Tag Archives: horoscope

Questions and answers, astrology style!

Posted on April 29, 2015 | 4 comments

I have done quite a number of interviews over the years, both in magazines, newspapers, and more recently on the Web. To entertain you on my return from a refreshing sabbatical from blogging, spent partly sitting staring into space, and partly travelling, here are a few of my favourite interview questions and answers…

Mumbo interviews Jumbo...

Mumbo interviews Jumbo…

What transit always shows up for you in surprising ways?

They all do, especially the long-lasting ones. The deep challenges that force our growth lurk in the realms of the unconscious, just waiting to hitch a ride on the nearest really tough transit. For example, I didn’t think that ten years of Neptune transits was going to involve an enforced descent into the Underworld for most of that period! However, the good news is that I emerged, much improved (unless you ask my husband….!)

What is your funniest transit or retrograde experience?

There are several, not all of which can be aired publicly! The one which comes immediately to mind is the occasion, in March 1985, when Saturn turned retrograde on my 28 Scorpio IC. In the middle of lunch with an old friend who at that time was a bank manager, without warning, I passed out. Just then, a friend of his, who was also a bank manager, was passing by the restaurant window. I came round and insisted on going home – very groggily, with a bank manager holding me up by each arm. Very Saturn in Scorpio, don’t you think?!

Would you rather be ruled by Uranus or Jupiter? Why?

What a question! Both those planets are strong in my horoscope, Uranus in the tenth house leading an eastern bowl shape, with Jupiter in the third closing the bowl, and the two in bi-quintile aspect. My Ascendant is also on the Jupiter/Uranus midpoint. However, if forced to choose I would go for Jupiter, provided the aspects weren’t too difficult. My reasons are probably dictated by the stage I’ve got to in life: that disruptive, eccentric, unpredictable, stubborn individualism characteristic of a Uranus-ruled life feels too tiring to contemplate now!

Jupiter’s boundless energy and optimism, ability to inspire others and be inspired by the more positive dimensions of  life, and willingness to be open to a sense of meaningful connectedness to that which is greater than oneself, are especially attractive to me at this point.

What advice would you give to someone learning how to read their own chart?

One, there are dozens of ways of evading personal responsibility – resolve at the outset never to do so by blaming your horoscope or your transits for your difficulties in life.

Two, realise that objectivity is something to be aspired to, which can never be achieved by mere human beings. This being the case, try to recognise that you can be most objective and therefore most helpful by reading the horoscopes of strangers, provided you have appropriate training and supervision. When approaching your own horoscope, or those of your loved ones, you will inevitably colour the planetary picture before you with your own hopes and fears.

Three, the illuminating light which is gradually cast as your understanding of  the symbols in your chart grows, will be wonderfully helpful in shedding light on your gifts, pains, motivations and aspirations. But bear in mind that possessing astrological knowledge has a shadow side – for example, I have never known anyone including myself who didn’t look at upcoming transits, especially of Saturn and Pluto, without a certain amount of fear.

To help my astrology students with this, I point out that 99.9% of the human race from the beginning of time has managed to stagger through life without the aid of astrology! So – enjoy the fascination of  deciphering the astrological map of your life. But don’t get too precious about it – and be aware that this wonderful knowledge has a double edge….

Zodiac

Zodiac

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650 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2015

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Questioning popular astrology (2) : media astrologer Victor Olliver’s robust reply…

Posted on March 5, 2015 | 18 comments

Yesterday, I posted Part (1) : Questioning popular astrology, listing my challenges and questions regarding the merits – or otherwise – of popular astrology. True to form, Victor responded thus: “…feels like a bull fight and you’ve just flicked the red cape…”

Read, react, enjoy – and REPLY!

( nb anything offensive will be ruthlessly binned)

Mars being reasonable - must be in Libra....

Mars being reasonable – eh?!!…

Thanks for inviting me to contribute to your wonderful site, Anne. Though I’m the editor of  The Astrological Journal, and The Lady magazine’s resident stargazer, I am still relatively new to professional astrology and only recently have become a lot more aware of the huge psychological gulf between serious and popular astrology. This surprises me because in all worlds there’s a spectrum of expression, from public face to purist core and in between. Why not in astrology, too?

Take the fashion world, for instance. Expensive haute couture and pret-a-porter are showcased at the international collections and these in turn inspire high street looks for ordinary budgets. The cheaply-produced mass market is as much a part of fashion as Anna Wintour’s Vogue. But we don’t say that the clothes in shop windows are not fashion or that these looks are embarrassing. Indeed, without the retail outlets there would be no fashion except for the super-rich.

Likewise, in another sense, in astrology. Many practitioners of serious or scholarly star-gazing disdain the popular expression, namely in media Sun-sign horoscope columns; and some even doubt the validity or credibility of the solar chart. Others are shamed by the apparent crassness and simplicity of these media columns and try to ignore them.

This really is self-defeating in my view.

