Gryphon Astrology Blog

Roger Federer is thought to be the best tennis player of modern times; Federer has the birth chart to match that reputation. First, let’s take a look at some special features of Federer’s horoscope. His horoscope is below:

Choosing to be a professional athlete is an unusual career decision, statistically speaking. Let’s take a look at what it was in Federer’s birth chart that indicated such a choice. To determine a person’s profession, William Lilly tells us to start with the first house, and any planets in it. If one of the planets of profession (Mercury, Venus, or Mars) is in the ascendant, this will be the chief indicator of the person’s occupation. In Federer’s horoscope, we have Venus in Virgo in the first house, sextile Mars in Cancer and the Moon in Scorpio.

The first thing we notice is that all three planets are either in their detriment or fall; this is not an auspicious beginning to our analysis. Let us see what William Lilly says about this combination, as far as careers go: contacts to the Moon indicate “credit with the common people,” which we would term popularity. Venus combined with Mars gives “labor and pleasure; boldness, confidence with flattery and dissimulation.” Certainly, playing a sport/game (ruled by the fifth house of pleasure) for a living would fit into Lilly’s description. The “dissimulation” might have to do with behaving oneself on and off the court for the sake of sponsorships, and presenting a pleasant PR front as part of one’s job.

As usual, it is the fixed stars that really tell the tale of fame in Federer’s birth chart, and more than compensate for the difficult essential state of the Moon, Venus, and Mars. The Royal star Aldebaran is conjunct the Midheaven, the house of fame and career. Mars is conjunct Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Vivian Robson writes that Mars with Sirius is “courageous, generous, [gives] military preferment, work in connection with metals. It gives honor, renown, wealth, ardor, faithfulness, devotion, passion and resentment, and makes its natives custodians, curators, and guardians.” The Moon in Scorpio falls on the North Scale, which “gives good fortune, high ambition, beneficence, honor, riches, and permanent happiness.”

Finally, let us take a look at the meaning of the constellation of Leo on the ascendant. Manilius, an ancient astrology writer, states the following:

The sons of the Lion are filled with the urge to adorn their proud portals with pelts and to hang up on their walls the captured prey, to bring the peace of terror to the woods, and to live upon plunder. There are those whose like bent is not checked by the city gates, but they swagger about in the heart of the capital with droves of beasts; they display mangled limbs at the shop front, slaughter to meet the demands of luxury, and count it gain to kill. Their temper is equally prone to fitful wrath and ready withdrawal, and guileless are the sentiments of their honest hearts.

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Padre Pio was an Italian priest who was also a saint and a stigmatic, that is, the wounds of Christ physically manifested in him for most of his adult life. Many miracles are attributed to him as well, from miraculous healings to bilocation. I chose Padre Pio’s horoscope because it helps us to understand just how good his horoscope is, and consequently to put all other charts in perspective. We will look at his horoscope (we have the unusual good fortune to have an apparently accurate time of birth for him), and specifically we will examine what Ptolemy called “the quality of mind.” This is a planet or planets which indicates the individual’s deepest motivation.

Some astrologers say that we cannot tell whether a person will be good or bad, and whether they will be a saint or a criminal. However, this can most definitely be done, and the ancient astrologers provide us with the techniques to determine just this. This type of examination does not leave much room for moral relativism; good and evil are as distinct in the horoscope as they are in real life.

The horoscope of Padre Pio is below:

The most dramatic feature of this horoscope is that all of the planets are either disposed by strongly benefic planets, or are conjunct the Royal fixed stars. Even without going into a deep analysis of this horoscope, we see that we are in the presence of someone truly unusual and special. The two most important planets in the horoscope are the Moon in Cancer (in its own sign), and Mercury in Gemini, also in its own sign. Interestingly, these are the two planets we would examine when trying to find “the quality of the mind.” The Moon is the intuition, while Mercury is logic, and the planets connected to these two indicators tell us a great deal about the level at which a person is going to live.

