Planetary notes of story finding.

I have a workbook I've been putting together for about three years now. It is storyfinding by way of the Handmaidens. It has some astrology, numerology and also Tarot. I don't know what I'm going to do with the book, whether I'm going to publish it or just use it when I find story for people. I don't just give a paper with all their info on it and let them go home and put it in a drawer and forget about it. It's their life story, they need to take some interest in it. This workbook helps them do that, even if they don't know astrology.

Finding story is my real thing. I've always been a storyteller, story finder. I used to see people as we passed by and wonder at their story. When I learned to read tarot, I'd do readings on perfect strangers. I'd see someone and see a snippet of action around them and I'd want to know more. My first craft name was Seanachi -- that is, Storyteller.

If you know astrology, even a little, you can find story that way. To find story for  yourself or someone else,  take the planets in the natal chart and list them from the smallest degree to the largest. This makes it easy to see at a glance if something is in aspect to the natal planets.

Start with conjunct -- in the same degree
Then look for opposites,  same degree, opposite sign (or 180 degees)
Next, look for squares -- same degree, three signs away (or 90 degrees).

Next  look for Trines, same degree, same element  (four signs away)
Then Sextiles, same degree, two signs away -- Sextiles are in friendly elements. Fire/air or Water/earth
Then inconjunct, same degree, five signs away.

There are others, but that's what I look at first. If I go back for a second look at an important part of the story the person wants to know, I may look to other aspects.  I'll write more on this another time.

You can also find the cycles for the planets. The sun travels a chart in one year, the moon travels the chart in one month. Two and a half years for Mars, Twelve years for Jupiter, Twenty-eight years for Saturn...

I'd write the sign of the planet in the natal chart. Then the sqaures and opposition to that sign.

Cardinal cross is Aries -- Libra in opposition and Cancer -- Capricorn squaring them.
Fixed cross is Taurus -- Scorpio in opposition and Leo -- Aquarius squaring them
Mutable cross is Gemini -- Sagittarius in opposition and Virgo -- Pisces squaring them.

You'd write the sign of the planet in the natal chart and then look in an epemeris to find the date when the planet entered the sign squaring or opposing that sign. Note the degree, as well. This is going to be a particularly telling part of the story. But the whole time, for instance, Saturn is in a sign square or opposit Saturn in the natal chart -- or back to conjunct (in the same sign) will be important.

Noting these will give the dates and times and broad-outline details of situations. In the true nature of co-astrology (which may be a term I made up, as I've not heard it or the concept of it anywhere else), it is up to the individual to bring the story forward for themselves. I ask them to look at old photos and old memories and old journal entries of that time. This is how to find the story of what was going on, of why something happened the way it happend.

Sometimes, the individual already knows the story and the date and I need only find the planetary notes behind the story. The why of the what.

When I'm looking at what's happening for them in the present, I start with Pluto and work my way in towards the personal planets. The slowest planet affects the faster moving planet when the two are in aspect. Transiting moon aspecting natal pluto is not what I'd look at, but Pluto transiting natal moon.

I pay attention to what is happening at the moment the person asks for a reading. If something is changing sign or about to, that's the main focus. Then I go back and pick up the other planets I need to see about.

One planet about to change sign (again) is Uranus. The preview of Uranus in Aries happened in 2010 -- from May 27th to mid August. Then the planet went retrograde and went back into Pisces, and for some, revisited issues in their chart. Uraunus will move back into Aries March 11 this year.

Right now, Uranus is at 28 degrees Pisces.

If I were finding story for someone who had planets at 28 degrees anything, (or 27 degrees or 29 degrees), I'd see if Uranus was in aspect to those planets. I'd start with the square that Pisces helps form.  Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces form the mutable cross. If a planet in the natal chart were at 28 (give or take a degree) Virgo, that would be an opposition. If the planet were at 28 degrees Gemini or Sagittarius, the square aspect would be formed with this transiting Uranus at 28 degrees Pisces.

The way I set it up might not be the way other astrologers do. This is what works for me, so I'm not going all over the place with storyfinding.

Looking at a chart, I see that someone has the Sun at 29 degrees Virgo. Transiting Uranus is at 28 degrees Pisces so this is an opposition.

I would look to the natal chart to find Uranus and the Sun. These houses are going to tell part of the story.

