Predictive Astrology Chapter 2 – Transits

by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Use of the Ephemeris

Ground Rules for Transits

Planetary Stations

Houses, Signs, Ingress Charts

New Year’s Charting

We will begin our study of predictive techniques with transits. Let us first look at the similarities and the differences between a transit chart and any other type of chart. A chart, any chart, is a map of the sky or heavens at a particular moment of time (date, clock, standard and zone) at a particular location (city and state or country) on the Earth’s globe expressed as longitude and latitude. The earth is always rotating on its axis and orbiting around the Sun. Plus, there are many other celestial motions that affect us individually and any measurement that we make. When we construct a chart, we take a photograph or still shot of a moving sky. Sometimes we forget that the universe that includes our solar system is in constant motion. Think of a reel of film. We stop it for a moment (freeze frame) to study it, but it serves its intended purpose only when it is in motion. Because of that constant motion, every pattern that exists at any given moment is both permanent (as a map or blueprint of potential) and temporary (a brief moment in an atmosphere of constant change). These constantly shifting zodiacal positions of our solar system’s planets are called transits. Most charts are based on these transitioning moments of time.

Transits are listed on a daily basis in the table of planets’ places called an ephemeris. The shifting house patterns are calculated by use of a table of houses, because they are fully dependent on time at a specific location on the globe. If you use a computer for your charting, this is all done for you when you enter the birth data. Essentially, any chart that is constructed by real-time positions and not contrived positions (such as primary directions) is a transit chart. Whether it be for a person, a company, an election, an animal, the start of an illness, a stock IPO, etc. – that chart is a freeze frame of a particular moment in time and space, which is essentially a transit. For example:

For our own convenience and use, we choose to call that a natal or birth chart.
The chart for the start of an illness is called a decumbiture chart.
A transit chart that is used to answer a question is called a horary chart.
A transit chart used to choose the timing of a future event is an election chart.

So you see, transits are not different from ordinary charting. We just apply different terms to identify what we are doing with each chart. All these sky patterns, activations, and the charts representing them are actually forms of transits.

In our usual astrological language, transits are the ongoing daily planetary positions given in the ephemeris and are not grouped in with the other types of charting. We usually apply transits to these other types of charts as activators. We can also study the transits individually.

Newspaper and magazine columns are based on the transits as they affect us in a general or collective way, as well as a personal way.
When we talk or read about Mercury retrograde or a Full Moon, and the general effect they have or will have, we are talking about transits.
If we choose, we can look at a day’s placements individually as it affects the whole world. Many popular astrological columns or magazines are based on this generic use of transits. Chapter 10 will give the instructions on how to generate readings for this application.
We can also look at how that individual day’s placements affect a person’s life, as an astrologer does when a client comes for a reading. For a period of time during my professional reading career, I set an appointment chart for each client. Why? The issues that would be discussed with that client would be evident in the appointment chart before the client ever arrived for their reading and that could be quite handy during the consultation.

All these applications and more are transit work.

Use of the Ephemeris

Most ephemerides list daily positions (24-hour or diurnal) for the ten planets plus the lunar node. These ephemerides are based on either a noon or midnight format Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or standard time on the clock at Greenwich, England (the zero point for time or geographical longitude coordinates). If you are located at any other time zone, or any other time standard such as daylight savings time, you must adjust the time so that such positions are accurate at your location. For example:

If you are on EST (Eastern Standard Time) you are five time zones west of Greenwich, England. West. That means you must subtract five zones (hours) from your Greenwich base.
If you use a midnight ephemeris, minus five hours = 7 pm the night prior.
If you use a noon ephemeris, minus five hours = 7 am the same day.
12 Noon or 12 Midnight – five hours = 7 am or 7 pm, respectively.
If you are on PDT (Pacific Daylight Time), you are eight time zones west (-) of Greenwich, less one hour for daylight savings time. or minus seven hours of correction to the ephemeris base.
If a midnight ephemeris, minus seven hours = 5 pm the day prior.
If noon ephemeris: 12 – 7 hours = 5 am the same day.

