Category Archives: Aries Point

Viewing the Ascendant in the Whole Sign Chart

02 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in 1st House, Aries Point, astrology, Cardinal Activity, House Systems, The Ascendant

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The figure in the lower left corner is a great symbolic representation of the Ascendant point of the chart. By an unknown artist. First appeared in Camille Flammarion’s ‘L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire’ 1888 {{PD}}

This is a re-print from an issue of ECLIPSE, with some new material added.

Using the Placidus House system over many years, I came to truly love the Ascendant of a chart; for the individual it’s a declaration, ‘Here I am, and this is who I am!’ literally representing the moment the person arrived in the world, and describing the attitude, the ‘face’ with which they meet everything they encounter. For an event it describes the moment of inception, the event’s first thrust into reality, and for both an individual and an occurrence, the Ascendant describes the character of what’s presented to the observer. This point in the chart both tells us of the initiating nature of the individual or event, and tells us what was on the horizon at the time and place of this ‘birth’. The integration of the point itself into the other points and bodies of the natal chart (by aspect) tells us the story of this entry point, and the character of the first House tells us what outlook supports this personality.

With the Whole Sign system, we see the Ascendant relocated, in a sense, to a point within the 1st; it no longer demarcates the chart in a definitive way, acting as ‘the place where everything begins’, but instead becomes a part of the 1st House itself, with the implication being that the environment of the 1st House determines Ascendant expression. By that I mean, the Ascendant is essentially a reaction to the environment into which one is born; as such, it describes survival skills the entity developed to cope with the early (immediate) environment. It’s a statement of what the individual believes they must do or produce in order to survive—and so can be highly revealing of core beliefs and assumptions about the world, as well as indicative of the individual’s likely natural, initial, instinctive response to pressure/ stress. This is in contrast to the approach in the Placidus system, where we may see the Ascendant nature as a fait accompli at birth, due to its prominence on the horizon of the flat chart. With Whole Signs, we allow for the shaping of reactions and personality, unlike with Placidus, which symbolically fixes the personality to the horizon, to birth, to the moment of entrance, and so imbues the Ascendant with an aura more fatalistic than expressive.

The Ascendant could also be viewed as the individual’s own personal Aries Point, if we define the Aries Point as the place at which the Sun enters 0 degrees of a Cardinal sign, which corresponds with the start of a new season. The moment of birth could be seen to represent the start of a personal new season for the individual. A new life brings a new outlook, and incarnation the translation of the unseen into physical form (that is, the spirit into a human body). We can’t discount what that individual may be bringing with them, consciousness that exists beyond the timeline that begins with the moment of birth, which argues for the Whole Sign system, with the symbolism of the Ascendant placed within the 1st rather than acting as the cusp of it, so that some of that 1st House ‘essence’ is placed above the horizon, symbolizing that non-material state of the spirit prior to translation into human form.

The flexibility offered by the Whole Sign system in relation to the Ascendant, represented by the way the ASC is found somewhere within the 1st House, means that we get a more holistic view of the personality; it presents not as an assertion of personality, a statement of ‘I Am’, as much as an ever evolving viewpoint that rises naturally from interaction with the environment. This means that we are inclined in interpretation to see the personality quirks and difficulties that arise from it not so much as irrefutable facts, but as responses—and seeing things that way offers us the opportunity of modification and change in the moment and in any direction, rather than the linear Placidus model that suggests only a single line of possible development, with much less suggestion of dimensionality.

If you’re still unclear about what I mean, draw on a piece of paper just your 1st House, once with the Ascendant on the cusp (the Placidus model) and then again with the Ascendant sign from 00 to 30 as the 1st House, with the Ascendant placed inside (the Whole Sign model), and see if this doesn’t convey two truly differing impressions of the Ascendant and its possible readings. Both are useful ways of looking at the chart, and both tell a story about who we are.

Vesta, the South Node, and the Aries Point October 2015

20 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by in Aries Point, astrology

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Concentrate, trace the waves of the past, see where they've pushed you to contact the material world, and you may see what's coming. 'Girl Seated by Shore' George Elgar Hicks 1877 {{PD}}

Concentrate, trace the waves of the past, see where they’ve pushed you to contact the material world, and you may see what’s coming. ‘Girl Seated by Shore’
George Elgar Hicks 1877 {{PD}}

Right now Vesta and the South Node are together at the Aries Point; that is, they’re conjoined at 00 Aries. This point is notable for a couple reasons: in time it marks the Spring equinox, when the Sun hits this point going from south to north crossing the equatorial plane, so we might think of this as a Node of the Sun-Earth path, a point of extremity; it also marks the point in the natal chart where spirit meets the material–or we can think of it as the point where who we are reaches out into the world and is received–and that means that those natal placements and points that contact the Aries Point will indicate those ways in which we will be noticed by others, at what vibrational frequency (related to the body contacted) we can make our mark, or may indicate for what we become known, whether that’s in a group of two or two billion.

