Astrological Forecasts

November 2010
This month begins on a Monday (the Moon’s day) with the Moon in Virgo. It’s the next to the last month of the year, and a good time to get records, writings, and correspondences organized. Of course it’s probably impossible to organize it all, but if you chip away at the little bits, someone will appreciate it. Besides, it’s healthy.

Tue Nov 02 the Moon sextiles Mercury. The mind expresses things less harshly. Later the Moon opposes Jupiter, then opposes Uranus. Bounty may look like excess and innovation may look unbearably radical. The Moon then moves into Libra and we can end the day with some sense of balance and appropriateness. In the marvellous madcap U. S. of A. it is Election Day. There are many ways to vote, but only one is going to get counted today. We may not all get to participate, but as writers we all get to observe and then give voice to what we see. (continue reading…)

Heads Up!  October 2010

October begins on a Friday (Venus’s day) with the Moon in Cancer. Despite the relentless tug of the world, this can still be a good month to write (or at least to read) at home. This afternoon Mercury exactly opposes Jupiter. It’s a good day to write a blue streak (always better than talking one), although it might not all be right, which is fine for an early draft.

Sat Oct 02 Mercury opposes Uranus. Turn on the faucet, and the unconventional, even revolutionary thoughts will run like water. Be polite about it all, though (except in fiction). A few hours later, the Moon enters Leo. Hopefully the thought processes will settle down before pride kicks in.

Sun Oct 03 the Moon is in Leo when Mercury changes signs and enters Libra. May thoughts turn to harmony and peace, or at least nice plot resolutions. In the afternoon, Venus conjuncts Mars. This aspect was made to assist artistic works of any sort. Channel all your passion and charm into it and see what comes out.

Mon Oct 04 the Moon is in Virgo when Mercury squares Pluto. It’s always easy to question the need for a major change. Perhaps this is a good day to revise plot outlines (if you use such things, and Virgo would like it if you did).

Wed Oct 06 the Moon enters Libra. Work from a strong, well-centered, even-tempered space. It’s going to be a month of Wednesdays with the Moon in cardinal signs. Be more than prolific; be constructive. Late tonight, the Moon conjuncts Mercury. You can feel what the people feel. Take notes. It’s the day before the New Moon. Take extra precaution when traveling, or when firing off email. Heads Up.

Thu Oct 07 the very dark Moon conjuncts Saturn. It’s the kind of day when you can see to the bottom of the well. Observe fearlessly, but act with circumspection. Then comes the New Moon at 14Libra. I’m hoping that this will feel like recovering from some lingering illness or depression. Be brave, and put your impressions into your art.

(continue reading…)

We are thrilled to announce that  the internationally renowned astrologer, and force behind the ultimate astrological website, http://skyscript.co.uk, Deborah Houlding will be returning to San Francisco, by popular demand, to give a not to be missed workshop on Saturday and Sunday October 23rd and 24th.

September 2010

We start this month with Mercury retrograde, but don’t let that set us back.  Once we get a grip on the mechanical and electronic snags that lurk in the shadows, this is simply a time to practice being more careful with our words.  What writer is going to argue with that?

If you’ve never seen the planet Uranus (and I have not), now we have a good chance, because it will be very close to Jupiter, easily the brightest thing in the sky.  Uranus might be visible to the unaided eye if you have a dark sky.  Otherwise, binoculars or a small telescope should make it easy.  If you get a clearn night anytime this week or next, go for it!  Check out the link below:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/15sep_jupiter/

Enjoy!!  And let’s hope for clear skies. (continue reading…)

It’s a month of retrogrades and long-lasting conjunctions.  Life may seem stuck in low gear, but the low gears are the strong ones. Venus and Saturn are within orb for conjunction from Aug 2 till Aug 13.  Heads up for any unwarranted feelings of self-sacrifice or self-pity.  Mars is deep in the mix, too.

Mars will be in a separating conjunction with Saturn until Aug 11 or so.  Be on guard against feeling so strong that you’re willing to be a doormat.

Then we have Venus and Mars, ah!  This gives charm and beauty to the world, and reckless flirtation, jealousy, and temper.

Now that’s a Heads Up configuration!

