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[felis_ultharus]

So last night was a lovely birthday party at rougemacabre's, who was a marvellous hostess as always. The dinner was marvellous, and I had curry for the first time.

I'm gradually coming out of Internet detox, though it shall be some time before I can catch up on all my friends' pages. I've been moving slowly through, but I'm about two weeks behind for everyone.

I've been mostly procrastinating, but I am still ahead on my Shakespeare course, and I've been playing around with a fantasy short story that wants to grow into a fantasy novel. Trying not to get too far ahead of myself, since I still have another novel to revise once all the feedback comes in, but it's just too tempting to go ahead and write ^_^

Looking forward to seeing terren_divided on Saturday, and to our first game in many an age on Sunday. I'll give advanced warning that there will be no game the week after, because I have to work the first weekend every month.

Comments

[yumemisama.livejournal.com]

How fascinating! I have NO idea what any of that means. ^^;;; Other than the 'Virgo' part, which apparently indicates I am doomed to forever approach things over and over with rational and practical solutions until everything breaks down such that I am forced, in the immortal words of Eddie Izzard, to "bash it with a hammer."

My Chinese horoscope is apparently Rooster/metal, metal, metal, fire. Judging from the sniggering, this probably means exactly the same as the above.

Out of curiosity, where is Mercury sitting? I have a minor run of Mercury similar to, but thankfully lesser than, the run of nines.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Mercury is sitting among the run of Libra, between (and conjunct) Saturn and Jupiter in the 6th house. It's sort of an odd trio -- Jupiter and Mercury don't get along, and none of planets are too friendly with Saturn, but Jupiter especially dislikes the connection.

Mercury was traditionally associated with Virgo. I tend to prefer Chiron, like a growing number of astrologers.

"Planets" (including things like the Sun, Moon, Chiron, and Pluto, which astronomy doesn't consider planets) are like aspects of the psyche. Each represents a part of the human equation. Their relationships by angle to one another indicate difficult or easy relationships between aspects of the psyche.

"Signs" are the position of the planet against the backdrop of the heavens -- relative to the position of the Earth in its orbit around the sun. They indicate the flavour a planet takes on -- its style, its focus, the aspects of that part of the psyche that are emphasized, and those that are de-emphasized. There are 12 "planets", and they each have two signs they like, and two signs they detest, and 8 that they're neutral in. Just because a planet's in its worse or second-worse sign isn't necessarily bad -- it indicates a more difficult life, but people with difficult lives tend to be the kind who achieve the astonishing things.

"Houses" are the position of the planet relative to the position of the Earth on its axis. They're counted from the eastern horizon at the latitude and longitude of birth, and in the best system of house calculation (Koch) take excruciating care to factor in the curvature and obliquity of the earth. This eastern horizon mark is called "The Rising Sign", and many astrologers consider it the most important part of the chart.

(There's an old argument as to whether the sun or the rising sign is more important -- which signifies the truer self, and which the surface. I favour the Rising Sign as the deeper self.)

Houses indicate the area of life where the planet most readily functions -- the arena of human life where that part of the psyche focuses its energies.

So, for the planets, we have:

(The big ones)

Rising Sign -- Self (the Self that looks outward at all this)
Sun -- Ego, Identity, adult Personality, one's own Core Myths
Moon -- Personal Subconscious, childhood Personality, Emotional Needs

(the smaller ones)

Mercury -- Logic, Reason, Intellectual Interests, Memory
Venus -- Harmony, Social Skills, Artistic Sense, Sense of Justice
Mars -- Assertiveness, Aggression, Selfishness, Competitiveness
Jupiter -- Paradigm/Worldview, Religious/Political/Philosophical belief
Saturn -- The Inner Adult, Maturity, Responsibility, Hard Lessons

(the outer planets)

Chiron

• The bridge of mind and body, logic and emotion, individual and collective. The connector. The desire to improve one's self and one's environment. The experimenter with other ways of thinking, acting, living, and being and the practical application to daily life.

Uranus

• The defender of our individuality. The creator of quirks and eccentricities -- the diversifier of the planets.

Neptune

• Our connection to the Otherworlds -- whether afterlives, the dreamworld, ideal worlds we want to build, fantasy worlds that encapsulate the myths of human existance -- or even just the "other worlds" of other people's lives. Empathy, Magic, Genius, Poetic Madness, and Self-sacrifice. The reminder that human beings live not only for ourselves. Universality.
  
  Pluto:
  • The shadow-side of the psyche. Our dangerous instincts. Our ability to deal with the ugliest and most frightening underbelly of human existance. The ability to pull meaning and purpose from the nothingness. The ability to live a meaningful life. Real, complete, historical change, and the way in which history affects our lives as individuals.
    
    That should do for a first lesson ^_^