The current combination focuses those still-living waves from the past (the South Node), both what we’ve built on and what resounds like an echo, informing our thoughts and actions as if the circumstances continue to exist, through the lens of highest values, those things to which we dedicate ourselves and our efforts, our sense of ‘home’, and our interactions with the mate (Vesta). Placed at the Aries Point, the implication is that something seminal may occur in terms of our values; something may begin, find its seed, start gestation of a proto-essence that doesn’t have a name yet. This should alert us to a new thing that will break the horizon in the future, a thing born of the past and our previous choices surrounding home, mate, and energy dedication. We can’t be more specific than that, yet, though we may want to look for the natal placements of Mars and/or Vesta, as well as the matters of the House ruled by Mars, and the current transit or progressed situations of these, for clues as to what might be, even now, setting out roots, developing, moving to emerge.

See my books here, including my newest on Vesta, and here’s a little something on Vesta and relationships from a few years ago. Enjoy your week! And a reminder: unless you are a current client, please do not contact my email directly–I cannot answer unsolicited queries, questions, or requests for service–I just don’t have the time. Please see the ‘Services’ page for information on my availability. Thank you for keeping me so busy!

The Forecast for the Sun’s Entry Into Aries 20 March 2013: ‘ A Build-Up, A Bellwether’

19 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Aries Point, current events in the sky, ECLIPSE magazine

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Aries in female form: 'Queen Boudicea' by John Opie Several depictions of Boudicea showed her "haranguing" her troops; would they say that if she were a man? I think not.

Aries in female form: ‘Queen Boudicea’ by John Opie Several depictions of Boudicea showed her “haranguing” her troops; would they say that if she were a man? I think not.

The forecast for tomorrow, as the Sun enters the sign of Aries, as presented in ECLIPSE Weekly Aspect Digest:

20 March The Sun enters Aries, pulling our attention to the Self, aggression, anger, and the need to act. It’s almost spring, and the juices are flowing–no more of that relaxed, drifting, daydreaming Pisces for you and me! No sir. The Sun’s entry into Aries starts, of course, at the much-lauded Aries Point–so today may be a kind of bellwether for the coming Solar year. Note the tone, note the positives, note the negatives–and look for them as a running theme or subtext through to next first day of Sun in Aries.

Our take on reality, meanwhile, is at odds with that of those in authority, or with nature itself, or requires some serious negotiation before things shake out into an acceptable state. We can either bash our own heads against barriers, walls, and other impediments, or we can modify our idea of what is to accommodate what we feel should be. Wounds come from ignoring what we know to be wise; though it may be tempting, don’t blow off what’s smart to indulge the urge to act out or act up. (Sun into Aries/ Earth into Libra, Saturn sesquiquadrate Ceres, Chiron semi-square Pallas)

2 AM PDT the Cancer Moon squares Uranus; that building Aries energy brings out the practical joker, the panicker, the rebel without a cause, the know-it-all, and the person who just wants to be left alone, and keeps interrupting you to let you know. Erratic behavior is the norm right now; try not to react. 8 AM PDT the Moon creates a Grand Trine with Chiron and Saturn. Overwhelming emotionalism arising out of hurt may make for a feeling that we’re confined in a watery grave–but know that the trapped feeling falls away when we are willing to let go of emotional immersion as a way of being. It may feel ‘more alive’, to some, but is really just a mechanism that keeps us from moving forward, so waterlogged are we by feeling and sensation. 10 AM PDT of the 20th the Moon opposes Pluto. If we haven’t lap-pooled our way out of the emotional morass that the Grand Trine invited us into, this will be the wake-up call that tells us we are way out over the deep end, with no ladder in sight. If we managed to stay cake-free and dried, as Shel Silverstein once said, we will at this point find that we are either dealing with another’s Plutonian energy (or, as we sometimes call it, an assault), or we will be dealing with our own Plutonian urges and their emotional consequences. Stay calm and take your time, in dealing with either situation. 6 PM PDT the Moon squares hZeus, showing us the emotional downside to getting what we want. Midnight the Moon trines the North Node and semi-sextiles Vesta. This offers a point of emotional alignment with our goals and values, and could call for slight course correction.

23 September 2010 Full Moon: Glimpsing Intentions of the Soul

22 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by in Aries Point, astrology, Cardinal Activity, Consciousness Explored, current events in the sky, ECLIPSE magazine, Full Moon, Juno, T-Square

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Olaus Magnus 1555 'On the Activities of People at Moonlight' {{PD-Art}}

The women were like beings made of moon milk, and their skin shimmered with little silver dots like those of the salmon in springtime, and the women’s feet and hands were long and graceful.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes Phd,  WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES

The Full Moon for September occurs at 2:17 AM PDT on the 23rd at 00 Aries 15–the Aries Point! In the most straightforward terms, the Aries Point is the slice of space/ time where spirit enters matter, the collision point of  all that is real and unseen with discernible material form. So, a big deal, as for the individual, this point in the flat chart of the natal horoscope designates the point at which the individual meshed the spirit and the physical as we know it; it’s the place where the Soul entered active engagement with the present lifetime. What does this mean for us when the transiting Full Moon coincides with what we might see as a doorway between spirit and material?

