Eclipse Notes: Aspects, Effects and Returns

A circumhorizontal arc - an optical phenomenon caued by ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds

(photo credit Jeff Kubina, June 2007)

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Eclipses are funny astrological beasts. Sometimes they time out some very fun times - particularly if you’re talking about a lunar eclipse, as lunar eclipses (like all things lunar) tend to be ‘framed’ by feeling where solar eclipses, as emotional a time as they may indicate, are more focused on lifestyle and evolutionary life events than any particular emotional goal, needs or fervent hope. Plus lunar eclipses tend to be prompt. That is, with a lunar eclipse the effects are immediate - and if the eclipse aspects your chart with any acuity - often memorable.

But the emotional ‘high’...? Those effects tend to be relatively short-lived. Three months is pretty much the standard duration - which may be disappointing when all is bliss but rather reassuring when events which time with a lunar eclipse go really and truly bad.

Solar eclipses, on the other hand, are less defined - and they’re curiously reflective of the process of an eclipse. The Sun represents life. Or ‘illumination’ as in understanding and inner clarity. And when an eclipse happens, the Moon - a satellite which is closer to Terra Earth than the Sun is - that Moon intervenes...which metaphysically is what happens with a solar eclipse: something about life (yours, or life in general) ‘blacks out’ your sense of understanding. Or your ability to ‘shine.’

Yet solar eclipses aren’t metaphysically ‘cruel’ or about 'failure' even if they’re often challenging and in sync with losses and mistakes. Indeed, lore teaches that eclipses are about causing us to shed something we may or may not like or prefer - and even which we may have stuck with/invested ourselves in over many a year. But in some way...and at some level, that loss, that change, whatever else it may be is also about eliminating something which in some way is now keeping us from being that person we are capable of being going forward.

And why aren’t we that person? Well... you know.,.. it may just be easier to keep on doing (saying, thinking, acting) in a manner which ‘settles’ when it comes to our capacity? Or maybe we're just doing what has worked well enough for us over a lot of years.

On a metaphysical level, whatever our reasons are they’re excuses. Very human and perhaps heartfelt excuses, but (metaphysically) excuses, nonetheless. And those ‘excuses’ or those singular or many ways of ‘escaping’ our true capacity (read: the truth of our Self and who we really are) are what solar eclipses tend to affect. Generally effects are neither subtle nor convenient - and in that last bit (in particular) are seldom entirely to our liking. In fact, any solar eclipse which aspects your natal chart with acuity will manifest as some sort of situation which includes some degree of being (and feeling) at a lack for control.

And that would happen why?

That would happen because you are letting go of that thing you feel so comfortable doing, being surrounded by or feeling part of (etcetera).

You’re in free-fall with/within your Self, without being able to fasten on some inner (Sun) knowing.

 Shown as calculated for the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio,

the five degree orb of aspect surrounding the conjunction.

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With the conjunction (an aspect which extends to five degrees in either direction from the eclipse), eclipse effects are very personal. They’re about our life and how we perceive it - for better and for worse. (And maybe both.) Whatever planet, axis or other point is being conjuncted, the eclipse will manifest through whatever ‘flavor’ is exhibited by that combination of point and sign, making the conjuncting eclipse something along the lines of transformative tofu.

 Shown as calculated for the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio,

there is a three degree (plus/minus) orb of aspect surrounding the sixty (60)

degree standard sextile aspect which from 0 Scorpio would occur at 0 Virgo

and Capricorn, respectively.

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As opposed to this, the eclipse-by-sextile (the sextile being a 60-degree aspect) is the signature of opportunities lost... or about to be found, depending on how you come into any given eclipse period.

Sextiles seldom exhibit requirement or necessity, however positive they may be - and that can be a positive where utilization of a natural ability or talent - the ‘voicing’ of it gets involved. On the other hand, having an eclipse aspecting your chart by sextile can represent the ‘blacking out’ or elimination or destruction of some avenue or choice - or some opportunity you may have had. In such, eclipse energies sometimes seem like Pluto, which tends to point to a ‘transformation’ which reverses existent to non-existent (and vice-versa) depending on where, how and what in the chart is aspected.

But eclipses aren’t Pluto. Eclipse effects differ from those regarding Pluto in that Pluto manifestations tend to apply to our personal feelings - the why we’re feeling them, whether we have any right-minded reason to feel that way and whether such emotional drives (cravings, desires, aims) are safe or dangerous in practice or theory. Against that, eclipses are more ‘situational.’ Yes, they can (and sometimes do) manifest as a physical illness or accident. But the ‘eclipse factor’ in that mix is about how our lives are changed by the eclipse and thus all about how we need to change who we are being or how we are going about doing what we’re doing (or living our life) in order to take best advantage of some challenge... or simply in order to cope.
As with most things astrological, the greatest challenges, problems and gains are associated with the squares and as with sextiles, trines, semi-sextiles and inconjuncts (aka quincunxes), there are two different squares to consider. The first is the ‘departing square’ (or departing whatever other aspect) - a reference to the idea that the ‘event’ (in this case, an eclipse) is occurring within a three-degree orb of sixty degrees from whatever natal chart point you want to consider.

ASPECT EXAMPLES: The October 2014 solar eclipse will be at 0 Scorpio and the October 2014 lunar eclipse will occur under the sign of Aries. If this position is within the three-degree orb of sextile to some point in your natal chart (which would be in Virgo for the solar eclipse and in Aquarius for the lunar eclipse), then your chart is being eclipsed by sextile.

Do you have a point within five degrees (plus or minus) of 0 Leo - which is to say between 25 Cancer and 5 Leo? If so, that point is being eclipsed by square - and because from Leo to Scorpio is moving forward through the zodiac, that is referred to as a “departing” (i.e., from the point in your chart) square...and conversely, were it ‘behind’ in astrological/zodiacal order, that would be the approaching square.

Departing aspects are about something wanting to be built, developed or utilized as a point of personal growth. 

Conversely, approaching aspects are about finishing, completing or achieving something. When a solar eclipse occurs in a position to eclipse that departing momentum, that aim or the ability to pursue that aim changes - often dramatically - either for better or worse. When a lunar eclipse hits at the departing aspect (or within orb of it), something dramatic may well happen - but in the end the aim itself generally remains ‘out there.’ No, it may not work as we thought it would and depending on the natal point(s) being eclipsed the experience may no longer be desirable.

But it’s there. That’s the difference between lunar and solar eclipses: where the Moon symbolizes all things which elicit or reward our feelings, the Sun refers to life itself and therefore things we have to learn about and contend with.

 With the October 2014 solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio, the two squares will occur in Leo

and Aquarius. Given that squares are given five (5) degree standard orb, this means

these squares start at 25 Cancer or Capricorn and end at 5 degrees of Leo

and Aquarius.

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Squares pose particular questions and challenge our sense of balance. A square successfully handled requires that we both accept limitations and our responsibilities to act, embrace and balance qualities which differ against each other whether those qualities are intrinsically ours or exist with regards to something we are doing or attempting to accomplish. To have one’s chart eclipsed by square poses a challenge - one from which we will (generally) prefer to retreat out of a sense of being thrown ‘off balance’ or because something we had counted on (or believed in) has been removed, eliminated or proven invalid.

