This was the funnest, cheapest therapy I have had in a long time. I did not find Cosmic Navigator, it found me, and I am glad it did. The bulk of the book is the 12 chapters dedicated to a twelve-week process of giving one week to each of the twelve signs by embodying and acting out that sign.
At first this idea seemed very daunting. Twelve weeks! Acting?! I threw up a lot of resistance initially. I could not imagine staying in character for a whole week while attending to my job and other daily responsibilities. I am not an “actress” type. But that was just my initial doubt and resistance. Once I put away the idea of having to do it perfectly, and just began the journey, I found my own way and settled into what activities I could manage to do each week authentically without really feeling like “acting.”
Despite my initial doubts, I completed the twelve-week process of embodying each of the twelve signs of the zodiac. As weeks progressed I found myself fully engaged and looking forward to what each sign would reveal. I found the synchronicities totally fascinating. You just can’t make this stuff up! For example, on the week that I was in the sign of Sagittarius I took a motorcycle trip with my husband. (Sagittarius is associated with long distance travel and bit of risk-taking adventuring.) There is no way I could have planned that event to coincide when I started the book, it just happened to be on the same week. Additionally, we attended a star party while on the trip and for the first time I witnessed the constellation of Sagittarius which not normally visible where I live. In the week of Capricorn I had my annual performance review at work. (Capricorn is associated with Career/status and responsibility.) There were many more such synchronistic events that occurred for each sign that I experienced throughout this process. It was full of surprises and a lot of fun!
I highly recommend this book and Sasson’s process to anyone who is already at least a little familiar with their chart and astrology, but who also wants a deeper foray into the nuances of what it means to have a certain sign in a certain house. Like anything, you get out what you put in.
For each week/sign Sasson gives a menu of possible assignments, recommended activities you can do to help you connect to that sign, recommended movies, colors to wear, and more so that you can embody the sign and steep yourself in the archetype for that week. What I found is that you don’t have to do it all, just do what you want to and what you can. What resulted for me in doing this were some new revelations about what makes me tick and how to best honor and care for myself.
I have recommended this book to my astrology-fluent friends and they are also enjoying it immensely and reporting to me some of their synchronicity with it. I imagine keeping this book accessible to return to whenever I may need to reconnect with the archetypes of a particular sign, especially in regards to the lists of recommended activities or “homework.” These were particularly unique and helpful compilations to gain access points to self-awareness in that house.
This is a little like “where your attention goes, your energy flows,” it is invaluable in the sense that if you find you need to spend more time on a problematic area, you could just circle back to that list of activities and spend more time doing the exercises suggested to help you work through the issues related to that house/sign.
I highly recommend this book as a self-led workshop into understanding the your internal dynamics, and the dynamics of your chart.
Today’s, Oct. 22, 2022 Venus Cazimi in Libra is a powerful time for relationships. (Astroseek has a wonderful image for the Venus cycle. )
to find the Venus Star Point in your natal chart, look at the conjunction between the Sun and Venus that occurred before your birthday. Then, apply it to your chart (the aspects it makes to other planets and the house it falls in) to understand what your heart desires and yearns for.
I was born 8-9 days before a new Venus cazimi, so I had to go back quite a ways, almost the full length of the Venus cycle to get to the previous Venus conjunction. The Sabian Symbol was for 9 Leo at that point
This Symbol shows the relief, joy and motivation that can come from going through cold and difficult times, even dark struggles, and waking up to things being “sunnier”, warmer and full of promise. This is a time when the “air” (the newly awakened mind) is crisp and the “ground” (the refreshed and renewed body) readies itself for a new round of activity. The rewards may be transitory, so enjoy the good times and salute the more difficult periods as times of testing and learning. The nights may seem very long but there is always the reward of dawn as the sun rises again on a brand new day. Refreshment after ‘the long night of the soul’. Dawn meditations bringing inspiration. Awakening energies signaling new beginnings. Changing emotions. Counseling.
Not letting go of difficult situations. Persisting with problems that have been solved. Feeling that the worst is going to happen all the time. Depression
My first thought was, “Well, this explains my fascination with getting up before sunrise and watching the light emerge.” (At first I looked to the inferior conjunction and then remembered that Venus has both an inferior and superior conjunction, so be careful that you are using the right conjunction if you are only using an ephemeris.) The inferior conjunction point had to do with “charming court life,” wealth and the finer things in life. This is not something that normally impresses me. I much prefer a simple life with ample reserve for the necessities, but I am not in favor of excess, which becomes its own prison.
Rails A Cafe at the Depot in Kerrville, Texas
This month I am facilitating a little study group with a Libra theme for friends who attended the New Astrology Emerging workshop in Boulder, CO at the StarHouse this past summer. There are about ten of us that have started meeting online once a month to keep our connection to this work growing.
