A glorious voice

Sometimes charts show us very simple and profound things right away upon initial study. I think we've got one such chart here. It’s the natal chart of the late Whitney Houston.  She was born Aug 9 1963, at 8:55 pm in Newark, NJ (40N44, 74W10). 08 Pisces is rising.

What was Whitney Houston best known for?  Silly question, I know.  Yes, her voice!  Surely hers was one of the great singing voices to have graced the Earth.

Pisces is rising, making Jupiter Lord Ascendant. Jupiter is at 19 Aries, with Moon closely conjunct at 17 Aries. Jup is “me” and Moon is also “me,” as one of the two lights, and they are joined together.

Take a moment to calculate Jupiter's antiscion. Where does it fall in the chart? At 10 Virgo, exactly conjunct natal Mercury! Of course, antiscion Moon is also very close by at 12 Virgo. Here we have a picture of two key planets closely tied in to Mercury, natural ruler of the voice.

What kind of a voice is it? Mercury is in Virgo, which it rules and where it is exalted: very strongly dignified. It is loud-voiced, being in one of three such signs. It is also on Zosma, a fixed star in the constellation of the Lion. What kind of a voice does a lion have?  A very powerful one that commands attention!

So the chart gives us the picture of a powerful, dignified voice closely tied in with the singer's very identity.  Isn't that amazing?

Here is a link to one of Whitney's greatest hits.  I suggest you ignore the video, turn up the volume, and simply listen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrUqQktzBYg&feature=related

Added on 8/2/12:  Here is the Lioness singing the American National Anthem at the Super Bowl in 1991.  Magnificent!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=eS4v431Mlak&NR=1

If I knew then what I know now

I was looking back at some previous posts the other day and had to cringe a little at my own errors. Some of these can be attributed to my venturing into areas of astrology that I wasn’t trained in at the time. Hence, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Others include some vestiges of modern astrology that I hadn’t yet weeded out of my thinking. Now that I’ve finished my formal natal training—and with the increased readership here lately—I feel a responsibility to correct them.

This is a blog and not a book, of course, so it’s easy to go back and edit. There are also a few posts that I will delete because they are event chart analyses, and these are entirely invalid. I have recently learned more about why this is so and hope to write a little about it soon.

I am also removing the five-part series “Irene and Bob” in order to rework the material, now that I know the correct way to do progressions, solar returns and lunar returns. Irene has given me permission to repost the material when I’m done. (Thanks, Irene!)

I always strive for high quality in my work, and will continue to do so in this blog as I deepen my knowledge with further study. The fun is just beginning!

"Will the Brewers make the playoffs?"

An avid Brewer’s baseball fan asked, “Will the Brewers make the playoffs?” May 24, 2012, 1:14 pm CDT, Milwaukee, WI. 13 Virgo rising.  The team was doing poorly at the time, much worse than hoped for after a strong 2011 season.

The querent strongly identifies with his team, so the Brewers get Lord 1, Mercury.

At first glance, we see Mercury at the very beginning of Gemini, one of its own signs—essentially strong. Mercury is also combust, just three degrees from the Sun and applying to it. In the tradition we are taught that the Sun combusting a planet in one of its own signs does not destroy, but enhances, more like a mutual reception. This should be a second sign of strength for the Brewers.

But my judgment of the question was, "No." In spite of Mercury's essential strength, I don't see anything leading me to think that the team will advance past the regular season.

I could be wrong; this is always possible. But as of this writing, the team is not looking any better than it did when this question was asked. So let's tease it out.

First, look at Mars sitting closely on top of the Asc. Mars is peregrine, so not a nice sort of Mars. At the time, a lot of players were injured. The chart could be telling us that the injuries (Mars) are adversely affecting the team (Asc).  Whether Mars signifies injuries or something else, it is an affliction nonetheless.

On its way through Gemini, Mercury will bump into the South Node. SN diminishes; not good for a team that aspires to the post-season. Here, the SN looks to me like a roadblock of sorts. Gemini signifies the rest of this season, so we do not look beyond it.

Even before reaching SN, Mercury will conjunct the Sun. I hadn't considered this initially, but could we see the Sun in its role as Lord 12, the team's self-undoing? This is plausible, but we'd need to check if the reality bears it out.  For example, are the team's own mistakes getting in the way of winning?  I am not following the team closely enough to know.

In the absence of anything shouting "Yes" to us in this chart, "No" is the more reasonable answer.  We'll look at this again come the end of September.

For more on sports forecast charts, see John Frawley's The Horary Textbook, 207-208.

POST SCRIPT on 10/4/12:  'And so it proved.'  The baseball season is officially over for the Brewers as of last night.  Although they rallied toward the end of the season, they did not make the playoffs.