Category Archives: horoscope interpretation

Tom Hanks, Author

I like looking at the charts of creative types to see how they’re reflected in their work. Popular actor Tom Hanks released a book of short stories last year, Uncommon Type, and I listened to his audiobook. I wasn’t sure how good it’d be, but with the Sun in Cancer, I expected Hanks’ warm and accessible, sexually non-threatening style. The stories were wonderful and seemed to reflect even more of the real person than we know from the movies.

Many of the stories concerned family, friends and leisure activities and seemed personal and authentic. Hanks has both the Sun and Mercury in Cancer with the Moon in Leo, all of which favor self-expression. His Sun and Moon are also in mutual reception and dispose of the entire chart, strengthening his ability to connect with emotions and present dramatic situations.

Venus in Gemini creates a grand cross with Mars in Pisces on the Descendant, the MC/IC and Virgo rising. True to Virgo, there is a meticulousness about the writing, but with Mars in Pisces, it’s always emotionally engaging. The stories are accessible and comfortable, the content somewhat “cozy” (PG rated), and nothing is pushed or rushed, with occasionally disturbing situations and satisfying endings.

The actor also has Mercury Out of Bounds in declination. Kt Boehrer thought this placement was associated with considerable imagination, curiosity and talent. And I would add, versatility.

The stories of a divorced mother learning to trust again and the son of a divorced couple getting to know his more successful mom and her new boyfriend seemed so truthful and real that I assumed the writer had experienced these things first-hand. There were also stories about space flight, time travel, star gazing and discovering the exhilaration of piloting an airplane. These all seemed Uranian to me, and Hanks has the Moon conjunct Uranus in the 11th house, probably one reason he’s been so popular in the first place. His bio tells us that he’s experienced divorce and is a big booster of NASA and space exploration.

Saturn in Scorpio in the 3rd house trines Uranus, and this also explains Tom Hanks’ somewhat low-key communications style. Saturn rules his 5th house and also squares Pluto in Leo and Jupiter in Virgo in his 12th, showing a great inner drive and intensity. As Jupiter rules his 4th house cusp, this also shows the changes he experienced in his personal life.

One story is about a woman striking out on her own and connecting with a typewriter. With Saturn strongly accented in the 3rd house, it’s no surprise that Tom Hanks collects typewriters and is devoted to writing with them.

Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks on Amazon.com.

Tom Hanks was born on July 9, 1956 at 11:17 AM in Concord Calfornia, rated AA on Astrodatabank (from his birth certificate).

Bob Woodward and Neptune

Bob Woodward’s new book Fear: Trump in the White House is the fastest-selling book in Simon & Schuster’s nearly 100 years of publishing, according to the L.A. Times. The veteran journalist has covered eight presidents in his 45 years of reporting. Surprisingly enough, Neptune is one of his most prominent planets!

Neptune closely conjoins the Ascendant and opposes the journalist’s Sun in Aries and Ascendant ruler Mercury in Pisces. This is an unexpected combination and we’d imagine that Woodward might be challenged to tell the truth himself, as Neptune opposite Mercury may present a false view of reality. Certainly in his most significant stories, like Watergate, his long-term analysis lifted a veil or exposed a cover-up. His current book relies on anonymous sources, and one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Watergate story was the identity of Deep Throat, a key informant. So Neptune rising in Libra may show the ability to keep a partner’s secrets as well as tease them out of others.

Neptune and Mercury are ruled by Venus in Taurus and Jupiter in the 10th, which are more open and straightforward. And the rest of the chart is consistent with journalism and sharing information with the public. The Sun in Aries in the 7th house trines Pluto in the 11th and suggests powerful contacts and the ability to tap into key witnesses. The Moon in Sagittarius in the 3rd house is naturally candid in communications and completes a grand trine with the Sun and Pluto. Research and investigative abilities are accentuated by Scorpio on the 3rd house, Pluto’s placement Out of Bounds in declination, and its trine to the Moon in the 3rd.

Jupiter, the planet of ideas and education, is in Woodward’s 10th house of career, exalted in Cancer. His books and articles have focused on the country’s leaders. Jupiter is in mutual reception with the Moon, and the two dispose of all the other planets but Venus.

Saturn conjunct Uranus in Gemini in the 9th house has gained him great acclaim and shows the combination of traditional reporting and unexpected breakthroughs he’s shared with a wide audience. These two planets complete a kite pattern with the Sun, Moon and Pluto, and Uranus trines Neptune and the Ascendant as well. While Bob Woodward’s success has much to do with Jupiter, he also has a wide Star of David (or grand sextile) pattern, one of the most harmonious in astrology, that includes his Ascendant.

The 9/11 release date of Bob Woodward’s book has tremendous resonance for the country, but at the time, the transiting Sun and Mercury were also conjunct his Ascendant and activating his grand trine/grand sextile pattern. Progressed Mercury in Taurus was also trining the Ascendant and nearing a conjunction with 9th house Uranus to make for great excitement about his work.

Bob Woodward’s birth data is from his birth record and rated AA on Astrodatabank.

The Modern West is Linear

Horoscopes have survived for over 2,000 years and represent a unique remnant of the ancient world. There is absolutely nothing else like them, as they symbolically represent the sky and are able to convey the events and experiences of a life. While we can use various techniques to progress or direct the chart into the future, the horoscope itself conveys the entire life.

