Saturn and Pluto Synodic Cycle

The length of the Saturn - Pluto synodic cycle varies depending on the position of Pluto in its orbit. When it is closer to the Sun, its orbital speed increases and Saturn takes longer to overtake it. Pluto was moving its faster at perihelion in 1990, when it dipped inside the orbit of Neptune. The current synodic cycle which will end in January of 2020 is of about 38 years duration.

FIGURE 1: double click for a closer view. Image address can be found at:
https://www.lunarplanner.com/Saturn-Opp-Uranus/Sa-Pl-History-Images/Saturn-Pluto-synods.gif

A closer look at FIGURE 1 will show how close Saturn and Pluto are during this coming conjunction because their latitudes are almost the same (+0°02' and -0°40' respectively). Compare their proximity to that of their previous conjunction and the difference is quite marked. The author of the chart is using a heliocentric, sidereal zodiac so that's why the zodiacal signs are out of alignment. The reason for my interest in the relationship between these planets is that some sort of economic reset is anticipated in the next year or so and the forthcoming conjunction may be an indicator of its timing. Saturn rules structure, organisation and systems while Pluto oversees transformation.

As near as I can determine, the conjunction will occur at 5:13pm in Basel on January 12th 2020. Why Basel? Well, that's where the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is located and seeing that it's regarded as the Bank of Banks, then Basel is a reasonable location. It's one hour ahead of Greenwich. The chart is an interesting one and it can be seen immediately that a confluence of synodic cycles is involved because Saturn and Pluto are joined by Mercury, the Sun and Ceres to form a tight and impressive stellium in Capricorn.

The stellium falls almost exactly on the seventh house cusp. The day is a Sunday and one can imagine a special meeting of the financial elite taking place that afternoon and a decision being reached around 5pm about what news to break to the world the next morning. On the previous Thursday, transiting Uranus turned stationary direct in 2°39' of Taurus. The Moon, ruler of the chart and representative of the general public, is in the regal sign of Leo and, fittingly, on the cusp of the second house. A very close quincunx between Uranus and Neptune in the eighth house indicates predictably that the banksters will be guilty of deception and intrigue. Figure 2 shows the chart.

FIGURE 2: chart for the coming conjunction of Saturn and Pluto.

So it seems to me that January 12th 2020 might be a day when big decisions are made concerning the global economy, a new digital currency perhaps for all the nations of the world. Whatever is decided of course, it will be good for the banksters and not so good for the rest of us. The larger implications of the changes may not become apparent or may not be fully implemented until the time when Saturn reaches the square to Pluto. Saturn's subsequent opposition to Pluto should reveal the full extent and consequences of the earlier initiatives.

Problems of House Division above the Arctic Circle

I recently downloaded a PDF file titled THE MATHEMATICS OF ASTROLOGY, DOES HOUSE DIVISION MAKE SENSE? by Kevin Heng Ser Guan, Department of Physics at the National University of Singapore who was working under a Supervisor, A/P Helmer Aslasken, Department of Mathematics at the same university (Semester II 2000/2001). The author was probably doing it as a requirement for a Masters degree. The focus is on the spherical trigonometry behind the processes involved in the creation of houses using the various systems available. The author gets the astronomy right and is quick to differentiate between the sidereal and tropical zodiacs. 

Before tackling the problem of house division above the Arctic Circle, the author arrives at the following observation:

Hence, the speed of the ecliptic, when it crosses the horizon, varies from place to place on Earth. It follows that the probability density of the Ascendant is uneven at a given latitude, no matter which system of house division we use. Assuming that the birth rate is fairly even, we can conclude that at that latitude there will be more people born with a certain Ascendant. Since the Ascendant is supposedly an important part of the horoscope, the question to ask is do we really believe that character traits vary with latitude? 

It's a fair point but births in hospitals are certainly not evenly distributed throughout the day. For example, the following May 8th 2015 article from Time gives us insight into the unequal diurnal distribution at least in the United States:

According to new data, American mothers-to-be aren’t having too many late night surprises. A new report shows the highest percentage of U.S. births in 2013 (the most recent data available) happened during morning and midday hours. 

The new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Health Statistics looked at 2013 birth certificate data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), and found that the highest percentage of births took place during the hours of 8:00 a.m. and noon. Less than 3% of babies were born during each hour from midnight to 6:59 a.m. 

Though most births happen during the day, the latest findings report that when babies are born on a Saturday or Sunday, they are more likely to happen in the late evening or overnight—11:00 p.m. through 5:59 a.m.—compared to births that happen between Monday to Friday. 

When it comes to how women gave birth, there were also some distinct patterns in timing. The researchers reported that compared to induced and non-induced vaginal deliveries, caesarean deliveries were the least likely to occur during evening and early morning. Non-induced vaginal births were more likely to happen in the early morning compared to caesarean and induced vaginal births. Births in out-of-hospital settings were most likely to happen in the early morning hours starting at 1:00 a.m. 

“As the use of medical interventions for childbirth (i.e., induction of labor and caesarean delivery) has increased during the last few decades, an increasing proportion of deliveries occur during regular daytime hours,” the study authors write. 

Of course the induction of labour and the use of Caesarian section is another interesting topic in itself. It's a topic that was explored by Michel Gauquelin as I recall but I won't go into that here but may return to this in a later post. My point here is to simply address the university student's criticism that the duration of rising signs varies depending on the latitude. In the case of births, certain signs are more likely to be rising than others during the different months of the year, although the effect would more or less balance out over the entire year.

Toward the end of his paper, he makes an interesting observation:

Inside the polar regions, a part of the zodiac never rises above the horizon. Hence, certain signs can never be Ascendant there. Examples are northern Alaska, northern Norway or Siberia. In these places, the signs of Sagittarius and Capricorn never rise above the horizon, while the opposite signs, Gemini and Cancer, always remain below the horizon. Therefore, people born there cannot have these four signs as their Ascendant. One of the questions to ask is whether a noticeable number of people walk around in these regions without the characteristics of the signs of these Ascendants. 

