as I struggled with English.

As it happened the “gig” I did on that Friday night was to be the last one I would do in America. I had been asked to read at a party which had been scheduled for the Leo new moon. I explained to the hostess that I had endured a number of strokes, that I was speaking very quietly at the time and could she please accommodate that; all of which she did and we had a fantastic night. 

I was driving home at “stupid o-clock” in the morning; that was the last time I drove in America. Nothing bad happened on the way home, but I had been increasingly aware of just how much concentration it took to drive on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car; (I originally come from Australia) and the road is not a place for someone who is continually second-guessing himself.

I had a number of strokes in the eighteen months before but I was determined to “heal myself” hoping that I could make new pathways quick enough not to be too inconvenient. My experience driving had begun to teach me that it was getting more difficult, not less, and that if I wanted to fix myself I had to make recovery my top priority.

I had only been to the hospital in America for my very first stroke; (which cost me 8,000 dollars out of pocket for a 60,000 bill) only to be told by the Neurologist that I had not had a stroke and that the symptoms would clear up in a couple of days -over two years have passed and I still have those “short-lived” symptoms.

The second stroke happened while I was ill with a fever and it paralyzed the entire left side of my body. I have most of the ability back, but it worried me for a month or more and my balance has not recovered.

The third stroke happened on my son’s eleventh birthday, and that is the day I could not speak. It was as though my tongue had grown an extra 2 inches in length in an instant... one minute I could talk, the next minute I could not, and no amount of trying made any difference. My wife asked me then if I wanted to go to the hospital, but I refused being that we were still paying for our first visit!

The fourth stroke happened as I was driving and became instantly aware that I was on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. I very quickly reoriented myself, but from that moment on, driving became increasingly difficult until I had to turn in my keys.  

The 4 strokes are visible on my MRI these days. 

This is the moon under which I made the decision to take care of myself. So let’s take a look at it. I am reading this as a decumbiture chart, the chart where one takes to one’s bed to get over an illness. I did not actually take to my bed, but I do (and still do) sleep for many hours more than is normal.

Having mutable rising gives a medium-term decumbiture meaning it will neither be quickly resolved (which would have a cardinal sign rising) but nor will it have a long-term detrimental effect (which would have fixed rising).

I can be grateful for that much, because a stroke can leave a person entirely altered. It seems that I will recover from this one. It will take time, but I am lucky.

We notice first that it is a Leo new moon, in close conjunction with Jupiter in 9 and has Sagittarius rising, which gives rulership of this Moon clearly to Jupiter; if I were to rectify any event over the next two weeks Jupiter would feature prominently in it as would the Sun (Leo). Leo is also the 9th house of my natal chart- a quick look at my 9th house in the equal Ascendant chart gives you an idea of just how important 9th house energy is to me.

We then notice that the degree of the Sun-Moon conjunction is 3 Leo, a degree that has the terms of Jupiter and the decan of Saturn. The Ascending degree is 28 Sagittarius which is in the terms of Mars and the decan of Saturn again. The culminating degree (MC, 23 Libra) is in the terms of Venus and the decan of Jupiter. The IC of this chart is in the terms of Mars and the decan of Venus. The chart’s Descendant angle is in the terms of Saturn and the decan of the Sun.

Where timing is concerned, the two beginning angles are the MC and the Ascendant. The two ending angles are the IC and the Descendant

Of all of these, Saturn and Mars are in the 12 house of Scorpio rendering both largely powerless, (12 house means their power is felt rather than seen and Mars in Scorpio is not to be trifled with) though Saturn shares a reception of sorts (by decan) with the Sun, giving the Sun more malevolent energy than is otherwise indicated. Venus is in the 8th house rendering it immobile as well.

An alternative approach to my health is suggested by the 5th harmonic in this chart. Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Ascendant, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn are all part of a 5th axial harmonic (10th traditional harmonic) pattern. With this level of fortitude behind the Sun and Moon, this Moon was bound to make a difference.

Timing in this chart seems to be determined by the MC and its close proximity to the Moon’s nodes. I will look at my Nodal return (June 2015) for a clue.

