Left to my own devices, being an Aquarian, I tend to intellectualize rather than analyze. Though it seems that these two concepts are similar, in actuality they are not. It is easy enough for me to put two concepts together, roll them around, make comparisons and draw conclusions, whether or not the data on which I make the comparison are correct or based on known facts. When we analyze something, we pick apart the elements of the concept, check it against our current reality and see whatever we are analyzing fits with the known facts. This is what Virgo does very well, many times relentlessly well, sometimes to the despair of the rest of the zodiac. Alas, I have no Virgo. It is rather squished in my fifth house, with no planet clothed in its good graces, having to share tenancy there with Jupiter in Libra much like young Harry Potter living in the closet under the stairs.

There are times when I wish for a smiggen of an inner Virgo. I have little patience for details. Oh, with time and practice, I’ve learned to use my Mercury in Capricorn to pick up the major points, but with that Aquarian Sun and my Pisces Moon working so hard to shut down that Mercury in Capricorn (you shouldn’t worry so!) I still trip over some points. And so it is that when I made a big deal out a new moon and confused it with the upcoming eclipse last week it was a bit embarrassing for me. Fortunately, one of readers clued me into my mistake, and I pulled a piece and corrected two others, so I only looked like an idiot for a week or so. That’s not so bad, considering that certain presidents managed to look like total idiots for years at a time. But I think there was a reason for that whole incident which I will get to later.

Julie Demboski writes that this upcoming eclipse does not make connections with the other planets and technically this is very correct. Julie isn’t feeling the love from the eclipse and I don’t blame her. However, Mercury is with 8 degrees of a conjunction with the Sun in Cancer and that Mercury is in opposition to Pluto, which is making a challenge aspect to Uranus. Here I am intellectualizing again, but I tend to look at how the energies zing around the chart. Sometimes they do so indirectly, not in a smack down to the face. So for the next six months I posit that our communications (Mercury) within major relationships (Sun opposing Moon) are in a transformation process (Mercury opposing Pluto) which bring unsettling changes (Pluto challenging Uranus). This can ultimately can bring constructive action (Uranus in friendly [sextile] connection with Mars) if (Mars sitting close to Venus) we accept the challenge of reconciling our spiritual and individual growth needs (Venus square Jupiter/Neptune conjunction in Aquarius) with our desire to fit in with society. In what area this plays out has to do with where the eclipse falls in your houses, which I will post tomorrow.

My thought is that the previous new moon was a foreshadowing of the energies of the eclipse to come. So think back on what happened on June 22, 2009. This may be what you are working on for the next six months. And boy, do I have find an inner Virgo!

Astrological Events During July:
Venus moves into Gemini July 6
2009 Jul 07: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (Full Moon)
Mars moves in Gemini July 12
Mercury moves in Leo July 18
2009 Jul 22: Total Solar Eclipse

Click on the Links below for your monthly forecast:

Aries, Taurus Gemini

Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

If you have a question you would like answered on these pages, send your question, birth time, birth date and birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevents me from fulfilling requests for general readings on these pages.

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—Leo’s love to command a room, and this month Leo, you get to do it in spades. The planet of communication, Mercury, trots into your sign on the 17th, adding bluster to your bravado. People don’t know quite what to make of you, but gee don’t you sound good while you make your point. You look good too, but you don’t need anyone to tell you that. Or at least you shouldn’t, but that’s another story. Whatever it is that you have to say, you are likely to trigger events that lead to a path you always suspected you’d take. Now is the time.

—You’ve spent way too much money, and now the bills have come due. Maybe it is time to come to grips with what is really bothering you. Why so you feel the need to flash the plastic in such a conspicious way? Are you ignoring some inner need to express your individuality? Are you looking for soul growth through pricey saunas? Are you sacrificing to much of yourself to a keep a relationship going? As much as you like to help people, Virgo, you are not much help to them if you are a mess yourself. Schedule some alone time to sort your priorities.

Click on the links below for another Sun Sign Forecast:

Aries, Taurus Gemini

Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

If you have a question you would like answered on these pages, send your question, birth time, birth date and birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevents me from fulfilling requests for general readings on these pages.

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—When everyone else around lose their heads, you find that you have just the right stuff to settle things down. Go ahead and take charge and put everything to rights. This is an excellent time to review health insurance plans and to get the kid’s school physicals square away. Keep doing what you have been doing and at least you can enjoy the satisfaction of having a place for everything and everything in its place.

—You are pumped by having Mars and Venus in your sign, making you like the Energizer Bunny on steriods. You have so many plans and ideas to communicate, you wear out your audience in just a few breaths. Its useless to tell you to priortize, because everything seems equally important. For that reason you must absolutely not take it personally when someone tells you must slow your roll. Though you won’t listen to them, at least let them know you appreciate their concern before you speed off to your latest adventure.