Furthermore, the article goes on to announce that the whole system of house division collapses above the Arctic Circle:

On the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, the ecliptic coincides with the horizon at a certain time of the day. This means that the Ascendant and the Descendant are either everywhere or nowhere. There is also no MC or IC. Since these four points form the basis of house division, it follows that houses cannot be defined. 

I quite accept what he's saying and these are certainly points that need to be addressed. Consequently, I set to investigate matters further. The issue is addressed in this article titled Astro-Geometry, Astrology article by Alova:

Meet little Andrey, a real, live new-millenium boy. He was born on January 1st, 2000, at 00:00:30 am in Murmansk, Russia, 68° 34' N, 33° 8' E. If you use the Placidus House System, you cannot construct a natal horoscope for Andrey. Nor will you be able to construct a chart for a wedding or important event for Andrey in Murmansk. Nor can you construct a natal horoscope for any of the 320,900 people born in Murmansk— nor in Nordvik, Republic of Sakha (population 55,000), Holsteinsborg, Greenland (population 5,222), or Point Hope, Alaska (population 760). The Placidus House System is undefined for latitudes above 66°33', the Arctic Circles.

The author of the article goes on to explain how the Placidus house system works and why it became so popular. He also declares:

The Alcabitus, Campanus, Horizontal, Poli-Equatorial, and Regiomontanus House Systems are similarly undefined for latitudes above the Arctic Circles. None of these House Systems can be used for nativities or events in polar latitudes. The Sunshine House System depends on sunrise and sunset, so the Ascendant and Descendant are normally not 180° apart, and houses are undefined for polar areas when there is either no sunrise or no sunset on a given day. 

Figure 1: Astrolog House Systems

I've heard of the Regiomantanus house system but not of the other systems mentioned. Figure 1 shows the house systems that can be selected using the astrological software program Astrolog. As can be seen, I've gotten into the habit of using the Koch house system. The author of the Astro-Geometry article goes on to discuss his experimentation with the Porphyry, Sripati, and Natural Gradation house systems, none of which he found yielded accurate interpretations.

He was left with "the Birthplace House System, developed by German Astrologer Dr. Walter Koch after becoming disillusioned with the Regiomontanus System, and the Topocentric House System developed by Wendel Polich and Nelson Page in Argentina in 1961. These depend on both time and space to determine intermediate house cusps". The former is still undefined for polar latitudes at certain times and so he was left with the Topocentric. Here is his description of this system:

Instead of looking at the Earth from outer space, drawing Great Circles on it and dividing them in various ways as other house systems do, the Topocentric House System looks at the heavens from the point of view of someone standing at the location itself. With the location fixed in our reference frame, the Earth rotates around an axis parallel to the North-South Pole once in 24 hours. This time period is divided into 12 equal sections, and the house cusps are defined as the degrees of the zodiac that are ascending at each 2-hour interval—at different poles, or latitudes. There is also a different pole of the Ascendant for polar latitudes (more on this important topic in a future article). This feature is a key point in the Topocentric House System. 

What is even more significant is that the astrologers who discovered this system did not do so by contemplating the celestial-terrestrial sphere and pondering how to divide it. They discovered it by experiment! For example, Mr. Polich recorded the exact time—to the second — of every single small event that happened every day for three weeks: when he awoke, when a letter arrived, when a visitor came. Without exception, every one of over 1,000 events occurred within one minute of the time of transit of the mundane Ascendent. Numerous similar tests were conducted. 

In practice, the Topocentric House System yields excellent results, in my experience even better than Placidus. Natal horoscopes, transit forecasts, and even horary charts cede their knowledge. When combined with small arcs of the zodiac, the Topocentric House System generates astounding interpretations. The astrologers who developed this System also tested it by experiment, and its success in their experience was their principle claim for adopting it. It works.

Using Astrolog, the Topocentric system does indeed allow for the construction of a horoscope at say 70° North where the Koch system fails. I need to investigate this proposed solution more closely but for the time being I'll post this rather than leave it as a draft. I'll add to it as I get more information and experience.

A Day For a Year Progressions

Over the years, for some reason, I've relied exclusively on transits to the natal chart to anticipate what's coming up for myself and others. I've completely neglected so-called "a day for a year" progressions. As Wikipedia says about this type of progression (also called major progression or secondary direction):

This progression involves moving the natal chart forward one day for each year of a person's life. So for example, a person born on April 2, 1982 would have a progressed chart for 2007 drawn up based on the position of the planets on April 27, 1982 (i.e. 25 days for 25 years). The patterns formed 25 days after the person's birth are considered to be symbolic of the person's 25th year of life, and indicate potential tendencies and trends for the year. Secondary progressions are considered by the majority of astrologers to be the most important form of progression.

Figure 1: source

So there you have it: secondary progressions are considered by the majority of astrologers to be the most important form of progression. I certainly used such progressions in my early astrological years, before the advent of personal computers, but not while using the astrological software Astrolog. So this post is the beginning of an attempt to make up for that neglect.

The same Wikipedia article notes that:

Interpretation of progressions is usually fairly similar to the interpretation of transits. In general however, progressions primarily involve psychological developments from within the individual (often of course stimulated by exterior events), while transits involve developments in the life circumstances outside the individual's control.

In that vein, the following generalisations are given for the progressions of Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars:

Progressed Sun: A period of major importance. Psychologically, and through correlative circumstances, the time will be ripe for important adjustments, organising and integrating of the whole life pattern, as directed by the planet involved in aspect with the sun. 

Progressed Moon: A period of about one month's duration, in which affairs and psychological features associated with the planet will be emphasised and activated. The progressed moon often acts as a 'trigger' to activate patterns already set by other progressed planets. 

Progressed Mercury: Usually indicates changes and necessary readjustments, increased mental activity, travel, and literary matters of above average importance. 

Progressed Venus: Period of much importance as regards emotional, personal and creative interests. Can mean marriage, falling in love - or out of love, inspired creative work, birth of a child, or an emphasis on money matters. 

Progressed Mars: Period of increased activity, conflict, enterprise. Energy must be controlled, and impulsive action avoided. Subject is more accident prone. Can be an ideal time for taking the initiative, or tackling work that has piled up. 

