Yes, But What Does It Mean? Astrology Explained



YOUR PERSONAL HOROSCOPE


If you have more than three personal horoscope factors in a sign, then that’s important. For better or worse, the area of life ruled by that sign says who you are – and how happy you are – and what you do with your world. In modern astrology, where we include the asteroids and recently promoted planets like Ceres, there are 34 horoscope factors. On average, you should have 2-3 factors per zodiac sign.

If you have more than three factors in a sign that’s a cluster, or what astrologers call a stellium. And that tells you what’s crucial to you. What defines you. Which life events will transform your story.

Where are your personal chart factors clustering?

ARIES

Your image, appearance, reputation and title define you. You are your costume. You are your uniform or wardrobe. You are (most of all) your brand or name. If your reputation is damaged, that’s a big deal. If your title or role is taken away, that hits hard. At the same time, if you are given honours, awards (letters after your name) – or become sought-after and famous by strangers – that takes you higher. Your exterior matters as much as your interior. Having ‘front’ helps you push harder, pioneer, be the first – and be the winner. Having a persona to use, almost as a shield or armour, helps you front up to whomever or whatever you have to take on. You push like a ram. Your personal appearance is a big deal with this placement. It may be easy or hard for you to deal with your face, hair, shape, body and so on. What or who you see in the mirror or in a camera lens is not the real you – of course – but strangely, it triggers so much inside you. This can be a hard trip for you, or an easy one, depending on your karma – but it is what truly defines you. You truly are the image. You project an image so strongly that people assume this is the real person inside. Is it?

Patrick Moore was born on 4th March 1923 at 10.00am in Pinner, England with Aesculapia, Chiron, Minerva and Vulcano in Aries.

TAURUS

Your money, house, apartment, precious possessions, business, charity or company defines you. If you turned your back on all that, then your alternative lifestyle defines you. Big highs and lows with your money (rich or poor) say who you are, and what you are made of. You will not budge on price and know when to hang on to what/who is most precious to you. This may be your principles. Maybe you refuse to sell out. Alternatively you could be a very successful share market player, who knows when to hold gold. We associate Taurus with precious art and sculpture, unique art pieces, immaculate gardens, land, special buildings and the rest. Ultimately you work out your own values. Maybe you like Georgian architecture, maybe you’d rather drop out and live rent-free on a commune in exchange for picking the apples. Major transits to this Taurus part of your chart usually bring keynote experiences, like giving all your money to charity – or inheriting – or even dealing with losses. You become who you are, then. This is the sign of the person who must choose early on to become a communist, capitalist, shopaholic, philanthropist or collector.

Karl Marx, born on 5th May 1818 at 2.00am in Trier, Germany has the Sun, Moon, North Node and Minerva in Taurus.

GEMINI


You are here to write, teach, talk, communicate with images and act as the Messenger Girl or Messenger Boy. You may develop your abilities to a very high level, so that you give the message as best you can. So – you can become very well-known for your way with words, images or ideas. You can also struggle here, so that you end up making your issues with language, literary, speech, hearing, eyesight and so on, the defining characteristic of your personality. Typically people with a lot of Gemini factors pursue one particular medium to a very high degree – like social media, or poetry, or songwriting – and become defined by the way they reach people. It is common to find authors and journalists with Gemini stelliums, and also teachers. What is really interesting about a Gemini stellium is that it throws tremendous weight onto the message itself. Why do you pass on, what you pass on? Is this your own original thought or are you a courier? If you are a courier, then why choose that particular message to onpass?

Bob Dylan was born on 24th May 1941 at 9.05pm in Duluth, Minnesota with the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Descendant, Aesculapia and Fortuna in Gemini.

CANCER


A stellium in Cancer tells you that your family experiences, sense of home (town, region, country, nationality) and your sense of place, defines who you are. It may be easy or hard for you. You may have simple or complex family relationships with particular relatives. There may be struggles with a particular house or apartment (or finding a home to call your own) or it may be easy. Similarly, with your own town, city, village, state, county, territory and/or country – you are either going to work it very hard or have it come very easily. Either way, you can’t really think about your core self without thinking about your culture and heritage. The horoscope factors involved and the patterns they make – along with the astrological weather in your life – tells you that story. The main thing is, one way or another, you have to make Cancer work for you. You must strive to get a sense of family. That ‘blood is thicker than water’ feeling. You need to really get your own home, or sense of home, no matter where you are. Cancer is the crab who carries her home on her back. She runs to the crab family for security when she needs it. Your culture, heritage, history, patriotism are crucial to you. If you are not happy with the one you inherited you may find another one.

Environmentalist Bob Brown, 27th December 1944, 2.20pm, Trunkey Creek, Tasmania has the North Node, Saturn, Juno and Panacea in Cancer.

LEO


Leo rules pregnancy, babies, children and young adults. It rules the lovemaking that produces them, or (following commitment) results in step-children, godchildren, nieces or nephews. We associate Leo with the pastimes that bond adults to children. Riding. Music. Sport. Board games. If you have a stellium in Leo then one way or another, the world of children becomes a crucial part of your world as well. The generation born 20 years or more after your own, becomes a core part of who you are, what you do, and who you become. It can be easy, so you have a happy career as a teacher and produce a son you love, to a person you are sexually compatible with. It can be tough, so you have to go through infertility treatment, or terminated pregnancy, or unhappy sexual experiences. One way or another, though, you have to work the Leo in your chart in order to become who you are. It may help to think of Leo types. Princess Anne has the Sun in Leo. She went through a divorce and child custody (tough, if you’re royal) and is the admired patron of children’s charities. The Queen Mother had the Sun in Leo. When she passed away, she was the matriarch of a strong, long line of succession. J.K. Rowling is a Sun Leo. She is the most famous single parent on the planet and Harry Potter is her legacy to children for all time. If your Leo trip through life is hard it may be tempting to give up on courtship or heirs altogether, but to become who you are – and feel at home on the planet – you have to find a way to make this theme fit into your life.

Princess Diana born on 1st July 1961 at 7.45pm in Sandringham has Bacchus, Minerva, the North Node and Uranus in Leo.

VIRGO

It’s all about the body with you, and the body defines how you live, who you are, and what happens to you. Your physical condition and state is enormously important. You can have an easy ride with Virgo or a tough one. If it’s tough then you may end up using what you learn and discover to help others and ‘the body’ may become your career, or a part-time passion. You may be the person who struggles with back issues that are not your fault, only to stumble across Pilates and eventually end up teaching it. Of course, the body can also be an easy ride for those with Virgo stelliums. Maybe you were born to play football, and apart from the occasional foot injury, your body becomes the vehicle you use to drive your life. Perhaps your body is naturally beautiful so you can earn money on the side as a life model. Your body and its strengths and weaknesses typically powers the kind of work you do. This may be paid or unpaid work. Housework is included. Your physical strengths (like speed typing, if you’re a journalist ) or weaknesses (you can’t stand on your feet long so you choose a desk job) describe where you head in life. The most important relationship you have in your life, for better or worse, will be the one you share between your mind, body and spirit. This dictates how you work, how you perform duties for others, how you serve the rest of us, and how your work ethic serves you.

Alexander Fleming, born 6th August 1881 at 2.00am in Loudon, Scotland has Cupido, Salacia, Uranus and the IC in Virgo.

