Yeah, yeah. This post comes really late. Everyone else with a blog or YouTube channel who is into astrology has already given their two-cents on this. So I wasn’t going to. But you guys keep pestering me about it. So I’ve been meaning to get to this, but blah. Okay, here you go. Uranus in Taurus. According to Bell.
Source: U.S. Information Agency
What happened the last time Uranus was in Taurus?
On May 15 of this year, Uranus entered Taurus during a new moon. To consider the implications, we start by looking to history to see if we might spot patterns. The last time Uranus was in Taurus, it was just after the Great Depression and into the start of World War II. In other words, it was approximately 1934 to 1942.
Nazi Germany came in to power during this time. It was a period of divisive social politics in many parts of the world. Invasions, smaller wars, and border conflicts were happening on multiple continents. Dramatic changes were taking place when it came to U.S. policies affecting the economy, such as the New Deal (to counter the effects of the Great Depression).
Over in the corner of modern witchcraft, Gerald Gardner was traveling through East Asia, and as that particular Uranus transit came to its close, Gardner was initiated into the New Forest coven. All this, to me at least, is an interesting synchronicity, because I talk about these points in the course I’m offering at Tarot Summer School 2018. In Module 5, “Witchcraft and Tarot in Modernity,” I cover these periods of modern history and the relevance to occult history.
Oh, and then the last last time before that when Uranus was in Taurus? Uranus entered Taurus on April 16, 1851 and stayed there until March 14, 1859. You had the Crimean War ravaging through Europe, the Opium War in China, along with the Taiping Rebellion. Over in the U.S., civil rights is in contention and several landmark events shape this period and the periods to come: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court– once again, divisive social politics– and the Republican Party is founded in 1854 on anti-slavery and pro-immigration ideologies. (I just mention that because there are some interesting parallels going on in the U.S. at the moment, during our present day Uranus in Taurus.)
Then before that, May 1767 to April 1775. Oh. Shit. Guess what. That’s the American Revolution. So yeah. Uranus in Taurus, where the planet is in detriment*, is, in short, a time when we tend to. ahem, make history.
In Episode #29 of “Bell Chimes In,” I talk about the Saturn Return. I also make reference to the Decisive Age and how it may relate to your Saturn Return. (What is a Decisive Age? Find out more here.)
A Saturn Return is a period of time, typically within a year, when the transiting or present Saturn’s positioning is at the same degree in the same zodiac sign as it was in at the moment of your birth. In other words, if Saturn was positioned at 3° in Capricorn when you were born, and currently Saturn is at 3° in Capricorn, then you, my friend, are in the throes of one of your Saturn Returns. Typically, there are three: the First Saturn Return, the Second Saturn Return, and your Third Saturn Return.
For the general population (there are a few astrological exceptions, which I get into in the video), Saturn can create a large weight or obstacle that holds you back. People cross a major threshold in their lives during a Saturn Return. You’ll hear astrologers talk about the First Saturn Return as a coming-of-age, when the process of growth may be difficult, but is the necessary rite of passage that must be crossed in every person’s life path.
The issue of general readings versus specific readings is pertinent to most divinatory forms, whether we’re talking tarot, astrology, the I Ching, or even in terms of configurations for feng shui analysis. Rather than frame this post as general commentary, I want to talk about my personal approach, and since most of the divinatory work I do for people are in the modes of tarot and astrology, that’s what I’ll focus on.
Let’s start with my definitions.
A general reading is when a seeker doesn’t have a cogent, cohesive question to present for divination, but just wants insight for moving forward at the particular juncture point the seeker is at. For example, a seeker sits down in front of a tarot reader and the reader simply begins casting cards and reporting back what the reader interprets from the cards. Another example is a solar returns or birthday chart reading in astrology. A reading service such as a twelve-month forecast is also considered a general reading. In theory for a general reading, any subject matter that comes up in the reading is game.
A specific reading is when a seeker has a question in mind that is narrowly tailored and will require a direct, responsive answer. For example, the seeker wants to know about romantic prospects up ahead, or which career path to take, or which of three possible office site locations would be optimal for setting up a business. Here, even a broadly-cast inquiry such as “just whatever comes up that’s money related in my life” is an inquiry I’ll tuck under the category of a specific reading.