2nd, I look at the natal house where transiting Uranus is visiting. Right now, this would be the house with Pisces on the cusp.

Or it might be an intercepted sign. I'd watch that, especially, because Uranus goes into a house to bust up whatever's in there if there's something not wanting to show itself. People with Pisces intercepted have been dealing with Uranus energy. They've had some dreams of reconstruction, maybe. The things they didn't know about themselves (that are hidden in those intercepted signs and any planets that are in there) are brought to light.

At any rate, I'd look at the house that Pisces rules in the chart. Because Uranus is there in transit. That's second. This is where the action takes place.

Third, I'd look at Aquarius and Leo in the natal chart. Because Uranus rules Aquarius and the Sun rules Leo. These houses are going to have the fallout of the transit.

And of course, I'd do this for any planet that is in aspect with transiting Uranus.

URANUS:
Uranus is nearing the end of its Pisces run. It entered Pisces in 2003. Entered Aries in May 27th, 2010 and then, in August, re-entered Pisces. When it returns to Aries (March 2011)  It will be in Aries until 2018.

Uranus is the planet that shakes things up. It doesn't make you "think outside the box". It blows up the box.

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the slowest moving planets. They make long lasting changes when they move in transit to touch a planet in a natal chart or progressed chart. They work in big ways in the world, as well. When they change sign, you read about the results in the paper. These planets involve governments and world-changing events.

But they also affect individuals when they contact planets in the natal chart, and when they move house.

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars are the personal planets. They move the quickest. The planets, Jupiter and Saturn are called the social planets. Jupiter moves through a sign in one year and Saturn in 2 and a half years.

All planets have their own cycles. The one everyone knows (but not by name) is Uranus opposition. That's mid-life crisis. Most people are also familiar with Saturn return. A person may experience up to three Saturn returns. My m-i-l is heading for her third, while my Honey and I are heading for our second. These all take place at the same time. Which -- I really wish I'd known astrology when we went through the first one. At that time, M-i-l was going through her second saturn return and she was the "authority" figure we had to break free from as we went through our first one. We also lost a farm, were robbed twice, my Dad died, and had our house catch on fire, but those were inconsequential in comparison to coming broadside of Miss Mertie. (shudder).

Saturn's cycles are about responsibility for the self and often have authority figures as antagonists in the story -- especially when/if the individual is content not to move forward and stand on their own two feet.

Well, sometimes when the individual is too anxious to step forward and stand on their own, as is the case with the Saturn opposition. Saturn (Authority and Older people) opposition (as in being on opposite sides). This happens at age 14 or thereabouts.

 A 7 year old in Saturn square faces a different kind of authority figure -- usually having to do with school and they might be reluctant to take this step forward.

A 14 year old is going through Saturn opposition is eager to move foreward and wants parents to stop telling her what to do. Older people don't know anything, is what the 14 year old is thinking.

At 21, another Saturn square and the individual is off on their own, having to find their feet whether they want to or not.

Then around 28, Saturn returns to the sign it was in at the individual's birth. Another step forward, and a lot of "What do I want to be when I grow up -- because now I AM grown-up." And they think "time's awasting -- I've got to be what I am. There is soul searching and usually a change of jobs and maybe locations.

Second Saturn return, the idea is to be an Elder. To give your gift of wisdom to the young. The idea is that you are to have gained a bit of wisdom by then. (Which is not always  so -- sometimes people have 50 years experience and some people have one year's experience 50 times)

True Elders are not to forcefeed ideas to the young. If someone wants to know, they'll ask. Otherwise, go, learn, teach -- this is the second Saturn return. What you didn't take care of in the first Saturn return comes around again. If you live long enough, you get a third Saturn return. That is the time, the person relinquishes standing on their own two feet and often enters Elder Care.

It's said the first Saturn return sends you fully into your work, career, and toward establishing your social status. The second one, if you did the first one right, allows you to leave the work field to some degree and become a Spiritual teacher or mentor. The third, you are physically in the care of others, but still giving your wisdom. That's the ideal.

Ok. There's more. But I think I should maybe just publish that darn workbook. I've got a lot to say. Some of it has been said before. But not the way I say it. Not the way I see it.

So, yeah.... I'll do that. This is the year.