Using this method of progression, one month will count two hours. I've been looking at a number of charts, some with an eye to the future but some retrospectively. The latter has proven quite illuminating. For example, my father died of prostate cancer in late June of 1995 and I've drawn up his progressed chart for that time:

Figure 2: my father's progressed chart

I'm sure he wouldn't object after all this time to having his chart analysed in public. Some of the more salient features are: 

• Mars, Moon and Pluto form a powerful T-square with the focus on the Moon in the eighth house of (amongst other things) death
• Sun and ruling planet Mercury are conjunct at the cusp of the 2nd house, quincunx Saturn and the North Node/7th house cusp.
• The North node of the Moon is conjunct the Descendant in 1° of Virgo which is my father's Ascending degree

The progressed Moon in this case seems to provide the timing for his death, reaching as it does the base of the T-square near the cusp of the 8th house. I was most impressed with how apt this configuration was in depicting my father's unfortunate circumstances at the time. 

Here are some additional pointers provided by Cafe Astrology.com:

Charles E. O. Carter wrote the following: “It is a cardinal rule that no direction can bring to pass what is not shown in the nativity. Exceptions to this are virtually non-existent.” Progressions to progressions and progressions to natal positions are most significant when the planets involved form a significant interrelationship in the natal chart itself. The potential shown in the natal chart, therefore, rules. 

Transits to secondary progressed planets are critical. With predictive work, students of astrology are encouraged to create a tri-wheel with the natal chart in the centre, secondary progressions in the second wheel, and transits in the outer (third) wheel. This way, it is easy to see transits to both the natal chart and the progressed chart, progressed planets in relationship to the natal chart, and progressed planets in relation to other progressed planets. Adding transits to progressed planets and points to our study opens up much more detail.

Interesting to note that transits to secondary progressed planets are critical. I certainly plan to make far more use of secondary progressions now that I've reacquainted myself with them. Of course, after one solar year (365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds), the Sun will return to its exact same position in the zodiac as it occupied at birth. This would correspond in secondary progressions to 365 years, 2 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 5 minutes and 36 seconds.

ADDENDUM: here is my natal chart with secondary progressions for Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars together with transits for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Of course, I had to add the transits manually. The configuration is set to 9th August 2018. There may be software online that will allow all three to superimposed but I'm not aware of it yet if it exists. 

Mars: A Close Approach and Retrograde Motion of Planets

Figure 1

In 2018, Mars will appear brightest from July 27 to July 30. Its closest approach to Earth is July 31. That is the point in Mars' orbit when it comes closest to Earth. Mars will be at a distance of 57.6 million kilometres ... In 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years! It won't be that close again until the year 2287. Source.

Of course, Astrology doesn't take these close encounters of Mars or any other planet into account at all. The astrological chart is only concerned with a planet's celestial longitude or the angular distance of a planet east of the vernal equinox, measured along the ecliptic. Thus on July 31st at 4:33pm in Brisbane, Mars was in 3°02' of Aquarius or 303°02' east of the vernal equinox. It's celestial latitude was 6°33' South but this is not considered in chart analysis as far as I know.

Should the proximity of Mars to Earth be considered in chart analysis? Will Mars be more influential in the charts of persons who were born on July 31st 2018 compared with charts where Mars is at a maximum distance from Earth? Is a transit of Mars more powerful when it is closer to Earth than when it is farther away? I really don't know. However, what is known is that Mars is opposition to the Sun during such encounters and there is always period of time in which Mars appears to move backward through the zodiac because Earth is "overtaking" Mars because of the latter's slower orbital velocity. Mars is retrograde in Aquarius and Capricorn from June 26th to August 27th, 2018. Figure 2 shows this.

Figure 2 

In general, Mars is retrograde approximately 58-81 days every 2+ years. Cafe Astrology. com makes the following observation about a retrograde Mars in the natal chart:

If Mars is retrograde in the natal chart, this is what the Karmic Insight report has to say about this position: “Asserting yourself vigorously and directly is complicated by the fact that you had a prior lifetime or lifetimes in which aggression was either misused (by you, or against you) and/or all personal initiative and self-will was insistently discouraged (perhaps due to a belief system that advocated passivity). 

In any case, the message that was impressed upon you was that forceful action is wrong or dangerous. Thus, if you stand up for yourself, you now tend to hesitate, back down or even be plagued with fears of retaliation.”

Most natal charts will thus not have Mars retrograde. In 90% or more of natal charts, Mars will be in direct motion. This got me thinking about the periods of retrograde motion of other planets. Cafe Astrology. com has a lot to say about Mercury retrograde, a phenomenon that occurs approximately three times a year for approximately three weeks each time. Here is a quick quote:

When Mercury is retrograde in the natal chart itself, the thinking processes are generally more acute, and the sense of humour rather quirky. People with Mercury retrograde take in information differently than those with Mercury direct in their natal charts. How many people are born with a retrograde Mercury? Roughly 18%. 

Venus appears to retrograde approximately 40-43 days out of every 18 months or around 7-8% of its orbit.  How does a retrograde Venus affect a natal chart? Again Cafe Astrology. com has a lot to say about this. Here is an excerpt:

When Venus is retrograde in the natal chart itself, the feeling nature is deep. Socialising is taken seriously, and rarely lightly. They can be somewhat shy in youth, as there can be an awkwardness felt concerning small talk and social graces, and an aversion for superficialities. Love is extremely important to a person with a retrograde Venus, but they may not be explicit about it enough for others to know just how deeply they can love. There is always more to this person than meets the eye. Their love life (and sometimes financial life) can be hidden in some manner.