Beyond that, Saturn’s decan features most prominently

Mercury and Venus in the 8th house suggest neither my fine motor skills nor my musical inclinations will recover without a lot of work

That two week period saw me decide to return to Australia to seek an affordable and sensible health system. I have since made the move and seen a team of neurologists and cardiologists equal to any in the world. In short, as I see it I made the right decision. I now have my blood pressure under control and I am on the “monitoring” list rather than the “urgent care” list.

Once I took my strokes seriously, the way ahead became clear and recovery is ongoing and persistent. My wife and youngest son have since joined me in Australia. I continue to get better, there is not time for feeling sorry for myself. 

At the moment I am becoming aware again of the passage of time. I have been “living in the moment” more or less since my last stroke. Living in the moment is something that lots of people strive for. Having been there a while I can assure you that, while living in the moment has its advantages, the is a lot to be said for remaining aware of the passage of time, specifically where living in the mundane world is concerned.

I am now at the point where I can write about this. Along with my speech, I had to learn to type again and write again because all three were fundamentally affected by the stroke. I have never had any problem formulating the words, but the passage out was rough for a while. In November 2014 I performed an hour-and-a-half lecture, and that achievement brought it all back because I perceived a need for it.

Anyway, that is my story, and that is the reason I have been so quiet when Musical Astrology has taken off!!

Nelson Mandela: a grand trine put to good use!!

An exercise in rectification using musical harmonics.

There are many ways to rectify the chart of a famous person, and this is what I came up with using the musical harmonics for Venus and Mercury when trying to rectify the chart of the great leader, statesman, and voice for change, Mr Nelson Mandela.

While a glance at the musical harmonics here revels nothing terribly exciting, there is more here than meets the eye.

Firstly, the axial harmonics (the left column) have EVERY planetary relationship with the Sun exactly resonant on some axial harmonic level (this is quite unusual, Mozart is the only other chart I have managed this feature with).

Now, those axial harmonics show us some interesting facts about the expanded aspects of Venus and Mercury (the ones we get by multiplying the difference between Sun and Venus by 4 and the distance between Sun and Mercury by 8, with proper reduction of their orbs).

We will notice that Venus has a “natural” harmonic value of 2/11, while its natural musical harmonic value is 6, meaning it is close to 1/6 = 2/12. When we multiply 2/12 by 4 we get 2/3 which is axial harmonic shorthand for the trine aspect. Now, when we multiplied this aspect to get the trine, we had to reduce the orb, so that the expanded musical harmonic for Venus reads “Major 6th, None” meaning there would not be a trinary relationship there if we were to consider this aspect in isolation. However, let’s take a closer look at what else is in a trinary relationship with that Sun. We will notice that both the Moon of this chart and it’s ascendant have a trinary relationship with this Sun, and that the Ascendant and Moon also share a trinary relationship, so the Sun is involved in a grand trine....this boosts the orb of our aspect by a factor of 3, and allows Venus to exert a virtual trine from its “natural” 1/6 position.

By the way, when I say “natural” with respect to Venus and Mercury, I am talking about the relationship which exists in the regular way we calculate harmonics. The expanded or “virtual” values for these planets are derived by treating their maximum possible longitude from the Sun as if it were an “opposition” and working from there. I give Venus a Maximum of 45 degrees, because the highest it gets is a bit over 46, and the lowest it gets is 45; and I give Mercury a max of 22.5 degrees because its actual maximum elongations (Highest is 27, lowest is 18) are symmetrical to this point, and it is a perfect division by 8 of the 180 degree half circle.

Back to this chart, and this time we’ll look at Mercury. Again, on the expanded aspect we see the words “Octave, None” which would say that Mercury, in isolation, has no resonant aspect with the Sun. The word “octave” tells us that it is very near to Mercury’s expanded  opposition point, but not close enough for the relationship to be considered resonant. Remember that in musical astrology, we consider conjunction and opposition to be equivalent aspects, and together they share the number 1. Mercury is tightly conjoined to Saturn, effectively doubling it’s orb for first harmonic involvement. This is plenty wide enough to bring Mercury’s “virtual opposition” into play.

To say that Mr Mandela is a great orator is an understatement, a strong relationship between Mercury and the Sun would therefore be implied in his chart. This strong Mercury/Sun relationship also brings Saturn’s pacement into higher profile with his Sun.