 Oppositions also get a five (5) degree standard orb, which puts the opposition to

October 2014's 0 Scorpio solar eclipse at 0 Taurus and the extent of opposition

orb between 25 Aries and 5 Taurus.

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Oppositions differ from squares by being a flat-out confrontation. Sometimes that’s with others or something in or about our overall life and sometimes that’s with ourselves as we belly up to the mental bar and come to grips with something about our Self or our assumptions.

When we experience an eclipse by opposition, something (or someone) either vanishes from our life (which could be as simple as their changing jobs and no longer being part of our workday) or as we become ‘confronted’ with a need to be or do something and all it is going to take to deal with that. Eclipses by opposition often reveal qualities about our Self which we have either been ignorant of or unperturbed by so long as they didn’t cause problems...which (voila!) the eclipse period provides feedback on.

 Like oppositions, trines also get a five (5) degree standard orb. Unlike oppositions

however, trines do have departing and approaching formats, giving us a departing

trine to the October 2014 Scorpio solar eclipse with a position of 0 Pisces (and thus

an orb of affect between 25 Aquarius and 5 Pisces) and an approaching trine

between 25 Gemini and 5 Cancer.

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Having some point in your chart be eclipsed by trine is to not be able to ‘escape’ some process which is continuing to alter whatever attribute is being described by the planet/symbol being trined. Less of an obvious ‘hit’ to your life or lifestyle than the the conjunction, getting eclipsed-by-trine is potent enough to keep us on track with necessities and highly likely to eliminate a sense of personal ease (or a willingness to ‘take it easy’).

So much for trines being all pleasant, eh?

Two last aspects, which are by nature the inverse of each other: the 30-degree semi-sextile and the 150-degree OR 210-degree inconjunct or quincunx.

(above) Like trines, squares and sextiles, both semi-sextiles and inconjuncts have

approaching and departing and approaching formats. However, unlike any of those

aspects, semi-sextiles and inconjuncts are most useful when the orb is kept limited

- often to an orb as small as one and one-half (1 1/2) degrees. This gives us semi-

sextiles to the October 2014 0 Scorpio eclipse (0 Scorpio 25, to be exact) at

0 Sagittarius and Libra with orbs allowing for effects between 29 Scorpio and

2 Sagittarius or 29 Virgo and 2 Libra... and inconjunct positions at 0 Aries and

Gemini with effects extending to between 29 Pisces and 2 Aries and/or

29 Taurus and 2 Gemini.

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Put in simplest terms, the semi-sextile is about getting past our own feelings while the inconjunct is about our personal feelings about what it takes to adapt to being part of a group, system or process. In other words, they’re both about adjusting to what we feel or think about things it’s just that the semi-sextile process is more about a conversation in our head we have to work through (mostly) on our own where the inconjunct is about something outside of our Self. Either way, when eclipsed both of these points tend to speak to responsibilities and how we respond (or sometimes more to the point, how we don’t respond) to the standards, morals and ethics of responsibility.

As noted, lunar eclipses tend to have a duration of around three months. By the end of that time the ‘heat’ of our feelings will have cooled and we will have learned a lot - most of all about our Self. Solar eclipses however, run a longer course. Instead of three months their duration is three years, which may well mean that we will at times be under several overlapping eclipse cycles. Also: at about two-and-one-half years after the eclipse itself things tend to surface or happen. Whatever occurs, it could not have happened or we would not have been in a position to care or take advantage of this opportunity or information had we NOT gone through whatever happened at the time of the eclipse.

That may be the most interesting thing of all about solar eclipses - whatever else they are, solar eclipses are also a rather ultimate form of the ‘delayed gratitude’ lesson... a lesson which perhaps is meant to teach us to handle the moment and to recognize life has much, much more to offer if we will just keep walking, whether that’s physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.

RETURNS: The one exception to the (above) statements made about how long eclipses last concerns personal returns. If an eclipse - either solar or lunar - occurs within five (5) calendar days of EITHER your birthday (i.e., your yearly solar return) or your monthly lunar return, eclipse effects will be far more pronounced. If the eclipse occurs within five days of your personal/monthly lunar return, get your emotional raincoat on, particularly during the first month after the lunar eclipse. Whether effects taper off over the next few months as they normally would depends on your natal chart - most specifically the astrological ‘condition’ of your natal Moon plus whatever point the eclipse is in aspect to.

However, if an eclipse - solar or lunar - occurs within five (5) calendar days of your solar return (birthday), those eclipse effects can be expected to (lunar eclipse) last... and indeed (solar eclipse) dominate the whole of your solar/birthday year.

We just can’t say this often enough - and this is actually one of the biggest of big markers astrologers look for. A lunar eclipse around the date of your birthday can speak to a year which will have lots of ups and maybe an equal amount of downs and will often mark dramatic changes of circumstance, mindset or heart (personal or otherwise) over the course of that year, but a solar eclipse around the date of your birthday speaks to a year which could (just possibly) change the charted course of your life - or your ability to have the life you’ve worked long and hard to chart out for yourself.

Mind you, an eclipse around the date of your birthday is NOT enough to predict tragedy. I mention this here because people tend to jump to conclusions about such things. So please understand: even if an astrologer sees a solar or lunar eclipse around the date of your birthday it’s no sign of doom.

In fact, it’s a sign of an opportunity. No, everything may not be the way you want it to be. But that’s the point. Life is bigger than any of us know and we can’t know how to define all the possibilities.

Sometimes something has to break down the walls and lift our cherished veils so that we can grow, so that we can learn differently, so that we can move beyond our previous conceptions, realizing even as we witness eclipse dramas in the sky how we are  part of something miraculous... something vast and ever-changing and truly universal.

Maybe that’s why eclipses fascinate us so.   


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Chart USA: Solar Return 2011

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 Chart USA Solar Return 2011

April 10, 2011 - 1:37am EDT/+4 - Appomattox, VA

As an astrologer, it seems obvious - if ironic - that in a moment when political considerations have the United States government posed to shut down that the nation should get a new Solar Return chart.

When? As of April 10th at 1:37am (EDT/+4). Though the United States celebrates its independence on July 4th, there are many reasons why that chart doesn't work - and a whole line of reasoning, not to mention astrological functionality, for why a chart drawn for Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia at the moment when Lee and Grant sat down some hundred and fifty years ago to end the Civil War is the 'real' Chart USA.

If you want to read the whole of this discussion, here's the LINK to CHART USA Part One blog. It's a multi-part series, all of which is posted here at astroPPM; the rest of the segment links can be found in the sidebar.

And yes, this astrologer does find it highly notable that this impending shutdown/budget crunch comes right down to....when? The very date on which the old Chart USA year ends, opening the door to Chart USA's 2011-2012 solar year.