Mercury is conjunct the Sun, which is four degrees away from the Royal fixed star Aldebaran. Though the Sun is not strong by sign or house, it is ruled by this very strong Mercury. Ptolemy says that Mercury as significator of mind and strongly placed makes a person “prudent, clever, sensible, capable of great learning, inventive, expert, logical, studious of nature, speculative, of good genius, emulous, benevolent, skilful in argument, accurate in conjecture, adapted to sciences and mysteries, and tractable.” This seems very much in keeping with the best qualities of Padre Pio, as recorded by his biographers and contemporaries. Note the comment about him being “of good genius.” Genius comes from the old meaning of “spirit,” rather than someone with a high IQ. The old definition of genius is far more profound, because it goes to the quality and inherent morality of a person. This is perhaps the most positive endorsement we can find by Ptolemy, and is in keeping with what is perhaps Padre Pio’s most famous quotation: “pray, hope, and don’t worry.”

Combined with a strong Moon that is increasing in light, we get a person who is ingenious and expansive. The influence of the Sun adds nobility, especially combined with the Royal fixed star Aldebaran.

So, Ptolemy got it right. If you’re interested in this technique (and if you analyze natal horoscopes, you should be, as this is a key first step), I would point you toward John Frawley’s book, The Real Astrology, pp 11-16. The author analyzes the horoscope of Adolf Hitler using this method, and accurately shows its simplicity and power.

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One of the most valuable pieces of knowledge that natal astrology can give us is an understanding of others’ motivations. Yes, we can get a good feeling for how one’s personality manifests, but this is but a robe over the basic shape of the personality. To illustrate how this can be found, we will look at the horoscope of Maria Callas, a woman famous for both her intense dedication to her art, and her tumultuous, colorful personality. Her performances in La Traviata are renowned, as well as her spectacular singing in Medea.

Her renowned temperament and dramatic flair were a major attraction of her larger-than-life public persona, but what motivated her? This is where we get a sense of the level at which a person lives. Maria Callas’s horoscope is below:

If we examine the temperament, we get sanguine (airy)/choleric (fiery) blend, with the former slightly predominating. This combination would give us an outwardly-focused, dynamic, ambitious, warm personality, someone very much living for the public, but emotionally self-contained.

Still, these are just adjectives. They are meaningless without us understanding the essential quality that they describe. For this, we turn to what William Lilly (and other traditional astrologers) calls the significator of manner. I will not give the complete method here, as that is easily available in William Lilly’s writings. It is more interesting to see the principle in action. The first step is to determine whether any planets occupy the first house, particularly around the Ascendant. These are our prime candidates for the significator of manner.

In Callas’s horoscope, we have the Sun in Sagittarius (on the royal star Antares) right on the Ascendant. Ptolemy says that the involvement of the Sun adds probity, industry, and honor to the native’s inherent motivations. Certainly, with the Sun in its triplicity on the Ascendant, a major motivation is going to be for glory, recognition, and honor. Lilly and Ptolemy say that the luminaries can only participate, rather than determine, manner. So we must look at Mercury, also in the first house. Mercury is the planet most influenced by others, so we also examine its dispositor, Jupiter in Sagittarius.

Ptolemy writes that a strong Jupiter connected with Mercury “will render men fit for much business, fond of learning, and of geometry and the mathematics; poetical, public orators, acute, temperate, well-disposed, skilful in counsel, politic, beneficent, able in government, pious, religious, valuable in all useful professions, benevolent, affectionate in their families, ready in acquiring knowledge, philosophical, and dignified.” The problem is that Mercury is in its detriment in Sagittarius, so it will make one inconstant, foolish, and frivolous. Mercury is angular, compared to Jupiter’s cadent 12^th house placement, and so the negative characteristics will come through more easily.

