Conference hydra::dejavu

269.0. "For Those Interested in Astrology - My Own Beginner's Summary" by NATASH::BUTCHART () Tue Dec 23 1986 11:29

			THE BEGINNER'S ASTROLOGICAL PRIMER

	IN THE BEGINNING . . .

	Your astrological Natal Chart is your personal map of the zodiac at
	the moment of your birth.  It shows your talents, areas of probable
	struggle,  all  the  facets that make up the unique YOU.  The Natal
	Chart has in it your own personal arrangement of Signs, Planets and
	Houses.


	SIGNS, PLANETS & HOUSES:  WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

		SIGNS		show HOW you act

		PLANETS		show WHAT action

		HOUSES		show WHERE action takes place

	Depending on your birth date, year and time, any Planet may be  set
	up  in  any  House  or  any Sign.  No one's chart layout is exactly
	alike.  The way it all falls together for you is what makes  you  a
	unique individual.


	IT'S ALL ENERGY (JUST LIKE EINSTEIN SAID) . . .

	It  is important to understand that Planets and Signs represent the
	ENERGIES in a life.  There are three basic characteristics  to  any
	energy in your life (and Natal Chart):   

		Polarity, Element and Quality.

	Polarity refers to an energy's ORIENTATION.  It implies  a  balance
	of opposites.

	Element refers to an energy's  MANIFESTATION.   It  represents  not
	only the type of energy, but how it manifests in your life.

	Quality  (or  Modality) refers to an energy's STYLE.  It represents
	an energy's expression as part of a continuous cycle.

	Each Astrological Sign and  its  associated  Planet  represents  an
	energy  orientation,   manifestation  and  style  in your character.
	There are thousands of  subtle  ways  that  they  can  be  combined.
	Below  are  some  brief  definitions  of the characteristics of the
	Zodiacal Energies.


			THE POLARITIES

	YANG	The projective, outgoing, active energy orientation.

	YIN	The receptive, absorbing, passive energy orientation.

	Yang and yin, night and day, good and bad, love and hate, sweet and
	bitter, up and  down,  heads  and  tails.   We  are  familiar  with
	polarities, often placing value judgements in favor of one side  or
	the  other.   In reality, without one side of a polarity, the other
	ceases to have any meaning.  You have both yang  and  yin  in  your
	character; the total Natal Chart layout shows where these different
	orientations are expressed and whether or not it is easy to do so.


			THE ELEMENTS

	FIRE	Your Vitality.   Even though it is not a  physical  energy,
		it animates the physical, and gives it life.  It also mani-
		fests as your desire for growth.
			Fire has a Yang orientation.

	EARTH	Your Physical Body or the Physical World (what we agree to
		call "reality").  It also manifests  as  your  desire  for
		security.
			Earth has a Yin orientation.

	AIR	Your Mental Energy.  It  also manifests as your desire for
		interaction.
			Air has a Yang orientation.

	WATER	Your Emotions, or Soul.  It also manifests as your  desire
		for love.
			Water has a Yin orientation.

	The "four elements" make up the four major facets of a human being:
	the body, the feelings, the mind and the spirit.  It  is  false  to
	identify with only one facet of yourself.  This seems to be exactly
	what  most  of  us  are  trained  to  do;  commonly, the mental and
	physical abilities are considered the definers of  a  person.   But
	you  are  all  these and more, the "more" being when these four are
	combined in the many ways shown by your birth chart.


			THE QUALITIES (MODALITIES)

	CARDINALITY	An energy style that Initiates Action.

	FIXITY		An  energy  style  that  Consolidates,  Strengthens
			Deepens and  Maintains  that  which  was  initiated
			through Cardinality.

	MUTABILITY	An  energy style that Evaluates, Changes, Disperses
			and Diffuses  that  which  was  "finished"  through
			Fixity.

	These  three Qualities form a cycle:  action is begun (Cardinality)
	that action is  "finished"  (Fixity)  and  is  then  evaluated  and
	and  dispersed  (Mutability)  in  preparation  for  the next action
	(Cardinality).  Many people are already familiar with  this  cycle:
	you  set  a  goal,  you  work to attain it, and having attained it,
	you ask yourself "is that all?" prepare to move on to the next goal.