The actual ‘enemy’ of astrology is prejudice. It comes in a number of forms. Chiefly, the prejudice of many secularists and what I call science cultists can be dismissed quickly. We know who they are. They rubbish astrology yet know nothing about it. They laud science yet respond most unscientifically to something they’ve never studied or researched.  Then there’s prejudice in the world of astrology against popularisation. Serious astrologers fear that the Mystic Megs are letting the side down and making it easier for science debunkers to debunk.

But here’s the truth: debunkers/doubters/science cultists are not interested in whether your astrology has been assayed by the laboratory’s finest geeks or simply dreamt up by fake stargazers. No matter how learned the astrological study and compelling the results, nothing will sway the know-all who’s certificated with a science professorship. They believe astrology is rubbish. So in their case, media Sun-sign horoscopes is a non-issue – it’s just the thin end of the fraudulent wedge. We need not concern ourselves with determined nay-sayers. We waste our time trying to play up to them.

Nonetheless, I fully support those astrologers who bring academic rigour to the subject and seek to find mainstream respectability – not because I think a professional debunker can be turned, but for the sake of a better appreciation of astrology. Science itself will in time gradually move towards a greater understanding of the nature of the cosmos, possibly through quantum mechanics – you’ve written about this yourself – and the time will come when the intellectual climate for astrology will be a lot more receptive than it presently is.

Now, what about Sun-sign astrology. Is it valid? That’s the real question. Let me quote the brilliant late astrologer Dennis Elwell who was known to be highly critical of ‘trivialising’ media horoscopes. This is what he actually wrote in a 1975 essay titled ‘Is There A Solar Chart?’: “I do believe in the basic validity of solar chart transits but that is not to say that they can be relied upon to produce readings every day, week or month, depending on how often a particular journal happens to be published, or that they are always interpreted correctly.”

Elwell was quite idealistic in his expectation of constant ‘reliability’ and perhaps forgot McLuhan’s well-known dictum: “The medium is the message”. In other words, a mass market entertainment magazine is not likely to play host to a discursive, learned, nuanced forecast from the house astrologer. Newspapers and magazines usually seek snappy one-liners that can be digested at a glance. The ‘house style’ is what matters and the astrologer must seek to fill the allotted space as well as she or he can.

A great many media astrologers these days are actually trained astrologers, such as myself. The ‘simplistic’ solar chart, with the relevant Sun-sign cusp placed at the ascendant point, is all about transit ingresses and aspects. To state the obvious:  if we accept that transits-to-birth chart speak to us then transits-to-transits have something to say also – an idea that’s no problem to, say, electional astrologers. The challenge is less the solar astrology and more what is selected for the column and how it is written up.

My approach to the solar chart, interpretively, is more-or-less the same as to a natal chart. My professional media grail is to find a form of words that is both entertaining and true to the spirit of the moment for each sign. It was Elwell who wrote so beautifully (in his book Cosmic Loom) of how an aspect can find concurrent expression in a multiplicity of ways in life and events, from the ridiculous to the sublime. We’d be wise to keep our minds open to this feature of astrology which even now we do not properly comprehend.

Astrology is a flexible thing: it communicates its wisdom no matter the house system, national culture, computer programme, dubious birth detail or oblivious opposition.

Anne, to answer your question: there’s nothing to justify. If one’s mindset is dead against popular expression, then avoid reading the Jonathan Cainers. Avert your gaze. If you fear that Sun-sign astrology is polluted by the Shelley von Strunckels, then here’s a comforting thought: in the minds of science cultists, astrology is already polluted. It’s dead! And if certain persons judge astrology by their cursory reading of Mystic Meg, you can rest confident that they probably skate over a lot of life’s other treasures of the spirit. Perhaps their preference of depth is cricket or crochet.

Contrary to what many scholar-astrologers think, media horoscopes are the main bridge to the public, just as a short chic affordable jacket in Marks & Sparks may resonate with fans of high-end Chanel. We should be grateful for the enduring need for ‘irrational’ advice from our nation’s stargazers. As Nick Campion has averred, the Sun-sign column – for a great many people – offers the only one moment in the day when time is taken to consider the general shape of the life (or Life) or to question the point of doing something. In a materialistic world, this is a form of spiritual awareness, albeit rudimentary in many instances. But don’t knock it.

And, Anne, next time you’re offered a Sun-sign column, take it. And aim to turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. The experience may prove both humbling (in the challenge to bring high minds down to earth) and rewarding (as in, er, bank balance). 

Victor Olliver

Victor Olliver

Victor Olliver’s Lifesurfing: Your Horoscope Forecast Guide 2015 is available in Kindle or paperback on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifesurfing-Your-Horoscope-Forecast-Guide-ebook/dp/B00KHUE6US/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424635718&sr=8-1&keywords=lifesurfing+2015

Victor Olliver is the editor of The Astrological Journal and media officer of the Association of Professional Astrologers International, and has a distinction diploma in natal and mundane astrology from the Mayo School. Before turning to the study of astrology back in 2008, he was an entertainment/lifestyle editor, journalist and writer. He has worked as an editor for, among others, IPC Magazine, Mirror Group and Daily Mail & General Trust. As a freelance writer he has contributed to many publications including The Sunday Times Magazine, Australia Women’s Weekly and Marie Claire. He currently lives on the south coast in West Sussex.
Victor Olliver
volliver5@aol.com
Twitter: @VictorOlliver
Facebook: Victor Olliver Astrology
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To read Part 3 of this debate, click HERE
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Mars being reasonable - must be in Libra....

