Because I am so oriented towards relationships, oppositions are by far the most interesting component of astrology. If you get me started I can go on ad infinitum but I will try to be concise:

If a person has an opposition in their chart is is impossible for them to act both sides of it simultaneously. Reason is the energies are opposite each other so this would be akin to being generous and cheap at the same time. It can’t be done!

Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: How Do Oppositions Work?

How granular should you get with quality of a sign in combo with a planet/angle and the house? How do you weigh all that stuff in your interpretation?

Really good question, difficult to answer but I’ll try.

First you should never lose sight of the sign a planet is placed in, even if you’ve got some problem with the sign. This is very common. “Hey! I don’t want to be a Virgo. I’ve got Pluto there and blah, blah, blah, so really I am not a Virgo, I am a….”
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: How To Make Heads Or Tails Of A Planet In A Sign, In A House, With Aspects

Traditionally, trines and sextiles are considered, “good”, squares and oppositions, “bad” or at the very least, “challenging”. Conjunctions are judged on a case by case basis.

For example, a conjunctions to Jupiter or Venus (considered benefices) are “good”, conjunctions to Saturn or Mars (considered malefic), “bad”.

You have to start somewhere and this is a likely place to start but I would not take this information too literally because the idea there are “no bad aspects” in astrology is actually more than a sign of our politically correct times.
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: “How can you tell if your aspects are good ones?”

Since the last post on the speed of the planets was so well received I’ll try to post something similar. People seemed to grasp the idea of the Sun (ego) being in one sign, Mercury (mind) in another so I thought I’d try to stay on this track and build.

Some of the planets form natural pairs that balance each other. The Sun and the Moon, Venus and Mars and Jupiter and Saturn (expansion and restriction). I thought we’d look at Venus and Mars which basically shows what you like (Venus) and how you go about getting it (Mars).
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: Venus and Mars - What You Want and How You Get It

On the little things mean a lot front, I want to give you an idea how wide the range of information you can get from a chart. I’m going to use Mercury as an example because while it’s critical (that’s a Virgo joke), it’s importance is discounted in astrology pretty much as a matter of routine for being un-sexy I suppose. Having Libra, I could argue that. Some say sex is all in the mind.

Mercury rules the mind, communication, siblings, transportation, short trips, neighbors, the hands and some other parts of the body that come in pairs, lungs for example.

This means if you look Mercury in someone’s chart you can tell how they get along (or not) with their siblings and neighbors. You can tell how they drive, how they think, what their hands look like without even seeing them.
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: Just What Can You Tell From A Chart Anyway… AKA Little Things Mean A Lot, Redux

SkyPie wrote on Demystifying Astrology: What Is A Conjunction?

“Personally, I think some people do have hard edges.”

SkyPie - you may be right… we may be talking about two different things, but I’ll tell what I’ve observed.

People who have a hard edge with one person relax it when they interact with a different person so consequently the edge is not really hard. Also, people who have a hard edge when they are 20 years old might have no edge at all in that place when they are 30 or 40.
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology Interlude: Do People Have Hard Edges?

Circled on the chart pictured is the “ascendant”. To determine the “chart ruler”, or the “ruling planet” check the sign on the ascendant. The planet that rules that sign is your chart ruler.

Aries rising or ascendant = Mars ruled chart
Taurus rising or ascendant = Venus ruled chart

If you don’t know what planet rules what sign you can refresh your memory here: cheat sheet
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: What Is The Chart Ruler?

Rule number one in astrology - never make a blanket statement about an aspect or and empty house or anything else you see in a chart. If you do, you’re sure to be made a fool eventually. The 7th house is concerned with partnership and marriage but having no planets there does not mean you will not marry, you have simply got to look at the chart as a whole.

Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: There Are No Planets In My 7th House, Does This Mean I Will Never Marry?

People tend to look for horror in their chart. Fine with me but don’t forget to note the little things less you’ll drop the plot.

For example, I have Venus (love and money) sextile Mars in my chart. No biggie, right? Wrong. What that shows or what it provides is satisfaction in relationships. In other words, I am not a hungry dog, I am a fed dog.

I am satisfied with money (Venus) too, even when I don’t have any! If I have a lot of money? Satisfied. If I have a little money? Satisfied. If I have no money at all, guess what? I am still satisfied.
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: Little Things Mean A Lot

You’ll never be able to really read a chart unless you overcome your prejudice. You have to be able to look at the whole which is akin to standing in front of a mirror, naked.

Now people have their bias but when reading a chart you must transcend this so the symbols can speak to you. To illustrate, it is very common people deny part of their chart and they have all kinds of hinky ways they do it.
Continue reading Demystifying Astrology: Prejudice ‘Round The Zodiac