How does this square with what we know of Callas? She was known to be temperamental and divaesque, which matches the Mercury in mutable, fiery Sagittarius, combined with the Sun on the Ascendant. However, the real power of the significator of manner is to help us understand what drives and motivates the native. Mercury (especially when debilitated) gives the love of change for its own sake, combined with the Sun’s need for glory and fame. Still, the Sun’s and Jupiter’s essential strength and lack of serious afflictions help ensure that the native lives out her life at a high-functioning, positive level. Morinus tells us that strong benefics in the malefic houses (here, Jupiter in the 12^th house of self-sabotage and secret enemies) prevent the worst that those houses might ordinarily bring. So we can say that Callas’s changeability and need for acclaim caused her repeated problems (she famously walked out of many contracts with the world’s top opera companies), but her career did not suffer long term. Rather, her artistic career ended prematurely due to her vocal deterioration, perhaps also indicated by the weak Mercury, ruler of the voice.

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The fact that Ohno won, explains exactly why it is not enough to just look at astrological transits. Astrologers have a written a lot about why Joey Fatone or Laila Ali had the superior astrological transits during the finale of the show. However, this is not satisfactory, as few could come up with a very decisive judgment on the matter. From an astrological transit perspective, Ohno did not have things sewn up. No beautiful Jupiter transit was happening in Ohno’s horoscope, and certainly nothing that would particularly distinguish him from two other very qualified dancers.

We do not have an exact birth time for Apolo Ohno, but we do know his date of birth, and his place of birth. As a result, we can run a noon chart for him, which is satisfactory for things relating to fame. I have a strong suspicion that he was, in fact, born around noon. Apolo Ohno’s noon horoscope is below:

We noticed that the progressed Moon conjoins natal Venus on May 24, just a couple of days after the contest. His natal Venus is not particularly strong, as it is in Aries, the sign of its detriment. Moreover, it is in a mutual reception with a detrimented Mars. Nonetheless, Venus is associated with dancing and artistic pursuits, so if it is strongly placed in the natal chart by house, the progressed Moon hitting it will likely bring some kind of positive Venusian experience. Natally, I strongly suspect that Apolo has Venus prominently placed or linked to the ascendant. His teen pop idol cuteness is a dead giveaway. The fact that Venus was activated during his win further shows that his popularity among teenage girls (Venus rules women, especially young women) was a major factor in his victory.

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This weekend, Kim Clijsters announced her immediate retirement from tennis. Given that Clijsters is 23 years old, retirement seems a tad early. Still, tennis professionals such as Clijsters have a 15 to 20 year intense career behind them by their mid-20s, so her wanting to do something different is rather understandable. I was curious to see how Clijsters’s highflying sports career is shown in her horoscope, and also whether we can see her retirement in the chart. The best birth data we have for her was that she was born at 2:17 a.m. on June 8, 1983 in Bilzen, Belgium. It is not super reliable, and hence given a Rodden rating of C, but it is all we have; if you know of a documented birth time for Clijsters, I would love to hear about it.

The horoscope for Kim Clijsters is below:

Since her fame and profession are related to playing tennis, we would expect both Mars and the fifth house to be dominant in some way. Mars tends to be important for professional athletes, and so is the fifth house of games. Indeed, Clijsters has Mars conjunct the Sun in the hot and moist sign Gemini. Therefore, the hot and active nature of Mars and the Sun is accentuated, and we can see that playing sports would be a very appropriate outlet for someone with this much nervous energy!

The fifth house of games is engaged as well; Jupiter rules the 10th house of the career and fame, and it is trine Venus in Leo, another hot sign, in the fifth house. Note that this Venus, being in Leo, is ruled by the Sun, which is so very Marsy. So this is a very intense, high energy chart, but luckily, the outlet of sports is available here.

Note, by the way, how the strong, exalted Moon in Taurus is conjunct the second house cusp of money, and squares Venus (ruler of the second house of money) in the fifth house of games. The Moon is ruled by Venus, so we can say that games will bring money. I wonder if Clijsters gambles much? The Moon is also square the Part of Fortune, further indicating money from games. The fact that the Moon is exalted rather than in its own sign of Cancer, indicates that Clijsters will seem to have more money than she really does, though she will still have plenty.

Clijsters’s solar return horoscope for this year is particularly interesting. We know that Jupiter rules her career, so we will take a look at what is going on with her career in 2007. Jupiter is in the second house of money in Scorpio, exactly opposed by Venus in Taurus in the eighth house. Venus rules her natal house of money, so we get a sense that her money, which is in very good shape (Venus is in its own sign of Taurus) is hindering her career. Perhaps she feels she has made enough money and now wants to enjoy it. Certainly a worthwhile reason to retire!

