A solar return chart is cast for the day and time the Sun (solar) returns to the exact place it was when you were born. Generally this occurs on your birthday but on occasion it happens the day before or the day after. Although I know of one notable exception most astrologers feel these charts are useful in providing a map of the year ahead.

I fall in the group who uses a solar return chart but not in the group who travels on their birthday to affect the year ahead. Yes, some people feel you can manipulate your experience by spending your birthday in a specific location so the planets fall into the houses (areas of life experience) you prefer.
Continue reading Open Question: Astrology And Your Birthday - The Solar Return Chart

Remember this:

Mars is in Cancer and will go retrograde in November. When it’s all said and done, Mars with be in either Gemini or Cancer from now, Oct 1st until May of 2008. Gah.

It occurred to me we ought to track this transit. A lot of people who read here are studying astrology and the best way to learn is to live and pay attention, so… what house is Mars in at the moment and how is this manifesting? I’ll go first. Continue reading Mars Transits Gemini and Cancer for 7 Months! Fire! Fire! Fire! Let’s Update…

I felt I should come back and add to my already expressed thoughts (Leonard Cohen Redux) on this because I have soon. Virgo is profoundly important in the scheme of… everything, but Virgo rules the 6th house… which is beneath the horizon. And this means that Virgo works should be done behind the scenes, before something (crosses the horizon) and become public.

Now if there is a problem with something that is already public, then Virgo should try to fix it… to HELP which is Virgo’s job but this should be done behind the scenes and I let me tell you, I learned this the hard way.

About ten years ago I upgraded my astrology software. I was upgrading from DOS to a Windows version of the same program, so this was awhile ago. More than ten years. Continue reading Virgo Analyzing and Criticizing Creative Art, Service and the 6th House: Buying Astrology Software - Learned This The Hard Way!

Dear Worried,

You are not “crazy”. You have a mental illness like any other illness and further it happens to be utterly and completely treatable. Now I appreciate your financial situation, however you are ill and absolutely must seek treatment. And I doubt it needs to be long term.

What you are describing can be easily and effectively treated with medication that will alleviate if not eliminate your symptoms and many of the mediations available to treat this sort of thing are very affordable. And with proper treatment, you can have a completely different life and without it, you are going to be screwed; so what do you think you’d better do about this?

Your best option is to see a psychiatrist and if you have to get on some long waiting list to see someone cheaply, then just do it. Or see a family doctor, or go to a clinic… do whatever you have to do to take care of your health because this is what this is. You have a medical condition!!

And Saturn (take responsibility) is transiting your 6th house (health), so you get the picture. Saturn transits always pressure us to clutch it up and solve our problems, so make the call, okay? You and your family deserve it and the universe will always support the right action.

Much love and good luck.

~~
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Interested in a personal consultation? Click here for more info…

Dear Amsterdam,

You understate your chart. You’re an Aries with a Scorpio rising all right, but you’ve also got Mars and Jupiter in Aries - and that my dear is some hot, hot fire. And when you see circumstances like this repeat in your life, I think asking why is the way to go and astrology can illuminate.

Now it seems to me the problem is with the men, not you and I’ll explain. Say you had this fiery sexy Mars situation, but Saturn was leaning on the thing. This would indicate your sex drive being thwarted and it might manifest just as you describe.

But this is not the way your chart is set up. In fact, it is just the opposite. You’re like a fast car… a fine motorcycle with nothing but open road on the horizon. And what I think is happening is you are meeting men who have various impediments in their charts, and suffering because of it. It’s as if you’re the fastest car on the road and no one who can keep up. They try, or they may want to try but they wind up eating your dust again and again until they just relent and opt to let you ride on up ahead. And you can’t do anything about them, but you can do something about you.

You can be aware of this situation. You can be aware you are the hottest hot rod out there, overwhelming to almost everyone and you can try to govern yourself. And I don’t mean, stuff your sex drive. I mean, do what I have to with my racing engine. Find as many outlets as possible so you don’t consume the people you love.

In your case, your Aries is in the 5th and 6th house. The 5th house is “fun sex” so there you go. But it is also about creativity and children so for example, you could get involved in children’s sports. Run all day with a pack of kids and maybe once-a-day sex would do it for you. And you would be satisfying your 6th house need to serve, while you’re at it.

