MARS in (Planet of energy and assertiveness): You actively involve yourself with friends and tend to be a leader in your circle. Your associations with others are likely to be based on mutual assistance or favors. You have definite goals and objectives in life that you energetically pursue. Good point: willingness to help or be responsible toward others. Bad point: you can be quarrelsome and argumentative.
JUPITER in (Planet of luck and expansion): You are popular with others, and your associations bring you luck and happiness. You have high ideals and will likely gain your objectives. You know how to deal successfully with prominent and important people and will benefit from their influence. Good point: cooperative and generous with friends. Bad point: you rely on undependable or parasitical friends.
SATURN in (Planet of discipline and limitation): You form a few true and lasting friendships rather than cultivate many superficial acquaintances. You have high aspirations, but must often cope with mundane delays and obstacles. The discipline you learn early in life brings freedom later on. Good point: determination to reach objectives. Bad point: victimized by unscrupulous or selfish motives on the part of others.
URANUS in (Planet of change and originality): Your attachments and friendships often form suddenly. You are attracted to people with unusual interests and from different walks in life; you may be involved with the occult. Your ideals and ambitions are not run-of-the-mill, and you are often thought of as a unique personality. Good point: lively and inventive attitude toward achieving goals. Bad point: suffer estrangements from friends, and consequent emotional upsets.
NEPTUNE in (Planet of spirituality and illusion): You are drawn to artistic, sensitive people and are likely to form friendships because of goals you share in common. You are inclined to be an idealistic, compassionate person, concerned with giving help to others. You may join a humanitarian organization or a group with visionary aims. Good point: intuitive to the needs of others. Bad point: you suffer because of unreliable or treacherous friends.
PLUTO in (Planet of transformation): You are a strong, vital force in the lives of your friends, and involve yourself deeply with them. You are something of a reformer, and seek to bring about a change for the better in any situation. You feel intensely about your goals and may even have an obsessive personality. Good point: strong loyalty to friends. Bad point: vulnerable to separation or sorrow through death of friends.
TWELFTH HOUSE (House of Secrets, Sorrows, and Self-Undoing)
SUN in (Planet of vitality and individuality): You like privacy and quiet and the joys of meditation and reflection. You may be reticent or have difficulty expressing yourself and are close to only a few people. Success comes later in life rather than earlier. Good point: a deep spiritual understanding. Bad point: you tend to lead a secluded or lonely life.
MOON in (Planet of emotions and instincts): You are sensitive, receptive, and intuitive toward other people. Too easily hurt, you hide your real feelings. Often you need to get away to restore yourself, think, and meditate. Good point: a creative imagination. Bad point: often insecure; possible disappointment comes through mother or family.
MERCURY in (Planet of the mind): You tend to be a contemplative, self-absorbed, insightful thinker who works things out for yourself, alone or in secret. You worry over trifles and inconsequentials, and may be very shy. Good point: an instinctive researcher or investigator. Bad point: vulnerable to slander.
VENUS in (Planet of love and pleasure): Emotional and sensitive, you are capable of giving true and selfless love. You are most content when leading a private and secluded life. There is the possibility of a secret love affair. Good point: artistic and creative urges. Bad point: danger of an unhappy marriage or sexual alliance.
MARS in (Planet of energy and assertiveness): You keep your deep and vehement feelings secret from the world. You have strong intuitive powers that can be used to advantage in personal relationships. Your sexual nature is intense but repressed. Good point: active imagination. Bad point: danger from secret enemies.
JUPITER in (Planet of luck and expansion): You lean toward the spiritual or have an uplifting religious or philosophical faith. Your success in work helps or benefits others, and you are most attracted to medicine or social work. You also have a gift for producing inspired thoughts in seclusion. Good point: a compassionate and charitable nature. Bad point: impractical; you rely on others too much.
SATURN in (Planet of discipline and limitation): You are reserved, somewhat solitary or reclusive. You place limitations on yourself because of cautiousness or fear. You find it hard to share your feelings with others and may carry a secret sorrow with you. Good point: successful when working alone and in seclusion. Bad point: possibility of loneliness or isolation later in life.
URANUS in (Planet of change and originality): You are very intuitive, perhaps psychic, and are attracted to unusual beliefs in religion or metaphysics. Your need to be independent in thought fights against limitations placed on you by others. During one period in your life you may spend time alone in foreign countries or strange places. Good point: you are humanitarian and compassionate. Bad point: you are subject to sudden and unexpected adversities.
NEPTUNE in (Planet of spirituality and illusion): You are deep and sensitive and likely to possess a strong artistic bent. You prefer to work and live in a quiet atmosphere where you can create or meditate. There may be a mysterious or otherworldly quality to your personality. Good point: kind and helpful toward others. Bad point: afraid of life or harsh experiences.
PLUTO in (Planet of transformation): You have a compelling desire to understand, to see deeply into philosophical questions. There may be a secret sex involvement in your life. You are a private person and do not share your emotions easily. Good point: profound imagination. Bad point: may hide feelings of anger or resentment.
picture of yourself. Begin with your own horoscope (yours is the most fascinating). Shortly you’ll amass a good deal of detailed information about your strengths and talents, your likes, weaknesses, needs, and hidden agendas.
