I think of this primitive Ares, stupid and uninformed and without adequate planning, as being let loose in Iraq in a blind rage but with faulty intelligence and no concern for the innocent bloodshed. To me, he is still very active in our psyche. He drives the freeways of Los Angeles in the form of road rage and he shoots an innocent nun for a statement by the Pope. He is very different from Athena, the strategist, a warrior with some humanity.

There is some of this dual nature about war in the character of Achilles, portrayed even as recently as 2004 by Brad Pitt in the movie Troy. Achilles has no loyalty to the King and refuses to fight at Agamemnon’s will. It is a memory of the old Thracian god, Ares, the nearly perfect warrior, invincible but who fights without loyalty to any higher principle. At the same time, Achilles is actually more noble than rapacious Agamemnon and has loyalty to his own moral sense, his own inner King. He chooses his fights. He is smarter than the brutish Ajax, another throwback to Ares. He loves Briseis and Patroclus and it is because of them that he finally takes action.

Don’t you find it amazing that Homer’s story has not grown tired? We are still making movies about it. The characters are still meaningful to us, although in the movie the gods are pretty much left out of it. For contemporary man the gods have become silly. We use the word myth to dismiss some concept as irrelevant and not real. We are becoming unconscious of the gods. At one point a very contemporary Brad Pitt says “the gods live through us.” But I agree with you, we modify the old stories to fit our contemporary understanding but there is something eternally true in the original story that still resonates in us as much as it must have resonated in the psyche of Alexander the Great.

People like Joseph Campbell, Freud, Jung, Bruno Bettleheim, Marie-Louise von Franz, Emma Jung, and James Hillman remind us that the most ancient gods and the original myths are as contemporary as ever. They are the material of the collective unconscious and nightly appear in our dreams. They show up in the analyst’s consulting room in the drives and character of modern people. We disown the principles for which they stand at our own peril.

We began this discussion about the naming of 2003 UB313. The IAU named the dwarf planet Eris. She is the sister of Ares, known to instigate war by the spread of rumor or jealousy. The Trojan War has its roots in the marriage between Peleus and Thetis, a sea-goddess. Peleus and Thetis had not invited Eris, the goddess of discord, to their marriage and the outraged goddess stormed into the wedding banquet and threw a golden apple onto the table and said the apple should go to whomever was the fairest. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each reached for the apple. To settle the matter, Zeus proclaims that Paris, prince of Troy and thought to be the most beautiful man alive, would act as the judge. Hermes takes the message to Paris and Paris agrees to act as the judge. Hera promised him power, Athena promised him wealth, and Aphrodite promised the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris, a Libran, chose Aphrodite, and she gave him Helen, wife of Menelaus as reward. We all know the rest of the story. We know it because it is close to the foundation of our Western culture. Even the most uneducated hillbilly isolated in some hollow in Appalachia America knows about the face that launched a thousand ships even though he has forgotten about Eris.

I would like to thank you for our relationship horoscope which we recieved on Sunday and read it together with my partner. It took us a few hours to go through it. As we read it, we disccused what was written and I have to say that it went to great depth. It was so good to read it together, to see each other's immediate reaction, to hold each other when the old wounds re-opened. I think that we both know now where we are coming from, why we behave the way we do, where we can support each other, how to create an open and understanding relationship.

Thank you very much again and take care

Would be most appreciative for any info. I've been haunted for years and would love to bond with another.

I can't imagine that it would be such a stretch to conceive that our society today must be somehow evolved or augmented in some way from original Greek society (as Roman society had evolved in some way past the original Greek) calling for new definitions or at least augmentations of original Sopheclean archetypal definitions. Rather than multi-layer and force fit these new emerging trends into our ancient lexicon, what I thought would be relevant and interesting would be to use newly discovered astral bodies to define these trends with current iconography. Much as the ancient Greeks did, as examined by Graves, as they continued to write, define, and expand their mythology as new facets and trends in their society grew and emerged.

