Aries New Moon in Houses - Updated March 24th,...

The New Moon is Aries is like walking through a purifying fire, to burn off sleepy habits and get you animated.  In the direct glare of Aries, the essence of a situation -- or what needs to happen next -- becomes clear.  Avoid flame wars and power struggles that tie up your energies.  Aries is a cardinal sign, making this a lunation to act (wisely).

What's been germinating through the winter months is now ready for launch. This is the very first sign of the Zodiac. What's seeded now has the force of Spring behind it.

Look for ways to direct any intensity toward what you'd most like to see happen. Aries New Moon in 2014 is on Sunday, March 30th at 2:45 pm (Eastern-US).  It's a super-charged one -- here's a fresh take on the Aries New Moon (2014).  

The Sun and Moon are aligned at 9º Aries 59' (go ahead and round up to 10) -- where does this fall in your birth chart? Look for the Aries glyph around the outside of your wheel. Take note that Aries might fall across two houses.

These interpretations below are just a jumping off point -- like this New Moon.

Forecast for the Houses

Aries New Moon in the First House: (House of Aries and Mars) Your rising sign is (possibly) Aries, so this is backing to go big, and make a striking first impression. Being seen -- by potential employers, friends, acquaintances -- sets things in motion. Your presence opens doors -- now is a time to reinvigorate your self-image. Adorn yourself with the colors of fire -- oranges, reds, yellow. The heat of the sauna or steam room is purifying, and a place for reflection at the New Moon. Get moving, with a vigorous activity you love doing. Do your own thing, even if it makes you stand out -- embody the power of the pioneer. Spirit in Action: Sparking encouragement; taking the lead; demonstrating the magic of action; animated and inspired.

Aries New Moon in the Second House: (House of Taurus and Venus) With Aries here, you're the first to jump on novel ways of making a living. This lunation revives your entrepreneurial spirit. Have you been developing an idea or product that's aligned with a niche in the market? Now is a time for strategy, drawing allies, and mapping out a plan of action. Ponder how to share your originality with the world, as something to sustain you (through wealth). Be a pioneer -- consider radical ways to thrive. Put energy into cultivating your natural talents, and face fears of not being good enough. Beautify your space, take stock of your assets (inner and outer), and work practical magic in the 3D. Spirit in Action: Live your values. Strike out on your own and be productive. Grow your own!

Aries New Moon in the Third House: (House of Gemini and Mercury) The fires of Aries in your third house give you a dynamism in everyday exchanges. You're often the first to ride a trend, and come alive in an animated, very social atmosphere. What will light a new fire in your consciousness? Follow what's full of potential -- areas to learn about, research, expand your vision. Is it time for a purge of the trappings of an old mindset? A physical act is recycling old magazines, switching out books, starting a brand new journal. Start a blog or site to share your perspective. Consider fiery oratory -- ways to tell stories or give presentations where your whole body is alive. Spirit in Action: Sparking ideas. Moving others with your passion through a medium. Bright mind awakens potential in others.

Aries New Moon in the Fourth House: (House of Cancer and the Moon) Aries here paints the walls red, and ensures a high-spirited home life. This lunation could inspire a move, or investment in real estate. You're alerted to ways to grow, having to do with family, origins and sense of place. You might conspire more family time, without distractions. This could be time to rearrange the furniture, to support new ventures. An area dedicated for work, regular exercise or creative experimentation could be what's needed now. Out with the old, in with the new -- a trip to Goodwill could be in order. Sage your home, and enliven it with vibrant music and colors. Spirit in Action: Investing more in home life. Making home a nurturing place for the essential self. Striking out from family (perhaps temporarily), to remember who you are.

Aries in the Fifth House: (House of Leo and the Sun) With the fires of Aries stoking your natal house here, you are revitalized by adventures, romance, and what you do in your time off. Now is the time to jump on activities that vibe with fun, testing your abilities, and perhaps some good-natured competition. What mediums of self-expression are calling you? There could be more than a hobby in it -- new doors, friendships and even love could be found by following what you love. There's an element of the speculative here, for risks at this lunation in finances, love or a creative idea. The act of trusting, and going with instincts makes you a winner in the process. Spirit in Action: Spotting a lucrative investment opportunity. The courage to create. An ardent love affair.

