Welcome to Chiria's Notebook-Part 2
Sidereal Libra-Pisces
My Thoughts on Sidereal Libra
Watch Libras when they talk; unless there’s an overwhelming influence of planets in other signs, their mouths open very little. It’s as though they’re holding in the life force to protect themselves. Their bodily movements tend to be guarded. It’s likely they don’t guffaw when told a joke. This sign is usually cautious when dealing with the world outside itself. Libra's apparent seriousness can be disturbing to the non-Libra who wants life to be full of amusement and volatility. In extreme cases, with a severely afflicted Venus for example, there can be paranoia. Perhaps this is because the sun is in its fall and Saturn is in its exaltation, so the sense of self is not strong.
Librans may appear to be secretive. Sometimes this leads others to distrust them or to think that they’re hiding something, but they don’t actually have any more secrets than anyone else; it’s just the way they have of containing themselves. So the interesting thing is that while they can appear to be untrusting, others may not trust them.
Libra is the sign of the “other”, or the “not self”. As the natural ruler of the seventh house and descendent, which falls on the western horizon, it’s the opposite of the first house, or the house of the self. The first house and its corresponding sign of Aries are associated with birth and inception, therefore the seventh and Libra are associated with death. Interestingly, in western astrology, the sign Scorpio, which corresponds to the eighth house, is the sign associated with death. Most of tropical Scorpio comes under sidereal Libra, but in Vedic astrology the seventh house has more to do with the physical death of the native, and the eighth house has more to do with disastrous events and calamities which can possibly lead to death.
It’s interesting that the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day and the celebration of Halloween (which is related to All Saints’ Day and probably also to Pagan celebrations) occur when the sun is travelling through this sign. All these days are related to death.
Being Venus ruled and born under the seventh house sign, many Libras need a spouse or a partner to give them support and shore them up. It’s not that Libras necessarily consider marriage or close partnerships to be any more romantic or sexy than do natives of other signs, but a partner is needed to give strength to the Libran. I imagine a union of two Librans could be problematic.
As mentioned before, the sun is in its fall in Libra and since the sun is the celestial body most associated with the father, Librans often have weak or absent father figures. The father may have died young or be a failure or just not have been a strong influence in the life.
Libras can seem very intense and serious, perhaps because of the tendency to hold their focus within. Sometimes they seem to be sitting in a glass booth looking out at the rest of the world. Other folks don’t know what’s going on inside those Libra heads, though it’s probably not so different than what’s going on in anyone else’s head. Venus is in its own sign in Libra, so this is a natural position for it. Relationships are important and unless that planet is afflicted, significant others (and others in general) will be treated with consideration.
I’ve noticed that Mercury in Libra can be harsh. Why this is I don’t know. Perhaps as the seventh house is the ruler of opponents as well as partners there can be an element of contentiousness.
Thoughts on Sidereal Scorpio
Being Mars ruled, Scorpio is the sign of energy. This energy is attributed to Jupiter as ruler of Sagittarius by tropical astrologers, but Jupiter is expansion, not energy. Energy may seem like expansion when someone is running all over the globe, but the truth is that Scorpio is the sign that just doesn’t like to sit still. It’s the sign that loves movement and adventure.
Scorpios can be rash and impulsive. They can leap before they look, act before they think. They can be disaster prone. They can take great risks in the name of excitement and fun, in extreme cases they can be self-destructive. It’s important to teach Scorpio children self control. Remember that this sign corresponds to the eighth house of calamitous events. This is a sign that likes to have a good time. Group activities are important and a typical Scorpio likes to hang with a crowd—maybe belonging to a fraternity or sorority or some other organization where good times can be had.
Friendship is important to the Scorpio native—but not so much tight one-on-one friendship as being part of a cadre of individuals who are supportive of each other. The energy of the group sustains Scorpio, and Scorpio wants to make a contribution of its own energy to the group. As it is with the other two signs in this trigon, Cancer and Pisces, the energy is volatile, not contained within. Scorpios are often into sports or other physical activities.
Venus in Scorpio is interesting because the planet and the sign aren’t an easy fit. Venus is the one-on-one and Scorpio is not. Often people with that placement are very casual in their relationships. They’re the sort who will be an hour late when they say they’ll meet you in front of Macy’s. They don’t intend to be inconsiderate; they just don’t place so much importance on what’s important to the other person, even though they may care deeply about that person.