LIBRA


Fulfilling the archetype is what astrology is all about. With a stellium in Libra, you have to ‘do’ Libra no matter how tough that might be. Partnership may not be pursued or achieved the way others do it, but it has to be there for you. Without a partner, either sexual or professional, you don’t really fulfil your horoscope mission. Nor do you feel complete! Whenever I get questions about love, sex and marriage exclusively from people who sound utterly desperate to be with someone, I know that I have someone who has 3+ factors in Libra and cannot possibly define himself/herself without another person. Libra is the scales. You are on one side. He or she is on the other. There may be a whole series of men or women, your whole life, on those scales. Libra is about balancing totally different people – made from different stuff – in a fair, even, harmonious, symmetrical way. This takes time and work. It will be the greatest achievement of your life. The scales also symbolise justice. If you feel a situation is unfair, wrong, unbalanced – you will do whatever it takes. Lawsuits? Sure. Taking the law into your own hands? Maybe. Again, the pursuit of fairness and justice may be easy or tough for you, but it says who you are and what you do. You have to fulfil your mission. John Lennon (Sun Libra) had three partnerships. One with Paul McCartney, who was from a lower class than he was. One with Cynthia Lennon, who he betrayed. One was with Yoko Ono, the love of his life. Every time he went through another partnership (or war, as he did with Paul and Cynthia) he became a little more of the man he was destined to be.

Marc Bolan was born on 30th September 1947 at 12.30pm in Hackney with the MC, Sun, Psyche, Neptune, Venus and Mercury in Libra.

SCORPIO

Scorpio the scorpion is about sex and death, sex and money – and also death/money. Why? Because scorpions, when they mate, perform a strange dance which means they must separate quickly afterwards. The male could sting the female to death. The female could cannibalise the male. Where does the money come into it? Because that’s what sex is often all about. Marriage is about money. It’s about the mortgage. It’s about the last will and testament – the legacy that husbands and wives leave to each other. Beyond marriage, prostitutes are paid and so are mistresses. Even just living together means paying a rental bond together. If the sex stops, so does the love, and the bond must be split. I mention all this, not because I am telling you anything new, but because – if you have a Scorpio stellium, then sex has a special intensity for you. It may be easy or tough but it defines who you are, what you do, and how you live your life. Why is the lovemaking for heavily Scorpio people so deep, so powerful? Because, deep down, there is always this hidden edge. The darkest reality of Scorpio is that it can mean a husband murders his wife for her money then escapes with his mistress. The brightest Scorpio stories are about married couples who save the lives of other people via charitable work, by joining forces in fundraising. Scorpions are potent little creatures. So is this side of you. You may struggle with your Scorpio destiny or find it a cake-walk, but you must always, always look at the deepest, darkest questions which are buried (usually about money or property) whenever you get into bed with someone.

Woody Allen was born on 1st December 1935 at 10.55pm in Brooklyn with Apollo, Bacchus, Cupido, Diana and the IC in Scorpio.

SAGITTARIUS


If you have a Sagittarian stellium then you need to find out who you are by travelling or travelling in the mind. The travel may involve emigration, sabbaticals, business trips or export. If you have more than three Sagittarius factors then travelling is either extremely tough for you and your journeys are epics – or you find that packing your bag is a way of life, and other languages and cultures are part of your identity. Your personal chart patterns and the astrological weather will tell you which path is yours. Travel involves cultural exchange, as you have to deal with foreign religious belief systems, laws, customs and language differences. Again, this will either define you in a very natural, easy way or you may struggle with it repeatedly. One example of this might be forced family emigration when you are a child – to a country you neither understand nor like. Later on in life you get a job which involves dealing with yet another foreign country/culture you find difficult. The more you learn about your Sagittarian side, the easier life becomes. The travel in the mind? This involves the internet and the world of books. It takes in vast subjects like Buddhism or theoretical physics. It covers the business of publishing, reading, writing, teaching, mentoring, learning, guiding. Again, depending on your chart this is either so tough for you, or a breeze, yet until you really ‘do’ this on some level you may not become who you are. There are so many ways to travel or travel in the mind. What works? If something didn’t work before, maybe there’s an alternative. You must, must embrace life as a world citizen here.

Bob Geldof was born on 5th October 1951 at 2.20pm in Dublin with Chiron, Juno, the Moon and Ascendant in Sagittarius.

CAPRICORN

Capricorn is the mountain goat who climbs to the top of an extremely high, rocky, dangerous peak. The goat does this carefully and cautiously, one step at a time, hanging on for dear life – and once he gets to the top, he’ll do everything he can to stay there. This describes your path through the social ladder and also in your chosen field, career or special subject area. It may be a very tough journey for you, or a relatively easy one. You may occasionally lose your footing – or hit one mountain top after another. At all times, though, your Capricorn stellium defines you. There is no point in falling and refusing to get back up again with this placement. If you are made redundant, sacked or can’t find a job – you just have to keep going. Why? Because you would not feel quite yourself, should you just surrender and give up. At the same time, the classic Capricorn stellium pathway is success, followed by the extreme challenge of staying there…or the challenge of finding a new mountain to climb. How far do you climb with this placement? If you have an easy chart, right to the top. The secretary who becomes the CEO is one example. The daughter of a party planner who becomes Queen, is another. The mountain, symbolically, is the class system. It’s working class, middle class, upper class. It’s also the rungs of government or business. The workers. Middle management. The Board of Directors. Your life path is about climbing. If it’s very hard for you, then you need to find an alternative way of climbing – but climb, you must.

Oprah Winfrey was born on 29th January 1954 at 7.51pm in Kosciusko, Mississippi with the North Node, Bacchus, Chiron, Psyche and Salacia in Capricorn.

AQUARIUS

In Rome, the Aquarius was the man who transported the water which fed the communal baths. Aquarius the water-bearer, shown with his jug in all those Seventies zodiac medallions, is our modern version of this. If you have an Aquarian stellium then you feed the group. You supply the community. This may be a struggle for you, or a walk in the park, but you have to do it. Unless you are part of a tribe of some kind, you are not whole. In Rome, and also in Britain (where the communal bath idea was exported) the baths were a place for people to mix, mingle and meet – naked – without the usual barriers of class, gender, age, power and so on. Everyone looked the same under water. Aquarius is about that noble United Nations ideal of a large group of people coming together for a common cause – people power – without politics, or other barriers, getting in the way. It is about the human family. If your chart shows complex factors here then you may avoid groups, or get into them then have to leave, or have your life ruled in the most difficult way by a particular band, political party, cult and so on. If your chart is an easy one, then you are in a number of groups and your biggest, best achievements come from them. Friendship is the key to you as well. Friendship is as important to you as love and sex, or family ties. Again – it may be hard or easy, depending on your chart, but as The Sunnyboys say, ‘I Need A Friend.’ The whole point of your Aquarian stellium is to wrestle, tussle and wrangle this until you have the version of friendship and group involvement that works best for you. It is who you are!

Germaine Greer, born 29th January 1939 at 6.00am in Melbourne has the Sun, Vesta, Vulcano and Aesculapia in Aquarius.


