This is a re-print from a Valentine edition of ECLIPSE–I hope you enjoy it, and have a great weekend!
We’ve all felt that zap of electricity on meeting particular people–what does that look like in cross-chart interaction? It’s not just one or two ‘special’ contacts; it usually takes a couple of conjunctions of non-like energies (when people are close in age they often have conjunctions of the same, slower moving energies–these in many cases needn’t even be considered in analysis), plus a square or three (because the right kind of conflict generates heat!) and strong interaction of principle energies (Sun, Moon, chart ruler, ruler of Sun or Moon, Venus for woman, Mars for a man–this latter designation is appropriate no matter the sexual inclinations of the individual, so that same sex couples look at Venus-Venus or Mars-Mars connections) as well as some firm Saturn contact going in both directions (each person’s Saturn must ‘hook’ into the other person’s chart for longevity of the relationship).
In my experience, conjunctions are definitely the strongest contacts; nothing else comes close. Next in strength are squares–we can’t ignore the energy one of our placements squares, and the other person can’t ignore ours. Oppositions can pull like a gravity well in space or repel as we point at ‘what I’m not’. Trines, of course, are harmonious, but along with sextiles, may not exert much influence; these can be so easy that they’re not noticed, unless accompanied by other, more compelling contacts (usually conjunctions, which are a direct confrontation of energies, or squares, with the ‘can’t ignore’ feeling). I can’t possibly list every potential pattern, but can give you a few highlights:
One person’s Pluto to the other person’s Sun, Ascendant, Ascendant ruler, Venus (for a woman) or Mars (woman or man), and sometimes the Moon (though this can be more intimidating or frightening for the Moon person than anything else). Pluto is intensity, and sex, and the contacted essence will stir that up in the Pluto person, while the Pluto person will see strong appeal in the qualities of the contacted energy.
Zeus touching anything, by any aspect! With this body we get a slice of passion, pure, primal, and totally undiluted, so that anything it contacts suggests the Zeus person is turned on by expression of the energy–and the person receiving the Zeusian regard will really feel it! In Platonic interactions it can mark an enthusiasm or the desire of the Zeus person to aid the other person in expression of the contacted energy, so can be a contact of great generosity, lust, and/ or overstepping bounds, as well as potentially showing someone who may further one’s ambitions.
A woman’s Venus in contact with a man’s Mars (or the anima dominant person’s Venus contacting the animus dominant person’s Mars, all dependent on what one identifies as ‘my’ energy). This at least sparks interest, though what these energies rule in the natal chart will be telling of how it may play out. Should these energies be ‘flipped’ (male’s Venus to female’s Mars) they will often show attraction initially, but find there is an imbalance that causes discomfort, typically she is a little too abrasive for him, he’s a little too ‘soft’ for her. This is usually a more dynamic contact with people who are highly gender-identified (very feminine woman with very masculine man).
The same rules for Venus-Mars ‘rules’ can be applied to Sun-Moon contacts; here, though, we may have to consider the prominence of the paternal-maternal influence as it appears elsewhere in the chart and life. Sun-Moon tends more toward the ‘established mature relationship’ category when it’s apparent in a mating relationship than it does in a romantic one.
The Mars of either sex (or either inclination) brings the assertive energy which is vital to sexual interaction to the table–and the state of this in the individual chart will tells us something about how it may play out in contact with another person’s energies.
Positive Venus interactions are a must; with Venus the common designator for both relationships and pleasure, we must find it active in a positive way.
One person’s Jupiter on another person’s planet or point can suggest the Jupiter person may be very generous in the contacted area–but also possibly a little proprietary, in the way the god imposed himself on mortal and demi-god alike.
Significant placements in one person’s chart falling in the 12th of the other can cause uneasiness in the 12th House person that is difficult to overcome.
Eros contact makes for objectification, and this can be sexy or off-putting depending on what’s contacted, and the individual attitudes toward being a sex-object!
These are just a few of the sparkiest contacts–investigation will likely reveal the ones that spark for you!
This weekend reading is an ECLIPSE re-print, edited, augmented, and with completely new sections added on Uranus and Neptune.
‘A Double Portrait’ By Abraham de Vries c1630 {{PD}}
The internalized voices of the mother and father (or the caretakers) are something everyone absorbs in childhood and carries for life. We know how a parent would likely respond to most everything we do, and often as not that assumed parental assessment floats through the mind as we make choices. But, as we age, we’re meant to compartmentalize those particular voices, and replace them with a central one belonging to ourselves, with ones belonging to our idealized Archetypes—the Mother and Father of our dreams, so to speak—as secondary, as a set of counselors. These have the benefit of being all-loving and totally supportive; they tell us what we need to hear to assure our choices are healthy for us and supportive of our Soul’s needs, and best of all, these Archetypal voices support the adult that we are, rather than commenting on the child we were. We can if we’re so inclined characterize these as God’s voice, the voice of our incorporeal guardians or angels, the Higher Self, or of the sexless but living Universe—whatever fits your belief system. The internal Parents will speak to what’s most productive for us as individuals—and this ‘feedback’ varies from that of the actual mother and father in situations where they were truly supportive to a kind of neutral, responsible common sense advice meant to aid.
Have your internal voices (at least the directly real-life parental ones) evolved from the personal voices of the actual caretakers into an Archetypal energy that ‘speaks’ in your best interests, or is the voice you hear still the one of the actual parent, with all the encouragement, judgment, and limitations of their life imposed on yours? And do you get that confused—or more likely, allow it to sidetrack you—when you’re in the midst of decision-making? We get some clues in the chart on how to deal with the parental influence by examining contact between the personal planets and lights (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) and other bodies, some that are specific to the personal chart and some that are universal. Here’s a quick look at the info, cookbook-style. Remember, of course, that these are not the only meanings these contacts have–we’re just concentrating on particular manifestations and concepts.
Jupiter in contact with the personals seems to have two main early expressions: seeing the individual or subject represented by the contacted energy as god-like, or seeing the contacted energy as something we always need ‘more’ of. We tend to relate this attitude to, or draw it from, whichever parent seemed god-like at the time—so not necessarily the parent who held the most authority, but the one to whom it seemed nothing was denied. When this takes on an Archetypal maturity, we see the opportunities we’ve had related to the contacted energy, and we access direct knowledge of the related concepts. Natal Venus in Scorpio trine Jupiter in Cancer may suggest we had a female caretaker who ‘had it all’ emotionally, and that she was either provided this by a god-like figure or that she herself was that figure. She was cared for emotionally, at least (Cancer), and sex and mystery (Scorpio) may have seemed to be her province, denied to the individual with the aspect, as was a sense of truly being nurtured, with that reserved for the caretaker as well—and this may have resulted in over-the-top sexual experimentation, emotional spending, or having 15 children, trying to claim Venus-Jupiter for oneself. With maturity and an Archetypal Jupiter in place, one is not only able to claim the energies for the Self, but also to see how they may be best used. In this case, knowledge of what it takes to nurture (Cancer) combines with the worth of Truth, deep and intense relationships, and yes, sexuality, to inform the life choices and open the Self to the wider world and its worth.