	Each Element can operate in all three ways. For example, there is a
	Cardinal Fire sign, a Fixed Fire sign and a Mutable Fire sign.


	THE ZODIAC: THE ENERGY CHARACTERISTICS APPLIED

	Keeping  in  mind the three characteristics of energy, the astrolo-
	gical signs can be classified by Polarity, Element and Quality.

				POLARITY

		YANG SIGNS			YIN SIGNS

		Aries				Taurus
		Gemini				Cancer
		Leo				Virgo
		Libra				Scorpio
		Saggitarius			Capricorn
		Aquarius			Pisces

	When  the  signs  are  placed  in the zodiacal wheel, Aries through
	Pisces, notice that Yang alternates with Yin.  This represents  the
	cycle of give and take, act and react.


				ELEMENTS

	Fire		Earth		Air		Water
	----		-----		---		-----
	Aries		Taurus		Gemini		Cancer
	Leo		Virgo		Libra		Scorpio
	Saggitarius	Capricorn	Aquarius	Pisces

	You  can  see  that, with 12 Signs and only 4 Elements, there are 3
	Signs to an Element.  Each Element has a Sign with a Cardinal style,
	a Fixed style and a Mutable style:

				QUALITIES

	Cardinal		Fixed			Mutable
	--------		-----			-------
	Aries			Taurus			Gemini
	Cancer			Leo			Virgo
	Libra			Scorpio			Saggitarius
	Capricorn		Aquarius		Pisces


	When the Qualities and Elements are combined, one begins to  get  a
	sense of how the energy of each Sign operates:

	Aries - 	Cardinal Fire 	= Initiation of Vitality
	Taurus - 	Fixed Earth   	= Physical Strengthening 
	Gemini - 	Mutable Air   	= Mental Flexibility
	Cancer - 	Cardinal Water	= Initiation of Feeling
	Leo - 		Fixed Fire	= Strengthening the Vitality
	Virgo - 	Mutable Earth	= Physical Flexibility
	Libra - 	Cardinal Air	= Mental Initiation
	Scorpio - 	Fixed Water	= Emotional Strengthening
	Saggitarius -	Mutable Fire	= Spiritual Flexibility
	Capricorn - 	Cardinal Earth	= Physical Initiation
	Aquarius - 	Fixed Air	= Mental Strengthening
	Pisces - 	Mutable Water	= Emotional Flexibility


	SO HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO YOU?

	People are used to thinking of themselves (astrologically speaking)
	only  in  terms of their Sun Sign.  But even though the Sun Sign is
	one of the most powerful elements of  a  person's  character,  each
	person  has  a  unique  way of living out that Sign's energy, AND a
	particular area in life where it comes out most strongly.   Haven't
	you  ever  heard  someone say "Why can't you act at (wherever) like
	you do when you're at (wherever)?"   The  reason  that  the  person
	doesn't have a single way of acting in all areas of life is because
	different  Sign  and  Planet energies are influencing the different
	areas of his/her life.


				THE PLANETS

	Planets  are  the  "actors"  on  the  astrological stage.  If Signs
	represent Energy styles, Planets are the focal points for  concrete
	manifestations of the energy.  They represent the different actions
	of the different facets of your self.  I present them as "planetary
	pairs" to show that each part of you has two facets:

				SUN		The Will
	The Basic Self
				MOON		The Feelings


				MERCURY		The conscious mind
	The Mental Self
				URANUS		The intuition


				VENUS		The attractant power
	The Interactive Self
				MARS		The assertive power


				JUPITER		The expansive power
	The Worldly Self
				SATURN		The bounding power


				NEPTUNE		Self-Diffusion
	The Transcendental Self
				PLUTO		Self-Penetration


	SIGNS & PLANETS:  AFFINITIES

	Each Planet "belongs" to a certain Sign.  This  is  because  it  is
	believed that the Planet's energy operates most freely in that sign.
	Combining the keywords for the Signs and the Planets gives  you  an
	understanding  of  why a particular planet is said to belong to (or
	rule) a particular sign:

