Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

[The following analysis by Donald Bradley, anonymously written for the "Many Things" section in the November '72 issue of AA, is a wonderful example of how to cut to the chase in understanding a birth chart - the sort of thing I try to teach and in which, surely, I was strongly influences by Bradley's style. The man under discussion was born November 27, 1938, 7:00 AM MST, 52N, 105W. His mother wrote for help with her son's horrible, life-ruining gambling addiction.

The text also is one of the best examples of a topic that comes up a lot - usually in a discussion of benefic vs. malefic domination of a birth chart, but here with just a slightly different twist, of soft vs. hard planets. The man is a Scorpio-Capricorn with Venus rising 0°00' from sextile Neptune at MC. Jupiter squares Ascendant within a degree or two, and squares Venus. There is more, as mentioned in the chart, but that will get you going. (He has a little foreground Sun, too.)]

With overaspected Jupiter dominating his chart, aided and abetted by the other silver-lining planets, Venus and Neptune, your son's problem reads like a case history illustrating Garth Allen's Jupiter essay in his Kid Gloves series. Retrograde Venus is on his Ascendant in close sextile to Neptune at the Midheaven and close square to Jupiter which is squaring the horizon line. In addition, Mercury sextiles and Mars trines Jupiter, making this planet of wishful thinking the key influence. Offering no ballast at all is Saturn, the least activated of his planets, near the 5th cusp (Campanus), said to be that of speculation and sports. Even the most elementary student would see Saturn in the 5th as warning that gambling could not possibly produce gainful results in the long run.

Saturn in a birthchart symbolizes where one goes wrong, what one loses, how one incurs punishments, one's self-defeating behaviorisms. In this case, since the native is a prize specimen of too much of the "soft" planets at work (Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune as contrasted with the "hard" Mars, Saturn, and Uranus), he has long been a sitting duck for the sort of neurosis you describe.

His problem is not so much one of moral weakness as of spiritual hunger. The act of betting and awaiting the outcome of the wager is done ain a coma of frantic propitiation of gods that do not really exist. It is a misdirected belief that the rest of the universe will somehow recognize his omnipotence and arrange itself accordingly in his favor. By the laws of probability alone, he will win just often enough to add fuel to this spark of supposed magical manipulation. Neptune, the paranoid planet, at his Midheaven mirrors the exquisite, masochistic suffering that compulsive gambling induces in a soul that is terrified of reality and of being "left alone." From the prominence of the soft planets, if is clear that your son has always needed others and demanded of the angels repeated assurances of his specialness in the scheme of things. Winning money is a particularly relishing form of such reassurance.

And that tells us his compulsion is a sickly form of ego-trip. He spurned Gamblers Anonymous because "they couldn't help him." That is, he was propitiating those nonexisting gods again but they wouldn't come through with a miracle on his behalf. The first step in psychological renovation through such a program as that used by Gamblers Anonymous [He means 12-Step programs in general] is to completely humble oneself with the admission that one has made a hell of a mess of his life. Still ego-tripping, your son wasn't able to surrender himself - he was still looking for the magical transformation from outside himself to get the bills paid, his family properly supported, etc. Such a cure for troubles can take place only internally and only when one is ready for it to happen. One has to trade in the hope for caring deities for faith in a Deity Who really cares.

As attested to by his rising Venus, your son has always had too many cushions to fall back on in life, has always needed to be in need and somebody to be there indeed. You and your daughter-in-law have stuck by him, which is commendable of course, though in itself problematical - these ever-ready havens of love and understanding have postponed the life crisis which could be the turning point you all are seeking. Notice that it was his wife who arranged for the psychiatrist and the G.A. meetings, and that it was his mother who wrote to us for help. Part of his dilemma is traceable to this endless doing of things for him. He hasn't been ready for the pivotal surrender within himself.

His progressed Sun-Saturn square will not crest until early 1975, and his prolonged square between progressed Venus and Jupiter will not top out until 1979. These are influenes of self-deterioration and infantile overoptimsm, respectively, so there's a long haul ahead before he reaches that remedial turnabout and changes his design for living. Until he is truly ready to mine the mental and emotional riches of the Gamblers Anonymous program, it is advisable for him to reside somewhere far removed from a tote window or bookie. Geography won't solve the internal problem, of course, but it will help lessen the financial outgo. In the meantime, all of you should be aware that he was born with an inner enjoyment of helpless suffering - that subconsciously he is getting a kind of perverse satisfaction out of losing money. The most effective therapy should represent the implanting of substitutions which will serve to appease the psychic appetite and yet be economically and socially harmless. He doesn't owe it to you, or to his wife, his child, or his creditors, to change himself - but he does owe it to himself.

Are there other examples of benefic dominance leading to this kind of behavioral pathology? I feel that this man's issue is a consequence of such an angular and closely aspected Neptune. Just from observing myself and my father who is also benefic dominant, it seems that if anything we're inclined toward narcissism and complacency more than addiction.

sotonye wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:48 am Are there other examples of benefic dominance leading to this kind of behavioral pathology?

