Blog
by Steven Forrest
Wait a minute! Didn’t we find the ninth planet eighty-six years ago and name it after Walt Disney’s most famous dog? No, Pluto’s now a dwarf, remember? (But who dares to tell THAT to Pluto?) But wait another minute! Astrologers have been calling the Sun and the Moon “planets.” since the beginning of astrological time—so that makes ten planets, not counting Pluto. But we WANNA count Pluto! Ask any astrologer—or at least any modern astrologer. (Some of the Classicists don’t even want to count Uranus or Neptune . . .) But, then, if we DO count Pluto, we had better count Eris too. Eris is about Pluto’s same size and mass, and if one’s a planet, then the other must be.
Like a lot of things in the modern world, such as turning on a television set or adjusting a thermostat, counting planets is a heck of a lot harder than it used to be! And it looks very much like it is about get a whole lot harder. Evidence is mounting for the existence of what astronomers are tentatively calling “Planet Nine.”
There is a divine, evolutionary purpose behind everything that happens in the astrological sky. For me, that is the foundational principle of our craft. Aiming ourselves toward the higher ground is what it is all about — and there is always higher ground, no matter how grim the astrological configuration might appear to be. I believe in that principle fervently. It is elemental to everything I teach, write and practice with my clients.
But I’ve got to say, my knees got weak when I looked at April’s planetary patterns. On April 17th, Mars makes a station, turning retrograde, at 8°54' Sagittarius. The next day, Pluto also stations, at 17°29' Capricorn. That’s two potentially scary planets, both getting very intense at the same time.
I will stick to the best truths I know here: this combination of energies represents an open evolutionary avenue for us all. There is higher purpose in it. Astrology is the mirror in the sky.
The Problem Calculating Progressed Angles
by Steven Forrest
How to progress the four angles? The question is difficult and in all honesty it lies on the far side of my own understanding of astrology’s various spherical coordinate systems.
All the systems I know are based on progressing the Midheaven—somehow—then deriving the current Ascendant based on the latitude of the birth place.We can progress the MC by Solar Arc. In this method, see how far the Sun has progressed by standard “secondary progression” methods and then add that same number of degrees to the Midheaven. This is based on the familiar day-for-year method of progression. If the Sun has progressed 20° since you were born and your natal Midheaven is at 5° Aries then your progressed MC is currently passing through 25° Aries (5° + 20° = 25°).
A couple of months ago, I wrote about the ongoing square of Neptune and Saturn and how our rational minds and our intuitive ones are currently engaged in a long, creative talk. Collectively we are invited to aim for the integration of our capacity for reason and our capacity for spirituality. We need to allow each of these modalities of thought and perception to have equal time, to encourage them to support each other as good friends do—with hard questions, helpful criticism, and unexpected insights. We observed that under this Saturn-Neptune aspect any cherished, but ungrounded spiritual beliefs we held would be challenged by pressing Saturnian reality. We could deny that challenge—and choose to live in a spiritual fairyland. Or we could accept it and become far wiser.
Equally—and a lot more fun to say—we recognized that our attachment to “grounded reason” would likely be humbled by inexplicable experiences: miracles, acts of grace, and visionary moments.
February is Black History month. So in this edition of the newsletter, we’d like to honor a couple of folks who braced themselves against our racist culture and overcame their obstacles to achieve success. These two may not be as well celebrated as Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King, but their stories take us into some revealing cultural detours.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend a few bright stars in our astrological community who will be featured speakers at this year’s NORWAC conference in Seattle: our very own “Forrest Trained” Cheryl Hopkins, Marie O’Neill, and Vernon Robinson. Congratulations! Can’t wait to see what you cook up for us.
And a shout out goes to Samuel Reynolds, returning to NORWAC for his second year. Reynolds is the co-founder of the International Society of Black Astrologers and can be found at UnlockAstrology.com.
