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 5^th house cusp of fun and pleasure. Lonnie, who could not tolerate the boredom of fishing had Pisces on his 12^th 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 3^rd 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

dgborkowski@msn.com

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 8^th house. I have the Sun in the 8^th, intercepted. I also have Venus, which rules both my 6^th and 10^th houses in the 8^th. 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 9^th house and is tenanted there, with Saturn conjunct Mercury. Funny thing, if Koch houses worked for me, my Virgo stellium in the 9^th 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 5^th 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 5^th 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

Sarah Palin Revisited

Like many others, I tried to speculate on Palin's chart.  However it seems to me that much critical thought and analysis flew out the window when someone found a newspaper story with a birthtime rounded to the nearest hour.  That just inspired me to refine my speculation.

Sarah Palin burst onto the national scene when John McCain named her as his running mate on August 29, 2008.  Her birthtime was unknown.  What was known was that she was born February 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Since August 29th was important as both McCain's birthday and Palin's wedding anniversary, it would figure that the Sun's degree on August 29th should figure prominently in Palin's chart.  Every year, the Sun is at 6 degrees Virgo on August 29.  I then constructed 4 charts that would put 6:30 Virgo (the middle of that degree) on each of the 4 angles.  Before the 6:00 pm birthtime surfaced, I preferred the chart with 6 Virgo on the MC because it gave her a Scorpio ascendant with Neptune conjunct the ascendant--the best fit for her physical appearance.  But physical appearance is overrated for ascertaining ascendants. 

Then a newspaper report appeared giving an obviously approximate birthtime of 6:00 p.m. PST.  Putting 6 Virgo on the ascendant seemed to be the notion most consistent with newspaper article because it gave a birthtime of either 6:12 or 6:13 p.m.  Amazingly, that was not the slam dunk it could have been.  Both of those potential times have different signs on the Midheaven, Taurus and Gemini respectively.  To split hairs like that, the best methodology to use would be Noel Tyl's Midheaven Extension Process.  In that technique, the sign on the Midheaven is traced through the chart using dispositor dynamics.  The Taurus MC adds both Saturn and Pluto to the trace, which is found to occur commonly for politicians.  The Gemini MC does not.  So, based on my analysis, I will be using 6:12 pm for Sarah Palin for now, until I am proven incorrect.

Don Borkowski

Practical Karma

Many astrologers have opinions on what constitutes one’s karma regarding prior incarnations. Many theorize that certain planets and points in the horoscope offer the key. Still others, myself included, associate different houses with different attributes of karma. Despite what some popular astrologers currently expound upon, full, detailed descriptions of prior incarnations simply cannot be proven. I feel that the best way to judge one’s past lives and the wisdom brought forward from them is through meditation or contemplation, whatever you wish to call it.

Practical karma comes from the realization that you have had some form of dealings with another person in another incarnation or incarnations. Often relationships from a previous incarnation are illustrated by the synastry of two charts. There will often be some aspect or combination of aspects with very close orbs between those charts. The most common type is a conjunction. Oppositions are the next most common. Even quincunxes and semi-sextiles can be seen, but the orbs are always extremely tight, usually less than 2 degrees.

I can give some good examples from my own circle. I was born August 15, 1950 at 4:24 p.m. PDT in the Forest Park neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The only long-term relationship I ever had was with my wife, Georgie, who was born January 13, 1950 at 7:23 p.m. PST in Medford, Oregon. My Sun is 22:32 Leo, and her ascendant was 21:53 Leo. There was an attraction there, but in the long run, there was also a high amount of competition between us. We had yet another karmic point as well. My Mercury is 19:18 Virgo, ruling the 7^th house. And Georgie's Saturn was 19:14 Virgo, ruling (historically) her own 7^th house. By my estimation, most, but not all, interpersonal karma is shown by the Sun in at least one person's chart.

My father was born in Tsarist Russia in 1909, and my mother was born in the Midwest in 1919. They were a couple who would have probably never even met, much less married and had children were it not for World War II. They found each other in Washington, D.C. It should be noted that her Sun was 26:35 Gemini. His Pluto was 26:50 Gemini. Often Sun-Pluto aspects are seen in cases of inter-cultural attraction. Was their relationship karmic? Of course it was! When my father and mother were 50 and 40, respectively, they had their third child. My father's ascendant was 10:56 Libra, and my 2^nd sister's Sun is 10:28 Libra. It is apparent that my sister's very existence is karmic. Interestingly, when I ascertained my father's birth chart by the process of rectification, I deduced his birth time from some other events, and I just plain forgot to look at the births of my sisters.

My sister has found that many of the relationships that she feels are the most karmic are with people and places with charts that have planets or points at 10 degrees of any sign. Recently, she moved into an apartment when three different transits were 10 or 11 degrees.

In conclusion, I cannot tell you what the content of your past lives have been, but I can be pretty sure who was with you then.

Don Borkowski

Transits beyond the Ephemeris

Have you ever wished that your ephemeris had more than just the planets listed?  No, I am not referring to Chiron or the asteroids.  I am postulating about listings for the transiting ascendant and midheaven.  All right, you may wonder, how could that be possible?  The planets apply to everyone, but the angles, for any given moment depend on where you are.  Yes, that is true, but that is not an insurmountable objection.

The answer can be found in the easily calculated diurnal chart.  The diurnal (which means daily) chart recapitulates a person’s birth data for the date and place in question.  A glance at a diurnal chart will show whether a transiting planet is aspecting an angle or whether a transiting angle is aspecting a planet.  The use of diurnal charts has truly amplified my understanding and usage of transits, and the technique is so powerfully easy to learn.