Cafe Astrology.com has a page about retrograde motion in general in which the point is made that as we move further out with the planets, retrogrades occur more frequently, and it is more common for people to have these planets retrograde in their charts. There follows descriptions for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in retrograde motion, although no percentages for the amount of time spent retrograde. However, I discovered the following summary on Quora:

Planet --> Synodic period, days --> Synodic period, mean months --> Days in retrograde -->  %

Mercury --> 116 --> 3.8 -->   ~21 -->   18
Venus --> 584 --> 19.2 -->    41  -->     7
Mars --> 780 --> 25.6 -->     72 -->      9
Jupiter --> 399 --> 13.1 -->  121  -->    30
Saturn --> 378 --> 12.4 -->   138  -->    37
Uranus --> 370 --> 12.15 -->   151 -->    41
Neptune --> 367 --> 12.07 -->   158  -->    43

Pluto of course would be even closer to 50%. The table clearly shows that persons with Mercury, Venus and Mars retrograde are in a distinct minority and that it should be a factor to consider when interpreting natal charts.

Composite Charts

The quote below is taken from Cafe Astrology.com:

Through studying the composite chart of a relationship, we can gain important insights into the dynamics of a couple. The composite chart is the chart of the relationship itself. It is derived by determining the mathematical midpoints between each person’s planets and points, and is an entirely new chart altogether—the chart of a relationship. Basic relationship dynamics can be seen in the composite chart.

I've not made any serious use of the composite chart in understanding the dynamics of the relationship between two people. What I've been doing is to superimpose one chart on another. In Astrolog (the astrology software that I use), this means opening a first chart and then choosing a second chart. I then choose Transit and Natal under Info and then the two charts can be viewed within the one wheel. This is the traditional approach to synastry and I've found that it works well enough.

Its disadvantage however, is that the interactions can be quite complex. There are now two sets of every astrological element, each element in one interacting potentially with every other element in the other. The advantage of a composite chart is its relative simplicity. There is only one set of astrological elements: an astrological element in one chart and the corresponding element in the other chart being replaced in every case with that element placed midway between the two.

The convention is that a midpoint is chosen in terms of the smaller of the two angular separations between the two astrological elements. For example, a Sun in 0° of Aries in one chart and a Sun in 0° of Sagittarius in another chart can be considered to have an angular separation of 240° anticlockwise or 120° clockwise since the relationship exists within a circle of 360°. In such a case, the midpoint of 0° Aquarius is chosen and not 0° Leo for the placement of the composite Sun (although the latter will remain a sensitive point).

The composite chart is thus an artificial, hybrid chart and in this post I want to gather together some various views as to the validity and usefulness of such charts. The Real Astrology Academy makes the following valid point:

Astrology charts are maps of the positions of the planets in the sky at a specific place and time. Composite charts look like an actual chart, but they're not. In reality, Mercury can never be more than 28° from the Sun, and Venus can never be more than 46° from the Sun. But a composite chart can include impossible aspects, such as Sun opposite Venus or Sun trine Mercury.

The same site goes on to say:

In the context of a natal chart, a midpoint is a sensitive point half-way between two other points in the chart. In theory, when that sensitive point is activated by a transit, progression, or direction, it will simultaneously trigger both points. Midpoints in a natal chart have some practical value, especially when working with planetary pictures and the 90° dial. But midpoints in a natal chart work because they're a part of a self-contained system, as it were. 

The composite chart is meant to be the chart of the relationship, but it's not experienced by either person in the relationship. A trigger to a planet in a composite chart, which theoretically activates some part of the relationship, may not be felt by either person in the relationship because it may not trigger either of their natal charts. 

It was the astrologer John Townley who began promoting the technique in the early 1970s and was the first person to publish a 48 page book, The Composite Chart, on the subject in 1973. He is generally recognised as having popularised the technique. Here is a link to a nearly two hour 2017 podcast in which he is interviewed about his technique. In it, he makes some interesting points. For examples, in arranged marriages there may be little synastry between the two charts of the couple being married but the composite chart may show clear planetary interactions. It is also the case that certain midpoints in a composite chart may align with planets and angles in one or both of the natal charts. John Townley felt that such interactions were especially important.

Importantly, he feels that the composite chart grows in power as the length of the relationship increases. He sees it as influencing the basic synastry that exists between the natal charts. Sometimes seemingly favourable synastry can be undermined by the interactions between the composite chart and the two natal charts. The opposite can occur as well of course. There is mention made of a Davidson chart and I'll add the show notes related to this type of chart below:

• Davison chart as a midpoint in time versus composite midpoint in space.
• Davidson creates a chart for a location and date halfway between the natals.
• Ronald Davison (1914-1985)
• First introduced Davison chart in synastry book in 1977.
• Very late in his career, thus probably not central to his work.
• Maybe “off-the-cuff response to the sudden burst of interest in composite charts”
• John calls this part of the “why not” approach that many partook in at the time, including himself in his first volume on composites.

Townley doesn't think much as the Davidson chart and I tend to agree. He has written a second book called Composite Charts: The Astrology of Relationships published in 2000. Liz Greene has also written a 2002 book titled Relationships and How to Survive Them which is divided into two parts: the composite chart and the eternal triangle. Here is a link to a review of the book. There is a lot more on the Internet about composite charts that I've yet to look at. Clearly the chart has its fans and its critics. What I intend to do now is to look at some composite charts of my own and continue to research further on the topic.

Apart from Astrolog, the online site Astrodienst allows for the creation of composite charts and has this to say about them:

The technique consists in calculating the mid-point of pairs of planets, angles, and foci of the partners' natal charts. 

This technique, as well as that of the mid-space mid-time chart, must be taken with caution since its reliability has not been established yet, contrary to the traditional Compatibility Report which is based on the comparison between two natal charts and the analysis of their inter-aspects. 

A composite chart should be read similarly to a natal chart, but with the difference that planets, angles, and houses only are considered. Signs are not relevant. The angular houses (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th) are the most important ones and, for a couple, it is a better omen when planets are posited in these houses. The 5th and 11th houses are favourable for the blossoming of the relationship, and the 2nd and 8th houses, for sexuality and emotions. The 6th - 12th houses axis is a bit trickier. Aspects are interpreted in the same way as with the natal chart, bearing in mind that they define the relationship and not an individual. The usually accepted orbs are the same as those used in the natal chart. 

The advantage of the composite chart is that it shows the dynamics of the relationship in a quick and simple manner, almost at a glance. It always sheds additional and interesting light to the classical synastry technique of charts comparison.