Regardless of what else we may think of Mr Mandela, his oratory style is always measured and disciplined (Saturnine traits), and his life was marked by much forbearance and suffering, such forbearance being rewarded in the long term so that he became a great statesman for his people. (Again Saturnine traits). When we think of revolutionaries, we look for charts with strong Uranus positions and square aspects, rarely do we see trines, but then rarely is a revolutionary leader actually able to broker such a lasting peace as Mandela did, and rarely, if ever, has a peace been brokered in the spirit of reconciliation after the manner which Mr Mandela has accomplished.

To me Mr Mandela represents the very best use of the trine energy. The trine is about harmony rather than about inertia, it is about harmonious action rather than being about ease. There was nothing easy about Mr Mandela’s lot, and so the Sun/Moon trine drove him to sue for harmony, and his Saturnine nature understood that harmony was not going to come easily.

In terms of difficult aspects, Mr Mandela has few, and those are largely based on this rectification (which may or may not be accurate, though the Mercury/Venus expansions in this chart are telling, and the only way to get enough oomph for the “virtual trine” from  Sun to Venus is to have this ascendant). 

The tension between Jupiter and Saturn tells us he is well aware of the difficult balance between progress and tradition. The square between Ascendant and MC shows a recognition of the tension between spiritual and material ideals. Mandela was not oblivious to the difficulty of the path he was trying to forge, but  he managed to find creative solutions for those tensions rather than allow the tension to dominate.

In more general terms, this chart is lacking the appeal to “cookbook astrology” that some other rectifications have, but a Pisces rising (quite close to 0 Aries), Sag MC, with the NN very close to that MC, has enough of the “potential world changer” about it to allow for a more nuanced interpretation of his other house placements. For instance, a 5th house Cancer Sun with both Jupiter and Pluto sharing the sign lends great gravity to his personality, and a certain amount of fun or good humor about his lot in life. 

Uranus in 12 suggests that his genius lay in a realm not easily accessible to him materially, and therefore requires either a spiritual approach or a global approach for him to access it. Uranus in Aquarius suggests his genius lies in interpreting “group mind”, and the musical association between Saturn, Mercury, and the Sun suggest that he has the ability to make use of such genius once he has found access to it.

Part of Fortune joining with his 9th house Moon, and part of Spirit with his 5th house Sun suggest that he was both lucky (Fortuna, Moon, Nine) and willful (Spirit, Sun, Five) which are a good combination in a man who would be a world leader. The grand trine which makes that possible (Asc, Sun, Moon) suggests that Mr Mandela is about harmony and reconciliation above and beyond any other motivating factor, and in the bitterly polarized world in which he lived, such an example was and is priceless.

Venus joining the South Node and the IC in 4, suggests he would always be charming, and that his purpose in this incarnation was to make a difference in the world, which he did in a very big way. Venus’ musical “trine” with his Sun adds a layer to that charm, bringing the gravity of Jupiter/Pluto and the charm of Venus together with his Sun, along with the stability of Mercury/Saturn to make him a far more irresistible force for change than might otherwise be perceived.

I short, the gravity of this man’s chart is not easily seen on the surface, but with a little work, this chart fits the remarkable life of the man who lived it.

Discount Offer

I have not raised my prices in many years, and my costs have gone though the roof,  so I have decided to rise my prices, but to make the transition a bit easier, I have decided to offer a significant discount that actually brings my fee down until the end of the month. So beat the price hike, do yourself a favor, and book a reading BEFORE October 31!!

Harmonic Impasse

I figure its high time I looked at this impasse, which has shut down the US government, in astrological terms.

The chart I am using is the 1789 ingress chart , March 19, 1789, 11:23pm NY, NY

At first glance there is “nothing new here”, however the harmonics tell a different story.

The trine from Transit Saturn to the Pisces stellium looks nice enough, and should bode well, on its own, for stability. It is wide of trine for natal Saturn, but the stellium there drags natal Saturn into the hurley-burley of Venus/Mercury/Mars in Pisces.

So a Saturn trine, time to prepare, revamp get energized and get ready for the coming Saturn Square...right? well not quite.....