I plan to buy your yearly horoscope but there seems to be no field to indicate this change in your astroshop area.

Thank you very much

Bonjour,
Je voudrai s'il vous plaît trouver les données (heure-jour-lieu) de naissance du Pape Benedict XVI. Quelqu'un aurait la gentillesse de m'aider?

Merci beaucoup.

You are doing such a fantabulous job for us all...the feedback/replies these days are a joy to read...

Muchos Gracias
Love, Peace, Happiness

I just want to say thank you for your answer and additional help. I really appreciate it and your additional help has given me much more insight into my personallity.

I am still wondering about my previous question though, which is
am I not making decisions on my own and just floating, since everything matches so perfectly? I was wondering if you could elaborate a little more or get the opinnion of one or more of your OUSTANDING astrologers. It's incredible how one event has the power to completely alter our reallity. If you don't have the time, I'll understand. Please know that I am very grateful for what I've learned. Thank you! You have no idea of the transformation I am going through.

I came across this comment, while surfing around your site:

**any force in one direction always creates an opposite force with equal intensity.**

My question is, how does the development of man fit in with this? We were once cavemen... etc...

I'm love Astro.com and am particularly impressed with the accuracy of Forecast, as well as Portrait and Partner. I do have a question about Partner: Are their any plans on doing a Synastry Chart partner option in the future for Astro.com? I am a novice, at best, when it comes to Astrology, but by most accounts, Synastry is preferred over Composite for depth and accuracy when looking at relationships. I'm thrilled with my composite chart, but I am very curious what a Synastry Chart would reveal.

Let me start by saying that I know nothing about astrology.

I am overwhelmed by your horoscopes. In several instances, the forecast matched exactly what happened in my life in extreme detail. It feels like someone has seen my life in the future and wrote it down. Your horoscope predicted all my relationship problems, including the day my girlfriend and I broke up AND REASON why, previous fights we had (when I looked back in the horoscopes) and EXACTLY my moods.

How is that possible? For as awesome as this is and powerful as this is it is a little bit scary. I know you say that we as individuals have the ultimate power of decision. Does it mean than, that I am floating and not making my own decisions, since everything matches so accurately? Is that a good/bad thing?

I have also ordered my personal profile and every single aspect of my personallity in described accurately and in detail. That was incredible and that is allowing me to see aspects that I need to improve upon.

The first comment(s),
I have been studying astrology since 1994 or so,
when there was a Neptune/Uranus/ conjunction
with Capricorn (which I am). AND, my life, and many
of my capricorn friends, experienced a MAJOR radical
shift in our inner/outer lives. Nothing was the same,
during or after this conjunction. And many of my
(lets say about 20) capricorn friends, could not take
the shift, and committed suicide. Too much rapid change.

I looked to astrology, to try to understand the very
large pattern that was occuring.....then I relaxed, and
gave in to it. An unusual rapid inner/outer transformation.
............................................................................... .......................

Since then, I look at Astrodienst every day...
(now I am a professor of ART), and I need to
know when the rattty-assed moods will come,
through-out the day (since I deal with students).
So that I am more aware of MOOD SHIFTS.
............................................................................... .........

Your site, the info here, has helped me, understand
in so many ways, the flux, the flow, of my lived experience.
I cannot really thankyou appropriately with words, how much
the information on your site, has helped me...in my life.
THANK YOU ALL, SO VERY very much.
............................................................................
The 2nd comment, is this: I have learned that looking at
this site, many times, the aspects for certain days, are in
the NEXT DAY...so I usually look ahead several days, to
see what might transpire...on a given day.
............................................................................... .....
Is this a misunderstanding on my part?? Or is it the
um, complexitiy of computer programming??
(the aspects for the 13th are sometimes listed on
the day of the 14th.?? or so) Not a problem, just...um,
curious.
............................................................................... .................
Whatever, nonetheless, I heartily, sincerely thankyou,
for all of our efforts. Astrodienst IS the only valid
astrology site on the web. I know, I have looked
at ALL OF THEM. (being an MFA ARt nerd).

