Reading for Nytebugg Part 1
I'm going to use the next posts to show how a reading will be carried out. Most tools and techniques will be on display. So if you intend to have a go at your own you can use this as something of a template.
The Question
Will I have have a meaningful romantic relationship in the next 6 months? By meaningful I mean something that isn't a casual fling but it doesn't have to be marriage either. A mutually interested type romantic relationship.
The question was clarified to show that there is no person directly concerned, though a possible friend might be involved and the six months is to establish a relationship but not necessarily to include setting up home together.
The Chart
The chart was cast for 9:14 am, Saturday 21 January and for my home location of Standish, Lancashire, UK. This was the time and place when I read Nytebugg's post above and confirmed my understanding of the question. Note that I could not have used Nytebugg's own location because Aeclectic does not give accurate times after the first hour.
The chart has 25 degrees Aquarius rising, So Saturn rules the Ascendant and signifies Nytebugg.
The question relates to a romantic relationship and here two possible houses might be relevant. The first is the fifth House, which is often referred to as ruling romance. The other is the Seventh house of partnerships and relationships. There are arguments for both - but I tend to agree with John Frawley, that questions such as this are primarily concerned with a relationship to another person and are therefore seventh house - the idea of Roimance and Romance as a generalised pursuit is fifth house.
The Descendant is in Leo, so the Sun rules the Seventh cusp. This makes the significators of the possible ‘partner’ the Sun. The next steps are to examine each of the significators in turn, see what their strengths and weaknesses are and what their interests are. Most importantly we need to see if there’s any connection between the two of them and how strong those connections are.
Assessing the querent’s significators
Saturn is positioned in the Seventh House, which is a good start. Remember here Saturn is a significators in the question so it’s position in the seventh is not a consideration before judgement. Indeed it shows that Nytebugg’s interest in a relationship is genuine. Saturn is not in the Sun’s sign of Leo, it’s actually in the last degree of Libra not far from the eighth house cusp. So how do we go about describing Nytebugg and her situation. To do this we make use of two concepts,
essential dignity and [accidental dignity[/i] The former says something about the querent and her inherent strengths and weaknesses in terms of the question. The latter gives us some indication of the situation she finds herself in, in relation to the question.
Essential dignity
Essential dignity comes from the significator’s sign placement, no matter which house it is. Saturn is in Libra, so what does that tell us? We look at the essential dignities in Libra, to find out about Saturn’s strengths or weaknesses. There are five of these. Rulership, Exaltation, Triplicity, Terms and Face (decan) in descending order of strength. As a rule of thumb for quick assessment, we score 5 for rulership, 4 for exaltation, 3 for Triplicity, 2 for terms and 1 for face. These are rough and ready guidelines but they are in widespread use, so software such as Morinus will give them to you. For a quick look at what each planet’s essential dignities are (assuming the chart is loaded) we can go to ‘Tables’ select ‘Almutens’ and then select ‘points’, or press F2
You will find Saturn as the first planet in the list and looking along the row, you will see that the first column is Saturn itself and it has ‘4+3’ in it. This tells us that Saturn is both the exaltation ruler and the Triplicity ruler of Libra. Looking further along we will see that Venus scores 5 (it’s the ruler of Libra), Mars scores 2 (Saturn is in the Terms of Mars) and Jupiter scores 1 (Saturn is in the Face of Jupiter). These latter two are also shown on the chart wheel if you look for Libra and Saturn's place at the end of the sign.
So Saturn scores highly in Libra. It has a total of 7 points, which shows that Nytebugg has considerable power in relation to the question – if she gets the opportunity (see accidental dignities below). Power here could come from looks, from personality, etc but she’s certainly not a weak candidate for a relationship at all. Frawley also uses the dignities to give some impression of what the querent is interested in. In this case Venus gives the major concern, followed by Saturn, and then possibly Mars and Jupiter. Venus is both a natural symbol of romance, and in tis chart has some involvement in the seventh (where Venus is interecepted) and in the Second which has Taurus on the cusp. So we have some link to the seventh but also possibly there might be some feelings about her own resources. Saturn is her own significators, so there’s some self interest here – not in a negative way but a concern for her own future. Saturn is at the end of Libra, so it’s condition is due to change – the future offers some challenge and possibly some concern.
Accidental dignity
Saturn’s accidental dignity comes from its position in the chart, relative to the Sun and from aspects it receives. A full list of the accidental dignities can be found here:
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/dig5.html
Saturn is in the seventh but as it’s a couple of signs from the Descendant, I would not really treat it as fully angular. Saturn is also Direct in motion – which is an accidental dignity, which Lilly scored at 4. So far Saturn also looks to be in a good situation, indicating that Nytebugg may well find herself in a situation where she can easily influence the outcome.
Saturn’s speed can be obtained from Morinus using the F11 key, or’ Tables, Speeds’. This shows that Saturn’s speed is just under 2 minutes per day, which is slow for Saturn – so quick action might not be possible, if required. This is the first debility we’ve met. However the rest is quite good. Saturn is Oriental – meaning that it is between the conjunction with the Sun and it’s opposition to the Sun. Lilly scores this as an accidental dignity. We can see this from the chart as the Sun has only just entered Aquarius, and is only just over 3 signs ahead of Saturn. Remember here that the Sun moves faster than Saturn so the Sun being ahead of Saturn indicates that the Sun is moving away from it. The distance of 3+ signs also means that Saturn is not too close to the Sun, so it also gains dignity by being free from Combustion and the Sun’s beams. Saturn too near to the Sun cannot be seen, and within a horary, I take that to mean that the the thing signified is out of sight or won’t be noticed. So being free from the beams/combustion means that a prospective suitor should easily see Nytebugg, she isn’t going to be overlooked!!
Lastly we look for any aspects to Saturn from either malefic or benefics Here we are looking for close applying aspects. In Horary applying aspects indicate things that are in the future, separating aspects things in the past. We also keep as far as possible to aspects that are in sign. So the separating opposition to Jupiter is not counted both because it is separating but also because it’s out of sign. The same holds for the separating square to the Sun, also out of sign. We will return to this aspect later.
So Nytebugg is strong both within herself (personality, looks, inherent nature) and also in a strong position to influence the outcome. However there are some possible concerns that things may change for the worse, and that in part underlies the question In the next post I’ll look at the possible suitor and what connection, if any there is between the two significators