Mars being reasonable – eh?!

1350 words copyright Anne Whitaker/Victor Olliver  2015

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Questioning popular astrology (1) : Anne Whitaker challenges media astrologer Victor Olliver

Posted on March 4, 2015 | 15 comments

In recent months I’ve had the pleasure, thanks to Facebook,  of ‘meeting’ astrologer Victor Olliver, the new Editor of UK’s long established Astrological Journal and star sign columnist for The Lady magazine. As well as sharing a love of astrology (and a very black sense of humour), we have already collaborated on several writing projects. This is proving to be great fun as well as being most stimulating.

One of the things I like about Victor is his love of a good argument. So, I decided he was just the person with whom I could raise my various doubts about the merits of popular astrology. I wrote to him, airing my questions and objections at some length. Here they are. Victor’s response will follow in the next post.

Dear Victor

I have always refused invitations to write popular astrology columns, feeling that to do this would be to throw my lot in with the ‘entertainment wing’ of astrology. Those of us who are trained and experienced astrologers know that there is a profound, ancient and some would say sacred art hidden behind this popular mask. Some of us who know this – like yourself – still manage to combine in-depth astrology practice with writing astrology for the popular press, apparently without feeling any particular discomfort at straddling both worlds.

I suppose my big problem is that the astro-dismissers are almost invariably people who have never gone into astrology in any depth, because they never get past the shallow waters of popular astrology where they find plenty of ammunition for their scorn, much of it valid when you have a look around a lot of the astro-stuff published in the world’s media.

Personally, I see off any astro-dismissers by fixing them with a keen gaze, enquiring very politely whether they have ever studied the subject in depth, and responding to their evasions (very few direct admissions of ignorance are forthcoming) by suggesting they go away to study the subject in depth for a couple of years then come back to resume our conversation. As a ‘serious’ astrologer, I have to admit to feeling defensive when asked what I do, invariably saying that I do in-depth stuff which has very little to do with the astrology to be found in the popular press.

Is there any way round this problem? Should we all just accept that astrology of whatever shallowness or depth will simply never be taken seriously within our current materialist culture, and cheerfully get on with it, whatever kind of astrology we do? Would it be helpful if ‘serious’ astrologers who also do popular astrology were to admit that for many of us, the gap between the public face and the private reality of astrology and its practice is a very hard one to bridge?

What are your views on this, Victor? How do you justify occupying both worlds to yourself and others – and what do you suggest those of us do (apart from go boil our heads) who feel uncomfortable at having our commitment to serious, in-depth work ridiculed by people who have taken their stance from perusing the shallow material available in much of the popular press?

Do feel free, dear Readers,  to leave some observations  of your own on this contentious issue – as long as you understand that anything abusive will be binned without mercy!

To read Part Two, click HERE

 

Mars being reasonable - must be in Libra....

Mars being reasonable …eh?!

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Some thoughts on the Astrological Houses: Placidus, Equal – or what ?

Posted on February 26, 2015 | 11 comments

Sooner or later, it dawns on the student or budding astrologer that the method of dividing the inner space in a horoscope into twelve sectors or spheres of life, known as Houses, poses some problems.

Astrological Houses

Astrological Houses

Firstly, since there are a number of different house systems – click HERE for more detail on this – which should you choose?

Secondly, to a varying degree depending on your chart, planets can move house. In my chart, for instance, by Equal House I have no less than SIX planets in the Twelfth House. When I first saw my horoscope in  Placidus houses, one planet, my ruler Mercury, had migrated to the Eleventh. O joy! I need all the help I can get here, I thought then. But, as you will soon see, it’s not as simple as that…

Then there is a further problem. In Placidus, the MC/IC axis always defines the cusp of the Tenth/ Fourth Houses. If you use Equal House, the MC/IC axis can fall through any pair of houses from the 8th/2nd to the 11th/5th. How do you deal with that?

I have worked with only two systems over the years, i.e. the most commonly used ones in the UK – Equal House and Placidus. I used Equal House from the early 1980s perfectly happily, finding that the system worked well for me. Then I changed to Placidus in 1995. I didn’t choose it for any carefully thought through philosophical or practice reasons; it was simply the system used on the Diploma course I was doing. Now, in 2015, I am moving back to using Equal again. For philosophical reasons this time, as you will see shortly.

A class experiment

Ever since a small group of my ‘old’ students persuaded me to run a refresher class for them starting last August 2014, I have really enjoyed returning to astrology teaching. Those students were all very rusty, and wanted to cover the basics again. Inevitably, the question of house division came up. Having covered the core meanings of the houses in an introductory class, we recently spent a whole tutorial looking in more detail at the issue of house division.