Once registered with Astrodienst, a composite chart can be created using the following interface (details shown are of myself and my granddaughter):

This is the resultant composite chart:

Here is the same composite chart rendered in monochrome using Astrolog:

A Closer Look at Chiron

As Chiron will be entering Aries next week, on the 17th April, and will spend more than eight years in that sign, I deemed it time to look at the planet more closely. There is quite a comprehensive analysis of Chiron, from both an astronomical and astrological perspective, at the website Chiron and Friends by Zane Stein.

The first page (page 2, I don't know what happened to page 1) deals with the astronomical aspects of Chiron and the next page (page 3) looks at the astrological side of things. A subsequent page is a table of contents relating to the Centaurs (page 4) and following that (page 4a), there is a table of contents relating to the minor planets.

Looking back, Chiron last entered Aries when I was almost exactly 19 years of age, on April 1st 1968 and it didn't leave the sign until May 28th 1976. Even after that it retrograded back into Aries. Thus Chiron spent over eight years in Aries. However, it spends far less time in other signs. This is to be expected from its highly eccentric orbit (e=0.38108).

When it is furthest from the Sun and close to Uranus, Chiron is in Aries and takes about eight years to traverse that sign. However, when it is in Libra and within the orbit of Saturn, it takes less than 1.5 years to traverse that sign. Its orbital period is 50.76 years. The aphelion (furthest point from the Sun) will be reached in 2021. Here is a nice diagram that shows the orbit from a 3-D perspective:

Taken from http://www.lunarplanner.com/asteroids-centaurs/index.html

Astrologically, part of its significance is well explained in a quote from this site:

Chiron is acknowledged to create a link between the realms of Saturn and Uranus—from the old, established, concretised, stoic realm of Saturn to the new, unconventional, radical, electrical, spontaneous realm of Uranus. As we move outward in our solar (system's) consciousness, we move from Saturn to Uranus. Uranus breaks us from the conformity of the past, opening us to new realms of possibility. Thus Chiron escorts us in this process, often helping to create the way across the Saturn-Uranus abyss. Conversely, Chiron helps to bring the new Uranian revelations to the concretised world of Saturn.

Because of its close relationship to both Saturn and Uranus, Chiron's aspects to both these planets are important. Chiron also seems to have a strong link to genetics due to advances being made in that field around the time of its discovery on November 1st 1977. Below is a glyph of Chiron showing the template used for its original design:

Here is a little more about Chiron's astrological significance:

Chiron's role is often associated with new discoveries in the health field and medicinal arts; and classically, Chiron is often called "the wounded healer", a term coined by Carl G. Jung, having been accidentally shot with a poisoned arrow by Heracles. Chiron works with the subtle resonances of neurological communication that make not only neurological functions possible, but also medical and healing modalities and technologies that incorporate subtle resonances, those transcendent to physical phenomenology (Radionics is a good example). Chiron is found to be significant in astrological charts associated with new medical discoveries, inventions, and new technologies or modalities in the heath-care field; and is often prominently placed in the charts of people involved with such discoveries and of those involved in the healing art-sciences.

In the astrological chart, Chiron can indicate where personal healing is required, where we must create and cross a vibrational bridge, where transmutation is required, and where we will find our way from our Saturnian past to our Uranian future, or to bring vibrational resonance of Uranus to change our calcified Saturnian structure. It is always helpful to look at the placement of Saturn and Uranus, and where they are in their synodic cycle, to help understand Chiron's role in an astrological chart. 

There is a good account of the mythology of Chiron at https://mythology.net/greek/greek-creatures/chiron/. Here is an excerpt:

Chiron’s lineage is different from the other centaurs, which may explain some of the differences between them. His father was Cronus, one of the original titans who ruled before the gods, and his mother was Philyra, a beautiful ocean nymph. Unfortunately, Cronus and Philyra were caught in the middle of their tryst by Rhea, Cronus’ wife. Disgraced, the Titan turned himself into a stallion and galloped away. Months later, when Philyra gave birth to their son, the baby’s form was half horse. Philyra was revolted by her child’s monstrous form; she abandoned him and begged the gods to transform her into another form, so that she could forget her disgrace. The gods turned her into a Linden tree. 

Poor Chiron was effectively orphaned, but luck quickly turned in his favor. The radiant god Apollo found the baby and decided to take him in as his own son. He taught the orphan how to repress his animal urges and live nobly, in a way that would highlight his humanity, even his divinity. Apollo also taught the young centaur about music and medicine. Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis, approved of his project and decided to come aboard as the orphan’s foster mother. She taught him about archery and hunting. 

After he grew up, the orphan made his foster parents proud by becoming a revered teacher. He was always eager to return the kindness that Apollo and Artemis had shown him, and he took on many young students of his own, including Achilles, Ajax, Heracles, Jason, Peleus, Perseus, and Theseus. In addition to his students, the centaur had biological children of his own. He was married to a nymph named Chariclo, and with her he had three daughters, Melanippe, Endeis, and Ocyrhoe, and one son, Carystus.

A Deeper Look at Indonesia's Independence Chart

Here is Indonesia's Independence Chart that I discussed briefly in an earlier post.

Perhaps the most traumatic event in Indonesia's history was the 1965 overthrow of the president, Sukarno. The coup occurred on September 30th and the transits on that day to Indonesia's Independence Chart are shown below:

For me, the outstanding feature is the very close square between transiting Uranus/Pluto and natal Mars/Uranus, consistent with the sudden upheaval and appalling violence. The presence of Uranus and Pluto in the twelfth house reflects the covert nature of the coup, orchestrated behind the scenes by the CIA and other Intelligences Agencies. The Mars/Uranus conjunction is thus a very sensitive spot in the chart and disconnected from any aspect patterns. Its presence in a cadent house and mutable sign adds to its volatility.

Close to the cusp of the eighth house, the point around 1°30' of Taurus is semi-square this conjunction and transiting Uranus will reach this point repeatedly over the next couple of years. Specifically:

• Mid-June 2018 (moving forward)
• Late-September 2018 (in retrograde motion)
• Early April 2019 (moving forward)
• Mid-January 2020 (when it turns stationary direct in 2°39' of Taurus)

This time frame corresponds to the lead-up and resolution of the 2019 Presidential elections so there is plenty of potential for political unrest.