	Assertive Power	(Mars)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Initiation of Vitality (Aries)
	Attractant Power (Venus)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Physical Strengthening (Taurus)
	Conscious Intellect (Mercury)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Mental Flexibility (Gemini)
	Feeling Self (Moon)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Initiation of Feeling (Cancer)
	The Will (Sun)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Strengthening the Vitality (Leo)
	Conscious Intellect (Mercury)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Physical Flexibility (Virgo)
	Attractant Power (Venus)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Mental Initiation (Libra)
	Self-Penetration (Pluto)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Emotional Strengthening (Scorpio)
	Expansive Power (Jupiter)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Spiritual Flexibility (Sagittarius)
	Bounding Power (Saturn)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Physical Initiation (Capricorn)
	The Intuition (Uranus)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Mental Strengthening (Aquarius)
	Self-Diffusion (Neptune)
		expresses most easily in the Sign of:
					Emotional Flexibility (Pisces)

	If a Planet in your chart is in the Sign of its  natural  affinity,
	its  expression will be very strong.  If it is in another Sign, its
	expression will modified by the Energy of the Sign, like  an  actor
	being  given a different role.  Some roles will be "easier" for the
	Planet Energy to enact than others.


	HOUSES:  WHERE YOU DO WHAT YOU DO

	The  reason  an exact birth time is necessary to cast a Natal Chart
	is that it allows the astrologer to lay out the chart to see  WHERE
	the  Sign  and  Planet  action  is taking place.  The Houses in the
	chart symbolize the different areas of your life.   They  are  best
	interpreted  as pairs, also; any given House and the House directly
	across the wheel of the chart from it operate as opposite ends of a
	seesaw:  the Private area of life and the corresponding Public area
	of life:

			    The Axis of Awareness
	1st House:  ME				7th House:  YOU

			    The Axis of Resources
	2nd House:  MINE			8th House:  OURS

			    The Axis of Understanding
	3rd House:  HERE			9th House:  THERE

			    The Axis of Place
	4th House:  HOME			10th House:  WORLD

			    The Axis of Consciousness
	5th House:  PERSONAL			11th House:  SOCIAL

			    The Axis of Integration
	6th House:  PHYSICAL			12th House:  SPIRITUAL


	Each  House has an affinity for a certain Sign.  It is felt that if
	a certain Sign's Energy animates that area of life, that  the  area
	flows more smoothly and expresses more easily:

		1st House		Aries
		2nd House		Taurus
		3rd House		Gemini
		4th House		Cancer
		5th House		Leo
		6th House		Virgo
		7th House		Libra
		8th House		Scorpio
		9th House		Sagittarius
		10th House		Capricorn
		11th House		Aquarius
		12th House		Pisces

	Each  House  also  has  a  Planet that operates most freely in that
	particular house:

	1st House   (ME)			Mars	(Assertive Power)
	2nd House   (MINE)			Venus	(Attractant Power)
	3rd House   (HERE)			Mercury	(Conscious Mind)
	4th House   (HOME)			Moon	(Feeling Self)
	5th House   (PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS)	Sun	(Will)
	6th House   (PHYSICAL INTEGRATION)	Mercury	(Conscious Mind)
	7th House   (YOU)			Venus	(Attractant Power)
	8th House   (OURS)			Pluto	(Self-Penetration)
	9th House   (THERE)			Jupiter	(Expansive Power)
	10th House  (WORLD)			Saturn	(Bounding Power)
	11th House  (SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS)	Uranus	(Intuition)
	12th House  (SPIRITUAL INTEGRATION)	Neptune (Self-Diffusion)

	If your chart has a Planet placed in  it's  "natural"  House,  this
	also  makes  its expression strong, with the added feature that its
	expression will also feel very natural and proper.  A Planet placed
	in the Sign it rules will also come through strongly, but depending
	on  what  House  it is placed in, you may or may not be comfortable
	with expressing that energy.  When a Planet is in its natural House,
	you tend to feel that you are expressing that Energy in  the  right
	place.