If you are on a time standard which is east of Greenwich (which includes Europe, the Middle East, India, the oriental countries, Asia, Polynesia, etc.), you would add the number of hours the time standard represents less one hour if daylight savings time or its equivalent is in effect. For example, Germany is traditionally listed near 15 east or Eastern European time (EET), which is plus one hour to GMT.

If using a midnight ephemeris, Midnight + one hour = 1 am of that same day.
If you are using a noon ephemeris: 12 + one hour = 1 pm of that same day.
If you are four time zones east of Greenwich and daylight savings time is in effect, you would add four and subtract one hour, or add three hours to the ephemeris positions.

In some of the newer ephemerides, the Moon is listed for both midnight and noon. Zero-hour reading may mean the base time of the entire ephemeris (noon or midnight). The twelve-hour heading means twelve hours later than that zero base.

Note: All examples given are for northern latitudes. Corrections for southern latitudes are given in the chart construction workbook to be published at a later date.

In order to determine daily or diurnal movement by hand, simply find the difference in planetary positions from one line to the next including the day in question, noting whether that motion is direct, retrograde, or occasionally stationing with no discernible movement. For example:

If Mercury is 19 Cap 57 one day and 21 Cap 6 the next day, then Mercury will have moved 1˚9’ in that 24-hour period and the motion was direct.
If Mercury had been 19 Cap 59 one day and 18 Cap 37 the following day, Mercury would be retrograde at the rate of 1˚22’ for that 24-hour period.
Station simply represents that the planet appears to be standing still (an optical illusion), with no discernible travel or motion, and requiring little if any correction.

This math procedure can help you determine when an aspect perfects itself, when planets change signs, etc. Retrograde and direct are marked once on the day they occur and are assumed to continue that motion until otherwise noted. Because it is less ordinary, retrograde is also marked on day one of each month if the retrograde is continuing into that month.

Credit: *American Ephemeris* by Neil Michelsen, copyright 1980

At the bottom of the sample ephemeris page (ACS midnight, Jan/Feb 1990) are the Astro Data columns. Let us take a moment and explain the columns and the information. The basis of this particular ephemeris example is midnight GMT. The hour listings would then begin with midnight as 0 hour, 6 am would be 6 hours, noon would be 12 hours, 5 pm would be 17 hours (military time), etc.

Column 1 is an aspectarian. It shows the aspect, day, hour, and minute that the aspect perfects itself and the dates and times of retrograde and direct for any planet. The N/S references are listings for the crossing of north to south or south to north Declinations. In this ephemeris, latitude is not supplied. This column has two sections with a line break in between. The top half of the column is for the month at the top of the page, the bottom half of the column is for the second month on that page.
Column 2 is the planet ingress, the entry of each planet (but not the Moon) into one of the twelve signs.
Column 3 and 4 are the lunar columns and they list the last aspect the Moon makes before it leaves a sign, followed by the lunar ingress into the next sign. The period of time between the last lunar aspect in a sign and the succeeding lunar ingress into a new sign is called Void of Course. The 1^st column is the first month on that page and the 2^nd column is the second month on that page.
Column 5 shows the lunar phases, the solar and lunar eclipses by date, hour and minute (GMT), the symbol for the phase itself, and the zodiacal position. The column is divided by month, top and bottom, as above.
Column 6 is titled Astro Data and the listing is for the first day of that month, again with top and bottom division for the two months on that page. This is useful to Astronomers / Astrologers who know how to use the data, but is not commonly used information. The Julian date is the common date listed from the calendar instituted by Julius Caesar. This calendar was supplanted by the more recent Gregorian calendar that caused a great deal of confusion because it was not instituted simultaneously worldwide. It was instituted over years of time across the globe. The Julian date makes certain math date calculations easier. See more detailed information on the explanation page at the beginning of the ephemeris.
The position of Chiron is listed for those who use Chiron regularly. I did not. It was first introduced as a planet, which made no sense to me at the time. Its standard travel is retrograde, and its trajectory was not in agreement with the known planets. It was following a comet trajectory, so the new material that was available and being developed felt illogical to me. Now Chiron is considered to be the largest comet in the visible solar system. I have also seen reference to it as a planetoid / comet. If a comet, Chiron is a one without a tail. Tails form as the Sun starts to melt the outer layers of the comet. Apparently, this comet is still too cold to melt and form a tail??? Who knows what else is out there?
Delta T is the “time in seconds you must add to Universal Time to arrive at ephemeris time”. This is available but not commonly used. Again, see the more detailed information on the explanation page.
Tilt is “the value of the true obliquity of the ecliptic”. I am not an astronomer and you probably aren’t either, so you will have to seek an explanation of this elsewhere, perhaps on the explanation page as well.
The SVP is the Synetic Vernal Point or the relocated (Fagan) position for sidereal calculations. Note that the SVP is in early Pisces, the sidereal precessional position of the vernal equinox (spring). This is the zodiacal difference between tropical and sidereal astrology and not applicable to this study.
The last listing is the Moon’s mean or average node. For many years the mean node was all that was available, traveling three minutes a day retrograde. With the advent of computers and advancing scientific information, the true node was obtained, and it fluctuates between retrograde and direct, but generally travels retrograde. There can be as much as 1.5˚ difference between the Mean and the True Node, so some research is necessary on your part as to which position you trust. True node is generally now listed in the main columns along with the planets themselves.

