Feeling pretty bummed

[sotonye]

I haven't been feeling well for a while now due to health complications and I can't fully participate here or in my own life as a result, and things almost always seem to be this way and it feels like they always will be, that despite what I do my health will always suffer some outstanding reversal. What I don't understand is what in my chart could possibly suggest this. I feel stricken with bad luck but there aren't indications of this really anywhere. I don't know, it just feels weird and bad the way things are and it's a bummer that things don't seem likely to change

[Jim Eshelman]

Sotonye, I'll take a look and would like to make sure I'm answering the right question.

I don't remember if you've told us what the exact health problems are and how long they have lasted. (In other words, am I looking for something on a lifelong issue, a recent issue, what sort of exact issue.) Or is the question more about a current "quality of life" issue aside from the specifics of the health conditions? (And, again, when did this begin? Recent weeks or months, several years, your entire life?) You don't say anything in your post that places thee troubles in a time frame, so it's difficult to know where to begin to look.

I'll look through the charts and probably post a bit more while waiting for your answer, but your answers to the above could probably produce a better answer.

If I'm reading your post correctly, besides some broader understanding, your hope is to attach the current conditions to some astrological factor that we can tell when that factor astronomically began and when it will expire, yes?

[Jim Eshelman]

Your question was posted June 29, 2019, 1:07 AM PDT; I'm presuming from Burbank. It was a particularly dour moment, with Saturn square Ascendant within 2° at the time you posted.

Your natal Venus was exactly rising (0°21' above Ascendant, though in longitude it looked like it was 4° above. This leads me to think it was especially a Venus moment (obviously a dark Venus moment, one of loss and unhappiness, perhaps as Venus expectations came in conflict with actual conditions). Transiting Sun had just passed IC about four and a half degrees.

Looking just at that moment, as a point where things boiled to a head and you posted asking for help, one of the recent things impacting your chart is Mars' opposition to your Neptune and Uranus. Mars had opposed your Neptune a few days ago (rarely a pleasant day) and will oppose your Uranus in a few days to come, at was sitting right between them, 07' from their midpoint. You can break these down individually, but the broader story of the three aspects (Mars to Neptune, to Ur/Ne, and to Uranus) is perhaps easier to understand as a day in which troubled states break into the open, etc. (Ebertin's interpretation of Ma = Ur/Ne is quite accurate, if you have CSI.)

Moon in late Aries is approaching your Taurus Moon over the next couple of days, so we should look at the transition from one lunar return to the next. But generally, with the above churning in the short-term, you reached a point where Saturn squared Ascendant locally adding weight, darkness, demand (or whatever the exact part was); and then your Venus crossed Ascendant. I think this is more than "dissatisfactions came to a head, and perhaps something specific happened? In any case, it was your Venus that was acting.

[sotonye]

Sotonye, I'll take a look and would like to make sure I'm answering the right question.

I don't remember if you've told us what the exact health problems are and how long they have lasted. (In other words, am I looking for something on a lifelong issue, a recent issue, what sort of exact issue.)

Hello Mr. E, I've been having issues with cognition since January 2017 (couldn't remember anything or understand what was said to me) which were initially due to a b12 deficiency, and heart issues since the beginning of July 2018 (damage from severe arrhythmias) which led to more cognitive trouble and which haven't resolved. Within that span of time, instances would crop up which would worsen the one or the other, and it feels like the world is trying to destroy me. I haven't always had issues like the ones I'm having now, and most health concerns before 2017 were only cuts and bruises from falling off of my bike

If I'm reading your post correctly, besides some broader understanding, your hope is to attach the current conditions to some astrological factor that we can tell when that factor astronomically began and when it will expire, yes?

Yes I can't tell if my chart is suggesting that things will be this way, or if something temporary is at work

[Jim Eshelman]

Looking at the chart for your query as a horary, without separate context of your natal chart...

The question was born as Saturn squared Ascendant, with Sun near IC. Pisces was rising. These seem to confirm the nature of the inquiry as sadness, weight, darkness, brooding state of mind and sense of weakness (perhaps both physical and emotional). - BTW, I'm just "throwing words at" these placements without being too exacting, so there may be other words that are similar but a better fit.

Moon is barely emerging from the 2nd house into the 1st; it could be expressive of both. In the former, it would say that the great focus was on personal resources and attachments (e.g., money; but also other things);. in the latter, that the focus is on your self and your well-being. I do think that this chart says concerns had to do (in the broader sense) to what you were attached to, including expectations, things aspired to, things you were trying to retain. Moon was almost exactly trine Pluto, separating by 0°32', suggesting an existential or circumstantial confrontation, probably involving loss. All this comes together to show a picture of conflict between clinging to attachments (whether expectations or objects) vs. separation, confrontation, loss.

That Saturn and Pluto are decisively in the 10th house may join these other symbols to mean the concerns are occupational, or at least "how you are in your inserting yourself effectively out into the world." I also see Moon separated from recent aspects to Saturn and Neptune: Moon-Saturn-Neptune is quite despairing and, while the separating aspect doesn't exactly mean that you are past these (the chart does exist with Saturn in present time on the Zenith), it does show recent history of Moon-Saturn-Neptune effects, e.g., emotional darkness.

All of this analysis so far is an attempt to "catch up to the present, to test whether the chart does, in fact, represent the recent past leading up to the present. (We need to know whether we can trust the chart as a valid reflection of the moment where you found yourself and what goes forward from there.) It does seem to me that these basics describe what little you have told us.

