Sun Hard Mars

The Sun is making a difficult contact with the planet Mars in your birth chart meaning that your life goals are constantly being challenged. This is most frustrating because you know what you want to achieve, but obstacles often seem to stand in your way. As a young child it's likely that strong parent figures or difficult circumstances prevented you from getting all that you wanted. Now as an adult the battle continues, and you feel that you have to fight to achieve your goals. You may not be aware of how often you're jeopardising your own success by trying too hard and tackling projects and other people too aggressively. You need to learn the difference between assertion and aggression. You may believe that you're simply stating your own case clearly, but others believe that you're being pushy and dogmatic. The positive side is that you've plenty of energy to achieve your goals, you enjoy taking risks and are not afraid of confronting difficulties. You simply need to find a healthy outlet for your enthusiasm and energy. The challenge is to use your will power so that you can achieve success through co-operation with others.

Sun Soft Pluto

You're likely to achieve your life goals because you're a powerful person with strong leadership abilities. The Sun is making contact with the planet Pluto in your birth chart meaning that you know when to be assertive and when to compromise, essential qualities for succeeding in life. You're able to apply yourself to the job at hand, concentrating your energies on any project in which you wish to succeed. You're intense, obsessive and have the power to achieve your goals. At times this can be disconcerting to other people, but you're unlikely to worry about the effect that you have on other people. You like honest and direct communications, and find it easy to rid yourself of unwanted people or situations. In fact you are somewhat intolerant of other less-powerful people. It's likely that your father, or a strong parental figure, played an important role in your early childhood. You learnt at an early age how to fend for yourself. As an adult you're a real go-getter. Your challenge is to express your power in a positive manner. You may be interested in executive positions, and or in playing a prominent role in society, such as becoming a politician.

Sun Opposition Neptune

This is a confusing time during which you cannot fully comprehend the events in your life. Perhaps you are feeling a sense of loss right now, as well as the confusion. On the other hand you may be seeing a more spiritual thread in your life, helping you understand events. Subtle energies are at play right now. You would be wise to go with the flow. Clarity will come later.

Sun Hard Saturn

The Sun is making a difficult contact with the planet Saturn in your chart indicating that you have to face some hardships before achieving your life goals. It's possible that you had a difficult childhood, experiencing either emotional or financial troubles. Perhaps your father, or a father figure, was an imposing and restrictive force in your life. As a child you may have felt imprisoned, unable to communicate your innermost thoughts and feelings. You may have been frightened to venture forth in the world. As an adult you may still have difficulty expressing yourself and at times feel that external circumstances are still somewhat onerous. You're fearful, worrying about the outcome of decisions and actions. On a positive note childhood difficulties can become the basis for adult wisdom, particularly if you're able to overcome your fears. As you grow older you learn that your natural reserve stands you in good stead, giving you the ability to stand back and assess situations. Your confidence grows enabling you to achieve your goals through attention to detail and hard work.

Sun Conjunct Midheaven

You were born near midday, as the Sun had reached its highest peak. Like the bright Sun you are called to shine in the world suggesting your destiny is to be identified through your career. Your vocation is a call to know yourself and you will identify strongly with your work and profession. The Solar qualities of leadership, fathering, fostering, creativity, self-expression, confidence and courage are important to develop. It is helpful to understand that, like all vocations, there will be peaks and troughs, successes and failures, as well as critical moments of transition. It is imperative to be as aware of the times of descent and the shadows along your career path, as it is the ascent and light.

Sun Hard Neptune

Your lack of confidence is likely to stand in your way in achieving your life goals. This is because the Sun is making a difficult aspect to the planet Neptune in your birth chart. You're a sympathetic and kind person, but you're apt to be overwhelmed by the injustices of the world. As a result you lose sight of your goals and become confused about your direction. It's also possible that you allow other people to tell you how to live your life. You're so eager to please others, that you find it difficult to assert your own rights and beliefs. At times like these you may benefit from moments of quiet reflection, or meditation, which enable you to develop an ability to rely on your own inner resources. It's possible that your confusion stems from childhood experience with your father, or a father figure. Perhaps this person was weak or ill and unable to support your development, or perhaps the death or absence of a father strongly influenced your life. Either way the result is that you've difficulty finding a firm footing on which to base your life as an adult. Your challenge is to learn to trust your own intuition, and to use your artistic and sensitive nature for the benefit of other people without losing yourself.