As the Old Man of the chart, Saturn in contact to any of the personals can describe the permanent influence of an authority figure, usually the parent perceived as ‘in charge’. Typically this is a sense of suppression of the characteristics of the contacted planet, with maturity bringing a change that incorporates Self-discipline in place of external restrictions. For instance, the natal Moon in Aries square Saturn in Capricorn, with Saturn repping the father, may suggest the individual observed suppression of the mother’s (Moon) independence, autonomy, or leadership potential and incorporated this into the emotional make-up, or that the individual directly experienced it her or himself, possibly through a denial of the intuition or even the emotions themselves. Every time this person makes a move on his or her own, he or she may experience that sense of paternal suppression, and so may show temper, aggression, or insist on the ‘I want’ in response. With maturity and the Archetypal response, though, the individual may shift from seeing Saturn as conflict and potential negation of the feelings to support of these through following the ‘rules’ and through sufficient Self-restraint. This is just one possibility, of course. When we’re still hearing the voice of one or the other parent, we will tend to refuse or at least resent complying with Saturn’s requirements; by the time we form an Archetypal version, we will frame it as the inner voice of caution and common sense—and likely have attracted one or two ‘real-life’ versions, people exhibiting extraordinary maturity no matter their age, on which to model our approach.
Uranus related to the inner parent concept may stand for one or both as erratic, unreliable, Self-involved, and if it applies to both maternal and paternal authority figures (for instance, by ruling or being posited in the 10th) the parents may have presented as a ‘group’, sticking together so that there was no way for the child to make an end run around one parent to appeal to the other. The home life may have been perceived as chaotic, no matter the surface appearance of things, and the sense that accidents could happen anytime, or that the parent could simply disappear, could breed hyper-vigilance in the child that becomes an uneasy sense of distrust of all others, or the world itself, in the adult. Relationships may innately seem precarious, and if there’s a denial of this influence, the individual could be repressive and controlling themselves, unconsciously seeking to keep potential chaos at bay.
In my upcoming Moon book I discuss the personal effects of Uranus using the chart of singer Karen Carpenter; here are a couple of excerpts:
“She has a 00 Cancer 34 Ascendant, with Uranus retrograde at 00 Cancer 57–this shouts naturally wired, high strung, nervous, and in Cancer the likely conduit for the nerves is the stomach, and possibly in motherhood (or the rejection of it–Carpenter had no children). Uranus rules the Whole Sign 8th, which holds Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury. We can see anorexia, the disease from which she suffered and from which she died, in at least one sense as rebellion: from control of others, from norms, from forced sharing (8th House) in an attempt to create one ‘private’ thing in the life, one thing completely, irrevocably under the individual’s sole control—and these planetary and point relationships describe this to a ‘T’.
Uranus can be seen as a kind of co-Ascendant, so closely and thoroughly is it tied to Karen’s connection point with the world. It suffers significant isolation from the other chart energies, with only a semi-square to Pluto (which touches Uranus’ ruler, the Moon) and a square to Juno. These aspects suggest intense control issues, a known component of the equation that prompts anorexia. But, though the two bodies Uranus touches are control-oriented, the involvement of Uranus suggests a fear of losing control, a dread of the chaotic and the unanticipated. She may have identified herself as potentially always on the verge of personal chaos (Uranus closely conjoined the Ascendant)—and that easily could’ve driven her to be constantly vigilant, and to clamp down on anything and everything within her reach.”
Neptune to the personals and linked to the parental figures can make for a number of intensely disorienting experiences for a child: the parent may seem to (or even tell the child that) they hold all the creative ‘cards’, making the child feel they can never live up to the parental creativity (this is not uncommon in the charts of children of successful artists or celebrities). The suggestion in the mind of the child is that the parent presents an ideal that can never be reached, convincing the child he or she is drab and untalented by comparison, even if the parent has never implied this. Or the child may suffer from a sense of nebulous or incomplete identity, taking their cues about who they are and how they feel from the parent. There may be a lack of boundaries that, if carried into adulthood, can bring gullibility, unrealistic creative attempts, and co-dependent relationships until the individual learns to set boundaries and clearly differentiates the Self and the Self’s responsibilities from those of others. The child being persuaded they’re someone they’re not is a distinct danger. Learning they’re not responsible for those around them (and especially for the feelings of those around them) can be a significant milestone.
The sense that it’s natural for the individual to feel they are just a small part of something larger can bring perpetual uncertainty, and may be the foundation of a spiritual search in adulthood; a good parent will recognize the fears and inability of the child to know where he or she ends and everyone else begins, and can assist them in channeling that Cosmic awareness into appropriate expression–a not-so-good parent may use the child like a battery, absconding with the child’s creative and life energies, insisting the child exists as an adjunct of them. This can be a tough enmeshment to recognize, as it may present as the parent deeply concerned with fostering the child (the modern ‘helicopter parent’ comes to mind) which can easily smother or disorient the child’s creative and imaginative urges. Most difficult contact for the native within their own chart? Neptune and the Moon, no question.
‘Abduction of Persephone and Pluto on Horseback’ By Giuseppe Scolari c1595 {{PD}}
Pluto is symbolic of what’s commonly known as ‘The Devouring Mother’, but that’s too narrow a definition by far; this is really a designator of a power figure, male or female, who overwhelmed the individual, and likely persuaded them that, whatever energy Pluto contacted was not to be theirs. The typical indoctrination involves framing the energy as destructive, as likely to obliterate the individual if she or he engages with it. Who would tell (or imply) something like this to a mere child? Sometimes it’s done out of fear, in an attempt to protect, but just as often it arises from rage, an attitude that says, ‘If I can’t have this, neither can you!’ When this is the voice we carry in our minds, we are likely forbidden to even think about the energy too much; we have been so conditioned to see it as, essentially, death, that we avoid it actively.
As we see others access that power, though, this leads (at least at first) not to accessing it ourselves, but to rage of our own at being denied something we see others have: we in essence become, attitudinally, the mirror of our caretaker in regard to this subject. The classic example is Venus square Pluto, which traditional literature calls a denial of Love for the individual until they learn to be loving. I find this a misunderstanding of the dynamic at work: the individual appears to not understand Love and to behave badly because of it, but they are actually reacting to the denial of Love for themselves, in that they are raging at being denied what they see everyone else have. They are not devoid of Love themselves, but so afraid of it (and in some cases this applies to money/ assets, too) that they dare not approach it. Remedy begins when the individual first tastes genuine Love (not romance) and finds they don’t die; dramatic as it seems, that’s what it takes to show them they can not only have it, that they are worthy of it—and that is the essence of the Plutonian Archetypal form, the ability to be powerful and unafraid, and so abandon the need to rage and destroy.
I often see Ceres described as a kind of ‘Earth Mother’ figure, but that paints her as entirely too passive (and with far too little power of her own). She is an active energy, Nature itself, and though she nurtures, her mothering role is this: she cares for and carefully tends the welfare of her offspring, as long as they do precisely what she wants. I contend that the story we know of Persephone/ Proserpina’s abduction by Pluto/ Hades is told from Ceres’/ Demeter’s point-of-view; that’s why it’s an abduction, not an elopement, and imprisonment in the Underworld rather than the voluntary experience of sexual maturity, which in itself requires the individual to separate from the maternal figure. Ceres’ grief at her daughter’s escape to the Underworld in many ways resembles a fit by a too-controlling parent: I will withhold the very essence of life to all that grows on the planet (creating autumn and winter, which hadn’t existed–before that it was perpetual summer) until my daughter returns to me. The daughter is treated like a possession, and the negotiation for her partial return is carried out not with her but with Pluto—she is never asked what she wants!