	HOW DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF?  THE PLANETARY ASPECTS

	The "aspects" in a natal chart are simply  the  number  of  degrees
	between  any  two  planets  in the chart.  There are certain degree
	numbers that are more significant than others; when the  number  of
	degrees  between  two  planets  amounts  to  one of the significant
	numbers, they are said to be "in aspect" to  each  other.   On  the
	practical  level, this means that these different parts of yourself
	are talking to each other.  The quality of the dialogue  is  repre-
	sented  by  the  aspect  itself, and may be harmonious or stressful.
	The most important aspects are listed below,  with  the  number  of
	degrees that make up the angle:

			The Aspect of Unified Power
		Conjunction	-   two planets are 0 degrees apart

			The Aspects of Struggle
		Opposition	-   two planets are 180 degrees apart

		Square		-   two planets are 90 degrees apart

		Semi-Square	-   two planets are 45 degrees apart

			The Aspects of Ease
		Trine		-   two planets are 120 degrees apart

		Sextile 	-   two planets are 60 degrees apart

			The Aspects of Adjustment
		Inconjunct	-   two planets are 150 degrees apart

		Semi-Sextile	-   two planets are 30 degrees apart

			The Aspect of Genius
		Quintile	-   two planets are 72 degrees apart


	When planets are CONJUNCT:
		the energies can be expressed simultaneously.

	When planets are OPPOSED:
		the  energies can feel like they're pulling you in opposite
		directions until you learn to balance them.

	When planets are SQUARED:
		you want to express both energies, and have to struggle  to
		do so.  It ain't often easy but you can grow a lot from the
		struggle.

	When planets are SEMI-SQUARED:
		the struggle occurs on a more subtle level.

	When Planets are in TRINE:
		the  energies blend very easily, almost unconsciously; they
		can represent talents, but often must be meditated on to be
		discovered.

	When Planets are in SEXTILE:
		the energies blend well, but you are aware of them, and can
		learn a lot from watching those parts of your Self interact.

	When Planets are INCONJUNCT:
		you  may  feel  a  nagging obligation to express one energy
		while expressing the other, but have no idea how to  do  it.
		The energies are hard to express in their "pure" forms, but
		must adjust to each other for a satisfactory result.

	When Planets are in SEMI-SEXTILE:
		they  can irritate each other like next-door neighbors, but
		can teach you self-tolerance thereby.

	When Planets are in QUINTILE:
		they represent a unique combination possibility of the  two
		energies, but you must often invest considerable thought to
		uncover what it is.

    Thank you Marcia.
    
    Linda the Leo
    

    You're welcome, Linda!
    
    Marcia the Goat (baaah)

    Many thanks from down under for your information.  Funnily enough
    I had a detailed natal and 10 year progression done two months ago.
    When I did my Alpha course two months ago I met two people with
    whom I have shared many many lives.  A girl and guy.
    
    The guy has just celebrated his 21st (in years only) otherwise he
    has the wisdom of 40.  The other friend and I gave him the full
    works for his birthday.  
    
    I have 7 influences in fire, 6 in water and 2 in air - no fire,
    Sun in Scorpio, Rising Cancer Moon and Mars in Leo.  He has no fire 
    at all is a triple Gemini with Mars in 1st house Gemini as well.
    When the three of us get together the energy is so strong that people
    all around us are taking off jumpers and rolling up sleeves - his
    Mars sextiles mine.  
    
    The balance in all three charts is incredible.  Liz and I have no
    earth, Paul does, he has no fire, we both have 7 in fire.  Paul
    and my karma is 1 degree apart from Scorpio to Taurus.  
    
    Your summary was such a great help in working out our yin and yang
    and we all understand why we chose each other.  
    
    We are now going to try some regression work together to find out
    where and when we are shared lives.  
    
    Again thankyou.
    ...dale 

	Well this seems to be the base Generic Astrology note, I'll
   try a question here.

   As far as astrology goes for me, only the vaguest generalities 
   seemed to apply. Anything that gave any detail at all was about as
   accurate as random chance would dictate. Yet astrology works for
   some people (else why would it continue)

  Anyway my question is...
 