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George Washington’s birthday is a relatively neglected holiday, except maybe for the glue-stick-and-colored-construction-paper set at your local elementary school. However, George Washington was a fascinating character, not the least because he was one of the country’s earliest millionaires, and had a very long and distinguished military career to boot. How many people like that do we know today? I cast Washington’s horoscope to see whether we could locate his military career and his wealth, as well as his ascent to the presidency.

Washington’s birth time is given as 10 a.m. LAT, which reportedly translates to about 10:14 a.m. LMT (local mean time).

We see predominately a phlegmatic, watery temperament, which is not something one typically associates with soldiers. However, Washington’s Taurus ascendant is earthy, which probably made him very physically and mentally resilient, as well as more grounded and down to earth than a typical phlegmatic. We see someone who sought structure, order, and controlled growth most of all, because of the importance of Saturn to both of the “mental” planets, Mercury and the Moon.

Given that Saturn rules the 10th house of glory and success, we would expect that Washington was a rather ambitious individual, working slowly and methodically to achieve his goals. There is something in Saturn that loves the structure of the military, so given other indications in his horoscope, it is not a surprise that Washington chose the military life, and that he did so for as long and as successfully as he did.

Mars is in Scorpio in the seventh house of open enemies, a placement very well-suited for a soldier. Mars is in a Mars sign, so we get a soldierly kind of soldier — the man who really is out there on the battlefield strategizing and fighting alongside the men, rather than hanging out in the situation room smoking cigars.

Washington’s second career as a politician is shown by Mercury in the 10th house, trine to Jupiter. The combination of Mercury and Jupiter would give us a lawgiving politician, not just someone who likes to press the flesh, but someone who thinks about the way society is structured and tries to dispense justice. We also notice that Mercury is sextile the Part of Fortune, which is highly auspicious for worldly success in the kinds of things that Mercury represents – politics.

Mercury also rules the second house of wealth, so everything we just said about Washington’s success as a politician applies to his financial state throughout his life. We would assume that Washington came from a well off family, since the financial picture in this chart is good, but not amazing. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a huge leap to go from well-off to wealthy, whereas the leap from poor to wealthy would be far greater and would require a more dramatically positive chart moneywise.

The adjusted birth time seems to make sense. If we advance the midheaven by a degree per year, as we would do with secondary progressions, Washington would have been elected president at the time when his midheaven conjoined his very strong Venus in Pisces. Venus rules his first house of self, so this would give us a very clear picture of Washington ascending to the height of prestige and power.

— Readers who are interested in a natal analysis of their own charts for indications of success and wealth may contact Nina Gryphon via her astrology readings request page.

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Last summer, J.K. Rowling announced that Harry Potter himself may die in the last installment of the Harry Potter series. I cast a horary chart to see whether this would, in fact, happen:

Harry, being “any old person” to me, is shown by the 7^th house of other people. He is ruled by the Lord of the 7^th house, Jupiter, which is in Scorpio. The two planets that can signify death are Mars and Venus, representing the turned and radical 8^th houses of death. Jupiter’s next aspect will be a sextile by Mars, which is also in Jupiter’s detriment. So Harry will come in contact with death, and it will harm him.

The Arabian Part of Death, calculated from the 7^th house as the ascendant (since it’s Harry’s death we are asking about), is at 14.3 Capricorn. Its ruler is a very nasty Saturn that is in its detriment, combust, and in the malefic 12^th house of witchcraft. Whew! We notice that the Sun has just squared Jupiter and is about to conjoin Saturn, remaking the aspect between the two planets.

The Moon’s next aspect will be a square to Saturn – most likely, the Moon here is the general “flow of events,” so things are not going to go so well.

Despite the strong evidence to the contrary, I find it hard to believe that Harry may actually die. This is children’s literature, after all! My one faint hope is that the sextile (a weaker aspect as compared against a trine, for instance) between Mars and Jupiter is not strong enough to perform, and Harry will escape by a hair. We’ll see in July, when the book comes out.

