Living with the Stars

  First of all, I'd like to present my apologia for not posting my solar eclipse report for the 29th March. The truth is my workload needed my total attention and priorities are what they are.  So, I aim to present all the information here, starting with the 29th March New Moon and also the Full Moon of the 13th April.  Also important is the number of planets that have gone direct or changed sign. I hope you will find this all very interesting.  The New Moon chart of the 29th March had a number of interesting placements. First of all, an Aries new moon is a fire moon, with its ruler Mars very prominently placed on the ascendant at 22 degrees of Cancer. We must remember that Mars had been backtracking through Cancer it its retrograde period and is now moving forwards. At 22 degrees it is conjunct the fixed star Pollux. This solar eclipse is only a partial one, which means it is not as powerful as a total eclipse. Still, eclipses in any form are not considered fortunat...

  This is just a short note to let you know that the blog post for the upcoming New Moon on the 29th March 2025 - also a solar eclipse - will be up after the weekend.  For those of you who know something about chart reading... I'm posting the chart below.  Cheers! 

  Finally, time to write a few words (hopefully more) about the solar eclipse of the 2nd October 2024. If my schedule this week was a description of the nature of this solar eclipse, then I might feel less perturbed for not having this blog post up in time. Between work, rehearsals for a concert, a funeral and a wake, there was hardly any time to look at the charts. In this blog post, I'll try to bring the essentials to your attention.  Solar eclipses come in families and like children, they are born, grow up and pass on. This family of solar eclipse (also called Saros Cycle) was born in 1718 CE and will end in 2962 AD. Work done by the esteemed astrologer Bernadette Brady informs us that the nature of this eclipse is one of separation and loss, so let's keep that in the background. She further describes this 'separation and loss'  (among other things of the same nature) as when we finish something and have to let it go; the feeling of having to go forward without that ...

    The New Moon on the 20th April occurs at 29degrees 50 minutes of Aries just before sunrise. This means that the Sun will be just below the horizon and not visible at that time. It is a hybrid eclipse. What does this mean?  In one calendar year, Earth usually experiences four to six eclipses. Most years we get two eclipses twice yearly as they usually come in pairs. Some years we have two pairs of three eclipses. Hybrid eclipses are not common and happen once every decade. For a more detailed explanation, apart from knowing that solar eclipses happen when the Moon blocks out the Sun's light, go to https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/hybrid-solar-eclipse.html (copy and right click to open in a new tab).  Eclipses are 'wild cards' which portend change, and depending on where they fall in your astrological chart, expect change to unfold, especially if they aspect a personal planet or one of the four angles of one's chart. Just to remind you, in days of old, the ...

  I realised this morning that this blog is actually one year old as of the 5th August 2021! In one year, I've posted a total of 41 articles, the most popular being my  post on the autumnal equinox of 2021. Just as we all have birth charts, so do 'things' and events. One thing astrologers like to do is to get the exact timing of events, for example, when a new government is sworn in, or when a child is born. My blog was born on the 5th August 2021 at 00:37, and its 'birth chart' is very revealing. Writing is usually ascribed to Mercury, as god of communication. According to the blog's birth chart, Mercury was in Leo, at the time, conjunct the Sun, and in the 4th house. Leo is a sign associated with creativity, and the 4th house has to do with the home; put it together, and you'd have the perfect description of expressing one's creative impulses from within the home, or, home would be the perfect environment to exchange ideas and information. Also, both V...

Fancy a party? Well, let's throw in a partial solar eclipse too! At 22:28 tonight, the Moon will partially eclipse the Sun at 10 degrees of Taurus, with Uranus close by at 14 degrees.    Last week, we linked this eclipse to Emanuel Macron, and although I wrote that the charts indicated some form of loss, he was returned to power in the presidential elections. Solar eclipses were seen by the ancients as dangerous times for leaders of kingdoms, when the king's life was threatened. The idea was that the king was the Sun, and if the Sun's light was being darkened, they so was the king's light (or life). In 1302 BC, Chinese royal astronomers predicted a solar eclipse would take place that would block out the sun's light for around six minutes, indicating the king's life was endangered. The death of Jesus Christ was reportedly accompanied by a total solar eclipse.  This eclipse occurs at 10 degrees of Taurus, and in astrological terms, anyone whose birthday is around ...

    There’s so much to say I honestly don’t know where to start. Firstly, you are probably aware of the two twinkling things in the sky (that’s Jupiter and Saturn). [i] Directly beneath, is the planet Venus (see photo: taken from Venus has been one to watch over the past few months. She seemed to be getting brighter and on the 3 rd December will reach maximum brilliance. [ii] This is something that the ancients would have noticed, especially around an eclipse, so let’s turn this into a story. The Sun, who represents the king in the sky narrative, is travelling through the sign of the centaur. (The story of Chiron is quite interesting, as it speaks of a half man, half horse who sacrificed himself to release Prometheus from his chains.) Sagittarius follows the sign of Scorpio, a sign associated with death and transmutation, so in this sign, perspectives are broadened and you are challenged to widen your horizons. This sign is ruled by Jupiter and in this sign has asso...