In preparing for this study group, I am looking at the life of John Adams, our second President of the United States and one of the founding fathers of our country, who was a strong Libra born in October. (sidereal zodiac) Some sources say Oct 19, others Oct 30, 1735.
Not only did Adams have an incredible legal mind, he was masterful in keeping diplomatic relations with his wife, who kept him from sinking himself in public’s eye through her counsel and advice to him. John and Abigail had such an admirable, intellectual relationship for those times. He was not really cut out for the politics of the Presidency in the end, by many historians’ accounts, but he was instrumental in crafting the peace treaties that ended the revolutionary wars. Adams clearly respected his wife. His life was totally intertwined with the beginning of the revolution and he helped bring about its end. Interestingly, he was one of the only founding fathers of our country who never owned slaves. The transits to his natal chart during major historical events that occurred during his time in leadership are quite powerful and obvious.
Abigail Adams is a female figurehead every American should know about because I truly think that without her, Adams would not have risen to achieve the things that he did. This shows the power of Libra and relationships, whether marriage or diplomatic relations between countries and how a relationship can have a lasting impact on the whole world.
As astrologers discuss the Pluto return of the U.S., we can reap much inspiration from the biographies of these incredible people who lived through even more tumultuous times and achieved great things, people who truly had to endure difficult times, but who created new beginnings for generations of others that followed. Couldn’t we all use a little inspiration as we head into elections and the eclipses? Now go watch Hamilton or the series on John Adams’ life, or read their biographies and quitcherbitchin’about the state of the world!
I just ran across the work of Jessica Davidson while I was looking for good descriptions for Part of Fortune. She has a wealth of great writing on her site at https://jessicadavidson.co.uk/.
I appreciate her insights and explanations on the current Uranus transit, which I am re-posting from her blog.
Chaos is the theme for 2022 and it’s about to get even crazier as Uranus closes in on the north node over the coming weeks. They’ve been within orb since late April and Mars joins the party in July so we can expect a lot more volatility and churn. The disruption has been ongoing for a while but it builds in intensity into July and early August and then bubbles under for the rest of the year.
The conjunction between Uranus and the north node will become exact at 18° Taurus on 31 July and the Mars conjunction becomes exact on 1 August. These events may happen on the same day in your time zone. Mars will be conjunct Uranus and the north node by degree from 22 July to 15 August, while Uranus stays within a few degrees of the north node for the rest of the…
If you are like I was, the first time I went to astro.com and printed my free birth chart it all looked like a confusing mass of symbols and lines splattered over the page with twelve pie slices and circular wheel. I printed out the computer-generated interpretive reading, which gave me all of these wordy descriptions, but it all seemed somewhat generic, vague and even contradictory, and it really did not make a lot of sense to me. In this post, I am going to lay out my best suggestions for how to get started understanding your own birth chart and making your own interpretations about it using the free online tools available. Below is an example of a natal chart.
Birth Chart for Freddie Mercury
First of all, if you did not already know this, you need three pieces of information: your birthdate, the EXACT time of your birth, and the location. The exact time can often be found on a birth certificate or other official birth record, and sometimes it is commonly recorded in a baby book or baby scrapbook if your family kept one of those. Then, go to one of the free sites like astro.com and print out the actual birth chart.
LEARN THE ALPHABEt
Just like when we learn to read, we have to start with the alphabet. To help you translate, print out a handy “legend” for decoding the planetary symbols and the zodiac glyphs. Being able to identify the symbols easily is akin to knowing your ABC’s. Without it, reading a chart can be painfully slow and confusing. In case you don’t have one, here is a basic PDF from http://www.physics.ncsu.edu. I also highly recommend drawing out a reference chart by hand which helps to cement them into your memory.
In my first foundations 101 class we were given many “keywords” sheets. There are keywords for the planets, the signs, and the twelve houses. The next step towards translating the meaning of a particular planet in a sign is to thread the keywords through each of these. PLANET comes first. What planet is the actor? SIGN comes second. What sign is the costume or role the actor is playing? and Third, what house or what area of life will the actor be active in? By threading together the keywords for (1) planet, (2) sign, and (3) house you construct some basic meanings and can put together some initial interpretations. But at first, don’t be surprised if these sound hopelessly vague.
For example, what does it mean to have “Jupiter in Aries in the 3rd house?” Jupiter is the planet of “expansion and growth,” Aries is the sign of “impulse, instinct, survival, and pioneering leadership.” Third house is the house of communication, siblings, habitual learning and short distance travel. One might then interpret Jupiter in Aries in the 3rd house as a strong propensity to communicate forcefully or impulsively, or a desire to grow through communication and travel that is more impulsive or pioneering, or a desire to grow through relationships with the siblings where some travel and some risk is involved for example. This is what I mean by threading through the keywords from the planet-to its sign-to its house to hone in on a particular meaning.