Mercury in Scorpio can be blunt and tactless; they’re not deliberately trying to be mean, they just don’t think before they talk. Chances are they don’t have a clue that they’ve hurt someone’s feelings, and are wondering why that person is mad at them.
For some reason the folks I’ve known with Moon in this sign tend to be rather disorganized. Clutter and messiness don’t bother them; in fact, they create it. Why this is, I don’t know. Moon is in its fall in Scorpio, but Moon of and by itself doesn’t have a lot to do with neatness, so it remains a mystery to me why this should be. This I can promise you: you will never be bored when associating with a native of the eighth sign of the Zodiac. Just prepare to try to keep up!
Thoughts on Sidereal Sagittarius
Sagittarius people are those who like things to be correct. Whether in business or domestic life or the military or academia, the arts or religion, they strive for perfection. They can be very critical of those they see as being more spontaneous and unstructured. My Sagittarius mother-in-law, who also had an angular Jupiter, wouldn’t let her children have friends over to play unless they gave her several days notice so that she could have the house in apple-pie order. Never in the time I knew her was her home in anything but apple-pie order, so I don’t know what she had to do to make it even more so.
In tropical astrology poor Saturn, ever the scapegoat, gets the blame for what Jupiter’s more negative peccadilloes---namely being quick to judge others, snobbery, and class-consciousness. This is because the bulk of tropical Capricorn (where these traits have been observed) overlaps sidereal Sagittarius. In the tropical zodiac we’re seeing Jupiter and interpreting it as Saturn. Saturn is anything but class- conscious; in fact it’s the planet having most to do with the laboring class and with a belief in the equality of all humans. Of course that’s the better side of Saturn. The more negative side has been well documented, and I won’t go into it here.
Sagittarians, or those with Jupiter prominent, are often concerned with bettering themselves, sometimes professionally and socially and sometimes spiritually. Whatever is of most importance to them they take seriously. If they consider themselves born to a good station, they won’t throw that away to go "slumming.” Sagittarians put a lot of time and effort into self improvement. They often have standards of perfection and hold themselves and others to those standards. The more worldly ones want to make the right kind of impression on society by having a nice home, nice clothes, a good education, and/or associating with the right crowd. Academic degrees can be important to the more intellectual natives of this sign.
The more spiritually oriented Sagittarians will strive to achieve goals in that area. If of a more mystical bent, they may spend many hours in meditation or some other practice. The more mainstream may have professions in the clergy or at least be affiliated with a religious institution. They are often attracted to ritual and/or specific doctrine. They’re not likely to be among those who feel that simply going for a walk in the forest will bring them closer to the divine. They feel the need to sing the right hymns, chant the correct mantra, recite the proper prayers.
Patriotism and loyalty to established institutions such as companies or the military are common.
Often propriety is of importance. Many Sagittarius natives have high moral standards and a belief in following the letter of the law and the rules of etiquette. In some cases they may seem prudish. In cases where a rigidly moralistic Sagittarian or Jupiter type cannot accept the shame they may feel for their own perceived moral shortcomings (for example, unbidden sexual fantasies) they may project those shortcomings onto others.
People with Venus in Sagittarius or aspected by Jupiter (especially if the conjunction or the trine) may look for prestige in personal relationships. They may marry "up" or seek love affairs or friendship with famous people or those in important professions. Prestige and fame and success are more important to these natives than is monetary wealth.
So Sagittarius and Jupiter are oriented to success and achievement. This sign and the planet give the concepts of structure and perfection to the world. Sagittarians are repelled by sloppiness or mediocrity, at least in those areas that are important to them.
I recall that in the sixties when the hippie influence was going strong, the sign known as Capricorn to most people in the U.S. (which, of course, was really Sagittarius) was an oft criticized and maligned sign. Why? It’s because for the "philosophy" of the time, that sign was too structured, proper, and moralistic. Those were the days when "Do your own thing,” "Turn on, tune in, drop out,” and "If it feels good, do it," were the rallying cries. Could that have been Uranus talking? But we need both structure and the shaking up and dissolution of structure for the world to work.
As with any of the Zodiacal signs, there needs to be a strong emphasis in Sagittarius for the characteristics to be pronounced. Most people are a mixture of influences, but with a cluster of planets occupying that sign, the traits will be recognizable.