PISCES

The fishes swim in opposite directions. There is a big part of you which is always confused and confusing. To others as well as to yourself! The fishes inhabit the ocean. Like the ocean fish, you are submerged, unfathomable and below the surface. Even though lovers and others close to you can sometimes enter Pisces World, they never really know where you’re at, or where you’re going next. You are slippery, elusive, hard to catch, hard to see. A great part of who you are and what you do with your life will be Twelfth House ruled. You may have to keep secrets. A lot! People who work for the police force, or in hospitals or prisons, often have this placement. People whose entire life is dominated by secrets covered up from the past also have Pisces stelliums. Perhaps this is why you can be confusing for others. Part of you is always under the radar. There is nothing open, upfront, real, ordinary, normal or grounded about Pisces. Along with secrets, which dominate your life, there is also a big emphasis on operating behind the scenes. No credit. No recognition. No acknowledgement. You may be ‘behind’ someone or something which grabs all the focus, even though you power the whole thing. This is a major part of your life path, no matter if it is easy or hard. Finally, if you have a Pisces stellium, then there is a third journey to take. It involves your unconscious mind, which Carl Jung explored so deeply. You might also call this your astral body, your aura, your chakras, your soul, your essence, your spirit or your etheric body. It is that part of you which still exists after they knock you out with anaesthetic for an operation. It is that part of you which floats above your physical body and can go places when you dream or meditate, or when you communicate with the spirit world – or when you cross time and space to peer into the future. If you have a Pisces stellium, one or all of these three paths is how you define yourself and your life, no matter if the journey is difficult or easy. The more you get to know your own soul, though, the easier the trip will be.

Jeane Dixon was born on 5th January 1904 at 2.00pm in Medford, Wisconsin with Apollo, Diana, Vulcano and Jupiter in Pisces.

YOUR FUTURE – WHEN PATTERNS HIT YOUR CHART

As you will see from your Horoscope Journal, your regular weekly forecasts or your Personal Horoscope, we have patterns in the 12 zodiac signs on a regular basis. This is what happens when the heavenly bodies which travel, or transit, slip into signs which trigger your own chart. The more rare the patterns, the bigger the story. Conjunctions (when two horoscope factors – the one that travels and the one you were born with – are at exactly the same degree, or number, of the same sign) are striking. So are oppositions, when they are at the same degree, or number, yet in opposite signs.

Let’ s say you were born with the Sun at 15 Capricorn and travelling/transiting Pluto reaches 15 Capricorn in a pattern with Venus at 15 Scorpio. That’s unusual. That’s going to be big for you. You need to look up what the Sun, Capricorn, Pluto and Venus mean.

Then there are clusters or stelliums, when heavenly bodies or points gather in large numbers in just one sign, like a swarm of bees. That’s when you can expect a massive buzz in just one area of your life. As I write this we have the Sun, Salacia, Chiron and Neptune in Pisces. That’s a big buzz around that sign and all it rules.

An ingress is when a heavenly body or point enters a new sign of the zodiac. You will really feel that, within 24 hours of it happening. It means the area of your life, ruled by that sign, is about to come alive in a new way. Which way? That depends on the heavenly bodies or points involved…

As I write this the Sun is preparing to move into Aries, or make the ingress into Aries. That will light up a brand new area of your life, and mine. It’s like a switch being thrown in a new room.

THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND POINTS

The heavenly bodies moving through your horoscope include the Sun and Moon, which you are familiar with, and the North Node and South Node of the Moon, which are attached. Then there are the asteroids, like Minerva – and the dwarf planets like Ceres and Pluto. There is also a Trans-Neptunian in the mix. Her name is Salacia and in myth she was married to Neptune. In modern astrology, there are a total of 34 such factors.

The asteroids complete the family tree of astrology. Jupiter has children and a wife. Saturn has children and a wife. In modern astrology at last we have the software to tell us which signs they are in and how they are travelling!

When you were born and they cut the umbilical cord, that moving pattern of heavenly bodies in the horoscope was caught in time. In astrology we believe it was caught inside you. That’s your personality. It’s also your destiny.

How does your destiny unfold? When the 34 heavenly bodies and points keep on moving, year by year, but eventually make rare, unusual patterns together which exactly hit your chart. Then you get a crossroads. A major event. One that makes you, who you are. New jobs are taken up. Relationships begin. Children are born.

If you have The Sun at 1 Aries and Moon at 1 Aries both travelling through and conjuncting your Mercury at 1 Aries, then you need to read about the Sun and Moon (the passing effects) but also Mercury, because that’s the part of you being triggered. By understanding what Aries rules (above) you get to see the area of life affected. This is going to be a major story about image for you, if you have this pattern being triggered. Maybe it’s your television debut.

ABOUT THE HOROSCOPE FACTORS


THE SUN

Highlights what it touches, like a spotlight. It illuminates every detail like the sun hitting a tree branch. It exposes what was not seen before – like sunlight filtering into the entrance of a cave. It draws attention. It makes people look. This can mean admiration and wonder from others, or if things are not so great, you can feel exposed. You can feel as if the area of your life (ruled by the sign the Sun is passing through) is harshly lit. In your birth chart the Sun is where you shine, or have the most work to do, if you’re not worthy of admiration there.

THE MOON

The Moon is associated with the menstrual period as it takes around one month to repeat itself, just like a woman’s menstrual cycle. It is possible that astrology was actually born from the first Moon observations, as it was so important for the tribe to know when a woman would have her period – when she was fertile – when a baby might be born – and so on. We link the Moon to women and mothers. The Moon takes about two days to go through a sign. Men or women who ‘mother’, care for, nurture and protect all the things related to that sign, play a bigger part then. When the Moon goes through Virgo, for example, doctors, surgeons and nurses make the news – they care for the body, which Virgo rules.

If there is also a New Moon, Full Moon or Eclipse then the stakes go up, in terms of how important that Moon pattern will be.

A New Moon is a new beginning. The birth of something new. Sometimes the birth of someone new. Things kick off, then.

A Full Moon is an inner conflict or an external challenge to overcome. Full Moons always coincided with battles in history because armies moved in stealth, by night, using the Full Moon light to guide them. D-Day is the most famous example of this.

A Full Moon is always a D-Day moment for you or others, in relation to the sign the Full Moon is passing through.

It’s mixed feelings. Intense emotion. It’s now or never! Avoid a Full Moon for anything major in your life because either you or those around you will be internally conflicted. Yet sometimes – there is no choice – you must press ahead on a Full Moon, just as the allies did, to liberate France.

What about eclipses? They blot out what should be seen. They coincide with cover-ups. Nothing is clear or known, as it should be. It takes the world a while to catch up with itself, so allow one day before, and one day after, the eclipse (which in astrology we time for London). The most famous eclipse of the 20th century preceded the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Every American saw it, but nobody saw an unknown man called Lee Harvey Oswald step down from his job, in order to move on to Texas, the day the eclipse happened.

Let’s look at D-Day again. It fell on a Full Moon in June. The Sun was in Gemini, the sign which rules the radio – and short journeys. The D-Day mission was announced in code on radio to the French Resistance. (Gemini also rules codes).

Gemini rules short journeys too, like the crossing from England to France by boat. The Sun – the spotlight – was on the allies crossing the English Channel but also on coded messages to Paris radio.

What about the Moon? That was in Sagittarius, right opposite Gemini. Sagittarius rules foreigners and foreign countries. The inner conflict for the whole world on D-Day was about fighting and possibly dying – and saving territory, lives, campaigns overseas.

Everyone involved was playing mother – protecting, nurturing, defending, caring for – their families, and homes. Even Churchill was playing mother that day. He was a Sagittarian. This is how a Full Moon works.

MERCURY

Mercury is the Roman messenger of the Gods who had winged sandals and a winged helmet, so he could fly from one place to another with his news. Today we associate Mercury with FedEx packages on international flights. The fastest ‘flight’ of all is the whooshing sound of an e-mail, or text message on your phone, which he also rules. Mercury always brings news. That news changes everything. In your birth chart, Mercury by sign and house shows you the area of life where you have to talk, have to write, have a message, have to speak up.

