Midlife Transits

I want to draw your attention to this week’s podcast because it features an interview with Jude Cowell. You may know of her from her gorgeous artwork (featured at Secret Moon Art and at Zazzle) but you may also know her as a prolific blogger on politics and current events. She blogs at Stars Over Washington and has been posting  lots of interesting material on a range of subjects from the BP oil spill to the recent Afghan war WikiLeaks material and lots of stuff in between.

In the interview, Jude talks about how she got started, how she approaches political astrology, some of the history of mundane astrology, which US chart she uses and more. She’s a fascinating guest, and I hope you’ll listen to her. You can find the podcast here: http://webtalkradio.net/shows/practical-astrology/

August is kind of complicated, as planets in cardinal signs (Venus, Mars and Saturn in Libra, Jupiter and Uranus in Aries, and Pluto in Capricorn) make clashing angles with each other. The planets in Libra are transiting your solar 2nd house of financial matters. Jupiter and Uranus are opposing them in your solar house of joint financial matters and other mysterious things. Pluto is situated in your love life house, also the house that deals with children and creative endeavors. After the 14th, Uranus moves back into Pisces and your 7th house of marriage. Complicated.

To streamline things a bit, let’s look at this through the eyes of Jupiter in Aries, who moves slowly this month. Jupiter is the education planet, so presumably during his stay in Aries you’d be acquiring (or perhaps teaching) knowledge and skills related to joint finances, debt management, taxes and investments or other 8th house matters. Well and good. No biggie.

Then Pluto comes along during the first week of August, squaring Jupiter from your 5th house of love, kids, and creativity and says something like ‘change o’plans. A serious matter requires your attention and you must travel to attend to it.’ Why travel? Because Jupiter is a travel planet as well. I’m not saying this is what will happen, it’s just an example. You’re plugging along, living your life, and then planets want to bring up serious matters that require you to make difficult adjustments to your plans. This kind of thing happens all month long, in various areas of your life.

Fortunately, next month should be better!

Let’s start with job and career. Jupiter and Uranus start the month in your 6th house of jobs, and then Uranus moves back into your 5th house of love life, children, and creative projects by the 14th.  Meanwhile, Jupiter is challenged by Pluto, Saturn, Mars, and Venus all by 16th of the month. Put bluntly, your beliefs about jobs, and work and employment are scheduled to be challenged.

Meanwhile, your career and professional projects get a boost from the sun in Leo until the 23rd. The time around the new moon on the 9th provides a good time to initiate a new important creative, intellectual, or career endeavor.

Pluto in Capricorn may have an impact on your professional choices as well, as he hammers at Jupiter in your job sector. For some reason, research or gaining more knowledge seem to be key. With Pluto in your 3rd house and Jupiter in your 6th house, a profession like teaching seems to fit the bill astrologically. Yet, Venus, Mars, and Saturn in your 12th house of the subconscious seem to disagree or resist your long-term direction regarding your job or vocation. It is possible that momentary feelings of laziness are discouraging you from pursuing the knowledge you need to succeed. If that’s the case, the doldrums should subside relatively early next month when planets start moving into your own sign.

The most difficult clash comes from Pluto square Saturn. This aspect becomes exact on the 21st but builds before then. Both of these planets are concerned with reputation by nature, and they don’t seem to agree on what yours should be. Possible outcome: a secret is outed.

Career month for Sagittarius! Here’s the lowdown. Saturn, which has been messing up your career progress since late 2007, is finally gone from this sector of your chart for good. Well gone for around 29 or 30 years at least. Yay!

Career month actually begins on July 21, when Saturn leaves Virgo, your career sign. At this point, Venus is in your career sector. She stays through August 6. Mercury enters your career sector on July 27 and stays all the way through to October, thanks to a retrograde. Conflict-y Mars leaves on the 29th of July. And the sun enters Virgo on the 23rd of August.

Mercury’s long stay in this sector can used to put attention on any type of vocational or business endeavor. The Venus energy through the first week of the month focuses more on the people involved in your profession and on building relationships with them. The sun can be used to build up your reputation.

