Monday, November 30, 2009

Astro Integration

*Self Unfolding - From the Solar or Innermost Self Perspective, The Sun is first and the Ascendant comes in third, after the Moon. Eternally and esoterically this is correct. The Astro key is below, the corresponding numbers for each illustrated major life theme emphasized.

1-My Essential Purpose - To be a good and smart worker, taking full responsibility, High-Minded, Expansive and Integrative, Healthy and Whole, Uplifting the Personality via High Morale and Spiritual Strength of Character (of Will) at core. To be clear and present, undistorted in perception and thinking.

2-My Essential Nature - Passion and Imagination, Appetite and Desire, Sensitive and Intense, Secretive about feelings, Warm yet Detached, Insightful and Imaginative, Revolutionary, Interest in Arts and Mysticism, the Occult and Astrology.

3-My Outer Purpose/Nature - Strong Personality, Positive and Hopeful, Assertive and Energetic, Ambitious (to an extent) and Aspirational w/ regard to Future. Choosing the road of Higher Consciousness, of courage and faith in Self, optimistic and fun loving in my outlook and pro-active or pioneering in my approach.

4-My Outer Environment/Structure - A need for organization, keeping on top of responsibilities at home and work, keeping lists, staying mindful, alert and busy. Will work separately on a post relating the Astrological Houses (and their corresponding natural signs) to the tasks and activities of daily living.

5a-My Work and Self-Assertion: Doing - Getting/Earning/Making Money
5b-My Love and Appreciation: Having - Having/Spending/Saving Money

6b-My Knowledge, Perception, Cognition: Learning - Practical & Imaginative Intellectual involvement and interest(s).

6c-My Relationships, Connections, Friends: Seeing - Other People w/ like-minded interests, Cooperation and Group Interaction

7-My Most Intimate Relationships - Family, Close Partners, Friends and Lovers

8-My Key to Self-Healing, Understanding & Freedom - Quest for Wholeness and Self-Integration, Existential Angst and Evolution, Innermost Wounds & Healing

9-My Expansion, Abundance and Good Fortune - The Full expanse of Creation (The Sun)

10-My Responsibility, Duty and Discipline - The Ground and Ground Rules (The Earth)

11-My connection to Higher Self, Liberation - Cosmic Intelligence and Intuition (The Sky)

12-Universal and Divine Love, Transcendence - Cosmic Love and Imagination (The Heavens)

13-Universal Power and Desire, Resurrection - Cosmic Power and Evolution (The Wheel of Birth & Death and REbirth)

14a-Dharma, Individual Path Forward, Future - "The General of mine Army" - Dominance
14b-Karma, Personal Regression, The Past - "The lazy disorganized crew" - Defaults

(to be continued...)
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SPIRIT-SOUL-MATTER: Ego & Energy, Mind & Body

1-The Sun - Spirit, Will, Energy & Intuition - "The Light"
2-The Moon - Soul, Psyche, Feeling & Imagination - "The Night"

3-Ascendant/Nadir/Descendant: Body, Personality, Action & Expression, Appearance
4-Mid-heaven/Descendant/Nadir: The Cross of Matter, Environment, Public, Function

*plus Vertex, Aries Point and Equatorial Ascendant, Key Angles/Cusps

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[1b/2b - North and South Lunar Nodes: Karma, Dharma & Evolution]
[3b/4b - Part(s) of Fortune & Spirit: (Parts of The Moon & Sun respectively): Points of Integration and Coordination (of Sun-Moon-Ascendant) that lead to Good Fortune and Spiritual Upliftment.]
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INDIVIDUAL/PERSONAL LIFE THEMES

5a-Mars - Work - Action - Movement - Self & Physical Body
5b-Venus - Love - Enjoyment - People & Personal Possessions
6a-Mercury - Knowledge - Information & Personal Communications
6b-Venus - Relationship - Friends & Personal Connections

7a-Ceres - Nurturing (Self & Other)
7b-Juno - Intimate Others
7c-Pallas - Communications
7d-Vesta - Personal Growth
8-Chiron - Healing and Spiritual Path

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UNIVERSAL LIFE THEMES

9-Jupiter - Spirit and Blue Sky or Mind - Expansion - FIRE
10-Saturn - Matter and Earth or Body - Limitation - EARTH
11-Uranus - Omniscience - Wisdom - AIR - Ether
12-Neptune - Omnipresence - Love - WATER - Essence
13-Pluto - Omnipotence - Power - WATER & FIRE - Energy

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SOUL JOURNEY - PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

14a-North Lunar Node - Destiny, Evolution, Straightforwardness
14b-South Lunar Node - Origins, Regression, Complacency

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**The other Earth-Centered perspective begins at Birth (and the birth of each moment) with the Ascendant and Moon, yang and yin, outer and inner personality (sense of self) respectively, in response to early environment. Then the Sun actively develops and reveals itself overtime via the Planets, beginning with fastest moving Mercury then Venus (innermost planets that are of it's own thinking/feeling process, often in same sign), then Mars and the Outer Planets (Jupiter out to Pluto) where by the evolutionary experience unfolds for the individual via collective connection, to the world (Mars/Jupiter/Saturn) & the universe (Uranus/Neptune/Pluto) at large...

