Category Archives: horoscope interpretation

Fertility Doctor Lawsuit

Dr. Gerald Mortimer, an ob/gyn and fertility doctor, was sued on 3/30/18 by a family accusing him of using his own sperm, rather than that of an anonymous young donor. His biological daughter discovered the connection through DNA testing; the doctor must have subscribed to the same service. More revelations from the transit of Jupiter in Scorpio.

Mortimer’s Sun in Cancer squares Neptune, a challenging aspect. A positive outlet would be through supporting others in a helping profession. Yet he also grossly deceived the family. He is being sued for fraud.

Jupiter is exalted in the sign of Cancer, and may indicate success with education, home and family matters. Exaltation can magnify a planet’s strength, and Jupiter may go too far. Neptune closely sextile Jupiter also suggests great expansion; my guess is that more patients were involved.

The doctor’s Jupiter conjoins Pluto, the planet most associated with reproduction. Pluto in the sign of Leo adds the potential elements of arrogance and willfulness to Jupiter’s influence. In addition, Pluto is placed Out of Bounds in declination. While Pluto was OOB, on and off, for around 15 years, it also closely parallels the Sun in Cancer in Mortimer’s chart, another challenging Sun to outer-planet combination. Pluto may also be involved in healing, but its darker side can include control and manipulation.

In animal husbandry, Mars is important for insemination. The doctor’s Mars is strong in its ruling sign of Aries. In trine to Venus in Leo, it gave him an easy rapport with his female patients and facilitated his actions.

While we don’t have a time of birth for Gerald Mortimer, transiting Uranus was approaching a square to natal Jupiter at the time the lawsuit was filed, making for a startling discovery. It may also have been conjoining the doctor’s Moon in Aries. Pluto, which can eventually reveal what it once concealed, was stationing in square to the doctor’s Mars. The progressed Sun is approaching a square to his Saturn, planet of authority and parenthood. These themes are reiterated in transiting Saturn’s station opposite the doctor’s Sun. Saturn will exactly oppose his Sun again in July and October of 2018. The lawsuit will likely move forward to its inevitable conclusion.

Mortimer’s birthdate is listed in numerous public records on Ancestry.com. I’m confident of the date as several listings include “Dr.” with his name.

More on the story from CNN.

My Last Lesson from Al

Al H. Morrison had over 40 years of experience as an astrologer when I studied with him in the early ‘90s. He relished astrological questions and always had a ready answer. I vividly remember one lesson toward the end of his life that concerned making assumptions about a horoscope.

A client whose chart I’d done subsequently asked me about a woman he was seeing and what to expect from her. Easy enough to do astrologically. But what I found in her chart disturbed me and I wasn’t sure how to properly advise him.

I’d recently been through a grueling two-year transit of Pluto opposite my Moon. Everywhere I had turned, Plutonian people were intruding on my life. They all seemed to be going through intense transitions that involved power plays, manipulation, melt-downs, obsessiveness and even death. Many of those I encountered had strong Pluto placements in their birth charts or were actually experiencing Pluto transits like I was. This was a challenging time and left me feeling at least somewhat betrayed by those closest to me.

I don’t believe that we can totally know someone’s spiritual development or how one will use the energies in the horoscope. But the woman whose chart I now had to analyze was another heavy Plutonian person. I felt sure that she would have ulterior motives and focus on her own agenda to the exclusion of my idealistic client’s needs and those of their relationship, no matter what their astrological compatibility.

I was in a quandary. While I always avoided making judgments on people or telling others what to do, I felt I should advise this man to run the other way – fast! He was likely to be burned. I shared my dilemma with Al, who, as usual, had a succinct response: “Some people like that.”

OMG! A light bulb went off. I was seeing this chart in terms of my own recent experiences and prejudices. I could’ve been accused of being a little Plutonian myself! So I went back to basics: described the tendencies, possibilities and range of experiences the client and his friend were likely to share, along with her own characteristics. I described who she was, but didn’t make a judgment on what I thought the outcome of her energies might be. And the client was very happy with what he learned.

For more on Al H. Morrison, see The Best of Al H. Morrison.

