|
- Symbol: Maiden
- Element: Earth
- Quality: Mutable
- House: 6th, Service, Health
- Planet: Mercury
- Color: Green, Blue, Brown
- Body Part: Intestines
- Trait: Precise
- Semi-precious stone: Blue Lace Agate, Peridot
Click here to read about Virgo |
|
Mercury is the Ruling Planet of the third house of Gemini and the sixth house of Virgo. It is named after the Roman god Mercury, the god of commerce, travel and thievery. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.
Mercury is associated with travel, intellect, logic and communication skills. Mercury represents quick trips, short classes, siblings, and transportation.
Mercury, in a natal chart, is very important for understanding how you communicate with others. Mercury in Pisces may speak in visionary, poetic, and even flowing musical terms. In Libra, Mercury may be expressed indecisively, or through balanced diplomatic words.
The house placement of Mercury will give you hints as to where you are likely to communicate. A second house Mercury may earn her or his income through speaking. A ninth house Mercury could communicate as a teacher or publisher.
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, is incrediby hot, and its atmosphere is constantly replenished by solar winds (unlike the Earth, which maintains its atmosphere).
And most fascinating is that a day on Mercury is twice as long as its year! Mercury rotates extremely slowly but revolves around the Sun in slightly less than 88 days.
Approximately 3 times a year, Mercury goes into retrograde, a 3-week period when Mercury looks like it's going backwards across the sky. When this happens, expect your equipment to break, you'll have misunderstandings, and travel will be exasperating.
|
|
The Sixth House, naturally ruled by Virgo, is the home of work, health, humble service in the world, and domestic pets. It also relates to military service, domestic help, health-related professions, and service businesses.
When current planets transit through your sixth house, you need to simplify and organize those areas your life so that you can be highly efficient.
In the workplace, the 6th House is the part of your job that needs to be done, but that you do not get a lot of recognition for doing. The second and tenth houses are also involved with career issues.
The sixth house asks the question, "How can I be of service to the world without becoming a slave to it?" A Virgo sixth house cusp may be a nurse or a veterinarian, whereas a Gemini cusp may provide information or technical services.
The sixth house is a major focus when exploring health and healing (though of course you need to look at a wide variety of factors to understand health in a chart). In general, the sign on the 6th house cusp points toward weaknesses in your health. A person with Aquarius, Gemini, or Virgo in the sixth house may need to avoid overtaxing the nervous system. Scorpio sixth house people may need to pay attention to dental care, reproductive organs, and the elimination system.
|
|
|
|
Monthly Horoscopes for Everyone |
|
|
|
|
Usually, in this column, I write a general horoscope talking about this month's planetary alignment and how it affects us on the whole, but this month I got to spend an evening with a friend and his telescope.
I was reminded that no matter how many hours I spend pouring over charts, it's just not the same as looking up.
When people ask me how I came up with the idea for my jewelry, they're frequently suprised about the unique route I took to discovering astrology...I was an astronomer!
In 1996 I worked in the planetarium at Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico. I loved manipulating the stars, spinning the sky on the ceiling, pressing a button to identify the constellations. I once even navigated an overnight hike in White Sands National Park by the rotation of the sky.
When I decided I wanted to make myself a necklace with the exact locations of the planets around me exactly as they were at the moment of my birth, a friend told me that I could use an astrology chart to find the degrees. I laughed at her. I was a scientist, not a quack.
But I quickly discovered that not only did an astrology chart have the exact degrees of the planets, it also included the stars as well! I finally realized that the Zodiac signs used in horoscopes really were the same constellations I saw in the sky every night, and I realized that your "sign" meant that the Sun was in that constellation. Once I learned to read a natal chart, I turned that paper into a necklace that had all the same elements.
(When Nick Dagan Best heard this story, he declared it one of the best stories he'd heard about how people got into astrology: "You reinvented the astrology chart, all by yourself!")
As I made each piece of jewelry (word-of-mouth response to my pieces was immediate and motivating), I read that person's interpretation...one hundred bracelets and necklaces later, I could see that there was a consistency to the interpretations. In the places in our charts where you and I had common elements, our personalities were similar. And where our charts were different, we were different.
