See this as part of this week's newsletter.
Over at the blog, TMC points out that last week’s Tea Party chart is a bucket, with the south node, or rather, Saturn as the handle. Which brings up planetary patterns. Planetary patterns were first developed by Marc Edmund Jones and expanded upon by Stephanie Clement. You look at the overall arrangement of the planets in a chart to find various patterns, among them, Splay, Splash, Teeter-totter, Bundle, Bowl, Locomotive, etc.
The See-Saw, for example, is all or most of the planets in a chart forming two groups which are more or less opposed to each other. If you have a cluster of planets in Aries and Taurus, for example, with another cluster in Libra and Scorpio, you have a Teeter-Totter, aka Seesaw chart. Clement describes a Seesaw as,
[T]he two groups of planets polarize the energy so that the individual tends to swing from one general point of view to the other instead of experiencing the flows of energy through the pattern. In psychology, extreme mood swings are sometimes described as bipolar mood disorders, and the Seesaw pattern reflects a tendency toward such a split in a person’s energy. (Aspect Patterns, pg. 93)
This is from the second paragraph in the chapter on Seesaw (the first paragraph was a physical description of the Seesaw chart itself) and already we see the author reaching for a specific conclusions that are far in advance of what her generalized astrology can support. One of her Seesaw examples is the chart of Anwar Sadat, former Egyptian leader. As is often the case when working beyond one’s means, Clement’s delineation of Sadat’s chart tells us nothing whatever about the man himself. She instead projects her concepts and then searches Sadat’s life for an event to justify them.
When reading a chart, you have an enormous range of tools at your disposal. Here are just a few of them:
There are:
Specific planets.
Specific houses.
Specific signs.
Specific relationships between all of them.
Signs can be:
Cardinal, which is to say, active
Fixed, or unchanging
Mutable, or changeable
Signs can be:
Fire, which is to say, active
Earth, practical or slow
Air, impractical, or mental
Water, emotional, or sensitive.
Houses can be:
Angular, which is to say, prominent
Succeedent, which is to say accumulative
Cadent, which is to say, chaotic
Degree positions can be early (1-10), which is to say, young.
Middle,10-20, representing maturity.
Late, 20-30, which is to say, old and worn out. The very first and very last degrees of a sign (0-3, 27-30), which is to say, childish or senile, are especially critical in this regard.
Houses are not the same as signs. I don’t care if Robson himself said otherwise. Angular is not the same as cardinal, succeedent is not the same as fixed, cadent is not the same as mutable. Signs are qualities. Houses are drivers. A cardinal planet in a cadent house has a hard time punching its way out of a paper bag. Punching, an activity, is the cardinal planet. The paper bag represents the limitations of the cadent house.
A mutable sign, such as Pisces, on an angular house magnifies the instability of the mutable sign. Exactly what kind of instability will be determined by the nature of the sign, in particular, its element. Sagittarius on the ascendant will magnify its (mindless: opposite Gemini, fall of Mercury) fiery energy and boundless (Jupiter) enthusiasm, in the direction of and to the aims of the house of its ruler, wherever Jupiter may be.
Signs have rulers. They come as pairs. Libra is always dressed as Venus would have her. Leo always radiates the Sun. The planets in the houses they rule are of the nature of tenants in a rented house. The ruler always remains the landlord.
By contrast, houses DO NOT have de facto planetary rulers. Nor is any house associated with any particular sign. Houses are like slaves. They are like beasts of burden. No. 2 is a slave for money. No. 5 is a slave for romance and children. Houses must work with whatever planets and signs they are given. Which are their masters. Some masters are good, some are not, all are unique. Realize these subtleties and you will vastly enhance your delineations.
For example, if you have a chart with Sagittarius rising and the ruler of Sagittarius, which is Jupiter, if Jupiter turns up in, say, Cancer in the 8th, it will actively work (Cancer) to get lots (Jupiter) of money from others (8th house). As the chart ruler, this will be the reason for the individual’s existence, whole cloth. Everything else is detail.
Could this also be about sex? Well, yes, but that will depend on the condition of the Moon (ruler of the 8th) as well as of Mars, ruler of Aries on the 5th. Sex a lot more personal than money-grubbing. Sex is like a hot-house plant. It won’t grow just anywhere. And it could also be about death. Money, sex and death, all three are 8th house matters.
The house containing the ruler of the chart is the dominant house of the chart. In mundane matters, this particular chart, with Sagittarius rising, Jupiter in Cancer in the 8th, could turn up as the chart of an international (Sag rising) investment house, or as the opening gavel for a convention of undertakers. Or an international porn expo.
Mundane charts must be read according to the group which has claimed it. If there is an opportunity for close examination, you may find that undertakers can be quite sexy, that porn operators are well-known for luscious vampires, that very stuffy investors often consort with high class prostitutes (the best money can buy, baby!) and that in his short life Jack Kennedy, with a stellium in the 8th, had brushes with violent death (in WWII, and his ultimate demise) as well as with young starlets.
