Tag Archives: family

Is Astrology Still Taboo?

My mother’s old friend Dot died recently. They had met in a metaphysical group in the 60s and stayed in touch over many decades, sharing a love of astrology and mystical subjects.

Dot had the Sun conjunct Venus in the 7th house. Her obituary, lovingly written by her family, captured her warm, supportive and outgoing personality with reminiscences and beautiful photos. But the tribute had a major flaw – it completely ignored her great passions: astrology and the occult. Dot was psychic, she could sometimes communicate with those on the other side, and while she never practiced astrology professionally, she studied horoscopes throughout her busy life. Yet she was described primarily as “the consummate homemaker and mother.”

What happened? Why wasn’t the full person described? I think it’s more than simple sexism, and suspect that one of her children wrote the obituary, someone who didn’t understand or approve of their mother’s spirituality and metaphysical leanings. Perhaps it was simply an embarrassment to them. Or maybe they considered astrology and the occult to be things one didn’t talk about in public.

Dot was always completely open about her beliefs. Her Jupiter, ruler of her Sagittarius 9th and 10th houses, showed her dynamic faith and public profile, and was strengthened by its angular placement in her 7th house. But it was also squared by Pluto in Cancer in her 5th house of children. So her kids could be at odds with her expansive and idealistic Jupiter side. Her Moon conjunct Mercury in Scorpio in the 8th house closely trined her Pisces Ascendant, making her dedicated to those closest to her. But she was also driven to explore the mysteries of life. There can often be hidden elements to both Pisces and the 8th house. But the Moon in Scorpio rules her 5th house and is placed in the 8th, showing that her children wanted it kept secret. (Interestingly, Dot’s one out-of-body experience happened when she was pregnant.)

I hope we’re moving into a time when studies like astrology will no longer be considered taboo. Dot would’ve understood, taking it in stride with good humor. But I don’t like it. Astrologers in general suffer when one of our own leaves us unacknowledged. Let’s say a prayer for all the astrologers who have passed, forgotten or unknown. And especially for Dot, whose understanding and faith were a shining light for so many during her life.

Message from the Other Side

I’ve had only a handful of what we might call metaphysical experiences.  But I believe that my father has been in touch with us from the other side.

My dad had Gemini rising with Mercury in Pisces and Venus in Taurus in the 12th house.  He was warm, understanding and compassionate.  He also embraced nature, cultivating a backyard garden for most of his life.  He loved to sit in the yard and watch the birds and had ongoing battles with the local squirrels, who were amazingly adept at stealing bird seed from the feeder.

A day after my husband and I moved into our new apartment, my dad was in the hospital.  He was 87, had lived a very full life, and died a week later.  During this time, a dove began appearing on our windowsill regularly.  As my father was a bird-lover with such a peaceful center, I always associated the dove with him.

My mother survived my dad and within three years was declining.  But like many seniors, she stubbornly refused to leave her home on Long Island, despite the fact that she could no longer care for it, or even herself, very well.  When my sister and I became more assertive about helping her and keeping up the property, she responded with defiance and anger, as someone with the Sun conjunct Pluto and Jupiter in Leo can easily do.

My mom resisted seeing a new and better doctor, though she finally agreed.  But when I called her from the Long Island Railroad train on my way to take her to her appointment, she viciously screamed that she wouldn’t go and hung up on me.

I was very upset as I walked from the station to her house and spoke to my dad in my head.  “How did you tolerate her?  Please help me!  I don’t know what do to.”  My father was always able to make me feel better with just a hug, and I felt a little stronger connecting with him in this way.

As I approached the house, a funny thing happened.  A dove who’d been sitting on the stoop flapped up and down repeatedly and then landed on the roof, as if protecting its nest.  It didn’t fly away.  I always believed this was a sign from my dad, and it helped me get through a rough and challenging day with my mother.  After becoming disoriented on the road as well as hitting her neighbor’s car, she still refused to let me take over the driving.

We had many similar difficulties in the months that followed, and the dove appeared three more times.  Once, walking back to the train station, I turned a corner and found a whole flock of doves who all rose at once.  But my sister, who’d been closer to my father (both with Aries and Pisces and birthdays only four days apart), had never seen any doves.

Two years passed before we got my mother into assisted living and sold her house, and I hadn’t seen the dove in quite a while.  Before the closing, my sister went to check on the property and take a clipping from my father’s old holly tree in the front yard.  As she approached the house, a dove sitting on the stoop flew up and over to the tree!  She was suddenly hit with the finality of the sale and understood fact that we were all moving beyond it. 

The chart for the day and time (February 22, 2017 at 12:40 pm) has family-oriented Cancer rising, which is her Ascendant.  Both Aries and Pisces, the signs they shared, are emphasized, and the lights each conjoin other-worldly planets.  Neptune conjoins the Midheaven and the Sun in Pisces in the 9th house, suggesting both parental and transcendental connections.  And the Moon in Capricorn closely conjunct Pluto could symbolize addressing the past as well moving on. The major T-square in cardinal signs includes expansive Jupiter along with Uranus and Pluto, the two remaining outer planets.  And every sign represented in this chart is present in my father’s birth chart.

The Moon’s Nodes are often astrologically linked to reincarnation and the continuity of life.  Over five years after his death, the Nodes for the dove’s final appearance were in the 3rd and 9th houses, only a few degrees from an exact return to my dad’s birth Nodes.

I feel the event chart has many more synchronicities than coincidence would allow.  I’m not sure what the chart for a message from the other side looks like, but I suspect it’s something like the one we found.