So, from my heart/life/mind thankyou.

the square Saturn transits are difficult. They always strip what's not pure and try to lead you there.

My guessing about your transits would be: the squares to Venus and Mercury helped you to restrain yourself on the giving side and helped you to communicate and think facts. The square to your Sun in 7th house may have altered your relation. Or made it harder to connect to others/customers and there might have been a change about how you now do artistic work, perhaps initiated by other people feedback? And I guess you may have had a beginning emotional crisis about your appeal or of your work when Saturn was heading conjunct Moon.

Saturn square Saturn in Taurus/8 might change your way again. 8th house is also connected to the possesions/money of others (opposite house 2). It may therefore also be about giving and taking again. Some questions to think about: Does your work and your pricing reflect the highly spiritual constellation you have with Jupiter conjunct Neptune in Sagittarius and Venus in 6th house? Do you make same prices or does price vary depending on prospective customer? Do you give a part of your earnings to the needy/charity? Do you use it all for yourself? Or for shopping to look good? Do you help other artists, family and friends in their struggle as well? Have you ever tried to support a charity organization by your work? Are you satisfied with your earnings? Is it enough to pay the rent and make a living? Are you thankfull? Do you enjoy your work? Or do you long for something different? And so on.

Your square Saturn mustn't put the finger onto these topics at all. Sometimes Saturn just 'checks'. But those 'checks' may go under the skin to the bone. Since Saturn is the custodian between the inside and the outside world and how they relate to each other.

Your earning capacity IS really good but it does not help to take a few planets and look at them, the overall picture ( the whole chart) should be considered.

If a professional job is not possible, treat yourself to Liz Greene's book on Saturn (A New Look at an Old Devil) or Saturn in Transit (Erin Sullivan). Best wishes.

regarding your interpretaion of the T-cross in my birth chart. I see it a bit wider spread because there is also Saturn and Jupiter directly connected to the Sun/Mars square Uranus/Pluto and square Chiron. Saturn mirrored to the Sun (nearly equal distance from Capricorn axis) and trine Virgo ascendant and also linked to Chiron (semi-quintile). Jupiter sextile Sun and Jupiter quintile Mercury. And center of Jupiter/Saturn quincunx Uranus.

Actually I had enough chaos in childhood already. But I like creative chaos
setups (e.g. brain storming) very much. I am attracted to the sea and sailing ships (the first and only clean-energy vessels, even today!).

thank you very much for your kind reply. I was hoping to get an idea of the meaning of chiron in house 6 and pisces for itself. My opinion about explaining planets in a book is that one better should distinguish between sign qualities and house qualities. House qualities and sign qualities are different, sign qualities are fix, not so house qualities because they depend on the sign quality of ascendant (first sign) and thus cannot be intermixed or equaled.

About Chiron, my first interpretation of the Prometheus story was that he finally found a healer who took over his pain/disease and freed him. But the healer Chiron had no general cure to vanquish and eliminate those energies from himself. He should have had developed a way to clean his own energies in a ritual manner. Today, everyone working in healing should use those techniques to reconnect with one's own center - Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, breath meditation aso.

Some Chiron in 6th house themes:
Control, either too much or too little. Life, body may be controlled rigidly.
Need to organize (control?) thoughts, life and others to ward off chaos.
Relief through finally allowing for chaos, chaotic emotions. At odds with Apollo (Chiron square Sun)
Emotional issues mirrored thru physical symptoms.
12th house activities facilitate healing: solitude, activities by the sea, being drunk or chaotic, finding a way to honor Dionysus, uncovering ancestral inheritance, guided meditation.
Being open to hearing the wisdom of the body
Black Madonna as integration of body-spirit split. Make a pilgrimage to the cathedral at Notre Dame and the Black Madonna inside, imaginatively if not literally.
D.H. Lawrence’s “religion of the blood.” He’s a good read. See his poem Snake. Also Healing. Chiron is half animal - half god, an integration of the instinctual nature and the eternal, like much of Lawrence.

