Is there anything in it?  Why do we need it?  How does it work?  Isn't it complicated?  Can you predict the future?  How do you do it?  Eclipses  Can astrology do anything else?   Rules for astrologers  Prices

It is complicated. Being an astrologer requires a great deal of effort and concentration, first to learn all the delineations separately, then to learn to blend them into a whole. The student of astrology must learn

1. the nature of each of the ten planets

2. the character of each of the twelve signs

3. the influence of each of the twelve houses

4. the way each of the ten planets behaves in each of the twelve signs and in each of the twelve houses

5. the way each planet reacts to each of the nine other planets under each of the five major aspects, and several minor aspects

6. the appearance of the horoscope, the distribution of the planets around the four quarters and hemispheres

And that's just the natal chart! 

Stupid question no 1: "don't bother telling me about my character, I know that already, Just tell me what's going to happen next". This is usually said in an attempt to get a cheaper reading. It is simply not possible to make accurate predictions without consulting the natal chart, so you are just going to have to pay the full fee! What you are influences the way you react to future conditions, that is inescapable. The natal chart is the blueprint for life.

The natal chart represents a moment frozen in time. Carl Gustav Jung said, 'Whatever is born or done this moment, has the qualities of this moment of time'  That is the basis of the natal chart. You are the essence of the moment in which you were created. But this frozen moment does not stop the cosmic clock. The planets continue to move in their orbits. Because each one has a different speed, they form constantly changing patterns - the pattern at  your birth describes you. In their movement, inevitably they will contact or aspect the planets of your birth chart. We call these contacts 'transits'. They have a powerful effect which you will be able to pinpoint in your life when you are made aware of the dates they occurred and you look back. The further out the planet, the more the impact on the chart. This is because the further they are, the slower they move, and the longer the effect lasts.

The 'transit' method is mainly used to predict effects of the 'outer' planets - that is, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. For the 'inner' planets - Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars - we use another method called 'progressions'. This works on the principle 'day for a year' by which name it is sometimes known. The theory is that one day in the heavens equals one year on earth. In this method the current age of the client is turned into days, and these days counted forward from the day of birth. If a person is 40, the 40th day is taken as the 'progressed' day and the position of the planets on that day looked at and compared with the birth chart. It may be more difficult to understand why this works, all I can tell you is that, empirically, it does. You will have to accept that.

Mars is in a special position in that it is usually included in both methods. Because of its faster movement compared with the outer planets, it is often used as a 'timing' device to show up the dates when longlasting transits might be expected to happen.

Eclipses operate like mavericks. The astrologer should never forget to check where in a client's chart the solar eclipses will fall in the year under study. They can have spectacular effects. A man with a solar eclipse over his Sun was a bus driver. A lorry crashed into the back of his bus, catapulting it down the road and giving him whiplash. As a result of this he invalided himself out of the bus service and decided to continue his education, which he had neglected at school. Several years on, he is studying for a science degree, his life completely changed.

Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, can astrology do anything else?

Synastry; 

medical diagnosis; 

psycho analysis; 

lost objects and people; 

dream interpretation

Astrology can do so much that  I will probably not remember to tell you everything. The best known of these is the synastric reading, this is where you find out if someone else suits you. Clients wanting this service are usually those who have had failed relationships in the past and want to make it work this time. What we have to remember here is that we are not meant to be masters of our own fate. I can give you the advice, but it is not always possible to bow out of a bad relationship. It might be your fate to go through with it - it could be a learning process which you have undertaken as part of your karmic cycle. In that case an astrological profile of the relationship can be most useful. 

Synastry doesn't stop with the sexual partner. Synastry exists in every type of relationship - parent/child; employer/employee; business partners; teacher/pupil. We have relationships with people all the time, and astrology can help us deal with them.

In the past, all doctors were also astrologers, In fact, Hippocrates (father of the hippocratic oath doctors still take today) said 'a physician without knowledge of astrology has no right to call himself a physician'. This sounds very strange to us today, but it shows how much part of life astrology was. The most important chart drawn was for 'the moment of decumbiture' - or the first time the patient lay down through illness. From the chart for this moment could be diagnosed the cause and probable out come of the illness. If this time could not be had, William Lilly, writing in 1647, says 'then accept of that time when the sick parties Urine was first carried to somebody, to enquire of the Disease, whether the Party enquired of was Physician or not'. And this brings about an interesting point which we have forgotten today, that much can be diagnosed from a person's urine. It ought to be common practice for the urine to be carried to the doctor every time we visit him/her. I can imagine what reaction that would bring about! I have worked with a homeopath in diagnosing disease in the chart. I use the overall 'feel' of the chart as well as the 6th and 12th houses, which is where you would expect to find disease. I also ask for times of first falling ill, and significant events like a death or divorce in the family.

Today, many psycho-analysts, particularly the Jungian ones, study the patient's chart before a first meeting, and look for points of contact between the patient's chart and their own.

Astrology can also be used to find lost objects and people, determine the best time for an event (like a wedding), interpret dreams (when you wake up from a dream, note the time)

1.  Don't offer 'free' readings. It isn't always the favour it appears to be. Like the government warning about interest rates: astrology can go down as well as up.

2.  Beware of clients with Mercury too close to Sun - the 'blind spot' syndrome. These people never know themselves very well and usually argue with your findings. A tip: get the money upfront, they may refuse to pay for a 'wrong' reading.

3.  Be careful with 'combust' planets. Even those not technically combust but in close conjunction can act as combust. A woman with Sun conjunct (but not combust) Mars was actually a man! S/he had undergone sexchange. So the Sun/Mars combination did not make him aggressively masculine - quite the opposite! Similarly, one of a pair of Lesbians had a Moon/Venus conjunction (typically female) but the most interesting point about the compared charts was that the Sun of each was in the other's 7th house - each was 'strong male partner' to the other.

This page was last updated 19 March 2001 19:06

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