I was hooked. I was no longer just a scientist. I was an astrologer as well.
Nine years later, it took an evening with a telescope to remind me of my roots in the sky. With Rob I rediscovered the mystery of a lens full of stars.
Above Lyra there's a "Double Double" - two sets of binary stars revolving around each other. Beneath Cassiopeia, in the constellation Perseus, there are two astonishingly beautiful clusters of stars; one of them has a diamond ring! And between Scorpio and Sagittarius there's another constellation: Ophiuchus, the king! Were you born a King, and never knew it?
That night, I remembered that I originally began studying astronomy to prove (or disprove) my theory of God: That our universe is actually God's physical body. Our solar system is much like an atom in that body, with electrons (planets) orbiting a nucleus (the Sun). The universe has an average temperature of 3 degrees Kelvin - God's body temperature? I never did reach a conclusion, but you can see I had some fun researching!
So, as we near the end of summer, don't forget to take some time to look up. The answer to the meaning of life is above our heads. ;-) |
|
Learn Astrology: Unaspected Planets |
Aspects
In an Astrology Chart, the planets have an additional dimension. Their geometric angles to each other also influence your personality.
Aspects represent stresses, tensions, and harmonious relationships between the different parts of your life. A challenging aspect between two planets can motivate you to accomplish great things in life, or you can hide under the covers. Harmonious aspects can help you to express life creatively; or, you can get lazy because the planets involved flow so easily that you decide to just kick back and do nothing. All astrology charts have a combination of challenging and harmonious aspects.
Read about the other Aspects
|
|
In previous newsletters, we've explored the aspects Conjunctions, Oppositions, Squares, Trines, and Sextiles. If you missed an issue, you can read more about them on our website.
Occasionally, you will find a planet in your horoscope that is not aspected by another planet. This means that the major aspects listed above (and planets not in a parallel/contra parallel relationship- a term having to do with their north-south latitude positioning, known as declination) are not aspected with another planet. It is almost as if that planet does not know how to relate in the world.
A person with an Unaspected planet must learn to integrate the nature of that planet into their life. For example, an Unaspected Venus is a person who seems to have magnetic charm and beauty, yet is oblivious to the reaction they receive from people who are attracted to them.
If you have unaspected planets in your chart, and you constantly feel like you're "missing something," try learning more about the planet and see if its lack of expression is what's missing in your life that would make a difference.
Not sure what aspects you have? We offer a 20-page chart and interpretation for just $15. Printed on parchment paper in a plastic binder, you can learn about how your personality came to be the way it is! |
|
"I just received my order yesterday and the anklet is more beautiful then I thought. Thank you very much." Phil C.
"I received my order today. I am very pleased with both bracelets. The booklets that came with them are an added bonus. Thanks," Debbie R.
|
|
|
|
ISAR Report
From August 18-21 Wandering Star had a booth at the ISAR conference in Chicago! We made birth chart necklaces for astrologers right on the spot.
Some highlights: Tina R showed up wearing her horoscope necklace that I made for her years and years ago - it was "vintage", featuring a few planetary stones that have since become "extinct!" What a thrill for me!
While sitting out on the lawn, someone asked my husband if he had any planets opposing Saturn. He didn't know, but I took off his neckace, held Saturn, and pulled the necklace lengthwise. We could instantly see that Jupiter was close but not quite opposed!
My favorite part was forging a relationship with the Association for Young Astrologers, the AYA. This new organization is working to bring credibility to astrologers under the tender age of...40! Wandering Star was pleased to host a Happy Hour on behalf of the AYA; we'd like to thank NCGR for lending us their suite.
Congratulations to Mark Kuenzel, Michelle, Nick Dagan Best, Moses Siregar, Donna Youngblood, Chris Brennan, Kyle, Rebecca, and a dozen others for making such a big splash. Astrology IS more fun than an X-Box! |
|
|
|
Oregon State Fair
From September 1 - 5 we have a booth in the Oregon Country Fair's Live Art zone at the State Fair in Salem. Trish will be making jewelry and doing demonstrations. Come and say hi! |
|