Ground Rules for Transits

Transits can be a stand-alone event or a triggering mechanism to an existing chart. As a stand-alone chart, the event would be read similar to a natal chart, but they do have their limits. If there were a plane crash, I might cast a transiting chart for the moment of take-off of that flight, plus its subsequent crash. Or I might first cast a transit chart for the maiden flight or birth chart of that plane if the information is available, to have a broader set of references on that chart’s connection to the later crash.

When the horror of 9/11 happened, astrologers frantically set charts in an attempt to determine what happened and the “why” of that event to learn from that experience. I set event take-off charts and crash charts for each plane and their tragic conclusions as did most astrologers. Additionally, I was able to find information for the ground-breaking ceremony of the Twin Towers themselves, which I cast as a natal chart. It could then be progressed and transited by the 9/11 event. Transits charts all, but applications change the names of such charts by our choices.

Multiple charts give us a broader basis for comparison. The crash itself is a map of that moment in that location, but that moment did not produce replicate crashes all over the globe. Something sets it apart from all the other possibilities. That is the value of comparing the event chart with a birth chart, if available. At times, you have to really research for information. The groundbreaking ceremony was available as history. I just had to take the time to find it. Our ongoing internet access to the world’s libraries is a marvel to me. The transits served as triggers for the natal map and the progressed maps, as well as providing natals for the events themselves.

Another excellent use of the transits are the ingress charts so popular in mundane astrology, and which will be explained later in this chapter.

Transits should be noted to the natal planets and points such as the Ascendant, Midheaven, Part of Fortune (Fortuna), Lunar Node, Vertex or any others points you may choose. Transits can also be noted to the progressed planets or points in the same manner. Be aware that by progression, an outer planet may move so slowly that it makes no new aspects after birth. Obviously, it is not possible that a person is totally unaffected the balance of his / her life by these outer planets. So, our use of the transits can provide a time frame and the nature of activation to those outer planets. See the transiting planet as a temporary yet important influence. There will be more about progressions and their activations in Chapter 5.

The outer, slower moving planets (Saturn through Pluto) have much longer effects, and are more experiential over a longer period. Therefore, they have greater impact on the individual. Here are two broad definitions to begin:

One is the slow progression as an aspect perfects itself. Again, many years may be involved. Because of protracted retrograde patterns, the outer, slower-moving planets elongate their influence over a few months and occasionally can take on a larger or more significant role.
One is the slow progression through a house. Depending on the size of a house in our unequal house system, the transit of an outer planet through the affairs of that house can take many years.

This is a much subtler or long-range reading skill. See Chapter 3 and see also the cheat sheet in Chapter 1.

Because of the retrograde patterns, the outer planets can cause a transit to remain in one small area of space for one to two years, with the probability of three exact connections (hits) to any one given point in a chart. This is true of all aspects, not just the conjunction! With Neptune and Pluto, there is also the possibility of five hits with a duration of 1½ to 2 years. Within that long time frame, there can be periods of dormancy that can lull the native into believing the aspect and episode are finished. NOT!