The methods I adopted on this occasion were twofold: firstly, I gave the class copies of their charts in Equal House to compare with their existing Placidus charts. Then I drew up a grid, of which we all had a copy. This listed all the planets, Chiron and the North Node as well as the pair of houses through which the Equal House MC/I C axis ran. Thus we could see at a glance those features which stayed the same in both systems, and which ones changed. In some charts many features changed. In others eg mine, there was very little difference.

I have always taught astrology with every student having a copy of everyone else’s horoscopes, including mine. With permissions always asked and given before the start of a course, and appropriate emphasis on confidentiality, this way of working has been very effective. It creates each class as a kind of mini qualitative research laboratory, where astrological theory can be tested out there and then, observing to what extent it manifests accurately in the nuts and bolts of the everyday lives of those present. It is a model which makes for very lively teaching…

We worked our way round everyone in the small group, including me, discussing how interpretations might change, and most importantly, how much that mattered by potentially altering the emphasis on key horoscope themes.

For instance, the Moon in one student’s horoscope changed from the Placidus Ninth house (a location she really liked for her Moon, being both a teacher and an education junkie!) to the Tenth by Equal House, which emphasised the importance of her vocational/career life but not the dimensions of teaching and learning which are both Ninth House concerns. However, we pointed out to her that this didn’t really matter in terms of overall accuracy of interpretation; she really was very well endowed with Jupiterian energy anyway, given her Moon’s trine to Jupiter in Aries, as well as her Sun’s square to Jupiter.

This was just one example in which, whatever shift we saw of planets from one house to another, there was invariably an underlying strong theme in the birth chart, so that the emphasis being slightly shifted in one context made little if any difference to the overall accuracy of interpretation of the whole horoscope. Interestingly, more than half of our small group, despite my having worked with all students with Placidus from 1995, said that they preferred the relative simplicity of the Equal House system.

In my own case, although ruling planet Mercury moved from the sociable, group-oriented Placidus 11th House to join five other planets in the reclusive Twelfth by Equal House, I have an exact semi- square from Mercury to 10th House Uranus in both systems, Uranus also strongly aspecting the Sun and Moon, so the Aquarian/Uranian/11th house ‘tone’ remains strongly emphasised. That Mercury energy also flows from the Twelfth House to an exact sextile to Neptune, and a square to Third House Jupiter in both systems. So any reclusive tendencies brought by the move are well and truly restrained by other horoscope factors!

The students could see from our small experiment something which is fundamental to the accurate reading of any horoscope: strong themes will shine through, whatever way you divide up the circle. As U.K astrologer Robin Heath so memorably observed a number of years ago: “…astrology appears more and more to behave like a hologram. You can perform almost any technique with the data, turn the chart inside out or slice it up, and still the symbolic pictures remain….” (i) Both this statement and our class experiment bore out the conclusion at which I had  arrived some time ago. It doesn’t really matter much what system you use. What you get is the same overall picture…

Horses (Houses!) for courses…

I went on to outline the way some astrologers use different house systems for different purposes. Since the Equal House system is based on the Ascendant/Descendant axis which is the axis of “… here I am in relation to you… “, this system can be used when the client in their reading wishes specifically to address matters pertaining to relationship.

Since the IC /MC axis can be seen as an arrow flowing from the person’s deepest self and origins (IC) to their future direction (MC), then issues of roots, vocation and life direction are most appropriately contemplated, some astrologers think, via the Placidus lens since that system can be seen to emphasise the MC/IC.

Also, although I have never worked with the Koch system myself, I know that some astrologers swear by the accuracy of its house cusps in plotting transits and progressions.

The Equal House MC/IC “problem”

The placing of inverted commas above gives you a clue that I do not see the shifting placement of the MC/IC axis in the Equal House system as a problem at all. Quite the opposite. I think that working with the MC/IC axis against the backdrop of either the 2nd/8th, 3rd/9th, 4th/10th, or the 5th/11th adds a layer of richness to the interpretation of the MC/IC which of course should remain just as focal and important in the Equal House system as in any other where the MC/IC  is always the cusp of the 10th/4th Houses.

For example, I have often encountered clients or students with 2nd/8th backdrops in professions involving finance and collective money, those with 4th/10th backdrops have their strong life focus on career/vocation emphasised. With 5th/11th emphasised, you often find “creative” types who work co-operatively and collaboratively in the pursuit of their careers. And in my own case, the 3rd/9th backdrop is highly appropriate since writing and higher education have been central to all the diverse vocational paths I have pursued throughout my working life.

Equal House: the return

In conclusion, the students were very keen to know why I had decided to return to working with Equal House.  For giving me the final shove in that direction I have to thank Phoebe Wyss and her excellent recent book “Inside the Cosmic Mind” . I  would urge any astrology student or practitioner to read this book if they are inclined, as I am, to perceive astrology as a ‘top down’ art whose practice and interpretation reveals us as expressing in micro form, the shifting macro patterns of the whole cosmos.