The point is, to assert yourself (Aries) in 5th house matters and bottom line, you need a creative outlet. You need some other channel for your energy and with some of your fire discharged for the day, perhaps you can find a man who can deal with the rest. So this is my advice: Expand!

Good luck.

~~
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Dear Scorpio,

Your question doesn’t really fit the format of my blog as it’s akin to a personal reading. Further, your issues are obviously complex and probably not well suited to being addressed on advice blog.

However I am going to answer your question anyway, because I feel for you and because your chart strongly interacts with mine and leads me to think I may be able to help you which I think you strongly deserve. So I’m just going to talk straight and my editor can look the other way for a day.

On the thwarted Mars energy, my position on this is very clear. Repress your sex and anger (Mars) at your own peril and in your case this is especially the case. For one, you’re a Scorpio rising, so Mars rules the chart. Nothing is more important to you than Mars! And the rising is your physical body, so when you fail to express your Mars, your body is getting jacked beyond belief.

Now consider your Mars is in Aries which obviously want to go, Go, GO and further, it is conjunct both Venus and Mercury… opposite Pluto and I have to say this is one hell of a motherfucker you are trying to suppress. And how do you think this is going to play?

It’s going to play where it sits, in the 6th house, for good or ill.

Use your Mars = excellent health. Repress your Mars and you’ll see it turn inward and eat you alive.

What do you think Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is? It’s 6th house (daily routine / the mind / Virgo stuff) run amok! Helllllo! You need to fuck! You need to fuck and fight and be heroic and you need to do this every day just to maintain your health. So let’s talk about what happened when you were 15.

15 is puberty, you know. That means there is a flood of hormones. And have you looked at the astrology back then? I did. And Uranus (experimentation) was squaring all that Mars mess in Aries. Comprendo? So apparently when those dogs got out, they went so crazy they scared the hell out of you - so let’s address that.

First, if this is something as simple as homosexuality, well for Godsakes get over it. You have plenty of company. There are legions of homosexuals out there who will be happy to have you join them, and if it’s otherwise?

So what? At fifteen years old, you think you’re the first person who ever thought of it. Well take it from a fellow Mars Mercury, okay? You’re not! And some of this taboo stuff… try it once. Face your big fear about it and what you find out is it’s not that compelling after all. You get it out of your system!

So here’s my theory:

You’re innately very sexual but there are still periods where things will flare. Like during a Uranus transit, obviously. Uranus wants to break rules! So unfortunately you encountered one of these times in conjunction with puberty which was akin to a “perfect storm” and you became overwhelmed.

And being sensitive somewhat puritan with your 6th house, you nixed this whole deal and you are now suffering OCD due the stress of repression with more ailments on the horizon, no doubt if you do opt to own this energy.

So there you go. And PS, not all Scorpios are aggressive and vindictive.

Good luck.

~~
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Dear Eventual,

The first time I read this I thought you sounded incredibly arrogant. People are sheep? They’re sloth? If they do anything at all, they do it wrong? Yet you’re the one who quits? Hmm.

And then you follow this up by calling yourself a flaky loser and I had an impulse to really let you have it. I was going to talk to you about the fact you are having a Saturn transit and that a little humility would go a long way. I was going to remind you that it’s you who is running your life. I was going to also suggest you stop whining and then apologize for being harsh, before I explained that your chart has an emphasis on the 6th house.

Focus on the 6th house indicates you are here to (humbly) serve the common people. And I was going to say that it was here where I thought it got perverted.

I was going to explain the reason you have the ability to see the flaws is not so you can reject people and be holier than thou, but so you can work to make things better. And I was going to tell you that if you would align with this… if you would get on the job and stay on the job, you would very likely feel happier and more fulfilled than you could possibly imagine. But then I re-read your post.

And you sound positively tortured. And though I believe everything I just wrote up there, I think you may have a more complex challenge. I think there might be something underlying that would make it very hard for you to just “get your ass in gear”.

So I am going to have to recommend you see a professional counselor who might be able to give you some insight into all these sides of yourself that contradict each other. And insight into these things that trigger you and cause you to act out, ultimately leaving you with a result you don’t want and depressed self esteem.

Because I have read your post carefully several times now and I don’t get “lazy, flaky, loser”. I get “person who desperately wants to be good and do well”. But there is something dogging you, and you owe it to yourself and the people you will eventually serve to find out what. Good luck.

~~
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