Aries New Moon in the Sixth House: (House of Virgo and Mercury or Chiron) An Aries-inspired house of health and working life makes you one to squeeze out all you can in a day. A new habit of exercise started now can be a catalyst -- for your social life, health and even your love life. Applying heat/warmth to diseases of body and mind can be purifying -- like taking a sauna or soaking up the Sun. Be a warrior for your own sanity. That word has a Sixth House (Virgo) theme in it -- sanitation. Be bold with healing, and getting rid of dead weight. A shake up in your routine wakes you up, and in that alert state, life is good. Spirit in Action: Exploring a cutting edge health technology. Looking into being a healing pioneer. Declaring independence from treating symptoms, and getting to the core issues and prevention. Taking charge of your health and day's rhythm. Taking a stand and confronting what keeps you from being productive.

Aries New Moon in the Seventh House: (House of Libra and Venus) Your house of Libra is Aries-charged, making all relationships intense. You thrive when you're challenged to keep at your edge. This lunation, call in friends and partners who provoke you -- even with tough love -- to be independent, and reach your true potential. If you seek a main ally in love or business, draw up a wish list of qualities and send it out at the New Moon. This house is also about meeting the public, or your audience. Shifting focus to those who will be receptive to your ideas makes a huge difference == hone in on your target audience. Spirit in Action: An overhaul in how you present yourself or market your business. A significant change in relationships -- endings or beginnings.

Aries New Moon in the Eighth House: (House of Scorpio and Pluto) Aries in the house of the shaman gives you a bold spirit for even the most difficult feats of transformation. This lunation opens doors to new 'secret' knowledge, perhaps a new area of experiential learning. A cauldron, bonfire or candle can be a point of meditation, to purify your psyche, to die and be reborn from the ashes. Write down what you'd like to transform on paper and cast it into the fire. Cut cords with someone you're enmeshed with, by visualizing fire between you. A wildfire has its place in nature, cracking open seeds, and burning off dead material. Soul searching now has that feel of walking through fire, and emerging ready to begin again. Spirit in Action: Being a catalyst, drawing out hidden treasure. Becoming independent financially, or merging resources with another. Fighting off energy vampires, being your own psychic border control.

Aries New Moon in the Ninth House: (House of Sagittarius and Jupiter) Lucky Jupiter and the bold spirit of Aries in this house combine to give you a mighty adventurous spirit. A fresh start here could mean a new field of study, travel plans or following a thread of gold to an inspired philosophy. Many times in your life, you reach new horizons that revive your sense of the future. The seeker shows up in dreams at this lunation, dropping hints with synch winks at what paths to embark on. Travel could have some physical challenge to it, like walking the Camino or The Way, in Spain. Your quest has to be full-bodied, for you to stay engaged. Spirit in Action: A solo journey. Lightening your load, to be light on your feet (like the Fool). Combining the intellect with hands-on experience. Travel and knowledge-seeking, on one trip.

Aries New Moon in the Tenth House: (House of Capricorn and Saturn) You're an ambitious soul with Aries in your house of life's work. This is a lunation to rededicate yourself to your calling. If there is a huge gap between you and your dream, ask for spirit's guidance to close it. Aries here gives you courage and resolve. This could be time to set new goals -- a new mountain to climb. You thrive with meaty and long-term goals, and actions now have force to move you upward. Is it time to take the lead? Looking at your competition in an area gives you insight into how it's done. Meet up with someone whose achievements you admire. A great time to think realistically about your work life, with the optimism of Aries to overcome hurdles in the way. Spirit in Action Finding a mentor, or being one. Stepping into authority in your field. Gaining credentials and experience, toward mastery.

Aries New Moon in the Eleventh House: (House of Aquarius and Uranus) With Aries in your house of friends and allies, you're a natural leader. Fresh air in this house means a look at who you're keeping company with. Is it time to draw into your sphere new friends that vibe with your current interests? You also might follow a passion for a cause, a vision or an emerging paradigm. Moving in circles of bright minds nourishes your need for a new beginning. Now is a time, too, for unconventional plans of action. You might defy convention, by breaking away from the Internet, or some other radical move of mental independence. An unusual interest could end up being a viable path -- one of movement and growth. Spirit in Action: Joining or leaving a club/group/association. Inspiration out of the blue. The power of invention, originality, quirky ways.

