I?ve had a miserable time with this one. I've tried to ignore Tom's hints and comments.

Using 3 of 4 methods I?ve created in Solar Fire I get Mercury as chart almuten. Being placed in the 1st house and serving as Asc. & MC ruler accentuates that. Who the native is and how he navigates in the world is very Mercurial. Mercury has dignity by triplicity, so there?s a reasonably strong source of strength. But it?s unaspected. Morin wrote in Book 21, Chapter XII of his work:

?If a strong planet has no aspect with another planet it is said to be feral and will act simply in accordance with its own nature, especially if located in its domicile. Every feral planet indicates something unusual ? good or ill ? depending on the nature of the planet...?

Mercury?s nature is a neutral one that adapts to whatever the circumstances and needs are. So it looks like this person has a good dose of ?now this, now that? and 'now you see it, now you don't'. Mercury is placed in Libra ? a sign that is often given a fluffy sweetness. The way I see it, Libra will do what it takes to get things done (A Cardinal sign and the exaltation of Saturn). Libra can seem cold and aloof, but not necessarily heartless. The Virgo Ascendant fits in well with this, as does the Virgo Venus as dispositor of the Sun and Mercury: Efficient separation of what works from what doesn?t using shrewd calculation. Morin?s ?something unusual? about this Mercury could be a pronounced careful and controlled manner of expression for the native, a manner that aids the doings of the Venus Saturn sextile.

The 12th house Venus rules the 2nd house and Saturn is placed in the 2nd. Financial fraud? An embezzler? A corporate financial wizard? The Part of Fortune is in the house of other people?s money. The 2nd house Sun below the horizon indicates personal concerns, a focus on self, and is getting a strong charge from Jupiter.

The powerful Jupiter in Sagittarius, dignified by domicile and triplicity, might give the person a dose of ethics and morality, but I wonder if below the horizon conjunct the IC might make for personal ethics that don?t coincide with the ethics of society. Jupiter below the horizon is in the sphere of the personal world and not the sphere of the larger societal world. The Jupiter square to the shape-shifting Pisces Moon seems to bring in a personal viewpoint. Throw in Uranus and there looks to be a strong ?law unto oneself?. That is, ?I think it?s right, so it is!?. At this point I?m not sure how to interpret Moon/Uranus conjunct the Descendant. The Moon rules the 11th house: Is there a connection here with the money of a boss or workplace (2nd from 10th)?

The native's primary motivation is the need for physical security (Earth sign Virgo), i.e. money, which he would attempt to achieve through his own efforts (Mercury in the 1st), which involve writing and the manipulation of writing (such as books, texts, scripts), pushing his work out into the world.

He also has a very active imagination focused on the outside world and other people, full of very grandiose ideas (Moon opposed Asc, square her ruler Jupiter).

He also goes out to seek fame for himself, and he did achieve fame, but it was not of good quality, more like infamy, also not long lasting and may have actually hurt the native (Sun in 1st in Libra, Mercury under the beams and heading for combustion).

His major troubles in life were about money (Saturn in 2nd), and illness (Mars in 6th). Mars, being a triplicity ruler of the Asc, implies that he may have been the cause of his own illnesses. Mars also ruling the 9th would mean that the native is a cause of his own death.

The native's 1st third of life was spent in dreaming, making many connections with people, acquiring many friends, having many romantic dalliances, perhaps a far journey (Moon in 7th, ruling 11th and 9th by exaltation). The second third of life is spent pursuing art, education, making mistakes, dealing with secrets, having money troubles, and entering into relationships and probably marriage (Venus, in 12th, ruling 9th, 2nd, and 7th by exaltation). The native's final third of life is spent under illness, being forced into slavery or a more modern form of slavitude, like doing crap jobs for little money; also dealings with neighbors/brothers, entertainments, fear, debts, and his death (Mars, in 6th, ruling 3rd, 8th, and 5th by exaltation).

How much time to we have on this person, Tom?