Throughout this chapter, I illustrate each exercise with a Sample Chart. For this Sample Chart, I chose the horoscope of Oprah Winfrey, the charismatic talk show host and media super-celebrity who has touched an extraordinary chord with the public.
What Is a Birth Chart?
* * *
JUST AS YOUR FINGERPRINTS, blood type, and genetic code were all set at the moment of your birth and all comprise a picture of you, so your birth chart was imprinted at the time of your birth and is a composite portrait of you.
What is a birth chart? It is a diagram of the zodiac at the moment you were born. As explained earlier, you can think of it as a pictograph of you as a newborn baby, lying on the circle of Earth, looking all around you at the sky bubble that surrounds you.
Nowadays a horoscope is drawn as a circle, though in old astrology books you will find horoscopes in the shape of a square. The circle is far easier to use and clearer to see at a glance.
Every horoscope is divided into twelve parts, like a pie cut into twelve pieces:
Each of the twelve segments in a horoscope represents one of the houses of astrology, which were described in the previous chapter. The lines (which look like the spokes of the wheel) are known as the cusps of the houses. A cusp is the point at which a house begins.
The houses of a horoscope always follow the same pattern. The First House begins at the “nine o’clock” position. The houses then go counterclockwise around the wheel of the horoscope. The Second House begins at the eight o’clock position. The Third House begins at the seven o’clock position, and so on through the twelve houses. Here is what the houses look like pictured in a horoscope:
Generally, charts use symbols rather than words. If you are looking at a chart produced by a computer, you will see that the signs, planets and aspects are indicated in symbols. The symbols (called glyphs) for each zodiac sign are:
The symbols for each planet are:
Oprah Winfrey’s Birth Chart
* * *
Oprah Winfrey
Born January 29,1954, at 4:30 a.m. Central Standard Time, in Kosciusko, Mississippi
Latitude 33'03" North, Longitude 89'35" West
Ascendant is 29 Sagittarius
* * *
The Sun is in 9° Aquarius in the Second House
The Moon is in 4° Sagittarius in the Eleventh House
Mercury is in 19° Aquarius in the Second House
Venus is in 8° Aquarius in the Second House
Mars is in 23° Scorpio in the Eleventh House
Jupiter is in 16° Gemini Retrograde in the Sixth House
Saturn is in 9° Scorpio in the Tenth House
Uranus is in 20° Cancer Retrograde in the Seventh House
Neptune is in 26° Libra Retrograde in the Tenth House
Pluto is in 24° Leo Retrograde in the Eighth House
Interpretation
* * *
NOW YOU HAVE your computer birth chart. What next?
You will notice that a chart is made up of three components: Planets, Signs, and Houses. These are the three tools of a chart. Planets are the forces that act. Signs represent how the planets act. Houses represent where the planets act.
To begin your interpretation, make a list of your planets, signs, and houses. List your Sun, Moon, and planets in one column called Planets,* the signs in which they are found in a second column called In What Sign, and the houses in which they are found in a third column called In What House.
At this point, you will find it useful to go back into chapter 8, “The Houses of Astrology,” and read the description for each of your planets now that you know in which houses they belong.
For example, Oprah Winfrey has the Sun in her Second House. On page 303, we will read she needs security and attracts money that can go in and out of her life quickly. She gains through influential people, and her possessions tend to increase in value. She is generous, has great strength and persistence, but can be possessive and ostentatious. As you read through the descriptions for the planets in your particular houses, you should jot down some keywords next to the houses in the third column. For example, in Oprah’s birth chart I would write down the following:
When you have finished going through all ten planets in their houses and made your notes, turn to chapter 7, “You and the Planets,” and read the descriptions for the planets in the various signs that apply to you. This time, you should jot down notes in the second column. For example, in the above entry I would write the following:
Go through this process for each of the ten planets in your chart, making notes in both the Signs column and the Houses column. When you are finished, look down your list. You will see that you have various pieces of information. You can put together these pieces of information to form an accurate description of the person.
This is the beginning of the fine art of synthesis—of learning how to interpret a chart. It is not only fun but also will sharpen your observation of other people as well as your insights into yourself. The more you do it, the better you will become at it.
Sample Chart
* * *
In Oprah Winfrey’s birth chart, the list of Planets, Signs, and Houses would look something like this:
Ascendant in Sagittarius
* * *
Needs independence and freedom. Cannot bear to be stifled. Is progressive, restless in spirit, ready to accept new challenges. A humanitarian and idealist who cares deeply about injustice. A knack for making friends. Open to new ideas and enjoys exchange of opinions. Honest, frank, impulsive, self-indulgent (food, money), and can make wrong choices in love.
