Pets

[Veronica]

When my brother passed he had a German Shepherd that needed to be rehome. My brother and I grew closer and bonded via our Shepherds, sharing pictures and stories. Our dogs could almost pass as twins. My dog passed almost two years ago, and I felt that I could care for my brothers.

I have a tricky home situation though, I have two older children living at home who come and go at all hours with no set schedule, and an African Grey Parrot (Loki).
I also live on a very busy (not so much fast, but regular) street that is over run with wildlife.

German shepherd are remarkable dogs and make ideal family dogs in most situations, but can get high strung, neurotic, snappy, barky, depressive, and overly aggressive/ protective.

Knowing all these factors were at play before I committed to anything I asked for the dogs birthdate and was told March 5 2015, Bethlehem PA.

I checked those charts against my son (Jan 16, 2001) my daughter (10-22-2002) my self, and the bird.
Things looked great all around and I didn't see anything glaring worrisome or aggressive.

So last night St. Patrick arrived (about 8:30pm) and he is stressed from a 5 hour car trip and had been given Cbd and benadryl, which had all his senses aflame. When I had my son come to help bring in the food and stuff, Patrick was scared (?) Of him, and really responded negatively. Not aggressive or mean, just not nice.

Thankfully my brother kept great records, which I have now, and in there is Patrick's BC which says he was born
March 6 2014 Quarryville PA.

Completely different dog then what I was expecting, and I would have had him meet my son under completely different circumstances so that they got off on a better path.

I have never seen or heard about the astrology of animals and our pets and I dont know why? My synastry with the charts of the animals I've known the birth data with seems correct as I can tell.

Does anyone have any input or experience looking at animals, specifically dogs and dogs that bite? I would like to think that this uneasiness between these two will pass and everything will be fine....but Orion is having a time with his Capricorn Stellium and transits and is expressing resistance and negativity......

I do not want my son to get bit, but the synastry between these two seems not very nice.

[Jim Eshelman]

I'm certain animal horoscopes are as active as ours. The usual problem is that we don't know when they were born. I'd love to have Kali's birth data (we don't even know the year with certainty) - you are way better off, even without a time.

The charts I have seen show character very well. Mathew Quellas got to watch his cat deliver her litter a few decades ago - he recorded each birth time as it happened and the different timings made a difference. The one that didn't live had Saturn right on an angle IIRC, the others had character differences, he picked the one with the best fit to his own chart to keep and I think was always happy with that decision.

[Veronica]

Thank you for that response Jim.

I had an extremely exciting event yesterday that I'd like to share. I have an African Grey parrot named Loki, born Apil 2, 1997 in Perington NY, time unknown. Loki and I have very loving synastry for the most part. In the first years of his life I was encouraged by his breeder to trim his feathers so he could not fly, supposedly this protects them. It was always horribly traumatic for both of us to do this, and it caused the poor bird to become so stressed he started plucking his own feathers out, so he was bald for years. He's never flown. I stopped trimming his wings at least a decade ago as it was cruel and I didnt see any point to it.
Well since moving to the park and changing my lifestyle Loki since 2020 has stopped plucking and regrow his feathers. Yet he doesnt know he could fly. I tried to talk to him and show him how to fly, but well yea that didnt do anything, he just runs around the floor and asks like a dog.
He hates when I sweep and mop and I have to put up baby gates to keep him out of the room I'm cleaning. Well, yesterday at 1:48 pm, he climbed to the top of the baby gate and after a few screams at me "look at me mom!" I heard from 2 rooms away the flapping of wings followed by Loki landing on my shoulder! He Flew!! He didnt just flutter down, he flapped and flapped to get up high enough to land on me!!
The funniest thing for me about this was his total reaction to what he had done, he was smiling and got all fluffy like he does when he is happy with himself and even did a bit of a celebration dance! Weirder still is that when the kids got home and I told them all about it, he acted as if he knew I was telling his story, he fluffed up again and smiled and hopped around like he was better then sliced bread! He most definitely appeared to know that he had done something he had never done before and was proud of himself.
I am trying to see if this event is significant enough to rectify his birth data and possibly nail down a time of birth? But, he wasnt born like a human, he hatched from an egg so I'm not sure if that would work out correct.

[Veronica]

Loki's first flight is remarkably similar to this first...
https://www.solunars.com/viewtopic.php? ... ers#p20490

[Jim Eshelman]

What a wonderful story - and today is the Kitty Hawk anniversary? That's awesome.

