Chart Reading: Step #3, Martha Stewart -- Moon by sign, house, aspects to ASC & MC.

Moongold,

I don't want to overlimit the discussion but as you have realised if we are not careful it can zoom off in all directions, so it might be better to look at Jupiter's role (apart from the link with the Moon) later on.

The Yod is an issue that I'd like to take up - though like Isthmus, I haven't come across it very often so I want to be a little circumspect. The You comprises two quincunxes (Moon / Mercury and Moon / Saturn) with the two planets at the base
(Mercury and Saturn) in sextile to each other.

The key to analysis lies in the quincunxes. This aspect involves planets of different Polarity, element and modality. Sagitarrius is Yang (positive) Mutable Fire, Cancer is Yin (negative) Cardinal Water and Taurus is Yin (negative) Fixed Earth.

The ususal view is that as planets involved in a quincunx have nothing in common if they are to 'get along' one must compromise in favour of the other. In a Yod adjustment to transits of the first quincunx (Saturn) come to quickly and adjustments to the second transit (Mercury) come to slowly. The aim is to find a balance between the two - usually denoted by the mid point of the sextile. Now if Jupiter had been about 12 degrees deeper into Gemini it would have been at that mid point and Jupiter's role in the chart would have been very important but in a real sense that's another story.

Some quincunxes actually do have things in common - for example Aries / Scorpio has Mars ruling both planets and Taurus / Libra has Venus ruling both planets. Traditional Astrology also makes use of where planets lie in relation to the solstice line between 0 degrees Cancer and 0 degrees Leo. Points equidistant, but either side of this line are called Antiscions or Antiscia - and it was treated as being similar to a trine or sextile. The oppositions of Antiscia are called Contrascia - and their effect is similar to an opposition or Square. Now in this chart the Saturn is Contrascion of the Moon. This could suggest a more direct way of letting go of the tension rather than the adjustment necessary through quincunx.

Quincunxes tend to be more mental than action - so the Yod is likely to manifest as frustration, that Martha cannot easily explain, especially as it focuses on the Moon (feelings and intuitive responses) and relate to her material possessions. Perhaps she is never satisfied or feels that there is still something wrong with her material security. She may also have phases where this frustration is strong and others where it is relatively weak. If the contrascion works this is also likely to show up as marriage difficulties or arguments which are more out in the open (at least for Martha).

I guess I'm sort of wondering since I wrote the above and remembered what other things had been written. how do we know what aspect of a person's chart predominates?

If we look at Martha's Sun in Fire/Leo/ and her Moon in Fire/Sagittarius it seems obvious doesn't it or is that the wrong way of reaching this conclusion?

And then we look at the Ascendant, which according to Arroyo, modifies the expression of the Solar energy. So the combination of Fire energy and Water depth existed in Martha? She expressed fire energy and beauty in the outside world but retreated into the cool dark waters of her soul in private for occasional respite? Maybe the intuitive understanding of the soul of American women came from these Scorpio caves? Or sometimes when the two combined was there steam .....and how did this manifest? Am I getting too fanciful?

The Moon semi-squaring Martha's Ascendant might activate these
Scorpio traits.

I have an image of some caves in NSW. The outside world is brightly lit, warm and glowing, with the loud calling of cicadas and other creatures of the heat. And not far inside the caves, one finds beautiful watery lakes, lit by man-made beacons of light strapped on to the walls. Light flickers into every corner, but oh....so delicately.....and, one feels, at the choice of this world's creator. Is Martha like this? I don't want to underestimate the influence of the Moon with Martha. She must have an internal world. This highly intelligent woman may have decided simply to keep it to herself.

Originally posted by Minderwiz Moongold,

I don't want to overlimit the discussion but as you have realised if we are not careful it can zoom off in all directions, so it might be better to look at Jupiter's role (apart from the link with the Moon) later on.

Click to expand...

I am really happy to wait, Minderwiz. Just wondering out loud and I need to be kept on track.

This is a great process. Thanks again.

Thanks Moongold,

Please remember to raise these issues when we hit Jupiter.

One other thing that I have been looking at, which really relates to the Moon is the Arabic Part of the Mother and there is also a Part of the Father. Both Parts are ruled by Saturn, so the experience of both is likely to have been of a restrictive atmosphere and indeed as Saturn can be rather malefic, a troubled or fearful atmosphere.