The original chart - dated April 9 1865 - is also posted here...a bit down the blog. To those who aren't familiar with solar returns, it may seem odd that the return is for April 10th where the original chart is dated April 9th. The difference has to do with the fact that the solar year is 365.2422 days long - that quarter day which ever four years becomes our 'Leap Year Day' accounts for the fact that all solar returns move back and forth a bit. It depends on where in any given four-year cycle you were born, and where in the cycle you're now casting a solar chart for.

So anyway...what does this solar chart say?

Let’s start with the idea that 3 degrees of Capricorn is the rising sign. While Capricorn is the 5th house of the Chart USA natal chart, the specific degree falls in the 4th house (of the people and the physical land), where it’s conjunct TNO Orcus (consequences) and Facies. Astrologically treated/known as a fixed star, Facies is actually a cluster of stars (a nebula); considering its ruthless reputation which often plays the victim and aggression cards (conjugate as: the aggressive victim, victimization through aggression, aggression playing on  victimization, etc.)…considering all that we might as well think of Facies as a cluster %$@# point in the zodiac.

And hey, every zodiac must have a couple, considering how much of that energy is around.

Like all other degrees, that of Facies does have a positive side – it can deal with and act to cure every ill Facies points out. But because we’re talking a rising degree, that’s harder to think will happen. The Ascendant of a chart is a calculated point. As such, it doesn’t have mass. A planet, even a tiny asteroid has mass. They’re something you can literally (and thus metaphysically) ‘get hold of.’

A Grizzly Bear fishing in Brooks Falls

photo credit: Dmitry Azovtsev (www.daphoto.info)

But an Ascendant? Like a Descendant, Nadir, MC, Node (etc.) – that’s harder. There’s literally nothing grab onto. Moreover, with the Ascendant, we’re literally talking about the ‘Now.’ And how many of us think through every little living last thing we do in the Now?

With all the good intentions in the world, that’s a really hard thing to do.

Not that the US won’t try. With Pluto at 7 Capricorn and conjunct Facies, it’s likely the USA will spend its year trying to eradicate all the Facies "badness" it finds…including substantial attempts to eliminate such qualities from its own actions.

And this is not just any Pluto sitting just inside the solar Ascendant…no, this is a Pluto on station sitting there in the solar 1st house. That says the United States – as a nation – is at a ‘turning point’ in its existence. With Pluto natally in the national 8th, that energy would be coming from a house which on the national level speaks to the willingness to commit itself to war and attempts to control the destiny of other nations.

Once a year the Japanese cherry trees (Sakura) given to the

United States in 1965 by the country of Japan burst into bloom

along Washington D.C.'s famous Tidal basin - cause enough

for an annual Cherry Blossom Festival, no?

photo credit: Scott Bauer of the USDA

This is also a point speaking very specifically to debt. Classically, astrology would describe this as the United States either going into debt, totally losing its head and spending like there’s no tomorrow or taking control of debt. And while again, it’s hard for a person (never mind a nation) to watch its p’s and q’s in every moment, considering the US is well past starting into debt (ha!) and unlikely (given the political climate) to start spending like the proverbial drunken sailor, that suggests that the US is going to turn towards fiscal discipline.

And with Pluto opposition a Cancer Moon at 4 Cancer, that’s a lot of what the rest of the world is going to hear from the United States. They’re going to hear the American people talking about money. They’re going to hear the American people getting pretty obsessive about their homeland.

But this isn’t going to be pretty. At 4 Cancer, this 7th house Moon has a deeply spiritual quality but then again is on one hand prone to trying to make sense of that which is nonsense even while the sense being made gets chewed up and garbled by others.

Beyond that, this Moon opposition Pluto, while it should be a seizing-of-the-idea and running with it, is likely to be more of a pro/con – con/pro sort of teeter totter, one which gets properly fervent in some moments and fervently nonsensical in others.

Because the Descendant is what others ‘see’ us doing, this also displays the qualities of Moon/Mirzam to the rest of the world – Mirzam being a fixed star which ‘announces’ but which doesn’t always follow through. Considering that this is the Moon we’re talking about, with the Moon of the natal chart being a Libra Moon and conjunct Diadem (the crowning glory), this is a whole ‘will of the people’ statement as well as a ‘democratic process’ statement. So the rest of the world is likely to hear the US and its people (and one supposes, its Congress) going through a whole lot of back and forth and sense and nonsense about all of these subject.

But more than that…when we look to Chart USA in natal form to see what’s conjunct this 4 Cancer Moon (and thus by implication, activated by the people, their representatives and thus seen/heard by others around the world) we see not just Mirzam but the delightful duo (NOT!) of Ixion and Alhena.

 Chart USA

April 9, 1865 - 3:53pm LMT/+5:15:18 - Appomattox, VA

Long known by the great Arab astrologers as a point of immortal destiny, Alhena represents both a great strength and a vital weakness. So the very beliefs of the US may be seen as something of a weakness around the world. Or as something to exploit, perhaps – though with Pluto stationary and in opposition to the Moon that would be one huge sleeping giant to be poking with any stick!

But Ixion…? Ixion is a point of entitlement. So while America and Americans can be expected to be all about eliminating arrogant entitlement in others, they should be aware: they’re likely to be seen as entitled and due for a comeuppance by many around the world.

This is a no-kidding issue, so if you’re not up on the whole Ixion story, here’s the LINK to IXION BLOG. And it’s probably to be aware that with Neptune – the planet which physically controls the orbits of both Ixion and Pluto – having just gone into Pisces spells a lot of exacerbating circumstances on their way not out, but in.

That’s right – we can expect more of the worst of human behavior on the global stage in general. (LINK to blog on NEPTUNE entering PISCES) This is not the fault of the US of A – this is a sign of the times. Old ways of doing and thinking and despot-ing and hoarding and being entitled are on their way out. But let’s face it – those who have been fully dedicated to being ‘have’s in a world of ‘have not’s are not likely to give up their premium status without a tussle! Over the next few years (say, about ten, while Neptune works its way through the first and second decanates of Pisces) divides around the world are going to enlarge. Blindness – particularly willful blindness – is going to be ever-more revealed and ever more relevant as a generative force behind world situations.

After that comes some five years or so of the world reaping what it has wrought. Oh, good times…!

(Yes, I’m being facetious here.)

Speaking of Neptune, in the USA natal chart Neptune resides in the 7th house. It’s part of that ‘land of opportunity’ and ‘world savior’ thing people have long thought about the United States and which the United States has put itself out there as in the world.

The Grand Granyon's South Rim at sunset

photo credit: MeckiM@c (May 5, 2003)

This year Neptune is at 0 Pisces in the solar chart and in the 2nd house. This is the great indicator of the United States as a nation being at a point of questioning its  values to the point that many feel so fervently about their ideals that they're willing to shut down the government, no matter how much havoc that wreaks in the lives of military families, the poor and literally hundreds of thousands of government workers.

Why would people be willing to go that far? What's the astrological indicator? Easy: this Neptune stands conjunct Hel/Chiron (both at 3 Pisces) and fixed star Fomalhaut, forming a whole little "stellar" parcel of confusion and conviction that something has to be done trine the solar Moon, its apparent the citizenry of the US is going to be seen as incapable in their own right.

