Gryphon Astrology Blog

If you think electional astrology has something to do with political elections, you are not alone. However, you are also wrong. Rather, electional astrology has to do with astrologically choosing just the right moment to do something for a desired result. Many people have the moment for the start of their weddings astrologically elected, with different purposes in mind. For example, someone may want a lasting marriage, another person may want lots of kids, a third person wants to dominate their spouse, etc. For each of these needs, the ideal horoscope would be different, of course. An important factor is that we have to take the natal horoscope into consideration when electing. If we see in the natal horoscope that the person is inclined to take a passive approach to life, we might want to construct a marriage horoscope to help them grow some backbone.

As you can probably imagine by now, electional astrology is pretty time-consuming, and hence, it can get expensive, depending on various factors. One important factor is that you have to analyze the natal horoscope before starting the electional process. This is why I always give my electional clients a cost estimate, so they do not get sticker shock later! But it is most definitely worth the cost, especially if you are starting a business or getting married, or undertaking another major venture.

Just to give you a taste of how electional astrology works, I elected a horoscope for cutting hair. The goal is to have the hair grow back very thick and lush, a veritable tropical jungle on your head (note: this would be a very bad time to wax your legs, for instance).

First, you can read on my website the rules for electing a horoscope for various needs, including the cutting of hair, as written by William Ramesey, a 17th-century astrologer.

You will notice we got rather lucky in being able to find a chart that satisfies Ramesey’s rules for the cutting of hair for thickness.

We have:

1. Ascendant in a fertile sign

2. Moon applying to oppose the Sun, so still increasing in light for an increase in hair

3. Ascendant and the Moon are free from the aspects of malefic planets

And we did Ramesey one better; Jupiter in Scorpio, a fertile sign, trines the ascendant, further increasing the hair growth. Jupiter is squared by a nasty Saturn, but we tucked Saturn away in a cadent house, so he is unable to do a lot of damage. This chart is set for New York, NY, and you have about a five-minute window on each side to start the haircut (elections are only for the start of the matter, not the entire haircut in 10 minutes).

If you happen to get your hair cut at this time as an experiment, let me know how your hair grew back. My email address is nina@gryphonastrology.com.

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Read Part I - Benedict XVI’s natal horoscope, and Part II - When Would Benedict Ascend the Throne?

It is now 2006, so Benedict’s profected Ascendant is the cusp of the natal 8th house. The house is ruled by Mars, which as we noted above, is an inherently well-functioning malefic. This means, as above, that it will be an overall good year, but one where success will come through strife. Mars is square Mercury in Pisces, which gives us a bit of an inverse picture of the previous year. Mercury is acting as a malefic here, and there are no other aspects to Mars that would redeem the situation. So we can expect difficulties through communication and speech, as Mercury rules those.

If we look at the profected third house of speech for 2006, we note that while the overall picture for the year is a positive one (very strong Jupiter in Pisces on the radical Ascendant rules the profected third, radical 10th house), we can expect some troubles, since the malefic South Node is in the 10th house.

When will these troubles manifest? When we have a malefic planet ruling the month in question. Counting one month per house from the radical 10^th (the 3^rd profected house for this year), we could expect difficulties in communication in the May-July time frame (both relevant houses are ruled by peregrine Saturn), September-November (both relevant houses ruled by detrimented/fallen Mercury, which is rather more difficult than Saturn), and January-February 2007 (house ruled by Mercury). Indeed, the controversial speech came in mid-September, right in the period shown by the radical third house ruled by Mercury.

Since the malefic Mercury is disposited by the very strong Jupiter in Pisces on the Ascendant, we would expect that the end of the whole affair will be a good one, despite its negative beginning. Perhaps this will be the beginning of true inter-religious discourse.

