Demystifying Astrology: Every Gift Is A Curse In Exact Proportion
Astrology for beginners See all beginner posts
Every Gift Is A Curse In Exact Proportion
That is a strong statement, I say it all the time and I believe it’s true. I wrote about having a Venus Mars sextile in chart that provided me with a good deal of satisfaction (Little Things Mean A Lot). Whatever love or money I get, I tend to feel satisfied with it and while this brings me much pleasure, what do you think this does to my drive?
If I am satisfied… a fed dog as I say, I am not apt to go out and hunt as a hungry dog surely will. Consequently I may not achieve as much as a person with those planets in hard aspect.
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Demystifying Astrology: There Are No Planets In My 7th House, Does This Mean I Will Never Marry?
Astrology for beginners – See all beginner posts
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.
Transits Don’t Operate In A Vacuum
“May I pass along my congratulations for your great interdimensional breakthrough. I am sure, in the miserable annals of the Earth, you will be duly enshrined.”
–Lord John Whorfin, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
Looking at an individual transit is like looking at something under a microscope. You can see whatever you’re looking at very clearly and learn a great deal from it. However, whatever you’re looking at is removed from its environment which limits what you see. It’s a great place to begin learning about something because when you understand the components fully you can add them together to form an understanding of the whole. It’s like looking at a single cell on a glass slide. You can see its makeup and how it functions on its own. Then you need to see how it interacts with the other cells in its environment, then the tissue, then the organ, then the body.
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Semantics, Google And How We Learn
“You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.”
–Yogi Berra
When you’re learning astrology your best subject is yourself. The reasoning behind this is the fact that it is ourselves we may know best. You can think you know another, and perhaps you do, but there are more variables involved. Direct observation (of another) is helpful but is no substitute for direct experience (within yourself). I find it helpful when talking about what I “know” and listening to what others posit to use the rules of court for admissible testimony and questioning. “Objection, your honor, conjecture!”
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Demystifying Astrology: Little Things Mean A Lot
Astrology for beginners
Know anyone who wants to learn astrology? Send them here: See all beginner posts
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.
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Mars And The Ascendant
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
–Viktor E. Frankl, Scorpio Mars
No matter what else I’m working on I like to go back periodically and readdress my perspective on the basics. For instance I find it helpful to look at the differences between the Moon and Venus, needs versus wants and the gray areas in between. Venus is the aesthetic and what you want. For me the next thought is “how do you GET what you want?” That’s Mars. So I tend to link the two, Venus then Mars. But it’s also how you get what you need, Moon then Mars.
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Two planets are said to be in mutual reception when each planet is in the sign of the other’s rulership. An example of this would be the Sun in Cancer with the Moon in Leo. Leo is Sun-ruled while Cancer is Moon-ruled; they are in each other’s signs. This gives these two planets an affinity for each other.
If they make an aspect mutual reception elevates the importance or strength of that aspect. If they do not make an aspect this affinity creates a connection not present otherwise. It is a placement of mutual support that links the two energies. An aspect of ease here requires even less energy to manifest. The difficulty of a hard aspect is mitigated by this affinity.
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Demystifying Astrology: How Do Oppositions Work?
Astrology for beginners
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!
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The Fourth House – Your Base
Astrology for beginners – See all beginner posts
The 4th house in your chart reveals your base.  For example, if Saturn rules your 4th or if Saturn in placed in your 4th house, I would consider you to be fear-based. If Jupiter ruled your 4th or was placed there, I would think of you as faith-based, etc.
The 10th house is public, the 4th house is not. Whatever is described by your 10th house is there to be seen by the public. In contrast only you and your intimates are likely to be aware of the qualities described by your 4th house. You do have to consider the entire chart as there are exceptions to this and I can serve as an example.
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Beginners Studying Astrology? Get A List Of The Transits To Your Chart For A Year – $10!
Outtakes and various other sundries
I wrote How To Learn Astrology: Books For Beginners Instructions How To Use Them, a concise how-to on how to settle in and learn to read a chart. I recommended you read through interpretations of the transits to your chart from one of two books in order to get a handle on things. Someone asked where to get such a listing and you can get that here, not only a list but a short interpretation.
Here is a sample:
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