JDZ

Friday, November 20, 2009

Natal Chart Analysis (Numerological Revision)

An ongoing assignment, to be added to and revised overtime as necessary...

Paying attention also to the specific numerological placements and order (1-17):

1-Sun in Virgo/2nd House conjunct Jupiter in Virgo/2nd

2-Moon in Scorpio/5th House conjunct Neptune in Scorpio/4th
Sextile Uranus-Venus-Mercury Stellium in Virgo/3rd

3a-Ascendant in Leo w/ Mars Rising (in Leo/1st House), Nadir in Libra, Descendant Aquarius, Vertex Sagittarius.
Chart Ruler: the Sun in Virgo/2nd House conjunct Jupiter (& Rolling Virgo Stellium)

3b-Part of Fortune in Libra/4th House conjunct Nadir (4th House Cusp) opposite Saturn in Aries/10th.

4a-Mid-Heaven in Aries with Saturn (Aries/10th) conjunct and Mars (Leo/1st) Trine,
Mars Ruler of MC is in Leo/1st (which disposits again The Virgo/2nd house Sun.

4b-Part of Spirit in Taurus/10th conjunct Vesta (in same) trine Sun conjunct Jupiter in Virgo/2nd.

5-Mars in Leo/1st House (Rising & in Dignity) trine MC and Vertex

6-Mercury in Virgo/3rd House conjunct Venus/Uranus & Pluto (all in same) sextile Moon conjunct Neptune in Scorpio in 5th.

7-Venus in Virgo/3rd House conjunct Mercury/Uranus & Pluto... same as Mercury (above) in all aspects.

8a-Ceres in Scorpio/4th conjunct Juno sextile Sun
8b-Juno in Scorpio/4th conjunct Ceres sextile Sun
8c-Pallas in Libra/3rd conjunct Nadir
8d-Vesta in Taurus/10th conjunct Part of Spirit, trine Sun

9-Jupiter in Virgo/2nd/3rd Houses conjunct Sun in Virgo/2nd & Pluto in Virgo/3rd & trine Vesta

10-Saturn in Aries/10th House conjunct Midheaven in Aries, in Quincunx & YOD with Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Pluto in Virgo/3rd AND Moon-Neptune in Scorpio/5th

11-Uranus in Virgo/3rd House conjunct Mercury/Venus and Pluto, sextile Moon/Neptune in Scorpio (EXACT SEXTILE w/ MOON in Scorpio)

12-Neptune in Scorpio/4th/5th Houses conjunct Moon, sextile Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Pluto, semi-sextile Part of Fortune in Libra

13a-Pluto in Virgo/3rd House conjunct Mercury-Venus-Uranus and Jupiter, sextile Neptune-Moon in Scorpio

13b-Chiron in Aries/9th House conjunct North Node in Aries/9th (opposite South Node in Libra), opposition (wide) with Mercury-Venus-Uranus in Virgo/3rd

14a-North Node in ARIES/9th House - Conjunct MC & Chiron (at their midpoint)
14b-South Node in LIBRA/3rd House - Conjunct IC & Pallas Athena

15-Elemental Distributions, Planetary Signatures and Rulers, Major Dispositors and Midpoints; a composite summarization of key chart emphases, based on all chart data

16-The Key Configurations - YOD, Grand Trine, Stelliums, T-Squares, etc as MAJOR LIFE THEMES that dictate the core lessons and themes of living.

17-The Natal Chart synthesized and understood in its Entirety

JDZ

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Higher-Lower and Equal Planetary Octaves: Personal transcendence & the trans-personal

Where the Sun and Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, are concerned there are no HIGHER octaves, just equal octaves, because the Sun truly is one with Jupiter and the Moon (via Earth) is one with Saturn... though the latter pair clearly indicate a duality, the Moon is private and personal, Saturn more public and impersonal (or less personal than the Moon).

Where the Sun represents Creator (the Circle), and individuals are as Co-Creators (the Dot at Center), Jupiter is the Creation... where the Sun represents pure being and vitality Jupiter is the outwardly expressed form, feeling and imagery that completes it. Where the Moon represents the need for emotional security Saturn is the harsh reality of this inherent insecurity and the way to having more stability (functionality) in one's personal existence.

