Danny wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:42 am
I joined in Nov last year so thought it was about time I introduced myself. I'm Danny and I've been studying astrology for about a year now but I'm fairly new to Sidereal so in order to understand better the methods you use, I thought I'd post my birth details to get an idea of how you go about delineating a chart and perhaps discover some things I've missed.
5 April 1990 7.06 AM Redhill, England, UK
Source: Birth Certificate
Danny, welcome to Solunars. (Danica, thanks for posting the summary.) Where Danica gave you basic interpretive elements, I'm going to address the other half of your question concerning
how we go about digging into a chart.
First, though, if you like, please go to this thread and add your data so that we can find it easily as you hang out and ask other questions over time:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25
Here's a copy of your chart.
My strategy for interpreting a natal horoscope is outlined here:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19
The main point is to try to get a
core description of a person by finding those few things that are so strong they wont be contradicted or overwritten even by strong contrary factors. In the beginning, we go for a minimalist approach - trying to find the fewest things that can tell us the most. We can fill in details later, but these few strong things help us get the central nugget of a person. Even if they contradict each other, they have to still somehow coexist - we all have contradictions in us - and often the most fascinating things about someone lies in how they have lived their life with coexisting contradictions.
My
tactic for getting this is to look for the few strongest things in each astrological category. For example,
among signs the strongest voice is in the Sun-sign and Moon-sign. The Mars-sign is often the next most visible. Any sign with four or more planets will be particularly pronounced in the character. But the main thrust is in the Sun and Moon signs.
For angularity, we want to identify the most
outwardly expressive (
aka "strongest") planets by those that are closest to angles. You have several of these that I'll itemize in a moment.
Among aspects, we want the closest. They are more thematic of the character if Sun or Moon is involved. Dynamic aspects (conjunctions, oppositions, squares) are often more visible, seem stronger, etc. than static aspects (trines, sextiles), though orb (closeness) is more important.
Even these few factors may give quite a list of items. We can look through it for reinforcements and contradictions, and generally try to get (when possible) no more than half a dozen factors that, together, say the most distinctive things about a person.
In your case, Sun is in Pisces and Moon in Cancer. That's a start. Read those two interpretations and you'll find they have a lot in common. (Hint: Sun in Pisces and Moon in Cancer are the most common Sun-sign and Moon-sign for Academy Award winning actors. This doesn't mean you'll be an actor or, if you are, that you'll win an Oscar; it just means that your character has much in common with people who do both.) If we want to round out later, we'd notice your Capricorn Mars, also.
For angular planets, you have the following. (I've calculated these mundanely, i.e. by the planet's actual spatial relation to the angle, not just be zodiac aspect; but the orbs are similar either way.)
Sun on Eastpoint 0°46'
Mercury on Ascendant 1°53'
Neptune on Midheaven 3°27'
These three are all very strong. They will all have their voice: You should learn as much about the character of Sun, Mercury, and Neptune on an angle as possible. But also (as we start to synthesize and look for reinforcements or contradictions), two things are obvious from these planets: (1) Your Sun is in Pisces, which is a constellation mostly of the same character as Neptune, which is what we mean by "Neptune rules Pisces," so this is a doubling up: That Neptune energy is a really big deal in you. (2) Mercury and Neptune are both very strong for you, and they are substantially of opposite natures,
e.g., reason vs. unreason, data vs. impression, granular vs. global. With a little reflection, you can probably see that the strength of these two factors and their
polarity explains large blocks of your character.
Finally, for aspects, you have several extremely close, important ones. Probably the most important is Sun square Neptune (0°40'). This is tremendously strong for several reasons, including the act that both planets are close to angles, a luminary is involved, the square is a dynamic, intense aspect, and the orb is very small (0°40'). It's the closest aspect in your chart, and is the THIRD way that Neptune is stated as important in your chart - important to the point of defining you.
Also, Moon is opposite Mars (1°21'), Mars square Pluto (2°03'), and there is a wider Moon-Pluto square. This is important because of its closeness, and greatly interesting because it paints a very different character than we've seen from the Neptune and Neptune vs. Mercury themes. It is also interesting because it is a very strong, demanding, energetic aspect but in the
least expressive parts of the chart (near the cadent cusps). This creates a kind of struggle, because the psychological energy and of the aspect and the needs it fosters are very insistent, yet something in you is resistant to their outward expression. (Therefore, aspects this strong and this cadent often indicate health issues, physical or psychological.)
You have other aspects - in particular, Mercury has close sextiles with Venus and Jupiter, emphasizing a smooth, gracious, kindly style of expression that is also compatible with Pisces and Cancer luminaries (and different than we'd expect from the snarky Moon-Mars).
That's a lot or data already. Digging through it like this has left me with three or four pieces to juggle in my mind to feel through the kind of character you would have and the kind of life that would spin our of that character. The interpretive elements are summarized in Danica's post above (and expanded in specialty sections of this forum), but the
structure of your character seems to me is mapped by these themes:
1. Neptune theme - everything about Neptune you can learn - from Neptune on MC, Sun in Pisces, and their exact square (the closest, strongest aspect in the chart).
2. Mercury-Neptune coexistence and polarity: Mercury rising and Neptune on MC bring out strong opposites in your nature (see the individual interpretations above).
3. Moon opposite Mars , acutely close yet in the inexpressive
background of the chart. (Mars-Pluto adds more to this.)
I suggest framing a general understanding of yourself just from these three things and then add the other strong factors mentioned above: (1) An angular Sun, which adds elements different from Pisces, Cancer, Neptune, etc. (2) the well-aspected Mercury, (3) Mars in Capricorn, (4) anything else.
Maybe you are an actor after all. There is a great molding of reality to fit your inner ideal, malleability and adaptability and yet great passion, wariness, the capacity to let the people in your universe find you as their collective center.
Or something like that.