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The 91-year-old former dictator of Chile died Sunday of heart disease complications. His is an interesting horoscope, and one that is somewhat difficult for me to examine. As someone who grew up in Eastern Europe, the sight of Chilean leftist refugees from Pinochet’s regime is not unknown to me. The terror he wreaked on Chile is undeniable.

The extreme coldness of the temperament is immediately apparent. In particular, Mercury in Scorpio in the sixth house is downright icy, a fact not helped by its contacts with several very cold planets in cold signs. This is not a warm and cuddly creature we are dealing with here. Disposited by a relative weak Mars in Leo, this Mercury does not indicate a man overflowing with the milk of human kindness.

The prenatal eclipse on August 15, 1915, closely squared the natal Sun, bringing it to the forefront, as it were. The Sun is very important for honor and achievement, so just that bit of information can tell us here is someone destined for something greater.

Jupiter rules the Midheaven (it may, in fact, be Mars, he was born just after 7:30 p.m.). There are no planets in the 10th house of profession, so will have to look primarily at Jupiter, and its aspects. Jupiter is in its own sign Pisces in the ninth house, which does not evoke a military man, so much as a cleric. This is one reason I believe that in fact it may be Mars that rules the 10th house. But we have to work with what we’ve got before us.

Jupiter is very strong and is trine by Moon in Cancer in the second house, which is also very strong because it is in its own domicile; it also exalts Jupiter, further strengthening the tie between the two planets. So we see that the career is going to be very successful and highly lucrative. However, all is not well here. The Moon is also conjunct Saturn in its detriment in Cancer. Whenever the malefics (especially ones as badly dignified as this one) afflict a good configuration like this Moon trine Jupiter, we can say that the career will succeed through evil means, and/or the public standing will end in disgrace.

Jupiter is also square Venus in the seventh house, showing partners, and open enemies. The two planets are in strong mutual reception. Incidentally, Venus is in a terrible mutual reception with Lord of the ascendant, Mercury. There is a strong sense that the native will continually battle his enemies, and both he and his career will be defined by his antagonism with them.

Finally, Jupiter trines that frozen Mercury, Lord of the ascendant. Jupiter, being in Pisces, is in the detriment in fall of Mercury; the career will hurt the man. One cannot help but conclude that Pinochet’s love of power (Lord 10) and money from office (Mercury in sign of Lord 11) did not do good for his soul.

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It is that time of year — Halloween — and the eternal question, “what should my Halloween costume be?” rises to the minds of those of us who have procrastinated all year. Of course, because this is an astrology blog, we will try to pick our Halloween costumes via astrology. There are two approaches to Halloween that we can take. I am a big proponent of working your strongest and best planet whenever you can, so we can look at the symbolic meanings of your best planet, colored by its sign in house, and choose your costume based on that. We can argue this both ways, however, because Halloween is the holiday where the dark side comes out to play. So perhaps this would be a good chance to let your worst planet come out, at least for an evening.

A good example that we can practice on is the horoscope for Justin Timberlake, the cute ex-boy singer formerly of N’Sync.

Justin Timberlake’s horoscope is below:

The planet with the most essential dignity is Saturn in Libra, which is conjunct Jupiter in the second house and trine the Sun in Aquarius. The planet with the least dignity is Mercury in Pisces, where it is both in its detriment and in its fall.

If Justin Timberlake wanted to go as his best planet for Halloween, we would have to recommend a traditional Grim Reaper costume, as Saturn rules death and the color black. Conjunct Jupiter, and exalted, we would think that Justin would make a particularly good big Grim Reaper. Both exaltation and the presence of Jupiter can serve to make things bigger. So this would be an opportunity for Justin to go really scary, and put on a pair of really tall elevator shoes, or a pair of stilts, or even better, carry a friend on his shoulders.