For a free pdf of astrological keywords for the 12 signs, click the button to download the pdf below.
Each of the planets was in a specific location in the sky at the time of a birth. So a “natal chart” can be drawn up for any time and location. We can draw a chart for the start of a business, or any other event. Birth charts are special however because in Astrology we associate them with the person’s native functioning, native expression, or native psychology. In order to understand a birth chart, you must become familiar with the archetype of each planet.
In the classical sense, ancient astrologers studied the Sun and Moon as the most primary celestial influences on earth. They also studied the bright fixed stars, especially the royal stars in the center of Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, and Aquarius, as well as as the visible planets, mostly, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and to a lesser degree Mercury. Outer planets were not discovered until much later in human history. When learning Astrology, begin with an understanding these classical planets. Mercury and Venus influence and color the personality, intellect, values and relationships. Jupiter and Saturn relate to and influence the person’s career, learning, and impact to broader society.
Each planet can be a lengthy study unto itself. One must learn the language of the ZODIAC signs as well as the archetypes of the planets to then place a PLANET in a SIGN and then place in a house, where it finds expression in the life. Here is where the water gets muddy, even for seasoned astrologers, because there are many ways to interpret a planet in a specific sign, and in a given house, not to mention adding angular aspects to other points in the chart and many other nuances that need to be taken into account.
KNOW YOUR AXIS of TRUTH, or the angles of the chart
Typical western birth chart display a circular wheel with a main axis. This axis is made of four angles that are essential to understanding the essence of a chart. For this explanation, I am going to use directional words top, bottom, left and right just to be clear.
At the left side of the chart is the ASCENDANT, abbreviated as ASC. The ASC is the location of the first house. At the bottom is the Nadir of the chart, or sometimes called the IMUM COELI abbreviated the IC. The nadir is the location of the 4th house. At the right is the DESCENDANT, abbreviated as DC. The DC is the location of the seventh house. And, lastly, at the top is the MC, or Medium Coeli, sometimes called the Midheaven and this is the location of the tenth house. Use the descriptions in the graphic below to help you identify the meaning of that angle of the chart. With this, you would take note of what sign appears on each angle. You would thread the keywords of that sign through the filter of the keywords for that angle.
The Four Angles of the Chart
sun-moon-asc
For many people, their first exposure to astrology is understanding that we have sun signs. But most would agree that it seems a little ridiculous to think of the entire population of billions of people on earth all neatly fitting into only 12 descriptions! Of course astrology is not at all that simple. One easy next step to diversify and individuate further from the simple sun sign astrology is to understand the combination of sun sign-moon sign-ascendant sign. This gives a more complex combination of 12 x 12 x 12 types, or 1,728 combinations or types of expressions of the signs of sun-moon-asc. This is still not as complete of a picture as the entire natal chart, but it goes quite a bit further than simply 12 sun signs or even 144 with only the sun-moon profile. Therefore, take a look at the moon sign, and the sign of the ASC. The keywords below can help you to pair up the sun-moon-asc keywords. If the signs don’t seem to match your personality well, consider the sign back which would be the sidereal placement as a possible better fit, or a slight combo of those two if you might be on the cusp of the tropical date cut off.
Keywords for Sun and MoonKeywords for Each Sign for the SunEach Moon Sign
LONGER CYCLES OF LIFE
There is a basic cosmic timeline of human development that provides a predictable sequence of meaningful transits. Understanding Jupiter and Saturn cycles will help you get a better picture of forecasting the longer range transits everyone can expect at predictable ages. This helps us to know what is coming on the horizon in one year, two years, five years, ten years, and so on. This can be very helpful in terms of setting goals, navigating life and expecting the coming changes.
Still lost? Got even more questions? Ask in the comments section, or visit my learn more page, or best of all sign up for a reading where I can personally orient you to your chart and answer your questions.
For this Full Moon, I highly recommend listening to Mary Stewart Adam’s Story of Selene (appx 1-2 minutes.) Adams does an excellent job of using story and myth to weave imagery into the study of the sky. Virgo is on the ascendant at the time of the full moon. It seems the Sun, Mercury, and Ceres are partners at the top of the chart, while the Moon and Pluto are partner at the nadir. Venus and Saturn flank each cluster, evenly spaced at 29 degrees, creating a beautiful trine to the ascendant. Then within 60 degrees we have the rest of the planetary wanderers. By sidereal zodiac, both Jupiter and Neptune are in Pisces now, with Neptune at 0 degrees.
Eagle Eye Astrology 