With Ceres in contact to the personals, then, we may see someone who was required to conform to the caretaker’s expectations to the letter in the areas of life signified by the contacted energy. Getting free from that all-encompassing hold means acting, not necessarily in ways we want to, but in ways that take us outside the parental reach. That means early attempts to break free of Ceres’ hold can be very bad choices, indeed—but they serve to make the individual more autonomous, at the very least, and that may set them on their way with a determination not to return to a Ceres-approved life. When we bring the Archetypal version of Ceres into being, we connect directly with what we might refer to as the ‘Voice of Nature’; this energy makes us highly aware of and respectful of all living things (and even that life essence found in inanimate objects, invested by the Being who created them) and in its fullest form makes it very difficult for us to stand by and allow damage to the Earth. Natal Ceres conjunct the Sun, for instance, may start out with the individual placing a Solar entity (the father, or the person about whom their internal Solar system orbits) in the center of the life, which is really a position each of us should hold in our own lives—it’s inappropriate for another to be in that place. You can imagine the drama that would unfold as this individual struggles to claim the Solar energy for their own—and the life-or-death tinged threats that may be made if the individual withdraws from the temporary Sun/ Ceres individual’s compass. Eventually, though, withdraw they will—because in the end, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
‘Demeter Mourning for Persephone’ By Evelyn De Morgan 1906 {{PD}}
Bonus knowledge on Ceres: When one person’s Ceres makes cross-chart contact to particular natal bodies of the mate, a super anti-romantic energy can ensue. For example, a woman’s Ceres conjunct a man’s Mars may start out okay (he may like the sense of nurture and acceptance he feels from her) but quickly devolves into something akin to a repelling energy: she soon starts to feel like Mom to him, and only if he’s into sex with Mom do things work out! It may not be that blatant (or icky) but he will likely come to see her every interaction with him as emasculating, in a sense—the funny thing is couples with this cross-chart interaction can end up staying together for a long time, as he becomes a serial adulterer (for sex) then returns to the mate for comfort and a sense of home.
Attraction is not just a relaxing of our out-thrusting energies, it’s a state of receptivity. By Joseph-Désiré Court 1828 {{PD}}
A reprint from a January 2013 issue of ECLIPSE:
We typically think that we must, in some form, assert ourselves in order to get what we want out of life: we set ourselves on a Path, think of ourselves as seekers, and actively look for those things we imagine will bring us satisfaction. Rarely do we sit back and allow the Universe to handle the timing; letting what we want come to us is in many ways a foreign concept, especially to the Western-educated mind. But, it’s one I’d like you to entertain, at least temporarily, as we pinpoint some components of the natal chart that promise the possibility of having the Universe serve up our desires, rather than of us having to pursue them–I’m calling them ‘The Great Attractors’.
We have a literal astronomical example in the area of 14 degrees 2 minutes Sagittarius, termed ‘The Great Attractor’. This area is described by astrophysicists as a mass concentration of what is assumed to be dark matter that exerts a gravitational pull on all objects in our region, creating a ‘flow’ in the direction of the constellation Centaurus. The Milky Way (our home) and other nearby galaxies (like Andromeda) are being inexorably pulled in this direction, yet we can’t see what’s pulling us, because the Attractor is hidden by the plane of our galaxy; in other words, our own stardust and matter obscures our view of what’s causing our movement through the Universe. The physical world acts this way in relation to the spirit: the issues we encounter with the material often obscure our spiritual Beingness, our intent. The pull of the Great Attractor is very much how the energies described by the horoscope act within us: they pull us, unseen, in particular directions, the inclinations, talents, and preferences they detail giving us our impetus in specific areas of life and setting us on a unique trajectory, one on which no one has ever traveled in quite this way before. (And just in case there’s any confusion, no, I don’t think the planets actually exert an influence on us–but I do think the planets reflect energies within us, and so act as a kind of ‘shadow play’ we are able to interpret with astrology).
Though we are always attracting things and people and events into our lives, to shift to a conscious mode of engagement with the Universe is to take an enormous step forward in consciousness; the more aware we become of unconscious material, the more ‘in control’ (if there is such a thing) we can be of the manifestations, outcomes, and developments in our lives. Of course, becoming highly conscious doesn’t mean we ‘out’ all unconscious material (after all, we have a 12th House, and it doesn’t disappear upon enlightenment!)–it simply means that we have the best chance of understanding our own energies, and our own intentions, and so in producing and/ or attracting circumstances that we actually want, at least most of the time.
Venus shows us our desire nature, not so much in that lusty, material world way of Zeus (though there is an element of this to Venus, with her concentration on assets and beauty, and her propensity for envy, jealousy, and even greed), but in a way that describes what makes us feel loved, what makes us feel worthy. She by House, aspects, and sign placement tells us what we enjoy, what we want in relationship, what we see as worth earning, what we see as valuable, and what we find seductive. Venus, in a very real sense, describes what attracts us, but also tells what is attracted to us, and so serves to describe our primary attractive energy. The element in which our Venus plays natally gives us a big clue as to what we must initiate in order to prompt the attractive energy: in Earth, material things aligned with our Venus nature (described by the sign) are involved in attracting; with Fire it’s actions or events; with Water, memorable emotional ‘occasions’, feelings, or intuitions; and in Air ideas, thoughts, and communications given and received are energized. This doesn’t mean, for instance, that if we have Venus in Leo (Fire) we can’t gain materially (Earth); it means instead that a great attraction begins with a Fire event. With Venus in a Fire sign, we must act, in order to initiate our attractive ability. It’s true that the attractive energy happens no matter what we do, it’s just that to make the most of it, we should be receptive in the way it describes, in the case of Venus in Leo, opening ourselves to receive by acting.
And what are we pulling in, should we be operating unconsciously? We will attract element-related happenings in the life that are meant to trigger our Venus into conscious use. We may have the experience with a Venus in Libra, for instance, of hearing talk (Libra is an Air sign) that we find unflattering, which prompts us to change our relationship interactions (Venus in Libra) to be more pleasant, more balanced, or perhaps more loving to ‘the Other’–we become conscious of the need for change, so that the energies we’re attracting are harmonious to our natal energies.
Using our Venus consciously means we open to the entire spectrum of what Venus indicates; we open to accepting/ attracting money, love, relationships, assets, the appropriate aesthetic environment, companions, a harmonious material environment within which to express, and to living our values when we utilize our Venus attractive properties as they are keyed to us in the natal chart. We must be relaxed, aware of, and especially accepting of our Venusian components as accurate representations of what we desire. This can be challenging for some, who may de-value their Venus (those who eschew money or whatever ‘currency’ is in use in their world as unspiritual, for example, or those who believe that aesthetics are extraneous–“As long as it works, what’s the difference?”–or those who “Go it alone”, finding relationships draining or bothersome, to cite a few possibilities). We must be comfortable with our own Venus energy; in this case, we must be accepting of and even, in a sense, immersed in our Venus, in order to exert that attractive ‘force’.
