Week One: The 12 Houses (or States)
The STATES (Houses) as a mandalic map of actual life experience
INTRODUCTION
My deeper understanding of astrology really only began after I started grasping the nature of the Twelve Houses. Many astrology books and astrologers over-emphasize the Signs and the Planets while overlooking the significance of the Houses. Grasping the depth and complexity of any of the Houses depends on how authentically and deeply we have lived our own lives. I have reframed the Houses as States and as fields of experience. Though traditional definitions can provide us with good starting points, I encourage you to think for yourself and stay open to new ways of seeing and thinking. I am happy to address any questions you may have and offer my interpretations. However, at the end of the day, I also know you will only have learned what you have earned by your own efforts, experiences and thought processes.
YOUR CHART AS A SNAPSHOT OF THE HEAVENS
Astrology uses the number "12" as an ordering principle for organizing the chaos of real life experience into messages, stories, and images. Your horoscope represents a kind of snapshot of the solar system from the place and time you were born. The horizontal line on the chart symbolizes the horizon at the time and place of your birth. All the planetary symbols represent the position of the planets as seen from that time and place. Planets located below the horizon, States 1-6, could not be seen when you were born. Planets above the horizon, States 7-12, could be seen when you were born, either with a telescope or with the naked eye. This distinction between what could be seen and what could not be seen marks one of many points of possible meaning in any birthchart.
Take a birdseye look at your own chart. Determine where the greatest concentrations of symbols exist and where they are absent. Those States containing the greatest concentration of symbols,as in three or more, represent areas of strong emphasis throughout your lifetime. States with no symbols or just one or two (some symbols carry more power than others) can (but not always) represent areas of lesser emphasis. Look at your empty States. These areas do not indicate any shortcomings or lack of energy on your part. More likely, they demonstrate the incompleteness of Astrology to track every area and detail of our lives in equal proportions. Though highly complex and dynamic, astrology simply does not and cannot have all the answers. No metaphysical or symbolic system can do that. And that's a good thing.
"THE 12 STATES AS FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE"
Week One Reading Assignment #1 and Research Task #1
CLICK ABOVE IMAGE FOR...
"THE STATES AS FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE"
AND WEEK ONE RESEARCH TASK #1
"THE CUSPS AS GOVERNORS"
WEEK ONE -- READING ASSIGNMENT #2
Click above image for the Cusps as Governors
WEEK ONE RESEARCH TASK #2
Drawing Your Own Chart
(RE)DRAW YOUR OWN CHART
Click this for a blank astrology chart. Print out this blank chart and use a pen to draw in all your planets (forces) and your North and South Nodes. Also include the signs that start each House, ie., the House Cusps or "governors". Write down the numbers next to each Planet and House Cusp. The first number is the degree and the second number is the minutes; only write down the degree.
For example, MARILYN MONROE'S Rising Sign (see chart below) is 13:04 Leo or, 13 degrees and 4 minutes Leo. The degree (13) is the more important number here. (Each sign runs through 30 degrees; 30 degrees x 12 signs = 360 degrees = a full circle). Marilyn had a 13 degree Leo Rising.
COMING UP NEXT IN WEEK TWO
"THE NODAL AXIS and THE 12 STYLES