Why? Because from that Moon (the people) in the 7th to Neptune (Hel, Chiron, Fomalhaut) in the 2nd is a ninth sign harmonic. And that describes several  things: the US people struggling with one of its premier founding precepts (freedom/tolerance of religion), legalities – particularly in areas of medicine and toxicity/intoxicants - and education.

The whole Neptune ‘we need to embrace this but how to embrace it when I don’t want to pay the emotional and physical cost for embracing this’ is going to be a big US issue now - and for the whole of this year. There is blindness on all sides, blindness enough to go around. Delusion is not the providence of any single party - nor will be the 'Hel' which is to be paid.

Lest we think this is not really about the people of the US (certainly with the Moon in 7 some Americans will argue this is all about ‘them’ (those foreign folks) and not ‘us’ (We the People). And that might seem apt except for the Sun being conjunct Eris at 20 and 21 Aries (respectively) conjunct a 25 Aries Nadir in this solar chart.

Let’s start with remembering that Chart USA has an 8th house natal Sun. Then let’s toss in that Eris is at this moment, in being at 21 Aries, activating the Chart USA asteroid Lilith, which itself is opposition to fixed star Spica with delicious exactitude.

Asteroid Lilith are all those things we want to deny which are equally important to that we’re okay with dealing with. Eris’ activating that natal point is a clear indicator that this year is going to be full of disruption or activism (the Eris choice) on all the many matters Lilith in 8 would indicate. The sure fire bets here? Debt, interest rates, loans, war, sex, issues concerning conception, death and taxation, particularly as that applies to inheritances, trusts and all their merry fiduciary paperwork cousins.

(Can you tell I used to work in finance?)

And as if that’s not something to make your itch twitch, all this is posed right down at the bottom of the chart – this solar return having a 25 Aries IC (Nadir) point.

The bottommost point of any chart being the ‘foundation’ which must be well laid and sound for anything built atop it to stand solid and tall, it’s worth noting that 25 Aries is all about pride. Can the US convert its considerable national pride towards truly constructive ends? The alternative spoken of by this degree is fractious difficulties due to an inability to compromise and through constructive discussion, arrive at positive directives.

So…what does the chart say about what those ‘constructive ends’ might be?

A grand rainbow over the Big Island of Hawaii

photo credit: DB King (March 2007)
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The first thing we would do is see where 25 Aries is in the natal chart. Answer: 25 Aries falls in the 8th house of the natal chart conjunct ‘shape shifter’ Haumea at 27 Aries…which is exactly in opposition to Saturn (retrograde) at 27 Libra in the 2nd house.

Part one: the USA is meant to learn limits and limitations on both expenditures and national its values through experience – the ‘experience’ thing being the retrograde attached to the Saturn.

Part two: the South Node is at 0 Taurus in the 8th house (with Haumea as the joiner to 25 Aries) which puts the North Node at 0 Scorpio in the 2nd house (conjunct Saturn). This is on one hand collecting on what is owed to you and not allowing for ‘shape shifting’ in the financial and tax realm. If you know the story of Hawaiian god Haumea, you know that shape shifting didn’t work for her, either. Oh sure, for a while she was able to fool people and have her way with them, but in the end it all backfired.

And when all backfired on Haumea, she was slain. Those Hawaiians, they don’t kid around! Their gods don’t get any immortal get-out-of-Hades-free cards, either!

In point of fact (this is kind of interesting…) Haumea is killed by the Hawaiian ‘trickster’ god – which in astro-planetary terms is Mercury.

And guess where Mercury is in this return chart? at 19 Aries, right behind the Sun at 20 and Eris at 21 Aries…and oh yes – Lust (intense focus) at 22 Aries…all leading to that 25 Aries Nadir all about whether the US, as a nation, is capable of ending the political  bickering/posturing in favor of actually being the nation it wants to be.

Or at least the nation is claims it wants to be!

But this is not just the government. For this crowd (which we haven’t yet fully explored) to be lurking down near the IC, influencing the 4th house also clearly says this is about the American people.

With Jupiter at 17 Aries (conjunct Mercury, Sun, Eris, Lilith, Lust) we can count on the United States being home to and the subject of vast splurges in spouting off. But maybe more to the point, all this Aries energy (which includes Uranus/Black Moon Lilith, by the by) is ruled by Mars. And that Mars is also in Aries, though its sitting in a Pisces-ruled 3rd house.

The third house in a national chart would be what? Information. Roads. Infrastructural communications and transport. It’s not a direct indicator of education but since the 3rd certainly covers writing, reading and learning, we’ll toss those considerations in.

The third house is also the traditional house of ‘neighbors’ – hello, Canada? Mexico? Cuba? Jamaica? Haiti? Dominican Republic?

(BTW, we mean physical neighbors here, not philosophical ones.)

The first ruler of that Pisces cusp is Jupiter. So the nation really needs to consider what it chooses to get involved in. Unfortunately, Jupiter in Aries in the 3rd conjunct Mercury is likely to ‘trick itself’ into thinking it can do more than it can do.

And thus we arrive at the ‘outcome’ ruler of Pisces: big blue Neptune, which is sitting in the 2nd house of this house – the house of the national self worth of the nation, and its treasury…not to mention its assets.

In this 2nd house we have Neptune, Chiron/Hel, fixed star Fomalhaut (dreams granted only when uncorrupted, please…) Ceres (intelligent nurturance) and Venus – which in Pisces and the 2nd house is a pretty darn strong Venus!

Cutting through the astrological thicket here, this is a picture of national assets being wasted – and we’re not just talking financial assets, but people assets. This year the US is likely to start realizing that the ‘money for money’s sake’ and ‘riches for status sake’ is not the same as supporting the national interest. Ultimately the people of a nation and that nation's faith in the capacities of its people is a country's most valuable  resource.

San Francisco at sunset

photo credit: Digon3 (September 2005)

Neptune here is an interesting signal. It tells us that the US is about to start figuring this out at the same time as it is wrestling with the idea that some people don't count. Because Neptune is in the 2nd house there is a wide split between the 'if they're 'worth it' they'll make it on their own' perspective and believing that it is the nation's 'job' to provide the fertile ground - the faith in the people - which in essence fosters growth and prosperity.

The really interesting marker here (at least to me) is the Chiron/Hel + Fomalhaut equation. It really talks about those who learn the hard way – through paying a terrible price. That’s not just the nation – that’s its people…which we know because of Jupiter (primary ruler of Pisces) being at the head of that cluster which points at the IC of the chart – the house of ‘the populace.’

With the North Node of this solar chart at 25 Sagittarius in the 12th house activating a natal 28 Sagittarius Jupiter in the 4th house (of the people)…and with this natal chart Jupiter natally in opposition to a Gemini Uranus in the natal 10th…

…In part, this describes the democratic process: the ability of the American people to vote politicians in and vote politicians out. Their ability to mount petitions and repeal things they disagree with as a people.