The most prominent theme in Oprah’s birth chart is the power to achieve. Again and again, her planets and their placements speak of persistence, drive, determination, and making the most of opportunity. Certainly, she has needed this in a life that reads like a soap opera. She is black, a female, an illegitimate child born in extreme poverty in an area of the United States known for its racism and segregation. In earliest childhood Oprah was raised by her maternal grandmother (who took in laundry) on a farm that had no indoor plumbing. As a child she had no shoes or toys, no TV, telephone or store-bought clothes, and only the food that was grown on the farm. Yet she has become one of the most wealthy, influential, instantly recognizable women in the world.
Oprah’s Sun sign is Aquarius, and she has Mercury and Venus also in Aquarius with Venus in almost exact conjunction to her Sun. Thus the Aquarian qualities of reaching out to a larger life, a belief in learning and ideas, and having humanitarian ideals are triply emphasized. Her Sun-Venus conjunction shows enormous likeability—Oprah has warmth and genuineness, and seems to speak from the heart. Aquarius is noted for intellectualism, evident in everything Oprah has done in her career in TV, film, magazines and the media. Yet Venus being joined to her Sun says that love is a strong theme—her love of learning, finding out about people, her humanitarian efforts, her love of performing, and especially the way her audiences love her.
She does have Mercury (planet of communication and thinking-processes) in Aquarius, which denotes an independent, inquiring mind, someone interested in a wide range of subjects and who is a brilliant communicator. Her love of ideas and gift for communicating are also underlined by Jupiter (planet of luck and blessings) in Gemini, the sign of communication. As a very young child Oprah was taught to read by her grandmother, and Oprah has said books became the most profound influence in her life. “When I didn’t have friends I had books, and books opened a window to a world full of possibilities”—a statement that embodies her Moon in Sagittarius (the sign of possibilities) and her expansive Jupiter in Gemini (the sign of writing and ideas). By the time she was three, Oprah was memorizing and performing dramatic readings in front of the congregation in her church; the church ladies called her the “talkingest child” and a “champion speaker.”
Oprah has been successful in numerous career venues—TV, movies, book and magazine publishing, theater—but all of them revolve around communication. From her start as a talk-show host in 1984 in Chicago, Oprah’s shows have won a phenomenal following; currently The Oprah Winfrey Show is seen in 122 countries. Oprah’s Book Club has become one of the most powerful tools in the world to promulgate reading, not to mention create overnight bestsellers. In 2000 Oprah launched a magazine, called O, which (like her other projects in the field of communication) became an immediate and huge success. The magazine concentrates on inspirational and self-help articles designed, in Oprah’s words, “to help readers live their best life” (Sun in Aquarius, Moon in Sagittarius). Some critics have called Oprah—and her TV show and magazine—preachy, self-indulgent, New Agey, and egotistic. Interestingly, these are some of the negative qualities of Aquarius (where Oprah has her Sun, Mercury, and Venus).
From the beginning, Oprah’s upward climb and the “finding of herself” can be traced to her love of communicating. It also helps that she has benefited from others’ opening a door, a chance to try, and especially a willingness to leap into the lion’s den of situations she knew nothing about. When she was in high school she joined the debating team, made the honor list, was elected president of the student body, appeared in school plays, was a prominent speaker in her church. In her senior year, she was voted Most Popular and won a scholarship to college. She also snagged a part-time job reading news stories on a small local radio. This, in turn, lead to her doing a five-minute spot on TV when she was a sophomore in college.
Her career is marked by a pattern in which she was recognized as a natural on air and offered opportunities (first as a newscaster, then as interviewer) that she snatched up and made good at. Step by extraordinary step, Oprah would find her niche and turn a small success into a bigger one. The Saturn-in-Scorpio themes of persistence, jumping into a scary place, not giving up, are repeated. In those early years she was described as a “warm, bubbly personality who could get people to open up” and a “universal w
oman” (apt descriptions for the Sun, Mercury and Venus in Aquarius, Jupiter in Gemini, an Ascendant and Moon in Sagittarius, and Neptune in Libra in the 10th House).
One of the most interesting parts of a chart is the “dark side”—and another theme in Oprah’s horoscope is struggle, pain, separation, and death (in both a literal and figurative manner). Pluto (planet of darkness and transition, as well as power and profound experiences) is in her Eighth House of Sex, Death (or death-like experiences), Endings and Rebirthing. Oprah has spoken of the sexual abuse she suffered starting when she was nine. The abuse, by an older male cousin and later an uncle, went on for years, and Oprah hid this terrible secret. When she was 14 Oprah became pregnant, a fact she hid from her father and his wife, and gave birth to a premature baby who died two weeks later (Saturn in Scorpio, Pluto in the 8th House). In her teens, Oprah took a self-destructive path of sexual promiscuity, experimentation with drugs, lying, running away from home. Her mother was about to place her in a home for wayward girls, but the home had no immediate room for her. Oprah remembers thinking at the time, “I am a smart girl. How did I get here?” She was sent back to live with her father, and at that point Oprah’s essential belief in herself (Sun in Aquarius), and her determination (Mars and Saturn in Scorpio), took hold and she turned her young life around.
The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need Page 38