[Jim Eshelman]

Presuming the chart is "radical" and thus readable, we proceed. (BTW, I still don't know if this will take us anywhere. I keep experimenting with reading "question moments" in what I'm starting to call "rational horary," meaning applying primarily known-valid astrological principles to a chart for a question rather than the monstrosity of historic "special rules" for horary that make it seem not astrological at all.)

Those astrologers who use rulerships (I do not) would quickly notice that, with Pisces rising, you are most represented by Neptune which is placed in the 12th house, under close, dynamic aspect with Jupiter and closer, static aspect with Saturn. I'll go ahead and interpret this anyway as, again, affirming the lost, withdrawn, afloat, perhaps disoriented state of being feeling stuck by oppression (static aspect = stuck, Saturn = stuck and oppressive). Were we to trust this, I would also see that it can be ameliorated by treatment: the strong, assertive square from Jupiter in the 8th.

We do get to that same set of aspects by another means: As the inquiry is about health, we have to look at occupancy of "health" houses and, with nothing in the 6th, what grabs our attention is Neptune's placement in the 12th. I guess I'd say mostly the same things I just said in the prior paragraph: Neptune in 12th is consistent with pathology, most likely psychological and ultimately anything that has you withdraw, be isolated (whether withdrawn in your live or needing time hospitalized). In Aquarius, we might go so far as to say it involves an Aquarian part of the body, such as heart and circulation, or an Aquarian state of mind. Again, the exact static aspect from Saturn in the 10th suggests "stuck" impact from "conditions of the world," without a subjective sense you can budge from them (or at least worry that you can't). The strong, dynamic square from Jupiter gives a sense of amelioration. Besides the broader sense of Jupiter in the 8th meaning effective therapy, the contrast on 8th house (as where the solution lies) in contrast to 2nd house (where Moon focuses the recent past and present) is a contrast of attachment and detachment - some form of detachment as a solution to the suffocation of attachment. (I'm just reading it and throwing words at it as they come to my head.)

My one concern is that Jupiter's square to Neptune is separating. It's still close, but it's separating as if what it means is in the past (e.g., treatment was already applied and this is where we find ourselves now). Looking closer at Jupiter's state, I see it closely applying to a sesqui-square to Mercury. Aha, there is something still to be found, some discovery or piece of science that is approaching in the near future with a practical result.

Speaking of that Mercury, here is an interesting technicality about this chart. I see Mercury (which is the faster planet) 3° later in the zodiac than Mars and presume it is separating from that conjunction. Then I look at the aspectarian and see it listed as an applying aspect. Is the program in error? No, because at the moment the question was asked, Mercury's daily motion was 38'00" while Mars was moving 38'11" per day, meaning (at least at that few hours) that Mars is gaining on Mercury. The state of this chart the moment the question was asked was that Mercury conjunct Mars in the 5th house is applying, aimed at something in the future. Mars is separating from opposition to Pluto (a hard aspect on health and well-being) and applying to Mercury. Again, this suggests there is treatment, perhaps harsh treatment, but effective, resourceful science. (FWIW, I just got the impression - perhaps intuitive and not attached to anything specific in the chart, that the physical issue is inflammation, and reducing inflammation in your body overall will start bringing it under control.)

OK, that's all I'm likely to get from this chart as a horary. I think it describes the situation well up to the point, doesn't show an easy road, but shows a path of treatment due to new information gained or right application of science. It also suggests that inflammation is the cause and, therefore, that reduction of inflammation is a solution.

Let's get back to ordinary astrology

[Jim Eshelman]

...I've been having issues with cognition since January 2017 (couldn't remember anything or understand what was said to me) which were initially due to a b12 deficiency, and heart issues since the beginning of July 2018 (damage from severe arrhythmias) which led to more cognitive trouble and which haven't resolved. Within that span of time, instances would crop up which would worsen the one or the other, and it feels like the world is trying to destroy me. I haven't always had issues like the ones I'm having now, and most health concerns before 2017 were only cuts and bruises from falling off of my bike

Thanks. This gives us someplace to look!

Cognitive and heart. (The horary actually caught that exactly, though the astrologer reading it didn't have the certainty to be more incisive.) Dating from January 2017. It isn't clear to me, starting out, whether the heart condition is consequent to something already in motion, or a separate, concurrent matter, but it began July 2018.

Is either of these genetic, i.e., family history?

I'll look over the time period listed.

[Jim Eshelman]

First, does the natal chart have anything that, under sufficient astrological pressure, could erupt into these two conditions?

By this I mean that nothing I say here should be taken as saying that any aspect or placement is likely to produce a health problem; but, if it is assaulted or pressed hard enough that a negative expression emerges, does the symbolism match?

Regarding cognitive issues, your Mercury is certainly under strong impact. It is exactly angular, 13' from opposite Pluto, 30' from trine Uranus, etc. I don't call this an afflicted Mercury at all - it could be quite remarkable! - but (in the broad sense, whether good or bad) it does say that how your brain and neurology work will be weird. Ebertin cites Mercury-Pluto aspects as affecting the metabolism of the nervous system, the cellular processes by which new nerve tissue is formed, and (more generally) nervous irritation, which are the areas I would expect to be affected if this became a problem aspect.

Overall, your chart does not show a difficult life; one would expect the opposite, and I think in general it will be positive and upbeat. All lives have better and worse periods, and there is something to learn about the worse ones, something they are trying to tell us about ourselves or shape us - so you asked the right question in wanting to identify the connected planets etc. and see if we can find patterns beginning and ending.