Al’s photo is from a 1968 NY Times Sunday Magazine featuring astrology and astrologers. The photographer said his assignment was to make him look “really weird” and Al felt he succeeded.

Casenotes of a Medical Astrologer

Published in 1980 by Samuel Weiser, Casenotes was written by Margaret Millard, M.D., an obstetrician and general practitioner who somehow also found the time to raise six children. Uranus rising made her an independent thinker, and she was also an accomplished medical astrologer who later practiced acupuncture and holistic health.

As a medical professional, Millard also had access to hospital records, where she often obtained the birth times of many of the patients she treated. Readers are the beneficiaries of the corresponding birth charts, along with her insights and expertise. As a local doctor in Maine, Millard often personally knew the people she writes about and sometimes their families as well. There are many difficult and sad cases that she could not resolve and she shares the heartbreak of doing your best while dealing with the inevitable.

I’ve had an interest in medical astrology for years, but it’s a complex topic. This is not a cookbook or textbook, but if you already know the language of astrology, you’ll follow the discussion. I was also initially drawn toward Millard’s consistent use of declination in her interpretations, and with declinations we see chart themes both echoed and highlighted. The book is aptly titled “Casenotes” since each case considered is no more than 7-8 pages long. But Margaret Millard packs a tremendous amount of information into the horoscopes she analyzes and it’s the chart interpretations that take this book to the top tier of astrological works.

The case studies follow a brief introduction to the topic, and no matter what your experience, you’ll learn something new. Dr. Millard refers to harmonics, parans, Primary Directions, the Prenatal Epoch and the work of Ebertin. She favors the Topocentric house system. Yet the book is never theoretical but always focuses on specific charts and their meaning. The chapter on rectifying charts with family members using Oblique Ascension is rigorous, especially considering that the writer did all of her calculations by hand.

Casenotes of a Medical Astrologer is a throwback to earlier times: to the days when all medical practitioners were astrologers, but also to an earlier generation of astrologers who wrote sophisticated works and had strong opinions about their judgments. I don’t agree with everything Margaret Millard says, but her conclusions are always thoughtful. Andt’s unusual to find such a focused and thoughtful work, representing a lifetime of study.

181 Pages; copies are available second-hand.
Buy at Amazon.com: Casenotes of a Medical Astrologer

Jupiter in Scorpio with lots of Capricorn

Looking back for multiple planets in Capricorn, I found January 10, 1994, which featured 7 planets in Capricorn as well as Jupiter and Pluto in Scorpio. That date was the beginning of the trial of Lorena Bobbitt for cutting off her husband’s penis (the irony of the name must be given to Jupiter in Scorpio!).

She was found not-guilty as she had suffered physical and mental abuse from the husband for years. Maybe Pluto in Scorpio added to the violence of the act. Today, with Pluto in Capricorn, the efforts seem more directed toward reform in business and other institutionalized hierarchies.

The horoscope for John Wayne Bobbitt is on Astrodatabank – he had Mars in Scorpio opposite Venus, which is a tough and potentially brutal combination. His Sun in Aries closely conjunct Saturn, both quincunx Mars, may have made him both aggressive and frustrated. He subsequently served time for assaulting another woman as well as he second wife.


Lorena was born on October 31, 1970 in Bucay, Ecuador. She had Mars conjunct Uranus, explaining her impetuous actions. Most of her planets were in Scorpio, though, so she was able to withstand her abusive husband for nearly five years. She was also near her Jupiter return at the time of the trial, which helped others understand her story and put some luck on her side.

This is a sad story all around, but important in terms of women’s rights. Many these days are associating Jupiter in Scorpio with the “MeToo” movement. In 1994, two Jupiter cycles before, we these issues were already in the news.

Lorena’s birthday is found on Biography.com.

Z is for Zeus — er, Jupiter!

I was sorry to hear of the passing of mystery writer Sue Grafton, having been a big fan of her books. I always thought of her protagonist, Kinsey, as a Sagittarius, and that Grafton would have that sign in her chart, too. As it turns out, she has both the Moon in Sagittarius as well as Jupiter rising, along with many other placements that are classic indicators of a career as an author.

