Can we find a career? What about other talents?

With the holidays coming it's been hard to find free time to spend on this chart. Convinced that the birth time is fairly accurate and the angles have the correct signs on the cusp, I would make the following observations:

Mars rules the ASC by sign and the MC by exaltation. Hence Mars is a key to both his talents (ASC) and his career (MC). He is symbolically a fighter, a warrior of some type. His career is an assertive expression of his personal goals and ambitions. Who he is and what he does in the world are closely linked and find expression in this assertive Martian energy.

Mars closely sextiles the ASC and semi-sextiles the MC. The ASC ruler sextile the ASC is a favorable aspect, suggesting natural self-expression. He is at home with his outwardly directed assertive energy. He can harmoniously and actively pursue personal goals. He has natural leadership ability. He may be some type of pioneer whom others are drawn to follow. The semi-sextile, I find, is a stressful aspect. The close Mars semi-sextile MC suggests some difficulty or friction caused by trying to direct his personal 1st house ambitions toward worldly achievement. Though he is a natrual leader, there is some conflict or trouble when he tries to pursue career goals using his Martian energy. Since Mars rules the 11th by exaltation, perhaps his friends get in the way of his professional endeavors.

Mars occupies Aquarius and the 11th house. Aquarius is a fixed air sign. I believe that Robert Zoller also has Mars in Aquarius in the 11th, and he attributes his interest in pursuing and acquiring esoteric knowlege to this placement. He also thinks it reflects his attraction to bellicose or warring friends and causes conflicts (Mars) in his social life. I find Aquarius to be a somewhat willful sign with an emphasis on independent thinking and "doing it my way." Modern astrologers believe it to be a humanitarian sign of universal brotherhood.

The Sun rules the ASC by exaltation and also occupies Aquarius and the 11th house, re-emphasizing the Mars in Aquarius in the 11th themes. Again he is likely to be independent and innovative, and convinced of the rightness of his ideas.

Saturn rules the MC (career) and lies in Gemini in the 3rd house. Here there is an emphasis on serious ideas, writing, communication, teaching, etc. Mercury rules the 3rd house cusp and trines Saturn from Aquarius and the 12th house. This suggests talents related to Gemini and 3rd house matters. Jupiter conjoins Mercury in Aquarius in the 12th and also trines MC-ruler Saturn in the 3rd. At the same time Jupiter sextiles the MC, so there is a stronger Jupiterian influence on career (that is, Jupiter sextile MC and trine MC ruler Saturn). The favorable Jupiter aspects involving the MC suggest much career success.

Jupiter occupies the 12th, rules Pisces in the 12th, and rules the 9th. This suggests a career related to Jupiter, 9th and 12th house matters, which could include higher education, foreign affairs, long-distance travel, religion, the law, publishing, hosptial or charity work, etc. The strong Mars influence suggests that he is a leader in his field.

An important career event should occur when the MC crosses Mars (exaltation ruler of MC) by primary direction. I get the following dates:

MC crosses Mars (converse) March 1946
Mars crosses MC (direct) June 1947.

I would expect 1946-47 to be a dramatic time in his professional life.

PS: Just after I finished this post Ralph Holden's book on House Division arrived in the mail. It is a classic text from 1977. For the fun of it I looked up Holden's delineations of the basic meanings of the houses. In this mystery chart, the career is most closely related to the 3rd, 9th, 11th, and 12th houses. Here are Holden's key words:

3rd: "power of mind, dexterity, cleverness, education, short journey, near relatives, neighbors, writing, communication, recording, lecturing."
9th: "philosophy, religion, law, travel, exploration, research, foreign lands or people, higher education, publishing."
11th: "friends, contacts, clubs, social groups, humanitarian enterprises, altrusim, hopes and wishes."
12th: "sacrificial service, repressions, neurosis, hidden enemies, prisons, asylums, instituions, occultism, mysticism, secrets."

Since the aspects between the planets related to career are largely favorable, I would lean toward the more positive words in this list. For example, we might conclude that this person has a powerful mind and is a good communicator. He loves abstract ideas related to philosophy, law, and religion. He enjoys travel and contact with foreigners. Friends are important to his career. He is likely to be altruistic and interested in humanitarian ideas. He may perform some type of sacrificial service, perhaps to those in prisions or asylums. He may be drawn to occultism and mysticism.