Aries New Moon in the Twelfth House: (House of Pisces and Neptune) If Aries is the light in your house of the deep interior, you wield power behind the scenes. You instinctively know that all that's seen, first is experienced as unseen. Your force as a visionary makes this lunation one for soul searching, downtime and active dreaming. A retreat for you can be very active, in your studio, pottering around, or walking in nature. The new treasure is found when you consult your divine inspiration directly, cutting out any middlemen and distractions. Spirit in Action: Be present to your own rich inner landscape; Move your soul messages; Unplug and tune in to something more; Create a vision board; Invite the muse, create, rest, be.

View the original article here

The Houses

The birth chart has twelve pieces, and each represents an arena of life experience. These are called houses in astrology. Where are your planets? The Zodiac sign of the planet will show you the particular way it's directed. The house placement of a planet, shows you the realm of life where it plays out.

First House: (House of Aries and Mars) Includes the all-important Rising Sign (or Ascendant), and is the first impression given to the world. The house of identity, here are clues to our overall outer package, including behavior, physical traits, social mask, health and well-being. Planets here shape how others perceive you, and the "vibe" you put out there.

Second House: (House of Taurus and Venus) This is often referred to as the arena of money and values. It's the province of stability, resourcefulness and slow, steady progress. Here you're shown how a grounded life can be created, one that is self-sufficient and in line with your values.

Third House: (House of Gemini and Mercury) The house of education, short travels, the family tribe (siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles), neighborly exchanges and more. The style of sharing life observations comes through here. It's the arena of filtering info in, and sending it back out into your community.

Fourth House: (House of Cancer and the Moon) The arena of family, ancestral roots, the unconscious, Mother, and your sense of home. Planets here influence how you nest, and the experience to be had in the home base. Linked to our earliest moments in the womb, and even before that, in the undercurrents inherited from sources beyond this lifetime.

Fifth House: (House of Leo and the Sun) The house of creativity, and the Self radiating confidently outward. It's the arena of loving life through play, love affairs, self-expression and relating to children. Planets here also shape the way your Father is perceived, as well as risk-taking and the exuberant thrust into new creative fields.

Sixth House: (House of Virgo and Mercury or Chiron) The realm of routine in the service of a healthy, fulfilled life. Exercise, diet, our daily work, all fall in this arena. Planets here reveal your approach to daily life, discipline, colleagues and your own physical well being.

Seventh House: (House of Libra and Venus) This house holds clues to the tenor, style and lessons of your major relationships. That includes marriage, business partnerships and the big friendships in your life. Relationships are a mirror of the Self and planets here show what kinds of self-growth happens for us in that arena of life.

Eighth House: (House of Scorpio and Pluto) The house of regeneration through sex, and personal periods of death & rebirth. This realm deals with all things dark, hidden and potentially destructive, including our own unacknowledged psychic undercurrents. Planets here influence how we deal with the unknown -- whether with fear, attempting to control or surrendering to be transformed.

Ninth House: (House of Sagittarius and Jupiter) The arena of higher education, seeking knowledge, traveling and exploring the world. Planets here show how we expand our field of experience, and integrate all we know into a philosophy of life. This sphere reflects personal vision quests, dreams, aspirations and how we search for higher wisdom.

Tenth House: (House of Capricorn and Saturn) The house of personal authority and long-range career ambitions. Planets here influence how you create real change, and become an authority in your area of expertise. It determines things like persistence and endurance toward your big goals.

Eleventh House: (House of Aquarius and Uranus) The house of friendships, networks and the collective currents. Planets here show what kinds of alliances you create based on shared hopes, dreams and visions for the future.

Twelfth House: (House of Pisces and Neptune) This house deals with hidden realities, and planets here are vulnerable to illusion. Called the "house of undoing," because planets placed here are immersed in the All, and hard to see clearly. Growth in this house happens at the soul level, and often far below the radar.