MERCURY RETROGRADE


Three times a year, Mercury is Retrograde. The messages go backwards or are not delivered. Sometimes they are retracted. Thus, we associate this cycle with multimedia, internet and publishing problems. It is linked to computers, fax machines and couriers. Google famously lost a lot of money on a printing error during Mercury Retrograde. Their shares were hit hard. They should have used an astrologer. No stargazer would ever let you print your annual report on Mercury Retrograde!

It is important to count the shadows at both ends of the cycle. I always have that information on this website, usually several months before the cycle begins. That way you can plan ahead. Not every astrologer will tell you about the shadow. Be careful.

If you were born with Mercury Retrograde then every time this is exactly triggered in your chart, allow for delays, reversals or changes with your discussions or paperwork in relation to the sign/house Mercury occupies in your chart.

If you were born with Mercury Retrograde in the Fourth House then don’t buy property when this placement in your chart is triggered. There will be delays, changes or even a reversal.

VENUS

Venus was the Roman goddess of love, who was unfaithful to her husband Vulcan (also known as Vulcanus) and had sex with Mars. There are many famous paintings depicting this. She was beautiful (which is why people still crowd around the Venus de Milo statue at The Louvre in Paris to admire her). She was also vain. She is usually shown with a mirror. She was jealous. She loathed Psyche, a woman who was said to rival her own beauty. She plotted against her but was defeated. Her son is Cupid, also known as Cupido, who makes people fall in love with his bow and arrow.

When Venus is involved in a pattern there will usually be a complex relationship (or two or three, entwined). It is often romantic or sexual, but can be strictly business – yet be passionate.

Venus raises questions like – ‘How much do you love me/this/him/them/her?’ which shows us who and what we’re passionate about.

Sometimes you’ll get a woman acting out Venus, in relation to the area of life ruled by the sign she is in. So, if Venus is passing through Cancer and the Fourth House, you might have a flatmate move into your house who is gorgeous, vain and jealous of other women. What is her function? To show every single person in the house, including you, who they love (or what they love) and what they feel most strongly about. For better or worse, you find out.

Venus in your chart shows the area of life where you are most seductive, flirtatious, jealous, gorgeous and also – arouse the most passion. Venus in Virgo in the Sixth House shows you do this at work. Your job is going to be all about the office romances.

VULCAN

Vulcan, also known as Vulcanus, is the blacksmith who was married to Venus. He symbolises strong, silent men with self-control who have tremendous power as a result of their steely resolve.

His wife Venus was caught in bed with Mars. He found them. He didn’t take action. Most of the art about Vulcan shows him gripping a table, muscles taut, willing himself not to respond. He was controlling his fury but also, perhaps, controlling his desire for his wife.

Vulcan transits often reveal such men in your midst. The sign and house Vulcan is in, shows you the ‘where.’ The issue is always the same. How can human impulses like anger and longing – big emotions or physical needs – be suppressed? How does that give one the upper hand, higher moral ground or advantage?

Vulcan is the cowboy who clenches his fists and walks away from a fight. In your chart natally, he shows where you must deal with raw emotional episodes in your life, but handle them expertly.

Vulcan’s big trick with Venus and Mars was to throw a net over them. They were caught there, half-naked, and all the gods came to laugh at them. Had Vulcan hit Mars he might have been killed, because Mars was the Roman God of War.

Vulcan has that same masculinity and muscle as Mars but he’s sharper. As a blacksmith he worked with fire and steel. We associate Vulcan with controlled use of fiery feelings. He plays a big part in the trade union movement in Britain.


CUPID

Cupid, also known as Cupido, is the son of Venus. When he travels through your chart he shows short-term desire. It lasts as long as an arrow wound takes to heal. Weeks or months. It can be sexual or romantic, of course, but it can also be sensual.

If Cupido goes through Taurus and the Second House of precious possessions, you may lust after a piece of jewellery or long for an expensive jar of caviar.

Whatever desires, longings or passions come up on this cycle usually begin with a ‘ping’ like Cupid’s arrow going into flesh!

In your birth chart Cupid shows where you are most vulnerable to desire, but also where you arouse it in other people.

Cupid shot himself with his own arrow before he fell in love with Psyche, but he also shot arrows into other people. If you have Cupid in Scorpio in the Eighth House then money is where you do this. You may be a very, very good stockbroker/shopaholic.

PSYCHE

Psyche was Cupid’s wife. Before she married him she was subjected to all sorts of tests and trials by Venus.

Psyche was beautiful. The most ‘beautiful’ people or situations turn up in your life when she is travelling through.

When Psyche goes through Gemini and your Third House, the internet (which Gemini rules) may be full of gorgeous projects for you, or attractive faces.

The big story about Psyche transits is that something or someone is about to ‘live forever’ (to quote Oasis) in one area of your life. Psyche was made immortal. What or who comes out of this transit will last. It will last because it has survived tests and trials – which you will see now – and thus become immortalised.

When Psyche goes through Capricorn and the Tenth House then your work project may be lovely, and so might the person involved – yet it faces challenges. It goes on to live forever. It becomes a timeless classic within your industry.

If you had Psyche in Capricorn in your career zone and you worked in the biscuit, cake or cookie industry then such a cycle might see the invention of the Tim Tam in Australia, the Jaffa Cake in England or the Twinkie in America. The food that lives forever.

In your own chart Psyche shows where you are immortalised. When people talk about you at your funeral, they will usually talk about the area of life where your Psyche is placed. This is why I always want people to ‘do’ their Psyche sign and house, no matter how hard it is. It is a beautiful and perennial part of you.

MARS

The Roman God of War. Crash, bash, clash, wallop. Unless you worked in the military or know people who do, you are not going to hit Operation Desert Storm on this cycle. You will, however, attract people, organisations and situations which are highly assertive, to the point of aggression.

Mars is linked to the colour red – the colour of blood, and also the colour your face turns when you are angry.

My predecessor at The Australian Women’s Weekly, astrologer Richard Sterling, would warn against risking speeding fines around red cars on Mars transits. It happens!

What does Mars do for you? It makes you speed up. It heats up emotions (we also associate red faces with raised body temperature and perspiration)

You need to see what else is happening to figure out if it’s time to fight back, push hard or push forward – or develop a cunning plan like Baldrick in Blackadder. Fight or strategise? Now or later?

Mars in your birth chart shows where you are Action Woman or Action Man. It’s where you are most vulnerable to rage. It’s also where anger management is most essential.

It’s a smart idea to work off physical frustration or adrenaline with exercise or yoga, whenever Mars in your chart is triggered. Otherwise you may find yourself walking into a McDonalds and trying to strangle Ronald McDonald and push him off his bench.

JUPITER


The greatest and best of all Gods in Ancient Rome and the favourite of every astrologer, except some stargazers who complain he’s over-rated and ‘nothing happened on my Jupiter transit.’

If you use Jupiter and work with him, he will reward you. He rules opportunity and expansion. He rules people and organisations who were born lucky, or feel lucky, so they give – and go on giving.

These individuals or entities never want anything in return. It’s just in their nature to produce happy endings and resolutions, rather like the Jupiter of Roman mythology, who fixed even the most ghastly problems with clever tricks.

When people were in trouble they turned to Jupiter to sort everything out. He always did so in a way that was meticulously fair and ended in win-win.

