Astrology 101: Are You Shameless?
August 26, 2008 by Nina Gryphon
If you have Venus or Mars in detriment in the Ascendant, the astrological writer Hermes seems to think so.
In the Centiloquy of Hermes Trismegistus, Aphorism #25* says:
“In the nativities of women, when the Ascendant is in any of the domiciles of Venus with Mars in them or when the Ascendant is in any of the domiciles of Mars with Venus in them, the woman will be shameless; and it will be the same if she has Capricorn in the Ascendant.”
A workable definition of shamelessness is public immorality; Hermes refers to sexual immorality, but this is somewhat narrow based on our examples. Also, as our examples below show, the native does not have to be female for this rule to apply. I excluded Capricorn rising from the examination, because this clause is unclear: Is Hermes referring to Venus or Mars in the Ascendant in Capricorn? Or is having Capricorn rising enough?
1. Bill Clinton – Libra rising, Mars in Libra. Clinton’s failings are a matter of public record, though the publication was not exactly voluntary, which may be a necessary component of shamelessness.
2. Pete Rose – Aries rising, Venus in Aries. A record-breaking baseball player at the epicenter of a major baseball gambling scandal. Rose bet on his own team for years, and eventually served time for tax evasion, presumably because of the underreported gambling income. Despite his obvious skill as a baseball player, Rose will probably never be admitted to the Hall of Fame due to the gambling scandal.
3. Anais Nin – Libra rising, Mars in Libra. A published diarist who described her personal experiences with sex; her writing was meant for public consumption. This seems the closest to Hermes’ definition of shamelessness – intentional display of one’s personal life for public view.
4. Roman Polanski – Libra rising, Mars in Libra. Film director who fled to France due to being indicted for sex with a 13-year-old in the U.S. During an unrelated libel trial twenty years later, with Polanski as plantiff, it was remarked: “Surely a man like this hasn’t got a reputation to tarnish?”
5. Groucho Marx – Scorpio rising, Venus in Scorpio. Not particularly known for public vices, perhaps the most scandalous fact is that all of Marx’s wives were considerably younger than him, with the last one over 40 years younger than Marx. Still, this hardly qualifies as shameless, even by traditional, conservative societal standards.
6. Grace Slick – Scorpio rising, Venus in Scorpio. The vocalist for Jefferson Airplane, Slick has had a typical rock‘n’roll life; famous lovers, child out of wedlock, and run-ins with the law for various infractions.
Many charts that I examined (with a reasonably specific birth time) with the Aphorism #25 characteristics do not seem especially remarkable for their shamelessness. Of course, perhaps we just don’t know them well enough!
Dear reader: what do you think? Is Aphorism 25 right?
*As translated by James Herschel Holden in Five Medieval Astrologers.
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