(I'm still curious about genetic history on these. The main thing that could throw off astrological timing is genetic timing, e.g., some known condition that is timed to set off at a particular age. So, if you have any information on this, please share.)

The one thing in your chart that looks "hard physical issues" to me is the mundane Mars-Pluto square near the angles. Everything else looks pretty upbeat. In terms of "too much good stuff can be a problem sometimes," your Taurus Moon opposite Jupiter right on the angles can make you vulnerable to "problems from enjoying yourself too much," probably mostly dealing with metabolism and the organs that process nutrition (weight issues, gall bladder or liver problems, etc.); but none of that seems involved here.

So, in the larger context of that foreground close Mars-Pluto square, the main issue that seems implicated so far is your Mercury-Pluto opposition and things connecting to it.

Regarding heart problems, I don't see anything direct in the natal chart. These are usually Sun issues, or matters of the Aquarius-Leo axis. Your Sun is background but unaffiliated and there is nothing highlighting Leo-Aquarius. The closest hit I can find is again Mars-Pluto themed; specifically, Mars is 0°00' from your Sun/Pluto midpoint. While very strong as midpoints go, this isn't the sort of thing that would turn an otherwise benign Sun condition into a life-threatening problem (though it does incline to overstress yourself).This also means, of course, that Mars is only a few minutes from Sun/Mercury. (So, again, we're back at the Mercury-Pluto opposition.)

I'm not a doctor and this isn't a diagnosis. From the astrological symbolism it looks to me like there is no explicit heart problem, and that the arrhythmias are electrical in nature - again, the impacted Mercury problem - which does keep our attention narrowed to seeing both the cognitive and cardiac issues as a single problem involving nerve conditions, rather than two unrelated problems. (Hmmm, doesn't B-12 primarily strengthen nerve functioning?)

[Jim Eshelman]

So our question now comes down to... what popped up in January 2017?

For one thing, you had just peaked for transiting Pluto aspecting natal Mercury-Pluto! Transiting Pluto began 2017 at 21°59' Sagittarius, which semi-squares / sesqui-squares 6°59' Hub. Over the prior two years it had aspected your natal Mercury-Pluto, leaving orb the month before. Some consequence of what occurred across the roughly two year period of 2015 and 2016 had a strong impact on your natal Mercury-Pluto functioning. Can you identify what environmental or situational things (or personal actions) in your life might this might have been?

You were also at the exact Saturn square to your Saturn. This probably doesn't tell us much, except that it's a basic turning point in your life (and we already knew that).

Between then and mid-2018, Neptune began to square your Ascendant by transit. This is at least consistent with the cognitive impairments you listed, though I don't know how much it tells us that is new. (With Neptune and health, one always must anticipate chemical sensitivities, over-reactions to certain things that have an unexpected effect, toxins, etc.)

Transiting Jupiter was opposite your Sun in June-July 2018, which intensifies my sense that the heart problems weren't problems with the heart per se, but problems with something else (probably electrical?) that manifest as heart problems.

[Jim Eshelman]

Secondary progressions show nothing for January 2017. On first impression, this decreases the chance that it was something genetic unfolding (since progressions are more developing of innate things on their own schedule rather than environmental or circumstantial impact).

Turning to Solar Arc directions, at the start of January 2017 your directed Mercury was applying (about half a degree) to natal Saturn. While this can mean "Mercury problems" in general (and certainly is consistent with not being able to understand what is being said to you!), it may not be the "on-target" aspect. This aspect moved through by last August.

Solar Arc Saturn was exactly conjunct your Venus at that time - applying by 12'. This is interesting, because it is reminiscent of the chart for the moment you posted your question. I don't know if this means that the issue is really a Venus issue, or that this speaks of other surrounding things, such as the impact of the health issues on your social, relationship situation. In any case, Saturn to Venus would have been a big deal from, say, spring 2016 to spring 2018.

A direction that looks important is Solar Arc Uranus opposite natal Mars, but it was already separating by 40' and would have had most of its effect the prior year.

Solar Arc Pluto had just begun to square your natal Saturn (53' applying). This is probably the best Solar Arc symbol of the two years following, basically showing concrete conditions broken up, things you've been able to rely on shaken or broken, perhaps more alienation or at least distance.

So... I don't know that the Solar Arcs show the health conditions as such, but they certainly seem to show the life conditions affecting you. Pluto to your Saturn and Saturn to your Venus probably describe the last couple of years rather well, yes? Uranus to Mars probably shows taking more risks and feeling unleashed the year before, and Mercury to Saturn probably shows the sudden shift in your ability to understand people's communications.

But nothing here makes me confident we've identified an astrological "cause."

Let's move on to the solar returns.

[Jim Eshelman]

You, like me, have Pluto on angles of your Solar Return every year - probably every year of your life while you life anywhere near Los Angeles. This, by itself, is neither positive nor negative (I tend to think of it as super cool and positive, except in those years I don't).

The question becomes, from year to year, what else is there with the Pluto. Every year has the potential for unusually high-impact life-redefining events (as my last 40+ years testify), but the nature of that changes between, e.g., years when Pluto is angular with Saturn and years when Pluto is angular with Jupiter.

Your last few years have charts that look destabilizing - more change than usual, lots of rearrangement of conditions. Again, this isn't, by itself, a problem unless those particular changes are adverse to you.

Let's start by seeing where the Solar Return angles have fallen and what natal planets have been moving across the angles. (Natal planets tend to take several years of getting closer to the angles, being exactly angular, then moving past, with occasional one-off exceptions.)