Jupiter rules acorns and oak trees. You get acorns in relation to the sign/house Jupiter is passing through when he visits. If you nurture, water, love and protect the acorns they will go into mighty oak trees and if other factors conspire, you may end up with a whole plantation and an award-winning oak table company.

In your birth chart Jupiter shows where you were born lucky. Where you are most generous and giving. Even when times are hard, your Jupiter will protect you.

If you have Jupiter in Scorpio in the Eighth House of money and property, you can go broke one year because nobody ever pays you – yet your family and friends will save you. What you do to save money, when you are desperately broke, will ultimately make you rich, years later. That’s how Jupiter rolls.



JUNO


Wife of Jupiter. She symbolises commitments and pledges – life-changing promises.

She was married to a difficult god. Why? Because Jupiter was the admired, superstar peacock and Juno was the dull pea hen. Her bird is the peacock. The commitment you make on a Juno cycle is never going to be easy and there will be a total loss of freedom, yet one gains security, stability and definite advantages. Only you can choose. Do you marry this, or do you walk away?

In modern life you see Juno women all the time. They want to get married, desperately, so they can have a lovely home and children, and live off their husbands.

Their husbands are the superstars and they are the pea hens. It’s a very powerful and enduring archetype and it makes a lot of women very happy! It’s a Kate Middleton trip. Your husband is the King and you are the pea hen with the baby chicks.

As Juno travels through, there is the option of commitment according to the sign/house she affects. If she’s moving through Aquarius and your Eleventh House, you may be asked to ‘marry’ a group of people, like a football team or an orchestra. A contract is produced. You will have prestige and security from ‘marrying’ this group – yet you will lose your freedom as the people involved will be very demanding. Your choice!

In your birth chart, Juno shows where you commit and wed yourself to particular organisations/places/people/situations. When Juno is triggered by travelling or transiting factors, boom, the paperwork arrives. Elizabeth Taylor had a Juno opposition – exact. She didn’t know if she wanted to be married to Richard Burton or not, so she did it a few times.

FORTUNA

First born of Jupiter’s daughters. She rules people who spin the wheel of fate and fortune without realising what they are doing. Fortuna is blindfolded. Highs becomes lows when she appears. Lows become highs. Nobody knows the impact they are having, but they spin the wheel of fortune for you – in relation to the sign/house where you are having the cycle.

You have to be philosophical about life with Fortuna. On the way up, you are already on the way down at some point. On the way down, you just know you’re ultimately going to go up again. It’s all very baffling. But…that’s life.

In your birth chart, Fortuna is where you blindly spin the wheel of fate and fortune for other people without knowing what you are doing. The sign and house show you where you steer the ship of fate for others.

DIANA

Jupiter’s independent daughter. She did not want to be married or have children so she begged her father to set her free. She is the huntress, always seen with a greyhound or spaniel, a bow and arrow and one foot off the ground.

She ran with female nymphs, swam naked or semi-naked with them, and occasionally had sex with men. Endymion was one. He was asleep when she visited him. Actaeon accidentally saw her naked. She turned him into a stag and his own dogs ripped him apart. Diana is fiercely protective of her own independence.

When Diana goes through your chart expect feminists and women with dogs, if the cycle is literal. If it’s symbolic then her spirit will have an impact.

Massive issues about being free, independent and released from commitment will come up for you. In your birth chart, Diana shows where you demand space. If you have Diana in the Twelfth House then you want freedom to pursue your secret life in private and you won’t want to be tied down with it, either.

MINERVA

Third of Jupiter’s daughters. Born fully formed from his brain, she is a symbol of tremendous wisdom and artful cleverness.

Minerva beat Neptune in a contest to give humanity the greatest gift. He produced the horse – and everyone though he had won. She produced an olive.

Minerva won because the horse could be used in war, a curse on humanity. The olive, however, could be used in Spaghetti Bolognese and face cream.

By transit she often brings clever women – academics or professionals – or wise old owls. Her bird is the owl. Watch for it now as the synchronicity rule of astrology means, owls can sometimes turn up. Minerva is well known to Harry Potter fans. J.K.Rowling is known to have cast at least one horoscope in her life. She knows what she’s doing!

In your birth chart Minerva shows where you just ‘know’ how to do things. People come to you here for advice. If you have Minerva in Aries in the First House then you know about wardrobes and accessories and may run become a stylist for others.

When Minerva transits your chart, the sign/house she occupies shows you where to ask questions, seek advice and pursue wise old owls who can give you exactly the right answer.

BACCHUS

Bacchus is Jupiter’s son. He shows pure pleasure, which is very under-rated in astrology, where everyone worries about Saturn all the time. People can devote their whole lives to food, sex, drugs and alcohol!

He’s always shown with leopard-skin and a bunch of grapes – leopardskin underwear and vintage wine. By transit he shows hedonists and the pleasure principle, passing through your life. Natally (in your natal chart or birth chart) he shows where you have a good time, all the time (to quote Spinal Tap).

APOLLO

Jupiter’s superstar son. He is a leader, because he is multi-talented and formidable so people respect him enough to follow him. He could be cruel and ruthless, the Roman myth tells us. You didn’t mess with Apollo.

At the same time, Apollo was worshipped like a rock star. Roman teenagers used to style their hair like his. When Apollo travels through, leader types turn up. In your birth chart he shows where you are an impressive figure to others and are often imitated. You need to know your Apollo sign and house just as much as you need to know your Jupiter. This is where you do not suffer fools gladly but also where you astound and amaze us all.

When Apollo transits your chart, there is a leading organisation or a born leader to follow, in relation to the sign/house where he is.

CHIRON


Found in 1977, as they were developing Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, who would be born the following year.

This was also the year that the Sex Pistols were at Number One with God Save the Queen during Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee.

Chiron shows jaws on the floor. Audacity. Temerity. Daring. It’s what you get away with (or others get away with) that should not or could not happen. Yet it does! And everything changes forever.

Charles Kowal who found Chiron was not a famous astronomer. He was not ‘supposed’ to discover him. Kowal overturned the rules on the discovery of heavenly bodies. Suddenly it was no longer the province of the experienced professionals.

Chiron sometimes turns up in the field of medicine, surgery and healing as outrageous cures, discoveries or breakthroughs which shock, stun and amaze people.

He was a centaur who did many things in Roman myth, and herbal medicine was one of his specialities.

He is most famous as a teacher (our best surviving image of him shows him teaching Achilles) and when he goes through your chart you will learn (by sign and house) what you can get away with these days.

In your birth chart he shows where you are a maverick. A gadfly. A heretic. This is how the late, great astrologer Dennis Elwell described him. Chiron is that part of you which produces OMG reactions, but this is where you will move the goalposts.


AESCULAPIA


Also known as Aesculapius. The most famous and respected healer in Roman mythology but also Roman life. They had healing temples named after him, like the hospitals we have today.

Aesculapia is named in the Hippocratic Oath taken by the medical profession. This was the god you prayed to if you wanted a miracle cure.

People were healed often enough, that the Romans built one such temple after another and exported their god (always seen with a snake wrapped around a rod) to England.

By transit, as he travels through, Aesculapia – sometimes known as Aesculapius – shows recovery and resurrection. Something or someone will come back from the brink. It will make a miraculous turnaround and be pulled back even when you or others have given up.

In your birth chart by sign and house, this asteroid shows where you can revive situations, people, projects – whatever – and perform miracles.