We have another Great Attractor in the chart in the form of Chiron. The asteroid of the primal wound, healing, and the skills unique to the individual (skills that I believe were unavailable to personal use until last year; that’s the 2012 ‘shift’, in my opinion, as outlined in the supplement ‘The Elevation of Chiron 2012’) acts very much like the astronomical Great Attractor: it pulls things in, but we don’t have the perspective to recognize what is causing the gravitational force! In Chiron’s case, the wound acts as a psychological ‘black hole’, until we excavate and both uncover our hurt and begin to heal it. Our Chiron, then, will attract to us situations that irritate and stimulate the wound–until we make it conscious. Once we do, it’s like gaining a Super Power: we become impervious to the previous wound, as we can look back on our hurt, understand it, but no longer react to it. As well, we carry a special empathy for those suffering similar wounds; we can in fact recognize these individuals immediately. Once healed, our Chiron still functions as an Attractor, through use of our Chirotic skills; we use them, and send a wave out into the Universe that says: I have this to offer, I’m ready to employ it, and the Universe answers with opportunities, often taken to a Transpersonal level (discussed in ‘Chiron in the Natal Chart’). Often contact from something in someone else’s chart will cause us to either cast them as Wounder (no matter what the reality) or as Healer–and of course, that puts a lot of pressure on any relationship.
We have one other major receptive/ attractive energy in the natal chart, the Moon. Luna represents the ultimate receptive energy; this is the part of us that’s made to absorb, receive, and take in–and so is incredibly vulnerable. It seems to me that the Moon bounces its reflected light out into the Universe indiscriminately, and for the individual this translates as a kind of emotional ‘light’, an aura, of emotional and psychic energy that acts like a beacon, reaching out and meeting the reflected emotional light of others–I think in large part this is how we recognize those who are like us, who welcome us, through a combination of the Moon’s emotional light and the vibratory rate at which this exists. We’ve all had the experience of meeting people who live at a different emotional rate than we do–we don’t feel at home with them, and they don’t feel at home with us. We seek those with whom we feel comfortable, who will offer us comfort by their mere presence–and this is the Moon.
The Moon describes our emotional outlook, our means of processing via feeling, and our intuitive ‘feelers’, with the sign telling us in what form the intuition is likely to be picked up. For the Moon in Taurus, for example, material situations and environments will convey unspoken, intangible information; for a Moon in Scorpio, emotional undercurrents in situations and with individuals will be the most likely conveyor of info; while for a Moon in Aquarius it comes by ‘reading between the lines’, and by processing what is heard and observed in unusual ways. With any Moon sign openness to the energies and perceptive ways of the opposing sign will also figure in; for instance, the Aries Moon, which typically sense through the Self in relationship to others and through action (acting and then, often simultaneously sensing relevant data), may receive intuitive ‘bursts’ in the manner of Moon in Libra, which come through sensing relationships, through aesthetic considerations, and through putting out strong ‘feelers’ into the world. In this example, Aries senses through attunement to the Self while Libra senses by attunement to the Other; all signs can work in this fashion, utilizing the complementary energies of the opposing sign. For instance, Taurus senses through the material and the environment, while Scorpio senses through all that’s unseen or hidden, through what’s purely felt. This sensing mechanism is the conduit by which we not only understand through emotion/ feeling, but attract things, largely by ‘matching’ vibrational levels of the Self to vibrational levels of objects, persons, and places.
Beethoven in 1815, By Joseph Willibrord Mähler {{PD}}
Attractor Interplay: Beethoven and Therese Malfatti
Though composer Ludwig van Beethoven (16 December 1770 3:40 AM Bonn, Germany) never married, there was a point when he thought he’d found ‘the One’ in one of his students, Therese Malfatti (1 January 1792 ntk Vienna Austria). At the time of their meeting Beethoven was 40 and Therese 18. Beethoven had many previous romantic relationships, and none of them resulted in marriage, most likely because Beethoven liked to date the noblewomen who took music lessons with him, whose male relatives were often patrons of Beethoven, or who were music patrons themselves–and though he was an acknowledged genius in his field within his lifetime, no one from the upper classes wanted to marry someone with financial troubles and no connections. With Therese, Beethoven was so sure of his own feelings, and sure that she reciprocated, that he wrote a friend in Bonn to obtain his birth certificate, which was needed to marry. In actuality, Therese was an accomplished musician in her own right, but she didn’t confuse admiration for her mentor/ teacher with love. Beethoven misunderstood her affection and wanted the relationship to go forward–with interesting results.
Therese Malfatti, from an anonymous pastel painting in the Beethoven house, Bonn {{PD}}
In 1810, Beethoven was invited to a party at the Malfatti home, where he intended to play a song he’d written just for Therese (Bagatelle Wo059) and then propose marriage, but he became so drunk he didn’t play and didn’t propose; all he was able to do was scrawl across the top of the music manuscript ‘Für Therese’. If Beethoven did ever propose to Therese, he was turned down; she married a Hungarian Count in 1816. The bagatelle was unearthed upon Therese’s death in 1851, and published, but Beethoven’s drunken scrawl was nearly illegible. The title was mis-read as ‘Für Elise’ and this piece, which may be one of the most famous compositions in the world, is still called by its misinterpreted label.
When we look at the cross-chart interplay involving the Attractor/ Receptors of Venus, Chiron, and the Moon in the charts of Beethoven and Therese, we may note that other contacts had a strong role in the proceedings, including her Uranus conjunct his Midheaven-Saturn and her Pluto opposed it (he felt exceptionally unique around her, saw her as modern and inventive, intelligent, and sexy! and that all of this reflected well on his career and public reputation); her Sun sits at the rough midpoint of his Jupiter-Pluto conjunction (again with the sexy! and her ability to ‘shine’ on his public role); and her Ceres conjuncts his Mars and opposes his Pallas-Mercury-Ceres (she may have felt like a force of nature to him, stirring up his manhood! and perhaps making him feel that her presence enhanced his ability to communicate wisely); and some strong Saturn contacts probably made it feel to him that this was a permanent thing (their Saturns are trine, though his makes more contact to her planets that hers to his).
Beethoven’s Sagittarius Moon is conjunct his Ceres and trine her Saturn and possibly her Aries Moon–her Saturn (respect for authority and experience, need for security) responded to his emotional overtures, though on his part it may have felt like she was suppressing his intuitive pull toward her. His Moon-Ceres also opposes her Ceres, suggesting a compelling dynamic involving talk/ communion/ and knowledge exchange (Gemini/ Sagittarius) which may have been stimulating for him (Fire on his side) but draining for her (with Ceres in Gemini Air).
The composer’s Capricorn Venus is in an out-of-sign conjunction with her Aquarian Mercury –this suggests to me that there may have been a feeling of appreciating the same things, when in fact they did not–and his Venus snuggles in to her Grand Square/ Cross which involves her Merc-his Venus, her Jupiter-Neptune (plus his Vesta) opposed her Pallas, plus her Vesta in Leo as final point in the configuration. This may have felt to her as if his Venusian need, his appetites, were intruding on her ideal social role, her highest values, her communications, and what she considers wise–he may have felt to her just a wee bit like a social climber–and we’ve already seen how much he thought his social standing would benefit from an alliance.
