Anne Massey’s astrology blog

Update

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 | astrologer's diary | Write Comment

Today I begin my 24th year as a professional astrologer. The language of astrology is both rich and intricate, there is always something new to learn to broaden our understanding of life. In the past week, I have heard of the passing of two colleagues, two other people I know are battling cancer and the news around the globe are equally depressing. I look at the big picture for the year and note that until about May-June the planetary patterns are turbulent. Just relate this statement to the bizarre weather we are having, however, once the storm passes we can return to normalcy.

I have opted to concentrate my thoughts on gaining a deeper understanding behind the rationality of astrology, so I have been studying Sacred Geometry—the symmetry within the Universe and drawing spheres and circles. I am working on my Mercury book; it has been on hold for several years partly because I haven’t felt inspired to write it. I never thought I’d go and buy books on mathematics; it has never been my strong suit. I literally open my spreadsheet program when I need to work with numbers beyond one digit. Oddly enough I can look at the angular separation between two planets and instantly gauge the aspect without doing any math. The spheres and three dimensional objects have always made my eyes glaze over.

I am also working on a Mercury 2011 story with horoscopes, and hope to have that up by the weekend. I will fire off an email to those on my readers list—if you’d like to receive my periodic emails, send me one at anne@astrologicallyspeaking.com

Sun moving house

Thursday, January 20th, 2011 | astrologer's diary, astrology basics | Write Comment

Today the Sun is in Aquarius and begins its race to catch up with Mars for the biennial meeting. Planets are like characters in our life’s drama, comedy or just play. When they change sign, it can be looked at as them moving, changing residence. All of the planets have one or two permanent residences. The Sun has its home in Leo and a well-like country residence in Aries—those are the two signs he likes the best, he gets to be the only centre of attention. Today the Sun began his four week visit to Aquarius, which is far from his home as possible. It is not warm and welcoming; he isn’t the only centre of attention. Aquarius is more concerned with camaraderie and common good, the many rather than the individual. In fact the Sun does not stay as long in the sign of Aquarius as he does in other signs. Aquarius is known as the detriment of the Sun; the word detriment means hindrance and prevention. The Sun is literally farther from us at this time of year in the Northern hemisphere, however, this doesn’t mean that people living in the Southern hemisphere born when the Sun was in Aquarius, are somehow Leos. For the Southern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice the height of Summer, perhaps we should call these the Cancer and Capricorn Solstice instead. › Continue reading

Busy Fingers

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 | astrologer's diary | Write Comment

Today is a writing day for me. I have penned my letter from the president for the Fraser Valley Astrological Guild, and need to type News from the Guild for the Canadian Association for Astrological Education. I also need to write a column about the symbolism behind astrology. This time I am writing about the square, the first in the series was about the symbolism of the circle. Busy fingers today; speaking about the digits of our hand, I received a book entitled ‘Fingerology’ in the mail the other day. (iUniverse.com, ISBN 978-1-4401-6703-4).  It is written by Hillary J. Kener and Michael Zeide M.D. One of the graphics I made for my website for an article on astrology and palmistry is an illustration in this complete guide to the Fingers. Zeide is an orthopaedic surgeon, obviously fascinated by everything about fingers. The fingers in our hand are associated with the planets. Our Jupiter finger is the Index finger, the one with which we point, the finger we wag to emphasise a point. A well formed, long Jupiter finger is an indication that we have a good Jupiter influence in our lives. Our Saturn finger, it the middle finger, the one we use to give an obscene gesture. Knotty hands belong to a philosopher the extremely well-proportioned, smooth fingers are those of an artist, and so on. That old article is at www.astrologicallyspeaking.com/palmistry.htm and if you are interested at finding our more about your fingers from every perspective you might want to get a copy of the book. And back to typing in order to meet my deadlines, and clear my schedule for the Sun in Aquarius month that begins tomorrow.

Change is in the stars

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary | 1 Comment

As the astrological month ends, many of the planets are at the end of a sign. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are each about to change signs. This week, the Sun is also at the end of a sign, getting ready to move on January 20. And there is a Full Moon tomorrow… thus we are dealing with the gibbous phase until then—that phase, astrologically speaking, is when we are perfecting, working hard and trying to get out a polished product, whatever that might be. Those of us born just before a Full Moon were born with this mindset, I have got to learn how to do it better, I can do better, and I certainly have room for improvement. Once a month our natal Moon phase repeats for 3.5 days and that is when we are learning about our role in life and how to best tackle it. › Continue reading

The Zodiac Story

Saturday, January 15th, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary, astrology basics | Write Comment

Much like finding how to get somewhere using the GPS, an astrological chart gives insights about how to navigate through life.