View the original article here

Cornerstones of Astrology - Planets, Signs, Houses and Aspects

Reading charts is the unconscious goal of everyone who studies astrology even if they don't realize it. You can pick up any beginners book or astrological magazine and read what others have written about the various parts of astrology. What most are wishing to achieve personally is the ability to look at wheel and decipher what it says and what it means. That takes some personal effort, a good memory and time.

Sun sign astrology is very popular and you see it as the daily, weekly or monthly mini-readings done for the twelve signs. I've written many a column myself for magazines and newspapers plus radio and television shows. It takes real effort to turn out those simple sentences especially those phrases with which you closely identify. You can not just grab sentences out of the air; or you should not, because some readers or listeners take what you say literally. I have often thought that someone must be following me around to be that accurate. Other times it is like the column is speaking a foreign language that has nothing to do with me. Accuracy has to do with the skill of the astrologer as well as the receptivity of the audience.

Sun sign astrology is very generic in nature. The equivalent of one sentence aimed at 1/12th of the world's population has to connect with someone does it not? Most people know their Sun sign so they know which sentence to read. If you happen to know your rising sign, you can get double the mileage out of the column and you will also identify somewhat with those sentences as well. Add your Moon sign and you can get a few more tidbits from that column. I would doubt that even well written and accurate Sun sign columns could give much more than that to the man on the street who possesses a cursory understanding of Sun signs. Sun sign astrology is very generic but very popular and easy to access but it is a shorthand version of real astrology.

So what is real astrology? It is a sky map constructed for an individual using date, time and place of birth (longitude and latitude on the globe). Since no two births can occupy the same space at the same time, such a moment creates a map for an individual. (We are pushing this particular envelope with multiple births are we not? However, my brother is married to a twin and the twins are very different.) That map of the moving sky provides the astrologer with a diagram of possibility and intent for that individual that can be watched and read as a moving dynamic. Reading the chart is why you go to an astrologer and is also how you, yourself, could become infected by the astrology bug so you can do that reading for yourself. Having been around for a lot of years, and having studied many self-help techniques, astrology is definitely the best technique I have ever encountered for understanding myself and my life. Once you get a taste of what it can do for you, you want more, even if you have to work to obtain that more.

When you have an individual sky map - one that is your very own - a map only about you and your life - the sky is truly the limit. All sorts of new doors open besides the initial Sun sign door you may read in your local newspaper. There are other bodies besides the Sun, which are collectively called the planets. I know, I know. The Sun is not a planet it is a star. The Moon is not a planet it is a satellite of the Earth. It is just easier to say the planets collectively rather than the Sun, the Moon and the planets. Repeat after me 'ease of reference, ease of reference'.

So we have the 12 Sun signs (you have to learn all of them not just your Sun sign) and the planets, which has hugely expanded what we initially needed to study. If you look at the wheel provided when your sky map is cast, you will see 12 segments of the wheel like orange or grapefruit segments contained with the fruit globe. The wheel represents the wheel of life. It is the Earth upon which we all stand, down to earth, physical reality, all of it. Since all of it all at once is difficult to grasp, we conveniently divide it into smaller segments called houses. The whole wheel represents the whole life of the individual and the 12 divisions represent segments of that life, or what I call arenas of interest. There is a segment for your physical body and self. There is a segment for your parents and family. There is a segment for your profession and career, and so forth. Each division covers roughly 1/12th of your life, so while small, the compartments are full of issues. Add this to what you must understand to do a reading. We now have three categories with lots of work, but there is one more important category.

Aspects are the single most learning-intensive area of astrology. Why? Aspects must assume that you already know the planets, the signs and the houses because now you must make them interact or form relationships. Aspects are not more difficult as a subject, but you do need the other three categories working before you can make sense out of and know how to apply aspects in a reading.

If I were suggesting a study guide, I would suggest Sun signs as a good place to begin reading because we already have a head start with the popularity of Sun sign astrology. Just know that this is only a thin first layer. Here you will begin to learn the nature of the signs, a prerequisite to the application of the planets within those signs. There are 12 signs but there are lots of combinations to learn within those signs such as cardinal, fixed and mutable, fire, earth, air and water, the symbols or glyphs, the myths, etc.