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Read Part I - Benedict XVI’s Natal Horoscope, and Part III - “Islam” Speech Furor in Benedict’s Horoscope

Now that we have determined that Benedict has the Papal office indicated in his natal horoscope (see Part I - Benedict XVI’s Natal Horoscope), we can actually get down to prediction. He became Pope on April 19, 2005, shortly after turning 78. We will profect his natal 9th house (the house that in his natal chart is linked to becoming Pope) for the age of 78. If we count round and round from the Ascendant as age 0 (birth) to the age of 78, we will land on the 7th cusp as being his Profected Ascendant for the period April 16 2005 - April 16 2006. The ninth house from this new Ascendant is the radical 3rd house, which will tell us what we need to know about the quality of his 9th house affairs (religious honors, faith) for the year.

The radical 3rd house is ruled by Gemini, so its ruler is Mercury. Mercury is very strongly positioned in the 1st house, and is disposited by Jupiter. In Pisces, however, Mercury is also in its fall and detriment. What does Mercury rule in the chart? The 3rd, 4th and 7th houses, so we can expect some difficulties through writing, speech, the family/home, and colleagues/the public (significant others are out of the question here). However, because Mercury is in the sign ruled by Jupiter (Lord of the Ascendant), we expect Benedict to eventually overcome his difficulties - and indeed, he won out over all the other Papal candidates (Mercury).

But back to the quality of his 9th house affairs for 2005. Mercury is aspected by two strong planets; Venus in Taurus, so we would expect some help from deals (Venus) being made, as well as help from his supporters (2nd house). Mercury is also squared by Mars in Gemini in the 4th house. The 4th house is the 8th from the 9th, indicating the Pope’s death. Because Mars is relatively strong in its terms and it is angular, we expect success, but Mars is inherently a malefic planet and a square is a hostile aspect, the success comes through the Pope’s death, and only with difficulty. The fact that Jupiter disposits this Mercury shows that the cause of the success is the 1st house (Benedict himself) and more likely, the 9th and 10th houses of religion and fame, respectively.

What can we make of the fact, however, that the greatest honor of his life came when his 9th house (and indeed, his profected Ascendant as well) was ruled by the malefic Mercury? My observation in this chart and others is that the ultimate good and evil in a chart comes from the dispositor of a given planet, and any close aspects to it. Here, Mercury is disposited by a very strong and benefic Jupiter, so the “bad” planet is held on a rather tight leash. It also does not hurt that Mercury is closely aspected by a rather strong Venus and Mars.

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As popes go, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) is a controversial figure. He is unapologetically traditionalist in his doctrine and fairly blunt in his words. More than that, however, he is highly intellectual in his words and written works and as such is apt to be misunderstood by the masses. As an astrologer, this is quite interesting, and I wanted to find out more about Pope Benedict’s astrological indicators. Today, we will look at:

1. Indications of becoming Pope in Benedict’s natal horoscope (Part I),
2. Predicting when Benedict might become Pope (Part II), and
3. Predicting the time of Benedict’s speech about Islam and its ensuing outcry (Part III).

Benedict’s horoscope is truly fascinating, and highly instructive to those, like myself, who are fascinated by indications of spiritual vocations in the horoscope. Beyond that, however, I have tried to find out what made Benedict’s horoscope different from any other Catholic clergyman, such that we would see indications of the Papal office. I also like numbers, so I was curious what were the chances that someone could have this fascinating horoscope or at least its salient features.

We immediately note the presence of Jupiter in Pisces on the Ascendant. Jupiter rules religion and the clergy, and here it is in its own sign of Pisces. This Jupiter is by far the strongest planet in the chart, as it is both in its own sign and on the Ascendant, from which position it can strongly influence the native’s life. However, not everyone with Jupiter in Pisces on the Ascendant becomes Pope, or even enters the clergy. Approximately .69% of the world’s population has this combination with Jupiter on the Ascendant in Pisces - that is, 41.4 million people. Thus, we have to look for more features that make Benedict’s horoscope unique. Jupiter rules the 9th house of religion (as well as the 10th house of fame); only 3,472,222 people in the world have this factor in their horoscopes as well.