Her Venus sextiles his Venus and semi-sextiles his Sun while also quincunxing his Mars-Earth. This set of contacts may have felt to her rewarding, in that she could feel his appreciation of her, yet the quincunx likely felt like she just couldn’t be attracted to him–not without him being more ‘manly’ and perhaps having more assets. Her Mars trines his Venus–uh-oh. This is one of the most consistent indicators in my experience for a relationship that will not last; the gender switch of basic energies always seems to create unease in both parties, and inevitably, she is too assertive, and he too soft in some way, for the two to stay together.
Her Chiron sits at the midpoint of his trine of Juno-Neptune to Uranus; this may have signaled her that to be his wife (Juno) would have meant being surpassed in importance by both his uniqueness as an individual and by his creativity, his music–and surely this would wound. Her Chiron also opposed his Pluto, suggesting his sexuality, as well as his well-documented temper, may have made her uncomfortable and perhaps even repelled her, and his Chiron, conjunct his 29 degree Zeus, doesn’t require contact to her chart to draw a picture of how passionate and ambition-obsessed Beethoven may have been, though it does exactly trine her Venus, implying she would very likely have been sacrificed on the altar of his desires–in the end, not a pretty picture, a scenario of something other than a lasting, equitable relationship.
Here’s a reprint from 2008, for the curious and the bemused, on this lazy Sunday:
Sometimes the attraction between partners is lost to onlookers. No other modern couple has caused the puzzled scrutiny and armchair analysis of their relationship more than Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton; now I’ll add my astrological take on the ‘whys’ of their relationship, using techniques featured in my book, THE ASTROLOGY OF INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP. There’s just not room here to do an exhaustive dissection of the relationship astrologically, but in any case I find that’s rarely needed; not to shortchange any relationship on its complex nature, but the interaction between two individuals can typically be outlined fairly with a few strokes, and there are always a small handful of contacts that describe the relationship’s essence, and thus satisfy our goal without getting lost in minutiae. Conjunctions often spell out the core of the interaction, and in significant relationships there’s usually no shortage of these.
In many ways, the ‘star’ of this relationship in terms of attraction is the meeting of his 1st House Venus to her 12th House Neptune. Venus in a man’s chart shows his ‘ideal partner,’ and in Bill’s case this is someone who probably literally embodies his anima (1st House placement); posited in Libra, his desire is for someone gracious, partnership oriented, and lovely as seen through his eyes, and conjoined Hillary’s Neptune, this may be precisely what he sees. In what’s likely a combination of projection of his Venus and the naturally obscuring and inspiring qualities imparted by contact with another’s Neptune, Bill may be genuinely confused by the polarized reactions others have to his wife. In the other direction, she may find his anima expresses certain more Universal qualities for her; he may carry to some extent her more empathetic qualities. He feels (and perhaps expresses) her pain, as well as that of the Collective.
Her Sun at 2 Scorpio is widely conjoined his Libra Juno, again referencing the strength of the Venus connection, as he will see Libran energy as ‘wifely.’ With this contact her very Soul essence expresses not just this ‘wifely’ role to him, but the power of the Scorpio placement is supported by him; he expects her to show a strong, empowered Self. What’s more, her Juno at 29 Sag (and we know what those 29 degree placements mean–they must express!) is conjunct his Pallas–he sees her as highly empowered and his own role as lending wisdom and skill to this.
His Earth conjoins her Pallas, suggesting that he grounds and supports materially the expression of her innate wisdom and skills. His Ceres squares her Sun, likely allowing her to carry his anima authority figure (though not without some conflict between them)–he may feel she’s something of a force of nature! And her Fire Jupiter fills in a Fire Grand Trine cross-chart with his Saturn and Vesta, painting a dynamic picture of real-world service to the social sphere as important to them both.
Bill’s Sun falls in Hillary’s 10th, conjoined her Zeus and Saturn–not the most romantic of placements, but she may feel she has a true supporter in him, and that her ambitions can be fulfilled through him, while her Sun falls in his 2nd–considering some of the already discussed contacts, he may identify with her, especially with her talents, very strongly–something that would probably surprise a great many people.
His Sun is conjoined her Saturn, a bit of a danger position. Even though strong, direct Saturn contacts in both directions (each person’s Saturn contacting something of the other person’s) are necessary for a relationship to be both lasting and serious, this is one of the tougher interactions, as she will spontaneously, and almost in spite of conscious feeling desire to repress his very essence (the Sun). He will sense this, and, considering the other contacts, will both remain in the relationship and seek to avoid her control at every turn; with his Saturn square her Sun, however, he may do the same to her, but more obliquely (square) likely through methods of open conflict.
Finally, we should backtrack a bit and look at general partner preferences for each. We’ve talked about Bill’s Venus, but what about Hillary’s? It sits in Scorpio; ‘ideal Hillary’ would have all the sexy, mysterious, stinging Scorpio attributes. Her ideal partner would have Leonine qualities, as shown by her Mars in Leo, and Bill has five placements there, including the Sun. As to his ideal view of himself, his Mars is in Libra, again aiming for partner-oriented, gracious, and sharing qualities with an aesthetic bent, just like his ideal woman.
We could go on with many more features, but I’ll close with this: her Ascendant squares his Sun-Zeus. This suggests that her personality rubs him the wrong way, at least in terms of what he believes will fulfill his Soul intent, ambitions, and desires; but her Midheaven, Saturn, and Zeus are widely conjoined that Sun-Zeus, suggesting her public persona, her sense of restraint and stability, and her ambitions complement his and help fulfill his wants. His Midheaven to her Vertex only reinforces the ‘destined’ feeling. No interaction is without its negatives, but when the aspirations of each individual connect so cleanly, they can remain together in spite of events that would break others apart.
8 November 2015 Venus enters Libra, her home turf, and at the same time conjoins the North Node and contra-parallels Chiron. This brings a little ‘zing’ as we feel the natural warmth of relationships, connections, romance, and the pleasant atmosphere of good manners and diplomatic remarks–and yet, there’s another little ‘zing’, and this one hurts! What is it about unfettered kindness that can sometimes wound us? Is it that it reminds us of lack of love in the past (a deficit that, we are probably acutely aware, we will never make up for), or does it show us how unloving some important relationship is now? Is there some relationship we can only half look at, turning away from what’s unkind or unloving about it, just so we can go on with it? Today there’s an atmosphere of Love and an almost palpable awareness of the very delicate nature of human connection–and if we can let enough of that Love in (because Love running over psychic scar tissue, like water over a raw wound, may be painful at first) we have a chance to heal at least some of that damage. Venus in Libra makes a velvety place for us to meet the Other, for true equality within relationship–and anything less, this time, will definitely cause us pain.
The Venus contact to the NN promises that the future is being shaped by what happens today, as is our thinking, which may show flashes of genius in areas of interaction, finances, planning, and communications, as Mercury is novile the NN.
Support the blog through the shiny new donate button–and have a great Sunday!
Louis Léopold Boilly – ‘Conversation dans un parc’ 1812 {{PD}}
What does Ceres have to do with health?
In mythology Ceres’ Greek predecessor, Demeter, was goddess of Nature, abundance, and the fruits of the Earth, but by the time she reached Rome and her current name and form, she was decidedly more tame: a goddess of agriculture, of Nature that’s been shaped and subjugated to man. That suggests that in modern conception she may deal with the balance of the body and its vulnerabilities to natural elements, of being overwhelmed from without (drowning, buried in a landslide, struck by lightning, for instance, or from things like allergens and starvation) and from within by invasion (of germs, viruses, bacteria, fungi). She doesn’t offer a total picture of health in the natal scenario or by transit, but does speak of certain conditions one may be prone to, or illnesses susceptible to, aside from her other meanings: a sense of personal power and authority, a maternal interest in others (which can easily tip into a controlling one), territoriality, and negotiation.
