Gist of the Gemini

What critics of astrology don't seem to know is that casting a chart by hand requires significant MATH ability. I used to have probably two shelves worth of books, one of which was an expensive ephemerides. This is a thick book of charts listing the location of every heavenly body it covers once or twice a DAY. When I cast my first chart -- MINE -- by hand in my teens, it took me several HOURS to do the interpolation. I could do that because I was the third strongest math student in my graduating high school class. I can say that with confidence because I had four years of college equivalent math classes from eighth through eleventh grades and my senior year I was one of THREE students invited to attend a special ZERO hour class to continue my math education. I declined because of my as yet undiagnosed medical condition. I was already missing the maximum number of days of school I could miss without being automatically flunked for the year and dragging myself to school sick much of...

Retrograde means that a planet APPEARS to go backwards from our geocentric point of view here on Earth. No planet actually ever reverses its course. It's sort of an optical illusion rooted in the fact that all planets revolve around the Sun in different tracks, so some take more time and some take less. So relative to Earth, they periodically appear to "run backwards." Mercury is guilty of this around three to four times per year. Most astrology sites seem to talk about this as a "three week period" but a glimpse at The Farmer's Almanac  suggests it's typically slightly longer than three weeks. Some sites really talk trash about retrogrades, especially Mercury retrograde. It's common for them to say you shouldn't buy anything new, especially electronics, you should expect miscommunication and so forth. Some go so far as to say these dire "thou shalt live in FEAR" edicts also cover the "shadow period" at both ends. This would ...

Aquarius : Stubborn air that doesn't want to change. They tend to make themselves crazy, never mind everyone else. Aquarians tend to get comfortable with themselves when they are older. They need their breathing room and it often takes them a while to work that out. Aquarius energy is unique, when positive it's brilliant, they crave freedom and maneuvering room. In terms of clothing, they trend towards breathable natural fabrics and things that let them move, like knits or fabric that contains a little Lycra. Aquarius is ruled by Uranus and I have Uranus in Virgo in Exact aspect to my Rising Sign. I have four heavenly bodies in Virgo, three of which are in the sixth house. Unsurprisingly, I have significant health issues and they impact what I can wear. I NEED breathable, predominantly natural fabrics that are flexible, like knits, or I can't function at all. Due to my medical situation, this is non-negotiable. I stubbornly have to do all in my power to preserve my ability ...

The Rising Sign or Ascendant is the point in the sky coming up over the horizon at the time of your birth. It changes signs every two hours because there are twelve astrological signs and twenty four hours in the day. It is sort of the position of the Earth in your chart. There are three primary personal points in the chart: The Sun, the Moon and your Rising Sign. The Rising Sign rules your physical appearance, how other people "see you" and your future. Some sources say your Moon sign is your past and thus more influential in childhood, and your Rising Sign is more influential as you get older because it's your future or the energy you are evolving towards in life. If you want to use astrology to try to figure out your best looks, you need an accurate chart, including time of birth, and you should be looking primarily at factors impacting the Rising Sign. Here are some things to look for: 1. What sign is it?  There are twelve signs. Each is associated with a different pa...

There are four elements: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. There are three Qualities: Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable. I have listed them in the order they appear and four times three equals twelve. If you list them all out, each sign has a unique combination of the two things shared by no other sign. Aries: Fire, Cardinal  Taurus: Earth, Fixed Gemini: Air, Mutable  Cancer: Water, Cardinal  Leo: Fire, Fixed Virgo: Earth, Mutable  Libra: Air, Cardinal  Scorpio: Water, Fixed  Sagittarius: Fire, Mutable  Capricorn: Earth, Cardinal  Aquarius: Air, Fixed Pisces: Water, Mutable  I have read that Cancer correlates to actual water, Scorpio correlates to ice and Pisces correlates to clouds or steam. You could in theory apply that paradigm to the other elements though I don't know exactly how you would do that because it's not a temperature thing per se.  My recollection is the book I read it in only did that for Water signs and none of the other elements, so...

I defy every color typing system I have ever run across. Rest assured if some particular typing system doesn't work for you, I am sympathetic. No color system works for me, but my astrological chart fits my colors. So, weirdly, I found astrology helpful for sorting out my wardrobe, of all things. I briefly had a separate site for talking about astrology and fashion. This post is step one in the process of folding that information into this site and shutting that one down. That site was a half baked idea for a long time and was finally being developed because I am fleshing out my ideas for a clothing line that's been a half baked idea for even longer. That site was originally envisioned as my latest attempt to try to figure out how to make money via my knowledge of astrology that never turned into a viable business idea, as noted here recently . You can use your Natal astrological chart to try to look your best by looking primarily at your Rising Sign and any factors ...

I said this once before but was relatively nice about it. Here's the more blunt version, so if you are a devotee of astrology, prepare to be offended. I'm someone who long, long ago decided I wanted no part of people HAVING FAITH in me. I was extremely physically attractive in my youth and charming and personable and SMART, so I learned early that it's a problem for people to simply take your word for stuff without you being able to credibly back up your advice with a list of good explanations. I learned in high school other people think I'm smart so everything I say MUST be precious drops of wisdom and developed  the dripping sarcasm voice to signal "This is a joke and if you were in physics class with me you would know that". My dripping sarcasm voice is so sarcastic, my extremely socially retarded aspie son figured out "Um...that doesn't mean what it seems to mean." even though most ASD people have trouble figuring out sarcasm because they t...