Sun Hard Moon

When the Sun and the Moon are combining unfavourably in your chart, it means that you're likely to have difficulty succeeding in life. You may have trouble in money matters, struggle with employment, and suffer at the hands of other people. You should be particularly wary of troublesome women, who could create obstacles to you achieving your goals. In some cases, this combination can also mean that you suffer from ill health, which further hinders your chances of success.

Moon Soft Jupiter

The Moon is making a positive aspect to the beneficial planet Jupiter in your birth chart suggesting that you enjoy your home and family life. This is a favourable aspect for health, wealth and family life. Depending on other influences in your birth chart you're likely to enjoy good fortune with your home, and any property investments. It's possible that you've a large family, enjoying connections with close and extended family members. You've a generous and expansive nature and an easy-going, philosophical approach to life. This makes your home a very hospitable environment. You enjoy catering for friends and family in your home, and may live in a large home or in spacious surroundings. Your optimistic view on life means that you're usually rewarded with many visitors. Family relationships are favourable, particularly with the women. It's likely that your good fortune has been influenced by your positive relationship with your mother, or an important female member of your family. You have fond memories of a warm and loving mother and want to share your good fortune with others. Perhaps there's a benevolent matriarch in the family tree. In some cases it's possible that your childhood relationship with your mother wasn't a positive experience. In this case you may be determined, as an adult, to be everything that your mother wasn't. Either way you are likely to benefit through your relationships with family members. You may also benefit through shared religious or spiritual beliefs.

Moon Hard Saturn

Much of your adult life has been spent trying to overcome the difficulties that you faced as a child in your home and family. Astrologically speaking this is because the planet Saturn is contacting the Moon in your birth chart. Ancient astrologers believed that the planet Saturn had a malefic influence in a person's chart. In your case your early home life has been adversely affected. The extent of this effect depends largely on other influences in your chart. In some cases it can mean that your childhood home lacked spontaneity and warmth, but was well-organised and structured in a manner which helped you to feel supported and safe. However, it's more likely that circumstances in your family led to you feeling that home was a cold and unsupportive environment. This could have been one painful incident such as the loss of a family member, or it could have been the result of years of hardship. It's possible that one of your parents, perhaps your mother, was a strict and severe influence, unable to show you the affection that you felt you deserved. As a result it's likely that you're somewhat shy as an adult, lacking in self-confidence and sensitive to criticism. You may be emotionally reserved. Perhaps you have chosen at some stage in your life to live in solitude rather than risk the lack of affection and warmth that you felt as a child. As you grow older and work on your self-esteem you can build a lasting maturity. You develop an inner self-confidence which helps you build firm foundations in your life and achieve your ambitions, as well as loving family relationships. You work solidly to build yourself a secure and firm footing, earning the respect of those around you. You can succeed in business and in your career, particularly through being noticed by your superiors. You may also benefit through investments in land and property.

Mercury Hard Pluto

The planets Mercury and Pluto are combined in your birth chart suggesting that your education and communications are coloured with highs and lows. On the positive side you've a probing mind and the ability to assess situations rapidly, which can lead to success in your studies. You're likely to excel in any education process which requires research and intense work. It's also likely that these gifts will help you excel in any professional or personal situation which involves counselling or crisis work. Your insightful mind proves invaluable in such situations. You enjoy investigating mysteries and probing for hidden truths. Although you can be secretive by nature, you find it difficult to appreciate other people's need for privacy. You feel impelled to uncover any secret, be it personal or societal. Fortunately you also know how to keep secrets. It's likely that you've learnt to rely on your own judgement from an early age. Perhaps a threatening environment, at home, in your neighbourhood, or at school, meant that your instincts were a vital means of survival. It could also have been a crisis, ranging from a traumatic change of school or a death, that led to your ability to see situations clearly and honestly. The gifts can be used to benefit your adult life, and other people. However, problems are likely to arise because of your inability to see the lighter side of life, and to accept that occasionally you might be wrong! You are a deep thinker with wonderful powers of concentration, but you can become obsessive, seeing only innuendos and subtleties in communications, rather than the bigger and often brighter picture. This obsessive side of your nature means that you also tend to believe that others are opposed to your thoughts and ideas, when perhaps they're not. You need to battle to overcome your tendency to create conflict and then seek revenge in such situations. If you believe that you're losing sight of the plot, then seek advice from a trusted friend or colleague. You are at your most powerful when using your insights for positive purposes. In particular your honesty and insights can be useful in a counselling situation, but be careful of taking these talents out of the consulting room unless invited to do so. Friends and loved ones may not always appreciate your ability to get straight to the point, particularly if they're feeling vulnerable or emotionally distraught. You need to learn tact and diplomacy and sensitivity to other people's pain. Your gifts, combined with compassion, make you a powerful advocate in any field.