The activity does seem to occur in stages. The first contact sets the stage and initiates the activity. The last contact culminates or resolves the issue. The middle contact(s) are separate stages of a lesson, whether there is only one middle hit (Saturn through Pluto) or the possibility of three (Neptune and Pluto only). Sometimes the retrograde contact is the most important.

A person who has the transiting planet retrograde in their natal chart may feel the greatest impact at the time of the transiting retrograde contact. Charts with the transiting planet direct in their natal charts tend to feel more impact with the direct hits of the transit. Remember resonance.

Moving from the slow outer planets inward to the Sun:

Jupiter occupies one entire 30˚ sign for approximately one year, and there is a usually but not always a retrograde period.
Mars occupies a sign for about two months average unless there is a retrograde period (every two years).

The other faster moving planets (Venus, Mercury, the Moon and the Sun) have effects which pass much more quickly and, with a few exceptions, do not usually have long-term influence time. Fast-moving influences can last from a few hours to a few days, but could conceivably act as the second hand on a clock. A major cause of that exception is the retrograde period, which elongates or repeats the activation.

Mercury retrogrades from 18 to 24 days approximately three times per year.
Venus retrogrades for 42 days every 1¼ years.
The Sun and Moon can never go retrograde.

The moment of a transiting planetary return can occasionally give a specific influence on the faster moving natal planets and that will be covered in Chapter 7. Eclipses and lunations are also transits that will be studied separately.

Even though I have minimized the effect of faster-moving planets, with the exception of their retrograde periods, be careful not to ignore the faster-moving planets when several are making a “collection” of aspects. Just think of the old adage about “the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Moon may usually have only a two-to-three-hour effect, such as someone knocking on your door or delivering a letter. But if it is included in one of these collective activations, it can participate as a more significant influence; i.e., the letter could be a legal summons or something of equal import.

Certain planets do have strong influence even with fast-moving hits. In my own chart, when transiting Mars squares natal Mars (as it does every two years), nothing particularly significant occurs. In a client’s chart, when transiting Mars squared natal Mars, she underwent dental surgery. She also set her own kitchen on fire under just such a “minor” activation. These calls are easy to miss.

As we discussed in our previous section on natal sensitivities, the transiting planet is the giver or activator and the natal or progressed sensitivity is the receiver, or that which is activated. The transit is the new influence or input. The natal or progressed is the pattern or energy field awaiting a trigger or a catalyst. You always read transit to natal or transit to progression.

Orbs should be very tight. Ordinarily, activation will occur within 1˚ applying and 15’ separating. The bulk of activity will occur when approaching exactitude within 15’. There is usually a period of buildup, especially in the case of the outer planets. And since most events are not typically explosions that are experienced in a split second, there are residual effects to deal with, experienced within the separating orb. A wider orb may be considered, but in a more general way. Try 3-5˚ approaching and 1˚ separating as an experiment. According to Astrologer Delphine Jay of Orlando, Florida, an aspect is not finished until a transiting eclipse triggers that degree providing release. See our eclipse chapter.

Which aspects should you use? Actually, all aspects, majors and minors, will work. However, Astrologers usually limit themselves to the five major aspects, especially when learning, and that may then become a limiting habit. The quincunx is gaining a reputation of being a more significant aspect than originally estimated. Cosmobiologists and Astrologers who work with midpoints, additionally work with the semi-square and the sesqui-square as frictional triggers. They are multiples of squares and are also known as quadrates. You would read a transiting aspect much the same as you would read all other aspects, paying attention to the energy being activated (natal) by the activating energy (transit).

A natal and, to a lesser degree, a temporary progression promise outweighs the transiting promise. If there is no natal or progressed promise, there will be no significant results, either pro or con, from the transit. Be careful not to predict favorable results from an unfavorable natal pattern or dire results from a favorable natal pattern. A transiting square between two bodies which natally were in a favorable aspect, will eventually produce favorable results out of temporary stress. Why? Transits are temporary and the natal is a lifetime promise. Progression is a developing permanent influence. People can learn to deal with their natal stresses, to overcome them and to really grow from them. Experience can develop new character traits (progress).