On another hand, here we have a solar chart with the society should do indicator (the North Node) on Jupiter. That means get informed. That means not just legalities, but fair play. This is an indication of the power residing in the hands of a people, particularly when their government seems to be acting like they don’t care about the needs of the everyday person.

And remember – that’s not just ‘some’ everyday persons, that’s all everyday persons: everyone who is a citizen has the right to have the US as a nation respond to their needs, providing they are contributing to the national welfare at whatever honest capacity level they can.

There’s been a lot of conversation about shutting down the government of late too…and this solar nodal layout seems to speak to that rather clearly. With the solar South Node at 25 Gemini conjunct the natal Gemini Uranus in the 10th house in a late degree indicating not a control over matters but the requirement to respond to what others say/feel/require....and with Gemini being ruled by Mercury (which in the solar chart is in the 3rd house and part of the symbol complex asking that (Aries) will of the (4th house) people be the generative and end point...

 

 The Liberty Bell

photo credit: Tony the Misfit (2008)

...well then, the answer would seem to be not shutting the government down, but shutting down those in the government who are not (Jupiter) honest, who don’t know the (Sagittarian) facts or follow the (Sagittarian) laws and rules of parliamentary conduct...and wresting power from those who in the end, don’t have a workable (North Node) plan which (Uranus) breaks through all the (Gemini) rhetoric.

The aim should be ending discussions of faith and theory (North Node in the solar 12th) in favor of dealing with everyday basics and the structural needs of the (4th house) US nation and its people.

You know..."We the People"?

Will the country get back on track however that happens? According to this chart, probably not - which is to say, not during this solar year. Looking at a  stationary Pluto opposition Moon and Neptune in the 2nd, it would take and external dose of Hel(l) to get the US Congress and its people to pull together instead of against the national interest. Both sides think they have it right. With Neptune in the 2nd the problem is more like the fact that people so believe in 'sides' and 'winning' as a measure of good.

The concept of 'winning' is all about someone else losing. When you apply that to a nation, the nation cannot help but suffer.

That Pluto opposition Moon across the Ascendant-Descendant might be described as a year of a nation playing chicken - within the leadership, with the people,and with the world. Or blind man's bluff, which here might be otherwise known as a major national case of 'blind man, but...'

Fortunately, there's always next year. The US is a big and actually good-hearted country. It's biggest problem may actually be its history of success. To have a nation which cares more about the stock market than the education of its children and more about tax breaks than the survival of its citizens is the description of a nation which though it has a stunningly beautiful heartland, has no real moral, ethical or beating human heart.

And when you get right down to it, isn't federalism versus states rights plus economic profit versus the value of human life really the reason why the Civil War got fought to begin with?

Agatha Christie: The Case of Mistress Mystery's Chart

Agatha Christie

Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, Agatha Christie came to our world on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, England...which makes today the 120th anniversary of her birth.

In esoteric astrology, 120 is referred to as the 'years of the Sun' - or theoretically, how long a natural life we are capable of achieving. So it this a year when it would be natural for the world to note Agatha's life and lifetime achievements, maybe in some new and mysterious way?

Perhaps so.

Speaking of mysteries, the first sort of 'mystery' we need to solve in regards to Agatha's life would be the sorting out of her family, which is a bit of a puzzle from the get-go. Agatha's mother - Clarissa Margaret Boehmer - was the daughter of a British military officer. But Clarissa didn't grow up with daddy and mommy. Instead, she was sent to be raised by her mother's sister, the second wife of a wealthy American stockbroker.

In fact, Clarissa grew up to marry the American stockbroker's son from his first marriage, which meant Agatha and elder siblings Margaret and Louis Montant grew up with grandmothers who were sisters.

That being a peculiar sort of people-puzzle, do we think it gave Agatha a head start on how entwined and entangled human relationships can actually be?

Enter her chart...

 Agatha Christie - natal chart

  
Aquarius on the 6th house ruled first by a Virgo Saturn in the 1st gives a foundational skepticism. It also connects responsibility (Saturn/6th) with pragmatism (Virgo/1st house). All this will very naturally play out in Agatha's (Saturn) career, yes. But considering the 1st is also the physical body, the 6th is also health and Virgo is ruled by Mercury, this also immediately prompts us to consider Agatha's Libra Mercury.

That Libra part...Libra is the sign of the 'other' or more precisely, the relationship to the other and thus who others are to us.  Yes, we can see that also being part of Agatha's many wonderful stories. But what about the health/physical body part?

Before we get to that, it's worth looking to the house Libra actually rules - the house of choice, daily activities and personal mentality, the 3rd. Here we see Uranus. Also in Libra, this Uranus pictures Agatha as having an unusual perspective - particularly on the Libra "other." Then again, it could suggest not 'seeing' the other completely or properly because of one's Uranian haste, the 'jumping to conclusions' quality, one might say. 

Murder mysteries, anyone? Given the 'critical thinking' Uranus in 3 can also connote, maybe yes. Given the Uranian reputation for 'breakthroughs' and 'explosive change' we would have to think of Agatha as someone capable of startling insight and that sort of quirkiness of thought which would lend itself most aptly to the 'twist of plot' which marks a murder mystery.

But more personally, this would also mark Agatha as a 'free thinker.' And someone willing to 'explode' (expose?) common myths about 'others,' even those Libra relationships (the bonds with trusted people) which were not merely factors obvious in her novels, but in her life.

Ah yes...how a writer's work reflects their life. It's so natural! After all, what else do they have to write about, or from as a basis of experience?

Yet Saturn in the 1st is also discomfort, particularly in early life. And Uranus in the 3rd is also mental interruption, if not disruption. And since these placements would describe her experience of childhood not just the peculiar family setup, we have to guess that  Agatha's was not just peaches and cream. Which yes, would also set her up for an adulthood not rife with peace along with the ability to face the worst in others - and herself. Need we say that Saturn in the 1st is notorious for self-criticism along with a need for self development through extended hard work?

On the other hand, Saturn in the 1st plus Saturn being in Virgo does describe Agatha as a 'craftsman.' And with Virgo ruled by Mercury, for her to be a crafter of words and ideas seems fitting and likely. That her Sun is in a 3rd decanate (worldly) degree also tells us that whatever Agatha would 'do' in life, it ultimately would only be proved out - positive or negative - in a public arena.

All this doesn't sound so remarkable today. But remember, Agatha was born in 1890 when the average woman's 'public' effect...even exposure was far, far more limited than in today's world!

So does this make Agatha the total star? Well, let's just say she wasn't destined to get married and stay home making summer jams and minding children.

As for what she began doing in life, the first clue on that  Virgo 1st house Saturn is revealed when during WWI Agatha worked (Saturn) as a hospital nurse (Virgo/1st house physical body). And evidently she was impressed, as Agatha came away from this period lastingly referring to nursing as 'one of the most rewarding professions one can follow.'