I've always viewed astrology as a more a source of potential (and often only half-relevant) insights, a self-indulgent source of entertainment and an emotional pacifier than anything particularly 'mystical'.

Liz Greene has changed all that.

Her powers of interpretation and divination border on the prophetic. It's downright spooky. As they say, it's not the method of divination but the diviner.

'm still not sure if I believe in 'astrology', but I believe in Liz Greene.

Liz, I'm a huge fan. Thank you. - M.

All my planets are in the sky except the Sun which is rising in 1st, closely conjunct the Ascendant. Other Fire elements include Sun is trine Mars at the 9th cusp ( air signs but fire houses and fire planets) and sextile Jupiter (fire planet angular in fire sign - Leo). Jupiter is part of a lunar stellium in Sun-ruled Leo in the 10th house (Moon, Pluto, Jupiter, Node). Among other things Liz said that is sort of a hybrid between Mozart, Sarah Bernhart, and the hero in a fairy tale. The Leo planets are sextile both ends of the Air trines at the various midpoints between planets in Gemini and Libra.

When I enter Rilke’s birth data (Dec 4, 1875, 00:15, Prague) into My Astro and get the Astrodienst chart it shows 20Virgo03 rising. When I enter the same data into Solar Fire Deluxe which uses your ephemeris it gives me 0Libra26 rising. Do you know if this is due to a local time correction that Astrodienst uses that Solar Fire may not?

you could just have meant me as well! But I have to admit that I am not Pluto in Leo generation. And if I hadn't come to terms with my parents I wouldn't have written such things about me at all. I am wondering why you get so upset about discussions about these topics? My feeling about astrology is all about this, helping people to get a better view of themselves and clearing up things from the past.

Putting all the blame to ones parents isn't a solution that is future-oriented because it doesn't solve anything and it doesn't prevent from doing exactly the same things in the same situations as ones parents did - former victim often becomes committer. A real healing can only happen inside oneself. And only after the happenings in the past are consciously processed and not repressed, declined or diverted any more (and ones survival as a child may have just required exactly this). And one has to develop/learn alternative ways of (re)acting - hardly done subliminally.

LATE SPEECH WITH MY BROTHER
Sharon Olds

my impression is that moon and jupiter are indeed some keys. Since the violence in childhood where the flow of my left side was completely blocked (because of those beatings or because I couldn't take what was on on emotional side in my family?). The quest I found myself on was (and still is) to reintegrate the emotional energies (blocked heart chakra, often missing confidence) and to get into closer contact to my inner child. Since I have that 'lack of confidence' I always tried to come up with better solutions to 'problems'. And I am focused on solutions.

Preponderance of planets in Water (5) with complementary support from 4 planets in Earth and Capricorn rising. You have an Air void with Mercury and Uranus, two of the primary Air planets being the only planets in the next least populated element - Fire. I think there is a correlation between the element balances and the Jungian types although I don’t think it’s quite so straight forward as counting up the score in each element. Capricorn rising in your chart with Saturn conjunct the MC would seem to be a strong grounding in Earth. And with Moon, Ascendant, Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune in Earth that would seem to be a strength of yours. Your Sun, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Pluto and MC being in Water. I would think you are a FEELING type and I would expect you to have strong and accurate instincts which you would not mentally minimized or dismiss since you do not give much credence to the Thinking function. Lack of Air does not mean lack of intelligence. It means you don’t approach and process the world through your Thinking function. With an Air void you might have difficulty keeping your objectivity. With Water-Earth predominating in your chart I would guess you are SF, Sensation Feeling type. Air would be the likely inferior function. Recommendation “Jung’s Typology”, Spring Publications -1971, consists of two long lectures. One by Marie-Louise van Franz on The Inferior Function and the other by James Hillman on The Feeling Function. It’s right up your alley.