I'm going to assume all of your birthdays from 2016 forward occurred in or near Burbank. If that's wrong, the work below has to be revisited for the correct locations.

7°43' Sagittarius - 2017 Asc
20°30' Virgo - 2016 Asc
22°00' Gemini - 2016 MC
23°31' Sagittarius - 2017 EP
24°57' Virgo - 2016 EP
26°18' Gemini - 2019 EP
26°26' Sagittarius - 2018 MC
26°42' Virgo - 2017 MC
29°51' Pisces - 2019 MC
0°00' Aries - 2018 EP
9°21' Cancer - 2019 Asc
9°27' Aries - 2018 Asc

Natal planets (like solar planets) need to be calculated mundanely, but this is a good start to let us eyeball what's been happening.

For the years under examination, all of your SSR angles have been in late Spoke and early Rim (except the first one on the list) - roughly 20° Spoke to 10° Rim. In or near that range, your natal chart has:

17°57' Pisces - Venus
0°52' Capricorn - Neptune
5°48' Capricorn - Uranus

Natal Venus was still foreground in 2016 (the year this all started). Your Neptune moved through the angles closely through 2017 through present, with the closest hits being your current SSR (MC square natal Neptune 1°01'). Natal Uranus hasn't hit exactly yet, but is pretty close this year.

One thing useful this does is to distinguish the current year from those before it. You've been leaving Venus behind, living in a Neptune world (with Neptune transits to a natal angle concurrently), and are now just starting to introduce Uranus. That's progress. Neptune plus Uranus this year makes this one of the strangest, freakiest years - reality distortions, the universe seeming to rearrange - but I think it's important to notice that you're moving from a couple years when your natal Neptune is most pronounced to years when your natal Uranus will take the lead.

[Jim Eshelman]

Now going back to the SSRs themselves. I don;t have time to do meticulous breakdowns, but quicker looks will probably get the main points.

May 2016 SSR. At a glance, it is Pluto and Uranus. Transiting Pluto is 0°18' from IC, transiting Uranus under 2° from WP, and they are square. This would upset your world - rearrange it dramatically - involve separations and enormous change. (Basically the same change the country went through under the same aspects, from "obviously Hillary will win" to, "Wait, what, who are you saying won last night?!")

Moon has several aspects, of which its square to Mars (close ecliptically, very exact mundanely), which can cause health problems - note that these are physical, traceable health problems - of Mars nature. Something that causes exact damage (an attack, a toxin, etc.) or something based on infection or inflammation are the most likely causes. (Have the doctors given an answer to what caused this in the first place?)

Your Venus sets - that's the main factor. (Other things are "making their way" toward the angles but not a big deal yet.) The most critical times would be the last quarter of 2016 when progressed SSR Moon exactly aspected Neptune, Jupiter, and your natal Moon-Jupiter.

May 2017 SSR. Pluto is 0°48' from Eastpoint, the most angular planet. Other transiting planets foreground are moderate angularities of Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Uranus. Clump these (by their aspects) as Jupiter-Saturn plus Mercury-Uranus. not knowing your life, it's unclear what's changing, but these speak of shifting (win here, lose there) practical and economic conditions plus very unleashed, unfettered Mercury in a whole new way.

SSR Moon opposed your Uranus, it's only close aspect. In addition to broad change (in the Pluto context), I'd expect new interests, new environments, a lot of shifting circumstances.This doesn't seem the most important SSR in the series, though perhaps the description makes use to you.

May 2018 SSR. This one seems rough - perhaps not rough for an Aries taking the world by the throat, but certainly not calm, either. It does have a romantic, dreamy T-square of Moon opposite Venus and square Neptune (though Moon-Neptune has other sides, and did mature to an exact square a month either side of September).

Pluto is 0°22' one side of MC, Mars 5° on the other side, Uranus 2°45' above Asc, Sun 5° below. So it boils down to a super-close (big deal close) Uranus-Pluto square showing the vast, significant rearrangement of life conditions and a partile Sun-Mars mundane square - generally showing aggression, assertion, pushing yourself hard in some life endeavors. Interestingly, this is the only thing that boils down to "afflicted Sun" I've seen in the charts, so the only thing that points to the heart itself being affected. (There's also a little Mercury).

That Moon (which aspects SSR Venus and Neptune) is also on your natal Moon-Jupiter opposition (which, in turn, after squared by the Neptune). This all seems lovely. The only risk factor I see here is if there was a pattern of extreme indulgence that is somehow implicated. Mostly, it's just a lot of dramatic shifting added to really pushing yourself hard, strenuously, almost in a fighting way. That rising transiting Uranus squares your natal Uranus closely (more change, life looking different) and your Neptune is starting to get pretty close to MC - a sense of your Neptune becoming more active (everything from Neptune activities, to more strongly wanting to define your own reality and nestle into it, to more disorientation or weakness).

If would be not surprise to learn that this is the year things really started to rearrange and look strange (and maybe demoralizing). I note that Neptune was exactly transiting square you Asc at your birthday, so 2018 was the year this was around the most.

May 2019 SSR. This year is hard - sometimes the word devastating could be applied to the aspects. In this, I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know except what it anchors to in the chart.

