Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

Just curious, how important is the navamsa to Western Sidereal Astrology? Is it reliable, or is it often rendered useless?

It depends on who you ask: Meaning, it never entirely made its way into the working canon of Sidereal astrology though large segments of Siderealists use it more than a little.

At the end of his life, Cyril Fagan thought the Novien quite important and it's particular 40° rhythm began to emerge in other significant areas, such as Donald Bradley's discovery of the Ennead return chart.

In the 1970s and '80s, it was particularly common for Siderealists in Southern California and elsewhere - while not setting up a Novien chart as such - to read all 10° natal aspects. I still do this in the back of my mind, though I rarely need the added information they give. I am, though, sometimes stunned by now Novien positions of one person's chart meaningfully contact natal elements in someone else's chart

Some Siderealists actively use the Novien alongside a natal chart, though it is less common. (A few may even use the Navamsa.)

Fagan had concluded early on that the Navamsa was worthless and, other than the fact that it discloses the same "new" aspects as the Novien, I've come over the years to conclude, as well, that the Navamsa is unsupportable but the Novien is sometimes hard to ignore.

Is that confusing enough? <g>

One example of "hard to ignore" came across my desk this week. We don't have a birth time for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was born March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn. I've been working with a speculative chart of 8 AM that I think fits her pretty well - however, nothing I say below is dependent on that time being right. My remarks below could fit more or less any time of birth on that date.

Ginsburg's lifelong commitment to justice, including equality for all and especially championing the rights of women in the years before her court appointment, easily fits her Libra Moon. Her Moon is also strongly aspected - for most birth times, she has Moon square Saturn, which describes much of her life and character.

Her Pisces Sun is less obvious unless we move into her personal life where, among other things, she was a fan and patron of opera. She had other Pisces traits, including considerable personal charm, which is quite fitting of the Pisces-Libra combination, and other things that don't matter at the moment.

What caught my eye, examining her chart, was that someone so self-directed and outward-acting has no close, strong Sun aspects at all. The closest is a trine to Pluto, just over 3°, which is not dynamic (and reinforces what I think are two other strong Pluto themes in her chart). The only other solar aspect is an opposition to Jupiter at around 7° (farther away the longer into the day she was born), which is barely worth acknowledging.

This is aside from the fact that Moon in Libra - committed to justice - is the only strong signal of her judicial career. Other aspects speak vividly of her days as a committed, crusading advocate and activist attorney, but not her judicial career. I thought there should be something else (which, of course, might be given us better if we had a birthtime.,. but I was working with what I had).

The only thing to satisfy me in these two "missings" was her Novien. (It's not a great example, since we don't have a birth time, but it's the example on hand for the week.)

First, seeing her Sun (in my speculative 8 AM chart) at 0°42' Pisces, I scanned for anything within half a degree or so of 0°42', 10°42', or 20°42' of any sign - all the 10° multiples. I found Venus at 21°18' Aquarius, so I knew her Novien has a Sun-Venus square. Fine enough, though it reiterates other Venus themes (though it expresses her charm and other traits quite well).

But looking at the full Novien was another matter. First, she has a Mercury-Jupiter conjunction - a distinctive mark of scholarship and a judicial career (among other possibilities). More importantly, this Mercury-Jupiter conjunction also conjoined her natal Sun! This was the solar aspect I'd been seeking. For the 8 AM time, the positions are:

r Sun 0°42' Pisces
n Mercury 0°56' Pisces
n Jupiter 3°32' Pisces

In contrast to the Novien, the Navamsa, of course, has the same Mercury-Jupiter conjunction but 120° earlier where it makes no contact to anything in her natal chart. Furthermore, there are no solar aspects either in the Novien, from the natal to Novien Sun, or from the Novien to the natal Sun. This strongly self-directed woman is left, in that scenario, without a significant solar expression.

Just one example, of course.

Another timely example: Joe Biden's natal chart (November 20, 1942, 8:30 AM, Scranton, PA) is quite descriptive of him. One thing it really doesn't address, though, is significant childhood stutter that seriously impacted him psychologically and required he learn new tactics of speaking which still affect how he comes across to this day.

We would expect this to show in his natal chart. Historically, I've thought that Mercury in Libra alone might contribute a speech impediment, but I'm not sure I can substantiate that. His Mercury is just outside foreground - not too strong, not too weak in Libra and without close aspects.

However, we get a hint by scanning 10° multiple aspects and notice a connection of Mercury at 27°36' Libra, Neptune at 7°35' Virgo, and Moon at 7°03' Aries! These are going to be in aspect in the Novien or Navamsa. Indeed, the Novien positions themselves are quite persuasive in this regard:

3°24' Libra - n Moon
7°03' Aries - r Moon
8°11' Cancer - n Neptune
8°22' Libra - n Mercury

The Mercury-Neptune aspect exists in either the Novien or Navamsa. Both have Moon close enough to highlight it, especially with Mercury being in Moon's Novien or Navamsa sign. However, only the Novien puts Mercury-Neptune right on top of his natal Moon, much closer!

That Novien (in contrast to Navamsa) Moon is also of great importance in synastry. Simply using the natal charts, there is already a strong simpatico shown between Biden and Sen. Harris, his running mate, due to their Moons being conjunct within 4° - Biden's Moon at 7°03' Aries, Harris' Moon (exactly opposite her Sun) at 3°24' Aries. But Biden's Novien drives home just exactly how strong this connection is, something the natals alone don't make clear:

3°24' Libra - Biden's n Moon
3°24' Aries - Harris' r Moon
3°34' Libra - Harris r Sun
7°03' - Biden's r Moon

These are 0°00' and 0°10' orbs! It's like... wow! And speaking of tight orbs, transiting Venus at noon, January 20, 2021 when the next president and vice president will be sworn in, is 3°25' Capricorn.