Pluto and the art of reinventing yourself

I spotted this this graffiti on a boarded up entrance in the city of York. The building on the other side of the enclosure looked like an empty warehouse. It was dilapidated, awaiting attention, demolition, destruction, reinvention, regeneration. If and when someone starts using it again it could take on a different form and have a different use. If you look at the bottom left hand corner you'll see there are already suggestions in graffiti of a hotel, and flats.

I photographed these words as they reminded me of how we, when we're undergoing a lot of change and feel the need to reinvent ourselves, or change direction and do something new, are getting a big nudge from Pluto. Responding to the call of Pluto is not for the fainthearted because making changes often means giving things up, things which are a cosy and safe part of our existence, things through which we identify ourselves. This takes courage and demands we engage our will, through using the Sun, the planet associated with the mind, which we use to choose, decide and ultimately to create with.

The potential creativity of choosing to be something else was what drew my attention to these words. They provoked me to wonder what else I could be if I wasn't a professional astrologer, a writer, a teacher of astrological psychology and all the other things I am that I could list here.

Pluto is not always about tough, cataclysmic destruction. It can be about making conscious changes as and when we know the time is right, and more importantly, when we also feel the time is right and has come. So take away this thought-provoking piece of graffiti and ask yourself, "What else could I be?". Choose wisely, too - you may be starting on the next big step in your life.

Astrological Houses 1 & 7

The Astrological Houses are divisions in the birth chart which relate to different areas of the environment around us and are where we express all matters related to this particular area of life. The 1st house begins at the Ascendant, or AC, and is where we develop and nurture our self-image; the 7th house, which is opposite, is where we meet one-on-one with others, encountering them and forming partnerships of various kinds with them.

People with planets in the 1st house may be very self-aware or at least open to learning and knowing more about themselves. They probably won't define themselves through the expectations of others as they already have a strong sense of who they are or of how they would like to become. A focus of planets in the 1st house is shown in this chart.

People with planets in the 7th house may be very outgoing and sociable, not liking to be alone or without others to refer to, as they tend to define themselves and learn about themselves through their interactions with others. This chart shows a focus of planets in the 7th house.

The ideal is to gain some balance between the 1st and 7th houses if we have an excess of planets in one of these two houses. Of course, it's not as simple as that and everyone is different, so a chart session with a qualified astrological consultant who uses astrological psychology will offer help and guidance to anyone who wants to take their understanding and personal development further. Find one by clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of the page. You can see me talking about the 1st and 7th houses here, and about all the other houses on my Astrochat Channel on YouTube.

For more info on the houses, all aspects of astrological psychology and how to learn about this for yourself, visit the Astrological Psychology Association website.

Freddie Mercury's Age Point

I liked The Beatles, The Rolling Stones were OK, but the best band for me has to be Queen, with lead singer Freddie Mercury top of my list of singers with the most amazing voice ever.

Freddie was born on 5.9.1946 on the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania. His birth time is speculative, but is given as 05.10 in "British Entertainers - the astrological profiles" by Frank C. Clifford. Using the Huber Method of Age Progression I've checked out a few key life events, and find there is some validity in this time, so Freddie's chart is set up for this time.

It shows predominantly linear aspects, with only one complete aspect pattern - the red/blue Ambivalence triangle. This suggests an inner drive and motivation that was restless and adaptable. Freddie's family fled Zanzibar when he was 17 to avoid the dangers of the Zanzibar revolution in 1964, and settled in the UK. This event concurs with his Age Point making a quincunx aspect to Uranus when he was 17, Uranus being the sudden change and upheaval created by a revolution, and the move to somewhere foreign and completely different.

Freddie's contribution to British music is outstanding. He joined Queen in 1970, as his Age Point reached the 5th cusp and was conjunct the Moon. He was reputed to be a very private person, which is perhaps indicated in his strongly "I" sided chart with Sun in Virgo; it's only his Moon in Sagittarius which is up for grabs, just into the "You" side of the chart and more visible to the world. But the Moon is opposite Uranus, the highest planet in the chart and maybe it was this combination which allowed him to perform in an often outrageous and very individualistic style.

The Ambivalence triangle is quite a common aspect pattern in charts. The person feels the tension of work in the red opposition aspect, but they can escape into the planets at the blue corner of this pattern for R&R. With Venus and Jupiter here, Freddie may well have indulged in sybaritic activities.

Another Age Point quincunx to Uranus in 1975 coincided with the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, a groundbreaking and innovative song, which Freddie wrote. His imagination, creativity and wide appeal may well be due to his unaspected Neptune - was he able to tap into something less tangible for inspiration? Was this where his - at times almost heavenly - voice came from? Here I think of him singing Barcelona along with Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe, who said of him "the difference between Freddie and almost all the other rock stars was that he was selling the voice"

Freddie's lifestyle eventually caught up with him and he contracted AIDS, dying of pneumonia at the age of 45 on 24th November 1991, with his Age Point in the 8th House, approaching the Low Point of the whole chart and making aspects to his Sun and Pluto. The world lost a charismatic performer, a creative writer and performer and a voice which as yet, is unsurpassed.

To find out more about The Huber Method of Age Progression see the Huber's book LifeClock, and my book Using Age Progression. You can read more about by clicking the appropriate tabs at the toip of the page. Both are available from the APA on-line Book Shop.

Capricorn and the climb up the mountain

As the Sun enters Capricorn, marking the Winter Solstice and the start of the slow but sure return of the Sun's light to the northern hemisphere, I'm sharing a few images to illustrate the Capricornian journey to the mountain top. These were taken in Alaska and come courtesy of Maylis at www.maylisphotography.com

Capricorn, a Cardinal Earth Sign, is renowned for its determination and staying power en route to attaining the distant goal it has set for itself. Capricorn is symbolised as half-fish, half-goat. Its tail may draw it back towards the watery world where it was spawned, but its head and upper body lead it onwards and upwards towards the distant heights. If you've ever watched goats climbing up a mountainside you'll know that they are sure-footed and determined, leaping from one rock to the next and not always going in a straight line. They take their time, they have a kind of strategy which keeps them on a safe footing as they gradually work their way towards their goal. Observe these traits in people born with the Sun in Capricorn. They don't take unnecessary risks, they suss out all eventualities before embarking on a project and they usually aim high.

The Capricorn traveller sees the goal - the mountain peak. It's in the distance, there's a lot of ground to be covered and there's cloud on the mountain top. All risks and possibilities have to be covered before the traveller sets off. Capricorns are good planners - be creative and imagine what this one might wear and carry with them at the start of their journey! There's a glacier to be crossed before the mountain is reached and the real climb starts.

Crossing the glacier could be fraught with unexpected dangers so the Capricorn traveller needs to plan ahead and have the right equipment. The journey may take longer than planned if the traveller has to make detours to skirt around the crevasses. And if Capricorn decides to leap across, this will not be done without care, attention and risk limitation!

When the mountain top is finally reached, the view is breathtaking and the air refined and of a different quality. Here, Capricorn may well "see the light" and gain a vastly different and far wider view and perspective on the world, life and his or her own reason for being here. But this is a practical Earth Sign and although the spiritual heights can be reached, Capricorn's task is to bring the insights from this journey and experience down off the mountain and share them in some way (perhaps simply by example) with others.

The esoteric seed thought for Capricorn is "Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back" and that more or less sums up what I've tried to relate to you here about the highest expression of this Sign.

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.