Romantic poet Percy Shelley (4 August 1792 10 PM Horsham England) was just coming up on a Lunar Return in Pisces the day he drowned in a boating accident (8 July 1822 Lerici Italy). He has Ceres natally conjoined the Sun, Venus, Pallas, and Uranus in Leo in the Whole Sign 4th (and though Juno’s close enough to the Sun, it’s too wide for Ceres, in my opinion); Ceres is also opposed Pluto and quincunx the natal Moon and Sedna in Pisces. Already we can see that Ceres was a vital part of the life, and so of the death as well. In the context of the drowning event, the natal scenario suggests sudden accidents (Uranus) based on unwise decisions (Pallas–staying on the water despite the storm) activated the Self-destruction he had always been conscious of, and perhaps at times had to fight (Sun opp Pluto), with Ceres’ involvement implicating the elements, the weather, even potentially activating an emotional attachment to the water, and a need to adjust (the quincunx) to prevent getting lost in it! (the Pisces Moon)
The Cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Louis Édouard Fournier
On the day he died, Shelley’s Ceres was contacted exact by degree by the transiting South Node, suggesting a ‘pull back’ to a previous (pre-birth?) state; t Ceres was opposed natal Mercury in the 5th=the elements literally in opposition to the lung function; t Merc was conjoined n Chiron in Cancer in the 3rd of lungs, breathe=water water everywhere, water that injures; t Mars was conjoined the n NN, spurring actions and choices that take one into the future; and t Earth sextiled the n Moon-Sedna, forming the base of a Finger of God with apex n Ceres-Pallas=here’s a recipe for the environment ganging up with instincts and emotions to prompt that natal judgment of Nature. Shelley may have believed he was very practical (Pallas) in his relationship to the elements and the natural world (Ceres), feeling that instinct (Sedna) and emotion (the Moon) would inform his choices. There’s a sense that he didn’t fear them, that instead the Pisces Sedna-Moon may have seen the obliteration threat of the natal Pluto opposition as a kind of Oneness with Nature–absorption rather than obliteration. Too, the transiting Sun had just run over his natal Black Moon Lilith=he may have been more than a little in the mood to explore the darkness.
To A Star
Sweet star, which gleaming o’er the darksome scene
Through fleecy clouds of silvery radiance fliest,
Spanglet of light on evening’s shadowy veil,
Which shrouds the day-beam from the waveless lake,
Lighting the hour of sacred love; more sweet
Than the expiring morn-star’s paly fires:–
Sweet star! When wearied Nature sinks to sleep,
And all is hushed,–all, save the voice of Love,
Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast
Of soft Favonius, which at intervals
Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but
Lulling the slaves of interest to repose
With that mild, pitying gaze? Oh, I would look
In thy dear beam till every bond of sense
Became enamoured–
That was definitely written by a guy with Sun-Venus-Ceres-Pallas-Uranus conjoined, all opposed by Pluto!
Synchronicities
Synchronicities have been everywhere lately–have you noticed that for you, too? Those little mentions or phrases or events or people that grab your attention simply by the unlikely way they’re brought into one’s compass repeatedly within a short period. To my mind that signals we’re in a kind of flow, that attunement to the optimum vibrational level for you is very close to perfect–and that implies intuition is sharp and accessible, that information is yours to pluck right out of the air, that you can ‘know’ without anyone telling you. Though our tendency is to breeze through these interludes, to remark ‘Isn’t that strange?’ when we hear the same song or its lyrics or mention of the singer in every store and elevator and TV show and conversation we’re exposed to the entire weekend, and at the same time to be very focused consciously on the here-and-now, what we really need to do is pause; this is a point when we are cruising along with a lot of our perceptual abilities working below the surface, and we can see the world very clearly, if we are willing to. We can get our questions answered, if we’ll only stop looking out, and take a moment to look within.
Carl Schweninger the Younger ‘Not Willing’ 19th century {{PD}}
rejecting a Gemini man
Are you thinking there’s some magic word (he’s a Gemini, after all) that will make him take it well, not make a fuss, even see it as a gift? There’s not, and it’s likely that if he senses you are trying to out think him (by manipulating or being one step ahead, the latter of which you automatically are if you know something–that you intend to reject him–that he doesn’t) he’ll be very resentful, indeed. Geminis are highly focused on thinking, processing info, communicating, networking–so he may already be aware, whether it’s through the grapevine or through reading your body language and tone in previous encounters, that you aren’t interested. That puts you in a precarious position: if he does know and he’s still coming at you, he’s forcing you to say it outright, and if he doesn’t know, he’s going to feel especially upset that he didn’t parse it out ahead of time (it’s a Gemini thing–they always think they should’ve known!) All you can do, really, is send a clear, consistent, and polite message through every pore of your Being and, obviously, word spoken: no thank you. Problems will only arise if you’ve been ambivalent in your feelings or in your behavior, wrongly believing that will ‘let him down easy’ (and if so I bet you’re horoscope is chock full o’ Water signs). Come clean without engaging in any way that sends the wrong (that is, an enmeshed behavioral or contradictory) message, and it should go fine–the last thing you want to do, and he wants to feel you’ve done, is mislead him.
An artist’s conception of a multitude of tiny diamonds next to a hot star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) {{PD}}
The italicized terms below are taken from the search results that bring people to my blogs. This article appears in the current ECLIPSE.
When Do You Know A Friendship is Over?
In all seriousness, the answer to this is, ‘When the other person stops treating you as a friend.’ I’m not being glib when I give this as the way to know when a relationship has deteriorated. Once we’re in a relationship we’re much too prone as individuals to see it as existing in a static state, still being viable and following the old feelings and parameters even after something has definitely shifted. We don’t take the time to look at the state of the current interaction, and if something’s bothering us, to examine the attitudes involved—and that includes our own, as we are just as likely to change and not acknowledge it as the other person. Typically, though, unless we have some control-oriented pathologies going on, most of us won’t even notice that the interaction has changed—we just say we ‘drifted apart’, or summon some other euphemism to explain why we no longer talk, or we excuse our unease as being due to some new or upsetting event in our own or the other person’s life (“Janie is being so critical because she’s under stress at work.”) We don’t end a friendship unless we recognize that it no longer functions in a roughly even, give-and-take manner. And though each of us has a different definition of what it means to be a friend and of what we expect from friendship, even if we haven’t outlined those things consciously we know immediately when we ask ourselves the question, ‘Is this person treating me like a friend?’ whether they are or not. If the answer is, ‘No, they’re not treating me like a friend,’ then the relationship is over.
Is it worth discussing with the other person your feeling that you are not being treated like a friend? I would say it is, unless what alerted you to the change in tone was something consciously said or done by the other person that signals loud and clear, ‘We just aren’t friends.’ If the other person behaves in an inappropriately competitive manner or is unwilling to treat you with respect (and by that I mean, treat you kindly and with the consideration offered any other adult, equal to what they ask for from you), all you can do is gently walk away. And remember, if the actions don’t match the words, no matter who it is, you’re not in a healthy interaction.