Note if a heavy transit, which is more than one pass, triggers an important natal complex such as a T-square, as such a transit triggers the complex itself. Any one planet in the complex cannot be separated from its additional aspects. If you trigger one, the complex itself is triggered. It reminds me of a ricochet effect and can rebound from one planet or point in the complex to another. The complex is activated when the first planet in the complex is contacted and remains activated until the last contact to the last planet in the complex.

Lunations (the New and Full Moons) and eclipses (both solar and lunar) are part of the transits. Eclipses and lunations set the stage for longer, yet varying, periods of time. We will cover these in our chapter on New and Full Moons and Eclipses. Briefly, for the purposes of this lesson, the New Moon has a one-month effect and the Full Moon has a two-week effect. A Solar Eclipse has a six-month to one-year effect and Lunar Eclipse has a two-to-three-month effect.

Planetary Stations

Probably the area where we need to spend the most specific time is in the station and retrograde movements of the transits themselves. Due to our geocentric or Earth-centered perspective, the eight planets appear at times, by optical illusion, to slow down, turn, reverse direction, slow down and turn, then re-establish forward motion. The traveling planet eventually meets and then passes the original point of the first retrograde. This whole process is a retrograde cycle with the two turning points called the stations. Within the actual helio- or Sun-centered system, planets truly do not ever retrograde. The Sun and Moon never are at station or go retrograde. A fuller explanation of the station and retrograde cycles are in my Astrology: The Symbolic Language beginner’s book and my Summer of Aspects book. Both are available at marilynmuir.net.

Mercury and Venus are within Earth’s orbit of the Sun – they are between the Earth and the Sun. An explanation for their retrograde cycles follow a different form of logic from the planets located outside Earth’s orbit, but the end result is the same – there is the appearance of stopping, turning, and reverse motion. All eight planets “appear” to station and to turn retrograde or direct, regardless of the logic involved. How does this affect the transit by measure and interpretation?

Let us say you have a natal planet at 16 Taurus 08. This is your natal sensitive point. This point can be activated or acted upon. Standard aspect procedures would indicate you would exactly oppose it from 16 Scorpio 08, square it from 16 Leo or Aquarius 08, trine it from 16 Virgo or Capricorn 08, sextile it from 16 Pisces or Cancer 08, etc. Any transiting planet located at 16˚8’ may be in major aspect to that natal planet, and of course there are other possibilities with an odd multiple for a minor aspect. Major or minor aspects activate the natal sensitive point equally, but most astrologers stay with the majors. Let us look at the opposition and make the activator (in this instance a transit) a slow, outer planet such as Uranus, Neptune or Pluto.

As the transit approaches the opposition, it would start to stir up activity. Perhaps you could observe influence as far away as 5˚. By the time it has entered a 1˚ orb of exact opposition, it should be conscious, visible or definitely awakening. As it touches exactly on the first pass, activity or motion should be stirred into life – whatever it is or is going to be, it is now awake. Once it achieves exactitude and continues to, let us say, 17 Scorpio 47 (1˚39’ past exact), it stations and turns retrograde. By its retrograde motion, the transit again hits the natal sensitivity at 16˚8’, passes it as a specific retrograde second hit, reaching 14˚58’ where it again stations, this time turning direct. It again approaches 16˚8’, our sensitive point, crosses it a third time exactly and then moves forward, continuing through the sign.

In any retrograde cycle, it is normal for the transiting planet to pass over one sensitive point three times. It is possible in the case of Neptune or Pluto to have five passes over one sensitive natal degree. That would elongate the duration of the pattern itself from several months to about 1½ years, or possibly more in the case of Pluto with its eccentric orbit.

It is also possible, due to the degrees involved, that two passages or exact hits will occur so close together, it is difficult to distinguish them as separate. At that time, that particular passage will manifest as a prolonged single hit. I have often seen a station occur on an exact degree, blending two of the possible contacts into one contact.

The period of effect (the beginning to end of activation of a single sensitive point, exact) is usually about ten months for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, but you must watch for the potential of the five-pass cycles of Neptune and Pluto. The rest of the planets are capable of passing through a sensitive degree without a heavy transit, which is three or more passes. In a single passage, the effect could be minimal – and in Saturn’s case that would be a big relief! If a heavy transit were in effect, such passage would affect the sensitive degree eight-to-nine months for Saturn, seven-to-eight months for Jupiter, five months for Mars, 2½ months for Venus and 1½ months for Mercury.