It is easy for the scientific community to debunk astrology, which does not conform to current specific scientific rules. The statement that we might have thirteen signs for horoscopes, caused reporters to contact many of us to get a statement. The National News ran the story at the end of the broadcast where the cutesy stories are read, the final minutes. It was so poorly compiled and understood by the reporter that the statements had become the Earth has changed location as has the Sun… completely nonsensical…

It has become obvious that people don’t understand the basic premise of astrology or the origins of newspaper horoscopes. Horoscopes as they appear in newspapers were the result of astrologers in Great Britain attempting to popularize astrology, and are based on the sign of the Sun; this began about 90 years ago. The actual horoscope or astrological chart is much more complex, the Sun is one of the starting points.

What information is identical between the two fields of study? Astrologers and astronomers time the seasons and eclipses exactly the same.

What is the Zodiac and where is it? How do we define the Zodiac differently from astronomy? › Continue reading

Astronomical versus astrological sky

Friday, January 14th, 2011 | Ask Anne, Astrology for You, astrologer's diary | Write Comment

• Western or tropical astrology uses the Zodiac signs not the constellations as astronomers now define them.
• Copernicus—the father of the Scientific Revolution— was not only a Canon of the Catholic Church, but also a doctor, astronomer and a court astrologer.
• Rest assured this item for the latest 24-hour news cycle is not about to change a system of knowledge and wisdom that predates Christianity.

This new astrological constellation according to astronomer Parke Kunkle, who began the current sensational story, isn’t new. Astrology, absolutely is antiquated, the surviving astrological texts date back about 2,000 years. The authors of that era refer to ancient astrologers, so we can make an assumption that astrology is far older. Astrologers use the names of the constellations; however, these are names for the signs and are not directly linked to the constellations. Ancient astrologer-astronomers knew about it, and decided that it did not occupy an adequate length of the Ecliptic to warrant an immortal space on the band of animals. Rest assured this item for the latest 24-hour news cycle is not about to change a system of knowledge and wisdom that predates Christianity.

The story gone viral today and entering the 24-hour news cycle is about how the fixed stars have moved and now everything is off kilter—astrology with its 12 signs is antiquated, out of touch with reality and should now change the whole field of knowledge. We might still think that the Earth is the centre of the Universe and the Sun, the one and only star in the solar system, revolves around the Earth. That changed when Copernicus published his book. Incidentally he was not only a Canon of the Catholic Church, but also a doctor, astronomer and a court astrologer.

The way astrology defines the time when the Sun changes sign is different from astronomy. Vedic astrology practised in India is star-based, however, off a little from the astronomical measurements. Western astrology is also known as tropical and is based on the seasons to put it simplistically. Astronomers and western astrologers give an identical time for the change of seasons. This is primarily the starting point of western astrology with the twelve signs for the Sun used in generalized horoscopes. Astrology goes beyond the Sun… › Continue reading

What about Ophiuchus

Thursday, January 13th, 2011 | astrologer's diary | Write Comment

I had a call from a reporter wondering whether the Zodiac had changed—was he still a Capricorn. This issue crops up periodically, the thirteenth constellation and why astrologers do not use it. Astrology is a symbolic language and while some call it a science, we should remember the original meaning of the word: knowledge. There are three ways of measuring the date the Sun changes sign, the western tropical—the astrology of the seasons—is the one listed in all the horoscope columns. These are approximations, but typically accurate to about 24 hours each year. The Sun changes sign, astrologically speaking, at a precise moment. For example this year, the Sun moves into Aquarius on the 20^th of January at 2:19 PST (AM), thus this year it is the 20^th just about everywhere in the World. Last year the Sun moved into Aquarius on January 19 at 20:28 PST, four time zones away the date was the 20^th. If we measure the time using the sidereal Zodiac, all dates are approx. 23 days different. If we use the astronomical reckoning the difference is about 24-25 days and there is the 13^th constellation… While up until a few centuries ago astronomers were also astrologers; that is no longer the case. › Continue reading

Age, Mars, Energy

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary | 3 Comments

You are young at any age, when planning for tomorrow. I forget whose quote that is. I was reminded of that when I spoke to an older colleague, whose life is so full and active. I dream that I can keep up and keep on going when I get there in terms of age. Aside from the horrendous news around the world, people individually seem more energized than last year. There are so many changes in the stars this year.

