Stage 3 Reading for Kalliope
For my Stage 3 topic areas, here are my priorities, and you can do what you will:
1. My biggest questions in life are always: "What should I DO with my life? What are my greatest talents? Where should I focus my energy? What should I pour myself into? What should I study? Where can I give the most? Where could I be the most successful?" All the annoyingly complicated questions that we all have.
So, I'm not sure where to find this in the chart (is it career related, or 9th house of higher learning and spirituality?), or even if Hellenistic astrology addresses these issues of vocation/calling.
1a/2. In a related question, I suppose I wonder if I will be successful enough at whatever this vocation is to be financially independent. I'm not sure how intertwined or separate these things are for your analysis.
3. Love life, I guess. Although I'm married and generally happy (and my husband is a wonderful, kind man), my idealistic, wild-child Venus is always wondering,
is this it? Where is my big, dramatic, passionate love story? Isn't that terrible!!?! But on the other hand, I suppose it would also be good to know if my currently happy, comfortable, and companionable life in this area will be continue (if I didn't just jinx it with my horrific statement above.
)
4. General health outlook.
Ah,
Life, the Universe and Everything then - I think the answer is still 42
I think I'll have a go at Number 1. I don't guarantee anything but it is a good area to look at and I've just finished reading Chris Brennan's latest paper
http://www.hellenisticastrology.com/the-planetary-joys.pdf
In which he argues that the earliest Hellenistic Astrologers used the horizon as a dividing line between the soul/psyche/mind/spiritual dimension and the physical body/world/physical incarnation. The latter is associated with fortune - things that befall us the former is associated with our expression of who we are, our mind, spirit and intellect.
The connection between the two 'worlds' is the horizon, and that runs through the first Whole Sign House. Thus the first House brings together our mind and spirit and our body too. It's our whole self. Each 'world' has its own Lot. For the Earthly world (and Brennan tries to demonstrate that the houses from 2 to 6 are linked to the Earth through Triplicity) it is the Lot of Fortune and for the World of Mind/Intellect/Spirit (houses 12 to 8) it is the Lot of Spirit.
So I'll try and use both Lots to tease out something about your spiritual side.
A word of warning here, I don't think the philosophers of the time saw the world in the same terms as the New Age thinkers see it now, nor particularly in the same way that the Indian Astrologers were to see it over the ensuing 2,000 years.
Your Lot of Fortune lies in Gemini, in the eighth Place - this was called 'Idle' by the early Hellenistic Astrologers because it does not connect to the Ascendant. It lies above the horizon in the world of 'Spirit' It's ruler is Mercury, who is in Scorpio - the first Place, or Ascendant. This is where Mercury is best - it's his 'Joy'.
Your Lot of Spirit is the reciprocal of the Lot of Fortune. That is for a night chart, it is
Ascendant + Moon - Sun
It goes from the out of sect Light to the in sect Light - the Light of the Time - it should therefore illuminate your mind and spirit. Your Lot of Spirit is placed in the fifth House. Although this is below the horizon, it is the House called 'Good Fortune' associated with Venus and it is in Pisces, her Exaltation and even better it is with Jupiter, it's ruler, who is in dignity. Jupiter is the planet that was associated with the eleventh Place, 'Good Spirit'. Both the Lot and Jupiter are in opposition to Good Spirit and the Lot of Spirit is square by sign to the Lot of Fortune.
There's something of a struggle here, which I think actually describes the question you asked - how do you express your soul and spirit, when it is not harmoniously placed, either with the hemisphere of the soul, and is in something of a conflict with the the Lot that expresses how things happen to you.
The good thing, is that if you turned the chart so that Gemini was on the horizon, you'd see the Lot of Spirit in the midheaven. Spirit dominates Fortune.
The two rulers, Jupiter and Mercury are in Trine Ithough Mercury is with Mars). According to Firmicus, this trine makes you clever, talented, supported by keen intelligence and able to bring your activities to a favourable conclusion. You should earn advancement by merit and get reward. You might also learn the secrets of the stars (Mercury is the ruler of Astrology). Firmicus does qualify this by saying the trine must come from good houses, but the first and the fifth certainly qualify for that.
Your problem is therefore not lack of ability but lack of a clear pupose to use that ability for.
Possible things that you could use your talents for:
The place of Good Fortune was originally associated with doing good works - that is in the physical world. So charity work might well be one option. This could be through administration/managerial roles (mentioned by Firmicus for the trine) or it could be through fundraising. Jupiter rules the second place, through Sagittarius. Remembering that Pisces is the tenth place from th Lot of Fortune, you could well make a career in a welfare related organisation
Charities are not the only means of doing good works but it's a start.
Now returning to that trine - Mercury also rules the eleventh place 'Good Spirit' and Mercury is configured to the house by sextile. The eleventh came to be associated with friends, possibly because friends were seen as people who we contact at the level of the soul - true friends. It's also associated with 'hopes' You don't have any direct release for these, as there are no planets in the eleventh, so hopes must rest with Mercury and mercurial activities - your intellect and mind.
The tenth place is Leo, again there are no planets placed in it but its ruler the Sun is in the second place, and as such is trine to it. So just as Mercury tines Good Spirit, the Sun trines the House of Action - the Culminating Pivot. Whilst there are no planets in the tenth, there is the Lot of Eros = now that is the Lot of Venus and has connections to relationships - voluntary associations and friendships. In modern terms Voluntary Associations tend to be involved in 'good works' so we are back to that placement of the Lot of Spirit.
The Last seemingly positive place in the World of the Spirit is the ninth House - the House of God. Yours is in Cancer, and contains Saturn in Detriment and Retrograde and is ruled by the Moon, which square Saturn. This is not a good aspect at all, and shows some risk to your health, possibly from overdoing things. Because it's above the horizon, the risk is probably to what we would now describe as your mental health - stress, depression, possibly fears or phobias. A good health regime, should keep them at bay and I would think the greatest risk would only occur if you moved abroad. Remember that the Moon is in the dominating position - put Saturn on the Ascendant, and the Moon would be tenth house - so the Moon should 'overcome' Saturn's influence. Also Jupiter from the Left and Mercury from the right cast their trines around Saturn, helping to insulate it from the Moon.
Once thing that would concern me, is that Venus rules the place of the 'Bad Spirit' this is the twelfth house and is the Joy of Saturn. Natal Venus is in the second place but under the beams of the Sun and is not at home in a Fire Sign. She is also in partile conjunction with the Lot of Nemesis (the Lot of Saturn). The negative side of Venus is rather like modern Neptune's connotations, or at least the less attractive connotations. I think that shows the outcome if you end up overdoing things and damage your health. It is not something you should ever treat as determined - it's a risk associated with not taking care of your health and the chart shows that you should be able to do just that. Indeed if you do it well, the risk will seem absurd.
Spiritually you have real potential to do positive things in the world, if you are motivated. You can do that through career, or through some form of voluntary work. Given that Spirit is ruled by Jupiter, you may well be tempted to overdo things, with a consequent risk to your health. So a good healthy regime should offset those those risks but don't lose sight of it. The Mercury/Jupiter trine offers much and the possibility to 'make a difference'. Mercury rules your Lot of Fortune, and in turn your health - make sure Mercury is not overwhelmed by Jupiter (it should not be, as Jupiter lies to its right and it is in the dominating position) and you manage your involvement in whatever you choose to do.
I'm not sure whether any of that comes near the mark or is useful but you did ask