The rest is as follows:

Mars and Pluto - the Individual and Universal Will, respectively. Keeping the fundamentally important Martial qualities (as with all "lower octaves") intact there is a necessity where Pluto is concerned to transcend all purely personal and selfish motivations/desires and uplift one's central intention for positive action.

Venus and Neptune - Personal and Universal Love, respectively... both are Divine though the vast ocean of Neptune is macrocosm to the personal love of Venus experienced by a lovely local seashore. Neptune is the transcendence of all emotional-personal-material attachments, it is love without any expectation of love in return, and compassion for all beings at the soul level.

Mercury and Uranus - Individual/Personal and Universal/Cosmic Intelligence... Mercury as an individual expression/vibration of Uranus operates at the level of beginner's mind with a flame of inquiry, the desire to know... then the "unlearning process" of Uranus makes us universally aware of the limits of knowledge (as nothing more than signposts pointing to the Truth or reality...) and awakens us to INTUITION, the intelligence that is a bridge to the unknown, beyond what the thinking mind could ever comprehend. The transcendence of identification with all personal-intellectual-emotional thought processes.

JDZ

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Sun

By Dana Gerhart

You know those little Sun sign scrolls sold in vending machines and grocery stores? Years ago I met the founder of one such company. I'll never forget his enthusiasm. "Where else," he beamed, "can you buy a publication that's entirely about you?" Every line on every page is your story!" We can forgive his overestimating the depth and accuracy of supermarket horoscopes; nonetheless, he put his finger on astrology's fundamental appeal. It promotes a pleasant narcissistic fiction. It makes the grand movement of the solar system all about us. It makes each of us a star.

We're mad for stars. Our obsession with celebrity culture reflects a deep and universal longing: everyone wants to be someone. We want to be more than nature's anonymous display, blooming and fading by the side of the road. Everyone burns (or desires to burn) with a unique and special purpose. We're on a journey-a hero's journey! And happily, Sun sign astrology understands our heroic mission. It democratically upgrades the ancient solar myth: where once astrology was exclusively for kings, now everyone can have a horoscope.

Yet something is amiss in the kingdom. Even as horoscope columns affirm our ambitions and celebrate our radiance, cheering us on our way, there's something awkward in their tone. Sun sign astrologers often mince and prance like servants who must repeatedly assure the king. "Yes, you will have a wonderful day! You'll win your true love, collect plenty of gold, enjoy excellent health, and find victory in battle!" Are such platitudes really the stuff for heroes? For little Suns? Can we imagine the bright center of our solar system quivering as it consults the papers for news of the day's influences?"("What are Mars and Pluto doing to me today?") Maybe this is why some people feel compelled to bolster their spirits with astrological insignias on necklaces and coffee mugs, banding together with other Suns to proclaim "Aries/Taurus/Gemini/etc. rules!"

All this would have had ancient astrologers scratching their heads. For it wasn't until the last hundred years that Sun signs became so popular. Sun sign astrology was invented-by a Sun-ruled Leo, of course. Born in August 1860, William Frederick Allan, who later renamed himself Alan Leo, is considered one of the first modern astrologers. Leo strengthened the notion of character as destiny, steering horoscopes away from predictable fates into psychological profiles laced with spiritual themes. But as a businessman, he was particularly astute. With offices in London, Paris, and New York, and a staff of nearly a dozen people, he produced thousands of horoscopes every year. Like any smart CEO manufacturing a product, he recognized the need to simplify his production line. He trimmed the birth chart to just one factor: the Sun sign. With this master stroke, he created a way to divide people into simple zodiac clusters. Everyone knows their birth date. Without any knowledge of astrology's true complexity, people could easily fit themselves into one of twelve astro-groups. And that's how Sun sign columns were born.

Sun sign astrology is a profitable but ultimately flawed business. Much like fast food, it adds weight without real nourishment, increasing one's craving more than giving true satisfaction. People now wonder endlessly about their identities. Having lost an appreciation for their journey's mystery, they instead keep acquiring more mass. ("On the Enneagram I'm '4,' in Vedic astrology I'm actually a Cancer, in the Chinese system I'm a Rat, and my personal destiny number is a.") Astrologers get calls from people who have jobs, families, mortgages, and driver licenses-yet are hoping the chart can tell them who they are. Our culture is as off-center as the celebrities we like to see crash and burn on our tabloid news.