A transiting Saturn-Pluto conjunction is on WP of the SSR, the strongest factor. Saturn is 0°55' from WP, Pluto 2°00' (and 1°43' from square MC). Mercury, square them, is 1°04' off MC, so Mercury-Saturn and Mercury-Pluto aspects are even more specific than the slightly wider Saturn-Pluto. (Is the cognitive thing stronger? These are the aspects under which it began and can show both the neural stress and the failure at communication or comprehension). Progressed SSR Moon is within 1° of Saturn, Mercury, or Pluto ate July until the end of the year, so this planet trio (Mercury-Saturn-Pluto) is easily the dominant theme of the rest of the year. With this, natal Neptune is 1°01' from square MC, bringing it right into the heart of things. - Oh, I almost missed it: Uranus squares Ascendant. The changes continue!

The most interesting positive, to my eye, is that natal Uranus has started to be pretty close to the angles, a few degrees below Descendant.

May 2020 SSR. There is a very excellent chance that all of this will come to a head in the year beginning May 2020, and with a positive outcome. All is not yet easy, but there are a couple of distinctive features that are exciting.

Pluto is again closely on IC. It conjoins natal Neptune within 1° (both on IC), making the main theme of the year the dismantling and reconstruction of your relity, how you have cognitively put the world together. Pluto is with Jupiter, which also is about 1° from your Neptune. That's positive.

More widely foreground is Saturn conjunct your Uranus. Reality is being challenged in a couple of different ways, then. though Jupiter-Pluto to your Neptune is definitely stronger than Saturn to your Uranus.

Mars opposes your Mars. Being middleground, this wouldn't be too important were Moon not aligned with both. I'm still concerned about inflammation, infection, or other introduction of hurtful things into the system.

By the 2021 SSR, your Uranus closely squares MC. In 2022, Pluto (on your Uranus) on MC and Sun-Uranus rising are hardly calm but, to me, incredibly exciting. And so, they move on from there. You're not going not have a calm life (probably ever - certainly not on the West Coast), but you are likely to have a terribly fascinating one.

[Jim Eshelman]

In summary... what is probably good news and what is probably bad news.

The bad news first: Since I don't see a persistent aspect during the time you've been suffering this, it doesn't seem that there is a sustained aspect that is keeping you in a certain state for a time and then will pass. Rather, I see risk-taking, reckless patterns in the year before it started, among other Mars expressions. This is more consistent with the idea that something specific caused damage, and you are now experiencing consequence of that damage.

The good news: You've been in a period of several kinds of enhanced Neptune and are shifting, over the next couple of years, to a period of enhanced Uranus. (The Uranus you've had recently has partly been with Neptune combined.) This is a big shift that usually suggests more clarity and more freedom. I take it as a positive sign.

I still don't know if there is family history that explains this or if there is a specific diagnosis of the original condition.

Given the forms of Mars, I repeatedly get signals that inflammation is a gigantic part of it all, and I can't imagine that you wouldn't benefit (perhaps significantly) from permanently shifting to a low-inflammation diet, such as the ketogenic eating plan.

OTOH, I'm not a doctor, so please take everything I've said as a lay opinion and consult with your doctor.

[sotonye]

Looking at the chart for your query as a horary, without separate context of your natal chart...

The question was born as Saturn squared Ascendant, with Sun near IC. Pisces was rising. These seem to confirm the nature of the inquiry as sadness, weight, darkness, brooding state of mind and sense of weakness (perhaps both physical and emotional). - BTW, I'm just "throwing words at" these placements without being too exacting, so there may be other words that are similar but a better fit.

I'm not sure I've ever heard of horary, but this describes what I was feeling exactly, I typed and deleted the phrase "the world is an oppressive force" several times, that's how it felt

I do think that this chart says concerns had to do (in the broader sense) to what you were attached to, including expectations, things aspired to, things you were trying to retain.

Again exactly right

Moon was almost exactly trine Pluto, separating by 0°32', suggesting an existential or circumstantial confrontation, probably involving loss. All this comes together to show a picture of conflict between clinging to attachments (whether expectations or objects) vs. separation, confrontation, loss.

This describes the theme of the last few days, I've just been sitting and coming to grips with the nature of things, that there might be more bad than good in the world and that life is pretty hard for most people, that suffering is the rule

That Saturn and Pluto are decisively in the 10th house may join these other symbols to mean the concerns are occupational, or at least "how you are in your inserting yourself effectively out into the world." I also see Moon separated from recent aspects to Saturn and Neptune: Moon-Saturn-Neptune is quite despairing and, while the separating aspect doesn't exactly mean that you are past these (the chart does exist with Saturn in present time on the Zenith), it does show recent history of Moon-Saturn-Neptune effects, e.g., emotional darkness.

All of this analysis so far is an attempt to "catch up to the present, to test whether the chart does, in fact, represent the recent past leading up to the present. (We need to know whether we can trust the chart as a valid reflection of the moment where you found yourself and what goes forward from there.) It does seem to me that these basics describe what little you have told us.

Everything you've presented here does describe the moment of the post

[sotonye]

Thanks. This gives us someplace to look!

Cognitive and heart. (The horary actually caught that exactly, though the astrologer reading it didn't have the certainty to be more incisive.) Dating from January 2017. It isn't clear to me, starting out, whether the heart condition is consequent to something already in motion, or a separate, concurrent matter, but it began July 2018.

Is either of these genetic, i.e., family history?

I'll look over the time period listed.

Neither issue is genetic, no instances of heart trouble or cognitive impairment in family history

[sotonye]

Regarding cognitive issues, your Mercury is certainly under strong impact. It is exactly angular, 13' from opposite Pluto, 30' from trine Uranus, etc. I don't call this an afflicted Mercury at all - it could be quite remarkable! - but (in the broad sense, whether good or bad) it does say that how your brain and neurology work will be weird. Ebertin cites Mercury-Pluto aspects as affecting the metabolism of the nervous system, the cellular processes by which new nerve tissue is formed, and (more generally) nervous irritation, which are the areas I would expect to be affected if this became a problem aspect.