In the contemporary west, we live in a world of linear time, where we adhere to schedules and see ourselves evolving into the future. Others in the past and elsewhere are different. In polychronic cultures, time is cyclic, and deadlines are unimportant. People from India that I’ve known seem to have a more polychronic attitude, for example, and interestingly enough many in India also value astrology.

Astronomer and anthropologist Anthony Aveni gave an excellent example of polychronic works of art in his book, Conversing with the Planets. In a museum in Mexico City, he observed Aztec plant sculptures that contained both the mature fruit and blooming flowers – which cannot co-exist at the same time. “Each half of the calabash and maize sculptures seemed totally faithful to what I have actually seen in my garden at the beginning and the end of the season… But the artists who made these carvings just a few generations before Cortés landed on Mexico’s shore… had conflated different stages of plant metamorphosis into a single coherent image… for reasons that escape us, the polychromic image – the combination of realities pulled from different time frames and brought together by the human imagination into a composite whole – seems to have held greater significance.”

A horoscope can also be seen as a “composite whole.” And it’s worth noting that the Maya, who predated the Aztecs by at least 1,000 years, were keen sky observers who also had their own elaborate system of astrology.

One reason that astrology is commonly criticized today may be that mainstream western society is so time-driven, ordered and quantitative, while horoscopes and astrology are qualitative and cyclic. Those of us who value them are able to do so despite the linear culture that surrounds us.

Aveni’s Conversing with the Planets is a wonderful book that looks at the many cultures through history that developed astrology. It was published in 1992 as the Uranus-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn approached, and is one of the first books to seriously address the cultural history of astrology for a wider audience. Buy on Amazon.com:
Conversing with the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos

Malaysia Air Flight 370: a Look Back

Over four years after the disappearance of Malaysia Air Flight 370, the investigation team issued its report. They couldn’t identify what went wrong and ruled out mechanical or computer failure. Air traffic controllers didn’t follow standard procedures when the plane missed its next expected contact. They also confirmed a turn-back under manual control and could not rule out “unlawful interference.”

The horoscope for the flight’s take-off shows the difficult issues ahead. The Midheaven, which represents the pilot (authority), closely squares the Moon in Gemini conjunct the descendant and opposes Neptune in Pisces on the IC. With the Ascendant, this T-square becomes a tight grand cross with Neptune dominating. If we analyze the event chart as a horary, the IC indicates the “end of the matter,” and with Neptune we are left with a watery disappearance and a mystery.

See the keywords for Neptune that I noticed in this chart in 2014.

The Ascendant is Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter in its exaltation (greatest strength) in Cancer in the 8th house, shows the possibility of danger and death, especially as Jupiter opposes Pluto. Jupiter is ruled by the Moon conjunct the 7th house, which also suggests the involvement of someone in the tragedy and confirms the use of the manual controls.

Mercury rules the Virgo Midheaven and indicates the pilot (the authority figure). Falling in the third house in Aquarius, Mercury squares its ruler Saturn in Scorpio in the 12th, pointing toward the flight’s undoing. As Mercury also rules the Moon in Gemini, it’s associated with the pilot. If we consider Uranus to rule Mercury in Aquarius, it forms another close T-square with Jupiter and Pluto and may suggest that the pilot was unbalanced or overcome. Experts on 60 Minutes in Australia presented a theory involving the pilot, though the official investigation team cleared him of a suicide attempt.

Coverage of the Investigative Report is here.

Fertility Astrology

Astrologers can expect questions about conception and pregnancy from time to time. I’ve always been fascinated by this topic as the outcomes so often highlight the fine line between fate and free will, though helping clients facing heartbreaking infertility issues can be a challenge.

Nicola Smuts-Allsop, an astrologer from South Africa, has focused her practice on this area and shares her work with us in Fertility Astrology: A Modern Medieval Textbook. The subtitle is apt, as Nicola utilizes her own combination of both ancient and contemporary techniques for predictive and electional matters, along with mythology and psychology, to work with western medical fertility interventions such as in vitro fertilization.

Smuts-Allsop is an earnest and thorough astrologer, and she has developed a wide and unusual array of techniques to help her clients conceive. These include identifying an Almutem of Pregnancy as well as its triplicity rulers, which she assigns to the three phases of a woman’s reproductive life. Fertility myths can help in counseling. Fixed star parans may actually indicate different places in the world that can be more fertile. Profections, Solar Arcs, Solar Returns and transits will identify a person’s most fertile times. Ebertin’s mid-points help determine both medical issues and timing.

With first-rate research, the book is densely packed with information, and Nicola shares her background and sources. She has chosen not to make this a “cookbook,” but rest assured that the final third of the book includes an overview of her techniques, fertility signatures and a glossary.

This is a sophisticated book for practicing astrologers with a particular interest in astrological fertility. I’ve read about and studied most of the methods presented, but even so, this engrossing work is one that demands much attention from the reader. Fertility Astrology includes in-depth analyses of five would-be parents’ horoscopes and four shorter ones, most of whom eventually conceived. You’re sure to pick up a new technique (or several) to help your clients.

Buy at Amazon.com: Fertility Astrology: A Modern Medieval Textbook

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