They begin an applying conjunction on Aug 6, reach exact conjunction on Aug 20 (the same day that Mercury goes stationary retrograde), do the exact conjunction again on Oct 1 (shortly before Venus goes stationary retrograde on Oct 8), and they don’t pull away from one another until Oct 12. Then there’s Jupiter and Uranus, still conjunct in the borderlands of early Aries and late Pisces.  It lasts till the end of the year, and then some.  This is the stuff of Big Business, big and generous authority, and big surprises.  Make friends with these conditions and Heads Up all month. Get all that?  Did it stick?  Me, neither.  That’s why I need to look at the sky day by day, night by night.

Ready for August? (continue reading…)

We tend to hear a lot about ‘essential dignity’ and dispositors in traditional astrology, but very little is said about that all important piece of our astrological puzzle, the all ‘dasturiya’ which is the planet that rises directly to the east of any given planet. In traditional astrology, we come to take for granted that the disposing planet, that planet which owns the sign the planet or luminary we are examining. The disposing planet is often called the ‘lord’ because the disposer tends to ‘lord’ over said planet.  Let’s take Venus for example. She is said to be soft, and ever sweet and full of ardor. Place her in the sign, Virgo, and Mercury will act as her director.  Since Mercury is neuter, the person with this Venus may be more  drawn to the library, than to the boudoir.

Disposition, of course, is ‘old hat’ to most traditionalists and moderns alike, but what Abu Massar referred to as the dasturiya, seems to have vanished from the traditional lexicon. Hopefully we can remedy this situation, because the dasturiya, (especially of the Sun) is one of the most potent planets in the entire chart, goading the person to achieve. In a sense, the dispositor acts like a lord, while the dasturiya acts like a nagging wife. You just cannot avoid it! The ancients felt that the dasturiya of the Sun, especially important. According to the ancients, the Sun was the fountain of divine fire, which inspired man to find his purpose in life. To get a fire going, we need a spark. We might say that the dasturiya, especially that of the Sun, will act as a  divine  spark, igniting us to find own special greatness. To find the  dasturiya we need only look just east. In the case of the Sun, we look to the planet or luminary which rises directly previous to the Sun.

For instance, we can look at the chart of Abraham Lincoln, who according to the note in his mother’s bible was said to have been born ‘right at sun up.’  Thus, we notice, his Sun is right at the eastern horizon. Having the Sun here, btw, according to the ancients is one of the  the best places for the Sun, and it alone will give young Abraham the vigor to live a long and productive life. It will add to his ability to ‘get ahead’ because so placed it will enhance his sense of purpose, and most importantly, placed on the strongest angle of the chart, gives him the ability to act.

With the Sun rising, Lincoln will have a healthy ego, but placed in Aquarius, the Sun’s detriment, Lincoln will think in terms of the bigger picture. Such a person will not be what one could consider warm and gregarious, because when the Sun is in Aquarius, it is ruled by the grim Saturn. So Abe will be aloof, and considered even a bit cold. Perhaps given his Aquarius Sun, he might be well ahead of his time, and not afraid (to parody the Apple commercials) ‘think different. Given his times, he might have become a reformer, or even an inventor, one who would go far, because the dispositor or ruler of his beautifully placed Sun, the ringed planet, Saturn is also very strongly placed up at the Midheaven, or the noon position. The combination of the Sun in Aquarius disposed by Saturn in Sagittarius, will give him the zeal to push through is goals.  With Abe’s Sun placed at dawn position, and dispositor at noon, we already have confluent indicators that Abe will be an ambitious and mature young man who will take the long view, and have what it takes to go very far in life.