Our dear friends, Pluto and Uranus have been duking it out in Square formation for a while.....this is a real heavy hitter, and is the “dark aspect” which has overseen an escalation of tension and violence.....every piece of nastiness in the last year or so has been blamed on these two, it is a real shame we don’t get to look at these “big hitters” as agents of change rather than some foreboding threat...... however, be that as it may, the heavy hitters with a bad rep have elbowed their way into the otherwise peaceful Saturn trine pattern...(actually, Saturn has waked in on their brawl, so his otherwise gentle scheduled reminder to get things in order finds him presiding over a prize fight)...they are still square with each other, square being the kind of tension and difficulty which makes humans great.....its a pity we allow ourselves to be manipulated by media and political forces into fighting each other rather than overcoming obstacles together....but again I digress.

Saturn, on its way to making a useful trine aspect, has encountered the “big hitters” by making a 6th “Overtone Harmonic” relationship (an overtone harmonic is a harmonic division of the circle described by axes rather than by points) which is known to the rest of astrology as the 12th harmonic. Saturn makes a sextile (3rd OH) with Pluto and an “inconjunct” aspect (6th OH) with Uranus.

Pluto makes a sextile aspect with the Pisces stellium (again, a fairly peaceful relationship) while Uranus makes a semi-sextile with that same stellium (less peaceful, particularly when a brawl is happening).

In short, the square between Pluto and Uranus successfully divides the trine aspect (3rd OH) into a sextile and a semi-sextile, invoking the 6th OH (12 harmonic) and causes a disruption of the peace.

It is the nature of the 6th OH (12th harmonic) to supply a lot of energy, but to sue for a sensible, harmonious resolution.

As things stand in the US government at the moment, both sides of the impasse are riding the wave of tension to fuel further violence, rather than doing the best thing by the country (whom they all claim to serve) and come to a reasonable solution. The energy of the configuration is right for a solution, but when the energy of the 12th (6OH) is used to fuel violence, greater impasse is the result.

The tension is not going anywhere any time soon, resolution or no, because Saturn is the fastest moving of these planets, and Saturn is never in a hurry to do anything.

The intransigence on both sides of this debacle is fueling an angry violence in the community, I hope, for all of our sakes, that these parties come to terms sooner rather than later, and put this energy to creative use rather than let it tear our country apart.

October 18 is the date at which the voice of reason should have sway, (coincidentally, it is the time the debt-ceiling crisis becomes critical) and November 12 before we get a real handle on this.......the fight is not going anywhere, but calmer heads will prevail in the longer term.

I do not want to join the doomsayers who are predicting revolution out of this, however I do believe that this impasse is indicative of more violence down the road.....it is on its way, but I don’t think America’s next revolution is beginning with this impasse, this is just an indicator for where America’s real trouble lies.

Musical Approach to Aspect. Part 3: Trine and Sextile

Harmonic Level 3: The Perfect 4th, Trine and Sextile

The prefect 4th is the other relationship (apart from the perfect 5th) without which we would not have a musical system. The “circle of 5ths” employs the perfect 5th in one direction and the interval we call the perfect 4th in the other direction (it is a 5th in the reverse direction, but a 4th when it appears in our primary octave...one of the many reasons that Music theory gives people headaches until they can grasp how that works.)

Anyway, sufficient to say that our music system could not exist without this interval.

It is our habit, in astrology, to think of the trine as an easy aspect, but any of us who have looked at aspect for a while will attest to the observation that trine tends towards idleness like no other aspect. Folks with grand-trines (3 planets each in trine aspect to the other around the chart) tend to feel the need to be poked and prodded in order to achieve anything.

So what does the “perfect 4th” say about the trine?

The perfect 4th will depart from the tonic in a way that will beg for resolution (via the perfect 5th or some other means). This is a far cry from the easy idleness we experience with the trine. However, it does tell us what that “lull” is for. It is a chance for us to regroup, to make plans while things are going easily, plan our next adventure carefully, to make use of positive ease while we have it, rather than to lay about and wait for others to do the work.

The difficulty for those who have a grand trine in the natal chart (or any trine really), is to get over the idleness which is brought about by ease, use the energy to plan your adventures and to provide support while you meet the challenges of square aspects (either in transit or in the natal). Trine and sextile represent the easy energy of positive relationship, and need to be used to their fullest extent.