Mercury Soft Mars

The planets Mercury and Mars are making contact in your chart indicating that you've a razor-sharp mind and tongue, which you're not afraid of using. You're quick to grasp new ideas, and enjoy studying any subject that challenges your mind. You may have a keen interest in sports and military pursuits. You've good intellectual powers, and are witty, enthusiastic and ingenious. You're a forthright and powerful speaker, perhaps not realising the extent of the effect that your words have on other people. Others may react adversely to your feisty way of communicating, particularly if you fail to curb your tendency to speak first and think later. In some way your communications with other people tend to involve conflict, a battle of words requiring strategic manoeuvres. On a positive note it's also possible that others appreciate your ability to speak your mind, particularly if you're fighting for a cause. You may become an advocate for individuals or groups of people, who are unable to stand up for themselves or who need a strong spokesperson. You're the right choice because you're perceptive, enjoy a thought-provoking discussion or argument, and are agile in most negotiations.

Venus Hard Neptune

The planets Venus and Neptune are combining in a manner which indicates disappointment in your primary relationship. The problem is that you're idealistic and unrealistic when it comes to personal relationships, lacking the discriminatory powers needed to form a steady and lasting partnership. This applies to both your personal and business partnerships. Consequently you often feel disillusioned and sorry for yourself, blaming others for failing to live up to your expectations. It's possible that your partner is indeed deceiving you in some manner, but it's also possible that you're not being honest. Either way it's likely that you're seeing your primary relationship through rose-coloured glasses, and as a result conflict arises because of your lack of discernment. You're caught in a web of fantasies and romantic illusions, either of your own or your partner's making. Coming to terms with the reality of your relationship helps you obtain a better understanding of your primary relationship, and prevents you from becoming disillusioned. Taking off the rose-coloured glasses means that you can make a proper assessment of your primary relationship. As a result you'll experience fewer feelings of resentment and disappointment, and won't be in danger of overlooking some major flaws such as drug addiction or deceit. With the right partner you'll enjoy a sense of peace and fulfilment. You may also enjoy artistic or spiritual pursuits together. You're ardent and loving, responding quickly to your partner's need. In turn you benefit from acts of kindness, love and appreciation.

Venus Conjunct Midheaven

Luminous Venus is at the pinnacle of your horoscope suggesting that her values of beauty, pleasure, form, balance and proportion are woven into the fabric of your vocation. Vocationally this suggests you are well suited to careers where design, décor, style, hospitality, diplomacy, mediation, pleasure, partnership and counselling may play a major role. You are interested in beautifying and harmonising the environment and whether you take an artistic, economical or social pathway to satisfy this yearning, you feel called to enhance and improve your surrounds. As the archetype of sexuality and relationship, this also suggests that partnership and career may be entwined at some point on your vocational journey.

Venus Opposition Neptune

It is time for reflection rather than action. Artistic events, spiritual retreats and sojourns in nature are ideal for contemplative stage of your life. You are likely to have romantic notions right now. Let your imagination run wild. Indulge in a little daydreaming and avoid making life-changing decisions. Contracts, both business and personal, are best let alone because you are not in a practical mode - quite the opposite. Cast off as many responsibilities as is reasonable in your current circumstances and take pleasure in this creative and romantic phase. The more that you can relax and enjoy this phase the more you will feel rested and rejuvenated for the next phase. You may even discover a latent talent.