One more point before we proceed. To debate which is better, general reading or specific reading methods, is absurd. Readers also come with different strengths. No reader is all-powerful. Some excel at the general reading. Others excel at the specific reading. Play to your own strengths. That’s all there is to it.
This is a beginner’s course on how to read both a Placidus and a Whole Signs astrological chart with the tropical zodiac (the sidereal zodiac is not taught in this course, though we will cover the differences between a tropical and a sidereal zodiac). Yep, that’s right. Both will be taught. The mission of this course is to get you to know how to read both Placidus and Whole Signs, even if Whole Signs is my preferred system. (Meaning, there’s going to be a bias in favor of Whole Signs…)
This course does not teach chart construction and will only cover how to read a chart that you already have on hand, Placidus or Whole Signs. After covering the basics, you will learn how to read a natal chart, perform transits astrology readings, get a sense of both traditional astrology and modern astrology, dwarf planets and asteroids included, and if I’ll be damned, you are going to have one rock solid foundation in Western astrology that won’t be beat.
Competitive in content, by scope and depth, to beginner astrology courses that cost in the hundreds, Astrology Course for Beginners is intended to be budget-friendly, so everyone can learn how to simplify the complexities of Western astrology.
When I cracked open the front cover of this book, I didn’t even know what shamanic astrology was. I didn’t even know spirit animal signs were a thing. So that’s where I’m coming from as a book reviewer– not a place of knowledge or expertise, but the place of a beginner and how this book might serve the beginner.
Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign by Lucy Harmer (North Atlantic Books, 2009) introduces the twelve spirit animal signs of the Native American medicine wheel and how these animal signs correspond with our date of birth. Prominent public figures in the metaphysical community, such as Judy Hall (The Crystal Bible) and astrologers Derek and Julia Parker, Dr. Steven Farmer (Earth Magic and Animal Spirit Guides), Vicki Noble, creator of the Motherpeace Tarot, and so many more have thrown their positive weight toward Shamanic Astrology to give their endorsements.
The book is delightfully comprehensive. An introductory chapter acquaints you with shamanic astrology, the medicine wheel, and both the solar and lunar cycles. Then Harmer dives into the background of how spirit animals are interpreted, i.e., seasons, cycles, winds and directions, elements and clans, metaphysical correspondences, life paths, etc. Each of the twelve animal signs are covered, starting with a profile chart, description of personality, key metaphysical correspondences and influences, and then general insights into that sign’s luck– career, money, health, and then love. In the love section, compatibility with the other animal signs is provided. Shamanic Astrology closes with advanced material on the medicine wheel and the lunar calendars.
Now let’s take a look at the twelve spirit animal signs. Later in this review, check out Table 2.10 from Shamanic Astrology, which outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the twelve spirit animals.
Table 1.1 from Shamanic Astrology. Click image for closer viewing.
Back by popular demand (in case you’re like, what does that mean, I stopped offering this service for a while due to it basically taking over my life), the birth chart monograph is a minimum 90,000 word book about your personal astrology. There is also the secondary purpose of teaching you astrology. Then there is even a third mission of this monograph being a form of divination, or bibliomancy for you to reach for time and time again throughout your life path.
You will receive both the PDF and DOCX files of the monograph, formatted to 6″ x 9″ standard trim size for trade paperback with gutter and page margins all set up and ready for professional printing and binding into a hardcover or paperback book, which you would do on your own time through a third party print-on-demand publisher. I only provide the digital soft copy of your book. I also include a stock book cover design with the book title Book of ____, with the blank line filled in by your name. Above and below are examples of what the cover looks like if your name was James. Earlier you saw the Book of Abigail.
I’ve also set the intention for every monograph I prepare to be used as a form of bibliomancy. Some suggestions for how to use the monograph for divination are provided, though of course you’re not limited to those suggestions.