In Phoebe Wyss’ own words:

“ Archetypal astrology is an approach to astrological chart interpretation that is based on this cosmological view. The meanings of the chart factors such as  zodiac signs, houses, and planets are then seen to derive from the twelve basic categories of meaning associated with the astrological archetypes. These fundamental cosmic principles and their inter-relationships are symbolised in the geometry of the zodiac…”(ii)

Wyss’ book – which builds on the recent work of Richard Tarnas, Kieron Le Grice and other pioneers in the field of archetypal cosmology – has taken me back and re-grounded me in the basic geometry of sacred numbers, whose symbolism reflects the core shaping principles or archetypes governing the movement of energy throughout the whole cosmos. The number twelve is one of those sacred numbers.

From that symbolic, geometric perspective, dividing the inner space of the horoscope symbolically into twelve equal parts seems more appropriate than using any other house system, including Placidus, whose devising arises purely from measurements limited by the view from planet Earth in relation to the solar system in our tiny corner of space/time  …

Endnotes:

(i) The Mountain Astrologer, Issue 78, April/May 1998, Letters p 11

(ii) Inside the Cosmic Mind, Phoebe Wyss, Floris Books 2014, p 93

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Zodiac

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Mars through Pisces…how was it for you?

Posted on February 15, 2015 | 1 comment

The planet Mars entered the sign of Pisces on 12th January 2015. It is due to exit on 20th February 2015, entering its own sign of Aries. Boy, will I be glad! It has been a very mixed, pretty tough month and I would be most interested to hear how any of my readers/Followers have fared.

Mars enters Pisces

Mars enters Pisces

It should be obvious to anyone with some knowledge of astrology that Mars, the planet of energy and direct action, is not best placed in watery, subtle, diffuse, imaginative, dreamy and artistic Pisces.

Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, has been slowly traversing that sign, which it first entered in April 2011. It is currently at 6 degrees of Pisces. Saturn changed signs on 23rd December 2014, entering Sagittarius, beginning a long dance in square aspect to Neptune which will not separate until the end of December 2016. It is currently occupying 4 degrees of Sagittarius. Chiron, the planetoid signifying healing and wounding, is half way through Pisces, sitting currently at 15 Pisces.

Mars enters Aries

Mars enters Aries

So – as Mars began his watery journey, he made an exact square to Saturn on 16th January, a conjunction to Neptune on 19th January, crossed the Neptune/Chiron midpoint on 24/5  January, and Chiron on 1st/2nd February.

Anne W's Horoscope

Anne W’s Horoscope

In my horoscope, Mars was transiting the 6th House of work and health, crossed my Pisces Descendant, and is currently travelling through the Seventh House of relationships. I never cease to be amazed and moved at how the currents of shifting energy in our solar system, plotted and explicated by the planets, flow like tides, bearing our lives along with them, bringing us delights and challenges, pains and pleasures with every breaking wave.

Here in brief is how I have been faring. I hope some of you will share your experiences, thoughts, and insights too.

Mars entered Pisces and I began a bout of intermittent insomnia which lasted until Mars crossed and passed Chiron early in February. On the day Mars entered Pisces, I had the great pleasure of moving – with my seafaring brother’s help! – into a lovely new office which is now my Twelfth House retreat in which I hope to write my next book.

With Mars applying in square to Saturn, I was foolish enough to attempt to buy a digital overhead projector for my new office (from which I will also be teaching.) This produced a long series of thwartings of byzantine proportions, during which I failed to acquire the projector from one place, easily located it in another, bought it, then had to return it as unsuitable on the very day that the Mars /Saturn square was exact. Moral of this story? You are an astrologer! Don’t you ever look at your Ephemeris?

I usually get very angry with something/someone when Mars crosses my Pisces Descendant. This occurred on Saturday 24th of January, when we went to see an opera by a well-known composer, which I hated so much I left half way through and went home early. Note in my diary:” hatred, fear, and loathing of women still alive and well in the psyche of 21st century Western male composer…”

I then contracted a bacterial infection which took two lots of  reluctantly consumed) antibiotics to shift and gave me headaches every other day, causing me to feel low in energy and pretty dispirited for a few days.

And – with Mars in the 7th House, I re-connected with an old friend I hadn’t seen for several years, who came to visit in the new office. Also, I arranged with a friend I have known over 20 years, to sublet a day a week from me at a much reduced day rate, thereby aiding her in setting up her therapy practice and helping to cover part of my rent.

Apart from all that, it was a very quiet month…!!

Zodiac

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Evoking the Twelfth House…

Posted on February 6, 2015 | 6 comments

Last summer I was most happy to have The Mountain Astrologer magazine publish my long essay ” Contemplating the Twelfth House” – a reflection on that most complex of houses, born from my own long period of Neptunian meltdown and recovery during 2001-8. It will be re-published next month in the UK’s“Astrological Journal “, after which I intend to make it available as a free downloadable pdf. 

