I am a free-lance tour guide and my plans for work this year just met up with a large obstacle. I had hoped to work a lot with a company this spring, summer and fall. I had done a lot of work for them this past fall and in fact it was largely through all of this work that I managed to buy a new car, take a vacation or two and just to survive during the winter when there is not much work. I got an e-mail from them this afternoon that said they won?t be using professional tour guides this coming season. Instead they have opted to use college students, obviously because they can pay them quite a bit less. This sent me into a minor panic, as I had hoped to work for them a lot this season. The situation is not critical right now because I can get all the work I need from February through June, but after that my plans are in a shambles.

I asked the question, ?Where Can I Turn to Find More Work?? My prospects for more work would come through getting more work from companies who I already do some work for, or from new companies, and would be either in local tours around the area here or nearby here ? Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Williamsburg - or through working on tours overseas, which is a direction that I have always seen my career moving towards.

The chart was done for December 29, 2004, at 6:22 PM EDT (-5 hours from GMT) at Falls Church, Virginia, USA. (38? N 53?, 77? W 10?). I am using Regiomontanus for the houses.

This gives me an ASC of 27? 16? Cancer, which is kind of late, but the planetary hour is Venus, which is of the same nature as Cancer and that is a good sign. My significators are the Moon, and Mars as the ruler of the 10th house rules my career. The Moon is just within 5 degrees of the 2nd house cusp, which makes sense as my mind is on my finances. The Moon has just separated from being opposite Neptune. Yeah, I?d say my illusions about this company have just been shattered. Mars sits in the 5th house, which does fit my situation, as my career is entirely involved in showing people a good time. But Mars is peregrine and the only contact it has in this chart is an applying square with Uranus in the 8th house. So my career is in still involved with tours (5th house) but it is in new and unfamiliar territory (peregrine) and has some shocks and surprises in store for me (square Uranus).

Saturn sits just shy of the cusp of the first house. My mental state feels limited and constricted now. Saturn is also at the far edge of being sextile to Jupiter. There is 8 degrees between them and they are approaching each other right now, but they do not ever reach perfection, as first Jupiter turns retrograde and then Saturn finally changes signs. Saturn and Jupiter are also in mutual reception by exaltation, so Saturn is not as much of an obstacle as it could be. I?d say that Saturn is an important part of this chart, but it?s role is not so much as an impassible wall that I can?t get around, but instead shows that I have some hard work in front of me. I?d say that Jupiter would show the way out of this situation, as shown by the mutual reception. I?ll have more to say about Jupiter below, as it rules the 9th house of long distance travel, but for right now I?ll just say that Saturn being angular describes my current state of mind as one of limitations.

Though Mars has no major contacts here, the Moon is about to make a series of trines and a sextile. First the Moon will be trine with Mercury and then Venus, after which it will be sextile with Jupiter. The Moon is peregrine and is decreasing in light and is not in a particularly strong house, so it does not have a lot of power to effect my situation, but all of its upcoming aspects are easy and are with planets that involve my work situation. The Moon?s trine with Mercury will provide me with an opportunity for more work in the area of tours of the local area (Mercury rules the 3rd house, regular local area travel). The trine with Venus shows that I have friends who I can count on, as Venus rules the 11th house. Might the 11th house here also refer to the professional group of tour guides that I belong to? I think groups like this are an 11th house matter.

Notice that both of these planets (Venus and Mercury) are in the 5th house, which I think emphasizes my job as a guide. In fact the 5th house is chock full of planets and even the Part of Fortune.

Next the Moon moves on to be sextile with Jupiter, which as the ruler of the 9th house, shows that I have some prospects of finding work on overseas travel. Jupiter is amazingly strong right now. It?s in mutual reception by sign with Venus, mutual reception by exaltation with Saturn, and by triplicity with Mercury, as well as in its own term. And being in an angle, it has the power to bring all of this to help the situation. I also see that Jupiter rules the Part of Fortune, which is also in the 5th house. I am taking this as advice to pursue my long-term goal of finding work as an guide working abroad. About the only bad signs I see related to Jupiter is that it is in that loose square with Saturn as I already mentioned and that is also is applying to another square with the Sun. The Sun is located in the 6th house ? hard work, little reward ? and rules the 2nd house. So this shows that the jobs that Jupiter promises might not be all that I had hoped for. Still, Jupiter is so strong here compared with both Saturn and the Sun that I think it can win out over these negatives.

There are a few questions I have about this chart. What should I make of the late rising sign?

And what should I make of Jupiter being in the 4th house? The 4th house is described as a place of hidden resources, and the recovery of things that are lost. So does this mean that I can turn this situation around?

If anyone is thinking that I ignored Pluto here, I do see that the last aspect the Moon makes is a trine with Pluto. Maybe others might disagree with me, but I don?t make a lot of use of the new planets unless they are in a tight orb in the chart or in an angle. I am open to the idea of Pluto showing a radical change in my career, but I don?t think that point is strongly emphasized in this chart already so I didn?t pay much attention to it.

Any thoughts?

Hameker-Zondag in her book on Horary discusses a chart she read when the ascendant was in the last degrees of a sign. In it she asked if she should go to a certain new dentist. The chart was very positive and she was seen immediately by the new dentist. The upshoot of the situation was she did go to the new dentist but he told her that he was going abroad and that there would be a new dentist to take his place.

I always found this interesting because I always read a chart when it it "too late". What I have found is that if the chart is positive as yours is, there may be a turn of fate but in your favor. And vice versa if the chart is negative. For instance, once I asked about a certain situation and the chart was "late" but very positive, and it turned out that the situation had gone away on its own. Occasionally the answer is already decided and I am asking too late, as in a question like " will my son get into X university" when the decision was already made by X university and my son just forgot to tell me.

As for Pluto, I tend to agree with you on that, so no comments necessary.

I am not an expert so I am sure others may have some more valid thoughts on your chart.