Jupiter Hard Pluto

The planets Jupiter and Pluto are making a difficult aspect in your birth chart indicating that you've some difficulty achieving your life goals, but you will get to where you want in the end. The problem is that you reject the usual paths to success, believing that you've a better way of doing things. Your attempts to change the rules, or to try to make others agree with your insights, are sincere, but intrusive. As a result you often land yourself in troublesome situations, which can lead to disillusionment and distract you from your purpose. This can dent your confidence. You range from over confidence to completely lacking in confidence. The truth lies somewhere in between. Society has rules to run itself efficiently, and these can be to your benefit rather than detriment. Once you accept your own and society's limitations then you can achieve your objectives.

Saturn Soft Pluto

The combination of the planets Saturn and Pluto in your chart suggests that you're an ambitious, insightful and powerful person. You're likely to make a powerful impact on your friends, family, colleagues and loved ones, both as a child and an adult. At times you might be surprised by the extent of other people's reactions to your presence and opinions. You may even surprise yourself by your own reactions to some circumstances. Authority is likely to be a continuing source of difficulty in your life, as you attempt to find the right balance between your own individual rights, and those of the community. Of course there are many instances when these two rights coincide, but you're more likely to find yourself involved in the clashes, perhaps as a mediator. It's possible that you could become involved in someone's power struggles, in which your role may or may not be central to the outcome. It's true that you've the ability to be a powerful leader, perhaps in the government or armed forces, or as an executive or politician. You can be a powerful leader, but first you must learn to use your unique insights for positive purposes. The 19th Century author John Stuart Mill said in his work On Liberty (1859) that: "Everyone who desires power, desires it most over those who are nearest to him, with whom his life is passed, with whom he has most concerns in common, and in whom any independence of his authority is oftenest likely to interfere with his individual preferences". Herein lies a key to your chart. You've the ability to succeed in your ambitions, but first you must learn how to deal with the balance of power in your life, respecting both your own and other people's rights to succeed.

Saturn Hard Neptune

The planets Saturn and Neptune are combining in your chart suggesting that you've difficulty achieving your career ambitions. It's likely that you're a highly creative individual, but that you either lack the confidence to follow your true path, or the ability to make your dreams a reality. This doesn't necessarily mean that you aren't successful in your career, but rather that something is missing. It could be that you're dissatisfied with your career choice, because you're not following your true vocation. It's also possible that you enjoy your work, but aren't being paid well, which leads to frustration and disappointment. No matter how much other people urge you to stand up for your rights, you believe that you're not in a position to do so. The problem may be that you've difficulty stepping back and appropriately assessing all of your options. You lack the confidence to pave your own professional path, afraid to leave the security and comfort of your current job, or you're too busy chasing rainbows to manage your career. At some stage in your life you're forced to learn to believe in yourself, to find the right mix of creativity and practicality. Once you've made steps along this process you gain the confidence to continue. Like a child learning to walk for the first time, you're soon off and running.

Saturn Soft Uranus

You're recognised in your career for your ability to plan and organise, making the most of available resources while adopting new and innovative approaches to tasks. This is because of the combination of the planets of Saturn and Uranus, which indicate a mix of initiative and good old-fashioned common sense - a formidable blend. You're independent, resourceful and self-motivated, all of which enable you to achieve success in whatever you turn your mind to. You may discover that you've natural abilities in the fields of science, mathematics, research, business organisation, industry and metaphysics. It's likely that you'll succeed in any career that utilises your gift for blending the old with the new.

Saturn square Neptune

With Saturn Square Neptune, you experience a dynamic, challenging interaction between Kafziel and Tamiel. Kafziel is the Angel of memory, solitude, and tears. Together these Angels put you on the path of personal integrity as surely as you follow one thought with another.

Your slow growth of understanding could be seen as a weakness. However, your path is one of steady, almost certain forward progress. You analyze and consider each decision and each new idea. In this way every step is firm and solid, not tentative or half-hearted.