If we wanted to go for a less scary costume, we could have Justin go as Father Time, another good Saturnian symbol. I rather like this idea, because of Saturn’s trine to the Sun, which is the natural ruler of fathers. Father Time is thought to be a mythological predecessor to Santa Claus, who of course is purely Jupiterian, as his sole function is to go around the world and dispense presents. So that would tie in the Jupiter symbolism as well. Alternatively, Justin could go as a fat Father Time.

That’s all well and good. But what if Justin wanted to go as his worst planet? Mercury is his weakest planet, but it is also the most prominently positioned, because it is the only one of two angular planets in his horoscope. Mercury rules a lot of things in the modern world, which perhaps says a lot about how our world has become more and more mercurial. Mercury is weak in Pisces, because in the water sign, the fast and direct approach of Mercury is muddied and confused. The duality of Pisces means that Mercury in that sign speaks with forked tongue. In short, in Pisces, Mercury deceives.

A really good costume for Justin would be to go as a member of his own entourage, and disguise himself. This is because Mercury rules servants. To really drive the point home, he could go as his lawyer, because lawyers are ruled by Mercury as well. And of course, Mercury in Pisces is deception, so this isn’t just a simple issue of dress up, but rather of actively deceiving other people.

A few years ago, I went as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and in retrospect I think that was because the Moon is my strongest planet, and the Moon rules travelers/pilgrims, as well as women.

What are you going to be for this Halloween? And how does that tie into your own horoscope?

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I have a confession to make. I am a big, big fan of Dancing with the Stars, the reality show on ABC where B- and C-list celebrities (or at least ones I never heard of) are paired with professional dancers, and must learn a new ballroom dance every week to impress both the judges and the audience. Is there a way to tell who would win, astrologically speaking?

Of course, being an astrologer, after I watched the show a few times, little wheels in my head started turning. We could probably look at noontime horoscopes for the contestants, which would be interesting, and we could see how good everyone’s odds were, relative to each other. I would love to have your feedback on each contestant, especially if you watch the show, because then you can also take each contestant’s skills into account. What do you think, based on the astro charts for the contestants?

So I thought I would kick off a new series of blog posts, one each about a contestant still on the show as of the time of the post. I will start with the chart of Joey Lawrence, an actor who has been on Americans’ TV sets since the 1980s, when he was a child.

Joey Lawrence’s horoscope is here:

Since we are curious about his ability to win the contest, we would want to look toward his 10th house of fame and success. The Sun is right on the midheaven, but because this is a noontime chart, we would expect the Sun to be somewhere in the general vicinity of the top of the chart. Just inside the 10th house, we see Jupiter in Taurus, ruled (as is the entire 10th house) by Venus in Aries in the ninth house. So we are going to be very interested in the doings of Venus, Jupiter, and to a lesser degree the Sun (more because the Sun is naturally related to fame, than because it is right on the midheaven).

Venus and Jupiter are naturally benefic planets, which might put Joey Lawrence ahead of the game. If Venus and Jupiter look good, they bring success without too much effort or at least without serious difficulties. When we look at Joey Lawrence’s progressions for 2006, we see that the Moon will sextile Jupiter in December. Given that the sextile is a beneficial aspect, and Jupiter is a benefic planet, we can see one positive testimony for Joey Lawrence winning the contest here. However, I wouldn’t get too excited about this because it’s not an earthshaking, amazing aspect. It’s just pretty good.

The nice thing is that Joey’s progressed Moon has just left Aquarius and entered Pisces, the sign of Jupiter and the terms of Venus. That’s not bad! His progressed Sun, has just recently moved into Gemini, which is neither bad nor good, so I would like to see a little more support from the Sun as well.

Joey Lawrence’s solar return for 2006 is here:

We can see that Venus and Jupiter trine each other from the fifth house of pleasure (including dancing) and the first house of the self, respectively. This seems like a very promising aspect for Joey Lawrence winning the contest. The thing that worries me a bit is Saturn in its detriment in Leo right inside the 10th house of success, square the Sun which is about to set in the seventh house. This might put a serious damper on Joey Lawrence’s chances of winning, unless the other contestants’ charts look worse.

Final verdict on Joey Lawrence? Looks promising for a win, but with a considerable chance of messing up.

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