"Loki" is a great name for a Pisces-Capricorn. The nativity has lots of interesting aspects including a good chance that Moon conjoins Uranus. How about transits and the like for yesterday?

First, for the victory aspect: Transiting Uranus is square his natal Jupiter! (What a great transit - and even matching the sort of "taking to the air" Kitty Hawk like events.) Jupiter moved 11' on the day he was born, and at noon 20°37' Capricorn (position is plus-minus 5'). Transiting Uranus at yesterday's successful launch of Loki into space was 20°27' Aries, minutes from exact aspect. - And, transiting Jupiter at 4°38' was in partile semi-square to the Uranus and, just maybe (if he hatched late in the day) in partile semi-square to natal Jupiter.

Sun was 29°43' Scorpio. This is out of orb of natal Uranus, but (if he were born 3 or 4 hours after noon, would have semi-squared his Moon. This is consistent with the puffing up, drawing attention, and being the literal cock of the walk for a day. We can't count on this transit to Moon for sure, but it's a note to stick in our caps. (Some other planets suggest that if he was born before noon, it wasn't SOON before noon: Late morning seems the least likely time.)

Mercury squared natal Sun-Venus. That's nice - entirely fitting - though it doesn't help us with a time.

Secondary progressions: This is a year for great breakthroughs, exciting discoveries, new freedom, and wonderful adventure because progressed Sun exactly squares Uranus. This doesn't help with the time much because it has a 1° orb. Progressed Sun MIGHT be square natal Moon, too - it would fit! - but the Sun-Uranus is already such a big deal aspect that it's impossible to assess whether the Sun-Moon progression is operative, too. (Because of his natal Sun-Venus conjunction, this also means that solar arc Venus aspects his Uranus this year.)

Loki had a Demi-SLR December 12. Planets on that day formed two aspect clusters we should note. First, transiting Uranus to his natal Jupiter (possibly to the minute!) - this is surely the most important aspect of the time. Second, a 2° Sun-Neptune square in space straddles his Mars. Also, his natal Moon-Uranus is worth keeping an eye on. These are the planet groups we want to watch in possible returns for the event.

His full SLR November 28 seems less important. There was a Mercury-Venus conjunction that day. Mars squared his Mars, which might have made him more willing to take risks (but he didn't get hurt). Uranus was still near his Jupiter. But the most interesting aspect is transiting Sun conjunct natal Pluto - life-altering firsts! Mostly the SLR day's aspects seem less focused (no surprise), but this Sun transit to his Pluto that day really stands out.

Finally - gathering the data - what's stunning to me is that (having no birth time) there are almost no aspects between your chart and his. (His Sun-Venus opposes your Uranus, which is delightful, but not enough to show the length and devotion of your many years with him.) This tells me that his angles surely bring out YOUR natal planets - your Venus or luminaries, most likely - in some strong, obvious way. (That is, there are aspects between your chart and his that we can't see without a birth time.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Let's look at that Demi-SLR December 12. What times would put transiting Uranus on or square an angle, and what are the natal Moon positions that go with that? (Times are for the Demi-SLR, not proposed birth times.)

Loki's natal Moon for April 2, 1997 must fall somewhere between 5°54' and 20°16' Capricorn.

WP 3:58 AM Moon 11°17'
Dsc 4:42 AM Moon 11°38'
IC 9:38 AM Moon 14°05'
N 11:00 AM Moon 14°45'
Asc 2:35 PM Moon 16°31'
EP 3:56 PM Moon 17°11'
Z 8:53 PM: Moon 19°38'
MC 9:36 PM Moon 19°59'

Several of these times also put transiting Saturn on an angle, due to the ongoing Saturn-Uranus square. That isn't fitting. We want to deflect Saturn from being too close to the angle (so that Uranus to Jupiter prevails). Adding some notes on Saturn and crossing out where it is so close to seem to rule out the time - and other notes as I see - we get:

WP 3:58 AM Moon 11°17' [Sa 5° from IC, not TOO close]
Dsc 4:42 AM Moon 11°38'
IC 9:38 AM Moon 14°05' [r Mo-Ur?]
N 11:00 AM Moon 14°45' [Sa rising 3.5°]
Asc 2:35 PM Moon 16°31' [Pluto MC!]
EP 3:56 PM Moon 17°11' [Mars rising, Sa broadly MC, doesn't look right]
Z 8:53 PM: Moon 19°38' [Sa 3.5°, Moon rising sq Uranus]
MC 9:36 PM Moon 19°59' [Sa 3.5°]