Inserted throughout the book, in between sections (practical reason: when there’s too much blank space left over at the end of a chapter or when I want a new chapter to begin on the recto, i.e., on an odd page, and doing so means a blank page), I’ll fill that blank page with an oracular message from the I Ching or lovely public domain classical art. I specially select art from old grimoires, medieval alchemical texts, that call to mind mythology relevant to some of what I cover in your monograph, and other art forms I find to be more spiritual or religious in perspective (covering all the major world religions).
Your book comes with a table of contents and a glossary of all astrological terms used throughout your monograph, so when in doubt and I’m using astrology jargon and you don’t know what that term references, you can quickly flip to the back of your book and look up that term in the glossary. However, unfortunately, there is no index. I understand this book would probably be doubly indispensable with an index.
That said, I do provide you with the DOCX file, so if you’re savvy with MS Word, I welcome and encourage you to fix up your own monograph before sending it off to the printers for book production. Above, after printing out the book in paperback form on your own, you get a sense of the thickness for the book.
Now the thickness of your birth chart monograph compared to, say, Holistic Tarot.
Every written reading will include the following:
Astrological Trinity: Sun, Moon, Rising
We will cover your sun sign, moon sign, and rising sign. It will cover elemental triplicities, distinctions between diurnal and nocturnal sect placement, house and sign analysis, decan rulership, significance of degrees for your sun, moon, and rising, significant angular aspects, and significance of moon phase at time of birth.
House and Sign Analysis
Since I read with the whole sign houses system, we’ll cover generalities about the signs in your twelve astrological houses per your ascendant. We will address what each of the zodiac signs mean as they fall in the twelve astrological houses of your birth chart. You have Pisces in the third…what does that mean exactly about your intellect, reasoning ability, way of thinking and communicating? Say that your ninth house is occupied by the sign Libra. What are the implications there? This section will go through the twelve houses and how the signs in those twelve houses of your chart mean about your life path, your fate, fortunes, and personality.
Elemental Analysis
Are you Fire, Water, Air, or Earth dominant and what would be the implications of such elemental dominance? Are you Fire, Water, Air, or Earth weak and what are those implications? How do you support your elemental weaknesses to create greater balance and harmony in your life? Based on elemental analysis, who are your spirit attendants from the animal kingdom (also referred to as animal totems)?
Your Decisive Age
We’ll talk about your Decisive Age. I’ll also provide a progressed chart (and tell you what a progressed chart is) for the year of your Decisive Age. There’s some free resources on what a Decisive Age is here on my site.
Planets in Their Houses and Signs
We’ll address house and sign analysis for the following natal planets:
Mercury (Mind & Voice),
Venus (Magnetic Attraction),
Mars (Ambition & Conquest),
Jupiter (Luck of the Draw),
Saturn (Discipline & Perspective),
Uranus (Your Ingenuity),
Neptune (Creative Intuition),
Pluto (The Curveball),
Chiron (The Hero’s Journey),
Ceres (Access to Resources), and
Eris (Psychological Projections).
The Midheaven: Your Higher Purpose
Your reading will also cover your midheaven sign and, since I read under the whole sign houses system, whether there are any discrepancies between your midheaven and tenth house. We’ll cover the major angular aspects to your midheaven and the implications of those aspects.
Hemisphere and Quadrant Analysis
Are you north or south hemisphere dominant and what does that mean about you? East or west dominant and that implication? Which quadrant of your chart is going to dominate in your life? Also, this feature will give you a life chronology of how to navigate the four quadrants of your life– (a) birth to age 21, (b) age 21 to 42, (c) age 42 to 63, and (d) age 63 and onward.
Chart Shape & Unique Patterns
I have a lot to say about stelliums and grand trines. If there is a stellium or a grand trine in your birth chart and you would like to know more about the implications of your specific stellium or grand trine, then this option will appeal to you. However, if there is no stellium or grand trine in your chart, then this option makes no sense.
I will also cover the overall chart shape and its implications in this option, your leading planet, along with assessment of any peregrine or besieged planets I observe, any other unique angular patterns (such as the Yod, or Hand of God), any elevated planets, Herculean Ternaries, Mark of an Empath, etc.
Key Sensitive Points
In addition to your ascendant and midheaven, let’s talk about your co ascendant, polar ascendant, north lunar node, and south lunar node.