Grafton also had Sagittarius on the 9th house cusp, helping her reach a wide audience, especially as the ruler, Jupiter, comes to her 1st house, making it one of her most prominent planets. In addition, Mercury in Aries conjoins her Ascendant and also trines her Moon, giving her a fluency with communications. The 1st house planets emphasize self-expression and personal development, and Grafton did this through her writing (Mercury and Jupiter). Both Mercury and Jupiter in the sign of Aries are energetic planets and Grafton, at the age of 77, was looking forward to concluding her mystery series.

Her 1st house is further accentuated by Jupiter’s conjunction with the Sun in Taurus and the Sun’s close conjunction with Saturn. Both the Sun and Saturn trine her Capricorn Midheaven. So the ruler of her 10th, Saturn, also comes right to her (1st house), along with the ruler of her 5th (the Sun). Creative impulses and career come together. While the Aries planets provide much vitality and drive, Taurus and Capricorn offer steadiness and persistence.

Though Jupiter gives luck, a slower timeline in achievement is often indicated by a strong Saturn. According to Wikipedia, Grafton’s father (Sun and Saturn), a detective novelist, was a strong influence, but Sue did not have much success with novels and turned to screenwriting for a number of years before making her mark with her alphabet series of mysteries in her forties.

Venus in Gemini in the 3rd house, conjoining Mars in Gemini, are additional strong indications of a facility with the written word. Venus also trines the North Node in the 7th house and sextiles Jupiter in the 1st. These aspects are both helpful in reaching a wider audience.

Investigative Pluto trining Grafton’s Moon shows her focus on detective stories. Pluto in Leo on the cusp of her 5th house also seems to have given her inexhaustible creative ideas. Pluto’s hard aspects may bring traumas to a life, and with Pluto squaring her Sun and Saturn, she experienced a difficult divorce and custody battle. Her mother had also been a suicide following cancer surgery.

Venus was way Out of Bounds in declination, signifying someone with an artistic sensibility. Mars was also OOB and closely parallel an OOB Pluto. This unusual combination further accentuates the emphasis on crime and investigation in Grafton’s work, as well as her drive and ability to address tough emotional issues.

Sue Grafton was an extremely successful mystery writer, so we’d expect an emphasis on the 3rd-9th house axis, Mercury and Jupiter, as well as Pluto and the 8th house. But it’s refreshing to see a horoscope that so obviously indicates what the person was all about.

Grafton was born on April 24, 1940 at 4:10 am in Louisville, Kentucky, rated AA by Astrodatabank

Royal Wedding 2018

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to marry on May 19, 2018 at Windsor Castle. Meghan has some unusual astrological similarities with other Americans who’ve married royals.

In my book, Regal Brides, I analyzed the horoscopes of Americans who became royals through their marriages (Consuelo Vanderbilt, Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly, Hope Cooke and Lisa Halaby), along with their partners’ charts. Meghan’s horoscope fits in perfectly with these ten brides and grooms. All of them had important placements in Libra, and Meghan has the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in the sign of partnerships. With the Moon also conjunct Jupiter and Saturn, she’s now best known as Prince Harry’s partner.

Meghan shares the Moon in Libra with Consuelo Vanderbilt and Wallis Simpson, two famous Americans married to English royalty in the last century.

The partners I analyzed in Regal Brides represent a very small astrological sample. Nevertheless, four of the ten partners had Saturn favorably aspected in Libra, and Meghan also shares this placement and the flowing aspects: in her case, sextiles from Saturn to her Leo Sun and Mercury. Saturn is exalted in the sign of Libra, and these people take relationships seriously. Perhaps this position also strengthens a person’s position in life.

Whatever Meaghan Markle’s compatibility with Prince Harry, or the astrology of their wedding date, she seems an astrologically appropriate candidate for her new life with the royal family.

Buy for Kindle: Regal Brides: The Astrology of Five American Women and their Royal Marriages (The Inquiring Astrologer)

Buy in Print: Regal Brides: The Astrology of Five American Women and their Royal Marriages (The Inquiring Astrologer)

(See Jessica Adams’ blog for her analysis of Meghan’s Leo Sun and other royals who shared it.)

