Happy weekend. Today is an exploration of the houses in astrology. Let back up for a bit.
Astrology has three main parts to it. The planets, the signs and the houses. The planets are the archetypes, the universal patterns, of astrology. Jupiter expands, Saturn restricts, Mercury communicates, etc. The signs are the how the archetypes are expressed. Jupiter may expand in an Arien (aggressive) or Libra (balanced) way. Saturn may restrict in a Capricornian (ambitious) or Cancerian (vulnerable) form. Mercury may communicate in a Geminian (curious) or Scorpionic (intense) manner.
What brings the what and how of these energies to an earth plane where we can see them playing out in our own lives are the houses of the zodiac. When I studied astrology, many of the books I read failed to make a seamless connection between the houses of the zodiac. The houses are probably the least understood part of astrology.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
ejoanna
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
art ah zen
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
Siris
Sunday:
loggersbrat
For example, why does the fourth house of home, family and endings follow the third house of communications, early education and siblings? Or, how about the eleventh house of hopes and wishes following the tenth house of career and authority figures and parents? While I learned many keywords about the houses, the flow of their progression escaped me.
Astrological charts are a two dimensional representation of where the planets are, as seen from Earth at a specific moment in time. Although, there are more constellations on the ecliptic plane than used in western astrology, 12 constellations are recognized and used. Originally, before 1800 c.e., only 7 planets were recognized. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. As far as I know, the 12 house system is the most widely used.
Imagine a circle, split into 4 quadrants by a cross. The point at the top of the circle represents the highest point in the sky representing noon; remember this circle is a representation of the ecliptic plane. Directly opposite this is the part of the sky directly below the Earth - representing the dark of the night The point at the left of the cross splitting the circle into four quadrants represents sunrise and the point at the right represents sunset. Each quadrant contains three houses. Astrologers differ on house systems they choose, but most use 12 houses in their calculations. Personally, I like the Placidus House system.
Having a time for a person's birth is important in a chart because the time of birth represents the dawn of the person's life. With the knowledge of the birth time, an astrologer (or, these days, her astrology software) can chart the planets into their appropriate houses. Of course, the planets can be anywhere (with some limits) in a chart depending on when and where you were born.
The chart starts at the left point of the chart - the east - and flows counter clockwise around the circle. If you know the time of day you were born, you can figure out what sign is on the eastern point. And, if you know the sign on the eastern point, you can get a general idea of where the planets are in your chart from an ephemeris.
For instance, if the Sun is in the sign of Aries and you were born within two hours of sunrise, your rising sign on the first house would be Aries. The Earth moves through all the zodiac signs within a day, spending about two hours in each sign. I was born with the Sun in Aries at almost exactly sunset - about 12 hours later. I'm only nine days later than the spring equinox so the days and nights were still of pretty equal length. My rising sign is Libra - exactly halfway through the zodiac and opposite the sign of Aries.
This is only an introduction to the houses. I plan to discuss a quadrant a week for the next four weeks. Most of you know that I find astrology to be endlessly fascinating. I think it's more digestible in smaller doses.
One final thought for this week - people do share the same birthday, time and place of birth. Each of them will manifest their chart's possibilities in different and similar ways depending on their focus in life. It is often said that the stars impel, but they do not compel.
For entertainment, I'm embedding this Bad Lip Reading video of the Republican debate:
Okay, I forgot the video, here it is: