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January 17th, 2011
Looking Up
Good morning,
Yesterday was a holiday here in the U.S. and I completely forgot to send out the newsletter... so it's really Tuesday the 18th, but for most of us it is a rather Monday'ish day, isn't it?
As many of you may have read, there is an uproar in the astrology community about a possible 13th zodiac sign. I have received quite a few requests lately from people wanting to know what it all means.
My short answer: It's nothing. Ignore it.
My long answer: There are different forms of astrology. The one used in India and eastern cultures is the one they are talking about. The one typically used here in the U.S. and in other western cultures is not affected by it. We don't really care if the zodiac signs are still aligned with the constellations they were named after. We don't claim that the constellations affect your life, just the planets within our solar system. The naming of territories they pass through, is not all that important. The zodiac signs are defined more by seasons and equinoxes rather than by constellations. The constellations happened to be in those various locations back when they were naming them, but the constellations have moved on, so to speak... and we never bothered to change their names. You could just as easily rename all 12 zodiac signs...
Aries could be renamed Spring Begins
Taurus could be renamed Spring Continues
Gemini could be renamed Spring Ends
Cancer could be renamed Summer Begins
Leo could be renamed Summer Continues
Virgo could be renamed Summer Ends
Libra could be renamed Autumn Begins
Scorpio could be renamed Autumn Continues
Sagittarius could be renamed Autumn Ends
Capricorn could be renamed Winter Begins
Aquarius could be renamed Winter Continues
Pisces could be renamed Winter Ends
Zodiac signs that begin seasons are called Cardinal Signs... meaning they start new things, launch beginnings, enjoy creating change, and like to rearrange the furniture just to get a fresh new feel.
Zodiac signs that continue seasons are called Fixed Signs... meaning they like the status quo, don't like change, are stubborn and set in their ways, and get annoyed at those of us that keep rearranging the furniture.
Zodiac signs that end seasons are called Mutable Signs... meaning they like to tear down what is no longer working, are easily bored, don't like getting stuck in a rut, they see what has become useless, and they tell us that the furniture is ugly and ought to be thrown out. ;)
Throwing in a 13th zodiac sign would really screw up the natural patterns and comforting rhythms of our style of astrology. There's just no room for it and Scorpios are not going to be okay with their month of time being dropped down to less than a week. It was bad enough that their ruling planet, Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet. I don't think we want to downgrade their allotted time on the zodiac wheel too. It's just not going to happen.
Our style of astrology is seasonal/equinox based, not constellation based. Yes, the "personalities" that the constellations were named after match the "personalities" of the zodiac signs, but that is just because they are classic archetype labels that everyone can comprehend.
I hope my ramblings have helped to clear things up for you.
take care,
Skye Thomas
Tomorrow's Edge
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life coaching, & horoscopes.
This Week's News of Interest:
The new February horoscopes are on schedule to be sent out to the subscribers and posted to the website later this week (Thursday or Friday).
Here are the links for those of you who like to read the horoscopes online...
Aries February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Taurus February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Gemini February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Cancer February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Leo February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Virgo February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Libra February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Scorpio February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Sagittarius February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Capricorn February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Aquarius February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Pisces February 2011 Monthly Horoscopes
Here are links to the free 2011 Overviews. Personalized versions are also available.
Taurus Horoscope 2011 Overview
Gemini Horoscope 2011 Overview
Cancer Horoscope 2011 Overview
Scorpio Horoscope 2011 Overview
Sagittarius Horoscope 2011 Overview
Capricorn Horoscope 2011 Overview
Aquarius Horoscope 2011 Overview
Pisces Horoscope 2011 Overview
Quote of the Week:
An unfailing experience of mundane events in harmony with the changes occurring in
the heavens, has instructed and compelled my unwilling belief. -
We need not feel ashamed of flirting with the zodiac. The zodiac is well worth flirting
with. -
Astrology is a language. If you understand this language, the sky speaks to you.