 In the meantime, I thought some of my Followers and readers who haven’t read the essay would like a peek at the prequel, a much shorter piece in which I first featured the nature image that midwifed the eventual finished essay.

tiny-frog-on-lotus-bud

tiny-frog-on-lotus-bud

A tiny frog, barely half an inch long, flopped, dead, on the tip of a teaspoon as I gently lowered it toward the plug hole of the kitchen sink. Soon, I’d turn on the tap and its fragile little body, already liquefying, would be washed down the drain.

Yesterday, it had been leaping around, full of life, inside the  plastic refrigerator box in which I had created a little aquarium with water, moss and stones. The tadpoles which I had brought home a few weeks previously had all survived. Satisfaction and pleasure at having achieved this, however, was tempered with the growing knowledge that these delightful new pets would soon have to be returned to their original habitat.

But this little fellow would never go home.

This small incident, which occurred well over thirty years ago, offered such a poignant illustration of the transient fragility of life that it has never left my memory.

There are times when something apparently tiny and fleeting can illustrate much larger truths.

The constant dance between order and chaos, form and formlessness, being and non-being, seems to occur in all epochs and at all levels. Humans have created a range of paradigms and metaphors, from ancient myths through the world’s great religions to modern cosmology, within which to explore this dialectic.

Cosmologist Brian Swimme in his inspirational invocation of ‘The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos’ speaks of “each instant protons and anti protons…… flashing out of, and …… absorbed back into, all-nourishing abyss……” The abyssis his term for “a power that gives birth and that absorbs existence at a thing’s annihilation.”

Astrology has its own name for this inchoate territory where everything, tiny or vast, which has ever had form dissolves back into the primal waters of the Source. It is called the Twelfth House.

In my horoscope the Sun, Moon,Venus, Saturn, Pluto, and Mercury the planet of communication and writing are all to be found in the Twelfth House. I have been preoccupied with the mystery of whence we arise and where we return since I opened my eyes to the world. Thus it doesn’t require much of a leap of imagination to work out why my main blog www.anne-whitaker.com is called ‘Writing from the Twelfth House’……

Zodiac

Zodiac

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The Sagittarius New Moon – how was it for you?

Posted on December 16, 2014 | 5 comments

I woke early this morning to a clear sky, deep blue turning light, and a lovely sight: the bright, waning crescent of the Sagittarius New Moon, born on 22nd November, Full on 6th December, now preparing to fade into Moondark in anticipation of a new birth. The Capricorn New Moon arrives with the Winter Solstice on 22nd December this year…thus the weave of our tiny solar system  unfolds within the vastness of the Universe, challenging each of us to find our place, our sense of meaning, our purpose…

waning crescent Moon

waning crescent Moon

Cycles govern all our lives, from the vast unfolding of the life and death of stars to the tiny monthly dance of Sun and Moon with our beautiful blue planet Earth.  The same basic stages apply to all cycles: seeding, germinating, sprouting, flowering, ripening, harvesting, dying back in preparation for the new, into that three day period of seclusion the Ancients knew as Moondark. Any New Moon represents the emerging energy of possibility from Moondark’s womb. The first fragile, beautiful waxing crescent appears in the night sky 2-3 days into a new cycle, indicating that fresh potential is taking form.

This image is especially appropriate in evoking the Sagittarian New Moon, which in the unfolding cycle of the Sun and Moon’s yearly journey through the twelve signs of the zodiac emerges from the unfathomable depths of watery Scorpio into the fiery, mutable brightness of Sagittarius, that restless seeker after wisdom, truth, and above all ultimate MEANING.

Visionary poet and painter William Blake – himself a Sagittarius Sun –  describes Sagittarius’ reckless, abundant courage, openness to experience of all kinds across all beliefs and cultures, and great capacity to distil joy and meaning from even life’s worst adventures, so well:

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”.

This most recent New Moon in Sagittarius on 22nd November 2014  carried a particularly powerful creative and exploratory ‘charge’ since the Sun and Moon met at 0 degrees 07 minutes of Sagittarius that day. Planets at zero degrees are highly potent! So – this was a great month for bathing in the abundantly rising energy of inspiration, and for working to give it form across continents and cultures…

Foreground energies : Uranus square Pluto

However, it is important to recognise that life on planet Earth is complex. Contemplating the core meaning of each month’s New Moon can only ever provide broad brush strokes. In order to form a more detailed symbolic picture of the energies of any given month, we have to take the whole planetary picture into account. For example, the 13th December 2014 saw the sixth exact square of the explosive, disruptive and tempestuous Uranus/ Pluto combination, its first major encounter since the turbulent 1960s and an increasingly dominant major planetary pattern since it began its journey towards exactitude way back in 2010/11.

Here are some of its immediate mundane effects: in Australia, a cafe siege resulting in the deaths of three people including the gunman. In USA, a family tragedy involving a deranged man shooting dead six members of his ex wife’s family. And most ghastly of all, today’s breaking news is of a revenge attack by the Pakistan Taliban on a Peshawar military school, leaving 132 youngsters and 11 of their teachers murdered. Truly horrific.

In Russia, meanwhile, tumbling oil prices are taking a devastating toll of the economy, with the rouble falling to almost half its value against the U.S. Dollar amid rising panic.