Losing center is an ironic twist on the Sun's traditional meaning-which is apparent in the glyph itself. The Sun is depicted as a circle with a dot in the middle. A unity with a center as its focal point. There are possibly a trillion galaxies in the universe, each with a hundred billion Suns. Our universe is designed for many centers. Yet we lose this revelation when we worry over much about our personal identities. Our natural radiance dims when we solidify ourselves into conditioned objects, beginning our sentences with "I'm the kind of person who." Pinned by the gravity of taking ourselves too seriously, like a star gone supernova and become a black hole, being at center yields to merely being self-centered.

Alan Leo would be mortified. So to correct our Sun sign narcissism, I propose something even simpler than Leo's master stroke. Instead of reading daily horoscopes, people could start each day by reading their hearts, for the heart offers the most vivid experience of the centering Sun. Try this right now. Simply tune into your beating heart. Stay with the sensation for a few minutes. Feel the life force pulsing through you. Notice how your attention makes the heart grow warmer. After awhile you may feel a pleasant glow. Now shift your thoughts to those activities or people who energize and inspire you. Notice how enthusiasm fires up your radiance. When you come from your heart, you light up. Others are energized by your presence. Just as the Sun is the source of all creative events on Earth, so your creativity can inspire others to express their light-like a flame that is not diminished but builds each time it's passed along. This will be true whatever your Sun sign-Leo, Scorpio, or anything in between.

Returning to Sun Worship

In the center of the Aztec calendar is the Sun god Tonatiuh, "He Who Goes Forth Shining." The Aztecs understood that all good things come from the Sun, but Tonatiuh was no Santa Claus. He had a long and menacing tongue ready to lap up the human blood he required in exchange for his life-granting gifts. Aztec priests routinely sacrificed human hearts to keep the Sun god strong, thus ensuring the survival of their people. Without their blood sacrifice, Aztecs feared the Sun would stop in its tracks and time would stand still. The world would either plunge into perpetual darkness or burn to a cinder.

Of course we know the Sun doesn't revolve around us. Sunrises and sunsets appear as Earth rotates on its axis. Earth circles the Sun and that defines our year. The laws of physics will keep the whole show going, until a few billion years from now when the Sun goes supernova. In the meantime, technology has freed us from worrying about Sun gods. For heat and light we've got electricity, light bulbs, and central heating-that's our immediate experience, that's what our children learn. If it's too cold, turn up the heat. If it's too dark, turn on a light.

So in a way, the Sun has disappeared from our lives, which is exactly what the Aztecs feared. And what's happened? Our sense of time has gone haywire. Life has sped up. Exhausted people with too much to do and not enough time are everywhere. Along with bi-polar disorder, ADD, autism, insomnia and penile dysfunction, two great maladies of our culture are depression and burn-out. Depression is a sign we've lost our fire, our inner Sun no longer rising with the day. Burn-out means there's too much fire, a constant inner Sun frying our circuits. Even though the sky above is hunkey dorey, physically, psychologically, and spiritually, we below are not. Is it because we no longer worship the Sun? Might Tonatiuh be angry? If so, how can we come back to center? Maybe we should propitiate the solar god again.

Blood sacrifice just won't do. Among the Aztecs, blood was the proper currency of exchange between gods and men. Gods gave their blood to create the world and humans were honored to return the favor. Human sacrifice wasn't barbaric; it was a gesture of divine reciprocity. In our culture a more appropriate currency might be light. Light is a metaphor for consciousness. The Sun lights our world and we can return the favor by bringing our consciousness back to the Sun. We can hold the Sun in reverent awareness. Happily, astrology gives us two exquisite means for doing just that.

Get out a copy of your birth chart. More than personality and purpose, the Sun indicates time, and this is embedded in your chart's design. That outer circle with all twelve signs? It represents a year, the time it takes for Earth to make a complete revolution around the Sun, or for the Sun to rise through all twelve constellations. The transiting Sun takes one year to circuit all twelve houses of your chart, metaphorically lighting up each one for about a month. Now look at the cross in the center of your horoscope, indicating the four angles of the chart. These angles were originally devised by the Egyptians, who like the Aztecs, worshipped the Sun. They patterned the angles after the Sun's daily round.

The Ascendant carries the feel and meaning of sunrise; planets transiting this point bring new beginnings. The Midheaven evokes the Sun at noon, high in the sky at maximum glory; the MC indicates where people likewise shine in public strength. The Descendent evokes the setting sun, when the day's work is done; marking the house of partnership, it indicates where we surrender ourselves to another. The IC is the midnight point, when we are deep in sleep and the Sun is also resting from our world. It represents the private foundations of our life-our family, our home, our essential self.

Through houses and angles, birth charts offer a personalized imprint of the Sun's dual signatures, the year and the day. Though rarely discussed as such by astrologers, these two horoscope templates suggest a simple yet elegant way to carry the Sun's centering influence into our lives.