Aesculapius in Leo in your Fifth House could easily see you working with seriously ill children in poor countries who everybody has given up on – or abandoned – and raising money so that their lives are saved. By the same token it guarantees that you can always breathe new life into a dead or dying love affair.

HYGIEA


Sometimes spelled Hygeia, she is the daughter of Aesculapius and is always seen with a snake (like his snake) and a bowl.

Why is the snake so big with these two healers? Because the Romans were psychic. They chose a symbol for this father-daughter team of healers, which looks just like the famous DNA spiral symbol that we know from modern medical science.

The ‘snake’ of the Kundalini energy in the Indian chakra system is also significant, here. It looks strangely like the serpent held by Hygiea and her father.

When she transits or travels through, Hygiea brings people, organisations and situations which emphasise protection. Her motto is ‘Prevention is better than cure.’

Hygiea is about acting now, to safeguard against potential future problems. You can ‘immunise’ or ‘innoculate’ when she arrives.

If you have Hygiea going through Libra and your Seventh House then you can insure against a messy divorce by having a pre-nuptial with your future husband.

In your birth chart, Hygiea by sign and house shows where you can be cleverly pre-emptive. Sure, it may never happen, but you need to know it won’t!

She was found and named by astronomers in the year of a major global cholera outbreak. Cholera can be avoided if people practise preventative hygiene. Her name echoes that.

PANACEA

The Romans saw every single possible human story in their healing temples, set up in honour of Aesculapia. Panacea is his other daughter. Hygiea is her sister.

Every kind of medical and moral issue comes up with Panacea.

If someone is dying from an incurable disease, is euthanasia right? If someone wants to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, is that correct?

In modern life we have similar dilemmas. If someone is given a placebo sugar pill by a doctor (a panacea) and lied to – but it fixes the problem, is that wrong?

This asteroid shows you where the remedy, repair work, solution or answer is – often with a very deep issue. It also immediately raises ethical and moral questions.

Marijuana is still illegal in many parts of the world but if it helps cancer symptoms is that wrong?

When Panacea travels or transits, there are answers about that particular area of life being triggered (great!) but massive questions about black, white and grey moral areas.

As you might suspect, it works the same natally. This is where you can fix things, but also where you have big ethical questions to answer. The sign and house of Panacea tells you where you can save people, projects, organisations or situations but only you can decide if it is right or wrong to do so.

SATURN


Saturn brings people or organisations – sometimes governments, sometimes just individuals – who feel cursed and pursue self-sabotaging ways of protecting themselves, from that which they fear.

These people, groups or organisations have little methods and strategies to make themselves feel safe, because they feel so terrified by their fate. Ironically, it’s these methods they employ, which usually trip them up. Whenever you meet Saturn, you meet paranoia. As a rule of thumb, be really hip to the people, organisations or situations which pop up – in relation to that house of your horoscope – when this cycle begins. You will soon see the fear.

If Saturn is going into Capricorn and your Tenth House, for example, don’t just walk blindly into a new job. Grill people! Interrogate them. Find out what others might tell you, or know. Read up on the realities. What and who are you actually up for, in this cycle?
Can you avoid Saturn? Not if you want to have a life. He is often there with the most tempting, desirable, irresistible people, projects, places, situations.

You long to emigrate to New Zealand and you have Saturn going through Sagittarius and your Ninth House. They let you in. It’s a dreadful obstacle course for you. Yet – you learn, you find out more, you do your research, you see why the universe might be putting you through this – and ultimately you make a wise decision.

No matter how experienced you think you might be, with the area of life affected by Saturn’s transit – you know nothing. Assume you know nothing and ask hard questions. Don’t guess or assume. If your alarm bell goes on when this cycle begins, then listen to it and follow up. Read widely. Look at internet forums for street wisdom. Sometimes Saturn doesn’t really kick in, until you are a few months into the cycle.

In your chart Saturn shows where you are cursed. It shows where you have all kinds of methods, strategies and defence mechanisms to help you avoid what you fear. Saturn by sign and house shows where you are paranoid and perhaps phobic.

Your first Saturn Return around age 29 usually shows you that you will be fine, in the end.

By transit, Saturn travelling through will bring you people, organisations or situations which feel heavy. They feel weighty. Hard work. Those concerned may be ‘cursed’ in some way. They may have had bad luck in their lives, or be loaded down with problems.

You need to know what you are getting, for what you are giving. You need to know what price is required and if you think it is worth paying, to be in the situation. It always helps to speak to others who have been through the same or a similar situation before you, because so many people will also have had this Saturn pattern before you.

OPS


The wife of Saturn. She is just as important as him, when she passes through.

Ops has her name hidden in the world ‘optimism’ and positive, practical people and organisations will arrive now, to fix things.

Remember she is also the mother of Jupiter, who is also associated with hope. No matter how tough things are, Ops turns the story around. It’s never easy, yet it works. The area of life where you find Ops travelling through is where the long, hard road to turnaround begins. Watch Ops work in your chart. She’s utterly dependable. Sometimes savvy, determined women turn up now, too.

In your own chart, Ops by sign and house shows you where you were born to find remedies and carry them out. It usually shows the problems too – but there are always answers. This is where you roll up your sleeves, set your jaw and get to work.

VESTA


The daughter of Saturn. She is the goddess who ruled the Temple of the Vestales in Rome. The Vestal Virgins worshipped her.

These women had a male ultimate boss – the Pontifex Maximus. If they were found having sex with a male, he was put to death and she was buried alive. Nice!

Vesta shows gender politics when she passes through. One male, two or more females. Sometimes these can be children. I once gave a reading to a person at The Astrological Lodge of London whose small, baby son was creating massive politics in his all-female, single-parent family. The women were competing with each other to have him to themselves.

Vesta in your birth chart shows one male/multiple female situations where the golden rule is, get some feminism. In other words, be you male or female, do not allow women to compete with other in a toxic way (the harem atmosphere in the temple can be poisonous) in order to win him/please him/get him.

If you are male don’t be Hugh Hefner. This is not 1973.
Vesta turns up in work situations where there is sexism so you have one male boss and two or more female employees, all trying to be his favourite. What a waste of time and energy.

Men who have exclusively daughters can find themselves in Vesta World and not want to be there. Be hip to the archetype of female competition and rivalry, fellas. A sense of humour and sensitivity to the potential for games being played, can often fix things. Do not succumb to male ego and let women dance around you.

I had a client whose former boyfriend got someone pregnant while Vesta was in Leo and her Fifth House of children. They had been together for years and he wanted her to be there for him, during this unplanned pregnancy.

One look at Vesta in her horoscope that day and she ran screaming out of the room. He wanted to be the Pontifex Maximus and have his ex and his new sexual partner to be the Vestal Virgins. He wanted the two women to dance, dance, dance.

It works the other way. Vesta can produce manipulative, scheming women who plot and plan to use men, to bring each other down using him as the person in the middle. I am sure that in Ancient Rome the Vestal Virgins also set up poor, innocent men for death, as the hapless lovers of their ‘pure’ temple sisters.

It may help to remember Vesta’s father is Saturn. The paranoid one! She inherits fear from him. Vesta produces insecurity. Being open about the gender imbalance situation – talking about it frankly – laughing about it – and sidestepping the Temple atmosphere of secrecy is useful. If you really want to find out about Vesta go and look at the horoscopes of King Henry VIII and Prince Andrew.

URANUS


Uranus is a symbol of freedom, independence, revolution and radical change. When he passes through your chart, for many years at a time, that area of your life (shown by sign and house) will never be the same, and you will be liberated from old, stuck, stale ways of living.