Planets in a given house are extremely important to the affairs of that house. In Benedict’s horoscope, Saturn is placed just inside the 9th house of religion, and it is conjunct the Royal star Antares. Saturn is not very strong in this horoscope, as it does not have much essential dignity in 6 Sagittarius, and of course, it is cadent. However, this Royal Saturn also closely aspects the Part of Fortune at 8 Virgo (no, I do not reverse the formula for the Part of Fortune by night). Any planet aspecting the Part of Fortune will have a great deal to do with the quality of the fortune and the heights reached by the native.

In Benedict’s horoscope, Saturn is disposited by this ultra-religious Jupiter in the Ascendant. Now we are down to about 120 people in the whole world who have a similar configuration. Since most of them are inherently not in a position to become Pope (too young, too old, female, not Catholic, etc.), we can start to appreciate the uniqueness of this configuration in Benedict’s horoscope. We can also appreciate the importance of being born into the right conditions for our fate. To illustrate, Bill Gates does have the horoscope of someone who would become financially successful, but only because he was born into a very wealthy and influential upper class family in the richest country in the world, could he amass the fortune that he did. Others in the world have a very similar chart to his, but if they are rickshaw pullers somewhere in Asia, maybe they will own their own rickshaw business someday. Context is everything.

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Question:

My husband and I are seriously thinking about relocating to another state, where my family is. We are also seriously low on money. He lost his job last year and has been working as a contractor doing home repairs and remodeling. We are holding it together, but just barely.

My brother and his wife have been taking care of my elderly mother and my sister (who doesn’t drive), but he may be transferred to another state next year. Either he will have to uproot my mom and sister and take them with him, or my husband and I can go there and the four of us can move in together (the only way we could afford to do it), Since their house is too small for all of us, we’ll all have to sell our houses and find one bigger - and we need some acreage.

I’m terrified. Not only are the logistics of this overwhelming me, but I will have to find another job - and I’m 57 years old. My steady income has definitely helped keep us afloat and I’m not sure how good a job I can get, going into a new town and being in a field dominated by people half my age.

So my question is this. Should we make the move? Are we biting off more than we can chew? If things go wrong and we go down, we’ll take my sister and mother with us. On the other hand, it could be the answer we all need.

—P.

Nina Gryphon:

Dear P.,

These tough dilemmas never present a clear-cut answer - if it was obvious which course of action was right, you would not have to ask the question in the first place. The horoscopes for these types of questions reflect the situation and will often given both pro and con testimony. The challenge is to tease out what the advantages and disadvantages would be and the relative merits of staying or moving. The answer is often “it doesn’t matter which option you choose,” or the pro/con testimony is very finely balanced indeed.

Below is the horary chart I cast for the moment I understood your question:

We must first see what is going on with the 1st house ruler (you). You are ruled by Mercury, which is in Virgo, the sign of its domicile and exaltation. So Mercury is pretty good where it is. We do notice that it has recently conjoined the malefic South Node, which most likely refers to your recent financial strains. The good news, of course, is that the worst is past.

In this kinds of questions, we will often find the person’s significator on the verge of changing signs. This reflects the situation at hand: the person is about to move into a new place (sign). So the current sign shows “here” and the upcoming sign shows “there.” Here, Mercury will shortly move into Libra out of Virgo. Mercury is a lot happier here in Virgo than in Libra, where it has little essential strength. More than that, shortly after entering Libra, Mercury will conjoin a highly unpleasant Mars in Libra (the sign of Mars’s detriment), which may well symbolize your husband’s difficult money situation being exacerbated in this new area and afflicting your own well-being. It may be that you may be forced to rely on his earnings in the new location, but the earnings will not be good. Mars rules the 8th house of the spouse’s money. So far, the testimony skews pretty strongly toward staying put.