This is not astrology per se, though some facets of this option include astrology. What is your Decisive Age? What is your Life Path number? We’ll cover both in independent sections of your monograph.
Hermetic Lot of Fortune + Lot of Spirit
Your monograph will go in-depth about your Lot of Fortune to reveal how you can best utilize your assets and attributes to manifest financially prosperous opportunities for yourself. Your Lot of Spirit will reveal your spirit guides since birth, the archangel per Judeo-Christian mythos that corresponds with your Lot of Spirit, and your directional guardian per Chinese Taoist mythos.
Your Professional Potential
Please note that this is its own standalone reading service, Your Prosperity Advisor. This chapter will examine your professional potential and also offer insights into how you can utilize personalized feng shui guidance to optimize your prosperity metrics.
Love, Romance, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Let’s focus on the seventh house of your chart, the eighth house, your Venus sign, Juno, and your fifth house. Let’s talk love, romance, romantic compatibility, your Juno return dates, and the pursuit of happiness.
Jupiter Returns + Saturn Returns
One chapter in your monograph provides all of your Jupiter Return dates for a 100 year period from the date of your birth. Jupiter Returns mark the most auspicious periods in your life, at least per established astrological principles.
Another chapter will include the dates for your First Saturn Return, Second Saturn Return, and Third Saturn Return, and all the waxing, waning, and opposition transits in between. This chapter also offers insights and recommendations on how to navigate your Saturn Returns. Saturn Returns mark the crossing of major thresholds in your life path.
Past and Present Life Continuum
This chapter covers past life astrology and how analysis of past life astrology relates to present life astrology for your moon sign, fourth house, eighth house, and twelfth house. Note that this chapter is the same as Part I of the Past Life Reading service, a standalone reading option I offer.
Your Key Asteroid Influences
There are about 45 asteroids I study and it does not make economical, practical, or even divinatory sense for us to cover all 45 asteroids in your chart. Instead, I’m going to look at key asteroid influences, but what “key” means will differ from individual to individual, case by case.
Esoteric & Spiritual Astrology
One chapter will cover your seven rays, per esoteric astrology. Another chapter will address your social responsibility per eleventh house analysis, and yet another will cover the spiritual practices keyed specifically to your sun, moon, ninth house, and Neptune.
Glossary of Astrological Terms
At the back of your monograph will be a copy of the Glossary of Astrological Terms. It’s a free download here on my website, by the way (scroll down). The main reason for tucking this in to the back of your book is for your convenience of reference. That way in the content of your monograph, I can simply say something like “profection,” “quincunx,” or “almuten” and trust that if you want to know what that word means in the context of your reading, you can flip quickly to the back of your book, look it up in the glossary, go “oh, okay,” and then return to the paragraph you were reading.
For $175, you’re getting:
JPG file of your birth chart constructed under the whole signs system
JPG files of all data tables and charts used for the analyses that went into the preparation of your monograph
The digital files for a book manuscript that is about 350+ pages, which comes pre-formatted into 6″x 9″ standard trade galleys for immediate upload and printing through any third party print-on-demand service of your choosing (file types: DOCX and PDF)
Step-by-step illustrated instructions on how to review and upload your book files for paperback or hard cover printing through a print-on-demand service
Your natal chart monograph is approximately the thickness of my second book, The Tao of Craft.
Delivery Time
At this time when you order your monograph, you’re also saying you’re ready to wait the full year for delivery. In other words, for all orders placed right now, delivery will be some time before the end of 2018. By placing your order, you understand that delivery term and thus, there is no set delivery date.
FREE Book Production Services to Those 65 Years and Older…
My momma, who is over 65, said it is not going to be easy for her fellow elderly folk to figure out how to upload my PDF, walk through all those prompts, instructions, and steps, and produce a good paperback or even hard cover copy of the monograph. And she said it was unfair and shameful of me to assume. She raised her daughter better than that. Alrightey then.
So. If you’re 65 years or older and you order a monograph, I will help you create the paperback or hard cover version of the book for free and arrange for it to be shipped to you. All you have to pay is the actual cost of the book that Lulu.com charges and the actual cost of shipping. Cost of the book is around $20 or under. Cost of shipping will depend on where you live. This production service is only free for our elderly friends.