The kink in the works might be Pluto in Capricorn in your 2nd house of income. Pluto’s on something of a rampage with many of the other planets this month, although not your career-related ones. Pluto in Capricorn relates to reputation by his nature, and he spends the first week of August glaring at Jupiter, who represents the part of your chart that just wants to have fun. At the moment, necessity or at the very least protecting your reputation requires that you put work before fun for the month. Pluto’s equally unhappy with planets in your social life sector, and it seems he really wants you to concentrate on bringing home the bucks right now. So, like I said–career month!

This month, there’s an awful lot of energy in the sector of your chart that relates to profession and respect. Venus enters Libra, your career sign, by the 7th, while Mars and Saturn spend the whole month there. I wish that I could tell you that these planets will conspire to give you a well-deserved good reputation in your field or with the public at large, and that they will bestow upon you the respect you have undoubtedly earned. This could happen, but the somewhat greater likelihood is that you’ll need to fight like a dog to win back your reputation from threats of your own devising or maybe even from volatile family members.

The problem is that 2 of the planets at the top of your chart, Mars and Saturn, are not always easy to get along with. Mars is prone to outbursts of temper. Saturn’s a bit better but can seem stand-offish or correlate with career and reputation stress. Neither of these things is the end of the world, but Pluto in your own sign is picking fights with all 3 of the planets in your career sector this month as well as with Jupiter in your 4th house of family. Something inside you seemingly wants to sabotage all you have worked for. Hold your temper in August and don’t let it. If you can make it through August, you’ll see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel in September.

Something in your chart is paranoid about your reputation in August, as Pluto in Capricorn makes nasty angles to other planets all month, and scours the skies for hidden enemies. Fortunately, relaxed Neptune in your own friendly sign somewhat counteracts the vibe. Neptune-y people (artistic and/or spiritual types, for example) are still likely to be attracted to you or hold you in good regard. Healers may also give assistance, or you may be able to help others heal.

Meanwhile, your ruler Uranus moves from Aries back into Pisces mid-month. Theoretically, while Uranus is in Aries, he wants to help you achieve some goal or gain some results in the area of communication. He’s planted some seeds in that area, and now he’s going to go leave them alone and let them germinate for awhile. In Pisces, he comes back to take aim at your finances once again. 7 more months of Uranus taking aim at your finances and then you won’t have to deal with him in that spot again unless you live to be really really old. (It takes Uranus 84 years to circle the zodiac.)

Your first instinct will probably be to want to hide your money from Uranus, since he’s spent a lot of time trying to snatch it away from many Aquarians. However, since this is his last tour in Pisces (until March 2011), you may want to consider that perhaps his real aim now is to increase your income, not destroy it. That should probably be your goal anyway, to make more money.

The biggest astrological news for Leo in August is probably the movement of Uranus from Aries back into Pisces mid-month. Uranus in Aries is a reasonably happy placement for Leo, Pisces not so much. Uranus in Pisces has been dogging you for about 7 years and now it’s time for his farewell tour. The farewell tour lasts about 7 months, until mid-March 2011. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to totally and permanently get rid of whatever problems Uranus in Pisces may have caused you so that you can be clean and fresh and ready for the vital energy of Uranus in Aries for 7 years.

What kind of problem could that be? Well, the 8th house is complicated so it’s hard to give a blanket answer for all Leos. Uranus is impulsive, so you might look to see what kind of longstanding impulses have not been working out for you during the last 7 years that need to be thoroughly changed or deleted (since Uranus is about change and the 8th house is often about removing something). You could also look to see how you’ve been reacting to Pluto in Capricorn in your 6th house of health and employment, as Pluto echoes similar themes. Health patterns in particular may need to be changed. This final confrontation with Uranus in Pisces eats up more than half of the coming year for your sign. It will be a real relief to put it behind you. In the meantime, concentrate on physical and psychological health.

Speaking of Pluto, he spends much of the month fighting with Jupiter and then Saturn.  He evens briefly squares off with Venus and Mars. Oy vey! Co-workers may be a real pain and management perhaps even more so. The good news is that they get over it by September and everyone retreats to their various corners for awhile. You’ve also got a birthday new moon wish day this month on the 9th. That’s a good thing.

Pluto in your 10th house of career and reputation spends much of the month mad at someone. He gets mad at Jupiter and Saturn and even Venus and Mars. A quick interpretation of that would be that whatever your inclination is this month, someone else will have to go and have a different one. Pluto also pertains to sexual matters, so I suppose it’s possible that you are developing a reputation as a sexy beast, although I am in no way going to guarantee that.