This didn't narrow it a lot, but it ruled out one for sure, I'm skeptical of the other Saturn foreground ones especially the three closest, and I'm at risk of being overly impressed with the Uranus rising example which seems to perfect to be true. Let's whittle this down a bit more by considering natal planets (other than the obvious Jupiter in every case):

WP 3:58 AM Moon 11°17' [t Sa 5° not TOO close, r Mo-Ur Nadir, not bad overall]
Dsc 4:42 AM Moon 11°38'
IC 9:38 AM Moon 14°05' [r Mo-Ur]
N 11:00 AM Moon 14°45' [t Sa rising 3.5°, r Pluto near MC so r Ju-Pl paran]
Asc 2:35 PM Moon 16°31' [t Pluto MC!]
Z 8:53 PM: Moon 19°38' [t Sa 3.5°, Moon rising sq Uranus, some r Mercury]
MC 9:36 PM Moon 19°59' [t Sa 3.5°, Moon tie-in]

That didn't narrow much, but we got some extra notes.


I'm going to try to break up this roadblock by going back to the full SLR and look for times put transiting Sun angular for the Sun-Pluto transit. Squares to angles are probably better because natal Pluto's 13°N latitude is going to shift it from the angles so we wouldn't get Sun and Pluto both tightly angular at the same time. Listing only those that produce Moon positions pretty close to the ones identified above, we find:

MC Moon 16°22' (9' off)
WP Moon 20°06' (7' off)

I am, therefore, most inclined (so far) to trust a natal Moon of either 16°31' Capricorn - which gives that mind-blowing Uranus-Pluto paran Demi-SLR, plus Sun on natal Pluto at SLR MC - or 19°59' Capricorn (which is questionable from that angular Saturn but otherwise interesting).

[Veronica]

Hatching...breaking out of a hard shell....that's not a quick process, not to mention at what point during the hatching does the baby bird breathe for the first time! I am inclined to think that birds might start hatching when its light out,
He is still very proud of himself! Much for me to think about and look at to help me understand better.

[Jim Eshelman]

I think you're right about daylight, though I can't confirm it from online searching. I did want to let the astrology speak first. To our advantage, we don't have to know what moment life begins in an astrologically meaningful way (what event), but just let the charts speak.

I might be narrowing in on it.

[Jim Eshelman]

I am, therefore, most inclined (so far) to trust a natal Moon of either 16°31' Capricorn - which gives that mind-blowing Uranus-Pluto paran Demi-SLR, plus Sun on natal Pluto at SLR MC - or 19°59' Capricorn (which is questionable from that angular Saturn but otherwise interesting).

Moon at 16°31' Capricorn gives a speculative birth time of 5:47 PM. Moon at 19°59' Capricorn gives a speculative birth time of 11:32 PM. I'm biased toward the former, both because of the likely hatching cycle and because it represents the mind-blowingly impressive Demi-SLR instead of the slightly questionable but good Demi... but let's see where this goes.

BTW, neither of these has the angles hitting Veronica's planets that I'd hoped to see. I'll not worry about that until later in the process.

If either of these times is right, based on the lunar returns, then it has to be almost exactly right, since any large difference would undo all the research that led to the time, invalidating the whole idea that got us here. So, for example, though there was a partile Moon-Jupiter opposition at 4° Virgo-Pisces when he flew, and it's really, really tempting to move the 10° Virgo Asc for the 5:47 pm time or 8° Virgo MC for the 11:32 PM time back to that aspect, it's just too far a move. It would displace all the lunar return angles a corresponding 4-6°, too.

Another possible mark against the 11:32 PM time is that transiting Mars was crossing the natal Dsc. I think he'd have hurt himself if he had that transit, but I might be wrong. The most positive for it is that solar arc Moon-Jupiter might have hit a natal angle for this time.

I'm going to rule out the 11:32 PM time, though, because of progressions of SSR Moon. SQ Moon squared transiting Saturn almost partile and PSSR Moon exactly squared the Mars-Saturn conjunction of the last SSR - entirely wrong for the event.

I'm leaning heavily towards a birth time (based on this event) of 5:47 PM EST.

[Jim Eshelman]

If Loki was born (for astrological purposes) at 5:47 PM, then here is the breakdown for yesterday's significant event.

Transiting Uranus 20°27' Aries squared natal Jupiter 0°03'. Transiting Jupiter tied into this by just barely partile octile to natal Jupiter. (Transiting Moon ticked off the transit just outside partile by a few minutes.)