During this time, transformative Pluto was in early Cancer. This would have it rolling into Agatha's societal 11th house and challenging and exciting her highly potent Libra Moon. The Moon always being the ruler of Cancer and always stronger merely by being in the 2nd house of personal resources and values, this is a particularly interesting Moon as its positioned at 1 Libra. An early degree of the sign of interactions...this Moon symbolizes a strong consideration of basic values - and what's more basic than life? 

More than that, Agatha's 1 Libra Moon is also strongly influenced by Scylla-Sisyphus-Vesta, all at 29 Virgo: an important notice all about 'determined service in beating the devil within.' Hello? Anyone for detectives who don't give up on finding the killer? The 'important' (to Agatha) note here being denoted by the critical 29 degree signature (29 being a position of special emphasis in any sign) to have this triad conjunct the Moon with the Moon at 1 Libra conjunct a giant 'alternative reality generator' black hole? That clues us in on a 'the devil within' and  'alternative' formats, motives and lives.

And remember - this can't just be Agatha's characters. It also has to be her life.

During this time, Neptune was also moving into Agatha's Leo 12th house, a house where Neptune tends to show its positive merciful/creative/spiritual characteristics more often. That certainly fits the nursing. 

The 12th also being the house of inspiration, and what with Leo being ruled by the Sun (and thus those 'worldly results'), it also should be no surprise that as WW1 ended and Neptune passed by Agatha's service-oriented  Hebe, the nursing dissolved (Neptune dissolves) and that instinct, that urge was transmuted. Into what, you ask? For that answer we look to where Neptune is natally, finding it intercepted in the 10th house of career, conjunct Pluto and opposition Ceres and Juno, with all in Mercury ruled Gemini, the sign (as opposed to the house) of thought, ideas and - yes - writing.

And it's the interception which lends the very interesting note here. Some experience interceptions as an inability to 'get to' the dynamic described by the sign. But for many, it's a flourishing talent - a whole 'inner world' which then gets expressed through the sign on the cusp of that house - which in this case would be the Midheaven (achievement) in late Taurus (use of talents, values and resources) with fixed stars Capulus and Algol (masculine/feminine questions of power-versus-selfish aggression). 

This all suggests why Agatha wrote - and what she wrote about, obviously. But with Taurus ruled by Venus and Agatha's Venus being positioned in that mental 3rd house conjunct Medusa (fearful knowledge) and in Scorpio...? Well! Venus in Scorpio is sticky. It's determined. It attracts power struggles and in the realm of the mental would describe powerful struggles within our minds. Did Agatha write to ease her own angst and give voice to her own issues and feelings? Probably. Did she seek to explore and reveal human nature not just in worldly form, but to the world? That's a very safe bet.

Knowing all this about her, we ask ourselves....do we know more about human nature because of (say) stories like Death on the Nile?

 Death on the Nile movie poster

Or in merely being entertained, are we doing exactly what Agatha's characters were doing - ignoring life's darker (Scorpio Venus in the mental 3rd) sides, setting ourselves up?

Casting our eyes towards Agatha's Descendant - that we offer to others and thus come to be known for (and attract others because of) - we see that marked by Hera and royal star Fomalhaut in early Pisces. Ordinarily we would think of this as 'dreams of a happy marriage' but with an Aquarian Jupiter and that Gemini Neptune we talked about as twin rulers of Pisces...might Agatha not actually dreamed of being free of what was then the traditional female role? Perhaps. And yet she might have also dreaded not adhering to society's morays some too.

Quandaries, quandaries!

And with an Ascendant (the 'what I do' in life is) marked by Thuban? Considering Thuban is 'difficult struggles for success,' no matter which way she would go there would be a lot of trials before success. Pictured here conjunct Eurydike (self sacrificing death) and royal star Regulus (success where vengeance is avoided) with that Virgo Saturn in the 1st...? We have to guess Agatha found life very testing.

And if we so guessed, we evidently would have deduced correctly. Perhaps in the vein of the eternal psychological rule that what we fear most we will surely manifest, Agatha had what is perhaps euphemistically  referred to as a 'turbulent courtship' on her way to marrying Archibald Christie on Christmas Eve of 1914.

Courtship/dating being a 5th house function, we look to her natal 5th and there find 1 Capricorn on the cusp: oh shades of Saturn! And not only that, but Icarus - the signature of headstrong risk - colors the whole of that house. So in a manner very much like her characters Agatha discarded romance as hearts and flowers and took the plunge. Which fits, as Saturn in the 1st is notorious for feeling 'not deserving,' instead relying on pragmatism. And with Agatha's Saturn conjunct Polyhymnia, muse of happiness, this is doubly likely.

So she may have gone the Saturn route, deciding  Archibald was 'okay enough.' Or that she was willing to roll the marital dice. And who are we to critique? If Agatha thought to herself 'it'll all work out' she certainly wouldn't be the first person to marry thinking things would improve once the rings were glued on, right?

 The "Murder is Easy" first edition book cover (1939)

The moment of the marriage was marked by all sorts of Jupiter, Chiron and Black Moon (calculated Lilith) signals...Agatha was 24 at the time, and we should remember that in those days, 24 was pretty much already 'spinster' territory. So we have the Jupiter 'fitting in' thing at work. Plus Chiron 'I don't know how to do this' as a challenge and wet blanket...all with a delicate frosting of social acceptance (or maybe threats of societal denial?) being put on the table by Black Moon Lilith. Whatever the situation, It couldn't have been all that comfortable, especially when we consider there also were touches of Ixion (ingratitude) and Medea (undermining love) in the mix.

And yet it all would have been so hard to be sure about, with so much of this coming from the 'is it real, or is it all a fantasy in my head?' what with Agatha's calculated Lilith being a natal resident of her Leo 12th.

That Leo 12th? Very good for writing. Not so good for reality and everyday life. Certainly not in this case! That  Agatha married with Pluto transiting natal Saturn gives us yet another sign of (Saturnine) societal obligation, but it says that all was being done under (Pluto) emotional pressure. And that Neptune was conjunct her natal Moon at the time? That suggests a lack of clarity with regards to the situation. Maybe even a sense of resignation or being overwhelmed.

From this marriage came a daughter. But just about one Jupiter (11.6 years) cycle later, everything collapsed. It was 1926 and Agatha found out hubby Archibald was having one of those 'I've found my true love' relationships with a mistress.

 Agatha Christie - Solar Return 1926

And her 1926 solar return (birthday) chart? It's highly notable in rather just this regard, showing us not one, but two interceptions. 

Such funny creatures, interceptions. And sometimes funny as a broken crutch. At once they can be the useful fantasy...the imagining how to do something in a new and wonderful way. And yet at the same time they can also be a refusal to deal with something. Or not seeing. Or not wanting to see something which has 'intercepted' your life and stopped you cold.

Here the first interception is across Agatha's solar 11th (natively Aquarian, social) and 5th (natively Leo, making-something-of-self) houses. Oh, shades of her natal Aquarian Jupiter! And Leo on her 12th, home of that calculated Lilith-Ixion-Medea! All that stuff which marked Agatha's marriage...and which to us, looking at her horoscope, would mark her vulnerabilities and secret fears!