Frequency of Retrograde In the case of any of the planets outside the asteroid belt (Jupiter through Pluto), each has a retrograde cycle every year. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto’s retrograde cycles last about four-to-five months, or slightly less than a half a year. Saturn’s retrograde cycle also lasts about four-to-five months, and Jupiter’s about four months. The three inner planets, Mercury, Venus and Mars, vary but produce much smaller cycles. Mercury goes retrograde about three times a year for 18-24 days each cycle. Venus goes retrograde for 42 days every 1¼ years. Mars goes retrograde for about 2½ months every second year.

Retrograde Shadow A fairly new concept is that of retrograde shadow, and that the retrograde is in effect longer than is obvious by exact hits. This seems to have some validity, but to my mind has still not been researched thoroughly. What is the shadow? Using our previous example, I centered the whole explanation on 16˚8’. What if we took the degree / minute of station retrograde back to the degree / minute of station / direct and station / retrograde? That would be 14˚58’ to 17˚47’. That longer degree span which is much larger than an exact degree / minute is considered the shadow and the concept is that the span of the shadow is sensitive until the latest degree / minute of the station retrograde is finally and conclusively passed. I have mostly seen this shadow attributed to Mercury. But if this is a valid astrological rule, it should be true not only for Mercury (the usual choice); but the shadow period should be also true of any of the other planets as well. We can’t make up new rules for an anomaly or for one planet. To be an astrological rule, it must be provable in its wider application, and not just personal opinion. The zig-zag diagram above can also be used to illustrate the “shadow” period of the station.

Major Configuration Triggers If the transit effects multiple natal positions simultaneously, such as that within a T-square, this time of effect can be extended beyond the normal expectations. For example, if natal sensitivities exist at 16, 18, 20, 21, and 23, the period of activation begins when 16 is activated the first time and remains active until 23 has been passed for the last time. The periods of effect indicated in the previous paragraphs would have to be extended. If you trigger a planet within a natal complex, you may trigger the complex itself for the duration of all the specific degrees from beginning to end, with the individual direct hits supplying the individual parts of the overall process. “An aspect to one is an aspect to all.” This also could result in more substantial experiences due to the multiple activations, and a much wider range of time than anticipated.

Not Quite Exact Hits What about hits that do not quite connect to the exact degree? My take is that they threaten to act but do not quite make it happen. On a reading where a planetary contact almost occurs, but does not quite touch the natal position, the experience can set up, but never quite gel. That is true on both sides of exact. When direct, the transit would be applying. When retrograde, the transit could still apply to a natal exact position. In my experience, they almost happen, threaten, or set up, but they never quite complete themselves. In the case of a difficult aspect, it can look pretty bad but never quite peak. In the case of a benefic aspect, someone may think of giving you a present, but it never quite makes it into your hands. If the activation is applying but does not gel, it might be next year’s activation. If the activation is retrograding and not quite making contact, it is probably last year’s activation.

Houses

This section deserves repeating, specifically applied to transits. The houses holding the transit and the natal bodies are going to be affected by the aspect. The affairs of the houses will be tied together somehow. But the houses of rulership will also be affected. You may even assemble more information by adding which house the activating transit was positioned in natally. The affairs of those houses will paint a picture for you. How do you know which houses are involved?

The natal house the natal planet occupies.
The natal house(s) the natal planet rules.
The natal house the transiting planet currently occupies.
The natal house the transiting planet natally occupied.
The natal house(s) the transiting planet rules.