 Is it the actual time you were born or the time that you should have
been born that counts ?

 For example Take my kids ( please :^) ). When my wife went into labor
she was given Piticin  to speed up the contractions. After 13 
hours of labor a cesarean (sp?) was performed. Since the kids were
twins there's a 50/50 chance that even the order of birth is different
than what it might have been.

 Given the number births that are cesarian ( how do you spell it anyway)
or involved labor inducing drugs , or labors brought on by outside
factors , unusual stress etc, there may ba quite a few people
going around with the  "wrong" birthdate/time.

 Has anyone ever tried moving a chart + or - when it did not seem
to "fit"?

    Brien
    

    
    
    About the best time you can get for casting the birth chart is
    when the first breath is taken.  I wouldn't even begin trying to
    adjust the chart to when the birth would have happened without
    outside influence, and I don't think it would be very important.  
    
    Sun sign astrology will only give you a smattering of information
    - your birth chart is full of all kinds of information.
    
    Carole
    
    

    I agree with Carol; the important moment is the moment of the first
    breath.  How the infant got to that moment is not as important as
    when (s)he does it.  For instance, premies' charts are not cast
    forward into the future when they should have been born; when they're
    here is when they're here and is what is important for casting the
    chart.
    
    I also agree that basic "sun sign astrology", as Carol called it,
    tells 90% of the people 90% of nothing.  Have your own chart (based
    on your time, date and place of birth) cast and interpreted by a
    good astrologer and then judge.  The art of astrology is enormously
    complex, at least as much as the human character, which it attempts
    to model.
    
    Marcia

    What about the date and time of conception?
    
    Given, that with current technology, this usually is unknown, but
    in the future, especially with artificially concieved children (test
    tube babies, artificial insemination) it may become something that
    is known.
    
    This seems like it should be more important than when you were born
    - a lot of factors can influence birth time, but conception time
    is when you actually became alive.
    
    Elizabeth

    
    
    Elizabeth,
    
    I believe there may be some work done on this, though I don't 
    have any first hand information about it.  An astrologer 
    acquaintance of mine from New York, an apprentice to the late
    Charles Jayne (when he was in the body -not now!), did mention
    something about charts calculated for the time of "quickening" -
    when the fetus can be felt to move.  All of this is very
    experimental as far as I know.
    
    Carole
    

    Since there is a time lag between the introduction of the inseminating
    material and the fertilization of the egg, wouldn't that make the
    calculation of the moment of conception just that much more imprecise?
    
    Actually, it seems to me that there is no shortage of events to
    consider as the basis for casting a natal chart.
    
        o   Time of insemination
        o   Time of fertilization
        o   Time of ingress of soul into body
        o   Time of expulsion (or removal) from mother
        o   Time of first breath
        o   Time of umbilical severence
    
    I rather like first breath, as it is pretty much determined by the
    child, and it is an event that's easy to observe.

    Kak 

    That exactly why the first breath is used.  It is easy to observe,
    but more importantly, it is considered the first act the individual
    makes as an individual.  It is considered karmically important,
    the ensouled individual deciding to be fully "here", and performing
    the act that will make this possible (once outside the protection
    of the womb, if you don't breathe, you die).  Of course, there are
    births where the baby has to be helped to do this, and such "help"
    became de riguer for awhile (the smack from the MD).
    
    It would be interesting to research people's births, difficult or
    easy (for them, not mom) and see what indicators of this a birth
    chart contains.  I've not researched this a whole lot, and prefer
    to make my own observations rather than rely solely on texts.  The
    texts can have interesting tidbits of _mis_information; for example,
    there was an old belief that any baby born during an eclipse would
    be stillborn.
    
    Interestingly enough, I am finding that one can study a child's
    _parents'_ natal charts and approximate the time of conception better
    than one can from the child's chart.
    
    Marcia

    Marcia,
    
    What about the thought that we choose our *time* of birth no matter
    what.  Premature, overdue, length of labour, etc, because we need
    that particular birth chart with those particular combinations.
    