But it is possible that, especially during the early part of the month, someone else will be inclined to take a sexual relationship far more seriously than you were intending. Your own sign has been trying to feel all free and easy with Jupiter and Uranus cavorting in its early degrees, but Pluto is not Mr. Freedom and he gets irked when he cannot possess someone. Just so you know. Furthermore, you’ve got Mars (also sexy) and Venus (love and relationships) in your 7th house of bonding in all its forms. Pluto squares off with Mars on the 4th and with Venus on the 10th. Your sign is stuck with people who apparently want to fasten themselves to you this month and not let go.

And I haven’t even mentioned Saturn in your 7th house yet! Saturn and Pluto also square off this month, with the aspect reaching exactitude on the 21st and building before then. This is the kind of face-off that can bring up old relationship wounds, although they are more likely to be metaphorical than physical thank goodness. Suffice to say you’ve got some stuff to work through this month. If you do, though, September will be much easier it seems.

Sexy Pluto is very active this month, operating from your solar 9th house. He makes a number of difficult aspects to planets in Libra, the sign that rules relationships between the sexes, as well as to Jupiter in Aries. Normally, the action of Pluto during these aspects would be to make a person feel confined, un-free. In your case, this could take the form of feeling confined in the sense of desperately wanting a vacation but there’s just too much darn work to do. Or feeling confined and restless because relationship and sexual issues keep playing on your mind.

Hurt feelings could also come to the surface. The most difficult aspects are Saturn and Mars in your 6th house of health and work squaring off with Pluto. The Mars square takes place on August 4 and the Saturn square reaches exactness on the 21st. The worst case scenario, I suppose, would be some sort of injury or physical wound, especially around the time of the Mars aspect. Be careful during the first week of the month. Occasionally, Mars-Pluto aspects are associated with violence, and during that first week we do have volatile planets in Aries also heating things up.

More likely though, there will be no physical violence in your life, but instead some sort of a feeling that something is trying to rupture or tear apart a relationship you’ve involved in, and it need not be a sexual or romantic one. The reason seems to be that the universe wants you to hold firm to your principles. If you acknowledge that other people have their own principles, too, you may be able to salvage the relationship.

Pluto in your 8th house spends almost the whole month nursing grudges against various other planets. He squares off against no fewer than 4 planets this month. In your chart, all of these dust-ups have to do with relationships in one way or another. The action is so intense that it sounds like a good month to just go into the backyard and do some gardening, hiding out from everyone. You’re better off connecting to something tangible, like the earth, than operating in your normal air sign arena of thoughts and conversation.

Another possibility is to escape through travel. Neptune in your travel house is one of the few major planets not getting involved in any major arguments this month. A nice long trip could even be a healing endeavor. Try to go during the first 2 weeks before Uranus moves back into your career sector.

If you must stay in the fray the whole month, prepare for an involuntary education in the ways of society, because ours is likely to be rife with conflict. If you are able to ignore the angst in the general population, then the aspects may take you on a more personal journey. What is happening during the first part of the month is that Jupiter in Aries in your solar 11th house is squaring off against Pluto in your 8th. Jupiter in Aries represents, on one level, your powers of reasoning and judgment, because that’s what Jupiter specializes in. Pluto, on the other hand, represents the volcanic sub-surface instincts that ruthlessly promote survival, no matter the cost. Pluto specializes in the non-rational and cares little for conventional wisdom and judgment. You can actually bulk up your rational mind during the first half of the month by challenging your own instincts and discovering what lies below them.

Toward the second half of the month, Pluto squares off against Saturn in the part of your chart that governs love affairs and children. The same dynamic applies, but is even more intense. The bottom line is that if you are going to engage with people on anything other than a superficial level this month, you’ll need to be ready to check yourself so that your reactions don’t become overly intense.

August is kind of a crazy mixed-up month. The good news is that Uranus moves back into Pisces by the 14th. This takes energy out of your career sector and puts it back into your travel sector, so if you can take a week’s vacation go for it. The time before the 14th, however, continues to see quite a bit of action in the part of your chart that deals with your professional life, as Uranus and Jupiter will both be there.

