Tiger Woods

Media speculation is currently rife over what is going on in Tiger Woods' private life, fuelled again today by the admission to hospital of a "blonde middle aged woman" from Wood's house. This follows hot on the heels of his low speed, early hours car crash outside his house and his wife's smashing of the rear windscreen of his car with a golf club. Whatever is going on?!

Tiger Woods was born on 30.12.1975 at 22.50 in Long Beach CA, USA. The aspect structure has a mainly vertical direction reminiscent of an exploding red and blue star or firework. Maybe that's how life feels for him right now. The lack of green aspects in his chart - he has a count of 4 red: 1 green: 7 blue - indicates an either/or approach to life, with very few shades of grey in a very either/or, clear cut attitude to life. This is supported by his strong by Sign Capricorn Sun which aspects both Uranus and Pluto but in linear (Cardinal type) aspect to both of them. Uranus for erratic behaviour and Pluto for power?

I confess to knowing little about golf, but from what I've read and heard about Woods, he has a cool, incisive and very determined style on the golf course. With only one green aspect there is no room for dithering and being indecisive; competitive play (and the success that goes with it) is a matter of either/or with no distractions or deviations.

Yet deviate from his nice clean image is what he appears to have done. Women who claim they have slept with him are emerging from the shadows and are taking centre stage in media interviews and speculation. Woods has 3 Ambivalence figures in his chart. The triangular Ambivalence figure is made up of 1 red and 2 blue aspects; no green aspects are involved so it uses the red part of the figure to be active and "do" and the blue as a route to "be" and enjoy. The blue aspects in this pattern meet at the apex of the triangle, and in Astrological Psychology we see the planet at this blue corner as being the "escape" planet, the one the person will gravitate towards when they need some R&R, to switch off, relax and enjoy. When they are there, identifying with and expressing the energies of this "escape" planet, the urge of the red opposition aspect which demands action, work and "doing" are on hold (hence the ambivalence). Could Woods, with 3 of these figures in his chart, have been heeding the call of those 3 "escape" planets?

In case you can't spot them easily on the chart, they are Venus (signifying relating on all levels, but perhaps in a more specific and intense way in Scorpio?); Neptune, which can confuse things horribly if we're not careful, as well as offering glimpses of something alluringly just out of reach. From some perspectives, Neptune is about pure escapism. Finally Jupiter, placed in 7th house of encounters with others. Jupiter here, in Aries, is quite strong by Sign and is the planet/psychological drive which encourages us to take risks and open up to new experiences. As an "escape" planet in an Ambivalence figure it could well be instrumental in Woods' apparently uncharacteristic behaviour.

For more specific examples of the Ambivalence figure at work, see my book The Living Birth Chart, and for aspect patterns in general see Aspect Pattern Astrology by Bruno & Louise Huber. Click on the tabs at the top of the page to find out more about these books.

Bill Gates' Dominant Learning Triangle

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, was born on 28.10.1955 in Seattle WA, USA, at 21.15. Now known for his philanthropy as well as his connection with IT, Gates' chart provides some interesting insights into what he might draw upon to support his entrepreneurial drives and motivation.

The image his chart offers reminds me of an axe head splitting apart two sections of wood; it comes down firmly with the Scorpio Sun at the sharp cutting point. Gates' Sun is one of the three pinning planets in the Dominant Learning triangle which fills a large area of the chart structure. The rest of the aspects are disconnected and linear, suggesting an underlying restlessness and the ability to think and act decisively and outside the box.

The Dominant Learning triangle is direct - that is, the colour sequence, beginning at the red/blue corner, and moving in an anti-clockwise direction, is red-green-blue. (The shadow triangle you can see behind this one is a retrograde one). Dominant Learning triangles make individuals who have them in their chart lifelong learners. Each journey around the triangle presents new opportunities for deepening understanding and acquiring new perspectives and abilities, depending on what the pinning planets are. In Gates' chart these are his Scorpio Sun in the 4th house, intercepted Moon in Aries at the top of the chart in 10th house and Low Point Uranus in the 1st house. On initial inspection, perhaps not a particularly promising line up by placement for an entrepreneur.

In the Dominant Learning triangle, the activity and the learning process begin with the planet at the red/blue corner - in Gates' chart this is Uranus on the Low Point (LP) in the 1st house. Low Point planets are often not easily expressed in the outside world, mainly because the person has not found a method of successfully expressing them in a way that others can accept or comprehend. A Low Point planet has to be worked on and developed. Although it may not initially be a wow out in the world, it is an invaluable inner resource. Uranus on the 1st house LP could be a source of inspiration, ideas, leaps of insight, sudden "ah-ha!" experiences and a tool to help lateral thinking. It's also the planet associated with innovative technology.