We can also look at the 1st house as “here,” and the 7th house as “there.” The 1st house is afflicted by the presence of the South Node (and of course, the 7th house is blessed by the presence of the benefic North Node), which normally would argue for moving. However, as I said above, you have already experienced the difficulty of the South Node in the past, so its power to afflict you is largely moot. The 1st house ruler, as simply showing “here,” is this strong Mercury. The 7th house ruler, showing “there,” is a peregrine and cadent Jupiter, which is not strong either by sign, or by house placement. Again, this shows a pretty strong testimony for staying. OVerall, I would have to recommend that you stay where you are. The worst is behind you and the options for moving are not appealing.

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Question:

I cheated on my boyfriend of one year with a friend of his. The relationship with my boyfriend was going badly - I felt he wasn’t caring enough and not romantic, not trying anymore. I would pour my heart to him and he’d fall asleep or say one word answers, yet he told me he loved me. We were on the verge of ending it and I couldn’t decide on living with my parents or him. I thought I lost the magic of love and life, but when I met his friend something happened inside of me. I believe I had butterflies and the whole nine yards.

There’s something about him that I cannot place. I don’t know what to do - if I should pursue his friend and let my boyfriend find someone more for him (he already knows I cheated, an ex best friend told him to spite me) and my boyfriend is deciding if he wants to try again (which I’m doubtful). I think it would work if he wanted, except I cannot get his friend out of my head. What do I do? Is it just a fantasy? A lot of times I just couldn’t believe he was real and every time I’d see him it would send me relief.

Was my boyfriend my soul mate? Did I mess it up? I don’t want to be alone. I am really sorry I hurt him, hurting him hurts me to my very soul. I do love him but maybe not like I think I do. I don’t know much about his friend but something tells me…something. I get vibes from people. I just cannot place his. It is almost like he is my fairy-tale.

—A.

Nina Gryphon:
Dear A.,

It is so hard to know what to do - should you go for the safe but boring relationship? Or should you go for the more exciting but unknown “other man?” What if he leaves you? I honestly do not know a single woman who has not had this dilemma at some point in her life, and the answer is different in each case. Let us take a look at your situation.

I cast a horary astrological chart for the moment I understood your question. These questions about three parties in a love relationship can be tricky, because we only have one house (the 7th) for the signficant other. And we don’t know which signficant other - the boyfriend or the friend - gets the 7th house. To learn that, we have to look at the receptions among the planets and see who likes whom based on your description of the situation.

The woman herself is Mercury and her feelings are shown by the Moon. Mercury is very strong in Virgo (in its sign and exaltation), and strongly positioned on the Ascendant, while the Moon is very strong in Taurus, where it is exalted. The 8th house is the house of fear, so we can see that she is extremely afraid of making the wrong choice. In this context, the strength of the two planets likely means that the woman is pretty desirable, and wields considerable power in the situation. Notice, by the way, that Mercury is about to move into Libra, into Venus’s sign. The Moon already is in Venus’s sign - whatever Venus is, this woman is very interested in, and will get more interested as time goes on.

Could Venus be the friend? You described him to me as a very Venusian guy (musical, attractive, very sweet, reputedly a bit of a player). Let us keep that in mind and see whether we can confirm this. Jupiter rules the 7th house of the significant other. It is in Scorpio, where it is in the Moon’s fall and Venus’s detriment. We already know that the Moon shows the woman’s emotions. So it looks like Jupiter is the boyfriend, who hates the fact that the woman is in love with the friend.

The Sun is the boyfriend’s sexual side, and we see that the Sun is in Virgo, just outside of the 1st house, so it is on your mind. This shows that having a signficant other/partner is very important to you - physically, he is attracted to you, so the relationship could work on that level. At least for a while. However, I do not think that even if you go back to the boyfriend, the relationship will last. The fact that you cheated on him is going to continue bothering him, and you will not be happy. None of your planets show you very interested in the boyfriend - going back is really not an option for you.

What about a future with the friend? Venus is in Virgo, so he is very interested in you (Mercury). As I said, Mercury is about to enter Libra, where it is very interested in Venus. So we shortly see you very interested in him and he already is interested in you. Will you actually get together and be in a relationship? This seems less likely. The Moon (you) is separating from a trine to Venus (the friend), and about to oppose Jupiter (the boyfriend). You may call it quits with the boyfriend because he will not make you feel good, but it seems less likely that you will be able to start anything long-term with the friend.