Click on the links below for another Sun Sign Forecast:

Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

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—Suddenly everything is going right. You are clicking on all eight cylinders as everyone seems to be in agreement that you are doing just fine. After the angst of the past six months this seems not just too good to be true, you are wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. And so as you expect, so it will happen. With Venus and Mars in opposition to your Sun sign, you should be aware that you have not yet banked enough good will to start drawing on it. You may still expect a few blips of resentment from the people near you. You may hear of a financial need of a child in your family to which you should contribute. There may yet be some tax issues which are not cleared up yet. In any case, keep an even keel and do what you can to help. People will adore you for it.

—Relationships with the opposite sex are shaky this month, as someone wants more than the other person is willing to give. As you two play cat and mouse with each other, it suddenly dawns on you that one of you is not fulfilling the obligations of the relationship. Can it be you, Sagittarius? If you were a car, you’d be a high end sports car, all flash and cash, but definitely high maintenance. Your first inclination is to cut and run when the fun runs out, but is this really what you want?

Click on the links below for another Sun Sign Forecast:

Aries, Taurus Gemini

Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

If you have a question you would like answered on these pages, send your question, birth time, birth date and birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevents me from fulfilling requests for general readings on these pages.

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Problems with men and money plague you this month. This is distracting you from the real focus, which should be on your destiny. Closely following on the eclipse of July 7, Sun and Mercury makes an friendly energetic connection with Saturn in Virgo and all of that makes a Yod, called the Finger of God, with your Sun. These next six months is crucial in pushing forward your career goals. Though it seems like the mountain of work on your desk is an impossible pile to climb with little reward, it is crucial that you wade right through it all with an eye to showing (and showing off) to the world just how stellar you are.

What comes in, money wise, through the front door seems to make its way out the back door just as fast. There may be problems with your ride, or your computer fizzles out (Get a Mac this time) or your kid has to have some sort of immediate medical care you weren’t expecting (God forbid). Watch the gossip at the back fence, and keep the home fires burning. You’ll be glad you did.

Click on the links below for another Sun Sign Forecast:

Aries, Taurus, Gemini

Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

If you have a question you would like answered on these pages, send your question, birth time, birth date and birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevents me from fulfilling requests for general readings on these pages.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled one Hispanic and 19 white firefighters were unfairly denied promotion when the city [New Haven, CT] scrapped two civil service exams in 2004 because few minorities would have made rank.

The City of New Haven threw out the exams of 2004 fearing lawsuits because none of the black participants scored well enough to to be promoted to the vacancies at the time. City attorneys were concerned that because no blacks could be promoted the city may have been held liable for possible civil rights violations. Whether or not the test itself was flawed is an issue that has not been resolved.

In Monday’s ruling Justice Anthony Kennedy said, “Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions.” He was joined in the majority by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the white firefighters “understandably attract this court’s sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them. . .”

The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide, potentially limiting the circumstances can be held liable for decisions when there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities.

Justice Anthony’s statement mirrors so precisely the positions of the stars that one wonders if the decision would have gone another way under another set of stellar influences. Let’s look at the sentence and parse it astrologically.

Fear of litigation
employer’s reliance
detriment of individuals
passed the examinations
qualified for promotions

On this day:

Moon is in Libra, the zodiac sign representing the law and social justice and harmony.

Sun in Cancer opposes the planet of transformation, Pluto. The issue here is security verses control.

Saturn is in Virgo in harmonious energetic connection to Mars and Venus in Taurus. This combination of Mars and Venus seems to represent here the “working man”, especially of those in martial occupations such as a firefighter and his concerns about the security of his family, which would include the gaining of promotions to secure the family income. Saturn in Virgo is representative of tests themselves and of decisions after careful analysis. Saturn also challenges Mercury in Gemini which indicates conflicts over workplace communications and methods.

Jupiter and Neptune in the sign of the individual, Aquarius, is in challenge aspect to Venus/Mars. Jupiter represents legal matters, and in conjunction with Neptune, indicates the overlay of many issues which muddies the waters. The Supreme court had to cut through this murkiness to come to a clear decision, no easy matter on a case that contained multiple powder keg issues.

Pluto also challenges Uranus in Pisces, which squares Mercury in Gemini. Uranus in Pisces represents the desire to honor individual efforts while reinforcing the common cause of the collective. Pluto is demanding a shift of priorities here. Pluto in Capricorn represents the employer who wants to control their employees.