And on a brighter note my own small nation, Scotland, is once again a world leader. Today gay marriage became legal here, with the backing of an estimated 68% of the Scottish public. 

From the Big Picture to individual lives: creating meaning

The inter-relationship between the Big Picture of our collective lives and the tiny individual lives of humans, as explicated by planetary symbolism, has been a source of enduring fascination for me right from the beginning of my astrological studies. In this short article I have chosen only to focus on one planetary combination and its impact, set within the context of the Sagittarius New Moon.

There is of course Saturn preparing to move into Sagittarius, thereby beginning a year-long square to Neptune, whose ancient ruler was Jupiter – modern ruler of Sagittarius. And exuberant Jupiter himself is placed in fiery Leo, spending much of 2014/5 in a dynamic trine to the great disrupter and techno-futurist of  the zodiac, Uranus.

Jupiter in Leo

Jupiter in Leo

In sum, there is a huge charge of Jupiterian energy in our Sun/Moon/Earth system at present, both for good and ill – as is always the case. The challenge for all of us this soli-lunar month has very much been this: HOW do we take whatever inspiration has come our way and create meaning from it? What are our truths, and how do they shape our lives?

We have seen some of the appalling effects this month of deluded people living out in our world what they see as the truth  – with devastating inhumanity. In this we see Sagittarian energy’s dark and deadly shadow. We struggle with the idea that such ghastly events might have any meaning whatsoever…

So – what have we done this month, even in small ways, to bring some light and inspiration into our personal world? What positive energies have come our way, no matter how difficult things may be, to give us heart and make us feel that life is worth living? 

I do hope some of my readers will respond to this by leaving some comments with personal examples. Let me start you off by sharing some of mine. There are some dark and difficult things going on in our overall family life (Saturn is on my IC…) but I have had some great feedback over the last three weeks regarding my writing, return to teaching, and the astrological work I do.

And the inspiration for this post? A new writer and artist friend who lives in Hawaii (she contacted me, having read an article of mine in The Mountain Astrologer this summer) needed an astrological perspective on the Sagittarian New Moon. On the day of that new moon, she had embarked on an artistic venture linking writing, art and poetry with a new friend of hers – also met via the Internet. I was happy to write a short astrological piece for her. That has formed the core of this post…

“As above, so below” . How profound. how TRUE!

Zodiac

Zodiac

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1100 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2014

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

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Posted in The Sun/Moon Cycle, New Moons & Moondark (8articles)

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Boundaries and power issues in astrological practice: what are your thoughts?

Posted on December 10, 2014 | 6 comments

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had a former career as a social worker – including five years in psychiatric work – before I discovered astrology, shortly after which I set up a private counselling practice which ran alongside, but separate from, my practice as an astrologer.

This Wonderful Universe

This Wonderful Universe

When I embarked on my Diploma in Psychological Astrology with Liz Greene and the late Charles Harvey at the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London between 1995-8, all students were obliged to undertake at least a year of their own therapy as a condition of entry into the Diploma Course. All the work we did with clients was thoroughly supervised.

On my return to part-time practice in 2012 after a very long sabbatical, the first thing I did was to re-connect with my former supervisor, a very experienced astrologer and psychodynamic psychotherapist: I find this kind of challenge and support essential in keeping an eye on my own current issues in relation to the work I do with clients. Invariably astrology (and counselling) clients bring us our own issues very often, and we need to be aware of this. 

Power and boundary issues need to be discussed more than they are in astrological circles. It’s not sufficient to believe that generalised good will and a desire to help other people will automatically bestow wisdom, good judgement, humility and appropriate restraint on astrologers – or confer automatic protection on their clients. There is much more to it than that!

Master astrologer Donna Cunningham has therefore done us all a big favour by raising the topic of boundaries, power issues, and the awful things some astrologers say to their clients, on her blog Sky Writer. Have a read HERE to enjoy the benefits of  Donna’s wisdom and experience – and do come back to let me know what your views and experiences are, either as an astrologer or as a client – both positive and negative.

Astrology, since it is practised by fallible humans, can wound practitioners and clients as well as offering perspective and healing. It is as well for us to be aware of this…

Zodiac

Zodiac

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350 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2014

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

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Posted in Astrology: challenges, ethics and practice (11 articles)

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The art and practice of astrology: educating the dismissers!

Posted on November 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

As those of you who follow both this blog and Writing from the Twelfth House will know, I returned in May 2012 to my astrology practice after a very long sabbatical. It is great to be back. And even better to be back teaching, after a small group of my former students asked me – so persuasively that I could not refuse – to set up a ‘refresher’ class for them. We began in late August 2014 ( just as my progressed Moon moved into Aquarius: how literal is that?! ) and are all loving the experience.

It’s been challenging and satisfying to bring many of the insights gained from those ‘retreat’ years of  reading and reflection, into my renewed astrology practice and teaching. I have greatly benefitted from the work of open-minded contemporary scientists, and the developing discipline of archetypal cosmology into which archetypal astrology neatly fits, in conveying to both clients and students at least some of the excitement I feel in realising that there is a new paradigm emerging.