The ten bodies we collectively call the planets would be my next suggestion to study because planets will become increasingly important as you develop your astrological skill. Study them one at a time and thoroughly as each represents a guiding principle, influence or energy regarding life.

Next, study the astrological houses in all their glory. Each house represents 1/12th of your life experience so each tiny house is just jam-packed with issues and events. There really is a lot to learn so take your time. You have your lifetime to pursue this study.

Last but not least study the aspects. As mentioned the combination represented by the angular relationship between two bodies or points requires that you understand the two bodies or points individually before you study the relationship formed between them. Aspects can get in your face and demand your attention. Signs and houses will get into this act as well, so study aspects once you have learned the language of the other three categories. This is your basic study guide, the order in which to study the four categories.

Now I need to change gears as to the order of importance in application or reading. My best analogy for a beginning student is to think of building a house. First you select the country, city, neighborhood, subdivision, lot, architectural plans and builder - all necessary preliminary work. Astrologically you choose the type of astrology, eastern or western (sidereal or tropical), geocentric or heliocentric, type of charting and wheel, define your objective - all the preliminary steps that lead up to the setting of the sky map itself. All of this gets us up to the equivalent of laying the foundation of the house. The wheel itself at this stage can look like a plate of spaghetti that needs organizing and deciphering.

Usually once the foundation is laid, the cornerstones are set. In our analogy, the building now has a guide or dimension for natural flow of what is to come. Astrologically the cornerstones are planets, signs, houses and aspects. Once your wheel is set and visible, you will then turn to the four categories we discussed earlier to understand that sky map and you will use the information generated from your study of the four categories to read or translate it. As long as you have a plan and work the plan you will be surprised at how much information you can get from that sky map. That wondrous body of information will steadily increase as you develop your knowledge and your skill through experience. The first time I wrote out a chart reading, I generated more than a dozen pages of information about a total stranger. I was stunned, the stranger was stunned. I was also hooked. That was 36 years ago and I am still doing astrology.

We have four cornerstones which you should have diligently studied and, through that study, developed a body of information on each. One of those cornerstones must become the keystone, the one that leads or controls the flow of information for that chart. The order I gave you for studying must now shift as the natural key category moves to the front. The keystone is planets. Planets "rule" the signs and houses and you will discover aspects (angular relationships) can sound very similar to the nature of certain planets.

Most of what we can learn and apply can be defined as the what, where, when, why and how of existence. We can determine the what, where, why and how through these four natal categories.

· the what of our lives such as principles, energies, drives and motivations are planets

· the where of our lives such as issues, events, arenas of interest are the houses

· the how of our lives such as attitudes, expressions, mannerisms, or coloring are the signs.

· the why of our lives such as stress, conflict, luck, flow, or constriction are the aspects

· when is a function of both the natal and the dynamically changing personal charts

It is really that easy. Once you learn the core principles of the four categories, the rest is application and experience. Your skill develops naturally and sequentially. There is always more to study, but developing an organized body of information which you have taken the time to cement into your consciousness is what provides the basis for all that you can and will do. If you skimp studying these categories, you will have a weak and porous base, holes in your knowledge that can trip you up every time until you fill those blank spots in your astrological skills toolbox. I know this because I have been there and done that. These four categories are the place for you to begin to build a strong foundation of astrological knowledge that you will find no end to applying to your life. If I regret anything about my astrological studies it is that I did not start sooner. Sooner would have made my life more understandable, particularly during the more difficult episodes.

Bon appétit. A virtual astrological smorgasbord awaits you limited only by those limits you place or allow to be placed on it. The universe (and its Creator) provided us with a giant map of potential and possibility and gave us enough brains to develop the skill to read it. Go for it!

Marilyn Muir, author, "Presidents of Hope and Change: Bringing Hope to our Future by Reaching into our Astrological Past."
How astrology predicts our nation's future by reaching into our past.

Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama... The Lineage of Hope
Using the influential and interwoven cycles of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto to predict issues and trends up to 2012 and even beyond to 2025, Ms Muir leaves us with the clear message of hope as she depicts the future of President Obama at the helm of the USA ship of state.

