Friday, April 29, 2011

Gone Fishin'

Here's a simple, little astrological tidbit that can be used as an ice-breaker if you want to get a client's attention and make him or her smile.
Wherever you find Pisces in a horoscope you will get a clue regarding the client's attitude about fishing.
I once had a couple of friends that had known each other in high school. One liked to fish, but the other couldn't stand to go fishing. These men were generally at the same level culturally. Astrologically, the deduction was truly simple. Ernie, who loved fishing had Pisces on his 5th house cusp of fun and pleasure. Lonnie, who could not tolerate the boredom of fishing had Pisces on his 12th house cusp.
This is not rocket science; this is just a highly simplified illustration of how astrology is everywhere in our lives. Embrace it!
As far as I'm concerned, I have Pisces on my 3rd house cusp. Rather than do any fishing myself, I'd rather read about it in a book or column by Patrick F. McManus or William G. Tapply.

Don Borkowski

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Blood Types – Astrology Types

I was in my late 50s when I finally found out what my blood type is. After going in for blood work for yet another routine doctor's appointment, I stood up to say that unless you tell me what my blood type is, I will no longer let you stick any more God-damned needles in me. Then they capitulated. I had to pay extra, but I was terribly relieved to finally know the answer to a question that perplexed me for over 40 years.

I have A+ blood, as did my mother and both of my sisters. My son has O+ blood like his mother. This means that my son could save my life if I needed a transfusion from him. Conversely, if he needed a transfusion, he could not get one from me without assuming some serious health risks. We all need blood to function as living human beings. No one blood type is intrinsically better than any other, and we all have the blood that we need to live, and everyone has his or her own blood type. But there are legitimate differences.
Ever since I took up the study of astrology, I felt lucky and blessed that most of the techniques, in which I was trained by my teachers, proved to work for me. And I couldn't understand why all astrologers didn't use these techniques. Then I was exposed to some other forms of house division. Some made sense to me, but others appeared to be utterly preposterous. Still, as well as Placidus houses work for me, I nevertheless found an abundance of intelligent, thoughtful, reasonable astrologers who are fulfilled with such methods as Koch houses, equal houses and whole sign houses. Looking at my horoscope from a vocational perspective, such as Noel Tyl's Midheaven Extension Process, it is clear that the work I did for over a quarter century, backroom technical support in banks and insurance companies, was what I needed to do. I have a heavy 8th house. I have the Sun in the 8th, intercepted. I also have Venus, which rules both my 6th and 10th houses in the 8th. Likewise, and this is a topic for another blog, I have never, ever felt like a Leo. My first teacher, Press Roberts, said it was because I had Leo, which includes my Sun and Pluto intercepted. Interceptions do create an impediment for actualization.
At one point in time in my youth, I wanted to be a college professor. But I completely choked in graduate school, which put an end to that. The interruption in my college education shows clearly because Mercury both rules my 9th house and is tenanted there, with Saturn conjunct Mercury. Funny thing, if Koch houses worked for me, my Virgo stellium in the 9th house would be intercepted and therefore suppressed. I would have probably become a college professor, for at least a little while. But I did not.
A survey of other house systems shows that Porphyry, Regiomontanus and Topocentric houses all contain the same scheme of interceptions that Placidus does for me. The differences among these methods relate strictly to the number of degrees on the cusps, which is probably not important on a macrocosmic level.
My conclusion is simple. The reason that people respond to one system of house division or another is not unlike everyone having a particular blood type. I presented this notion on Noel Tyl's Discussion Forum about five years ago. Apparent this idea resonated with Noel's world-wide audience.  Then about three months ago, at a meeting of my local astrological association. I told a man about it, and he said he had heard this idea from a lady outside the U.S. who had read it on the net.  I don't have proof, but I'd like to believe it was my doing.
Another point of debate is whether tenancy or rulership is the correct way to read a house. Press told us that tenancy was 4 times as important as rulership. Noel tells us that rulership is 5 times as important as tenancy. The only way the astrologer will know for sure is to see what is working for any given chart. Test what dominant tenancy would mean, and then test what dominant rulership would mean. After testing both types of desriptions, ask your client which method is operative in that instance. Sometimes both types of houses can be found in the same chart. Press was born April 20, 1926 at 9:45 a.m. CST in Wagoner, Oklahoma. When his 5th house is analyzed in terms of tenancy, it is doubtful that he would ever have any children. Yet he had 7 children.  He felt that having his Saturn intercepted increased the number of children.  When his 5th house is analyzed in terms of rulership, it makes perfect sense.
No astrological technique is a “one-size-fits-all” method. As we are tasked to make the astrology fit the client, we must check out all alternatives to see what works.

Don Borkowski
dgborkowski@msn.com