Hi Libra:

Would you consider the Jupiter-Mercury conjunction, since it is so close to the 12th cusp in the Whole house chart, as possibly being experienced by this man as if it were in the 12th?

Whole signs don't work that way. If in a quadrant system the conjunction was within five degrees of the 12th cusp, I would consider it a 12th house placement, but whole signs don't really have cusps, so the place or domicile or house is where they stay.

From what you know of his life, which house for that conjunction makes more sense?

They both do. In traditional or medieval astrology planets in the 12th are considered poorly placed as they cannot "get out" or express themselves properly. Using this logic a nasty planet say Saturn in Aries, would be pretty well placed in the 12th since he couldn't work his mischief, but a strong planet in the 12th would be a disadvantage. However, a strong planet in the 12th in aspect to one of its dispositors (domicile, exaltation and maybe triplicity), and aspect by sign is enough, would be able to "get out and express itself.

In this chart The Mercury- Jupiter conjunction is in tight aspect to its domicile ruler, Saturn in the 3rd and thus find expression that way. On the other hand, knowing what I do about the native the 12th house, in one of its more benign meanings, fits him perfectly. The trick is to understand the traditional meaning of the 11th house. Mostly it means friends, but as it is next to the 10th it also means "Gifts from teh King or Gifts from God." It is considered the most fortunate house in the chart and in traditional astrology the idea that sign=planet =house is often left at the door.

The great French astrologer, Jean Baptiste Morin (1583 - 1656) had an interesting way to look at houses. He noticed that there were four "grand trines" of houses. Each trine consisted of one angular, one succedent and one cadent house. He believed that each of these houses influenced the other. So the 11th would be influenced by the 7th and the 3rd. In his words these houses represent the triplicity of the West Angle. Reading counter-clockwise from the 7th we have the conjunction of the body (7th), matrimony, the second conjunction, (3rd house) of the blood, siblings and the third conjunction is benevolence from which arise friends (11th). Therefore this is the triplicity of love. Big hint: our native does not marry.

The 7th is ruled by Venus and she is in the 9th. The third is ruled by Mercury and holds Saturn, and Tony said it perfectly "serious writing." Aspects qualify so we have to add Jupiter and if we read Alex post we know what Jupiter means and therefore what he wrote about. The 11th is benevolence and it is loaded. We could write a decent sized book on this house alone.

I am seriously impressed with all the things written about this chart and so many of them are so right on the money. I'll reveal the name tomorow, and maybe we can go over some it before Christmas.

Tom

I tried monkeying with both the birth time and the various keys and could not get the first year of life move and the death of the mother to have tight hits with one birth time and one key.

The primary directed MC Saturn opposition occurred in 1920 with this birth time. You had written that the mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1920 and that she died in 1921. It may be that the 1920 date corresponds to this native's experience of loss of his mother due to her diagnosis and preoccupation with her illness. In other words, the Saturn direction may correlate with the mother's onset of cancer rather than with her death which followed as a consequence a year later. Since Saturn rules the 10th of the mother, the MC oppose Saturn could signify a serious illness (since the MC is the mother's ASC in this native's chart). If this is the case, the birth time works out very well.

Since Saturn rules the 10th of the mother, the MC oppose Saturn could signify a serious illness (since the MC is the mother's ASC in this native's chart). If this is the case, the birth time works out very well.

Yes, this makes sense. It also validates the birthplace which is Prads, France. There is a Prades, France which produces a slightly different chart. I used the chart given by my source, and these directions validate that.

I'll post the name later on today, Friday Dec 22.

Tom

I have Pluto in the 4th house too and I've been living in a foreing country for years. Could anyone tell me how to work out the 'Lot of Being Away From Home?'

Steven wrote:

One signification that is often forgotten about Venus is that it signified the priest or priestess role in holy rites and sanctification.

Wow! This quality of Venus is something that I've been suspecting recently by myself and it's nice to get an affirmation to that. Thanks Steven!