The matters of these houses are tied together in some way through this transit as I illustrated in an earlier example. The house positions of the natal and transit planets are obvious. The rulership houses are a fairly easy association to make, although we do not always think of them initially. The least obvious is to look at the natal house the transiting planet originally occupied. Repeating those prior examples:

Example #1: Transiting Uranus in the 6^th, originated in the 11^th, ruling the 9^th, conjunct natal Mercury in the 6^th, ruling the 1^st and 4^th. Houses of association for this aspect (a conjunction) would be the 1^st, 4^th, 6^th, 9^th and 11^th. Create a story.
Interpretation: Astrological (Uranus) testing (Mercury and / or 9^th), out of state (9^th), for largest astrological group (11th) in the world at that time. Test of self-knowledge (1^st), dependent completely on person being tested (1^st), knowledge of roots and foundation (4^th) of craft (6^th) for eventual employment uses (6^th). Condition of person (1^st): wired for sound and unable to sleep the night before or on the plane (9^th), with (Uranus sitting on the chart ruler Mercury in the 6^th of illness / dis-ease). I passed the PMAFA test with a 96 (conjunction). (Originally introduced in Chapter 1.)

Example #2: Transiting Neptune in the 7^th, originated in the 4^th, ruling the 10^th, squaring natal Saturn in the 11^th, ruling the 8^th. Houses of association for this aspect (a square) would be the 7^th, 8^th, 10^th, 11^th, and 4^th. Create a story.
Interpretation: Hard to diagnose illness (Neptune) of the spouse (7^th), family member (4^th). Spouse’s career (4^th = 10^th of 7^th) and chart person’s career (10^th) both jeopardized (square). Also, chart person discovered embezzlement (negative Neptune and 8^th other people’s money) and irresponsibility (negative application of Saturn) in career workplace (10^th) by co-workers who had passed for friends (11^th). It was necessary to report findings (Saturn) or legally be considered as an accessory after the fact. The whistle-blower was not appreciated.

Signs

Signs describe the action and are the colored lens that brings description to the reading. A transiting hit (planet) of whatever type (aspect) activates a natal sensitivity (planet or point), relative to the affairs of the house(s) involved, and acts in this fashion (sign). When you reduce it to its simplest form and then read it like a formula, you can readily see the interconnection and use the sign information to flesh out the description. How would Aries do this? How would Taurus do this? And so forth. Use cardinal, fixed, mutable, fire, earth, air, water, masculine, feminine, glyphs, symbology, or whatever sign tools are in your set of skills. Aries could be brash, aggressive, loud, short-lived, and also enterprising and brave. It’s back to basics at this point. Combine the principles as many ways as seem applicable and credible. Use positive aspect keywords for positive aspects and troublesome aspect keywords for stress aspects.

Ingress Charts

What is an Ingress Chart? I mentioned earlier that transits may be used as a stand-alone ingress chart, usually for a mundane application. What does that mean? Mundane charting applies to the charting of cities, states, countries, etc., and world events such as tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes. In my state of residence, Florida, the birth of a hurricane would probably be the time it officially becomes a hurricane at the longitude and latitude of the storm, and at that official moment. Too many tropical circulations arise and either peter out or intensify over much time and distance. A possibility for an earlier birth time might be the moment the pattern emerges from the coast of Africa or wherever it originates, or other probably difficult-to-impossible information to access. A volcano may rumble for years, but the explosive moment is usually chosen as a birth chart, with the prior rumbling representing the gestation period. Earthquakes build up pressure for eons, but the moment of the release of the tremor (event) itself is chosen as its birth.

Cities, counties, states and countries rise up and die in a natural cycle. Each is unique, each has a defining moment, each has a pattern to delineate and be triggered. I can remember the terrible disaster of the bridge collapse on the west coast of Florida many years ago. I cast natal and progressed charts for the cities involved, the state itself, plus the transits for the event. These charts work just as well as the natal charts of individuals. You must generate more generic meanings for the elements of the chart because you are reading a group, a location, and a legal entity, just not a person. All these charts are mundane in nature. All the cities surrounding that bridge collapse were affected, including the county chart and the chart of the State of Florida.

Ingress charts seem to have particular application to mundane work. They are based on the entry of the Sun into the four cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn), with Aries as the primary Ingress. The world chart which represents the effect of the current energy patterns on the world at large uses the longitude and latitude of Greenwich, England, the prime meridian, at the time that the Sun crosses into 00˚00’00” Aries each year. Other ingress charts may be cast for any location on the globe at that exact moment which would illustrate the energy pattern in a unique

way for those locations. For example, the ingress chart for the USA would be set with Washington, D.C. as the location. The other three cardinal points (Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) may also be used as ingress charts but are not usually considered primary. They would be very useful with hurricane plotting when combined with a hurricane or tsunami trajectory map. Astrolocality mapping of the ingress charts gives astounding information and will have to be covered in yet another workbook.