This week, Mars moves into Aquarius on Saturday for about six weeks having spent the last six weeks in the sign of its exaltation. Mars energizes us when it is nicely placed for us. Potentially, Mars in Aquarius energizes people who have the Sun or Ascendant in that sign. With Mars we need to remember that he is the god of war, and loves to do battle, so the side effect of having Mars in your sign is that we are extra assertive (read aggressive when appropriate). The other three fixed (remember stubborn) signs are likely to feel pushed to do more either from within (the easiest option) or from an external source such as a demanding boss. For the mutable signs Pisces and Virgo it is more about making compromises and adjustments. For Gemini and Sagittarius, things move more smoothly—support is readily available. The Cardinal signs Cancer and Capricorn similarly are working toward adjusting while making compromises.  Libra and Aries get a boost and support from this energy. It’s a huge topic, of course, however heads up it is changing and until then while Mars travels through the last bit of Capricorn we may feel swamped, I have been doing overtime in my office and I work for myself, so no-one to blame, hah, ha-ha. So Mars moves ahead on the 15^th at 14:41 PST. On the 4^th of February Mars has his biennial meeting in Aquarius at 15 degrees plus change. That sets the tone for the next two years, wherever that occurs for you in your chart gives you clues about what is going to keep you busy for the next two years. › Continue reading

Astrology, Accounting and Hair

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary | Write Comment

Astrology has many practical applications; one I have used with great success is timing requests for payment on monies owed. Collecting overdue accounts used to be part of my job description for many years. My success rate was high and some of the amounts were massive. In most instances I did not talk about the fact that I chose collection times and dates with astrology. At one company they continued to use astrological timing after I left. I always collected with the Moon in a cardinal sign—that is Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. I avoided collecting with the Moon void of course. I noticed that if I began with Aries I might have to wait for a month, and naturally some people paid within a few days. If I collected with Cancer the results were faster and with Libra they were almost instantaneous and with Capricorn I also got an apology for the oversight. › Continue reading

The Moon

Monday, January 10th, 2011 | Astrology for You, astrologer's diary | 2 Comments

Moon reached its apogee today, which is farthest from the Earth. This happens once a month. The Moon’s passage around the Zodiac is about 28 days. The natural cycle in nature is that of the Moon in its journey around the Zodiac. We know that the tides are influenced by the Moon and so are our lives. In a way the Moon measures our tides. We tend to be more emotional at the Full Moon and with the New Moon we take action, chart the course of our lives with a new goal.  The waxing phase of the Moon, from new to full, is associated with growth and instinctive action. The Moon is in crescent phase and in Aries today. This month the New Moon was a powerful eclipse. Today is a day to take action, and to chase after things you need or want. I love watching people with the Moon information. On days when the Moon is in Aries, lasts about 2.5 days, people drive more offensively and seem to be in a hurry. I think of the Moon in Aries as the ‘race-car driver’ Moon, however, most of us only drive in regular traffic. I have this Month’s Moon schedule at the end of this post. For example, once again watching people drive with the different Moon signs, check out the behaviour of drivers when the Moon is in Gemini. You will catch people talking on the cell phones without the ear piece while making an illegal U-turn or reading the newspaper or one of the modern gadgets while snarling through rush hour traffic. Gemini is the information junkie who loves to multi-task.

In the Moon Watch for the Month listing you will see notations every couple of days stating that the Moon went void of course. This means that the Moon will not communicate with the other planets until she reaches the next sign. The next time this happens is January 12 at 18:47 PST and lasts about an hour. The listings are in the Pacific Time zone, which is 8 hours behind Greenwich meantime see footnote[i]. When the Moon is void of course (V/C or VOC) we should avoid beginning something new and take this to mean time out, it is not a good time to make purchases, we tend to buy on an impulse and end up with things we don’t ever use. I have the annual Moon listings on my website www.astrologicallyspeaking.com/voc.htm and I also have articles about the void of course Moon. › Continue reading