…Otherwise, You’re On Your Own.
For everyone else, please understand that while I have done what I can to ensure that your files will upload and print through popular third party print-on-demand publishers, I can’t guarantee it. That is an issue between you and the third party print-on-demand publisher. If you experience technical issues with your upload and printing order, then you need to contact your printer, not me. I am not responsible for actually getting your book printed in hard copy. I am only responsible for delivering to you a PDF and, at your additional request, a DOCX file of your monograph. You’re not paying for a hard copy printed book. You’re paying for my astrology services.
Ordering Details
To order yours today, just e-mail me the following:
Name
Date of Birth
Time of Birth
Location of Birth
Gender You Identify As
When providing birth details, please provide it as follows:
January 21, 1971
12:21 am
San Francisco, California
Here’s another example of properly submitted birth details:
March 15, 1993
12:40 pm
Paris, France
Here is an example of improper birth details:
03/06/1980
Ten minutes after the morning of that day’s midnight hour
Nova Scotia, Canada
Why is the above improper? First, whether the birthday is March 6 or June 3 will depend on the country’s cultural norm and I don’t have time to figure this out. Second, just tell me whether you were born at 12:10 am or 12:10 pm. I get inundated with reading requests. I can’t process your birth details cogently if you don’t help me out a little. Finally, Nova Scotia is a province in Canada. I need the city name. E.g., Halifax, Canada [Nova Scotia]
Pre-Written Text, But Personally Prepared Just For You
Oh please I pray to all things holy that you don’t seriously believe I’ve written from scratch 90,000+ words or over 300 pages of text just for you for the mere fee of $175.00…….
Yeah, no. By and large the text in your monograph is pre-written from a proprietary master book I’ve prepared myself for these monographs. In other words, let’s say you are a sun sign Taurus. I’ll go into my master book, find the section I’ve pre-written about sun sign Taurus, then copy and paste it into your monograph manuscript. If your sun Taurus is under the decan ruler the moon, I have a pre-written paragraph just on sun Taurus under the decan rulership of the moon, and so I then insert that in to your manuscript. Say your rising sign is placed at 13 degrees. I have a pre-written passage on the interpretation of a rising sign at 13 degrees and will include that into your book. And so on and so on it goes.
However, I’m not generating the book through any software programs. It is all done manually, section by section, by me, with your birth chart printed out as a visual for me to constantly refer back to as I assemble your monograph by hand, one chapter and one section at a time. Thus, because there is that personal touch, when I see discrepancies, unique patterns, something anomalous, I can then add in customized text just for you to help you make sense of the pre-written text.
Email contact:
benebellwen (at) gmail (dot) com
For a full service listing of divinatory reading options I offer, click on the banner.
This has been going on for a while already and I am having so much fun! However, I don’t know if I’m reaching enough folks, so here is a blog post. You can sign up to get on a list of folks who consent to possible free randomized divinatory readings to be delivered to your e-mail inbox, perhaps when you least expect it. This is offered alongside all my reading services that you can book. More info on my “Book a Reading” page. Scroll all the way down to see the info on the Free Randomized Divination Sign-up.
Back in 2011, Christine Payne-Towler came out with Tarot of the Holy Light, illustrated by comic book artist Michael Dowers. It was self-published by her via Noreah Press.
However, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I didn’t become aware of the deck’s existence until last year. You can order the deck over at Tarot University. This deck, along with Christine Payne-Towler, is going down in tarot history, mark my words, and while far be it for me to tell you what to do, I’d get a copy of this deck while it’s still available.
The Tarot of the Holy Light, with its little white booklet
Anyone who has explored esoteric tarot has heard of Christine Payne-Towler. She’s written some of the most compelling, provocative articles on tarot scholarship available, many of which you can find at Tarot.com or at ArkLetters. Payne-Towler is one of my tarot heroines.
Every few months I get the itch to dabble in sun sign horoscopes. To do so, we focus on what’s up with the Sun, Mars, Mercury, and Venus, with an eye on the Moon. I use the day-night rulership approach, running transits animations for January, 2015 and analyze those transits. There’s really no science to sun sign horoscopes and anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is just pulling your leg. Still, they’re fun and every once in a while, by some synchronous fluke, can even be useful. So here we go. January, 2015, and even some additional insights into the rest of the year for each sign.
