Sometimes I get it wrong. When that happens, I return to the original horary chart and do a post-mortem, looking at real-time transits, progressions, profections, and other time-lord techniques as applicable to better learn how to unpack the zodiacal grammar. This is humbling and important work – it’s how learning happens in action, rather than in theory. Once the wisdom of the chart is understood, I never forget the lesson.
In this case, I got it wrong. My client contacted me on September 1, 2022, wanting to know if she would make it to Omaha in October for an important business meeting. Here’s a summary of what I shared with her.
The querent is signified by Venus in Leo in the 10th house. The ascendant is conjunct fixed star Spica, which tells me that the querent is well-protected and fortified, which is good because Venus is not in the best shape, though in the 10th house, she does enjoy accidental dignity. Venus in 10th makes sense for this querent’s signifier, so I felt like the chart was on solid ground.
First, I looked at the 9th house for some information about the long-distance journey. For this client, Omaha is across the country and not a place that she normally travels for business. The 9th house cusp is in Gemini, so Mercury is the signifier of the journey. Mercury is in Libra in the 12th house, where things dissolve and can get lost.
What’s the relationship between Venus and Mercury? Well, they are separating from a sextile by a wide orb of 20 degrees. This indicates something that occurred in the past. I asked her if anything happened with this trip around August 10? She said that was when it was officially announced. That seemed to track with what I was seeing – she encountered the idea of the trip right around then. Though helpful, it did not answer her question, so I looked at another possible pairing to get some insight.
The next pairing I explored was the Ascendant/Descendant relationship, with the Descendant representing the “destination.” This is a generic pairing that can be used for any sort of trip, whereas the cusp of the 9th (and any planets in it) tends to be used for longer journeys or trips that are not part of a person’s quotidian experience.
This pairing involves Venus in Leo and Mars in Gemini. They have a similar aspectual relationship as did the previous pairing – a supportive sextile separating by 19 degrees. After some probing, she revealed that she had, in fact, invited a male friend to accompany her on this trip right after it was announced. This came out as one of the reasons she was asking about this trip, which I found funny because initially it had been presented to me as a clear career question.
At this point, I started looking at relationships between signifiers of the two pairings and relevant cusps. No juice. I looked to the 4th house as the “end of the matter” and found Saturn there in opposition to Venus, which did not seem promising either. The opposition, too, was separating.
Unfortunately, the Moon in Scorpio kept her secrets. I did not see any translating or transfer of light between any of the pairings. I noted that Luna sat on the South Node and was applying to a square to Venus…all very interesting, but what does it mean in terms of the question at hand?
I advised my client that there was not a clear signal that the meeting in Omaha would occur. Much of the messaging around it in this chart seemed retrospective rather than future focused.
Well, my client contacted me last night to let me know that not only had the trip happened – it was a doozy. No romance (that fizzled fast), very tough business negotiations, and a treacherous relationship with a coworker in a higher position than she came to light.
So…what did I miss? When I look at the transits for the day she arrived in Omaha, here’s what I see:
· Transit Mars sextiles horary Venus, applying by 1 degree
· Transit Moon square horary Mercury, applying by 1 degree
· Transit Venus trines horary Saturn, 0 degree
· Transit Sun conjunct horary Ascendant, 0 degree
· Transit Moon squares horary Mercury, applying by 2 degrees
· Horary Moon waxing and gaining in strength
This is illuminating. The learning here is to check the real-life transits around the main significators in the story to see how their relationships evolve before giving a disposition on a static chart. Life is motion, change, and evolution. I thank this horary chart and this learning experience to put me into alignment with that eternal principle.
And when I get it wrong, the next one for the client is gratis to thank them for being a part of my learning journey.