Transiting Mercury 18°59' Sagittarius squared natal Sun 18°32' Pisces and natal Venus 18°37' Pisces.

These transits are entirely appropriate for the event. They are effective for any birth time and capture the event well. What they don't do is isolate the time as an extraordinarily important, life-changing event. We have to look at other techniques to see that.

SECONDARY PROGRESSIONS: It was a good year for freedom and surprises. Progressed Sun is 0°12' past exact square to natal Urans and 0°12' applying to exact square to progressed Uranus - exactly at their midpoint! This progression would be good for more or less any birth time, but does seem to center in around this time of day due to the midpoint precision. For pleasure, progressed Venus squares natal Jupiter (0°13') - so this was going to be a good year!

SOLAR ARCS are interesting, but I can't say they're accurate (or that they're not). We'd definitely expect a once-in-a-lifetime event, but that event would be Neptunian. Directed MC and Asc both are in partile aspect to natal Neptune! Since the other directions are positive (Sun-Venus to natal Uranus), we are justified in expecting the best expression of angles to Neptune, but it's still not a square hit. (Nor is it wrong.) I have to laugh at the literal interpretation Noel Tyl gave for directed Asc to natal Neptune, "Gaining acceptance for one's specialness."

THE SOLAR RETURN, which I didn't rely on because it might be too general, is nonetheless exceptional. Foremost, natal Jupiter is 0°55' from Ascendant. Natal Uranus is 2°50' the other side of Ascendant! And natal Pluto is less than 5° from MC. Add transiting Uranus on Nadir (closest of five foreground transiting planets). I'm not crazy about the foreground Venus-Mars-Saturn triple conjunction, but SSR Moon squares Uranus 0°05' and Uranus squares natal Moon and Jupiter. (And natal Moon-Uranus is foreground: Three Moon-Uranus expressions.) The closest factors are exactly right.

THE LUNAR RETURN isn't good. Transiting Moon and Saturn are most angular, in 0°01' mundane conjunction a few minutes from Asc. It really sucks, in fact. It does have the life-changing Sun transit to natal Pluto (0°40') foreground, but not the closest. Natal Jupiter is close to Asc also (but not as close as Moon-Saturn). If this is the right birth time, then the SLR was strongly supplanted by the Demi-SLR following.

THE DEMI-LUNAR, of course, is the showpiece chart. (That's a main reason this time was picked.) Here is the breakdown. (Not foreground, transiting Sun also had partile squares to natal Moon, Mars, and Uranus and a partile mundane conjunction with natal Pluto - all probably worth noting.)

Code: Select all

Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
                           Transiting Planets                           
Ur 20Ar34'38"  0S22 - 1'54"  43°17' 16N10  67°42' + 0° 5' 359°55' 100% A 
Pl  2Cp 1'43"  2S14 + 1'39" 299°36' 22S56 178° 6' +24° 3' 274°16'  95% M 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Radical Planets                             
Ju 20Cp39'16"  0S31 +10'31" 318°20' 16S37 157°39' +27°27' 306°12' 100% Z 
Me  7Ar 8'17"  2N13 + 1°16'  29°14' 14N19  78°26' + 8°37' 351°13'  99% Ea
Ne  5Cp 1'32"  0N25 + 0'57" 302°10' 19S43 175°17' +27° 9' 279° 7'  79% M 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Class 1 Aspects  
tUr sq rJu  0° 5'100%
tPl co rNe  3° 0' 83%  
----------------------
rMe sq rNe  2° 7' 91% 

Oh, and I'd entirely missed that Veronica's Venus squares Loki's Sun-Venus!

[Veronica]

Wow!
Just wow!!
Thank you so much for breaking it down so concisely, I appreciated the step by step and road markers.

My little buddy, Loki loo.
I love him to bits, he's so cute and fluffy and so animate with his own dance moves and songs and silly playfulness!

We are a bonded pair for sure. We used to be able to cuddle in our own way and touch each other, that he wasnt afraid of my hands so I could have him on my shoulder or leg or where ever and I would say "Step up" and he would step onto my hand and we could interact.
Unfortunately he was repeatedly abused unbeknownst to me and suffered fear of hands which makes him bite. It really really hurts. Did I say how bad getting bit hurts? It really hurts, cuts deep, gouges and rips. I've seen pictures of big bird owners who are deformed in the face horribly because the bird got scared or angry and reacted instinctively the only defensive way it can, with its mandible jaws that are like scissors.