However, what sets Lincoln apart from other men of determination and ambition is because of his dasturiya. Money is a powerful elixir.They say that ‘power corrupts totally.’ There is a reason for this. Let’s face it, when a person gets to a certain stage in life, it is easier to keep the wheel going. Once a person ‘gets to the top’ it is human nature to try to keep on accumulating; to protect ‘whats mine.’   This is where the adage, ‘the rich get richer’ came from, because once most people get to the top of the pyramid, they spend the rest of their born days, grabbing more and fighting off competitors. It is Lincoln’s dasturiya,  the Moon which at sets him apart,  not just from other successful politicians, who ‘make it’ but from all presidents because she forces him to remember his roots. Detrimented in Capricorn, and also disposed by that powerful 10th house Saturn, it becomes the goad that sparks his altruistic zeal that made Lincoln stand up for every one of his subjects, not just the rich and powerful. When he said,  “that government, of the people, by the people and for the people, will not perish from this earth”   it was his Moon talking. We know from mundane astrology that the represents the common man. Because he did what the Moon forced him to do, take care of everybody in need, black, white and in between. And because of this, Lincoln stands out above all other presidents.

Now mind you, even though the Moon is Lincoln’s royal goad in life, we do not see ‘lunar’ features or temperament outwardly. This is because of ‘accidental’ placement. In charts, when it comes to ‘what you see’ it is the angular planets.  So with Lincoln, we see the overt characteristics like his very dark angular, some would call, Saturnian features (the Sun in Aquarius, angular 1^st with dispositor Saturn in angular 10). And indeed, Lincoln was not what you would call a touch feely kind of a guy. In fact, he was said to have been dumped by his first girlfriend who said he was ‘no gentlemen’ when they had returned from long walk with a pregnant woman, toting sleeping babe in her arms, and had never once offered to carry her load. When confronted with this, he said something to the effect of, ‘well, I figured if she wanted help she woulda asked.”  So instead of seeing a soft and round personage, the lunar dasturiya is placed in the 12^th a cadent, house, and nstead, acts like a subtle voice whispering from the shadows. In addition, like his Sun, Lincoln’s Moon is also detrimented. Since Lincoln is a man, the Moon will represent the women in his life. Mary Todd Lincoln was known to have suffered emotional stress, some said she was unstable. In addition, his mother was considered a ‘lose woman’ because it was said that she cohabited with Lincoln’s dad, prior to marriage.  Thus she was shunned from society, which out in the ‘frontier’ meant company. It was also said that she was a cultured and literate woman, but also a sad woman because of all the isolation. We see this in Lincoln’s placement of the detrimented Moon in Capricorn (the sign opposite its home base of Cancer). I think it in many ways, given that the Moon is his dasturiya, that he was deeply affected by her being an outcast, so that he remembered all the other outcasts and became a president who was ‘of, by and for the people’ not just some of them, but every last one of them.

This post was inspired by the brilliant work of Silva who did an amazing piece on the doryphory at our list Angelicus Merlin. Her astrological work,  each an exquisite lesson in itself, of which I am forever indebted, is not to be missed. Enjoy!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/angelicusmerlin/

My Little Chicadee!!!

Are we not entering the heart of summer?  And what a summer this is going to be.  Let the Sun shine in!

July 1 starts on a Thursday (Jupiter’s day) with the Moon in Pisces (traditionally ruled by Jupiter).  Look forward to a month of expansion and all things big and beautiful.  Remove the word “disappointment” from your vocabulary this month.

Sat Jul 03 the Moon opposes Saturn and goes void of course until it enters the sign of Aries.  Criticism may sting, but not for long.  The Moon then conjuncts Uranus (always bringing a fresh look at the world), then Jupiter in the sign of Aries.  Feel personally lucky.

(continue reading…)

June is always a heady, high energy month. The first three weeks of it, the Sun is in Gemini. If only we could find some way to channel that into more writing! This month especially, Mercury is involved in a lot of high power aspects, so sharpen those pencils, and back up those disks and hard drives, and make room in your notebooks and address books. Remember, too that Uranus is now in the very beginning of Aries. Expect the unexpected! Take good care of your car.

Let me say off the bat HEADS UP FOR JUNE 4-12. There’s a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction
in our immediate future, and Mars conjuncts the royal fixed star Regulus. In fact,
let’s rate a moderate HEADS UP from now till early August, till the Mars-Saturn
conjunction is over. Till then, Summer is a’comin’ in. Let’s go!

Tues Jun 01 has the Moon in Aquarius. This sets the tone for a month of fresh,
maybe unexpected ideas, people, and situations. Contribute and do something good
with it. (continue reading…)

Go for it!  Heads Up