So....Gates' process with this aspect pattern could be (and here I can only speculate and hypothesise, but that's part of the fun!) the sudden bright and innovative idea that comes from Uranus. This demands some action, so the red "doing" aspect between Uranus and Sun is activated, and his mind, will, ability to choose and make decisions in brought into play. Being a Scorpio Sun, these qualities are never shallow or superficial and there may be a touch of shrewed strategy involved at this stage of the process. Action has been initiated, but then searching, questing, mutable qualities become involved as the learning process travels along the green aspect to the Moon to test out the feel of the whole thing.

Gates' Moon is intercepted - it's trapped in Aries, a sign with no house cusps -and has no way out into the world - so it's difficult for him to gauge at this stage how his innovative idea might be received by the environment, which might not want what LP Uranus has to offer anyway! At this point, Moon could be drawing heavily on the Sun - his mind, his creativity and the sense of self he gains through this planet, because it's the only one in this aspect pattern which has the clearest route for expression in the environment. This could be where the entrepreneurship kicks in.

Once this stage has been passed through, it's a matter of completing the third and final side of this pattern via the connection between Moon and Uranus. The blue aspect denotes a sense of achievement and the coming into being of the original idea, but there is a slight hesitancy and possible doubt here shown by the one-way (dotted) aspect between these two planets. The learning and the process involved may end with another question mark; the entrepreneur will start the whole process off again, maybe in a completely new way.

Gates' Sun conjunct Neptune which links to Jupiter/Pluto for me suggests his philanthropy. His unaspected Venus/Saturn present further interesting paths of exploration - but not here and not now. I will look at unaspected planets in a future post.

To learn about aspect patterns (there are over 40 if them!) see "Aspect Pattern Astrology" by Bruno and Louise Huber, "The Cosmic Egg Timer" by myself and Richard Llewellyn and my books "Aspect Patterns in Colour" and "The Living Birth Chart" All are available at the On-Line Book Shop at the Astrological Psychology Association web site.

The Living Birth Chart

This review of my book The Living Birth Chart appears in the current issue of the Astrological Association Journal, and was written by the Editor, John Green:

This book is a follow up to the 2004 book The Cosmic Egg Timer written by Joyce Hopewell and Richard Llewellyn, which gave an introduction to the Huber Method of astrological work. The Huber Method was developed by Bruno and Louise Huber in collaboration with Roberto Assagioli, the founder of Psychosynthesis. This book expands on the previous one, and is a deeper and more practical workbook. Numerous examples and practical exercises are included which enable the reader to gain an understanding of the approach and to develop their own understanding.

Not being a practitioner of the Huber method, I found the book an interesting read, explaining fully and clearly each of the different techniques a Huber astrologer will use to gain insight into a chart. As such, I think this book will be useful to any astrologer wishing to understand those ideas and would certainly be invaluable to any student looking to embark on learning this particular method.

The book starts with an overview of the Huber Method, a very insightful and holistic way of working with astrology. Further chapters explore understanding the motivation and psychology of the person, integrating the personality, integrating with the environment, reconciling the past, present and future and following the spiritual path.

The text is well written with a lightness of touch that makes it an enjoyable read. There are numerous practical exercises in the book for the student to follow which makes this a real workbook for the student of astrology. It’s an approach that isn’t always found as clearly in other astrological schools, and should be applauded as a great way to write for students. My only criticism is that I found the printed charts in the book to be a little small and fuzzily printed, which made it hard to pick out all the details discussed within the text. That aside, this is a great starter book for anyone interested in discovering more about the Huber Method.

The Living Birth Chart is available from the APA on-line Book Shop, from Amazon and from other booksellers.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

9th November 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The chart is set for 18.57 on 9.11.1989 in Berlin, based on data obtained from Astro-Databank. The Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany and split families apart. It was a stone version of the Iron Curtain which divided the Soviet bloc from Western Europe.

The chart is a red/blue one with no green aspects. Red/Blue charts indicate a motivation which is either/or, black/white, with no shades of grey. This wall was set to come down, and no messing; it was the will of the people that it should do so.

The chart shaping is completely linear, giving an edgy, restless, tangential drive and a large burst of Cardinal energy to the events which took place as the wall came down. People chipped at it, bludgeoned it with hammers and whole chunks were torn out of it as holes appeared and people danced triumphantly on the top of it, or climbed through it into the West. Families were reunited and there was a feeling of immense relief that this huge and menacing edifice had started to crumble and fall.

For me, the most enduring memory of this momentous event was the Saturn/Neptune conjunction which was closely applying at the time and was exact in 12th November. This event was a graphic example of the Saturnian stone boundary of the wall being dissolved under the influence of Neptune's close conjunction. Even more graphic was that Saturn itself was in its natural Sign of Capricorn.

Also conjunct Saturn/Neptune was another tight conjunction between Venus and Uranus. Between them, Uranus went about shaking and challenging the very foundations of control and society in Eastern Europe, with Venus symbolising the renewal of relationships and a new era of fairness and balance between east and west. All four of these planets were opposite Jupiter, suggesting that this was the opportune time as well as the optimum time for this event.

Learn Astrological Psychology

Foundation chart for the UK Astrological Psychology Association
8.6.1983, 12.30, London

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