I would say most people i know would call my brain strange, also Mercury-Pluto is the only aspect I can imagine causing trouble, but can we trust Ebertin on Pluto?

Overall, your chart does not show a difficult life; one would expect the opposite, and I think in general it will be positive and upbeat. All lives have better and worse periods, and there is something to learn about the worse ones, something they are trying to tell us about ourselves or shape us - so you asked the right question in wanting to identify the connected planets etc. and see if we can find patterns beginning and ending.

Things in my life have been pretty easy, it's sort of embarrassing, but the last two years just seemed to have lost that trend. Despite that I'm really happy to hear things will be positive and upbeat. And it is true that there's a lot to learn from hard times, I can't say I've learned much from any other time at all

The one thing in your chart that looks "hard physical issues" to me is the mundane Mars-Pluto square near the angles. Everything else looks pretty upbeat. In terms of "too much good stuff can be a problem sometimes," your Taurus Moon opposite Jupiter right on the angles can make you vulnerable to "problems from enjoying yourself too much," probably mostly dealing with metabolism and the organs that process nutrition (weight issues, gall bladder or liver problems, etc.); but none of that seems involved here.

A lot of the physical complaints I have had have been due to "too much of something," usually something that was good for me or felt good, which sounds like Moon-Jupiter (a recent example would be taking excessive doses of vitamin d its nootropic effects)

Regarding heart problems, I don't see anything direct in the natal chart. These are usually Sun issues, or matters of the Aquarius-Leo axis. Your Sun is background but unaffiliated and there is nothing highlighting Leo-Aquarius. The closest hit I can find is again Mars-Pluto themed; specifically, Mars is 0°00' from your Sun/Pluto midpoint. While very strong as midpoints go, this isn't the sort of thing that would turn an otherwise benign Sun condition into a life-threatening problem (though it does incline to overstress yourself).This also means, of course, that Mars is only a few minutes from Sun/Mercury. (So, again, we're back at the Mercury-Pluto opposition.)

Well this is promising and makes me feel better about things, I mean when bad things happen it's hard not to feel that they won't last forever, but putting things in perspective with analysis of my natal does help me to manage this otherwise difficult thing. Also I apologize for the delayed responses, I'm not feeling too well

I'm not a doctor and this isn't a diagnosis. From the astrological symbolism it looks to me like there is no explicit heart problem, and that the arrhythmias are electrical in nature - again, the impacted Mercury problem - which does keep our attention narrowed to seeing both the cognitive and cardiac issues as a single problem involving nerve conditions, rather than two unrelated problems. (Hmmm, doesn't B-12 primarily strengthen nerve functioning?)

B12 does improve nerve issues (like diabetic neuropathy if I'm not mistaken), and apparently it's also really important for proper brain function. The liver stores b12 reserves and it takes a few years to deplete them, and I had been vegan for longer than the reserves last and started experiencing issues as a result. The heart issues on the other hand are purely electrical in nature and I have to take high daily doses of magnesium and other things which block sodium and calcium channels to prevent my heart from going haywire

[sotonye]

So our question now comes down to... what popped up in January 2017?

For one thing, you had just peaked for transiting Pluto aspecting natal Mercury-Pluto! Transiting Pluto began 2017 at 21°59' Sagittarius, which semi-squares / sesqui-squares 6°59' Hub. Over the prior two years it had aspected your natal Mercury-Pluto, leaving orb the month before. Some consequence of what occurred across the roughly two year period of 2015 and 2016 had a strong impact on your natal Mercury-Pluto functioning. Can you identify what environmental or situational things (or personal actions) in your life might this might have been?

Around 2015 I had met a spiritual mentor who basically changed the way I thought about everything, I also began meditating for hours everyday and began having poltergeist activity at home as a result. In December 2016 I began having cognitive troubles and started doing terribly in school and I suppose it's better to say the issue started then, it's just that in the next month things became more palpable to me that something was wrong

Between then and mid-2018, Neptune began to square your Ascendant by transit. This is at least consistent with the cognitive impairments you listed, though I don't know how much it tells us that is new. (With Neptune and health, one always must anticipate chemical sensitivities, over-reactions to certain things that have an unexpected effect, toxins, etc.)

Around this time I was distressed emotionally because of a girl

Transiting Jupiter was opposite your Sun in June-July 2018, which intensifies my sense that the heart problems weren't problems with the heart per se, but problems with something else (probably electrical?) that manifest as heart problems.

This is only speculation but the heart issues seemed to have been caused by a supplement I was taking then, severe cardiac symptoms (inability to breathe, pain in left arm, sensation of weight on chest, arrhythmia, blurred vision) followed immediately after dosing and abatted after cessation, except arrhythmias persisted and there were artifacts found in imagining which I had never heard before, "non-compaction" for example

[Jim Eshelman]

arrhythmias persisted and there were artifacts found in imagining which I had never heard before, "non-compaction" for example

This says these are congenital.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noncompac ... iomyopathy

[sotonye]

arrhythmias persisted and there were artifacts found in imagining which I had never heard before, "non-compaction" for example

This says these are congenital.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noncompac ... iomyopathy

Requires one affected parent, and neither my parents nor theirs are affected, which is why the diagnosis seems like a best guess

[sotonye]

To make the point a little better, my cardiologist wanted to perform further heart studies to confirm his suspicion, an ultrasound with contrast dye, but my symptoms resolved after some time and I resumed life normally, that was until I had a bad batch of vitamin b which caused heart stress in everyone in my family, but which made my previous heart symptoms recur. Every time this has happened has followed me taking something except for the current time, around 4 days ago, when heart troubles started again

[Arena]

That Neptune ruler in the horary approach suggests that the issue might still be unclear, hidden, not correctly diagnosed. Have you ever been to a real good Ayurvedic practitioner? Perhaps it could help. Also the keto diet might help.