Further in your research, you will eventually come across ruling planets which are themselves in their debility. Which is to say, in one of the signs opposite to the ones in which they rule. One fine day you will be looking at such a chart, such as Bill Clinton’s, with a debilitated Saturn in Leo ruling his (otherwise empty) 5th house of adventurous and fun Aquarius. And you will suddenly realize why he is always caught out in his petty extramarital affairs: Saturn literally jumps across his chart, from its debility in the 11th, to its rulership in the 5th, and exposes him. Catches him with his pants down around his, well, ankles. Aquarius rules the ankles. I miss Bill, we all do. I want a leader who’s overtly lusty and fun. I want a guy with his head screwed on straight. Not moralistic and dour, or petty and evasive.
And having made this observation, of a debilitated planet jumping across the chart, you will then excitedly apply it to other charts. And to your amazement, find that it always works. Elsewhere I read that planets, in general, have effect in the houses that are opposite and square to their natal domicile (which is to say, where the planet is physically located, not the houses with the signs it rules), but I have never seen this to actually work. Debilitated planets work in the house opposite. It’s in the nature of the debility itself. Whereas planets in rulership or exaltation are self-centered. They ignore the rest of the world.
On top of all of this you have triplicities (10 degree sections of signs, see Anrias), as well as Terms and their rulers, but I’ve never seen a need for that much detail.
In sum, you have So Many Tools! But so many astrologers limit themselves to aspects and orbs, aspects and orbs, aspects and orbs. Astrologers have learned aspects to the exclusion of almost everything else. It is self-evident that aspects can give only fragmentary results. Most people don’t have a lot of aspects. Some people don’t even have their Sun and Moon in aspect. Does that mean they are primitive and undeveloped, or warped and demented? Of course not! Judging merely on the basis of aspects is to severely short-change the individual. Astrology is better than that!
Every chart, every individual, has 12 functioning signs, 12 functioning houses, and 10 planets and two nodes, which interact in many dynamic ways. Aspects do in fact highlight important details, but as these details are fragmentary at best, aspects usually miss all the important parts of a chart. As a result, too many astrologers are accustomed to a vague and incomplete astrology. They literally do not know any better. When real astrology is put in front of them, they can find it disorienting.
So let us return, again, to the Tea Party chart, of February 19, 2009. As you can see, above, it is the bucket sort. Of buckets, Clements says,
[T]he Bucket personality has a specific outlet—the handle planet. The nature of the handle planet and the house and sign it occupies will define the quality and direction of the individual’s structured, directed activity. The Bucket personality is driven to dig deeply into the area of life defined by the handle planet. Much energy is put into figuring out how to get the best results from focussed activity. (Aspect Patterns, pg. 68)
Which is a logical development of theory. Clement’s example chart is Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875, 11:50 pm, Kaysersberg, France). This is a chart with Libra rising, ruling planet Venus in Sagittarius in the 3rd. Which gives a love of adventure, frankly. It is in contrast to Sun, Mercury and IC all in dreadfully boring Capricorn, spurred on by an irritating Moon in Aries in exact square. Schweitzer started life as his father’s religious tool (the family had a long history of religion and music) but gave that up for adventures abroad: Chart ruler Venus in expansive Sagittarius in a very mobile 3rd house. Acting against his father’s express wishes, as shown by Sun in Capricorn in the 4th. That medicine was not his first career, that he had to struggle to become a doctor and go to Africa, is shown, quite clearly, by Jupiter’s remote position in the first house. Schweitzer’s Jupiter contradicts my usual delineation, of a planet outside the house with the same sign on the cusp.
In this case, Jupiter is in the first house, not trying to get into the second. The reason? Jupiter is barely 0 degrees of Scorpio. And while it’s as much a Scorpion as your newborn baby boy is a Smith (just like you), it is not nearly mature enough to know that it should want to be in the second. “Inertia,” if you will, still has it in the first. This is what I learned from this chart: That a planet at 0 degrees won’t necessarily associate with its proper house cusp. This bears investigation.
Once abroad in Africa, Schweitzer found his life’s work. The chart is clear: Jupiter in Scorpio (the sign of intensity), somewhat stranded in the first, slowly but powerfully acts through the sixth house of medicine and healing, which happens to have Pisces, ruled by Jupiter, on its cusp. Jupiter also rules Venus, the chart ruler. Here, Jupiter has equal power to bring 3rd house Venusian dreams (Sagittarius, travel) to reality.