The Autumn Equinox in Brisbane

According to Astrolog, the March equinox of 2018 in Brisbane falls at a little before 2:16am on the 21st March. By a little, I mean less than a minute. A time of 2:15am shows the Sun in 29˚59'59" of Pisces ♓while a time of 2:16am shows the Sun ☉ in 0˚01'01'' of Aries ♈. So I'll go with the latter time because input only seems to be accepted in whole minutes. This produces the following chart:

The Brisbane chart shows Moon ☽ closely conjunct the Nadir and the North Node ☊ of the Moon ☽ closely conjunct the Descendant. The Moon ☽ is closely trine Saturn ♄ (0˚03' and separating) and Saturn ♄ in turn is closely semi-square Jupiter  ♃ (0˚35' separation and closing). The Moon ☽ /Saturn ♄ trine is even more harmonious given that Saturn ♄ is in its native sign and the Moon ☽ is exalted in Taurus ♉. I'm not sure what the significance of the square with Ceres might be (the separation is about 4 degrees, necessarily vague become Astrolog seems to consistently misreport the position of the asteroid with an error of around half a degree (see this earlier post about Ceres). This equinox is significant in that the Sun is closely conjunct Chiron in 28˚24' of Pisces ♓. Given that the period of revolution of Chiron is 50.42 years, this will only occur about every 25 years. Mars ♂ is square and Uranus ♅ is semi-sextile this conjunction.

I'm not sure how significant the March equinox chart is for the rest of the year but, in terms of mundane astrology, the Sun ☉ represents leadership, embodied by Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping and others. One or more of our world leaders may be battling (Mars ♂ square Sun ☉/Chiron) for survival after personal weaknesses (Sun ☉ conjunct Chiron) are exposed in sudden and surprising ways (Uranus ♅ semi-sextile Sun ☉/Chiron). The Moon ☽ represents the masses and for them the issues are very much material with both Saturn ♄ and the Moon ☽ being in Earth signs. There will be a collective need for belt tightening as governments struggle to cope with fiscal instability. Let's see how it all plays out.

Lilith

On the subject of Lilith, viewed from an astrological perspective, it is easy to be confused. Consider the following description taken from https://darkstarastrology.com/three-liliths/: 

There are three Liliths in astrology that you can place in your chart. We have Black Moon Lilith, Asteroid Lilith and the lesser known Dark Moon Lilith. I used to see them together as the Triple Moon Goddess and thought it made sense to use them in that way. I then found out that Demetra George had come up with a similar concept about Lilith, so I thought we might be onto something. Comparing the three Liliths to the bible story she says:

“The Asteroid Lilith describes the first stage in the mythical journey where she is suppressed, humiliated and flees in a fiery rage to the desolate wilderness. The Dark Moon Lilith depicts the pain of her exile where she plots and executes revenge. The Black Moon Lilith shows how she transmutes her distorted image back into its natural healthy expression

Not to be outdone, this site includes a fourth, Osculating Lilith:

• Black Moon Lilith is also known as Mean Lilith. This Lilith uses the average orbit of the theoretical Black Moon. This is why she is called mean Lilith. Mean refers to the average, not her temperament. 

• Asteroid Lilith is the only Lilith that is an actual, verifiable physical body. 

• Osculating Lilith is also called True Lilith. Her orbit oscillates wildly this is why she is called true Lilith. This Lilith uses the real orbit of the Black Moon. Her orbit is the real orbit of the Black Moon rather than an average. This is another theoretical point. Some people, like Juan Antonio Revilla, believe that she is the most important Lilith and most accurately portrays Lilith’s uncontrollable nature. 

• Dark Moon Lilith is also called the Waltemath Black Moon, or Waldemath Black Moon. Some people have claimed to have seen this Moon, but those claims cannot be substantiated.

To find your Liliths, go to Astro.com, free horoscopes, extended chart selection and scroll to the bottom of the page. Copy and paste these numbers into the empty box on the bottom left side of the screen: 1181, H13, H21, H58
Press “Click here to show the chart.”

• Asteroid Lilith: 1181
• Osculating Lilith/ True Lilith: h13
• Black Moon Lilith/ Mean Lilith: h21
• Dark Moon Lilith/ Waldemath Black Moon: h58

The fixed star Algol (associated with Lilith) is at a fairly steady 26˚ Taurus. Algol is a star in the head of Medusa in the constellation Perseus.

I tried it and it works fine. However, an astrological chart is already cluttered enough. We have the luminaries (Sun and Moon) and the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) as well as the recently demoted, dwarf planet Pluto. It's quite common to include Chiron, one of the Centaurs, and perhaps Ceres, the largest of the asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. These astronomical bodies are located within the circle of the zodiac and the circle of houses, all mutually interacting by casting various aspects to one another. To introduce one Lilith, let alone three or four, will complicate things even more, so there needs to be a good reason for doing this. Let's see if the inclusion of one, two, three or even four Liliths can really be justified.

Let's start with asteroid Lilith because it's the most straightforward to deal with. Here are some astronomical facts about the asteroid taken from Wikipedia:

1181 Lilith, provisional designation 1927 CQ, is a metallic asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometres in diameter. It was discovered on 11 February 1927, by Russian–French astronomer Benjamin Jekhowsky at Algiers Observatory in Algeria, Northern Africa, and named after French composer Lili Boulanger. The asteroid orbits the Sun in the middle main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,587 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.

In terms of asteroid size, Lilith is rather puny. Ceres, the largest asteroid in the belt has a diameter of about 945 kilometres and can be spotted with a pair of binoculars. Other large asteroids include Pallas Athena, Juno and Vesta, all measuring in the hundreds of kilometres. It doesn't seem logical to assign too much importance to this little asteroid. I personally wouldn't include it in a chart analysis. The Dark Moon Lilith, also known as the Waltemath or Waldemath Black Moon, I would also dismiss because it's not really been proven to exist.