So lets take a look at Justice Anthony’s statement again:

Fear of litigation–Saturn in challenge aspect to Mercury
employer’s reliance–Pluto in Capricorn opposing the Sun
detriment of individuals–Jupiter/Neptune challenging Venus/Mars
passed the examinations–Saturn trine Venus/Mars
qualified for promotions–Venus/Mars trine Saturn

The Supreme Court has ruled. How this shakes down in the long run is another matter. But this day, to this astrologer, it looks like the stars literally had their say.

Photo printed under a Creative Commons license from Flickr

If you have a single question you would like this astrologer to answer on these pages, please send your birth day, birth time, birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent me from writing full chart delineations.

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Link love request. If you have a blog, link to Astro Dispatch, if you haven’t already.

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Tara over at Stargates54 nominated Astrology Explored for a Lemonade Award.

Tara says of the Lemmy as it is affectionately known:

a Lemonade Award, which is given to bloggers who show a positive attitude, gratitude, and a willingness to share their ideas, support and online friendship. In other words, people who make lemonade when they get lemons!

Now it is impossible to recognize all the people that have offered help and and encouragement in keeping this blog. I couldn’t possibly name one of my online astrology friends over another. And my 451 family, past and present, deserves some recognition. 451 Press is the place where I learned what I know about blogging. The encouragement of the people here have been instrumental in opening new doors for me as an astrologer and a writer. Without further ado let me present my Lemmies.

Kim at 451 Press does not keep a 451 Press blog but she keeps us going. A one woman wunderkind she makes sures the sites are up and upgraded and also makes sure we get paid. Yeah, Kim.

Jamie keeps more blogs that I have fingers on right hand, and she does so with style and flair. Her signature line in the 451 Forums is; “Everyone is in a hurry, but that gives you no right to inflict your primarily vowel-less, over-punctuated, I USE CAPITALS BECAUSE THEY’RE LOUD, dirty spanking of the English language on me.” She encourages writers on the blog Write Anyway.

Bob Betzen asks me for advice from time to time, which shows how smart he is, and he actually listens, which shows how kind he is . He hangs his hat at Radical Avenue.

Dave Parrack from across the pond, used to keep the blog PopBuzzUK, but he deserted us and now keeps Brit Music Scene. We used to think that Dave was the 451Press Forums, because he wrote more forums posts than anyone else. Dave wrote encouraging things on my first post, and offered some good suggestions. We miss you, Parrack, you blighter.

Catherine Mayer Neal has been wonderfully supportive of my astrology and my writing. You can catch her at Movie Hunger.

Eliza Ferree writes Tom Cruise Watch. Keeping up with Tom, that deserves an award all on its on.

Gillian Pollack writes Food History. Do not go there is you are on a diet and want to stick to it. She really writes much, much more, but you should find out about this fascinating woman all on your own.

Jumoke Fasoyinu writes on her life here. If I said something it would be sappy, and I so try to avoid that.

As for the rest of you, suck it up. This post is way over 250 words anyway.

If you have a single question you would like this astrologer to answer on these pages, please send your birth day, birth time, birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent me from writing full chart delineations.

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June 28, 2009

[Helen] Fisher posits that each of us gets dosed in the womb with different levels of hormones that impel us toward one of four basic personality types:

The Explorer — the libidinous, creative adventurer who acts “on the spur of the moment.” Operative neurochemical: dopamine.

The Builder — the much calmer person who has “traditional values.” The Builder also “would rather have loyal friends than interesting friends,” enjoys routines, and places a high priority on taking care of his or her possessions. Operative neurotransmitter: serotonin.

The Director — the “analytical and logical” thinker who enjoys a good argument. The Director wants to discover all the features of his or her new camera or computer. Operative hormone: testosterone.

The Negotiator — the touchy-feely communicator who imagines “both wonderful and horrible things happening” to him- or herself. Operative hormone: estrogen, then oxytocin.

Fisher reviewed personality data from 39,913 members of Chemistry.com. Explorers made up 26 percent of the sample, Builders 28.6 percent, Directors 16.3 percent, Negotiators 29.1 percent. While Explorers tend to be attracted to Explorers, and Builders tend to be attracted to Builders, Directors are attracted to Negotiators, and vice versa.

Who is Helen Fisher? According to Wikipedia:
“Helen E. Fisher (born 1945) is an anthropology professor and human behavior researcher at Rutgers University and has studied romantic interpersonal attraction for over 30 years Prior to becoming a research professor at Rutgers University, she was a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Dr. Fisher is a leading expert on the biology of love and attraction. She’s currently the most referenced scholar in the love research community. She was hired by match.com in 2005 to help build chemistry.com which used her research and experience to create both hormonal-based and personality-based matching system.”