Evangeline Adams Update

Half a Saturn cycle after my 2002 biography of Evangeline Adams, I’m updating it. And with many collections now online, I’m finding a lot of new information.

I’d never been able to find proprietor Warren F. Leland’s report of Evangeline’s accurate 1899 forecast of disaster for the Windsor Hotel. But now I’ve discovered an article in which he advises a reporter what Adams told him in advance.

I wasn’t sure about Evangeline’s maternal grandfather. But with several of her distant relations posting Family Trees online, I’ve now definitely identified him. He was a machinist with nine children and a suicide! This says something significant about Adams’ mother and grandmother, as they were obviously survivors. Evangeline was, too.

In her autobiography, Evangeline Adams talks about her engagement to her employer, a Mr. Lord. The relationship was facilitated by her aunt. I’d searched for Mr. Lord years ago but with no first name it was difficult to go further. I’ve now found him in newspaper databases through the company name that Adams provided. And it turns out that Luther S. Lord was thirty years older than Evangeline Adams. It was more common in the 19th century for women to marry much older men. But thank goodness she didn’t! She was only eighteen or nineteen at the time.

I’m excited to search for more about other people and events in Evangeline’s life in the coming months and expect to share these in the update of Foreseeing the Future: Evangeline Adams and Astrology in America.

Jupiter in Scorpio

Jupiter enters Scorpio on October 11, 2017 where it stays until November 8, 2018.  With Jupiter’s expansiveness and Scorpio’s focus, these two aren’t the greatest match.  Might they balance each other’s extremes?  As a fixed sign, Scorpio could dampen the potential flightiness of Jupiter, giving it more tenacity.  And Jupiter can bring the hidden, complex side of Scorpio into the open.

Jupiter shows fame, the best ways to succeed, our philosophy and beliefs. People with this placement can make bold choices or become known for their magnetism, passion or wealth. Sometimes they go too far.  Others with Jupiter in Scorpio can turn inward to explore consciousness.  There may often be an interest in the occult, metaphysical or obscure, or an attraction to the mysteries of life and death.  And while some transcend the physical plane through their philosophy or a sense of mastery, others are deeply attached to it.

The celebrity examples below demonstrate the many expressions of Jupiter in Scorpio.  Notice how many of these people fit into more than one category.

Purposeful, determined, focused (may not be obvious!): Misty Copeland, Meghan Trainor, Mitt Romney, Steven Spielberg, Tim Kaine, Sally Field

Celebrity through marriage or inheritance:  Prince William, Kate Middleton, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Melania Trump, Jackie Onassis, Laura Bush

Investigate or transform nature:  Carl Sagan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Padma Lakshmi, Eddie Huang, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers (12 years apart)

Metaphysical philosophy:  Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Bob Zoller, Stephen Arroyo, Leo Tolstoy, Sivananda Saraswati

Share the dark side:  Rachel Weisz, Steven King, Ice-T, Alfred/Alma Hitchcock, Vincent Price, Charlotte Bronte, Kurt Vonnegut

Notorious:  Vladimir Nabokov, Al Capone, Aleister Crowley, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Joel Rifkin

Addicted to humor:  Melissa McCarthy, Seth Rogan, Shawn Wayans, Garry Marshall, Lucille Ball

Larger than life, notable death:  Elvis Presley, Ernest Hemingway, David Bowie, Dorothy Dandridge, Farrah Fawcett, Hart Crane

Dynamic personalities:  Ellen Degeneres, Queen Latifah, Ronald Reagan, Joan Jett, Hugh Laurie

Charismatic appeal: Elton John, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Uma Thurman; Susan Sarandon

Communicate deep emotions:  Sade, Sharon Stone, Jessica Biel, Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli,

My Astro-Twins

I was already interested in astrology when I was a teen, and my astro-twins (those born on the same day) were classmates.  We share prominent Capricorn and Taurus planets with notable things in common but also striking differences.

I just found one of my astro-twins online.  He was recently named the CEO of a major snack-food company.  I can’t even eat that stuff.  And while I feel I’m a good manager, I’d be barfing all the way to the bank with a corporate position.  But he’s been working his way toward the top since high school.