You were born precisely at the full Moon. The aspect is partile and compelling. The Moon shows how you instinctively act and respond in any situation. The Sun has to do with self-determination, will, purpose and the capacity to choose to act in a certain way rather than just respond in the instinctive lunar manner. Life gets complicated when the will and self-determination are in direct opposition to your instinctual inclination.

To further complicate things you have Neptune Point Focus, square to both ends forming a T-Cross. Saturn is at the Midheaven and the theme of responsibility is up for you, emphasized by your Capricorn Ascendant. Melanie Reinhart says this can mean taking on, almost attracting burdens, with a feeling that in order to prove your value and worth in the eyes of the world, you must take on burdens. You want to be seen (10th) dragging heavy loads and doing your bit being dutiful and responsible.

You have a Mystic Rectangle (Moon, Mars, Sun Chiron with very tight orbs) in the already emphasized elements of Water and Earth. ME Jones does not discuss Mystic Rectangles but several other writers do. You have 2nd T-Cross with Venus Point Focus, square to both ends of a Mars Chiron opposition. This would indicate to me intense, passionate, difficult, conflict-laden relationship issues. Venus-Chiron indicates a wounding with respect to your self-worth but also the ability to see beauty where others can not. I would expect you to have empathy for the unfortunates of the world. You may consider yourself lacking in attractiveness which doesn’t necessarily have any basis in reality. Chiron Venus may feel that it is somehow disadvantaged in the area of beauty. Mars-Venus especially with Mars in Scorpio is sexy but nicely balanced between the assertive and the appreciative sides of your nature. Among many other indications you may have the ability to love someone and be angry at them at the same time. And you have a Yod, which may not be very compelling since it involves only outer planets and has no connection to the personal planets. The two T-Crosses may make it difficult for you to find your focus since both Point Focus planets want to drive in a sense.

i always thought i understood my chart, and with the free charts astrodienst offers i understand a little more. the interesting thing about my chart is how things seem to be 'up in the air' so to speak. it looks concrete from the outside, but nothing is set in stone. what do you think--

In your chart the quintiles may be a secondary consideration but I would think you have considerable artistry since 3 quintiles is more than usual. More importantly for me in your chart would be the overall Bucket configuration with it’s nearly exact rim opposition between Chiron and Uranus, the dominating T-Cross that forms the backbone of the bowl segment of your bucket, the Point Focus Sun-Mars conjunction. And the Moon with it’s triple distinction as the planet in High Focus, it’s elevation in the 10th house and it’s dignity in Cancer.

Yes, I’ve been familiar with both the Graves volumes for decades and I am aware of the transformation of myth over time. Before the patriarchal times with Zeus as the king and a pantheon of mostly male gods there was a more matriarchal religion and the stories of interest to those prior people were stories of the goddesses. Medusa was still beautiful and not yet the monster that she later became for Theseus. Graves writes about this prior time in a 3rd volume: The White Goddess and we continually unearth pieces of older stories at archeological sites. I think modern man is more like a Periclean Greek man than the Periclean Greeks were like the people of the prior matriarchal age. That must have been such a drastic change that the stories needed to be changed or they would have ceased to be interesting having lost their relevance to the listeners. I think changes since Pericles have been relatively minor compared to the differences between the matriarchal times and the subsequent patriarchal times.

It may seem myopic to you but my understanding of the myths works pretty well for me. And so far I have not heard from you any aspects of your new proposed myth that resonates in any deep way with me. You have proposed a system in very theoretical terms which has much merit to it and with which I have no disagreement but the examples you provide have to be squeezed unnaturally into that system. Your examples from comic books and popular but inferior television shows have so little credibility and longevity that your entire argument loses weight with me. As I said before Star Wars and also The Matrix stories have an allegiance to the older myths just dressed in modern clothes.