Intelligent activity becomes part of your nature. Intelligent activity involves the skillful use and application of knowledge, so you must first gain knowledge before you can apply it effectively. Kafziel and Tamiel work in concert in your life by first supplying the means to learn, and then aiding your mind through dreams or visualizations of how to use the information you have gained.

As you allow your Angels into your life, you gain the capacity to maintain hope in the face of seeming disaster. You discover that even in the most difficult circumstances, you have Angelic protection, and you can find a way to work your way out of the problem.

These Angels help you learn how to manage pain. When you or someone else experience severe physical or emotional pain, your Angels provide the means for relieving its severity, as well as providing the path to resolving it altogether.

Zadkiel and Tamiel provide dreams to help you through life's difficulties. You have tenacity of spirit, and your Angels support its use. Sometimes you will have a conscious idea, and you work step by step to make that dream a reality. Other times dreams provide very direct messages about your life. Either way, your mental strength is a special ally throughout your life.

Uranus semisextile Neptune

With Uranus Semisextile Neptune, difficult moments of growth take on more creative meaning because of Zadkiel and Tamiel. Zadkiel is the Angel of Death, and Tamiel of Dreams. Together they extend your understanding of the nature of life and its limits. They also reveal the many ways you can change your life through skillful action.

You have a natural love of ritual. You find, when you think about it, that ritual pervades everything you do. You get along with other people very well because you observe the steps of ritual, entering into each conversation, activity, or association according to socially or culturally defined rules, and in so doing you put other people at ease without undo fuss or bother.

You can develop subconscious talents through conscious expression. In concert with your Angels, you express little pieces of your subconscious awareness in conversation or action. As you do this, you affirm your less conscious abilities and honor them and your Angels. Then your mind is better able to provide ideas and feelings to aid your work.

Inspired idealism may not be what you think you have been looking for, but you are certain to find it eventually. Your Angels send you dreams and ideas all the time, and you have only to pay attention to them. Your idealism provides a foundation for you to help others who experience major disasters or transformations in their lives. When you or others experience loss, your Angels are ready and willing to lift you up.

A potential weakness is the lack of stamina. Physical exercise to build lung capacity and muscle strength is well worth the effort. The physical strength you gain provides a foundation for emotional and spiritual strength.

For mental strength, meditation or yoga provide an organized practice. Kundalini yoga provides a medium for mental focus as well as physical exercise, building all the structures you need to support your developing psychic awareness.

Another possible weakness of structure could lead to high blood pressure and its associated ailments. The above mentioned exercise, meditation, and yoga all serve to reduce blood pressure and strengthen the system so as to avoid dangers of stroke and heart ailments.

Heightened psychic states including clairvoyance are the norm for this combination.

Uranus Soft Neptune

The planets Uranus and Neptune are combining in your chart suggesting that your creative urges are strong. You enjoy exploring new territory, either through studying or travelling and your talents may lie in writing, healing, social welfare, healing or spiritual fields. You may be keen to explore metaphysical matters, perhaps even belonging to a secret society or a group dedicated to global healing, charity or spirituality. Your psychic abilities and intuition are likely to be heightened, and this may help you explore your creativity.

Neptune Opposite Midheaven

With Neptune on the lower meridian of your horoscope, the ideal of the family is important to you. However the reality may have been quite different as enmeshment, sacrifice, relinquishment or illness could have dominated the familial atmosphere. Whatever your experience of the family was, it is important to remember that emotional understanding, compassion for others in the family and the community at large, as well as the urge to serve others are all part of your inheritance. To build a solid nest in your adult life creativity, spirituality and imagination need to be the foundation stones. With this strong base you are better equipped to support your vocational longing in the world.

Neptune trine NorthNode

With Neptune trine the North Node, you experience natural ease as the Angelic hosts enter into your life with Tamiel. You are inclined to think that anything is possible when this aspect is active in your life, perhaps because so many Angelic energies contribute to your lively imagination.

A weakness is the lack of flexibility in dealings with other people, possibly due to your confusion about what they want or how you fit into their plans. Another possible problem concerns dreams that disturb your peaceful sleep.

If you have difficulty establishing good contacts with other people, call upon Tamiel and the heavenly hosts for comfort and support. They can stimulate imaginative ways of getting your ideas across to others.