The Part of the Mother is calculated as ASC + Moon - Venus and is in the fourth House at 26 degrees 30 Aquarius - the Mother is seen as being the mainstay of the home and it is actually squared by its ruler Saturn (which also rules the Part of the Father) so this seems to be a further indicator of domestic problems between father and mother.

I survived

Hello list. I'm back from a weekend in the rain with 9,000 wet Boy Scouts, many of them being 11-year olds -- they are the most active, least attentive, memory deficient type of boy ever invented. I'm getting too old for sleeping in a gravel pit, in the rain, and chasing boys around all day. Anyone want to tell me when this ends?

Anyways, I've read through the listings once. It looks like everyone has been both busy and focused. That's good because the Moon in Martha's chart will prove to be important. When we found an imbalance of elements or of qualities in her chart, one of the ideas we discussed was "how might she compensate for the imbalance?" The same is true for the Moon -- a Moon that might be weak in some way will likely, as we move through life, find a way to be compensated for. You have started to explore and to discover those ways -- that's great.

At first it seemed hard for some of you to accept my comment about a "weak Moon" but now you see the value of that -- there are other subtle ways for the Moon's needs to come out. That is a tremendous stride forward in understanding both astrology and human nature ! ! ! Congratulations to you all.

I'll read this thread again and see if I can contribute anything to the fine overall thoughts offered here. Then, if there are few other thoughts we'll move on to the next step in a short period of time. Dave.

I have a Yod in my own chart so will be particularly interested in your ideas about this configuration.

Just a few lines before I get on my way today.

Yod is the Hebrew meaning for “blessed” and there seems to be an air of fate about it, often called the finger of god, or the finger of fate.

So the Moon in 2nd would show Martha’s ultimate challenge and goal in life, but this path would be made difficult by the two inconjunct planets.

Rather like a cross to bear, something that may never be actually resolved.
Gloria

Dave,

Glad you're back in one piece and not to dispirited!

As you say, the Moon is weak in this chart - we both arrived at this conclusion but for slightly different reasons - I don't really think that the reasoning matters that much, its the conclusion that does matter.

I think at the moment we are at a stage where we have identified the strong Fire and weak Water elements in her chart, we have seen the strongly placed Sun and weak Moon and we have said a little about the Ascendant.

Interestingly the Ascendant is Water. As Moongold says the Ascendant can modify the expression of Solar energy but it cannot alter it substantially. Initially Martha might appear to the world as a somewhat reserved, intense woman with some depth of feeling, However the strong Fire, especially strong Sun and Mars are there below the surface just waiting to burst forth. The 'hidden depths' of Martha are extremely fiery - Martha is a scorpion with sting ready to be unleashed.

If we take Mars as Ascendant ruler - as Mars has harmonious major aspects to Sun, Jupiter and MC and a harmonious minor to Venus. If we take Pluto as the ruler then it's only contacts are the conjunction with the Sun and a sextile to Uranus

The Ascendant point itself has a square to the Sun and sextle to Venus with a biquintile to Jupiter.

We haven't really said that much about how the Ascendant should be integrated into the reading - more about how Sun and Moon connect to it.

In a reading I would be doing myself the next step would be to look at the Ascendant and see if there's any additional information to add, then look at the remaining planets in order to see if there's any additional themes at work and then try to look at the issues that you've raised - how will/can any conflicts or weaknesses be handled.

Minderwiz, does the fact that the Ascendant is in Via Combusta mean anything here, or would that only apply to a Horary chart?
G.

Gloria,

My understanding, though its a bit foggy, is that planets are affected in the via combusta (roughly 15 Libra to 15 Scorpio) but not points - and the Ascendant is a point. As there are no planets in the via combusta I don't think we need to worry about it.

On your underlying point, my experience is that modern natal Astrologers do not use the concept - though it is used in horary still. As horary stems from a unified (in the sense that it applied to all branches) approach to Astrology, I would expect that classical natal judgements will have made use of it.

In this chart Pluto is less than 7 degrees from the Sun, so in Classical terms it is 'combust' - a form of debilitation. We could therefore tone down the effects of Pluto in the chart or alternatively treat Pluto as a malevolent planet that will hinder the Sun's expression or cause other problems. Again the use of combust planets in natal Astrology seems to have died out!

Thanks for that Minderwiz.
G.