Let’s use an example of a well-known person.  President Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961 at 7:24 p.m. AHT in Honolulu, Hawaii.  If we wanted to look at the president’s diurnal chart for July 4, 2011 in Washington, D.C., for example, we would first need to convert his birthtime to the reflect the time zone for the new location.  We must always be cognizant of the time of year, too.  7:24 p.m. AHT is the same as 5:24 a.m. GMT the next day.  It is 12:24 a.m. EST or 1:24 a.m. EDT.  Then the diurnal chart is simply cast for 1:24 a.m.  But we must be careful here.  If we wanted to ascertain the president’s activity for July 4^th, when we cast the chart for July 4^th, we must remember that it is still July 3^rd back in Honolulu.

So the president’s transiting ascendant for Washington, D.C. will be 25:56 Aries on July 4, 2011 and 27:27 Aries on July 5^th.  The transiting midheaven will be 14:36 Capricorn on the 4^th and 15:31 Capricorn on the 5^th.  This demonstrates that the transiting midheaven will normally move just under a degree a day.  The transiting ascendant will move more than a degree a day for signs of short ascension and less than a degree a day for signs of long ascension.

29 Degrees

In my first book, Signs and Parts in Plain English by Press & Ima Roberts and myself, there is a good discussion of Sun-signs on the cusp.  Following that discussion, it is also worthwhile to study other placements at the cusp between two signs.  In researching charts of family members for astrological purposes, I was inspired to pursue some ideas in more depth.

Construct, if you will, the chart of “Baby Hazel” for November 26, 1930 at 6:15 p.m. PST in Medford, Oregon.  Her ascendant was 29:28 Gemini.

Baby Hazel starved to death after living just a few days.  She was able to nurse, but spit the milk up.  An autopsy revealed that she was born with an imperforate esophagus.  In 1930, the technology that could have saved this child simply did not exist.  With modern advances in microsurgery, nowadays children born with this condition are saved routinely.  Since I believe in astrology, it seemed to me that her condition could have been deduced astrologically.

According to Rex Bills’ The Rulership Book, the esophagus is ruled by Cancer and the Moon.  The stomach shares these rulerships, but the throat is assigned to Taurus.  Since the purpose of the esophagus is to convey chewed food from the throat to the stomach, I was prompted to ponder if the esophagus might actually carry a Geminian influence as Gemini is the sign between Taurus and Cancer.  Looking at Baby Hazel’s horoscope in particular, 29 Gemini would seem to symbolize the dark side of Cancer, not unlike the contrast between the 12^th house and the ascendant.

Another case of a 29 degree ascendant is equally illustrative.  “Tad” was the son of a private client.  Tad’s ascendant was 29:01 Taurus, which would suggest the dark side of Gemini.  To exacerbate matters, Tad had Neptune in close opposition to the ascendant.  These factors spelled out that Tad should have been discouraged from operating a motor vehicle.  In early 1996, Tad, while driving with just a learner’s permit, collided with a tree, thereby killing himself and one of his passengers.

The implication here is clear.  When a planet is in the last degree of a given sign, it takes on the negative, challenging attributes of the next sign.

Why I am Blogging

I am currently enrolled in Noel Tyl’s Masters’ Class.  The main thrust of Mr. Tyl’s philosophy is that people have psychological needs, and that astrology can illustrate how people can meet their needs.  I have a need to express myself by stating how I feel about life and my relationship to it.

I've been trying to organize my life and my thoughts for some time.  Several people have tried to encourage me to write, and I think that’s a good idea.  Recently, I've been trying to rewrite the book I co-wrote with my first astrology teacher in 1975.  The book offered some new and unique material, but it never sold very well.  And I really needed to do something on my own.  I have wanted to have a website, but the people I tried to hire to build one were never able to do so.  I have had blogging suggested to me, but I really didn't know how to do it.  Then when I tried to research the topic, I quickly created a blog before I knew what I was doing.  I retrieved some essays from my notes, posted them, and here we are.

It was suggested to me that my willingness to attempt a blog seemed to relate to transit Uranus leaving Pisces and bearing down on the Aries point.  That transit seems to correlate with the turmoil in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.  In the perspective of the world as a whole, I am an insignificant player, but on a personal level there is a lot more than just Uranus transiting the Aries point.  I've been hoping that the Uranus transit would open the doors of employment for me.  I've been dealing with age discrimination, enormous competition and many preconceived opinions about my skills and abilities.  Insofar as Noel feels that the Node has much to do with job hunting and because my Node is 0:06 Aries, I'm deriving my hope from that.  Natally, my Node is trine to Venus, the ruler of my 10th and 6th houses.  When I started my blog, transiting Jupiter and Pluto were @ 7 Aries and Capricorn, respectively making powerful aspects to my natal Uranus at 7:57 Cancer.  Natally, my Jupiter is very important, as it rules my ascendant and makes a bucket handle.  At the inception of the blog, transit Mars was closely conjunct that Jupiter.

The inception data for this blog is February 26, 2011 @ 8:42 pm PST in Vista (Salem), Oregon with an ascendant of 10:46 Libra. The synastric connections between by new blog and my natal chart are thought-provoking.  Two of the three planets in my water grand trine were activated.  A top local psychic has told me repeatedly that I need to write and must do so.  So blogging appeared to be the most efficacious way to get my innermost feelings out to the public.