Using Ingress Charts

Since I'm always being asked how things like ingresses work, I'd like to offer an example. And not to worry, this isn't all that exotic. It's just about learning how to think in astrologese. 

Let's start with one basic idea however: venue counts. What I mean by that is simple - if we're talking about your natal chart, the subject is you. Any transit to that natal chart is still totally about you. Maybe about how you will interact with others or how offended you will hear when for whatever reason you aren't applauded like some hero returning from deeds of derring do....but it's still about you. 

Your chart is YOUR chart.To paraphrase a (Leo) girlfriend of long ago, it's SO all about you!

Against this we have things like ingress chart. They're not about you in particular. They're about Earth. They pertain to the planet and everything on it - so they're very big picture, impersonal and global POV.

Ironically, astrology refers to such global horoscopes as 'mundane.' Do you know anything mundane about existence on the planet? I sure don't. But that's what it's called - go figger!

Anyway, I live in the United States. And on Monday June 28th, we had a member of our US Congress die. His name was Senator Robert Byrd. He was 92. And he'd served a very, very long time - nine terms, to be exact.

As happens at such moments, reporters asked a flock of other Congress people what they thought of Robert Byrd. And what comes across is pretty clear: Robert Bryd not only knew what had happened in Congress, his country and the world during the time he had served, he was also a repository and reference source on rules of order, state protocol and ancient history. He was something of a patriarch to the whole of Congress. 

He also was known as 'the King of Pork,' meaning that during his tenure he managed to get a whole lot of Federal money sent home to his constituents (literally billions) and when asked, he wasn't ashamed of what he'd done. Not at all.

Why? Because he considered that his job. He had been elected to represent the people of his state, and Robert Byrd took his job as provider very seriously. If a state could be seen as a household, he thought of himself as its breadwinner.

So what's this got to do with the Cancer ingress chart?

Well look at the chart - and since the one in the sidebar is pictured with astrological glyphs, let's put this one in a bit of a more 'plain-speak' format:

 June 21, 2010 Cancer Ingress chart

 Okay...now look at the bottom of the chart - where it says "Sun." You'll see that that's opposite "Plu" (Pluto) at the top of the chart. Pluto's keywords are create, deny, destroy. And one of the interesting items which doesn't get talked about much with reference to the 4th house (and Cancer, it's native ruling sign) is that this is often the house of 'endings.' Yes, as in life. 

So that 'ending' thing is one theme of this ingress, as we discussed in the article about the ingress per se. There's a whole theme about global change going on, and the real question is whether we want to make changes or have change forced upon us. (And yes, this does apply to each and every person on said planet too.)

So the ingress happened on June 21st. And ever since then, with every day, the Sun has ticked along through the zodiac at the basic rate of one degree a day (a little less, but let's go with one degree)...such that on this past Monday - the day that Robert Byrd died - the Sun conjuncted Juno.

And what is Juno about? Typically spoken of as 'female strength' (and female head of household, defender of children, protector of the hearth and home, etc.) this symbol shouldn't be viewed in terms of gender. No astrological symbol should - after all, they all appear in every chart. Juno can be a strong female in the household, yes. But it could also be that quality of protectiveness and 'household leadership' which responds to situations as they arise, coping and providing for the good of those in the home. Or homeland.

So as the Sun came to Juno, it's intrinsically Plutonic create, deny, destroy energy was set off in terms of a Juno figure - Senator Robert Byrd.

And that's how ingress charts work. Obviously a lot of things happened. But there was a theme to that day. And once we learn how to use such themes, we come to be able to look ahead, knowing not just when to expect things will happen, but when the time will be right and ripe for us to make our own moves.

Powerful things, ingress charts. Does it make you want to know when the next door will open - and what it will open to?  

Arlen Specter: The Parties are Over

The End of a Spect(e)ral Era 

Born on February 12, 1930 in Wichita, Kansas, Senator Arlen Specter first assumed office on January 3, 1981 after a campaign marked astrologically by a solar eclipse at 18 Leo.

Lunar eclipses are emotional times which in highlighting something, present us with some reality. Solar eclipse on the other hand, ‘block out’ some part of reality in order to
reveal some special attribute (the image here being the corona – the halo of solar light we see cast around the Moon when it moves in front of the Sun.).

Neither of these events necessarily good or bad – at least in theory, they’re educational. But when a solar eclipse strikes our chart with any exactitude, it certainly does often perform a blitzkrieg on something we’re used to.

That’s the cosmic point – we get used to things, but life wants us to git growin’.

With this particular 1980 eclipse occurring in exact opposition Senator Specter’s natal Damocles (at 18 Aquarius) and in general opposition to Amor (love, at 19 Aquarius) and Icarus/Sun at 23 Aquarius, this was Specter turning his ego to greater things, as lore suggests we should all do. (And do we?) That aside, he also met up with several other important lessons.