I am not anxious to find a modern myth until I thoroughly understand the old myth and have found it no longer represents my reality. I don’t want to diffuse the fine detail of the old myths with modern retellings that have forgotten the past. I would much rather learn at the knee of Sophocles or Euripides or Homer (whoever he was) than from a television writer or comic book artist who have commercial motives. The tellers of these modern stories may not understand the significance of the details from the ancient myths and so the little important details get lost along the way.

If you have ever committed to memory a complicated story, like one from Grimms, that you planned to deliver to a group of people it is vital to preserve all the fine details. Those sometimes apparently insignificant details are the entrances into the world of the myth for the listeners and if you forget to point one out someone will not find their rightful access and you will have failed as a story-teller. It is through those details that the members of your audience access their personal story and it’s intersection with the myth so the life of the individual finds its common ground with eternal truths.

I think that is the greater purpose of story-telling and that is what makes some stories great. It is not accidental that James Joyce is writing about Ulysses or Finnegan or Stephen Dedalus or that Rilke is writing Sonnets to Orpheus and poems about Hermes guiding Orpheus below to retrieve Eurydice. They go there because there is juice there and meaningful correlation to the human condition. And they go there because the stories are ancient, even forgotten consciously for many of us having resided secretly in the collective unconscious. To hear those stories awakens the old familiar memory in us and connects us to what is eternal.

Before we were talking about archetypes and I noticed you used the phrase “modern archetype.” That phrase is an oxymoron to me. Another representation of archetype is like an ancient river bed. Every year the rains come and the river fills up and flows toward the sea. But it flows in the ancient direction constrained by the walls of the river bed carved out over millennia or by huge forces. The great rivers of the world have changed somewhat over time but the changes have been gradual and relatively minor. You have to literally move mountains and change the lay of the land to change the way the river flows. I think of the archetypes in the same fashion.

interesting thing that animation feature you mentioned. But what I am looking for is a program that can find the constellations from some details and show me the intervalls of reoccurences. And I need the correct distances for my new model which is aimed to be applicable for birth places anywhere in the solar system, not necessarily on a planet. Actually this requires some rewriting of astrology meanings because Earth HAS to be included in this new model (and to my opinion it is missing in the existing one).

I did also point out the Quintiles because I feel they are important and are hardly mentioned or even downgraded to some sort of character qualities only. In my birth horoscope there are 3 quintiles (nearly exact, 30') uranus quintile neptune, mercury quintile jupiter, mercury quintile pluto and an exact saturn semi-quintile chiron. And I always had the impression that looking only on those squares, sextiles, trines, quincunx a.s.o. leaves something important out about my mental capabilities. The orbs used for taking aspects as valid are mostly pretty much too wide, too. There isn't really an exact approach today but only some kind of guessing in use. I have developed an explanation model for exact orb determination (but it has to be verified and since I am self-learner and never worked as an astrologer I have got far far from as many charts as you have).

So, perhaps mythology evolves somewhat in the way you describe as a game of telephone, but it does so with a type of Darwinian natural selection. Perhaps it is even augmented with some deliberate intent by those acutely perceptive culturalists who see the need to define, expose and guide important emerging elements of our civilization. I believe that perhaps our new American symbolism can co-exist with the old. In my earlier posts, I wasn't suggesting Superman supplant Heracles. And actually, I'm compelled to point out the somewhat myopic view you take of Superman as merely a 4 color print in a comic book with a bubble over his head. Certainly the evolution of the Superman myth is a case in point of a modern Graves-style myth mirroring, augmenting and transforming as it germinates to express tendencies in our modern society. Have you seen the American TV show Smallville? This is hundreds of hours of writing and story telling devoted to the character development of Superman as a young man. However entertainment driven this material might be, it is ripe with cultural trends which, through existential metaphor express the human condition unique to today- our moment in time (the intent of science fiction in general I believe).