So that leaves us with the Black Moon Lilith (also known an Mean Lilith) and Osculating Lilith (also known as True Lilith). Let's try to differentiate between the two of these. A diagram will help:

The eccentricity of the Moon's orbit is highly exaggerated in the diagram above but it illustrates the idea behind the Black Moon. An ellipse has two foci: the Earth occupies one focus and other focus is empty. The line of sight from the centre of the Earth to this empty focus points to a position on the ecliptic and this should mark the position of the Black Moon Lilith. This empty focus is about 36,000 kilometres from Earth so it's not far away and, because of its proximity, there is a not inconsiderable difference between its geocentric and topocentric position in the zodiac.

What complicates the matter even more is that the Moon doesn't simply move around the Earth in a simple ellipse. What happens is that The Earth and the Moon both orbit around the centre of mass of the Earth and Moon. This is called the Earth-Moon Barycentre or EMB. It is about 4,671 km from the centre of the Earth or about 1,700 km below the Earth's surface. It is described further at the same site from where the diagram was taken:

The Moon travels along an elliptical path around the Earth. An ellipse has two focal points, and the other focal point, not occupied by the Earth has been called the Dark Moon, the Black Moon or Lilith. This is a slightly simplified definition, since, actually, the Moon and the Earth both move around their common centre of gravity, and the path of the Moon is not a neat ellipse, but a rather wobbly affair. One must distinguish between the mean orbit of the Moon, which is a slowly elongating ellipse, and the actual orbit, which vaccillates around the mean path, due to interference of various kinds. Just as there a "mean" and a "true" Lunar Node, so there is a "mean" and a "true" ellipse and a "mean" and a "true" Lilith. I write "true" in inverted commas, because the Moon's Node is only "true" about twice per month, when the Moon is actually on it, for the rest of the time, it is as "untrue" as the mean Node. In fact, when working with a point so close to the Earth, one should also take the great parallax into consideration, i.e. consider, from which point on the Earth one is actually looking at a point in the heavens. Astrology observes the planets geocentrically, as if from the Earth's centre, and not topocentrically, from the actual place of the observer.

This is getting complicated. Clearly the True Lilith is to be preferred over the Mean Lilith but is the inclusion of this difficult to calculate point in a chart really justified? I really don't think so. My feeling is that there's been a push to promote Lilith by one means or another because in the Hebrew tradition she is such a powerful figure (taken from Wikipedia):

Lilith is a figure in Jewish mythology, developed earliest in the Babylonian Talmud (3rd to 5th centuries). Lilith is often envisioned as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness. The character is generally thought to derive in part from a historically far earlier class of female demons in ancient Mesopotamian religion, found in cuneiform texts of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia. 

In Jewish folklore, from the satirical book Alphabet of Sirach (c. 700–1000) onwards, Lilith appears as Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time (Rosh Hashanah) and from the same dirt as Adam – compare Genesis 1:27. (This contrasts with Eve, who was created from one of Adam's ribs: Genesis 2:22.) The legend developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. For example, in the 13th-century writings of Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she had coupled with the archangel Samael.

With the exception of Venus, all of the planets are male: Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. Pluto is male as well of course. While the asteroid Ceres and the dwarf planet Eris are female, there is certainly a shortage of objects named after strong females in the traditional astrological chart. I've recently taken to including Ceres in my chart analysis but I won't personally include Lilith in any of her variants at the moment.

The Dwarf Planet Eris

I'm currently reading Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randall and in that book she makes mention of the recently discovered dwarf planet Eris. In this post, I'm finding out a little more about it. It has the following characteristics:

• diameter of 2,326 ± 12 kilometres
• slightly smaller than Pluto's diameter of 2,372 ± 4 kilometres
• mass is 0.27% that of Earth (would be 0.61% if same composition)
• mass is about 27% larger than that of Pluto (hence it is rockier)
• highly eccentric orbit (0.44 with aphelion of 97.651 AU and perihelion of 37.911 AU)
• orbital period of 558.04 years
• has one known moon, Dysnomia, with a diameter of 700±120 kilometres
• may be in a 17:5 resonance with Neptune although is not confirmed
• has an albedo of 0.96, higher than that of any other large body in the Solar System except Enceladus
• classified as a TNO (TransNeptunian Object) and SDO (Scattered Disk Object)
• classified as a plutoid or ice dwarf and a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet, i.e. a body orbiting beyond Neptune that is massive enough to be rounded in shape. 
• its orbit is titled at about 44˚ to the ecliptic

Here is a diagram of its orbit taken from Wikipedia:

From an astrological perspective, the following excerpt from the Wikipedia entry is relevant:

Because of the high inclination of its orbit, Eris only passes through a few constellations of the traditional Zodiac; it is now in the constellation Cetus. It was in Sculptor from 1876 until 1929 and Phoenix from roughly 1840 until 1875. In 2036 it will enter Pisces and stay there until 2065, when it will enter Aries. It will then move into the northern sky, entering Perseus in 2128 and Camelopardalis (where it will reach its northernmost declination) in 2173.

What of the mythological significance of Eris and Dynomia? This astrologically relevant website has this to say about them:

Eris is the Greek god of strife. Due to her exclusion from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, a sea-goddess, spiteful Eris, aroused lust and conflict amongst the goddesses (Hera/power, Athena/wealth, and Aphrodite/love, beauty and rapture) which led to the Trojan war by offering a "golden apple" to the fairest of the three. In short, Zeus proclaimed Paris, the handsome prince of Troy, to act as judge. Paris choose Aphrodite with her promise that Helen, the wife of Menelaus, would become his wife. This ultimately led to the abduction of Helen by Paris and subsequently the 10-year long Trojan war (1194 to 1184 BC.) and its ramifications. (Ref: Iliad & Odyssey)

Eris' daughter, Dysnomia ... is said to be the "spirit of lawlessness"—disrupter of civil order. Eris, however, had two daughters, Dysnomia and the opposite and peaceable one, Eunomia, who ends strife, returns order and maintaines social stability. 