According to Salary.com, this astro-twin earned nearly $3.5 million in 2015 alone, with salary, bonus and stock options.  I won’t earn a fraction of that in my entire work history!  To me, a large sum of money is a responsibility in itself:  investing it, talking to accountants, lawyers, etc.  A complication of life.  And then you just end up buying things.  And I suppose hiring other people to help you out and maintain your lifestyle.

I don’t have this guy’s time of birth.  One of my best friends was a secret admirer of his.  Is that a coincidence or perhaps her intuitive understanding of potential compatibility?  (After all, she got along with me and I have a very similar horoscope.)

I also knew the other astro-twin when I was young.  She had Scorpio rising (I have late Aries, so she was kind of the opposite).  She was a dancer who earned money exercising horses.  I always loved horses and had taken riding lessons through the Girl Scouts when I was a kid.  I had also been taking dance classes for years.  We met through studying with the same singing teacher and once sang in a gospel chorus together.  So we shared a lot of interests.  And like me, she was on a more creative track than our corporate counterpart.  But there were some obvious differences: the singing teacher shared that the twin had stiffed her for payments, which came as a shock.

The dancer had a more common name, and I don’t know what became of her.  Can’t find her online.

I liked both of these people personally – does that make me narcissistic?

Trump’s Phantom Astro-Twin

I’ve always been intrigued by astro-twins.  The similarities as well as the differences in their lives are often striking.  So I searched Astrodatabank for Donald Trump’s birthdate – June 14, 1946 – and found a close match. 

J. Paul Getty’s youngest son, Timothy Getty, was born on June 14, 1946 at 9:00 AM in Los Angeles, California, with a Leo Ascendant like Trump. (As a matter of fact, his chart is quite close to the 9:51 alternate chart for Trump that’s been floated recently.) Timmy’s Sun and Moon are actually a little later than Donald’s due to the three-hour time zone difference in their births.

The founder of Getty Oil, J. Paul Getty was known as the richest American in 1957 and was worth an estimated $2 billion at his death in 1976 (see Wikipedia for more).   Timothy was J. Paul’s only child by his fifth wife, Louise.

At the age of nine, Timothy developed a brain tumor that damaged his sight, and had successful surgery.  But the tumor returned a few years later, his head became misshapen, and he had three operations in August of 1958 (at around age twelve) to “reset his skull” according to Astrodatabank.  Timothy died under anesthesia on August 17, 1958.

On the other side of the country, is astro-twin Donald Trump also had an unusually wealthy father and an indulged lifestyle.  He also came from a family with five children (though they had the same mother, quite different from Getty’s five wives).  Donald was athletic and at times belligerent, with some behavior problems at school, describing himself as a “wise guy.”

His father sent him to a military academy when he was thirteen.  So it appears that Trump also had a decisive year at twelve, sometime between his Jupiter return and Saturn’s opposition to its natal place.  Trump continues to be extremely vital and successful nearly 60 years after his astro-twin passed.    

Timmy had Saturn conjunct Venus in his 12th house, with Saturn ruling the 6th and Venus ruling the 10th.  These placements seem to be what cut his life short as they may suggest health issues.  Yet despite the vitality of his 1st house Mars, it co-rules the end-of-life 4th house and comes right to him (the 1st).  And the lunar eclipse with Uranus at birth can bring sudden reversals in life.  Of course, this is easily interpreted after the fact.  We may have noticed the potential for health problems, but we certainly wouldn’t have imagined an early death.  Still, the two Ascendants were probably about 15° different, moving Venus and Saturn from the 12th to the 11th, where they sextile the MC in Trump’s chart.

Astro-twins show us astrology’s strengths but also its limitations.  Despite a few eerie similarities between Timothy Getty and Donald Trump, the two had different souls, life paths and destinies.  And there are many others who were born on this date.  One of them is Thomas F. “Mark” McClarty, a businessman and long-time friend of Bill Clinton who served as Clinton’s Chief of Staff in 1993-94!  (No birth time available.)

This data is rated AA, from birth records, on Astrodatabank.