On the up side, you can develop your psychic sensitivity so that you know what is coming in the next moment or the near future. This way you feel better prepared and can appear more adaptable, even if you still feel a bit foggy about the details.

With a host of Angels behind you to bolster your courage, you find that engaging with others in social activities becomes easier.

Neptune Square Ascendant

This planet progresses very slowly throughout your lifetime. Therefore you are likely to have this aspect in your birth chart. This progression may emphasise your urge to express the intuitive and artistic side of your personality.

Neptune Soft Pluto

The planets Neptune and Pluto both move slowly through the zodiac, and therefore any connection between the two planets affects birth charts for a short period of time. You were born in such a time. This combination in your chart means that you're interested in opportunities to bring about fundamental change to human values. You are aware of injustices in society and, depending on other influences in your chart, may prefer to fight against them rather than sit back and accept the ills of society. Your creative urges may be linked to politics, or expressing your political views through the arts or spiritual or charitable organisations.

Pluto sextile Neptune

With Pluto Sextile Neptune, your life is enriched with opportunities presented by the Angels Metatron and Tamiel. Metatron has been called the King of Angels and the Chief of the Ministering Angels. This Angel is thought to be the pillar of fire the Jews followed in their exodus from Egypt. He is a certain link between you and the divine. Metatron's association with Tamiel, the Angel of Primordial Energies, is extremely powerful.

You undoubtedly experience supernatural events and conditions during your life. Your Angels provide this resource and can help you refine it. Psychic impressions and intuition become second nature to you after a while. You learn to act on intuition in much the same way you would act on advice from your accountant.

One facet of the path of personal integrity for you involves purification of your soul. This means elevating your thoughts above petty jealousy and anger. While you may never overcome negative thinking entirely, working with your Angels will lift you up, step by step, to thoughts of compassion and love. Love overcomes fear and compassion overcomes hatred.

One possible expression of this aspect of your birth chart is that you have at least one extrasensory ability. At first you may experience some confusion in interpreting psychic and intuitive information as it comes to you. You are likely to overcome this confusion once you develop the necessary comprehension of your abilities and thus develop your psychic skills. Meditation each day allows your Angels to contact you more directly to help in this area.

You have the power of a storyteller combined with the wisdom of a seer. You could write fiction or dramatic scripts, and your poetry can become the liquid fire of inspiration and soothing balm for the soul.

NorthNode Soft Neptune

You're on a spiritual quest, and your destiny is linked with expressing your artistic and creative talents. This is indicated by the association of the North Node and the planet Neptune. Your challenge is to discover your highest potential, which may be expressed through spiritual or artistic groups.

NorthNode Soft Sun

The North Node and the Sun are combining in your chart to suggest that you need to overcome any inhibitions which stand in the way of you achieving your purpose. You'll feel most joyful when you're fully expressing yourself. It's possible that events will force you to come to terms with your identity in order that you learn to express your fullest potential.

NorthNode Soft Saturn

You're being challenged, through the combination of the North Node and the planet Saturn, to take a responsible role in groups. You may prefer your own company, but you need to work steadily with others in order to achieve your goals. You may experience periods of isolation, perhaps through physical illnesses, but these force you to reassess your life so that you can fully appreciate your responsibilities.

NorthNode Soft Pluto

You're on a quest to use your insights and personal experience to help others. This is because of the association of the North Node and the planet Pluto in your birth chart. You may encounter traumas during your lifetime, which will ultimately help to develop your resourceful nature.

SouthNode Soft Venus

The South Node and the planet Venus are combining in your chart to suggest that relationships play a key role in either helping or preventing you from achieving your purpose. Perhaps you struggle to relate intimately with other people, or perhaps you need to learn independence in order to focus on your own objectives. Either way, a major part of your life is spent learning about personal relating skills so that you can achieve your mission.

SouthNode Soft Sun

The South Node and the Sun are combining in a way that is inhibiting you from expressing your true potential. You're being challenged to fully express yourself with integrity and with respect for other people's rights. Perhaps you've a tendency to overpower other people, and now you need to do find the right blend of asserting your own rights and listening to other people, in order that you achieve your purpose. You would do well to remember the adage, "There's no time like the present", as you may have a tendency to avoid facing problems and obstacles that stand in the path of your success.

