Astrology For Dummies. Rae Orion
Take the case of Ahmir Khalib Thompson, aka Questlove, the Grammy-winning drummer and co-founder of The Roots, the hip-hop house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He is a DJ, a record producer, an entrepreneurial foodie, an author, an adjunct professor, and more. But what’s his sign? He was born on January 20, 1971, time unknown. And therein lies the problem. Is he a goal-oriented, disciplined Capricorn, a sign known for its work ethic, or a rebellious, iconoclastic Aquarian? He can’t be both … or can he?
If he was born before 12:13 p.m., he’s a Capricorn, which would certainly explain his ambition and productivity. If he was born after 12:13, he’s a freedom-loving, highly individual Aquarian.
So which is it? The variety of his accomplishments, musical and otherwise, and his interest in collaboration argue in favor of Aquarius. Compared to Capricorn, Aquarius is quirkier and more individualistic, the sign of the maverick and the avant-garde. On paper, it sounds hipper and more creative. I suspect the man himself might prefer it.
On the other hand, he did not come to music as a form of rebellion. On the contrary, music was, in his phrase, the “family business.” (His father was a well-known doo-wop singer.) He came to it as a responsible Capricorn, not a rebellious Aquarian. An indefatigable worker, he has built his brand with care, touring relentlessly and aligning himself with established institutions such as The Tonight Show and New York University.
So what’s his sign? In the absence of a complete birth certificate, a clarifying word from his mother, or a rectification by an astrologer who specializes in that technique, only he can decide which sign sounds more like the person he knows himself to be.
If your situation is similar, the same holds true for you. Astrologers will tell you that your Sun is in one sign or the other, not both. That’s true. But there are other planets, and they also bring something to the party. Questlove has Mercury in Capricorn and the North Node of the Moon in Aquarius. Even without the Sun, he has a touch of both signs. So where is his Sun? In his heart of hearts, he probably knows.
Chapter 2
Getting Your Precise Horoscope: The Old Way, the Internet Way, and the Software
IN THIS CHAPTER
What could be more fabulously arcane than an astrological chart? Well, lots of things: alchemical sigils, kabalistic diagrams, magical amulets — you name it. But this book isn’t about them. It’s about astrology, which may seem esoteric at first glance but actually is not. That’s because an astrological chart, for all its mysterious-looking symbols and mandala-like shape, has nothing mystical about it. It’s a simple representation of the real world — a picture, in streamlined form, of the solar system at the time of your birth. The interpretation may be complicated and nuanced, but the image itself is straightforward.
To visualize the cosmos as it was when you were born, imagine standing on the Earth at that precise instant. Imagine, too, that you’re facing south and looking at a gigantic clock face that has been superimposed on the sky. To your left, in the nine o’clock position, is the eastern horizon. That’s your Ascendant. If you were born around dawn, that’s where the Sun is. If you were born around midday, your Sun is high in the sky in front of you, near the twelve o’clock mark. To your right, in the three o’clock position, lies the western horizon. If you were born around dusk, that’s where your Sun is. And if you came into this world around midnight, when your part of the world was dark and the other side of the planet was awash in daylight, your Sun can be found near the bottom of your chart, somewhere around the six o’clock spot.
If you happen to know the phase of the Moon at your birth, you can locate it in a similar way. Were you born under a new moon? Then your Moon and Sun are in roughly the same place. Born under a full moon? Then the Sun and Moon are opposite each other — 180° apart. If one is rising, the other is setting.
The point is this: Your natal chart is neither a metaphysical construct nor a mystical diagram. It’s a stylized map of the heavens that shows the Sun, the Moon, and the planets at a precise moment in time from a specific place. The astrologer’s task is to interpret all that information. But first, you have to get an accurate copy of your chart.
Casting Your Chart the Old-Fashioned Way
In the past, before the computer and related technology infiltrated every molecule of human existence, casting a chart was more than a challenge. It was a commitment. It required hours of free time, a fearless attitude towards mathematics, the ability to concentrate on minutiae, and a willingness to grapple with longitude, latitude, standard meridians, local time, daylight saving time, universal time, sidereal time, and a table of proportional logarithms. If you made a mistake — and it was easy to do that, adding when you should have subtracted or copying the wrong numbers from a page entirely covered with rows and columns of numbers — well, you had to start all over again. Most people didn’t have the patience.
I felt differently. I liked staying up late with a pot of tea and all my astrological supplies: a planetary almanac or ephemeris, a heavy atlas, a book of time zones and time changes, a Table of Houses (my battered hardcover — it must be around here somewhere — had a copyright date of 1893), pads of yellow paper, and the special horoscope blanks I bought at a metaphysical bookstore. As I calculated each planetary position and house cusp, drew the symbols of the signs and planets onto the wheel of the chart, figured out the geometrical relationships among the planets, and counted up how many were in fire signs, in earth signs, and so on, the chart — and the person — slowly grew clear in my mind.
That process takes time, and I don’t do it anymore. I use a computer, like every other astrologer. With a computer or a smart phone anyone can generate an accurate chart in less time than it takes to sharpen a pencil. It’s a satisfying form of instant gratification, which is why, as nostalgic as I occasionally feel for those long-ago evenings of computation and revelation, I wouldn’t go back.
In those days, many people who were fascinated by astrology never learned it because they were put off by the math or by the amount of time required. Those issues no longer exist. In the rest of this chapter I tell you how to