The first would have been colored by Damocles – a symbol that teaches that with power comes responsibilities and exposure, some of which can feel threatening or dangerous, and some of which can actually be threatening. Or yes, even dangerous.

Do we think he was horrified? No. Au contraire…with Damocles so close to Amor in this chart, there’s every reason to suspect Senator Specter has a love of the tough campaign and the good political fight, ego bruises and all. His is a personality which accepts that risks exist and that life isn't supposed to be a platter of cupcakes.

The Icarus/Sun signature also tells us that his is a personality prone to going over the top – which may be a plus in political debates. But this is also a sign of someone capable of taking off on flights of fancy which sometimes come with huge price tags. Still…did he have any real choice? Specter’s Sun and Icarus are both 3rd decanate symbols (degrees 20 through 29) which in social/societal Aquarius tells us that Specter is someone who really can’t know how well something works until it’s put to a real time, real life test. And yes, he has been tested. He's also been testy - go figger.

But that sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t....? Icarus/Sun in late Aquarius marks Senator Specter as someone who would be philosophical about failures but determined to work things through. And while right is optimal, this is a man willing to go with what ultimately works. He gets the distance between ideals and reality. He doesn't always like it (and during this time he got a big heapin' dose of same!) but he gets it. And probably by the time this 3-year solar eclipse transit had run its course, Specter got the clue about how things were going to work. And not work. Or sort of work.

Moving on...as the Senator finished his ‘freshman year’ (evidently a rite of political passage)a lunar eclipse occurred at 19 Cancer conjunct a powerful configuration in his natal chart: Pluto in Cancer opposition Juno/Vega in Capricorn. Juno is a symbol of responsive power. Often seen potently positioned in the charts of matriarchs and those who defend family and home (or in this case, homeland), here united with charismatic Vega and opposition Pluto we have a configuration all about deep beliefs in self, in what one thinks is worth fighting for or against (despite what anyone else will say) and a strong opinion about what’s good for his country and people in general.

And in case we might think Arlen Specter hadn’t found his life’s calling, we have only to look to Jupiter, which at that moment was rolling up on and over 8 Scorpio – the degree of the eclipse prior to Specter’s birth (often a sign of things ‘fated’) .

Just after that lunar eclipse hit, a solar eclipse hit his chart too. Positioned at 4 Aquarius, it focused on Specter’s Aquarian (social/societal) ability to utilize wisdom (Athena), assertion (Mars), image (Photographica) and Atropos – the severing of an ‘old life.’ Say goodbye to Mister Nice Guy – to Senator Specter, getting the job done was always going to be more important than looking good or being liked.

Cut to January 26, 2009 - another solar eclipse (at 6 Aquarius)which set off this Mars-Athena-Photographica-Atropos thing yet again, leading to Senator Specter’s announcement on April 29 that he was changing parties – he was cutting himself loose (Atropos) from the Republicans to join with the Democrats. True to blatant form, as Jupiter was moving in to

roll over Sun/Icarus and natal Venus, he even announced that one of his reasons for making the change was that if he stayed with the Republicans he wouldn’t be able to win another election. Was that crassly crude or a display of honesty and independence seldom like people keep saying they want to see in their politicians?

But some cosmic (not to mention social) die had been cast. A year later, January 2010’s solar eclipse at 25 Capricorn struck the Senator’s Hera (partnering), Mercury (thoughts), calculated Lilith (that I don’t like to see about society) complex: whether or not the Senator wanted to see it (and he probably didn’t see it) the public had witnessed or sensed something they didn’t like.

Or maybe just something didn’t want to deal with…whether in him or in themselves, we’ll never know.

Whatever the case, the politician who had seemed so untouchable suddenly looked vulnerable to challenge. And defeat. The primary of May 18th which finds Senator Specter losing to challenger Sestak proves that.

Interestingly, this summer’s July solar eclipse will be at 19 Cancer, sort of bringing Senator Specter full circle. As if echoing the lunar eclipse which saw him really claiming his place at the heart of American politics, so this 19 Cancer solar eclipse will see the Senator letting go of the reins.But like the song says, he’ll be doing it his way, with personal dignity – as far as he’s concerned – entirely intact.

There are some in both parties who probably dislike Senator Specter intensely. For them, this is the political exorcism of a Specter.

For the rest of us though, it may just be a lesson in how people used to be. Or what we've gained and lost by requiring politicians to play a social image game we not only don’t respect them for playing…but which we probably dislike ourselves even more for falling prey to. Why? Because that would mean we’re the authors of our own disappointment - and how do we 'eclipse' that?