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The Thai Army ousted Prime Minister Thaksin on Tuesday in a bloodless coup, claiming that governmental corruption and the inability of the government to deal with Muslim insurgencies had become too great to tolerate. How did the recent military coup in Thailand come about, astrologically speaking? Was it attributable to the recent Lunar Eclipse, or was it some kind of early harbinger of the upcoming Solar Eclipse? Having examined Thailand’s astrological chart (the one most commonly used by Thai astrologers), I believe we are seeing the effect of the September 7th Lunar Eclipse.
As I wrote in an earlier post about the September 7th Lunar Eclipse, the Eclipse was visible throughout most of Asia. Nonetheless, not all Asian countries will experience a coup due to the Lunar Eclipse, so there must have been something unique about the Eclipse’s contacts to the Thai horoscope. Some of it, of course, will have to do with the inherent nature of the country - some countries go for decades, even centuries, peacefully, while others have constant violent clashes. This has much to do with the nature of the country’s horoscope, as well as with the V-E-R-Y slow transits of “fixed” stars across the chart.

Looking at Thailand’s horoscope, we can see that the fixed star Markab, which is now at 23 Pisces, is conjunct the Mercury-Venus conjunction in Pisces. Markab is a rather bright star, and is of the nature of Mars and Mercury. Robson says that it gives “honor, riches, fortune, danger from fevers, cuts, blows, stabs [can be operations nowadays] and fire and a violent death,” and specifically when with Mercury, it means “friends turn into enemies.” We can see that in this Mercury-Venus conjunction, it is the rather nasty Mercury in detriment and fall in Pisces that will run the show. This is probably because it is solidly in the strong 11th house, compared to poor Venus, which is a bit too close to the malefic 12th house, and thus cannot act very well.

The September 7th Lunar Eclipse occurred at 15 Pisces, and it was probably a bit too far for Venus to have a say, but was close enough to Mercury to activate it and Markab. Unfortunately, the consequences were not going to be pleasant, precisely because of Mercury’s weakness. The Eclipse is ruled by Jupiter, which we can take to be the Thai Army. The Army is the Government’s resource, so it will be the second house from the 10th. Saturn is the Government, so we take the next sign, which is Pisces, and is ruled by Jupiter. So the Eclipse will affect everything Jupiterian in this country - here, that is the Army, and the Prime Minister’s Cabinet (also second from the 10th). The PM’s Cabinet has been getting arrested one by one or has not been returning to Thailand, if they were fortunate enough to be abroad at the time of the coup.

The fact that Pisces is a double-bodied sign bodes ill for the ruler of an affected country:

Because the eclipse is in a double-bodied sign (Pisces), the greatest activity will occur with rulers of the affected lands, and their governments, also any people in power in general. (From this post on the September 7th Lunar Eclipse.)

Whoever elected Thailand’s horoscope (it has certainly been elected, as all sensible countries and cities have done) took good care that the Thai people were in control of the priesthood and the Cabinet/the Army, rather than under the Government’s control. Venus, Lord 1 - the people, are in Jupiter’s sign. Jupiter rules the 9th house (religion and the priesthood) and rules the second sign from the 10th (Cabinet and Army). In these changing times, the focus is much more on the power of the Army and the Governmental ministers, than on the power of religion. That is perhaps something the astrologers who constructed Thailand’s chart did not consider.

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Question:

My main difficulty at the moment is trying to find my spiritual path, plus balancing it with my “real” (maya) life. My mother is a very spiritual being. Therefore she pushes me to follow a certain path which I know is right, but find that my Ego and current state of mind prevent me from progressing as quickly as she would like. I realise she only does this out of love, but I do think that I need to do things in my own time, even if it means suffering a lot along the way. Can you please let me know if I should continue to be under my mother’s wing when it comes to spiritual things, at this point, or if I must start to break away from her now? I feel like I still have to go through her to get to God/ Higher Self etc. Will I get far spiritually in this life i.e. reach a higher level of realisation/ enlightenment and find true Peace and Equanimity in my life? and When? I am so confused right now.

