A client contacted me this morning wondering if she should play the lottery today. She shared that she woke up feeling “really lucky.”
What a question for me – in my early twenties, I nearly lost my fiancé to a suicide attempt triggered by losing thousands at the casino. Gambling evokes a miasma of secrets, obsession, guilt, shame, fear, erasure, lack of control, suicide, and manipulation. Struck by the disconnect between my take on the topic and my client’s point of view, I was curious to better understand what celestial signifiers were coming together to make her feel lucky today.
Here’s my analysis of this horary chart, shared with permission, and the fascinating story it tells about the relationship between luck and personal power.
First, I look at the general themes of the horary chart as suggested by the angles, anchors of the narrative. All four angles are deep into the fixed signs, denoting a fundamental stability. The Sun, Venus, the Nodes, and Saturn hug angles, specifically the Ascendant/Descendant and IC. This horary chart has powerful players (Sun and Saturn) in positions of agency – the closer a planet is to an angle, the stronger role it can play.
The Ascendant sizzles with the Sun and Venus who recently conjoined in the purifying intercourse known as cazimi. The Sun is greatly empowering and protective at the Ascendant, hinting that the querent is ‘safe.’ In this horary, the Sun signifies the apex of the chart, the MC in Leo. This is the ultimate culmination – Leo is King at the top of the world. The Sun bestows this glory to the Ascendant. That’s got to feel good.
Venus is right there, too. And who is Venus? I am Venus. The astrologer in any horary chart is signified by the ruler of the Descendent. In this case, it is Taurus, which is ruled by Venus. Venus is in the first house of the querent, which makes sense since as an astrologer, I am in devoted service to the querent.
As all significations are multiple, Venus is also the feminine power that the querent gives away to others, that she projects (Descendant in Taurus), coming back to her. She can claim a fiercely powerful aspect of her own sexuality – she can allure as only a Venus in Scorpio can allure right now.
Being in Scorpio, the Sun, Ascendant, Mercury, South Node, and Venus are all disposed by Mars, elevating Mars to a key player. What is Mars getting up to in this chart?
Mars is RETROGRADE in Gemini in the 8th house of other people’s money, karma, debt, death, and endings. Mars Retrograde in Gemini is a trickster, an illusionist, a raconteur, a thief, a shapeshifter, a tap dancer extraordinaire, the Great Pretender, a spy, a rumormonger, and ruthlessly strategic being disposed by Mercury in Scorpio conjunct the recent solar eclipse degree. Mercury in Scorpio can excavate like no other planet/sign combo I’ve ever seen. It creates a forensic timeline of trauma, threads intersecting timelines and lifecycles of trauma…it understands how central and devastating the traumatic process is to personal individuation and development. It understands how deep the roots of trauma can reach generationally.
Mercury, dispositor of Mars, is peregrine in the 12th house, also a dark and karmic house, a liminal space where a mind can wander among shrouded graves. A haunted forest, perhaps, but also a sacred grove where one can connect with gods and ancestral allies. Traditionally, the twelfth house is not a fortuitous placement. The twelfth house can swallow wanderers, but Mercury is between Fortuna and the Sun, so perhaps will glow up.
Mars retrograde in Gemini in the 8th house is not much stronger in dignity schemes than Mercury, but it does have term and face dignity, two minor dignities which save it from peregrine status. Mars retrograde can go over the same ground in ways that can be productive or destructive depending on the other planets involved.
In this chart, Mars and Saturn are in an applying trine – and Saturn is very strong. Saturn has essential dignity in Aquarius as well as accidental fortitude conjunct the IC. This is an incredibly helpful aspect pattern for facing the past – the energy to transform (Mars in 8th) meets the perseverance and fortitude to put the past in order (a dignified Saturn on IC). This is the juju for assuming the role of father to herself, making peace with her inner authority, and fighting for her sovereign integrity as a human being.