I don’t know. Maybe it sounds better coming from an anthropologist. But astrologers have been saying practically the same thing for years. Ok, thousands of years. Only we call them the elements. We call them Fire, Earth, Air and Water.

If you have a single question you would like this astrologer to answer on these pages, please send your birth day, birth time, birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent me from writing full chart delineations.

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I’m pretty fascinated by the idea of astrology affecting a person’s physical appearance. I’ve looked at a couple of my close friends’ charts, looking at Asc., Asc. Ruler, Venus aspects etc., and I’ve noticed a few features that seem to fit. But I’m curious about my own chart, and unfortunately completely hopeless at spotting in myself these features that I’m supposed to have. So I was wondering if I could perhaps get an outside perspective: if you could take a quick look at my chart and pick out a few things, which I could pass on to people and see if they reckon it’s a good description of me?

Birth data:
21st September 1990, 12:55 PM, Birmingham, UK

Thank you very much for your time.

People have been picking at for years what astrological factors weigh in on appearance. The ascendant is considered the dominant marker, though it also appears the Sun and the other personal planets have their say.

A site called Astrofaces has been working just on this problem. In an extensive database, they compare photos sharing Sun, Moon and Ascendants looking for similarities in the photos. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. It is an evolving work in progress.

One of the problems is: how much weight do we assign to each zodiac influence? The other is just how much do we assume about how a zodiac sign affects our appearance is true.

Your questions sent me to look for a chart of keywords I put together using the information in the the book “How to Rectify a Birthchart” by Laurie Efrein.

I have Taurus on the Ascendant, Sun in Aquarius and Moon in Pisces. In comparing Efrein’s descriptions. I have the stocky build of a Taurus, the squarish jaw, big breasts, but the similarity ends there. My skin is the porcelain color sported by Aquarius, medium and straight nose described of the Waterbearer and then that’s it on that one. I am well rounded, as it were, the influence of my Pisces moon. My water weight is often of great concern to my cardiologists, again a moon issue. I have small feet compared to the rest of my family. My daughter grew out of my shoes in eighth grade, thank the Lord. So picking what features are predominant are a crap shoot still. Hopefully work like Astrofaces will help us refine our information in this area.

For you, with the influence of Virgo, Sagittarius and Libra in your chart have a wide range of possible qualities. You have three planets in the sign of Virgo with Venus and Mercury in harmonious energetic connection to Saturn. I think it is possible that you have the tallish, broad bottomed frame of Sagittarius, being slightly taller than the usual Virgo, but with the darker features and long nose and prominent cheekbones that Virgo frequently sports. Your face would be longer than broad, with full but not overly full lips. With Uranus square your Sun, you probably have a least one body piercing, and a couple tats. You have an inner need to express yourself that is influenced by Uranus. All in all though, due to influence of your Libra moon, your features would be regularly spaced. Let me know if how well I did since I don’t your photograph to reference.

If you have a single question you would like this astrologer to answer on these pages, please send your birth day, birth time, birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent me from writing full chart delineations.

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Well, my little story about Mr. & Mrs America and their talk with Pluto struck some nerves. I got some mail from people who identified with the story of Mr. and Mrs. Crab. Below is the story of people who could be Mr. & Mrs. Crab’s neighbors.

OMG!!!!

Lynn

Well, Lynn, fortunately for you the Titanic has sailed, so you can’t book a berth on that ship. Now, as for your question. So why isn’t your husband working now? Saturn in the sky right now is sitting on top of your personal planet of communications, Mercury and making an harmonious energetic connection to transiting Venus/Mars in your husband’s tenth house and trine your husband’s natal Jupiter. This is all good stuff, and if you haven’t heard of job offer yet, you will soon. However, it looks like the offer is not exactly what your husband is looking for, perhaps not enough money. As with anything in Virgo, the quest is for perfection, and unfortunately for us humans, perfection in this earth plane is an ideal but rarely a reality. My opinion is that for you folks to grab the brass ring, you are going to have to lower your sites.

If you are worried that this opportunity is a step-down, don’t worry about that. Uranus will soon be crossing into your husband’s 10th house of career indicating that opportunities out of the blue are sure to pop up. The eclipse point is just inside the edge of the eleventh house of hopes dreams and wishes as well as large organizations, which indicates a transformation in how your husband wishes to earn his living. This job is just a bridge for better times to come.

If you have a single question you would like this astrologer to answer on these pages, please send your birth day, birth time, birth place to starrynightastro@aol.com. Sorry, time limitations prevent me from writing full chart delineations.

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