Astrologically you can get clues about your own expectations within friendship from the ruler of, sign on, and bodies posited in the 11th House of the natal chart. Transits through the 11th or to the ruler of the 11th can signal you’re in the midst of a friendship learning curve that may mark some of those interaction experiences that stay with you forever.
Are you future queen astro aspects
I loved the optimism in this query, just because, there aren’t many of these jobs around! So how do you know if you are a future queen? Here I wrote about the prospects for Kate Middleton, which haven’t yet been realized—but what about the rest of us? Rather than a literal ascension to a throne, perhaps we should look at it in terms of being empowered within our own lives—and that is definitely Juno. True that she married a god and ruled with him over Olympus and the other gods, but she was a goddess in her own right, and would’ve been, no matter who she married—and this is something we may forget when reviewing her story, as we tend to focus on the vindictive nature of her actions well into the union, when her husband was cheating on her and disrespecting her. The image we too often capture of Juno is one after she has been emotionally battered repeatedly—would anyone want to be judged on her worst day? I think not. That still doesn’t answer what we can expect as aspects for a future queen. I would look for good aspects to Jupiter, for both the social support and the relative abundance being queen affords, and maybe a positive aspect between Jupiter (that might stand for the King) and one’s Sun or Moon, or even Venus, any of which might suggest an alliance. All the other things that usually pay off in real life—charm, beauty, talent, wealth—may not even factor in for this position, since circumstances of birth might override any other concerns. So we’re back to Juno, and the way she, though innately a goddess, still derives her greater status as queen from her mate and position on Olympus—suggesting that, at the mercy of the mate, being queen might be as frustrating as it is fun.
Does Uranus have tides?
To have tides Uranus would need two things: a moon or moons, and liquid oceans. We know it has at least 27 moons, with the largest named Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon (after Shakespeare characters). As to oceans, the latest theory is that it may have oceans of liquid diamond, formed due to the high pressure and high temperatures in the environment. So maybe it has tides—but until we actually send something to the surface, we can only guess.
Dear Reader: Here’s a romance-themed re-print from 2009, for Valentine’s Day–Have a Happy One! jd
What’s the synastry of Chiron conjunct Juno cross-chart?
Here it’s very important to know who has the Juno, a male or a female–but since we don’t know, what we can say is that there may be some form of power struggle centered in one or both parties’ personal sense of empowerment in life. This may come in a wound v. authority conflict, or could center in a knowledge v. privilege stand-off. If the Juno is a woman’s, we may see her empowerment come about through the skill or aid of the Chiron person, whether this is a male or female; this individual might in a very real way ‘heal’ this woman’s sense of empowerment and Self-authority. This same person might also ultimately wound the Juno woman, as either he or she ‘acts out’ through the wounded nature whenever the woman seeks empowerment, or could feel wounded themselves by the woman’s empowerment stance. There is also a worst case scenario where the Chiron person (male or female) clashes badly with a Juno female in the most emotionally spiteful way possible; with the deep wound of Chiron activated and focused on and engaged with the vengeful side of Juno, this could be one very negative combination. If the Juno belongs to a male, we may see his idea of the ‘perfect partner’ activate the primal wound in the other person–this is a very toxic and probably insurmountable (as well as sad) potential reaction. On the positive side, the Juno male might, through his admiration and the sense of a ‘perfect fit’ somehow, bring forward the other individual’s unique Chirotic skill–no small feat, and again creating an unusual ‘trigger’ situation that can be highly significant in a relatively exaggerated positive or negative sense, depending on the situation.
Fantagraphics Books 2004, John Benson, editor
Can a Capricorn woman and an Aquarius man find happiness?
As frequent readers of my blogs probably know, I’m no fan of sun-sign astrology, simply because, well, astrology’s just not that simple! We can venture a few guesses about this pairing, though, based on some ‘probablys.’ First, though adjacent signs typically do not make for good playmates, there are exceptions depending both on situation and which signs are involved, and this is one of those (possible) exceptions: since Capricorn and Aquarius share an ancient (at least, pre-outer planets discovery) ruler, Saturn, then we have an avenue for compatibility in energies that, at least in modern definition, contrast. Normally, the energy of each sign can be seen as a kind of reaction to the one it follows; in this case, Aquarius ‘reacts’ with an emphasis on anarchy, intellect, and modernism, to Capricorn’s emphasis on rules, the material, and tradition. But, since they share an ancient ruler, we must look for the commonalities, such as the discipline that intellectual achievement demands, and the need for the avant garde and innovative to have a past and tradition upon which to base their ‘newness.’ So, we may find that surface clash is really just that with this pair, surface, and that the underlying attitudes may be very much alike.
There is also the idea that, since energies that travel in proximity to the Sun (Mercury and Venus) are typically, if not in the same sign as the Sun, then in the sign on either side of it, this gives potential other personal avenues (through communication styles, aesthetics, values, and attitudes toward love, money, and relationship) for likeness in expression.
We could look at this combo through the elements, too: Air and Earth together could kick up a lot of dust, even a tornado of energy, or the two might never mix, leaving a static horizon with nary a breeze between them.
In any event, good luck, Cappy and Aqua–and for a truly meaningful and complete synastric comparison, consult an astrologer.
How do I seduce a woman with Venus in Aries?
Very carefully! Just kidding–though it never hurts to approach the Warrior Venus with respect. Keep in mind, Venus in a woman’s chart represents her ‘ideal Self,’ as well as telling us of her attitudes toward love, money, values, and aesthetics, so we’re really talking about appealing to her as she likes to see herself. For anyone, reflecting back to them the image they most want to have can leave them totally charmed; after all, who wouldn’t respond positively when someone is not only interested in them, but sees them as they imagine themselves in their very best form.
Aries Venus wants to be seen as strong, as offering some form of leadership (and this can be in a fashion, beauty, or aesthetic sense, as well as overt command), and definitely wants to be seen as her own woman, significant in her own right, entirely Self-determining. Treat her like she knows what she’s doing–she’ll love you for it.
Should I swear at an Aries man?
The question is, should you swear at anybody? I don’t think a Sun sign really comes into it–but if you must swear at a man, Aries not only can take it, he may be just a little turned on by such a fiery display. Tread with care, however–simple human decency suggests that you might do best to show the attitude but hold back on the more graphic accompaniments.
This is a re-print of an article that appeared exclusively in ECLIPSE last October; it may be of interest to those following Knox’s case now.
The Crying Game: the Amanda Knox Re-Trial The phrase ‘murder will out’ has two meanings: in the first it implies that a murder will always become a public event, and the second is the more general idea that secret or hidden crimes will not remain secret forever. The phrase apparently appears in the English language as far back as the work of Chaucer, and it carries an old superstitious implication, as well: that if the murderer comes near the corpse of the murdered, the corpse will begin to bleed once again. How convenient if this were true! But alas, all we have is the court system, and all we can do is inspect, again and again if need be, the evidence.
The Amanda Knox murder re-trial is in the news once more; a new appeal. brought by the prosecution, began in Perugia, Italy, on 30 September. I thought it might be appropriate to look at the victim, Meredith Kercher, in relation to Knox, via the natal charts. Up to now I’d only looked at Amanda’s natal horoscope and transits at the time of the murder, hoping for some idea if she was really involved–now I think an examination of the relationship between the two women at an elemental level is in order, if only to shed some light on what kind of interaction may have laid the basis for the death of one, which so thoroughly affected the life of the other.