The universe is offering her an opportunity to grasp the radical understanding that she has a strong personal foundation. This may come as a surprise to her if she was not born with a strong foundation. Over time, she has created and maintained healthy boundaries (Saturn in Aquarius) that have strengthened her foundation. I don’t know that this makes her feel lucky, but I bet she doesn’t feel wildly vulnerable.
Now for the central question, which can be framed by the relationships of the fifth house cusp and signifier to the first/second/eighth houses, cusps and signifiers: the first house to see if the gambling will hurt or help the querent (body/mind); the second house to see if the gambling will hurt or help the querent’s current resources; the eighth house to see if there’s any indication of incoming money from other people.
The fifth house cusp is at 22 degrees Pisces signified by a dignified Jupiter in Pisces in the fifth house. Jupiter is at the 29th degree – the anaretic degree of Pisces, having recently retrograded back into Pisces. In Pisces, the anaretic degree marks the end of endings – the final moment of whatever the Jupiter-in-Pisces storyline has been for her. A rainbow moment, a time of wish fulfillment or wish abandonment depending on the purity of the wish.
Jupiter, since it is retrograde, is applying to an out of orb trine to the Ascendant at 8.57 degrees Scorpio. Matters of the fifth house feel like they will be resolved in a way that supports the well-being of the querent. However, in real life, the trine never gets within orb, much less perfects.
Jupiter also applies to a square to Mars, signifier of the querent, with about a four-degree orb, indicating that it is possible that the matters of the fifth house will resolve in a challenging way. This does not quite seem like a lottery win, which seems passive. That said, the 29th degree of Pisces is sometimes interpreted as a degree of passive abundance and winning the lottery is known to bring absolute ruin to people and families, so be careful in what you wish for…
Now to examine the fifth, cusp and ruler, in relationship to the second house of personal resources, cusp and ruler. The second house cusp is at 4 degrees Sagittarius and is also ruled by Jupiter. Jupiter is applying to an out of orb square to the cusp of the second house, indicating that there’s a challenging relationship between resources/gambling, but nothing to really worry about since it is out of orb and influence.
Jupiter and the fifth-house cusp in relation to the eighth house cusp and signifier tell a similar story, with an important twist. Jupiter is applying by a wide square to the cusp of the eighth house, a square that never perfects. Jupiter, signifier of the 5th house, is in an applying trine to Mercury, signifier of the 8th house. This trine perfects in real life. It perfects on November 16, 2022. That the signifier of the 5th house and the signifier of the 8th house perfect a trine is a positive testament.
Now, we look at the Moon because the Moon signifies all things. The Moon is at 14 degrees Capricorn, a feminine and fertile cardinal earth sign that focuses on consolidation, constructing, and spiritual and material initiations. In Capricorn, the Moon is disposed by Saturn in Aquarius, whose dignity we talked about earlier. It’s a strong Moon, gaining in power since her recent entanglement in the heady solar eclipse in Scorpio earlier in the month. The Moon is separating from a sextile to the Ascendant and applying to a lovely sextile with Jupiter, the benefic planet of abundance sitting on the anaretic degree of Pisces signifying things of the fifth house, including gambling for pleasure, the arts, creativity, drama, music, poetry, entrepreneurship, romance, dating, playful sex, children, etc. It’s a positive testament, but not one that necessarily indicates that the abundance is coming to her – rather that she is opening herself and positioning herself emotionally to seek the abundance in life. In this case, what she seeks, she is sure to find. The Moon is also conjunct the Lot of Fortune, the asteroid Eros and the asteroid Tyche, which rules “luck.”
When it comes to playing the lottery, I am going to withhold advice or encouragement, but this chart speaks to so much more than taking trivial risks. It speaks to taking real risks, facing the past and finding oneself whole enough, person enough, strong enough. The world will break open to her in a way that is breathtakingly beautiful, full of promise, diversity, acceptance, redemption, creativity, and deep release.