During the first week or so of August, there is a clash between Jupiter in the 10th and Pluto in your 7th house of relationships. In fact, Jupiter will actually make difficult aspects with 4 planets this month–Pluto, plus Mars, Venus, and Saturn in Libra in your solar 4th house of hearth and home. What Jupiter in the 10th is supposed to do is help prepare you for the future by encouraging you to develop intellectually through education or training. He’s supposed to help you grow up a little bit professionally. Sometimes people will also find themselves in a more public or visible role while Jupiter is in their 10th, or they will take on the role of teaching and training others. Getting a promotion or becoming a supervisor are not uncommon.

During the first half of the month, though, all these other planets seem to want to interfere with Jupiter’s agenda and force you to pay attention to other things that come up regarding your career or personal life. That subsides after the 16th, so if you can make it through to then, then you can use the time later to get away and perhaps deal with whatever personal life issues seem to have the planets all roiled up.

The month starts with 2 planets in your marriage and relationship sector, Jupiter and Uranus in Aries. Uranus moves back into your job and health sector on the 14th. Jupiter meanwhile clashes with 4 planets (Pluto in Capricorn, and Venus, Mars and Saturn in your sign) between the 1st and the 16th. The Jupiter square Pluto clash could mean things like planning to take a trip with your spouse and then not being able to because things arise on the home front that need to be attended to. Even shorter car trips are supposedly not well-starred this month as Mercury goes retrograde in Virgo. Some say this does not bode well for even short trips, although I haven’t found that to be the case in practice.

Jupiter also relates to beliefs and opinions or convictions. Mars and Venus in your own sign challenge him this month. This is the sort of aspect that indicates that people’s opinions could hurt your feelings or their stubborn beliefs could limit your scope of action in some way, especially the opinions of a partner.  Saturn in your own sign will also clash with Jupiter. Since Saturn often relates to career, your personal interest in or commitment to your career could clash with your partner’s ideas about how things ought to be. If the clash doesn’t relate to career, it could simply have to do with your own personal progress and evolution these days, clashing with your ideas about marriage and partnership.

Finally, Pluto in your solar 4th house is also making difficult aspects to Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, and Mars. Bottom line: a month of adjustments. Next month–not as hairy.

Pluto in your 11th house of friends makes many difficult aspects this month. This may not affect you unduly unless you have powerful friends and supporters, as Pluto in any sector relates to powerful and influential people. If you do have such supporters or backers, there seems to be some sort of a to-do about money that doesn’t look entirely pleasant.

Meanwhile, your ruler Neptune is gliding majestically through the last degrees of Aquarius in your solar 12th house, as is Chiron, the wounded healer. By April of next year, Neptune will make his foray into your own sign, and we will literally standing on the edge of an end of an era. It will mark the end of the gadgety and Interwebby Aquarian era that has overtaken our society since the mid-1990s. Your ruler will be doubly strong in your own sign.

In preparation for this hand-over (which won’t be complete until 2012), Uranus moves from Aries back into your sign at the middle of this month. Uranus in Aries relates to money in your life, but it also encourages you to be more proactive about allying yourself with others who share common values. In your own sign, Uranus becomes more passive and instinctive regarding allies and perhaps even repels them. The next 7 months represent something of a last gasp in your chart’s long effort to get you toward as much independence as you can stand, so that you can form your later alliances productively. The difference is that this time around, Uranus is not being opposed by Saturn. Uranus in Pisces won’t be at war any more and what that means is that you may be able to practice being independent and in relationship at the same time. And that’s a good thing.

Chinese Astrology Chart

This week’s podcast is on the topics of Chinese astrology and Feng Shui. Rosie Francis, a Feng Shui consultant from the UK, talks about the basis for Chinese astrology and gives us some tips for using Feng Shui in our daily lives. In honor of the topic, I’m also running a guest post from Matthew Chapman, an expert on Chinese Astrology and Feng Shui from San Francisco, California. Matthew gives us some fascinating insight into the history and methods of Chinese astrology.This is part of what I hope will be a continuing series on special topics on various spiritual disciplines that can be used in conjunction with the more common basic elements of Western astrology. Here’s a link to Rosie Francis’s website Red 8 Feng Shui.

Ba Zi, the Four Pillars of Destiny Chinese Astrology

Chinese Astrology began in Siberia to predict weather and food availability. The nomads used the astronomical patterns to find out when they should migrate, and where to find good pasture. They saw the stars and correlated this information with their lives. This slowly developed into a pattern, which became the Chinese Calendar, or Tong Shu.