The author of this same website has some interesting things to say about the discovery of Eris challenging patriarchal society:

The discovery and naming of Eris confronts patriarchal authority in a few ways. Provisionally as Xena and then formally as Eris, the female names directly confront our solar system's male dominance, as all major planets have male names, except for Venus. The creation of the Dwarf Planet category also rightfully raised the status of Ceres, mother of the asteroids (a female), as a Dwarf Planet, now at par with Eris and Pluto. Eris also put an end to Pluto delineating the planetary boundary to our solar system, the final masculine planet of death, giving the final word, and hiding what lies beyond. Pluto now is but a gate keeper to more transcendent realms of consciousness.

In fact, the author, Nick Anthony Fiorenza, has written several other articles about Eris including:

• The Path of Eris & The Eris Synodic Cycles 2003 - 2016
• Eris, The Great Disrupter, Revati & the Global Economic Crisis of 2008
• Disclosure & Discovery. New Frontiers in Consciousness 2016-2017. Uranus-Eris opposite Haumea

I should read these and perhaps make additions to this blog post later. The article that I did read and have quoted from here was certainly interesting despite suffering from some horrific misspellings as well as chronic verbosity and a proclivity to astro-babble.

Astrolog does not track the position of Eris but this website does, along with Centaurs, TNOs, Asteroids & Planets. Interestingly, just a quick look at the site shows that the exact placement of Ceres is still a problem depending on who you believe. The site just alluded to lists its position today (22nd February 2018) as being in 6˚56' of Leo while Astrolog reports 6˚47 of Leo and Stellarium reports 7˚26' of Leo.

Stellar Distances

This post has more to do with astronomy than astrology but I firmly believe that the best way to defend astrology from its detractors is to have a solid understanding of astronomy. Many critics of astrology have a poor understanding of astronomy and arguments, for example, that astrology does not take the precession of the equinoxes into account when formulating horoscopes can be easily refuted. Recently, with access to a deck that affords a good view of the night sky, I've been using the software program Stellarium to identify the more prominent celestial objects. This is the same program that Graham Hancock uses to view the sky as it appeared in Egypt and other places in antiquity thousands of years ago. He mentioned this in his latest book, Magicians of the Gods, that I just finished reading.

I like to know how far various stars and nebula are from our solar system and Stellarium reveals this immediately. By just clicking on the object, an information pane appears on the left of the screen. In the diagram below, I've listed the major stars in the constellation of Canis Major along with their distances to the nearest light year:

As can be seen, with the exception of Sirius, all the major stars are fairly distant. Sirius of course is an object of considerable fascination for stargazers of the past and present. Here is some information about it taken from Wikipedia.

Sirius, a romanisation of Greek Σείριος, Seirios, lit. "glowing" or "scorching") is a star system and the brightest star in the Earth's night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The system has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris (α CMa). What the naked eye perceives as a single star is a binary star system, consisting of a white main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, called Sirius B. The distance separating Sirius A from its companion varies between 8.2 and 31.5 AU. 

Sirius appears bright because of its intrinsic luminosity and its proximity to Earth. At a distance of 2.6 parsecs (8.6 ly), as determined by the Hipparcos astrometry satellite, the Sirius system is one of Earth's near neighbours. Sirius is gradually moving closer to the Solar System, so it will slightly increase in brightness over the next 60,000 years. After that time its distance will begin to increase and it will become fainter, but it will continue to be the brightest star in the Earth's night sky for the next 210,000 years. 

Sirius A is about twice as massive as the Sun (M☉) and has an absolute visual magnitude of 1.42. It is 25 times more luminous than the Sun but has a significantly lower luminosity than other bright stars such as Canopus or Rigel. The system is between 200 and 300 million years old. It was originally composed of two bright bluish stars. The more massive of these, Sirius B, consumed its resources and became a red giant before shedding its outer layers and collapsing into its current state as a white dwarf around 120 million years ago. 

Sirius is also known colloquially as the "Dog Star", reflecting its prominence in its constellation, Canis Major (Greater Dog). The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile in Ancient Egypt and the "dog days" of summer for the ancient Greeks, while to the Polynesians in the Southern Hemisphere the star marked winter and was an important reference for their navigation around the Pacific Ocean.

Below are the major stars and nebulae for the constellation of Orion, along with their distances in light years:

Again, all the stars are reasonably distant but I was surprised to learn the Great Nebula in Orion was actually within our own galaxy and so I've included some information about it from Wikipedia. I'm sure I'll learn a lot more as I continue viewing the night sky in tandem with the astronomy software.

Limitations of the 2-D Horoscope

While looking at the current zodiacal position at Sirius using Astrolog, I was surprised to find that it was conjunct Canopus. These two brightest stars in the night sky are quite separate and yet they appear together in the two dimensional wheel generated by the astrology program. The reason of course is that the celestial longitudes of the two stars are being considered and their celestial latitudes, while being displayed by the program, cannot be represented on the chart. Here is the situation as displayed by Astrolog:

The information on the right shows that Canopus has a latitude of -75˚49' and Sirius has a latitude of -39˚36'. However, the view using Stellarium drives home how far apart the two stars really are (the red line represents the ecliptic, the blue line represents the celestial equator):

A planet, moving as it does close to ecliptic, will reach the same longitude as Canopus at some point in time and the two will then be deemed to be conjunct. This seems silly. I think such stars as Sirius and Canopus, because of their large latitudes, should not be included in an astrological chart and of course for the most part they aren't. The stars of the zodiacal constellations however, are a different matter. I covered the astrological significance of the big four (Regulus, Fomalhaut, Antares and Aldebaran) in an earlier post on the fixed stars.

I'm wondering if there is an effective way of representing latitude on an astrological chart. I've made an initial attempt of such a chart. It's just a crude beginning, but a beginning nonetheless. It shows a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn with the dot positions giving a rough idea of the latitude separation of the two planets. Saturn is about 2 degrees north latitude and Jupiter is about 3 degrees south latitude. It also shows two stars that are conjunct in terms of longitude (like Canopus and Sirius) but quite separate in terms of latitude. The length of the line should give some indication of the magnitude of the latitude but a linear scale wouldn't work. Something logarithmic would work better. Perhaps an inner and outer dotted circle at the same distance from the green and blue circles but representing 25 degrees.