ASTROLOGY – A TOOL FOR LIFE & LIVING

…was the subject of the December 14, 2008 AAStL program.  Our featured speaker was DORIS RHOADES, AAStL Vice President and Program Chairman.

Our members and guests are a varied group of astrologers who are at different levels of experience.  Some are beginners, and this presentation was geared primarily for those individual, but it also included more advanced information for the people who are more experienced.

Doris said, “Here are some ‘keywords’ for the planets, houses and signs which will give you a jumping-off platform for beginning understanding in the astrological chart.  These keywords are not a definitive interpretation but a springboard to open up your intuitive knowledge about yourself.”

Examples of keywords for the Sun are:  essence, life, heart, center, light, consciousness.  Keywords for the Moon are:  feeling, soul, instinct, dreams, impressionability.  Each of the remaining eight planets was described by its own keywords.

There are twelve houses in each chart and each of those houses has keywords that describe that area of the chart.  The First House shows our outer appearance, type, personality, vitality, way of approaching other people. The First House has the motto I AM.  The Second House has the motto I HAVE.  It pertains to assets –both in worldly sense and intellectually and emotionally, wealth, possessions, finances, social background, money-making and dealing with money, income and expenses, profit and loss, talents, abilities, physical awareness.

Each of the twelve signs was described with keywords.  For example, Taurus – synthesis of the past, inherited tendencies, possessions, inertia, practicality, consciousness, tied to energies of the earth, fruitfulness, female power.  For the sign Aquarius – power to express ideas and to create in terms of social whole, creativeness of relationship, idealism, humanitarianism, self-expression through collective movement, brotherhoods, group feelings, dramatic sense, creative
genius.

It is the art of blending the appropriate keywords for the planets, signs and houses that bring meaningful interpretation to the chart.  It takes practice and experience.  The more charts you read, the more experience you gain. 

As a student advances, progressions are added to the mix.  Doris said, “As you grow older and your chart progresses, the changes will occur.  We have free will, although basically the script is written.”

Doris spoke of the four elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water and how they apply to their respective signs.  Fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.  Keywords are self-confident, aggressive, optimistic, physical, enthusiastic.  Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.  Keywords are responsible, organized, practical, materialistic, cautious.  Air signs are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.  Keywords are mental, cautious, conservative.  Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.  Keywords are emotional, sensitive, intuitive, nurturing, sympathetic.

She spoke of Cardinal, Fixed or Mutable.  Doris said, “The Cardinal word is rather obsolete, in my opinion.  Think initiate.”  Cardinal signs have keywords initiate activity, self-starters, enterprising, decisive.  The Cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.  Fixed signs are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius and have keywords reliable, persistent, determined, stubborn.  Mutable signs are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces and keywords are flexible, adaptable, resourceful, changeable.

Doris Rhoades told of her life as a wife and mother of five boys and how each boy was very individual in his personality and his way of approaching life’s challenges.  “If I hadn’t known something about astrology, I would have had a lot more difficulty raising those five boys.”