These northern people moved south when the ice returned about 5000 years ago. They settled in what is now Central China, and began to use this in a more systematic way. An early written language meant that the Chinese have one of the best-documented histories, and the patterns and activities that occurred were recorded and reviewed for all aspects of life. They correlated things like natural disasters, uprisings, and the lives of the royal court with these patterns, creating an empirical database that is now over 4000 years old. About 200 BC, when the Qin Emperor united central China, this science of astrology, calendar management and Date Selection became a strong force supported by the government. By the 12 century, the government had an astrology department of over 18,000 officials!

Chinese Astrology has two different methods. The one used most in Asia and the rest of the world is Ba Zi, or Four Pillars of Destiny. Another form is Zi Wei Dou Shu, used for the royal family, and little used today in the West.

Ba Zi is based upon the Chinese Solar Calendar. Each period, year, month, day and hour is defined by one of 60 combinations of the Jia Zi, or Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. This ongoing pattern is called the Cosmic Flow. This calendar has been in place for over 4000 years. It has never been changed due to political ideas, like the Christian calendar, and is very accurate. Western Calendars still have accuracy problems, because they changed their system on religious activity, and not upon the actual pattern of the movement of the Earth. The Chinese today use the Lunar Calendar for agriculture and festivals.

This is the primary difference between Chinese Astrology and Western or Vedic forms. Next, is the fact that Western Astrology is based upon the stars, the planets, and the orbits of these bodies. Chinese Astrology is no longer based upon stars. It is based upon a pattern of energy or Qi (chi) that never changes. The correlations between what were at first astronomical observances, and patterns of human activity is what we use to determine a person’s character, and how they will fit in with these patterns.

How does Ba Zi work? We start by looking at the Natal chart, consisting of 4 Pillars, representing the Year, Month, Day and Hour of Birth. Each of these has 2 characters (Ba Zi means 8 Characters). The top character is the Heavenly Stem, and is the Yin or Yang form of one of the 5 Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water). This is the outer expression of who we are. The lower character is one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals (Rat, Pig, Ox, etc.). These are called Earthly Branches. This is the deeper expression of who we are. These Earthly Branches also have the Yin and Yang of the Elements within them. For instance, we are in the Year of the Metal Tiger. The Tiger is defined by Yang Wood, but has in it hidden Yang Water and Yang Earth.

Ba Zi also has a Luck Cycle chart, with luck pillars of 10 years. Each of these also has a combination of Stems and Branches which, in combination with the Natal chart, tells us how life will go for a person.

A key feature is to find balance and harmony within the chart. Too much of one element creates an imbalance, and from this we find Helpful Elements. When these balancing elements are present in the Cosmic Flow, we consider this a lucky period, or when we are well supported. Lack of these elements means more difficulties. We also see the relationships within the Branches. We look for clashes and combinations that have different meanings. And the Natal chart is broken into different aspects of our lives and relationships, so the combinations affect those aspects as well.

For instance, a person born in a Monkey Year may experience physical or financial difficulty in this Year of the Tiger, since these animals clash. A person born in a Snake Year may have relationship or emotional problems, since the Tiger is a ‘Harm’ to the Snake. Add this to the Stem or Element of the year, and we see exactly how this may enfold.

Each element has other meanings to a person, based upon their Self-Element. A self-element of Earth, especially a weak one, will have problems in a Metal Tiger Year, since Metal drains Earth by its action of producing it (we dig ore from the earth), and is controlled by Wood (tree roots displace earth). For an Earth person, Metal also represents output, children and expression. Wood indicates power, and for a woman, the husband.

A solid understanding of Yin and Yang, and the Five Elements of Chinese Medicine are required to understand this system. And that is why it is so closely related to Feng Shui, which uses the same principles. In fact, an Earthly Branch or Zodiac animal defines each house. If you happen to clash with this sign, the house may cause problems for you.

Like all systems, this is complex and a good astrologer can pinpoint many things. In its simpler forms, like horoscopes, where we only look at the year of birth and the current year, month or day, we are missing the bulk of the interactions, though they can give a general clue as to what my happen. And a good reading is not fortune telling. It is advising a person on how they fit into the Cosmic Flow. It’s always better to ‘go with the flow.’

Matthew Chapman, CFSC