To create a local ingress chart, start with the Greenwich chart to determine the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the moment the Sun enters 00˚ of a cardinal sign. Use the longitude and latitude of the selected location and work the chart time until you get that GMT (or press the magic button on your computer for ingress charts). I do not work with these often enough to instruct you, so you will need to play with this a bit and do some reading to develop the language. Keep your objectives in mind and pay close attention to the angles and the angular houses in the chart, because that is where the action will be. Mundane charting requires study and dedication.

On Mother’s Day of 2008, Palm Bay, Florida was on fire. An arsonist set multiple blazes, and on Monday there were fourteen fires burning out of control, most of them arson. It looked like Armageddon and was very scary. Over 12,000 acres were destroyed, along with 22 houses, well over 150 buildings damaged and $9,000,000 in expense and destruction as a first estimate. The town next door, Malabar, was also burning in multiple locations, with tremendous loss of forest and property resulting in outrageous expenses. This would be a good incident to explore the use of an Ingress chart, plus mundane charting, to learn how to make it work for you. The chart information and detail are provided below.

Palm Bay, Florida as a legal entity was born January 16, 1960, longitude 28 N 02 and latitude 80 W 35. Because we do not have an exact time of birth, which is typical for this type of charting, a noonmark chart (the middle of a business day, between 8 am and 4 pm) is used, so set the chart for Noon EST. Some astrologers who use the state capital, but I do not subscribe to that because it is possible for multiple cities to be granted their charters in a single day, providing identical charts (towns are not alike). Instead, I use the coordinates for the locality itself.

The fires started May 11, 2008 in the middle of the afternoon (no specific time available). The following day was the worst (May 12th), and the fires were pretty much under control on May 13th. They smoldered for several days and had to be watched carefully. There was. a suspect, but he could not be specifically connected. The arsonist was not apprehended. That means the arsonist is free to try it again when a deep drought turns Florida’s landscape to lethal tinder. It was not the first run-away fire episode for this area; but we can hope it will be the last. A 2018 update: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2018/05/11/mothers-day-fires-2008/596451002/

New Year’s Charting

In October of 2007, a local Astrologer named Pat Lewis told me about a type of chart I had never heard of before. That always immediately gets my attention. She explained what it was, how it worked and then told me about an incident in Palm Bay some years prior. I wanted to use the new charting possibility to study the incident. A man had gone berserk and did a killing spree in a shopping center. He killed six people without any warning. At that time, Palm Bay was a small country town that has since grown into an enlarging city. I set all the charts to see what I could learn about the event and the technique. This charting technique reminds me of an Ingress Chart, so that is why I am including it here; but it is not quite an Ingress Chart. Because you probably won’t find this system in any other place on this planet, I decided to include it here. I am not an expert, and Pat did not claim to be an expert. It is just another interesting technique that I want to make available to my students.

The New Year’s chart is set for midnight on New Year’s Day. My computer program required me to use 00:01 as the arbitrary start to the year, for the longitude and latitude of the city in question. I then compared the incorporation chart, the New Year’s chart for the year of the shooting spree and the timed shooting spree chart itself. I got so many hits, I was stunned – particularly to the town’s natal Mars, which can represent a shooting. Use the Palm Bay incorporation chart. Then set a New Year’s Day chart for 1987 for Palm Bay, FL. For your records, the time / date of the shooting itself was April 23, 1987, 6:30 pm. If you want to play with ingress charts for the shooting event, you could set one for Palm Bay for December 22, 1986. Having given you that little piece of information, please know you may be mixing apples and oranges. Ingresses, city incorporations, and fires are all mundane. A human shooting other humans is not mundane. It just would be interesting to see if anything like that shows up! To date, I have not played with this. Note: The shooter William Cruse, died in prison November 29, 2009. You can Google the name of the killer for more news information to support any research you may choose to do. And for the other example, you could look at the Ingress Chart that preceded the fire, 00 Aries: March 21-22, 2008.

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