Lacking these essential tools, Clement can only say,
If Pluto in the 8th house is viewed as the high-focus planet, then the emphasis of the pattern is more on transformation and less on philosophy. Because Pluto disposits Jupiter in Scorpio, Jupiter has a strong inclination toward the transformative nature within his personality, so the difference is not as dramatic as it would be if the dispositor relationship did not exist. (Aspect Patterns, pg. 73)
Which is a complete muddle. Pluto happens to be prominent, to Clement, because it is the trailing edge of the bucket. Clement bypasses a structural analysis presumably because her astrology is not strong enough to give her results she can actually use. Instead, she substitutes theory. Which results in strong inclinations. Which neither describes the man in front of us, nor gives us any useful means for our own work. To quote Robson, [t]here is too great a tendency nowadays to float about in a comfortable haze of so-called esotericism. The first need of Astrology is accuracy and definition, not pseudo-religious speculation. (Beginner’s Guide, pg. 113)
Dare to use the tools in front of you, and you will achieve the promise of astrology. So what can we find out about the Tea Party’s bucket chart? Let’s start at the beginning and see where we go:—
In Rick Santelli's Tea Party chart, the ruler of the first is Jupiter, in Aquarius, in the 12th house. The 12th can represent horses, Aquarius can represent rebellious groups, we could say the Tea Party concerns an abundance (Jupiter) of wild mustangs. Metaphorically speaking, we would not be far wrong, though physically we’d be in outer space.
In this chart, Jupiter in Aquarius in 12 is itself ruled by Saturn in Virgo in the 7th. When we trace rulerships from one planet to another, we are following a natural and logical progression. In a mundane chart, the 7th is our enemy, as it very often is in a natal chart as well. (Sex as a lubricant helps us to overlook that, though never quite forget it entirely.) So when we see the chart ruler’s ruler end up in the 7th, we know we have a dynamic chart, so to speak.
For its part, Saturn is ruled by Mercury, which is in the same sign as Jupiter. “Same sign” means “same party” or same group. Same sign also means same house. Saturn and Mercury are in mutual reception, which means the two planets are effectively conjunct and the two houses, 12th & 7th are effectively fused. As the two houses are in fact inconjunct, and as inconjuncts are aspects of invisibility (sorry to throw that at you), we can say the Tea Party is angry at things that it cannot quite get to grips with.
So, from a standing start (the Ascendant), rulerships have now led us both into the bucket, as well as directly to its handle. The Tea Party chart is therefore a bucket chart, with all rights, duties and privileges pertaining thereunto. Having gone about finding the bucket by backwards means, a guess is that it won’t turn out exactly as Clement would imagine.
Clement would have Saturn in Virgo in the 7th as the primary planet in the chart. Since Saturn has led us to Mercury, can we use our tools to determine which planet, Mercury or Saturn, is stronger?
While Saturn and Mercury are in mutual reception, which should make them more-or-less equal in strength, Mercury is exalted in Aquarius, whereas Saturn is merely stuck in Virgo. (In one set of terms, Saturn at 19 degrees Virgo is in its own terms. In another set of terms, it is not. To me, terms are one whole subset below rulers and exaltations. Which is to say, not on equal footing: Subtenants.)
With its exalted knowledge (of being superior, of course), Mercury in Aquarius can pounce on Saturn in Virgo, blaming it for the mess it’s making.
It’s useful to remember that Saturn is not always the stronger planet. Virgo is Mercury’s bailiwick, Virgo is Mercury’s responsibility. Mercury doesn’t take kindly to Saturn making a mess in its sign. On crude levels—and mundane astrology is always crude—Saturn makes a mess wherever he goes.
Saturn in Virgo is all about not being neat. Not being tidy. Not getting the job done. Not being on time, etc., etc. Or, in Santelli’s own words, not paying your bills, not keeping your house in order, and suffering the consequences. Astrological delineations must closely mirror the subject of the chart itself. As this does.
Backing up a bit, you could say that Pisces rising puts a spotlight on Jupiter in Aquarius in 12, who then passes the baton to Saturn in Virgo in 7, who throws it to Mercury in Aquarius in 12. All of which are straightforward rulerships. No hocus-pocus, no magic show, nothing up the sleeves. Mercury and Saturn then monopolize the game (i.e., the chart) by throwing the ball back and forth between themselves, shutting everyone else out. Mutual receptions tend to do this.
In this chart, as Mercury is the stronger of the two, it’s Mercury railing against Saturn, and Saturn who finds he cannot get out of the way and that he has no good reply. Mercury, the planet of words, is giving Saturn a good scolding. Which, again, was precisely what Santelli was doing. So far as buckets are concerned, in the Tea Party chart, the primary planets are Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury.
I do not mean to speak ill of Stephanie Clement. She has worked and studied very hard, for very many years. I can trace her as far back as the days she worked at Michael Erlewine’s Heart Center Library, in Big Rapids, MI (no web page). I feel like Thoreau, in Walden, who told a story of Indians and their baskets. Thoreau meant them no ill-will. He simply found it frustrating they had spent their time with baskets, when there were more interesting matters at hand.
Learn to use all the tools at your disposal and your astrology will go from crude sketches, to technicolor movies. Astrology is a powerful thing. I am accused of bias, and while this is true and unavoidable, it is also true that astrology describes the world as it is. Not how we imagine it to be. There are charts I cannot present because their delineations will contradict commonly-held beliefs and ideas. But this is the sheer terror of astrology, that it sees all and knows all. No one, no thing, can hide.
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