We got such a great response to our new Wednesday format last week that we decided to do it again.
Here’s this week’s question:
What about your birth chart, if anything, makes you uncomfortable or scares you?
Just to help the get the discussion going, I’ll go first.
There are two patterns in my chart that are scary and that have made life quite difficult in a number of ways. First, I have a fixed T-square, with a debilitated Mars opposed to Neptune. Second, I have a very tight square between my Pisces Moon and Saturn in Sagittarius. Together, this is a recipe for low energy plus an unhappy childhood feeding into adult depression. Fortunately, I have found a way to deal with these issues, largely through astrology and Tarot, and they no longer rule my life. But they do demand constant vigilance and work.
OK, it’s your turn!
Meanwhile, Neith and I would like thank everyone who responded to last week’s question. We got some great answers, with the kind of details that help us collect information and become better astrologers.
Predictably, those of you with planets or chart angles in Aquarius and Leo felt the eclipses the most. Indeed, it packed quite a wallop for some of you (it did for that, that’s for sure!).
That said, some of you didn’t feel it, or you didn’t feel it as strongly as we would have expected, given your natal charts. To those people, I would say that these eclipses may deliver their “news” at the New Moon in Scorpio on October 28 or the Full Moon in Taurus on November 13. The degrees of these lunations will be square the degrees of the August 1 solar eclipse and the August 16 lunar eclipse, resulting in a release of energy not unlike what happens when two tectonic plates finally break free of each other, causing an earthquake.
I don’t say this to scare you, only to give you a heads up so that you can plan according. That, after all, is the whole point of predictive astrology.
Love and blessings,
Pat.
RealAstrologers 
For me, learning to manage a natal Mars in Scorpio square Pluto in Leo has been challenging because anger could escalate to all out rage so quickly. My Libra side prefers to handle things in a diplomatic fashion, so blowing away the opposition was not an option. Libra desires to be civilized and Mars square Pluto is anything but.
Pluto transits by conjunction over many years slowly taught me how to deal and I haven’t had the urge to slaughter those who disagree with me in a loooong time. :-)
Astrology was a life saver for me too because it offers a way to gain perspective.
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Saturn in the 5th – read some fairly scathing stuff about that in the book of one astrologer that is supposed to be respected (Isabel Hickey). Saturn overall. The pluto transit scared me silly ie the events that occured there … and I’m just awaiting his reworking over that degree with dread.
Empty houses and the fact that to me, at least, I’m not *that* Aquarian.
But most of all the fact that ewhen I look at my chart,it feelslike it is speaking to me in a language that is only a little bit understood and feels like a memory just out of reach, that one day,long ago,I knew this, understood this and yet now… I stand like a foreigner in a new city…. (and gosh where is all this deep stuff coming from today??!)
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It might be a good thing that I don’t know about my chart. Eric Francis was a bit harsh with those of us with our sun and moon in opposition. I have a pisces sun and virgo moon. Weirdly I married a taurus sun with a scorpio moon. But I think that my biggest worry is sag saturn in my 6th house which is squared to my venus and mars.
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My Libra side prefers to handle things in a diplomatic fashion, so blowing away the opposition was not an option.
Nice Libra. But sometimes the opposition needs to be blown away. I think there are certain circumstances in which Plutonian power is called for — well, OK, not a nuclear bomb or anything that destructive. But “nice” and “diplomatic” don’t get through to some people, who need to be hit over the head with a hammer. Mars and Pluto are both good for that.
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Mandy, there are few placements of Saturn that aren’t difficult in some way. That’s where our biggest insecurities and fears lie, so it’s natural to be scared. But as Neith writes in her excellent New Moon post, Saturn also gives us discipline to learn the hard lessons, and that helps us grow and mature.
Flip, a Sun-Moon opposition means that you were born during the Full Moon, and I think there are some statistics somewhere that show that babies often arrive at the Full Moon, same gravitational force that controls the tides. I can’t see how this would be a bad thing. Also, opposing signs are perfect complements, meaning that one has what the other lacks. I do see many clients with Sun-Moon square, which is hard to integrate.
Conversely, Saturn square Mars and Venus are tough aspects, and these need some work to come to terms with.
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I also have Saturn in the 5th, on the cusp, but it’s also square my Sun. Double-whammy. And Sun in Virgo, just to be more self-critical. Doesn’t sit well with a Leo Moon/Ascendant conjunct Uranus! The Sun and Moon are also inconjunct (30 degrees) and it’s always been hard to integrate those energies that are so different. (Although Saturn does trine that Moon…)
Meanwhile, nobody ever has anything good to say about Venus conjunct Pluto (mine are conjoined, with Merc a couple degrees away). I just saw this online: “One of the least understood factors in astrology is that there is no such thing as a good Pluto aspect; there is only a less bad one…” Excuse me? My personal philosophy is that there are drawbacks and gifts from all aspects. (BTW, I’m fond of Bil Tierney’s books on the outer planets – always has positive things to say along with the challenges.)
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Thank you for the insight. I appreciate it. I love learning about astrology
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Ooh. Definitely Sun Gemini sq Saturn (just out of sign in Leo rather than Virgo but definitely a square). Self doubt is a bugbear. Added to that a Virgo Ascendant quincunx (inconjunct?) Moon in Aries in 8th. One wants to rush in, the other applies the brakes.
However, the heavens have been fair. I have Jupiter trine Sun which (I sense) has been marvellously protective and ensures that I bounce back from the effects of the Saturn/Sun square. And I try to incorporate the discipline and perseverance of Saturn and work with him. The Virgo/Aries edginess isn’t so easy to synchronise.
I’m not complaining about it but I have a Mars (Taurus) sq Pluto in Leo, like Neith. Just the thought of getting outwardly angry is very threatening – I can be volcanic when I do – and have always thought that Pluto, who is about control, keeps my Mars tight under lock and key. Also, I find it almost impossible to be around angry people …..
Great post!
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Everyone knows bc I always complain about it. My Moon/Venus/Pluto t-square is a bitch and a half, especially because I don’t have a single good aspect to Venus. It’s absolutely hateful.
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My turn! Saturn in the first house, and Moon in Capricorn, and Sun in Scorpio, forming a yod with Saturn at the point. Before I came to astrology, I believed I was badly out of sync with other people: dark, gloomy and old before my time, and later on, lightning-flashes of Scorpionic intensity. I was labeled anti-social at one point. *eyeroll* The point is, astrology has taught me why I am the way I am. I can be more comfortable in my own skin and *know* why I react to things the way I do, and perhaps modify those reactions and change ingrained patterns that are unhelpful.
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My T-square with Saturn, Venus, and the Moon. I just feel doomed to nothing but hell when it comes to love or anything feminine.
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I have Neptune conjunct my Sun and Mars, and square my Moon. I have real trouble figuring out what I even want, picking one direction and going with it (I also have a very mutable chart). If anything, I’d trade in the Mars/Neptune conjunction. Pat, you said that you dealt with this through astrology and tarot but it still requires vigilance; could you explain more about how that has worked for you? So far it has also given me low energy and confused motivation, and I’m always trying to find ways for it to be a positive attribute instead. I’m into astrology and tarot as well…used to be really into Buddhist meditation. I can’t channel it into art, although I do some singing as a hobby.
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I’ve had to think about this. I don’t really dislike anything, but I think my Mercury-Pluto conjunction and my Venus-Neptune square are pretty incompatible with each other. Venus-Neptune wants to keep the rose-colored glasses on but Mercury-Pluto wants to be paranoid and dig for hidden details all the time.
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