-
Feature Article of the Week:
Why Do You Ask for the Time of Birth
to Create My Personalized Horoscope?
Everyone has an astrological natal chart. This is a picture of the sky directly over you at the moment you were born. It never changes. When creating a personalized forecast, we look at where the planets are today and how they relate to the planets' original placement in your unique birth chart. We also look at your overall personality according to your natal chart and predict how someone with your natal chart would most likely respond to the events that are unfolding in your life. When creating a compatibility report, we compare your chart and the other person's chart to see what elements of your charts are compatible and which ones would likely clash. To understand how your time of birth plays into this, we will start with an analogy.
Imagine that an astrology chart is a clock with ten hands spinning around. In essence,
astrological forecasting is simply reading someone's ten-
Your chart has two circles; one is bigger than the other. When stacked on top of
each other, the bigger circle peaks out around the edges of the smaller circle. The
outer circle is cut into twelve equal sized sections. Each of those sections is
named after one of the constellations. They are always in the same order as they
occur in the seasons, they never shuffle or get mixed up. Aries (begin spring),
Taurus (mid-
The inner circle is also cut into twelve sections. However, it is more like a pizza that sometimes has wide slices and sometimes has narrow slices. The slices that are on opposing sides are always the same width. So if section 1 is narrow, so is section 7 directly across from it. If section 2 is wide, then so is section 8. The opposite sides always mirror each other. The twelve sections within the inner circle are called "houses" and they each govern over certain aspects of our lives.
Different charts have different sized houses. Some people have houses that are mostly equal in size and others have a couple of really large houses and a lot of really tiny houses. All this means is that planets have more time to affect certain areas of your life and less time to affect others. A big money house does not mean you will have a lot of money, just that planets have more time to make good and bad things happen to your money. The planets are displayed inside the inner circle's houses. Therefore, we could say things like "She has Mercury in the second house." Or "He has a tenth house sun." Having a lot of planets in one house does not bless or curse that house. It just means that you will put a lot of importance on the topics governed by that house.
Next, imagine that someone anchors these circles together by poking a pin through the middle of both circles that will allow both wheels to spin around independently of each other, but without actually separating from each other. You can move the outer wheel's zodiac signs to match up with the various houses. For example, you could spin them around so that Aries lines up with the third house or so that Taurus is halfway across the seventh house and halfway into the eighth house. Now when we read someone's chart we can say things like "She has Mercury in second house Virgo." Or "He has his sun in tenth house Leo." The inner circle tells us which house the planet is in and the outer circle tells us which zodiac sign it is in.
When we create a birth chart, the date and location help us decide where the planets are and tells us how the zodiac signs and the planets line up. What we do not know is where the houses are. A chart without a birth time is as if someone threw away the inner circle and just sprinkled the planets on the bigger wheel with the zodiac signs. This is what you would call a solar chart rather than a natal chart.
In a solar chart, we will put your sun sign in the first house. Therefore, if you know from your birthday that you are a Virgo, then we would spin the inner circle around so that Virgo (from the outer circle) is in the spot where someone's first house belongs. Then Libra would naturally fall into the second house, Scorpio into the third, Sagittarius into the fourth etc. When you read a generic sun sign forecast, this is what they are using to make the predictions. It can be accurate in a generic sense, but it is not detailed and personally accurate, because we do not know where your houses really are supposed to be. When we use solar charts for compatibility purposes, we can tell you if you have similar or different spending habits, but we cannot tell you which financial topics you will argue about.
For example, let us say that the solar charts show that he is going to be fiscally conservative and she is going to be fiscally irresponsible. In a solar chart compatibility reading, we can only tell you that much. But if we had the birth times and the real house placements then we could tell you that his fiscal conservatism is in the areas of his chart where gambling is. And her natal chart shows that her fiscal irresponsibility is in the extended family areas of her chart. Now it is easier to warn the couple that she may be tempted to give away money to her siblings or that she is extremely generous with her family during birthdays, weddings, and holidays. And that he is not likely to be one to gamble or to take undo risks with his money. They still could have some occasional money debates, but they at least know when and where it is likely to show up. This makes it easier for them to judge their levels of compatibility. They could decide that their financial differences are not necessarily a deal breaker after all.