[sotonye]

That Neptune ruler in the horary approach suggests that the issue might still be unclear, hidden, not correctly diagnosed. Have you ever been to a real good Ayurvedic practitioner? Perhaps it could help. Also the keto diet might help.

Hey Arena, this is basically how I felt about my most recent cardiac incident, I'm extremely uncertain about its cause. Also I've never been to an Ayurvedic practitioner but I'm open to trying anything, thank you for the recommendation, and I'll also look into the keto diet too

[SteveS]

Sotonye,
I don't have anything astrologically specific to add to Jim's & Arena's comments, but I am guessing if there is a specific astrological planetary picture in your Natal Chart which is temporarily timing your health problems, it would be found in Chapter 3 of Noel Tyl's Book “Solar Arcs.” Chapter 3 is titled “Indirect Arcs,” 'Creative Work with Midpoint Pictures.' This Chapter deals in detail with analyzing your Natal Direct and Indirect Midpoints involving Solar Arcs and Outer Planet transits. This Chapter was also a major teaching point with Ebertin's School of Cosmobiologists analyzing timing frames with the Natal Chart using the 90 degree dial. The same timing frames can basically be manipulated with Solarfire, but I don't know how to analyze this proficiently. I do know this: The most impressed I have ever been with a detailed astrological system using the Natal Chart with astrological timing factors throughout life, was with a one day presentation of this Ebertin system at a seminar in 1988, which is basically the same system explained in Chapter 3 of Noel Tyl's book--'Solar Arcs.'

Noel Tyl writes from Chapter 3:

It is with the management of the direct and indirect arcs into the future, integrating the key transits and the Secondary Progressed Moon, that the art of Natal Chart forecasting lies.

I could be wrong, but I think Noel is saying we need to pay attention to Solar Arching the Natal Direct & Indirect Natal Midpoints to other Natal factors, particularly the Natal Angles, Sun, & Moon, along with a look at outer planet transits that could be involved with these Solar Arcs.

[sotonye]

I could be wrong, but I think Noel is saying we need to pay attention to Solar Arching the Natal Direct & Indirect Natal Midpoints to other Natal factors, particularly the Natal Angles, Sun, & Moon, along with a look at outer planet transits that could be involved with these Solar Arcs.

Hi Steve, can I calculate this all in solar fire?

[SteveS]

Sotonye wrote and asked:

Hi Steve, can I calculate this all in solar fire?

Yes, in a round about way. I will attempt to explain how Ebertin and/or Noel Tyl would dissect your Natal Chart using their system of analysis for your Inhibitions pertaining to your health concerns at this time frame in your life.

First, they would look at Natal Sun or Moon and their Midpoints involving Saturn, and then look to see what transiting Saturn and Solar Arc Saturn is doing with your Natal Chart. Our Natal lights (Sun and Moon) with their extensions through time have a-lot to do with our health issues, and you certainly are going through some important Saturn hits to your Natal Sun/Saturn Midpoint.

Using this system took me a couple of minutes to see with good % astrologically what is astrologically probably timing your health issues at this time frame in your life.

I brought-up your full Natal Chart Wheel from the calculated Charts in Solarfire, and then clicked “Reports” on the right side of page. The first midpoint I wanted to analysis with health issues was your Sun/Saturn Midpoint. I quickly noticed your Sun/Saturn midpoint fell in a mutable sign---Pisces. After I clicked on “Reports”, I scrolled down and clicked on “Midpoint Modes” and then scrolled down to “Mutable Points” since I knew by quickly looking at your Natal Wheel your Natal Sun/Saturn Midpoint fell in Pisces. Then from the Mutable Points list I see your Natal Sun/Saturn Midpoint is exactly at 21,57 Pisces. We can now quickly see where transiting Saturn has been and is now in the heavens---22,48 Sag—partile squaring your important Sun/Saturn Midpoint now and at times in the near past. But more important according Ebertin and Tyl's systems for possibly analyzing red flags in life is an analysis of Solar Arcs. What is going on with your Solar Arc Saturn at this time in your life??? Below is a bi-wheel of Natal (inside wheel) and the positions of your Natal Solar Arcs now in time (outside wheel).

Click on below link and look at your Solar Arc positions, paying very close attention to your Solar Arc Saturn at 20,08 Pisces (outside wheel)! Remember, your Natal Sun/Saturn Midpoint is at 21,57 Pisces. I strongly suspect we have isolated the main timing frame in your life which is timing the issues with your health. Solar Arcs move app 1 degree per year, so we can readily see your Natal Solar Arc Saturn will be partile conj your Sun/Saturn Midpoint for a couple more years, so prepare mentally to deal with this important Solar Arc hit. What does Ebertin say about the Midpoint of Sun/Saturn from his Midpoints book 'Combinations of Stellar Influences???

Principle: Inhibition

Psychological Correspondence: (-) Inhibitions in mental or physical development.

Lack of vitality, developmental inhibitions.

Biological Correspondence: Bone tissues, the aging cells of the body, cell-sedimentation, Rheumatism, arterial sclerosis, health issues caused by mineral sedimentation.