I also am in love with someone. I have known him for almost 10 years, but only over the last two years have I opened my heart to him and realised that I do think I want to spend the rest of my life with him, if anyone. However, despite having told him how I feel, I cannot get a deifnitive answer, only an “I don’t know”. We never actually dated or were involved physically, just friends. He is involved in starting up his business and really focuses all of his time on that, so he’s also made it clear he does not want a relationship with anyone right now. Plus we live in different countries! The problem is, everyone tells me he’s not interested, and maybe I am in denial because my feelings are so strong.. but I want to know.. is he the one I am going to end up with this lifetime? Should I wait for him or is it hopeless? Does he have any feelings for me?

—M.

Nina Gryphon:

Dear M.,

Those are some major existential issues you are dealing with, for sure. I do not get many questions from people concerned about their spiritual progress, though I am certain the world would be a better place if everyone was half as dedicated to the care of their soul as you are. I will answer each of your questions separately below, and will treat the chart as a separate entity for each question.

Your Spiritual Path

As you can probably appreciate, no horoscope can tell you whether you will be saved/reach enlightenment or not - and it’s questionable whether we should try to find that out, even if we could! What would be the point in striving to better ourselves then? The chart can show, however, whether a certain path is right for you, and how your faith affects you, for better or worse.

In this horoscope, you are Venus, and your religion is Mercury, ruler of the 9th house of religion. Mercury is very strong essentially, as it is in its sign and exaltation in Virgo. This is a good start, showing that your chosen religion is a sound one, and holds many potential benefits. Venus is in Virgo as well, showing that your religion is foremost on your mind (as is clear from your question), and that you think very highly of it. The problem is that when Venus is in Virgo, it is in its fall - so one way to interpret this is that because you are immersed in this religion, this makes you feel bad about yourself, and consider yourself worse than you really are (fall is an exaggerated badness). Too, Mercury is in Venus’s fall, showing the religion somehow harms you. This might be because of the way that you approach your religion, not because there is anything wrong with this spiritual path. So the solution to your dilemma is to change the way that you view this religion and your duties in it.

When a planet is in its fall, this makes me think of someone who has willingly given up the reins of their life to someone or something else. You mentioned that this religion requires that you always turn the other cheek and accept what you are given. This is very noble, but in every religion there is a place, too, for holy anger in the face of evil or deliberate harm. Someone who fights injustice is certainly not turning their other cheek to evil, and yet they are doing God’s work. The first step is to know your own heart and nature, and to know whether the right path for you is that of knowledge, service (this includes fighting for the highest causes), or devotion - all religions have their way of accommodating each different type of nature. There is a place for everyone, but you must seek it out and claim it for your own. Without seeing your natal chart and doing some in-depth analysis, I do not know which is right for you.

You asked about your mother’s role in your spiritual pursuits. She is shown by Lord 10, and is the Moon in Taurus in the 8th house. The Moon is exalted in Taurus; she is indeed highly spiritually advanced, but exaltation also means exaggeration. Perhaps she likes to appear more saintly than she really is, and being her daughter, you can see this clearly. In Taurus, the Moon is in Venus’s sign. Since you are Venus, we can see that she really is trying to do her best to help you, out of genuine love for you. In the 8th house, however, the Moon cannot act very well, despite her strength. The 8th house is the turned 11th house of hopes and wishes. Despite her great spiritual gifts, she is not very strongly positioned to help you, because of her own unrealistic expectations of your progress. You will have to take responsibility for your own spiritual path and not expect too much support.

Your Relationship

In this chart, you are Venus and the Moon is your emotions. Venus is in detriment, showing you are not feeling too fabulous these days, and perhaps a bit despondent. Things seem worse to you than they really are. The Moon is quite strong in Taurus, but it is in Venus’s sign, so your emotions follow your mind’s lead. And you are not very happy right now with this relationship.

