Venus in the 12th House

Chart A | Chart B | Chart C | Chart D |

I'll be using four different charts with Venus in the 12th house to explain some of the differences in interpretation of this planet and this house.

Chart A - click to see bigger version

Chart A has Venus in Aquarius in the 12th house. It is conjunct Jupiter also in the 12th. Venus is trine Neptune and opposite Pluto.

This is a strong willed person with a desire to use their mind as a means of navigating through life. It is also a chart about communication.

At a glance I am drawn to the Uranian nature of this chart. There is Uranus in the 4th, Aquarius ruling the 12th and Uranus squares the Sun, Mercury and Mars. Two of these planets are in the 7th house. This person's mind works differently than other people's and they have a unique way of communicating with others based on family patterning. I am going to suggest that Venus/Jupiter in the 12th has to do with interspecies communication, or better put, the burgeoning ability to communicate with other intelligent life forms. Jupiter is often a signature of evolution.

With this chart, I am reading the 4th, 8th and 12th houses as "family issue" houses, based on exploratory work done by Erin Sullivan in her book The Astrology of Family Dynamics. Sullivan's work is seminal, not conclusive. I use it as a pushing off point in interpretation and some charts suggest the use of her theories more than others.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's well worth your time to read this book. Sullivan's research and intentions are better than her writing skill, as a general rule, but this book can really get you thinking. [Click the graphic to buy the book directly from amazon.com.]

In the context of family issues, the 4th house is the present and personal family (relates to Cancer). The 8th house is the clan and also includes the ghosts of the family, those who would appear in the Precession of the Ancestors were you to ask their approval for something (relates to Scorpio). The 12th house is the family of the species, so to speak (relates to Pisces). As the oceanic womb which is the origin of all life, the 12th house begins at the crossover point with chimpanzees, our nearest cousins as a species, and, with Aquarius ruling it in this chart, continues into a future trajectory toward "other intelligent life forms". I mean here to suggest the territory usually dealt with in great science fiction. With Venus and Jupiter together in this chart in the 12th, these are assumed to be friendly (Venus) and benevolent (Jupiter) creatures, well worth communicating with.

Uranus in the 4th points to a very "different" childhood home for this person, as if the childhood home were a womb that is already hatching some of these creatures :-) -- "creatures" as in , "O brave new world, that hath such creatures in it!" [Miranda says this in Shakespeare's play The Tempest]

In her book Sullivan describes two different types of families: Uranian and Neptunian. I also propose two different kinds of metaphors for images in the subconscious.

The subconscious of Uranian people tends to produce images of space creatures, UFOs, aliens and futuristic or science fiction landscapes.

The subconscious of Neptunian people tends to produce images of Atlantis (!), angels, fairies, unicorns, beautiful fantasy landscapes and heavens such as the "pearly gates" or the flower and maiden bedecked oases of the Arabs.

Both are describing the same internal "event" or transcendental experience but they are using different images, a different mythology, symbols or frame of reference, according to their basic psychic makeup -- Uranian (Mind, Genius, Inspiration with a value on the abstract physics of energy) or Neptunian (Feelings, Uroboric, Connectedness with a value on beauty). Neither is more elevated than the other and neither is "made up". It is important to remember that something of psychic reality is being described.

To compare and contrast, we might compare a painting by Jackson Pollack (Uranian) with one by Gabriel Rosetti (Neptunian). So let's do that here.

Untitled by Jackson Pollack
Uranian, abstract

Even the fact that this painting isn't titled is Uranian.

The Holy Grail by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Neptunian, romantic fantasy

I notice this with meditation as well. Uranian individuals will see light spirals, staircases, swirls and mandalas, abstract forms of the Divine. Neptunian types, who tend to tyrannize the Uranians with one-upmanship in this area, will see personified deities, guides, "Isis", colorful auras, costumes and the like. I take a little time in my classes to explain this to my meditation students so that the people with vivid images can't "lord it over" those who get abstract representations. Each is equally valid. The Uranian may actually be more evolved just as writing is abstract and a skill not easily achieved through centuries of evolution. There are human beings today whose brains are not well enough developed to handle abstract thoughts long enough to construct something coherent and meaningful in writing but they can "read" a comic book.

The emphasis on Divine Mind and communication that I get from Chart A is intuitive and comes from the cluster of North Node, Sun and Mercury in the 1st house. Mercury, the planet of communication, is emphasized by being in the 1st house with the all-important North Node.

The angles of this chart are mutable. The 7th house is ruled by communicative Virgo. Gemini rules the 4th house. Everything about this chart suggests communication. It is sociable and friendly Venus in the 12th house that directs us to the future of the species and to a benevolent relationship with "them" (Jupiter is there).