I’ve put Amanda’s chart on the inside as she has a reliable birth time and so angles (9 July 1987 2:47 AM PDT Seattle Washington USA), while we have no birth time for Meredith (28 December 1985 ntk Southwark United Kingdom). The first thing that grabs my attention is the way M’s Chiron is conjunct A’s Ascendant=this may have felt to A like M ‘played the wounded one’ in relation to A’s attempts to ‘meet the world’ (one of the functions of the Ascendant); M’s Chiron is also semi-square A’s Sun, this suggesting both an interaction that may have felt like a minor affront to A’s Soul and identity, as well as M feeling to A like someone who carried the continual threat of injury–and this threatened injury likely echoed injuries A herself saw as her own (both natal Chirons fall in A’s 1st). Strangely, sometimes when we encounter someone who carries the same wounds we do we feel almost offended, as if something that is ours has been overrun and claimed by an interloper (and this attitude likely shows an over-identification with the wound, so that we are possessive of it). M’s Pallas is conjunct A’s Vesta and opposed A’s Ceres, and sextile A’s Jupiter=this suggests M took an ‘I know better than you’ stance of superior wisdom (consciously or not), especially regarding both education and social matters, that violated A’s highest values; this may have felt to A like M took a disparaging view of the attitudes most important to A–and if A was running any kind of ‘social game’ (which I am convinced is an integral part of her personality), then this could’ve felt highly invasive, even as if M were challenging her ‘power’ as a woman at an elemental level.
Meredith’s Capricorn Sun lands exactly on Amanda’s Neptune (M sought solid, real-world contact at a Soul level, but found she received only A’s projections about herself and what she has to give the world–Neptune rules A’s 11th–so that M may have felt continually frustrated and/ or bamboozled!) Further, that places M’s Earth at the midpoint of A’s Venus-Mercury in Cancer (and these of course opposed M’s Sun)=M may have looked for A’s ‘message’ of warmth and caring to be reflected in material matters–and though M probably continued to seek that message with the Sun’s energy and through interaction, she may have felt perpetually mislead or that A came up short. And with M’s Moon undoubtedly in Cancer, she may have been open to that message and highly vulnerable to those prone to withhold those qualities, and so repeatedly disappointed.
This also places M’s Earth as part of A’s Water Grand Trine, consisting of A’s Pluto, Juno, and Merc-Venus, and also sites M’s Sun-Earth axis square A’s Nodes. The feeling for A may have been that M was trying to draw off A’s personal power by making material demands, and certainly, with the Nodes involved, M’s very presence may have felt life-altering to A–and with M’s Earth trine A’s Pluto, the desire to destroy M’s material circumstances, or to see them as an outlet for rage, could’ve been second nature to A.
Meredith’s Ceres, Vesta, and Jupiter all hook in to Amanda’s Sun-Earth axis, and all three challenge the personal power, material security, and the social role of the younger girl (Amanda)–not the easiest subjects to handle in personal relationship during the college years. M’s Mercury also aspects this axis, suggesting that what she thought of Amanda as a person she was quick to communicate–and with that Merc conjunct A’s Saturn, those communications may have felt extraordinarily judgmental, and perhaps spurred the natural desire on A’s part to suppress both M’s words and thoughts.
And a tidbit for past life proponents: Meredith’s Venus is quincunx Amanda’s Mars (and A’s Sun potentially conjuncts M’s Moon), suggesting a relationship (with M the female and A the male) where one or the other had to adjust or sacrifice in some way (the quincunx), in what was at least potentially a sexual relationship (or, also likely, a relationship where A, as the male, held all the power)–which may be its own ‘pre-echo’ (see a later article in this issue) of this current life, as sexual games have been cited as the circumstance leading into Meredith’s murder, and such a need to once again exert her power could’ve played on Amanda’s perceptions, leading her to such an extreme response. But, considering these two young women have opposing Venus placements, we may just be looking at an outright contest, female against female, which can certainly be just as serious.
With M’s Pluto-South Node-Mars conjunct A’s Pluto, sextile A’s Neptune and trine A’s Venus-Merc, Meredith may have had a strong urge to destroy Amanda, just as Amanda seemed to have natural urges to aggress against Meredith. On Meredith’s side, the feeling may have been that she wanted to knock Knox off the ‘image throne’ she spun around herself with the view of an older, wiser woman–and Amanda was having none of it, feeling her personal power threatened and her Neptunian image seen through. When I look at the contacts between the two charts, I see a contentious relationship where each side was aggressive in its own way, where Meredith felt what she saw as her superior knowledge and wisdom should be appreciated, and where Amanda not only resented the judgments but felt threatened by Meredith’s attempts to see through the Neptunian fog–and exposure is just about the worst thing you can do to someone like Knox.
Am I saying Meredith brought on her own murder? Absolutely not. What I am saying is that what happens between two people in some climactic moment doesn’t just spring from the ether fully formed–instead it lurches forward from the primordial interaction of two beings, and finds its origins in those energies that are irreconcilable to each other, that will clash, and clash, until they reach the release offered by separation, no matter how achieved
Venus, of course, makes her presence felt by House at least twice in the natal chart, once in her rulership of Taurus, and once with Libra. These two signs are naturally quincunx each other, and this describes the way we quite typically see relationship matters (Libra) as incompatible with material ones (Taurus). We tend to believe that the lowest form of relationship in which we can engage is one where we receive a material benefit; we call this person a ‘prostitute’ or label them ‘kept’ and act as if this (a money for action or energy exchange, and we condemn this in spite of the fact that a job has the same general parameters) is in itself a moral failing. Our natural uneasiness in mixing or equating the two must be tempered by an awareness that living in mutually beneficial material situations is really what we must do, not just for survival but in order to build civilization. We tend to see a relationship that involves love as more noble than one that provides something we need–and yet we mix these things, love and material need, all the time, particularly when we are in partnership–and perhaps that is one of the underlying reasons the mate relationship is so fraught with emotional landmines: we hold ourselves and our loved ones to impossibly high standards, demanding ‘pure’ love be given and received, and yet the very fabric of day-to-day requires an interdependence that, if we recognize any facet of it as a cold, material exchange, may de-value our relationship in our own eyes.
Taken from ‘Your Money-tude’ in the current issue of ECLIPSE; to see this article or to get the daily forecast (planetary aspects and those of Sedna, Chiron, Vesta, Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Zeus, as well as most Lunar aspects, too)delivered to your email every Thursday, subscribe!
The composer’s Capricorn Venus is in an out-of-sign conjunction with her Aquarian Mercury –this suggests to me that there may have been a feeling of appreciating the same things, when in fact they did not–and his Venus snuggles in to her Grand Square/ Cross which involves her Merc-his Venus, her Jupiter-Neptune (plus his Vesta) opposed her Pallas, plus her Vesta in Leo as final point in the configuration. This may have felt to her as if his Venusian need, his appetites, were intruding on her ideal social role, her highest values, her communications, and what she considers wise–he may have felt to her just a wee bit like a social climber–and we’ve already seen how much he thought his social standing would benefit from an alliance.
This is a re-print of an article that appeared exclusively in ECLIPSE last October; it may be of interest to those following Knox’s case now.
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 