Yes, though perhaps not to that degree. It's quite commonly observable that benefic-dominated charts are better suited for living protected lives where they can count on people and the universe to be good to them, while malefic-dominated charts are better suited for living challenging lives where they have to fight and struggle for whatever they get. (Those are broad generalizations, of course, but meant just to give you the basic idea.)

Often benefic-dominated charts actually do get those blessed, protected lives; but, when they don't, then they don't have the resources to deal with them well.

I feel that this man's issue is a consequence of such an angular and closely aspected Neptune.

Or, as the above mentions, the Venus-Neptune square on the angles (but in addition to the Jupiter). Uranus vs. Neptune in these situations is interesting to study. While there is no shortage of examples of Neptunians getting lost in some sort of addiction, there is also a study showing that severe alcoholics for whom 12-step programs worked and restored sobriety were Uranian charts. For a decade or two this was looked on as meaning that it was Uranus, not Neptune, that was connected to their alcoholism (and there are good reasons to think those traits fit) but it seems the distinction is not on the addiction itself but on whether they are likely to pull themselves out of it.

The relevant trait from an angular Neptune seems to be their intractability. Generally, they are deeply committed to their realities and resist any effort to challenge their realities.

Just from observing myself and my father who is also benefic dominant, it seems that if anything we're inclined toward narcissism and complacency more than addiction.

I haven't observed narcissism. Now, if you soften it to "spoiled," I'd go along with you in an instant

PS It's hard to think of your chart as benefic-dominant with an Aries Sun and angular Mars and Pluto. "Dominant" maybe, in the sense of "got more votes in the election," but not to the point that contrary factors are essentially absent.

Jim Eshelman wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:03 am

sotonye wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:48 am Are there other examples of benefic dominance leading to this kind of behavioral pathology?

Yes, though perhaps not to that degree. It's quite commonly observable that benefic-dominated charts are better suited for living protected lives where they can count on people and the universe to be good to them, while malefic-dominated charts are better suited for living challenging lives where they have to fight and struggle for whatever they get. (Those are broad generalizations, of course, but meant just to give you the basic idea.)

You know, this makes perfect sense to me and it reminds me of my brother. (March 18, 1986, 8:15pm Los Angeles). We were born almost 10 years apart, and though we grew up in the same place with the same parents, he seemed to have had a much harder time going about his life. His chart has many Mars aspects, Pluto angular, as well as an opposition between Neptune and the Moon. Always ready for a fight and never anticipating that the world will yield to him since it infrequently has.

Uranus vs. Neptune in these situations is interesting to study. While there is no shortage of examples of Neptunians getting lost in some sort of addiction, there is also a study showing that severe alcoholics for whom 12-step programs worked and restored sobriety were Uranian charts. For a decade or two this was looked on as meaning that it was Uranus, not Neptune, that was connected to their alcoholism (and there are good reasons to think those traits fit) but it seems the distinction is not on the addiction itself but on whether they are likely to pull themselves out of it.

I completely missed the angular Uranus. Ive never thought to hear that the free-wheeling planet is associated with alcoholism, is this due to some escapist tendency?

The relevant trait from an angular Neptune seems to be their intractability. Generally, they are deeply committed to their realities and resist any effort to challenge their realities.

"Bound souls"

I haven't observed narcissism. Now, if you soften it to "spoiled," I'd go along with you in an instant

Let's go with spoiled in that case

PS It's hard to think of your chart as benefic-dominant with an Aries Sun and angular Mars and Pluto. "Dominant" maybe, in the sense of "got more votes in the election," but not to the point that contrary factors are essentially absent.

I forget about my Sun, I forget that sometimes I like to cause trouble, that sometimes I can be more abrupt, more "rough around the edges" than anyone. Mars is so far away from the angle (relative to Jupiter) and it makes me hesitant to give importance, but since you've pointed it out several times now I can't doubt its emphasis. I can more easily see Pluto being a contrary factor, this is sort of a rough one now that I consider it lol. I feel that the same tendency to overwhelm others we see with Venus-Pluto aspects is true is of Mercury-Pluto configurations as well. But at the same time Neptune is in the background without any considerable aspects, Saturn is in the middleground without any considerable aspects, and the primary feature of the chart is the angular and partile opposition between a Taurus Moon and Jupiter receiving close aspects from Venus. Considering all of this I had it in my mind that any rough feature would be more or less eclipsed by more easy-going energy.

Also thank you Mr. Eshelman I learned a lot here.

sotonye wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:59 am I completely missed the angular Uranus. Ive never thought to hear that the free-wheeling planet is associated with alcoholism, is this due to some escapist tendency?

Likely because the alcoholic temperament is typically disillusioned geniuses and flattened idealists. I do, though, think that the Uranus part is the recovery-prone part more than the alcoholism per se. Addiction isn't a Uranus issue or a Neptune issue as such, it's clearly a Mercury-Mars combination issue. Bradley's original threshold study has been confirmed many times in the field over the years.