SouthNode Soft Neptune

You've a tendency to daydream and live in a fantasy world, possibly even escaping into the world of drugs and depression. This is because of the association of the South Node and the planet Neptune in your chart. Your quest in this life is to put your creative talents to positive use.

SouthNode Soft Pluto

You've a tendency to become embroiled in the dramas and crises of life, whether they be real ones or in your imagination. This is because of the association of the South Node and the planet Pluto in your birth chart. It's true that you're familiar with the darker side of life: matters such as jealousy, malice, under-handed deals, abusive behaviour, criminal elements and depravation. Your challenge is to rise above the negativity, whether it's your own or other people's, and to use your insights and resources for the good of others. For instance you could prove skilled in the area of crisis counselling.

Chiron trine Mars

As you were growing up, the unexpected seemed to happen to you in areas of life that you thought you knew, had taken for granted. These unexpected events test your Mars. There may be tests of your assertiveness, or tests of your stamina, or tests of your ability to attack a problem, or even tests of your ability to take the first step in some new situation. With Chiron in trine to any astrological concept, unexpected lessons arise because humans usually feel comfortable with areas 120° away from a planet, we feel we can express ourselves freely there, and that we can take the area for granted that it is never going to pose a challenge. But Chiron reacts differently here than any other type of trine. There can be a deep wound because you were too resistant to change, or too closed off on trying something new, or did not know how to deal with changes in areas you took for granted and you were criticized or judged for this by others.

Doors may have opened up in areas in where you had no idea there were any doors. Since Chiron in trine teaches one not to take anything for granted, the lesson, once learned, gives you the ability to look into places others ignore, to try methods others would not expect to be valid (too commonplace, or too ordinary, or simply not ‘worthy’ of consideration). (When you come up with a new procedure, others might find themselves saying, “Now why didn’t I think of that, it was right in front of me all the time?”).

But until you learn to be open to change, willing to keep an open mind to the unexpected, you may find yourself feeling very insecure, and when these unexpected doors are open you may react with fear, or even by becoming defensive. If you have not learned to be open, there can be a tendency to try to erect barriers in the areas influenced by Chiron, to try to shield Mars from the unexpected. These barriers are major hindrances to your drives, your self-expression, because Mars needs new perspectives to grow. What can happen is that your ability to take appropriate action may deteriorate, or you may find your choice of action and/or method erratic or even anti-social. The unexpected events none-the-less occur (in a context made less favourable by your defensive reactions) but the tendency, because of the walls you have built up, is to become even more defensive. This vicious circle will continue until you see that you .must tear the walls down. This often happens with the help of someone in the role of guru or healer, or it may happen (spontaneously) when Chiron makes a hard aspect by transit to its natal position.

As you heal, this aspect gives you the ability to always see glimpses of innovations you can make, improvements you can add, even when you are not looking for them. It is almost as though there is some sentinel in your unconscious always on the lookout for new breakthrough opportunities, even while your conscious mind is content with working with what you have at hand. In other words, once you learn the lesson that nothing is absolute, no area is free from change, you become a seeker of the very types of changes you once feared. On a positive level, therefore, you are an innovator, seemingly able to open new doors with little effort. When you make a deliberate effort to research problems, you seem to be able to make obstacles almost melt away. When hard work is required, you are usually willing to devote much energy to the tasks at hand.

Chiron trine Saturn

This aspect can make a difficult childhood because one of your parents continually surprised you. Just when you thought you knew what was expected of you, the authority symbol would pull a rabbit out of a hat, and you would have to change your thoughts on how you were supposed to be, or act, or appear. This also meant that you had to change your own self-image, and your concepts of your own limits. The surprises could be good or bad, but were surprises because they came in some area that you had felt secure in taking for granted.

This experience can bring about a number of possible results.

• For some, there seems to be a very shaky self-image because you look for a parent you can rely upon as stable. In this case you grew up with basic insecurity, and may feel that other people have ‘the answers’ but that you may never find them. • For others, you develop a powerful desire to seek a totally unchanging parent figure, such as a guru, or religious leader, or even a strict demigod figure, to model yourself after so that you can once again relax, and take for granted what ‘should be’.