The occurrence of the Full Moon at the Aries Point may open a doorway to our origins, to the most fundamental expression of who we are, at that moment when we both took material form (birth) and still retained full consciousness of the Soul essence. The Sabian symbol for 0-1 Aries is: ‘A Woman Just Risen From the Sea; a Seal is Embracing Her’ This image brings to mind the Archetypal story of the Seal Woman who mates with a human male, has a child, and slowly loses her health–all because as she celebrated herself, a hunter saw, and took the sealskin she wore as her ‘true’ identity. The story is given form in ‘Sealskin, Soulskin,’ in Estes’ marvelous ‘Women Who Run With the Wolves.’ She divides the story (which is told in many cultures in many forms) into parts that I know  I can’t improve on, so we’ll look at each part and how it might relate to the Full Moon experience.

Since this is a Full Moon, we know we’re speaking of culmination, the rounding out of some part of our own story. First, there is a kind of initiation that comes through a loss, in one form or another, of the Soul. I think this can be equated to birth, represented by the Aries Point as the doorway; we can’t help but become disoriented, losing a bit of ourselves in the process. Then one ‘loses one’s pelt’ in earnest–we are trying to enjoy our new human form, but in celebrating this we set aside the Soul connectors we still retain, in order to fit in to the earthly realm. We substitute the values of the culture and our tribe, and though these are not completely alien, they do represent the values of consensus, and that means we lose our awareness of those things that make us unique; this loss is represented by ‘poor’ choice (and by that I mean the kind of choices we inevitably make in an attempt to regain that part of ourselves we sense we’ve forgotten) and the way we are lured by the things we think will provide our lack. So we are, like the Seal Woman, left naked and shivering as we search for our eternal Beingness.

Next there is communion with the hunter, the individual who has ‘taken’ our skin–of course, we don’t know that we are facing the thief. This is represented by any animus oriented energy to which we succumb: our own interior animus, our ego, or an external animus: a man, ambition, society’s definition of ‘making it.’ Note that though this story is told as a woman’s loss, this tragedy happens to men, as well; they lose their unique ‘Soul skin’ in an attempt to be the kind of man society (and perhaps the partner) demands, rather than the kind of man they are naturally. The ego and its particular form of vanity promises to fulfill us, to return to us that missing Soul piece, if we will only do its bidding–but this is just not true–it cannot return what it does not possess.

The woman, the entire time she has spent on dry land, has been hearing the call of the sea (her true environment) and has been conscious of her vibrational connection with her child, her spiritual ‘home,’ in a sense. This spirit child in the story is the child of the Seal Woman and the hunter who captured her by stealing her skin. This is representative of the pure, inner connection we retain to the Soul (it can be ‘the inner child,’ though I think it’s something much purer, the experience of the Soul rather than just the seed-manifestation of it), and it’s this element in the story that, agitated by its mother’s distress, stumbles out into the night and trips on the mother’s wrapped up Seal skin, finding and delivering back to the woman her true identity.

So, in all this we are seeing an Archetypal journey in miniature; the Full Moon presents us with the ability to re-acquaint ourselves with that moment when as Soul we slipped into flesh–and this is a vital point, as it is the one time in the incarnation experience (other than the moment of death) in which we can be fully aware of the enormity of who we are, and can re-connect so directly with it.

Using our strict orb, we see that the Sun/ Moon/ Earth makes only one aspect, a T-square with Pluto in Capricorn. Ah ha! Besides being able to glimpse in its purest form the Soul and its intentions on incarnating (in the Sabian, this is the seal embracing the woman, a return to the natural sensibilities), this Full Moon also offers the power (Pluto) to transform (Pluto) our own manifestation in the material (Capricorn). Since the inner is the outer, and the outer the inner, this means we can change anything on any level, with corresponding changes visible (or felt or realized) in the opposite venue.

In ECLIPSE I called this Full Moon “the true birth point of fated Cardinal action,” and outline the other influences in effect at the moment of Full Moon fulfillment that will act on our transformational choices. If you’re planning on getting this issue and you just haven’t yet, now’s the time http://dogandsunflower.wordpress.com/new-summer-2010-eclipse/  The life long journey to empowerment is closely related to  the mini-empowerment we will be instituting with this Full Moon; see more on that here http://dogandsunflower.wordpress.com  in my new book on Juno. Thank you!

And have a wonderful Full Moon transformational experience!