Uranus often brings little shocks or an electrical atmosphere. They found him in the same year they made the discovery that would ultimately lead to the battery. In myth, Uranus is the father of two kinds of lightning. Sheet lightning and forked lightning. When he transits your chart, there’s a zap factor.

Natally, in your natal (birth) chart, he shows where you act as a catalyst for a revolution. By transit (travelling) he is the someone/something that brings change.

If you were around in 1969 when they put the pill on sale, then the arrival of Uranus in Virgo travelling through your chart altered things from the outside. Uranus (change) in Virgo (the body) transformed your fertility, or your lover’s fertility, for the rest of time.

Placed in your birth horoscope – your natal chart – Uranus shows that part of you which is a trigger for revolutionary events and massive changes – without meaning to do it. You accidentally invent, create and innovate here!

If you were born with Uranus in Virgo, then you are the unwitting catalyst for a revolution with the body, which has been taking place for decades. Why? Because your body does not respond well to old medicine from the 19th and 20th centuries. Your body is better suited to radical new options – like particular ways of eating, or exercising, or meditating, or healing. Your food allergies and intolerances, tell you so. Because regular doctors did not work for you, you accidentally invented a whole new way to be healthy.

Travelling Uranus always shows a massive, exciting, confronting (to traditional types) revolution in one area of your life, which will alter everything forever.

It’s like the Americans throwing out the British in 1781. If you have any sense, you’ll go with whatever happens now. Applaud the revolution. In return you get independence and a new beginning. A new world.

Uranus in your own chart shows where you are accidentally going to give birth – repeatedly – to a new world of possibility, every time there’s a pattern hitting your chart.

The sign and house where you find Uranus shows you the kind of new world that lies ahead. If you have Uranus in Virgo, it’s about the body, as I’ve mentioned. If you have Uranus in Libra, it’s about marriage – Elton John and Stephen Fry are both married to men, because of the generation born with Uranus in Libra who have made it possible.

Uranus was the god who accidentally, unwittingly, produced a whole new world (including Venus, who was born from his semen mixed with sea foam).

He did not mean to do it – it happened when he was castrated by Saturn, his son.

If you want to go more deeply into Uranus, look at the myth, which Robert Graves tells so well in his Penguin classic about the Greek myths, which were then adapted by the Romans, and help inspire the astrological archetypes we work with today.

NEPTUNE

Neptune shows an escape from the real world, and yet one which is also real in its own right. When Neptune passes through, nothing is every ordinary, dull, commonplace or ‘real’ ever again. (At least for the duration of this long cycle). Instead, you end up with an alternative to reality. A parallel universe.

It’s like the difference between the town and the sea. As I write this I can see the beach from my window. The town is in the distance. In the town they drive cars, wear shoes and buy pies for lunch. In the sea they swim under water, wear flippers and see dolphins. Which one is real life? You might think the city, but after you’ve been on the beach all day, the sea begins to seem like ‘normal’ and life on the streets begins to look very strange indeed.

A holiday from reality is the key phrase for Neptune. It’s like the sea or beach – a holiday. In time it begins to feel real, but unless you get lost there forever (and become a mermaid or a merman) then don’t get confused. It’s just a temporary escape of a few years.

You run into trouble if you get in over your head, get lost, forget the rules (like swimming between the flags) and the rest.

Here is another Neptune analogy. Glastonbury was a chaotic, muddy, messy music festival with financial losses and the occasional panic over drugs and alcohol, until they put proper fences in. Your Neptune experience, which is rather like a wonderful Glastonbury festival, needs fences. Put in boundaries. Then it all works.

Natally, in your natal birth chart, Neptune shows where you live in a parallel universe to others who don’t have it in their horoscopes, in that particular sign or house. This is where you baffle others. They cannot fathom you. (Rather like the ocean – which is literally unfathomable).

If you were born with Neptune in Scorpio in the Eighth House then sex and money are where you escape from reality. Pornography is not lovemaking, it is sex paid for by plastic credit card – and it is about as real as silicon breasts. It was popularised by, and is still purchased by, the generation born with Neptune in Scorpio.
Neptune in Sagittarius? You take a holiday from reality by taking a holiday – all the time. Your generation invented and popularised cheap airlines and Air BnB. Your great escape is literally an escape. You also escape from reality on the internet, where you scarf down huge amounts of knowledge, information and learning – from Wikipedia to YouTube. You’re the perpetual student of life who finds a way out of the ordinary, via websites.

SALACIA


The wife of Neptune. She is associated with both the beach and the sea. She is linked to the ocean depths, like her husband, but also the sand and the creatures which live there.

The beach is also a kind of non-reality, compared to the city, so Salacia represents two different, yet compatible, holidays from reality.

There is nothing ordinary, normal, raw, real, gritty, commonplace or everyday about Salacia! She is about the seaweed, the dolphins, the waves, the sand, the shells, the crabs, the sea anemone and the rest. (Neptune found her by sending dolphins to look for her).

By transit Salacia shows two different escapes from reality. Salacian people may emerge now – they dress like Stevie Nicks in 1975 and may surf. These women may not seem to belong to the world.

Even if you don’t have the weird experience of seeing Salacia in the flesh, this cycle will introduce you to two parallel universes.

In your chart, Salacia by sign and house shows you where you can double up on two ‘non-real’ and unreal things at once. Just like the beach and the sea. Two other realities, side by side.

If you have Salacia in Capricorn in your Tenth House then you may have two jobs, none of which most people would call real work. Yet…it works for you.



PLUTO


When Pluto goes through a sign and house of your chart, for many years, that area of your life will be utterly transformed. It’s like the difference between Europe before 1939 and Europe after 1945.

Pluto does not show war. It does, however, show a total and sweeping change in the balance of power, so that those who had no power before – get control. Those who try to take too much, end up losing it all. There is also power-sharing. It’s intense.

When Pluto went through Libra, the sign which rules marriage, in the 1970s, the old laws on divorce were changed so that it became easier to split from your husband or wife. The power changed.

Women’s Liberation and Gay Liberation emerged at this time. Those who tried to control people’s sexuality by banning it (or their freedom to be equal) lost out. The world changed. Libra rules the scales – equal partnership between two people. When Pluto went through that sign it was no longer possible for the old court system to power-trip people who just wanted to get divorced. Neither was it possible for the old legal system to power-trip gay or lesbian people, in particular. The tables were turned.

When Pluto went through Virgo, the sign which rules the body, the world saw everything from the pill – to the beginning of what would become health food stores. Nobody born before Pluto went into Virgo ever knew what a vitamin was. Gyms followed health food stores. The balance of power changed. People became empowered to control their own health and fitness, so the old image of Doctor as God vanished.

When Pluto went through Scorpio (sex and money, death and money) the world had to deal with the HIV virus and AIDS and its impact on everything from life insurance to pre nuptial agreements. Scorpio rules sex and money – and death and money.

Pluto will be in Capricorn for many years. Capricorn rules government and big business. Anyone in those sectors trying to control everything and everybody will lose.

When you use the Natural House system, which is my favourite prediction method for astrology, you can see that all of us have Pluto going through out Tenth House right now. By 2020 we’re slowly coming to the end of the cycle. It has profoundly rocked our governments.

Pluto is neither positive nor negative, it just is. Australia had its first female Prime Minister on this cycle. America may yet have its first female President, following its first black President. Pluto transforms the balance of power. It empowers people who had no power before. It changes the world and changes the game.