• Still for others, the choice is to integrate the concept of change into the self-image, and even enjoy it. If you are this type, the world opens up as a place to explore and self-discovery becomes a great pleasure. This path also usually leads to the ability to get along with those in power because of an inner understanding and sympathy with them.

Chiron opposition Uranus

Between 1952 and 1989 Chiron exactly opposed Uranus forty-one times, and was in orb of opposition for just about everyone born during those 47 years. Thus, it is more of a generational influence than an individual one.

Historically, you can see that this aspect is tied into the accelerated pace of scientific advancement during the second half of the Twentieth Century. Actually, one of the problems is that science is making discoveries faster than they can be integrated into society; even faster than proper safeguards can be devised for our protection from side effects and from the discoveries themselves.

This same ‘vibration’ is, in many ways, a part of the nature of individuals who have this aspect. There is a thirst for the new, for discovery, for experiences, that often outweighs the taking of any precautions. Others dare not try to curtail your freedom, the consequences may not be pleasant. The urge for independence can be so strong that it can create difficulties in relationships. The only relationships that truly last for someone with this aspect is one where each person is given a lot of space to be themselves, in truth, it is difficult to find someone sufficiently secure to give a partner that much freedom. It does give a real spirit, though.

The wound of the whole generation, though, can be summed up in the words, ‘fallen heroes’. For thousands of years, people had heroes to worship, people to look up to as almost godlike. But this generation has seen all of its heroes fall, or show very unheroic sides, or in one way or another, prove they are just like everyone else. As a result, your generation has had a wound that each person must learn to heal in his/her own way, but the lesson is to become one’s own hero to become the person you would like to look up to and respect.

Chiron Square NorthNode

In your horoscope Chiron is squaring the Nodal Axis. This is often recognised as a harsh aspect; however, in this arrangement Chiron has a unique function in your vocation, calling you to be consciously aware of its influence over the course of your career. This suggests that the turning points in your vocation occur when you find yourself on the margins, a foreigner in the system you are working in. It is at these critical periods when you begin to forge your own unique destiny, realizing that you feel more comfortable on the fringe or edge of your profession, rather than in the centre. This insight frees you to pursue your calling.

This aspect suggests that your calling involves integrating something more subjective and intangible into your vocation. While this leaves you feeling an outsider, the truth is that you are keenly aware of what the system needs to be whole. Chiron is the image of the archetypal mentor and healer who teaches the disenfranchised young boys to become heroic. Similarly your challenge is to embrace what has been relinquished and integrate it back into the system. You are an advocate for approaches that are not purely mechanistic, economic and based on reason. Therefore it is possible that this urge will lead you into an 'alternate' discipline, one that complements what is generally accepted. This could lead you into the areas of unorthodox healing or therapy, unusual education, or alternative philosophies. Your challenge is to integrate these with your chosen profession without the stigma of feeling an outsider. Ironically you find your place in embracing these alternate ideas in the system you are in. It is alsoimportant to recognise that it is your wound and vulnerability that lead you to your vocation, not away from it.

Chiron sextile Mercury

One side of your Chiron wound was being made to feel that you were not using your head. It may be that you were made to feel that you were asking questions that you shouldn’t need to ask, or it may be that you were led to believe that you should be questioning more.

No matter what the events that occurred, you feel the need for your mind to go anywhere/everywhere. You developed a very active mind, with a powerful curiosity which leads you to always want to go an extra step, learn a bit more. So whatever conclusions you come to in most situations, you are always open to the possibility that you may find out something new to change your way of thinking. You want to know about everything!

Because of this, your mind is non-discriminatory, you are able to see the potential in everyone, do not put people in ‘classes’, and find that you can greatly appreciate people who others consider ‘not normal’. Another facet of this sextile is that you have a gift to be able to see the humor in almost any situation, and can convey this to others.

You could be an excellent teacher, teller of tales, or maybe a comedian because you can see things that enable you to communicate with other people on their level. Because of your love of learning, you would also do well in research of some kind.