I’m also going to throw in a tarot card draw for good measure, coming to you from the Voyager Tarot by James Wanless. (Click on any of the card images for a larger view.)
I like to open with the sun sign of the month, and that’s you, Capricorn.
Capricorn | December 22 – January 19
It could be a hectic start to the New Year and you’ll feel like you are at the center of everyone else’s personal predicaments. That’s only because people see you as always reliable and need you to be their rock. Be alert to curve balls that could get thrown your way. You’re going to feel a child-like fragility and vulnerability this month. Drama may ensue this month and it won’t be your fault. You just have to breathe, hold back, do not overreact, and try not to let the uncertainties of the future unnerve you. You’re contemplating a new course of action as part of your resolutions, but fear of the unknown holds you back. You need to regain confidence in yourself, and then blockages to your creativity can be eliminated.
Card Drawn. Nine of Crystals: Narrowness
Your hard, impenetrable character grounds you, gives you a sense of stability, but it is also isolating and lonely. There seem to be bars over your view, restricting your perceptions. And yet such narrowness is also what keeps you focused.
Retrograde Mars. Image Credit: Tunc Tezel. Source: NASA APOD.
So we, we being all the planets in the solar system, go round and round the sun in our orbits, right. Each one’s orbit is a little different, some are rounder and others more elliptical, and then there’s the tilt of the axis, each one tilted a bit differently from the others. Because of that, at certain times, earth will round a corner at a different pace than one of the other planets on its different-shaped orbit, i.e., maybe a little faster. At that point, from the earth’s perspective, because we’re rounding the corner a touch faster (and on a different-shaped orbit and a different tilt), that other planet appears to move backwards.
So the term “retrograde” kind of stuck.
At least that’s how I understand it. Hey, I’m no astronomer and barely even cut it as an astrologer.
Anyway, let’s just say that’s all about right. Well. Metaphysically, the change of pace is most definitely a change of energy flow and retrograde or not, astrologers are interested in how that change of energy affects life on earth. That’s basically what astrology is all about, whether you’re talking Eastern or Western astrology. It presumes the concept of a cosmic unity, that the whole universe is one being with a collective Spirit, and like our bodies, sometimes, something going on with the hands can affect what’s going on with the feet. So that’s the whole “As above, so below” and also the Dao and Qi concepts distilled into baby terms. And if you ask me, it’s entirely aligned with the concept of God.
We just survived an inordinately brutal Mercury in retrograde and now this. There’s Neptune in retrograde until the 15th of this month and Uranus in retrograde until December 22. It coincides with Jupiter going into retrograde on December 10.
That means right now you’ve got Neptune in Pisces and Uranus in Aries in retrograde (from the earth’s perspective) plus the Northern Node in Libra in retrograde plus Chiron in Pisces with Neptune in retrograde. November 13-14th-ish, the Northern Node goes stationary (but it won’t stay there or be prograde for long; more on that later). By noon Saturday November 15, 2014, Neptune will go stationary. November 16th onward, Uranus and Chiron continue in retrograde. On November 23, Chiron goes stationary; December 9, Jupiter goes stationary. Then December 10 onward, you’ve got both Jupiter and Uranus in retrograde. Oh, also on that same day, the Northern Node is in retrograde again. During that whole time, by the way, after my last statement about the Northern Node, it comes in and out of being stationary, in prograde, and in retrograde. I just stopped jotting down the dates as I cycled through the transit charts. December 22, Uranus in Aries finally goes stationary and is what we would call normal by the 23rd. Now Jupiter and the Northern Node continue in retrograde into 2015. Oh, and by the way, Jupiter is going to stay in retrograde until about April 7 when it goes stationary and then is back to normal after that.
And here’s what it kind of looks like animated:
Oct. 21 – Dec. 30, 2014 Transits
So what does all that mean? Depends on who you ask. Now let’s say you’re asking me, because– sad day for you– you have no one smarter to talk to about these things.
benebell wen 