The man is shown by Mars, Lord 7, and the Sun, which is the level of his physical attraction. Mars is in Libra, where it is not very strong, but it is in Venus’s sign. Mentally, he does feel a strong bond to you. The Sun, however, shows a different story. It is in Virgo, in Venus’s fall - he is not physically attracted to you. Interestingly, the Moon, your emotions, are in the detriment of Mars. Do you think ill of him in some way, despite your friendship? My sense is that he is looking for a physical relationship, and perhaps because he is in a different country (or because of your religious beliefs, I don’t know which), this puts a damper on things. It is difficult to persuade any man under 100 to be in a relationship where the physical needs are not engaged, and this is probably no different.

Your significators, Moon and Venus for you, and Sun and Mars for him, are not making any aspects, showing the lack of an opportunity to start a relationship, even if the motivation was there.

While I wouldn’t forget him, because he is obviously a good friend, I would also consider his needs and wants in this situation. And, like in your spiritual query above, you should start taking the reins of your life into your own hands, rather than handing them over to others.

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Since I wrote the blog post on the September 22^nd Solar Eclipse’s effect on various countries and also the post on the effects of Eclipses on individuals’ charts, I have been getting lots and lots of questions about the effects of the Eclipse on various countries.

Here is the most important thing to remember about the effects of Eclipses on the affairs of a country, in the words of William Lilly: “…all Eclipses are held to extend their effects most forcibly when above the Earth, weakly and not so vigorously when under the Earth…” In other words, if your country is in the path of the upcoming Solar Eclipse, and the Eclipse is therefore visible from there, the effects will be very strong.

The upcoming Solar Eclipse will only be visible from South America, the Caribbean, and western/southern Africa.

Interestingly, however, the effects of an Eclipse can still be very strong on an individual’s horoscope, even if the Eclipse cannot be seen from his or her place of birth.  Perhaps the individual horoscope is more sensitive to the Eclipse than the horoscope of an entire nation.

If the Eclipse is not visible from your country, there may still be some noticeable effects in national affairs, particularly if your country is ruled by Virgo (the sign in which the upcoming Solar Eclipse will occur), or its horoscope has important sensitive points, like the Ascendant or Midheaven, near the 29^th degree of the common signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces.

The United States and the September 22nd Solar Eclipse

One example of such a country is the United States. The Eclipse will not be visible from the United States, so we would not expect the very strongest astrological effects in this country. Too, the Eclipse is not in an angular house, such as the 4^th, so the effects area again not shown to be very strong.

Nonetheless, as we will see below, there are special contacts between the Eclipse and the horoscope that might sensitize this horoscope to the Eclipse. In a previous post about the September 11^th attacks, I wrote about why the horoscope for the Grand Conjunction prior to 1776 is extremely effective for predicting events affecting the United States. The astrological chart for the Grand Conjunction is here:

The upcoming Solar Eclipse will occur in 29 Virgo, opposite the United States’ Sun at 27 Pisces. The Sun rules the 4^th house of the chart, signifying land, farms, mines, and houses. In a chart for an entire country, real estate might be one meaning for this house. The Sun is in the 11^th house, which signifies the King’s (or the President’s, in this case) money and Cabinet. Thus, both of these areas of concern may be affected by the upcoming Eclipse. We may therefore see shake-ups in the President’s advisors, as well as changes to the nation’s real estate market.

There will be other effects as well. The antiscial degree of 29 Virgo is 1 Aries. In the above chart, we have Mercury at 3 Aries, so we expect that whatever is signified by Mercury will be affected by the Eclipse, but in a hidden way. Mercury rules the 1^st house, which signifies the common people. It also rules the 5^th house, showing ambassadors and profit from the land, whether through rent, harvest or mines. This may yet be another indicator that the housing prices will continue to drop, more precipitously in some areas than in others.