    I know of someone who is Gemini rising, Gemini sun, moon and mars
    and they are all in the first house.  Phew!!  Did he choose this
    combination? - because he sure is here to learn something this time,
    he really is messed up.
    
    My oldest daughter is Sagg sun, Aries Rising and Gemini Moon, born
    on Friday 13th (I'm still having trouble believing this one) have
    spent the last 6 of 19 years with both of us bashing our heads into
    brick walls, I now know why she is the way she is and what we have
    to learn.  
    
    I would be interested in some of your comments.
    
    Ta,
    
    ....dale
    

    I believe that "we" choose both our place and time of birth,
    and our parents.
    
    I was born 2 weeks before my projected due date-mom says that
    lightning hit a tree and I jumped and was born a few hours
    later-I still jump at lightning!
    
    My son was born 6 weeks before his projected due date....I
    went into labor on Halloween and delivered him 24 hours later
    (I remember laying on an examining table and noting the time
     was 6:50 p.m.-he was born at 6:50 the following evening),
    on November 1st-which was my 4th wedding anniversary.  
    
    

    
    
    I feel that all the factors involved in the birth assist in creating
    the "astrological" environment for the soul to use in their lifetime,
    sort of like the there-are-no-accidents approach to our reality.
    
    Carole
    

    I, too, have wondered if some of the complications surrounding giving
    birth--prematureness, necessity for induced labor, C-sections, etc.,
    are driven by a particular soul's need to come into the world with
    a given chart setup.  I don't have a firm answer (or even a real
    solid feeling) on this one, but I don't think a chart should ever
    be cast for when someone "should" have been born.  When they come
    is what they got.  Now suppose the opposite is true: through human
    intervention, a person may have come into life with a birth chart
    that does _not_ lay out the lessons for them in the most optimal
    fashion.  That, perhaps, _is_ possible, but it is still non-productive
    to second-guess what they "should" have been born with, because
    a great many of them wouldn't be here at all (nor their mothers).
    They (and you) are here in the now, so let's deal with that first.
    
    So in my present readings I don't try to figure out what a person should
    or should not have been born with; my approach is more:  "this is
    what you've got, and here's how you can approach it in the most
    productive and positive fashion."
    
    I have had occasion to reflect on this more than a bit, because
    my own chart contains items I feel are basic stumbling blocks. 
    Some of these blocks have caused me great pain.  I held off trying
    to ease them for quite a while, on the assumption that these were
    my Life's Lessons and to do anything that would assuage them could
    short-circuit my karmic growth, or whatever.  Now, I was born in
    the drugged-up early 50's, when laboring women were given so much
    dope that they woke up, as Dave Barry says, when the kid was in
    4th Grade.  Did this delay my birth, perhaps by some critical amount
    of time, so that some of what I've struggled with is not a true
    Lesson, but a mistake whose pain I can allay with a clean conscience,
    with no fear of not learning a Great Lesson?
    
    Well, I finally decided that the pain these factors caused me was,
    of itself, unproductive, and that I did not care what The Lessons
    were or weren't, but I was going to do something about assuaging
    the pains so that I could get on with living.  I decided, in short,
    to deal with the here and now in a fashion that satisfied me, and
    not worry about what should or should not have happened or be
    happening.  Suffering has not built for me any character that I'd
    care to have and I just don't buy that line (that suffering builds
    great character) any more.
    
    I know this is a very incomplete answer to the question, and I'm
    sorry to be so unclear.  But I learned this simpler approach to
    it from (surprise!) my work at DEC.  Many times I have been faced
    with a decision to be made on incomplete information and have gone
    ahead, decided and acted anyway, (when most of my co-workers counselled
    doing nothing) and have always been pleasantly surprised by the
    positive consequences.  So I decided to adopt this approach with
    people who came to me for counselling, and finally, with my own
    soul:  what's here is here when it's here; that, in itself, is
    significant enough; so let's deal with it.
    
    Marcia

    re: .16 and suffering
    
    I've often thought that suffering is one of many ways of teaching 
    us compassion in our dealings with each other. 
    
    	- Bill