We can't be shocked - certainly not when we get to the  second interception being across Agatha's 6th/12th house axis, the houses having to do with health, healthy responsibility and trusting, faithful connections.

With the signs intercepted being Scorpio/Taurus (Agatha's native vertical MC/IC axis) we do know this was about her sense of self and place in the world. It must have been devastating. Invalidated. Here she had already embarked on becoming a writer, and now she had been, well, written off by the one person she was supposed to be able to trust (12th house) to be responsible (6th house) with regards to respecting her essential value as a person (Taurus/Scorpio).

As if we would have any doubts about how terrible this must have been for her, the chart makes it clear:  between the two interceptions, 6 of the 10 'standard' astrological planet symbols are captured in these interceptions.

More clues as to her feelings: the solar return Moon being at Saturn-ruled 0 Capricorn is conjunct that hasty, risk-taking Icarus of the natal chart. Agatha must have felt she had taken on a bad risk. And that the return is built on a foundational IC point of 1 Leo - the exact degree of natal Chiron? It must have been terrible. Chiron is the 'I have to do what I don't have to do' and to have one's whole world imaged as being perched atop that precept?

Things must have felt precarious indeed, especially since Agatha's mother had just died too. Even if she hadn't grown up with her mother, that it was all so much, all too much is given us by transiting Eris (discord) opposing Agatha's natal Moon as all this happened just shy of the holidays.

Then along came a highly charged lunar eclipse atop the solar return's 2nd house cusp...its point of self esteem. With this in exact confrontational opposition to Agatha's under-supported, natally craving intercepted Sagittarian  Mars...?

Under this onslaught her basic need to believe (Mars) and her feelings about herself (Moon)...it all got wiped out. Had she been Lewis Carroll, we might have said she fell down the rabbit hole. Or wanted to crawl through the looking-glass. But since it's Agatha, we would just have to say she was a most unwitting victim.

And yes...from their experiences do most writers write.

So it was December 8th. This being England, we must guess it was as cold outside as it was chilling inside as Archibald and Agatha argue.

He leaves to go be with his mistress...and Agatha disappears, leaving just a note for her secretary to the effect that she's gone off to Yorkshire.

But where? Nobody knows where she is. The mystery grows. Having already been published, Agatha already has a name and her fans begin to buzz.

Days pass. A manhunt is mounted and finds nothing. The media picks up the scent and the story swirls. 

Eleven days later Agatha is finally found. Or rather, she's identified as a guest at a hotel then known as the Swan Hydropathic and now known as the Old Swan Hotel.

The Old Swan Hotel of Harrogate, 

Yorkshire, England

At said hotel, Agatha is registered as 'Mrs. Teresa Neele' of Cape Town and apparently denies all attempts to address her differently.

Doctors get called in. The vote was that Agatha is  suffering from what was then known as a 'psychogenic fugue' - a dissociate state we'd now think of as 'temporary amnesia.'

Yet some had doubts. Was this just a publicity stunt? Was Agatha trying to 'disappear' for long enough that police would think her husband had killed her?

Less than thrill-seeker commentaries on her life over the years suggest Agatha was prone to depression. And certainly her mother's death combined with her husband's infidelity would have exacerbated such a trait maximally even in one marginally prone to such things! With Saturn in the 1st we often see a sober personality - and yes, even depression even without Saturn being posited in the Mercury-ruled mental/health sign of Virgo. 

That brings us back to her Mercury...sign of mentality, perception, writing...

...Remembering that Mercury rules two signs of the zodiac (Gemini and Virgo) this 1926 return chart puts a huge emphasis on Mercury in a very convoluted way. In the return, Gemini is on the cusp of both the "I Am" physical Self 1st house and the 2nd house of self worth. In doing so, this "opens up" the natal Gemini interception - an interception which comes fully loaded and primed with Plutonic emotional transformation tightly fused with the Neptunian cavalcade of ideals versus illusions and faith versus disillusion or dissolution.

At the same time as this is in the works, Agatha's natal Ascendant and self-worth Virgoan quotients - all that has been locked away by interception in the 5th. Oh how ironic...her very sense of being intercepted in the house of pleasure. 

His pleasure, one assumes. And yet....and yet...with all those covert signals we have been given that Agatha was not the 'standard' woman of her time content to be a missus to some mister...is this really entirely about her husband's pleasure? It can't be.

On this we are left to ponder and puzzle...was this a conscious hiding of possible pleasure at how things had turned out, some unconscious desire which had come to be in spite of Agatha's conscious Self or are we simply following a line of inquiry leading nowhere?

And on the other hand, with Agatha's life being so very much one of a writer, and her native Gemini Neptune, Pluto and the North Node intercepted in the achievement oriented worldly 10th house...on one hand we have a totally regal karmic command to 'story tell,' replete with the power to do the task supremely well. And yes, we would have to think with this type of interception that there was a whole 'world' going on in Agatha's head totally apart from what anybody ever saw, heard or (yes) read of.

But something had to 'set this off.' Prior to this time Agatha was a writer. But it was only after this time that the world came to know Agatha the writer. We know about the quirky, inventive, perspective-driven Uranus in the 3rd natal house. We know that a native Mercury at 15 Libra means Agatha thought in emotional terms about others and about the emotionality of others. Coming from the 2nd house of values, resources and self worth, her Mercury would consider the motives and motivations of others. And though as a degree, 15 Libra isn't known for particular strength of resistance and resilience (hence perhaps, Agatha's breakdown?) this also speaks to her willingness to see - and write about - the weaknesses of others. Especially in relationship to others.

All this is capped off by the fact that her Libra Mercury is delineated by that natal Scorpio Venus conjunct Medusa. So often we can't see the real darkness around us until we have had it foisted upon ourselves.

This astrologers vote is for the dissociative fugue as a karmic mechanism in which we see Agatha literally turning her mentality inside out. Born at night, Agatha's chart is by Greek Sect rules Moon-ruled, which turns up the "volume" for not only the Moon, but Venus and  Mars, too. And this makes Agatha's mentally oriented 3rd, this Venus-Medusa undoubtedly part of the frightening brilliance of Agatha writing about what people are actually capable of.

If Medusa (fearful/fearing reality) wasn't in this figure we might think the Scorpio Venus was indeed all  manipulation and voted for a giant PR stunt. But people don't manipulate when they can't cope, and manipulation is a function of great collected focus. With her mother's death, her husband's betrayal Agatha's life was total emotional discord (Eris opposition Moon) with evidently no one for her to really turn to (the lunar eclipse opposing natal Mars).

The divorce became final in 1928, and by 1929 Agatha is traveling abroad to the Middle East in the company of archaeologist Max Mallowan, who she marries in 1930...

 Agatha Christie - solar return 1929/1930

In the 1929/1930 solar return we find Saturn - one of Agatha's great symbols of personal challenge - barely behind the Ascendant in expansive Sagittarius. Again an 'opening' of a natal interception, this time the sign being liberated was one natively in Agatha's 4th house of home and homeland - a perfect image of her travel abroad. And of her feeling 'free' in a whole new way.