In the axial pattern of aspect, the Perfect 4th actually belongs to the Sextile, and the Major 6th gets the Trine, which all adds up to saying these aspects are not to be used to produce idleness, instead we are to use the harmony created by such aspects to further our adventures as humans on this planet.

The sextile is seen as “more active” than the trine, and so it should be, but it is all too often used by the native as an excuse to goof off “nothing challenging here, lets take it easy”. We have just established that this idle attitude represents a terrible waste of resources. As Astrologers, it is our duty to suggest our clients renew themselves to get ready for the coming storm when trine and sextile aspects are coming their way. This attitude makes sense of the overtone which the sextile and trine aspects represent.

The disposition towards “needs to be poked and prodded” speaks to both the 4th’s need for closure, and the idle attitude of the trine and sextile aspects. Use the trine and sextile aspects to explore closure while things are relatively easy. Poke and prod yourself, the rewards will be well worth it.

Musical Approach tooAspect Part 2: Square

Harmonic level 2: The Perfect 5th, Square

I know there will be a lot of astrologers who look at this and say that a square aspect is not a perfect anything unless you like a lot of suffering.

Let me ask you this: How many stories have you read where the protagonist goes along smoothly in life, meeting few obstacles, overcomes them all easily, and essentially lives an uneventful life? I have not read any, because I have just outlined the plot of the world’s most boring story.

We are human, and humans have always celebrated our ability to overcome obstacles. The great stories of our mythology are stories of meeting adversity head-on and overcoming in spite of the odds. Epic tales of mountain climbers are not filled with easy climbs and leisurely strolls, they are filled with hardship and adversity, and the ability to prevail in the face of impossible odds. There are plenty of news reports about climbers who didn’t make it, but the joy of such stories is that these people died doing what they love. 

Why did they do it if they knew it was dangerous?

Because to be truly alive, to be truly human, is to meet adversity head-on and, win or lose, give it your best shot.

The reason, then, that the square aspect gets the perfect 5th interval, (without which we would never have a musical pitch system) is that without the adversity present in the square aspect, we have no room to express the most important facet of being human!!

When we have a square aspect in our chart, we have the natural tension of adversity in our chart and it is ours to rise to that challenge and prevail against the odds. We should celebrate our squares as much, if not more than, our trines. It is our squares which make us truly human, and will make us more likely to achieve. It is our failures to cope which drive us forward to do better next time.

When we have an outer planet square transit, it is our first instinct to panic, however we should look at the challenges (which are BOUND to come our way) as opportunities  to excel at being our most human, our most frail, and our most triumphant. There are times when we will feel the need to duck our heads and ride out the storm, however, greater joy awaits when we meet the storm headlong. The choice is truly ours.

Musical Approach to Aspect Part 1: Conjunction and Opposition

The application of musical theory to equate  overtone with the aspect half-circle presents us with a whole new set of tools with which to interpret aspects. 

Harmonic Level 1: the Octave: Conjunction and Opposition

It will seem strange to the observer at first to consider conjunction and opposition in the same harmonic level, however if we intend to use musical overtones to describe our aspects and consider astrology to be part of the vibrating whole we call our universe, then it is vitally important that we find a way to reconcile these two.

Let’s embark on a side-note for a second, and consider what we have always been taught about these two phenomena.

We consider two planets in close proximity on the ecliptic to be conjoined, or to be occupying the same space. We consider the number of that relationship to be 1 because there is little room for argument or discourse in this relationship. We are often taught that such planetary energies are “fused” and become a homogenized unit. This is  a teaching I have always questioned. Where do we see such a homogenous joining in real life?

I will venture to say that when we have two people or planets occupying the same space there needs to be room for discourse or there will be trouble, particularly if the two do not naturally get along.

Remember we are taking about 2 occupying 1 space. Our expression needs to be a 1 with a 2 attached to it somehow. We use the word “conjoined” to imply the one-ness of an intimate partnership, whether the two people or planets like being intimate or not is another question, but in the description of this relationship we have 2 expressed as a 1. The old biblical line “the two become one flesh” comes to mind, however I have yet to meet a couple where sexual union makes the couple into some homogenous entity where neither can be seen as an individual. In some circumstances the couple may produce a third individual, but then 2 becomes 3 and that involves a time component, whereas our chart describes an instant and is seen in terms of immediately before and immediately after, so our 2-into-1 is still lacking some vital component of meaning. We could use the word “communion” which implies two people sharing space in harmony, and its very nice and good, but it still lacks an expression for the scenario where the two don’t get on very well. We could go with co-habitation then, which is more accurately descriptive, but lacking expression for the type of dialogue two people (or planets) need if they are going to co-habit successfully.