Reaching well beyond the reductionist limitations of materialism, that ancient tenet “As above, so below” is being reframed for our contemporary world – to include astrological symbolism as a valid model for explaining in non-material terms how our world works.

However, in the meantime, in the ‘real’ world, what do we do to counter the Skeptics (sadly, that excellent word “sceptical” has in recent years acquired a very narrow meaning) who dismiss astrology as rubbish? As an aside, I returned very happily to work with my former supervisor, whom I have now known for over 20 years. She remarked to me “Well, Anne, we were regarded as weird before you went into your retreat period. I can assure you that we are regarded as even more weird now!”  

Personally, I have never had much of a problem with this. If challenged, I make a clear distinction between the entertainment wing of our art to which Sun Sign astrology belongs, and the in-depth stuff astrologers practice which crucially depends on date, place and precise time of birth.

If the dismisser persists, I then very politely but persistently enquire for how long that person has actually studied the astrology about which I am talking. When they either directly or by evasion/omission admit that they are dismissing that of which they know nothing, I then suggest –with continuing politeness, since this is crucial – that they go away, do some in-depth study for a few years and then by all means return to the discussion.

This approach has always worked very well for me. Perhaps having my ruling planet Mercury in close conjunction with an exact Saturn/Pluto conjunction, all squared by a third house Jupiter, has something to do with it!

I would be very interested to have some feedback from my readers and Followers regarding their experience of this situation. Do leave a comment with your stories!

Whatever our experience or length of immersion in astrology and its practice, we all need a bit of help in presenting our great subject in an informed and well-thought out way to the world at large, which is often either ignorant, hostile or both. And  brilliant new book has just appeared which will help us to do just that. Here to introduce the book is Armand Diaz, books and articles editor for the Astrological News Service, a joint project of NCGR, ISAR, and AFAN:

Astrology Considered

Astrology Considered

“…Enter Astrology Considered: A Thinking Person’s Guide, a compilation of articles from the Astrology News Service (ANS), an organization devoted to publicizing the true value of astrology. Astrology Considered offers a variety of perspectives on contemporary astrology that show astrology is not a simplistic system but a sophisticated way of viewing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and global dynamics. Happily, it is also an easy read for those who do not speak the sometimes-complex astrological language….”

I have immediately put this book on my Christmas Wish List, and will be sharing the details with my students when I meet with them next week. I do hope lots of you reading this post will follow the link above, and take advantage of a very special offer! And on a practical note, for UK readers the book is available now on Amazon UK, both as Paperback and Kindle Editions.  And many, many thanks to ANS for producing this wonderful-looking collection.

Zodiac

Zodiac

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700 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2014

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

 

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As Neptune turns direct, some thoughts on interconnectedness…

Posted on November 15, 2014 | 15 comments

One of the many intriguing things I have found about astrology is this: even when you are not being particularly attentive to exactly what is going on with the planets, you are still living out the energy patterns they describe in symbolic terms.

During my long 2001-8 retreat, when I simply did not have the physical energy to engage with astrology’s power ( does this sound strange? That’s exactly what it felt like ) I did not practice as an astrologer and rarely looked at an Ephemeris, although I maintained an interest in the subject in which I had been immersed for the preceding twenty years.

Nevertheless, there were certain days when I would feel energies which I could only express in planetary terms, would check the Ephemeris, and sure enough my felt sense of eg Mars crossing my Descendant (stay out of my way today, friends and partner!), or the Moon triggering my Saturn/Pluto conjunction (ouch!) would prove to be correct. This used to make me smile wryly and say to myself : ‘Well, you may take the girl out of Astrology, but taking Astrology out of the girl is another matter altogether!’

Today I have had a similar experience. It has felt right in the last couple of days to begin to move forward in promoting my memoir and analysis of thirty years’ paranormal experiences, ‘Wisps from the Dazzling Darkness’; I have begun asking Friends and colleagues as well as astrology students past and current, for some help in PR which I am not best at doing.

I wondered why this felt like the right time to be embarking on the task of promoting this piece of work: I wrote the book from my conviction that it is important for all of us who know we live in a multi-levelled, interconnected Universe to speak out against the stance Scientism, and its offshoot Skepticism takes, ie that anything which cannot be explained in reductionist terms not only does not exist, but cannot exist.

“I wonder when Neptune turns direct?” I thought this morning. “It feels like that kind of energy right now.” Neptune has been transiting my Sixth house of work, health and service for a very long time and is due to cross into the upper hemisphere of my horoscope over the next couple of years. So I checked the Ephemeris: Neptune moves so slowly that I don’t check its daily position very often.

Sure enough, Neptune turns direct tomorrow…..and Neptune as we all know is the planet which connects us to the mysterious, ineffable, spiritual and symbolic dimensions of our existence.

Have any of my readers had similar experiences which they would like to share? I would be most interested to hear from you!

Zodiac

Zodiac

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400 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2014

Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page

 

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Posted in Neptune (5 articles), Uncategorized (35 articles)

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