With the square from Saturn to the Sun in the 8th, we can bet there was some to-do about how long it hadn't yet been since the split from Archibald. Agatha may even not have been quite 'over it.' Or even over him! But with an airy Aquarian Moon in the 2nd opposition a joie-de-vivre Leo Venus in the emotionally transformative 8th sitting atop her native societal Black Moon Lilith (plus universal Sappho), this is also Agatha turning her back on what others may think. It's her turn now.

And as such things work in the Land of Karma, as Agatha turned her back on accusations, in turn so did public opinion begin to turn from suspicion towards adulation for her (Leo) creative (Venusian) talents.

You know this one: you can't love me until I love me. You won't enjoy me until I enjoy being me.

So it happened. Agatha began to expand and enjoy her life, using her raft of new experiences in the Middle East as the backdrop for a whole set of novels - to include the very popular Death on the Nile and the vastly famous Murder on the Orient Express...which was published in 1934 and written (as it happens), in an Istanbul hotel near the terminus of the rail segment referred to in the book. 

Room 411 in the Hotel Pera Palace (Istanbul, Turkey) where

Agatha Christie wrote "Murder on the Orient Express" 

But then came WWII. Returning to London, Agatha reverted to early training and put her beliefs to work, taking up pharmacy work at the University College Hospital in London. And it was in that position that she learned so much about the poisons which were to play such lusciously nefarious roles in post-war novels...

 The historical buildings which are part of 

University College Hospital London

Never let it be said that life's detours don't have good uses, right? When we apply our native attributes purposefully for the good, eventually what we find we own are tools honed for purposes we might have otherwise envisioned.

The transits of this period were interestingly telling, too. Pluto was conjuncting her Chiron - turning the Chirotic 'unknown' into grist for Agatha's Gemini (thought/text) Pluto-Neptune 10th house writing powerhouse.

And this brings up a point: because so many of Agatha's natal position numbers are so close...(Chiron at 1 Leo, Ascendant at 1 Virgo, societal Jupiter at 2 Aquarius, nurturing Ceres at 2 Sagittarius, solution-oriented Juno at 4 Sagittarius)...we have to know that as Pluto conjuncts Agatha's Chiron, it's also affecting (or beginning to affect) the rest of this list. 

So as Pluto entered Leo (leaving an era of family for the realm of entertainment) Agatha began feeling differently about life. In conjuncting Chiron (the need to do what you don't know how to do) we have the signal that Agatha began feeling secure in her craft. And that she did so with Pluto simultaneously semi-sextiling her Ascendant? Well, that suggests an interesting combination of factors. With semi-sextile always being self-reflective 'traumas' (large or small depending on the transiting planet creating the aspect) Pluto semi-sextile Ascendant was indeed an inconvenient interruption of what Agatha was doing. And with rationing and bombing and all the rest, WWII London was hardly an easy or safe place to be. She was helping people who had been through physical trauma...and committing to memory much about poisons which could inflict such trauma.

You know...should someone want to, say...murder someone.

But that's not all. As during this WWII period Pluto was moving into Leo signaling such a shift in Agatha's outlook Uranus was also moving into Gemini, creating a whole dynamic of 'break throughs' in Agatha's Pluto-Neptune-North Node complex amidst the explosively Uranian blasts of Nazi bombing raids on London.

And as WWII ended, transiting Neptune opposed what we would have to assume was Agatha's resistance to her own sense of power: natal Sedna in the 8th house. She was done being her young self, her immature self, her less than potent self.The ticking of her life came to the moment of maturity and with the first resonant chime Agatha let go. And in letting go, she was able to grasp her most creative power. 

WWII was over, Agatha returned to writing full-time and her life clock struck the ringing chimes of fame. Agatha became outrageously famous: according to the Guinness Book of World Records, only Shakespeare is with Agatha Christie as the best selling (single) author of all time. In terms of books, only the Bible has outsold either one of them

And that's no idle claim. Translated into over one hundred languages, Agatha Christie novels have sold over four billion copies.

That's billion with a 'B.'

Honored countless times, Agatha Christie was awarded  royal recognition in 1956 when a solar eclipse hit her  Gemini writer's North Node, and again in 1971 when another solar eclipse opposed her sometimes limiting, eternally striving Virgo Saturn from the 7th house, the house of the audience.

And that's singularly fitting. With the 7th house always colored by its natural sign (Libra) we see the whole of Agatha's chart forming a rewarding, satisfying cycle. She gave to the audience and the audience - royal and otherwise - gave back. Agatha's Mercury was in the 2nd house of her personal self worth and she used that to write to the audience. That Mercury was ruled by a Scorpio Venus/Medusa, so she wrote murder mysteries. And in doing so, she certainly achieved financial security - the pop-astrology delineation for the 2nd house - but far more than that must have had some sense that she had weathered her own challenges.

We may be rich, we may be poor - but when we're satisfied with who we are, that's good enough. It is not money, but satisfaction which is the ultimate wage in this life.

Agatha Christie died on January 12, 1976 as three astrological notices happening together revealed the end of her tale as told in present tense...

 Agatha Christie's headstone in the churchyard of 

St. Mary's Church in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England

...The first was Mercury Communicator going retrograde while in trine to Neptune and Pluto, a symbol of Agatha's murderously inspired writer's voice turning inward - and to the beyond. Only her words remain with us, living on in that fickle combination of imagination and imagined  deception (Mercury/Neptune) everlastingly entwined with intrigue and a wholly intriguing insight into human behavior: a mind at work (hers) working to understand minds at work.

And thus her mind lives on through words which stir our minds and get us to wondering what really is real and what is illusion. What we can trust and what is merely our confused delusion that we really know anyone...

...including our nearest and allegedly, dearest.

The second signal was Juno going retrograde conjunct her Sun, the will and life force, with all in opposition to that same Eris Discord which had timed her break from reality leading to her subsequent vast success. That this would happen in a square to the always social and societal Nodes marks her parting from us...and how the world, a world of discord would feel the loss of going on without her.

The third notice was Pluto also going retrograde, doing so in trine to its own natal position and that of Neptune, all while tightly conjunct Agatha's Mercury - a virtual reciprocation of the Mercury trine to Neptune Pluto - signaling an implosion and sealing of a life force, a stilling of pen, an unraveling of one vital mental tongue. 

Agatha's mind put itself to rest. She had transformed herself - and all of us - through probing explorations which in the end became as much about examining who humans are capable of being as using characters to cavort her tales across the pages of her many, many books.

That's what great writers do. They embody the conceptual Plutonic ability to unearth and distill human nature. They transport us into a world of entertainment where Neptunian fantasies free us, enchant us, move us and in dissolving away, allow us to feel better about living our daily lives. The Mercurial words make us do the Mercurial thing: we think. We process. And thus we become more alive in our everyday lives.

How that happens...exactly? That's the greatest mystery of all. And alas, Agatha is no longer with us to explain it...but we wish her happy birthday anyway.