What the birth time tells us is where the "horizon" is in your personal picture of the sky at the moment of your birth. The "horizon" in a normal clock is at that invisible line that goes across the face of the clock passing through the numbers 9 and 3. The birth time tells us where that same line is on your personal clock/chart. The spot where the number 9 is on a normal clock is where the Rising Sign (the horizon of your chart) is placed on your natal chart. By giving an astrologer your birth time, you are in essence telling them which way is up when they hang your clock on the wall. It is also like telling us which way is north when we are trying to read your personal map. Someone with an Aries Rising will have the outer wheel/zodiac sign Aries sitting over the spot where the number 9 would be on a normal clock. However, someone with a Scorpio Rising would have their clock hang on the wall so that Scorpio was at the 9 spot.
In compatibility reports, the comparison of Rising Signs is the comparisons of the outer image, outer personality, and the face they show the world that may not match who they are on the inside. If your sun sign and your rising sign are the same, then you are a "what you see is what you get" type person, but if your sun sign and rising sign clash, people may have a hard time being able to figure you out. Sometimes we have a couple that have compatible sun signs. At their core, they really connect and love the other person's inner self. However, their Rising Signs could clash and so how they behave rubs each other the wrong way. This creates those situations where deep down you love the other person, but you just cannot stand the way they conduct themselves. Without the birth time we cannot analyze this part of the relationship. Is one person an extroverted party animal and the other is an introverted bookworm? They might even have the same sun signs and therefore the same values and view of the world, but they express it so differently that they are incompatible.
The Rising Sign (9 spot on a normal clock) is where the first house begins, followed by the beginning of the second house approximately where the 8 would be, the beginning of the third house where the 7 would be, etc. The houses are numbered in a counterclockwise direction beginning at the Rising Sign (9 spot on a normal clock) and ending at the 10 spot. The birth time tells us exactly where the houses start. When creating a personalized forecast, the astrologer now knows not only whether or not you have good news or bad news coming, but they also know where it is likely to show up in your life. Rather than just telling you that you are going to have "trust issues", we could tell you that these issues will show up in your professional life not in your love life. Rather than just telling you that you will be "more seductive", we could tell you that it lands in your sales, business contracts, and communications house. That is very different from being "more seductive" in your romance and personal pleasure house.
What if you do not know your birth time? It is usually on your birth certificate. Sometimes mothers will remember it and be able to tell us. If however, she only has a rough memory that it was in the morning, then we figure out which zodiac signs were passing through that morning and make our best guess. We base it on your outer personality and by asking questions like, "Are you more likely to get angry about financial issues or about someone not understanding what you are trying to say?" Or we could ask something like "Do you have more fun traveling and exploring life's adventures or climbing the Ladder of Success?" These kinds of questions help us to narrow down which houses we think your planets are landing in. I think of it as "reverse engineering" your time of birth.
Having the birth time and therefore the Rising Sign and house placements gives us a lot more information for making predictions. Solar charts (without birth times) give us the big picture, major trends, and generational influences. Natal charts (with birth times) give us the details, the fine print, and how specific events, issues, personality traits, and blessings are likely to show up. A solar chart tells us what your anger style is. A natal chart tells us what sets you off. A solar chart tells us money is coming your way. A natal chart tells us whether you are putting in overtime at work or buying a winning lottery ticket. Natal charts are always better
Need someone to talk to about life's challenges? Skye Thomas is available for life coaching.
Copyright 2008, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge
Tomorrow's Edge
...inspiring leaps of faith
Books, articles, newsletters,
life coaching, & horoscopes.
Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow’s Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps
of faith. She became a writer in 1999 after twenty years of studying personal growth,
motivation, soulmates, self-
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