Read the first 36 pages (PDF) including the charts of all four Presidents - you'll get hooked!
http://www.marilynmuir.com

Cornerstones of Astrology - Planets, Signs, Houses and Aspects

Reading charts is the unconscious goal of everyone who studies astrology even if they don't realize it. You can pick up any beginners book or astrological magazine and read what others have written about the various parts of astrology. What most are wishing to achieve personally is the ability to look at wheel and decipher what it says and what it means. That takes some personal effort, a good memory and time.

Sun sign astrology is very popular and you see it as the daily, weekly or monthly mini-readings done for the twelve signs. I've written many a column myself for magazines and newspapers plus radio and television shows. It takes real effort to turn out those simple sentences especially those phrases with which you closely identify. You can not just grab sentences out of the air; or you should not, because some readers or listeners take what you say literally. I have often thought that someone must be following me around to be that accurate. Other times it is like the column is speaking a foreign language that has nothing to do with me. Accuracy has to do with the skill of the astrologer as well as the receptivity of the audience.

Sun sign astrology is very generic in nature. The equivalent of one sentence aimed at 1/12th of the world's population has to connect with someone does it not? Most people know their Sun sign so they know which sentence to read. If you happen to know your rising sign, you can get double the mileage out of the column and you will also identify somewhat with those sentences as well. Add your Moon sign and you can get a few more tidbits from that column. I would doubt that even well written and accurate Sun sign columns could give much more than that to the man on the street who possesses a cursory understanding of Sun signs. Sun sign astrology is very generic but very popular and easy to access but it is a shorthand version of real astrology.

So what is real astrology? It is a sky map constructed for an individual using date, time and place of birth (longitude and latitude on the globe). Since no two births can occupy the same space at the same time, such a moment creates a map for an individual. (We are pushing this particular envelope with multiple births are we not? However, my brother is married to a twin and the twins are very different.) That map of the moving sky provides the astrologer with a diagram of possibility and intent for that individual that can be watched and read as a moving dynamic. Reading the chart is why you go to an astrologer and is also how you, yourself, could become infected by the astrology bug so you can do that reading for yourself. Having been around for a lot of years, and having studied many self-help techniques, astrology is definitely the best technique I have ever encountered for understanding myself and my life. Once you get a taste of what it can do for you, you want more, even if you have to work to obtain that more.

When you have an individual sky map - one that is your very own - a map only about you and your life - the sky is truly the limit. All sorts of new doors open besides the initial Sun sign door you may read in your local newspaper. There are other bodies besides the Sun, which are collectively called the planets. I know, I know. The Sun is not a planet it is a star. The Moon is not a planet it is a satellite of the Earth. It is just easier to say the planets collectively rather than the Sun, the Moon and the planets. Repeat after me 'ease of reference, ease of reference'.

So we have the 12 Sun signs (you have to learn all of them not just your Sun sign) and the planets, which has hugely expanded what we initially needed to study. If you look at the wheel provided when your sky map is cast, you will see 12 segments of the wheel like orange or grapefruit segments contained with the fruit globe. The wheel represents the wheel of life. It is the Earth upon which we all stand, down to earth, physical reality, all of it. Since all of it all at once is difficult to grasp, we conveniently divide it into smaller segments called houses. The whole wheel represents the whole life of the individual and the 12 divisions represent segments of that life, or what I call arenas of interest. There is a segment for your physical body and self. There is a segment for your parents and family. There is a segment for your profession and career, and so forth. Each division covers roughly 1/12th of your life, so while small, the compartments are full of issues. Add this to what you must understand to do a reading. We now have three categories with lots of work, but there is one more important category.

Aspects are the single most learning-intensive area of astrology. Why? Aspects must assume that you already know the planets, the signs and the houses because now you must make them interact or form relationships. Aspects are not more difficult as a subject, but you do need the other three categories working before you can make sense out of and know how to apply aspects in a reading.

If I were suggesting a study guide, I would suggest Sun signs as a good place to begin reading because we already have a head start with the popularity of Sun sign astrology. Just know that this is only a thin first layer. Here you will begin to learn the nature of the signs, a prerequisite to the application of the planets within those signs. There are 12 signs but there are lots of combinations to learn within those signs such as cardinal, fixed and mutable, fire, earth, air and water, the symbols or glyphs, the myths, etc.