***If you are taking lots of mineral supplements, I would cease these now!

Probable Manifestation: (-) Delicate health...

There are better ways with the 90 degree dial to see transiting Saturn and Solar Arc Saturn double whammy your Natal Sun/Saturn midpoint, but I am not proficient in using the 90 degree dial. But, in my 38 years of studying astrology, the most detailed analysis for seeing/understanding much better a developing Natal Chart through time is without a doubt Ebertin systems for Midpoints using transits and Solar Arcs, but it is somewhat difficult for the learning astrologer to see/understand without training from an astrologer with lots of experience using Ebertin's system of looking a the developing Natal Chart trough time. I had a little training from Robert Hand, but not near enough to consider myself an expert. Not only did Ebertin Solar Arc the standard Natal points, he also Solar Arc the midpoints through developing time, but I don't actually know how with Solarfire to see the Solar Arc of Midpoints through developing time.

I feel with high probability we have now isolated astrologically the main symbolic planetary factors in your natal chart which are timing your health issues—with Ebertin's and Tyl's system of analyzing a developing Natal Chart through time. If you become dissatisfied with Western Medicine treating your health issues---PM me and I will offer a possible option for you getting through your health issues with the time frame involved.

https://imgur.com/5tAYZ8A

[Jim Eshelman]

There are easier ways to use Solar Fire to get this information - ways that make the midpoint lists much more like a 90° dial.

First of all, for simple things, if you just want to look at the native state of a midpoint the fastest way, I think, is with the Midpoint Listing report. Keep this set on modulue 90° (and occasionally drop it to 45°). The top part shows everything in planet order, so you can see at a glance that Sun/Saturn is 81°57' (that's the 21°57' mutable = 21°57' + 60° Steve mentioned, though it doesn't really matter where the midpoint actually is, just that where it is in the 90° sort.)

After seeing this at a glance, you can drop your eyes to the bottom half where everything is sorted by degree and look for this 81°57'. (This is the way someone using a mechanical dial would just spin the dial to the midpoint.) You see that Sun/Saturn at 81°57' is within 1° of Moon/Mars (82°23') and Mars/Jupiter (82°39'), so you expect that anytime your Sun/Saturn is activated it will have traits of Moon/Mars and Mars/Jupiter hard-wired into it.


That's a way to look at it natally. Solar Fire also makes it really easy to see how Solar Arc (or transiting or whatever) planets and their midpoints work with natal planets and midpoints (again, following the thought=processes of how dial-wonks would use the dial, but using lists instead).

For this, calculate a Solar Arc chart (or transits or progressions, etc.) for the date you want to study. (I just calculated your solar arcs for today. It takes two or three clicks.) Then put your natal and the Solar Arc chart on a 2-wheel display (pick both charts and click the "2" icon on the SF toolbar.) Click Reports and again look at the Midpoint Listing report.

Ah, now, on a 2-wheel, this report does something new! The top half has all of your natal points and midpoints in the usual sort as before, then all the Solar Arc planets (in red) at the end of the list. The degree sort mingles these. From the top, you can remind yourself that natal Sun/Saturn is at 21°57'. Look for this degree at the bottom half and see whether anything is at the same degree (it isn't). - You can see other cases of Solar Arcs to natal planets and midpoints if you like, but nothing to your Sun/Saturn. (Several are interesting, work these out for yourself. Use a 1° orb and the mental shortcut that Solar Arcs move 0°05'/month.)

You can also see natal planet to Solar Arc midpoints. Leave the Report and click the Swap button so that your natal planets are in the outer ring and directed planets on the inner ring. But we'll move on...


I gave the example of Solar Arcs by mistake - I mentally blipped that this is what Steve was examining, but he was taking transits instead. So, the above was just an exercise to show how to use the 90°-dial (but in list form). Now, take a current transit chart instead of a current Solar Arc. For convenience, I'll use the moment of your question, June 29, 2019, 1:07 AM. Make a two-wheel of this and your natal, click Reports, and click Midpoint Sort. Find natal Sun/Saturn above at 81°57', look for this in the bottom half, and see the bright red transiting Saturn jump out at 82°58', just 01' shy of retrograding into orb of your natal Sun/Saturn. It's also 19' from your Ma/Ju and 35' from your Mo/Ma). Furthermore, transiting Ascendant at the minute of your question was also on your natal Sun/Saturn.

In passing, you can see several other transits to natal midpoints at that moment. Of particular interest because of its closeness is t Ma = r Ur/Ne (01') - I mentioned this above under the simple transit analysis and it is quite descriptive. Also, t Su - r Ma/Pl is 0°00' exact. Pluto was 08' from your Me/Pl, Neptune 16' from natal Su/Ne, Sun 03' from your natl Mo/Ur (12' from Ju/Ur).

I mention this not necessarily to endorse this approach (personally I think it is too much work for what one gets in return, but that's an individual decision by the astrologer: these certainly all appear valid, it's just a question of how far down you want to drill and how relatively important they are to other things). My purpose is to show you how to do it most efficiently in Solar Fire.

[Jim Eshelman]

I just found a funny example from my own life - it's more consistent with the relative importance of transits to natal midpoints.

Taking my wedding chart as transits against the natal, the only transit to a midpoint within a few minutes is t Sa = r Me/As 0°03'. These transits do not, overall, describe the big event (wedding) but, the only thing that really went wrong that day was certainly consistent with Sa = Me/As: The person who was supposed to set up a microphone for us didn't get it done and people in the back couldn't hear us well.