That's a scary thought. I try to work through this with him and have an amicable living arrangement for us all....but he is so unpredictable, like a cat that's had enough and turns a sweet pet into blood and pain, it makes me cry it hurts so bad and when it comes right after what I thought was a kind loving moment, it hurts more then just flesh.

On top of his not being handlable without pain, he has taken up a huge grudge against my mop and broom in the past few years. If you've never seen a parrot attack, it's pretty horrific as all attacks are. The act of housecleaning has become an adrenaline rush for us all because Loki is so hell bent on defending his turf and outright ambush attacking the broom and even more so against the mop and bucket. Nothing makes him as inflamed as when I get out the bucket and mop!

So I end up locking him in his cage for the time I am cleaning, which seems to make him even more angry. That is why I occasionally use the baby gates between rooms to let him still have some freedom.

He was mad as all heck yesterday when I sectioned him off in the living room. He wanted that mop and he wanted to be out of the living room with the dog.

He has had a very rough year, yes his SSR is accurate, I'm sure with me working such radically different hours and being gone has been very lonesome. He's been so used to me being around in the house I'm sure my absences and new routines for him are very stressful.

It's very poignant that you bring up the Mars issue and the fact that he wasnt hurt. I stopped the story at his flight and landing. He's tried flying in the past, when he was bald, he would pathetically flop hard down to the ground with a hurtful sounding thud. This time he flew, and landed safely......for the moment....After my praise and accolade to him for his amazing achievement....there I was... we now have Veronica with a big potentially aggressive bird perched on her shoulder, by her face.
That's when time stands still, and your mind. slows down to completely focus on the threat of severe pain and an utterly devastating experience. I thought of a million ways to safely get him off of me, safe for Both of us. I obviously could have just excepted my fate and protecting myself knocked him off me onto the couch. I could try and lay on the ground and hope he climbs off....the amazing thing is that I really started to tell him of our dilemma, he is not dumb he doesnt want to end up bitting me and having me react to that by shaking him loose instinctively and him getting hurt by being shaken free. So we explored our options and I told him to get down, as I unvziped my hoodie and pulled out my arms and maneuvering myself and the hoodie so I slipped out of it, while he hanged gently on to the sleeve! It was very gentle and kind and not a crash landing at all! That's a first for sure!
He's still full of himself today and got all fluffy and happy again when I demonstrated the whole event again.

[Veronica]

Yesterday afternoon when I got home from taking my dad to dialysis Patrick the dog mentioned at the beginning of the thread began acting unsettled, and it has gotten progressively worse being up all night with him trying to make him comfortable and Divine what is failing him.

It dawned on me to look at his natal chart, and I feel like a big jerk for not recalling his birthday is tomorrow. We dont have an accurate birthtime for him so we dont know for sure his moon or angles....but I am very concerned about this sudden drastic change in him as it mirrors how my beloved Seneca had a unknown tumor that burst.....

He is such a good boy, and it feels like something inside is hurting him terribly. I will most likely be bringing him in to ER today.

[Jim Eshelman]

We all know how important angles are in solar returns, so I don't want to pretend we can tell much with out it - but I do notice that Uranus is transiting his Jupiter, while Jupiter soon approaches his Venus-Uranus-Pluto - and Venus is currently on that Venus-Uranus-Pluto.

These are good transits (and SSR Moon, somewhere in late Cancer or early Leo, isn't lined up to make an ecliptical aspect to anything).

The main thing going on right now is Venus conjunct his Venus. Does that give you a clue? (A case of the blues from being left alone, rather than something physical?)

I wish I had more to offer.

[Veronica]

Honestly I am wondering if he ate a mouse that might have been poisoned. I dont use poison but its highly likey my neighbors the dog kennel would.

When I came home yesterday afternoon he seemed fine. We even had a good howl when I played on the keyboard. Then I painted till bedtime and he was at my feet like normal. But when he tried to get on the bed he was reluctant and cried out when he did and then jumped down and was breathing hard and couldnt settle down and walked around the house all night.
Luckily I have cbd for dogs and he's comfortable at the moment.

[Veronica]

Patrick is doing much better today. Jim I want to thank you for mentioning his last year's Venus to Venus because that inspired me to think about what was possibly going on and I decided to give him some rose water and that really seems to have helped with his inflammation and what was going on because he's doing so much better now we've been enjoying his birthday today and we're hoping for a nice year ahead we take each moment as they come he is an elderly dog but he's got a lot of spirits still thank you