As mentioned in my first post about the September 22^nd Eclipse, Mercury is the Lord of the Eclipse and thus will affect all Mercurial things, such as taxation revenue, controversy in laws, high winds and tempestuous weather generally, earthquakes, and a rise in thieving and piracy.

Because the Eclipse is not visible from the United States, we cannot easily time how long its effects will last, or when they will begin. The timing method traditionally used only works if we can see the Eclipse from the given area. However, according to Ptolemy, an Eclipse will begin to have effects within a year and a day of the date of the Eclipse, and the effects will not last longer than three and half years.

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Question:

I am in my late thirties, and not in the best of health. In and before my three years of marriage, I have had eight surgeries, several on my reproductive system. My husband has been tested for fertility, and has been found to be quite fertile. Will we be able to conceive naturally or will we need to do fertility treatments to achieve a pregnancy? Will I be able to carry a baby to term after the treatments for my illness end? Are the treatments and also the fertility treatments dangerous for me? The drugs they are giving me have AWFUL side effects and I’m scared. Is adoption a more reasonable approach (for us) to parenthood, and should we put more emphasis on this approach to familyhood?

—L.

Nina Gryphon:

Dear L.,

A number of my clients are concerned about fertility - as more and more women postpone childbearing for economic reasons, the likelihood of conception also drops. Fertility treatments are very expensive, so many of my clients contact me to figure out their odds before spending tens of thousands of dollars on medical intervention. Adoption is expensive too, so for many people, the choice comes down to the financial dilemma of additional fertility treatments or an adoption application. As with all health-related questions, this is a good place to mention I am not a doctor, and you should always listen to what your doctor says first and foremost, etc.

Now let us take a look at your question, and see what is going on with your fertility potential.

First, we want to get a general sense of your and your husband’s overall fertility. You are shown by Mercury (Lord 1), in Virgo. Mercury is strong in Virgo, which is good, but Virgo is one of the non-fertile signs. The baby is shown by Lord 5, Saturn, in Leo, another non-fertile sign. This is not auspicious, but other testimonies can override it, so let us not despair yet. Your husband is shown by Lord 7, Jupiter in Scorpio, which is a fertile sign. As you mentioned, he is rather fertile. His fertility, Lord 11 (turned 5th house of fertility) is the Moon in Aries, which is a neutral sign. Mercury (you) has recently separated from the malefic South Node, showing that you have lately had health problems. Since this is shown to be in the past, the hope is that your health will improve from here on out. Note that the South Node is right on the Ascendant, showing its harmful effect on your health.

So the overall picture shows that there is some potential for fertility, but the situation is hardly optimal, due to your ill health. You mentioned that the medications are causing you serious side effects; indeed, in addition to your husband’s fertility, the Moon is the treatment. The Moon is in Aries, the fall of Saturn, so it harms whatever Saturn represents. Since Saturn rules the 5th house, it is the baby. Also, the Moon squares the 5th house cusp, further harming your fertility. Yes, the medications may well be harming your potential to conceive. The good news is that the Moon will soon move out of Aries, and will thus stop harming Saturn and the 5th house. Either your medications will finish and thus will not harm you any longer, or they will stop harming your fertlity for other reasons.

The next step is to see whether the opportunity for conception will arise. There is no applying aspect between Mercury (Lord 1, or you) and Saturn (Lord 5, the baby), so it does not look as though fertility treatments or natural means will lead to conception in the foreseeable future. Now, astrologers can be wrong, especially on something as finely balanced as fertility - if you had unlimited funds, I would say go out there, do all the fertility treatments you can and prove me wrong. But you did mention that a major concern for you is the lack of money, so you have to choose your course of action carefully. I do think adoption may be the higher-odds bet here. Some people like to do one more round of fertility treatments to satisfy their conscience and know they have done all they can in that regard. I wish you the very best of luck in creating the family you want.

- To schedule a private consultation with Nina Gryphon, you can email me at nina@gryphonastrology.com.

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