Lastly, in reference to those greats such as Joseph Campbell- do you realize that he, among others, are playing the game of telephone you describe? Ancient mythology is discovered from the few remaining texts and graphic imagery left to our interpretation. Luckily, there are a few brilliant people who can take these texts (get passed the phone receiver) and imagery to offer insights and perspectives of their meaning with tremendous depth. From a bird's eye perspective of a sociological archeologist, they can deliver nuance to mythology of the time (very useful to we astrologers). Could you imagine how distorted rather than finessed our current interpretations of these millennia old archetypes might be if this mythology was lost via (telephone-game) transmission over the last 3 millennia? Unquestionably, even over the last 100 years, modern astrology has catapulted archaic interpretation into a multilayered, multidimensional psychological science- it has not disintegrated by being passed from one ear to the next. My point is, mythology is cultivated, it is not stagnant. As Graves describes, it augments along with society. Modern archetypes are valid evolutions, just as 400B.C. mythology is valid augmentations of 2500B.C. archetypes. Although there are immutable archetypes that will always describe the human condition, even the ancient Greeks understood that as their civilization evolved, their mythology had to keep up and I believe ours does with the new characters we see all around us.

The chart calculated at Prague for 00:15 AM puts Libra on the Ascendant and Venus precisely on the IC. Using the chart types of Marc Edmond Jones, Rilke has a perfect Bucket chart. All but one planet are in a semi-circle within an opposition of Pluto and Jupiter which forms the rim of the bucket. Uranus stands alone opposed to the rest of the chart and so becomes the Handle of the Bucket. Uranus forms a Core opposition to a lunar stellium in Aquarius. Note restatement of the Uranian themes. Uranus is the Handle to his Bucket chart, the planet brought to focus in his Fanhandle configuration (Uranus opp Moon, Mars, Saturn stellium), a corner of his Grand Square and also one of the corners of his Grand Trine (Ur, Chiron, Venus). Uranus throws major aspects to every planet in his chart except Neptune.

He is all Fire and Air. Sun, Ven, Ura, Chiron in FIRE. Moon, Mars, Sat, Asc in AIR. He has only Neptune and Pluto in Earth an indication that the practicalities of life are of little concern to him. He lives much of his life in poverty and sees darkness in material. And only Merc and Jupiter in WATER indicating that he does not have very conscious access to his emotions. His emotions are not weakened but they may be troublesome to him and somewhat unconscious. In Jung’s types, Rilke would be NT, an intuitive (fire) thinker (air). If you are a thinking type, the feeling function is undeveloped. If you are an intuitive type, the sensation function is undeveloped. The emphasis on Uranus supports his intellectual, thinking function. He must have received flashes inspiration and divine vision from his unconscious with Uranus so emphasized. Uranus’ opposition to Moon, Mars, Saturn stellium looks like some emotional difficulty and places considerable stress on the Moon.

Rilke’s relationship to his mother is complex. As a small child, Rilke was dressed as a girl and named Maria by his mother who wanted a girl, not a boy. He would knock at her door and she would ask “Who is it?” When he replied it is Rainer she would not allow him access. He had to say it was Maria before he would be allowed in. He made a point to keep that name when he became an adult. When Freud really wanted to psychoanalyze Rilke, thinking he would be a fascinating study, the great poet refused, saying if you rid me of my demons you will also rid me of my angels.

DER SCHAUENDE
Rainer Maria Rilke

Ich sehe den Bäumen die Stürme an,
die aus laugewordenen Tagen
an meine angstlichen Fenster schlagen,
und hore die Fernen Dinge sagen,
die ich nicht ohne Freund ertragen,
nich ohne Schwester lieben kann.

Da geht der Sturm, ein Umgestalter
geht durch den Wald und durch die Zeit,
und alles ist wie ohne Alter:
Die Landschaft, wie ein Vers im Psalter,
ist Ernst und Wucht und Ewigkeit.