The ten bodies we collectively call the planets would be my next suggestion to study because planets will become increasingly important as you develop your astrological skill. Study them one at a time and thoroughly as each represents a guiding principle, influence or energy regarding life.

Next, study the astrological houses in all their glory. Each house represents 1/12th of your life experience so each tiny house is just jam-packed with issues and events. There really is a lot to learn so take your time. You have your lifetime to pursue this study.

Last but not least study the aspects. As mentioned the combination represented by the angular relationship between two bodies or points requires that you understand the two bodies or points individually before you study the relationship formed between them. Aspects can get in your face and demand your attention. Signs and houses will get into this act as well, so study aspects once you have learned the language of the other three categories. This is your basic study guide, the order in which to study the four categories.

Now I need to change gears as to the order of importance in application or reading. My best analogy for a beginning student is to think of building a house. First you select the country, city, neighborhood, subdivision, lot, architectural plans and builder - all necessary preliminary work. Astrologically you choose the type of astrology, eastern or western (sidereal or tropical), geocentric or heliocentric, type of charting and wheel, define your objective - all the preliminary steps that lead up to the setting of the sky map itself. All of this gets us up to the equivalent of laying the foundation of the house. The wheel itself at this stage can look like a plate of spaghetti that needs organizing and deciphering.

Usually once the foundation is laid, the cornerstones are set. In our analogy, the building now has a guide or dimension for natural flow of what is to come. Astrologically the cornerstones are planets, signs, houses and aspects. Once your wheel is set and visible, you will then turn to the four categories we discussed earlier to understand that sky map and you will use the information generated from your study of the four categories to read or translate it. As long as you have a plan and work the plan you will be surprised at how much information you can get from that sky map. That wondrous body of information will steadily increase as you develop your knowledge and your skill through experience. The first time I wrote out a chart reading, I generated more than a dozen pages of information about a total stranger. I was stunned, the stranger was stunned. I was also hooked. That was 36 years ago and I am still doing astrology.

We have four cornerstones which you should have diligently studied and, through that study, developed a body of information on each. One of those cornerstones must become the keystone, the one that leads or controls the flow of information for that chart. The order I gave you for studying must now shift as the natural key category moves to the front. The keystone is planets. Planets "rule" the signs and houses and you will discover aspects (angular relationships) can sound very similar to the nature of certain planets.

Most of what we can learn and apply can be defined as the what, where, when, why and how of existence. We can determine the what, where, why and how through these four natal categories.

· the what of our lives such as principles, energies, drives and motivations are planets

· the where of our lives such as issues, events, arenas of interest are the houses

· the how of our lives such as attitudes, expressions, mannerisms, or coloring are the signs.

· the why of our lives such as stress, conflict, luck, flow, or constriction are the aspects

· when is a function of both the natal and the dynamically changing personal charts

It is really that easy. Once you learn the core principles of the four categories, the rest is application and experience. Your skill develops naturally and sequentially. There is always more to study, but developing an organized body of information which you have taken the time to cement into your consciousness is what provides the basis for all that you can and will do. If you skimp studying these categories, you will have a weak and porous base, holes in your knowledge that can trip you up every time until you fill those blank spots in your astrological skills toolbox. I know this because I have been there and done that. These four categories are the place for you to begin to build a strong foundation of astrological knowledge that you will find no end to applying to your life. If I regret anything about my astrological studies it is that I did not start sooner. Sooner would have made my life more understandable, particularly during the more difficult episodes.

Bon appétit. A virtual astrological smorgasbord awaits you limited only by those limits you place or allow to be placed on it. The universe (and its Creator) provided us with a giant map of potential and possibility and gave us enough brains to develop the skill to read it. Go for it!

Marilyn Muir, author, "Presidents of Hope and Change: Bringing Hope to our Future by Reaching into our Astrological Past."
How astrology predicts our nation's future by reaching into our past.

Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama... The Lineage of Hope
Using the influential and interwoven cycles of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto to predict issues and trends up to 2012 and even beyond to 2025, Ms Muir leaves us with the clear message of hope as she depicts the future of President Obama at the helm of the USA ship of state.

Read the first 36 pages (PDF) including the charts of all four Presidents - you'll get hooked!
http://www.marilynmuir.com