In your birth chart, Pluto shows where you try to take, and take over. If you go too far you are always stopped. It shows where you must always go through critical change, in order to play your part in a new order; a new world. Pluto by sign and house shows where you are so passionate that you want to dominate and take control, but inevitably where you must compromise and work with others. This will be a repeated pattern in your life according to the sign/house you find Pluto in.

CERES

Ceres is the mother-in-law of Pluto. He took her daughter Proserpina (abducted her, screaming and wriggling in his arms) and then married her.
Ceres was the goddess who ruled agriculture. She became so depressed, then enraged, with Pluto’s abduction of her daughter, that she went on strike.

Crops failed. People starved. Jupiter, the best of all gods (and Pluto’s brother) was called upon. His solution? To ask Proserpina if she had eaten any pomegranates in Hades (Hell) when she was with Pluto.

The Romans had many euphemisms for sex – a corn cob was a metaphor for a penis – and we might speculate that a pomegranate was a metaphor for a vagina. Anyway, Proserpina confessed she had eaten half a pomegranate when she was with Pluto. Sinful!

Jupiter decreed that as she had eaten half a pomegranate (or allowed Pluto to go halfway) she should spend half the year with Pluto and half the year with her Mother. Six months in Hades/Hell as Queen (not bad) and six months back up on earth with Mum – Ceres.

Ceres rules corn and wheat crops, so the seasonal changes of Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn show her agricultural moods.

When her daughter Proserpina is down below, in the dark depths of sexual passion with Pluto, we have Winter and Autumn. Ceres feels cold and hard.

When we have Spring and Summer, it is because Ceres is happy. She warms up. The earth laughs in flowers. Her daughter is back!

Ceres travelling or transiting often brings women who are battling depression or anger. It always resolves but not before there is a major crossroads and a new start – a new world.

Even if actual Ceres people don’t turn up, you must deal with the necessity of power sharing, compromise and questions about entitlement, control, passion and domination on her cycles. 

In your chart, get to know Ceres well. This is where you have particular powers. This is where you create, control, produce and ‘run’ that particular area of life, shown by the sign Ceres is in.

However – crucially – this is where you are going to have to learn to live with seasonal change. You won’t own what or who you want, all the time. Others must take over. You must learn to share power and give it.

If you can do this then your winters and autumns will be fine. If your winters and autumns are painful to you (those times of year, or times of your life, when you feel you are losing or losing control) – then you need to know Ceres. Look at the art about her. Get to know the story. Work with the myth.

Ceres by sign and house shows where the universe has gifted you with ownership, control and remarkable traits – yet where you must be most accepting and tolerant – and learn to live as comfortably with the down seasons and low seasons, as much as the giddy highs. Accept that this is where you will always have Four Seasons.

PROSERPINA

You already know a lot about this asteroid just by exploring Pluto and Ceres. Proserpina was found in a big year for bridges and tunnels all over the world. She is a human bridge.

By transit she shows where there is a go-between, a piggy-in-the-middle or a facilitator. There are usually two powerful people, organisations or entities involved. Proserpina meets them in the middle. She gives them both what they want.

Proserpina is powerful. She is also in the precarious position of keeping two sides happy at once, like her husband Pluto and her mother Ceres.

Proserpina in your chart by sign and house shows where you act out the story. It’s where you negotiate, bridge gaps, meet people halfway, appease, please, share your time and energy – and work it. In exchange you have remarkable control.

When Proserpina travels through your chart, you have people or situations which are all about this negotiation or appeasement process. Diplomatic discussions are common, at this time. There is always some deal to figure out. Transiting Proserpina in your Second House usually means a financial agreement or compromise.

NORTH NODE

The North Node by transit shows old karma coming back, as familiar situations repeat and old stories return to us.

It feels comfortable, and we can take it or leave it. We can do what we always did, one more time, or we can watch from a distance.

In your birth chart, the North Node shows ‘Been there, done that, written the screenplay, read the book, seen the film, acted the parts.’ You may or may not want to do it all over again.

SOUTH NODE


The South Node is always in the opposite sign to the North Node. By transit it shows a more frustrating kind of karma. This is where you try to do or say things to effect change – but get nowhere.

Why? Because people are going through the motions, the same old way every single time. They don’t appear to respond to change.

In your birth chart, the South Node reveals where the same damn thing happens over and over and over. Of course, it can be a happy thing. It depends on what else is in that sign/house. But no matter what you do, karma says this will repeat, repeat, repeat.

THE ANGLES IN YOUR CHART – THE IC, MC, AC AND DC

The IC or Immum Coeli shows your family tree, home town, homeland, house, apartment, culture, heritage and – where you come from.

The MC or Midheaven shows your ambition, position, mission and – where you are going to.

The AC or Ascendant shows your persona, profile, appearance, wardrobe, title, reputation, accessories, trappings and display.

The DC or Descendant shows your former, current or potential partner. It also shows your enemy, opponent or rival.

WRAPPING IT ALL UP

The transits or travelling paths of the heavenly bodies and points show the human weather you undergo, in your life.

Should they fall at the same number (degree) and sign as anything in your own birth chart, that’s a crossroads for you and it will alter your life. If Jupiter passes by at 15 Virgo and you have the Moon at 15 Virgo that is an epic change for you.

The more clustering that occurs (three or more factors in one sign, at any one time) the bigger the story and the more complicated it becomes. And you can increase that message, if you have three or more travelling factors, hitting your chart – where you also have three or more factors!

If you have a stellium in Pisces and in March 2016 there is also a stellium in Pisces, that month will alter your secret life. 

Get to know the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Vulcan, Mars, Cupid, Psyche, Jupiter, Juno, Fortuna, Minerva, Diana, Bacchus, Apollo, Chiron, Aesculapius, Panacea, Hygiea, Saturn, Ops, Vesta, Uranus, Neptune, Salacia, Pluto, Ceres and Proserpina on this website. Get to know the Nodes and the Angles.

The Louvre website is a good resource, as is the Victoria and Albert Museum online. Art and sculpture will teach you more about these archetypes than any amount of words. Paintings talk.

ALL ABOUT YOU

Remember the basic rules. If you have a stack of horoscope factors in one sign and house, that defines you – it describes your life – it says who you are, why you are here and what you do. Typically you will have anywhere from two to five, of these stelliums or clusters.

Whenever anything passes over this cluster or stellium, in the same sign, and especially at the same degree, you have a major event or turning point.

You are still going to see astrological changes even if you have just one factor in a sign, and just one factor is travelling through. It really depends on how often you want to look at your chart and how much you want to track your life.

Your Sun Sign, or regular zodiac sign, is extremely important. It’s the clusters or stelliums which tell you what’s really going down, though. What is Woody Allen best-known for? Running off with his adopted daughter – and making amazing films about sex and murder. He’s a Sagittarian with a Scorpio stellium. What is Karl Marx best known for? Communism. Yes, he was a Taurus, but he also had a stellium there. What do we remember Princess Diana for? Sure, she was a Cancer, but she had a stellium in Leo. Her life was about her two sons, William and Harry – but it was also about her work for children in landline areas. It was also very much about her passionate love affairs – more Leo.

Bob Dylan is a Gemini but he’s a very, very strong Gemini because he has a huge cluster of horoscope factors in that sign, well above the 2-3 that the law of averages says, he should have. What’s your sign? Maybe you should be asking, ‘What’s your stellium?’