Wie ist das klein, womit wir ringen,
was mit uns ringt, wie ist das gross
liessen wir, ähnlicher den Dingen,
uns so vom grossen Sturm bezwingen,
wir wurden weit und namenlos.

Was wir besiegen, ist das Kleine,
und der Erfolg selbst macht uns klein.
Das Ewige und Ungemeine
will nicht von uns gebogen sein.
Das ist der Engel, der den Ringern
des Alten Testaments erschien:
wenn seiner Widersacher Sehnen
im Kampfe sich metallen dehnen,
fühlt er sie unter seinen Fingern
wie Saiten tiefer Melodien.

I guess I understand what you want to say by 'When things happen that I do not like I feel the effects of my plutonian planet in Cancer, bite the bullet and go on'. For me it's Pluto in 12th together with Uranus at beginning of 12th house (virgo) square mars resp. sun in 3rd (sagittarius), moon in 10th (cancer).

I would describe this as what sometimes can be seen in old cowboy films: Afterwards that pragmatic hero turns his horse and rides away into the sunset...

THE MAN WATCHING
Ranier Maria Rilke
(trans. Robert Bly)

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can’t bear without a friend,
I can’t love without a sister.

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time,
and the world looks as if it had no age
the landscape, like a line in a psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights with us is so great!
If only we would let ourselves be dominated
as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it’s with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers in the Old Testament:
when the wrestlers’ sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.

thank you very much for your kind words! I will take a look into the book you proposed and the video (even though I am not a TV looker at all).

Today I think I survived childhood because of my sun sextile jupiter. And my escape route was reading books. But the capricorn saturn in exact mirror point to my sun seemed to have caused a lot of problems, too. And finally neptune in 2nd house had the square neptune transit lately. I am longing for some smooth times now...

But I am glad that I never have beaten my own children.

I read from you regarding JFK jr. 'Pluto is conjunct Ascendant from the 12th, an indication of a dark ancestral inheritance' (Aug.30).
I think 12th house having Pluto in there may really be some kind of survival thing. When I analyzed my ancestors I found that the whole family in at least three generations (father side) was moving around for job including my own father. This was not an issue in the family of my mother.

Pluto square a Sun-Mars conjunction must be very hard. Pluto-Sun alone makes for a threatening father. The addition of Mars to that complex makes it more difficult by an order of magnitude. My heart goes out to you. I was born with sort of a silver spoon in my mouth and I have all trines, sextiles and quintiles to my Sun My father was intelligent, kind, and just. It was easy for me to love him. I cannot imagine what life would be like for me if I did have all that he taught me or if I could not always feel good thinking about him.

I don’t think violation or violence upon a child by a parent has it’s source in not honoring the god. As children we are pretty much at the mercy of our parents. You are not guilty of enabling your father’s cruelty. There is a wonderful novel by Pat Conroy that you must read. THE PRINCE OF TIDES. Barbra Streisand made a movie of it with Nick Nolte as the only survivor of an abusive household. Conroy has the same Sun Pluto square you have with his Sun in Scorpio (a double whammy). In addition he has an exact Mar-Saturn conjunction also square his Sun. Conroy deals with the same issues you describe. The novel has more about the hero's older brother but the movie is brilliant and an act of love by Streisand. Conroy is one of the best contemporary writers in America. Prince of Tides is heart-breakingly beautiful.

Any chance you'd consider sharing your birth data? I'm particularly interested, because lately I've been brooding a lot about fate, too. Personally I've come to the conclusion that it's all fate, we have no control at all over what happens to us. People who think otherwise are just living in dreamland.

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars
But in ourselves that we are underlings.

I was reading the information on site regarding Lesson 5, the outer planets and was disappointed to find that Aspects to Pluto stopped at Mars. I really would like to read more on the aspects of the outer planets to Pluto.