The native's 1st third of life was spent in dreaming, making many connections with people, acquiring many friends, having many romantic dalliances, perhaps a far journey (Moon in 7th, ruling 11th and 9th by exaltation). The second third of life is spent pursuing art, education, making mistakes, dealing with secrets, having money troubles, and entering into relationships and probably marriage (Venus, in 12th, ruling 9th, 2nd, and 7th by exaltation). The native's final third of life is spent under illness, being forced into slavery or a more modern form of slavitude, like doing crap jobs for little money; also dealings with neighbors/brothers, entertainments, fear, debts, and his death (Mars, in 6th, ruling 3rd, 8th, and 5th by exaltation).

Gabe,

Can you explain your technique more there? I like it but I can't follow it. To save space just take one of the thirds and explain that, the rest will follow I assume.

OK Mark, let's look at the 1st third of life. Now, this is following the Arabic method 'direction by triplicity', using the triplicity rulers of a house to predict the approximate third of the life of that house. IIRC the Greeks do either the same thing or something similar.

The Asc is an Earth sign, so the triplicity rulers are Venus(diurnal), Moon(nocturnal), and Mars(participating). As the chart is nocturnal, we start from the nocturnal ruler of the tripicity, then the diurnal, and lastly the participating. So the sequence will be Moon, Venus, and Mars.

What the Moon signifies will determine the first third of the native's life. So what does she signify? Firstly, she signifies the matters of the house that she is placed in, so the 7th house. (As she is within 5 degrees of the cusp, and already in the sign of the 7th) So she signifies partnerships, other people, and marriage. Now, she is in a mutable sign, so she will try to manifest the matters of the house repeatedly, as mutability is the going back and forth from the poles of cardinality and fixity. So there will repeated partnerships.

Then her natural rulerships and her rulerships of other houses come in play. So we have dreams and imagination, friendships (her rulership of the 11th), long journeys (9th).

I really like not only what you wrote but the way that you wrote it. It was concise, specific and tied to astrological ideas. Wow! I hope Tom reveals this one soon because the suspense is building up with so many ideas out there.

I guess this is obvious, but when you're looking at what houses the Moon rules you're also including the houses she rules be exaltation, such as the 9th house Taurus?

I've sort of spent myself out on this one. What a different feel entirely from Arthur Ashe's chart though.

I don?t like this chart. I don?t like it because I can?t get a hold of it. It?s a slippery one.

I?m not sure I should have been so suspicious about Jupiter. If I was right (at least somewhat?), then maybe the positive side of the very dignified Jupiter lies in the parents and heritage. I probably should resist seeing the square to the Moon as negative ? it may be a square, but the Moon has an aspect relationship to it?s dispositor, which is a strongly placed benefic. The moon is going to benefit from it.

It looks like there was or is a spouse or partner of some sort who is an attention-getter: willful, dynamic and/or eccentric with a Piscean mystique, and maybe some Piscean whining. The strong Jupiter is conjunct the other person?s MC, with the Moon conjunct their Asc., so maybe the fame and fortune lies with the spouse or partner. The spouse/partner?s Sun lies in the 8th, strongly sextile Jupiter on the MC: fame connected with death? Venus rules the partner?s 8th house, which is the 2nd for the native. The Venus-Saturn sextile in the native?s 12th and 2nd houses is placed in the 6th and 8th for the partner. That looks like financial gain for the native through the illness and death of the partner.

Here I am spinning the chart around and grabbing at whatever. It?s 3:00 am. I?m babbling on and getting myself confused.

I really like not only what you wrote but the way that you wrote it. It was concise, specific and tied to astrological ideas. Wow!

Thank you.

I guess this is obvious, but when you're looking at what houses the Moon rules you're also including the houses she rules be exaltation, such as the 9th house Taurus?!

Yeah. You could be insane and pedantic and look at every house cusp that the Moon has some honor over, but rulership and exaltation are the ones that will show most strongly.

I've sort of spent myself out on this one. What a different feel entirely from Arthur Ashe's chart though.

I just hope I get more time to go deeper with this chart, so hopefully Tom won't pull the plug just yet.