Enter the Octave. An octave is a musical phenomenon whereby doubling a frequency, or halving it, produces the same pitch with a different audible expression. By this I mean one will be high, the other low, but when played together they make a sound that is virtually indistinguishable. Each member of the “co-habitation” has room for its unique expression, and when they join forces, they become indistinguishable. In this relationship we could say they are “equal yet opposite”, “the same, yet different”. This is a fairly accurate description of how a native might describe conjoined energies in a natal chart.

OK so how can we express this “octave” in the natal chart? How can we tie 1 with 2 and still make sense? We shall see shortly, but first let us consider opposition.

Opposition should not be discussed without discussing polarity in the chart. Polarity is where we examine the nature of signs on opposite sides of the ecliptic.

We know that Aries is martial and a bit naive, Libra is just and a bit pretentious, they are both about doing things, they just disagree on how they should be done.

We know that Taurus is self-indulgent, and loves to hoard resources, Scorpio indulges in pleasure and loves to manipulate resources. They are both interested in resources, they just disagree on what they should do with them.

We know that Gemini loves to talk and amass information, and Sagittarius loves to think and share information. They are both interested in information, they just disagree about what to do with it.

We know that Cancer is about family and nurture, and that Capricorn is about business and control. Both are clearly concerned with how life is lived, they just disagree about what is important.

We know that Leo is self-interested and likes center stage, and that Aquarius is group-centered, yet likes to stand out from the crowd. Both are clearly interested in personal dynamics, they just disagree about how one should conduct themselves.

We know that Virgo knows about details and organization, and that Pisces prefers to live life unfettered by details or organization, believing those things will sort themselves out. They both feel strongly about details, they just disagree about how those details should be employed.

I will freely admit to have stacked these descriptions to suit my purposes here, but given the polar descriptions I have given above, it is fairly plain that each polar opposite could learn a lot from the other.

Our astrology texts, as a rule, teach us that opposition is a difficult aspect because of the radical differences between the two perspectives. People fear opposition because it can result in conflict, however a closer examination of the conflict will reveal that each set of opposing signs has a unifying principle, something they can agree is important if they can just learn to appreciate the perspective of the other. 

Unlike the people (or planets) in co-habitation, there is no need to make the space for interaction, there’s plenty of space here, but again the resolution of this dispute is found in recognizing the equal yet opposite nature of the polarity.

I believe this is the most fundamental energy of aspect in the astrology chart. If we consider the Conjunction and Opposition together to represent the Octave, Conjunction is fundamental note, the Opposition is the  Octave either higher or lower (higher in our example), the line between them unifying their energy as together “C” (or “A”, or any other note you can come up with), then we have brought “equal and opposite” together in our chart, and allowed each planet room to express itself fully no matter how closely they interact.

Example: Two Cancers in a relationship, one will feel the need to be “more Capricorn” than the other, someone will need to deal with business, order, and discipline. I will wager that the one with its moon more strongly aligned to Capricorn will fill that role most often, and the other will fill that role in the areas where the first one lacks it. The two Cancer suns need to find a way to co-habit in a way which lets them each express themselves rather than becoming an overly-sensitive homogenized couple.

By giving the first principle of aspect to the “Octave” we have defined an aspect as a relationship between planets, and have plotted a path for resolution of differences incurred by each planet in that relationship.

In using the Octave in this way, we have described the purpose of aspect as finding resolution between differring expressions of planetary energy.

The value of this principle is validated by the axial principle (joining conjunction and opposition on an axis) of aspect being consistent with the “overtones” of musical string theory. Thus the planets can be said to be “resonant” with each other when they are in aspect. The point of such resonance, is finding the unifying principle between the planets.

A note about “bad aspects.” Bad aspects occur when we let life happen to us and are unwilling to take command of our personal energies and find the best expression for planetary configurations. Sometimes, transits will be tough. There is no getting past that, but we need to look for opportunities to expand ourselves while we are going through the mill.