I am reminded of Star Trek IV The Voyage Home, a movie about saving whales, since Jupiter rules big animals. As you recall, the probe was sent to find out what happened to the whales, not to the humans. I am often tempted to remind my very Aquarian friends who want to save "their animals" that perhaps somewhere there is an intelligent life form that wants to save "their Aquarians". Aquarians, for all their detachment and sense of divine mission can be more egotistical than a Leo would ever dream of being. Who's to say which species is more advanced, more intelligent and which is really looking out for the other ?? ... if only we could speak the language.

The person with Chart A has what it takes to tackle this job. Lest you think this interpretation is far-fetched, I have made similar suggestions in interpreting others' charts and received a hearty "Yes!" in reply. Generally speaking, my clients know who they are.

With this chart, it seems like the preferred means of communication at the present time is telepathic. Mercury is in Pisces, not known for clear verbal communication. Mercury is opposite Mars and square Uranus, indicating furious impatience with the whole process of verbal communication and a desire to skip a level! Saturn in Virgo in the 7th makes receiving verbal communication pure hell (!) while Neptune in Libra in the 7th dims all prospects of truly understanding where another person is coming from with the use of logic or the lower mind. Mars in the middle makes the whole thing a battle.

As for other intelligent life forms, besides people, Pluto in Leo in the 6th house speaks of a great love for all the creatures of the earth and a personal interest in their evolution.

There is more to interpreting this chart, but Venus in the 12th in Aquarius with Uranus in the 4th indicates an attraction to strange things. For those of you who don't know my astrological principles, I consider the IC (Imum Coeli often spelled different ways or 4th house) the place where the Soul is found.

Chart B - click to see larger version

Chart B has Venus in Leo in the 12th house conjunct Uranus, also in Leo.

I know this is the chart of a woman and I begin immediately to see signs of barrenness and infertility, beginning with this Venus conjunct Uranus in the 12th in Leo. These planets, in signs and in aspect to one another indicate inhospitality to life in the house of the womb (the 12th). Sexy as Leo and Aquarius woman may be, they are sometimes less effective mothers than cats, as Rhett Butler observed of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, though most of us would probably cast Scarlett as an Aries.

At any rate these are both yang signs and not comfortable in the uroboric 12th house. The 12th house, Ascendant and 1st house can be read as the personal birth process. In this context, the 12th house is the gestation time, the Ascendant is the moment of birth and the 1st house is new physical form and its first experiences breathing, seeing, using the five senses, etc.

Uranus in the 12th house (the womb) can often signify a difficult pregnancy such as the kind where a woman has to stay in bed for the last 3 months lest she abort. Uranus is one of the indications of abortion, depending on other factors.

Next there is Saturn in Aquarius in the 6th house, a similar and reciprocal theme. Nothing grows here either. Saturn in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, in this context reminds me of the original myth of Saturn who castrated his father Uranus/Chronos. Generation cannot take place beside castration. As you remember, Uranus destroyed (devoured) his own children because they were ugly to him.

Chronos by Peter Paul Rubens

Chronos by Francisco Goya

The 6th house in this context, ruled by Aquarius and tenanted by Saturn, might be considered a body that would be inhospitable to a fetus, that might reject it in a confused auto-immune reaction. In other words, it might "fight off" the fetus as a foreign body, not recognizing it as kindred in flesh.

Moon in (yang) Libra is classically barren and it is in the house of the physical body and the five senses, the 2nd. Libra here indicates a fleeing from the imperfections of the flesh, as a Libran Venus (idealistic perfection or the courtesan) differs from a Taurus Venus (earthy or the prostitute).

LIBRAN AND TAURUS aspects of VENUS

Idealistic or perfected Libran "Venus"

Taurus "Venus" emphasizes the flesh
and earthy bodily processes and desires

Pluto in Virgo on the Ascendant suggests a physical body that could reject life. It could also be that this person had a near-death experience just after birth ... trouble breathing, congenital problems, etc. or the mother might have nearly died.

The Sun, which is in Cancer, is in the 11th house, which refers back to Uranus. The North Moon Node is also in the 11th house, suggesting a path away from children (away from the 5th house).

Indeed, this woman is in her fifties and never married or had children.

In this chart, then, I would read Venus/Uranus as issues regarding difficulty being birthed and/or difficulty giving birth. The reasons for these difficulties would be karmic and buried long ago in the past of the family. This woman is working out family issues regarding birth, nurturing and children. While she is doing this, she does not need to have children herself. Her orientation toward this is a search for higher knowledge.

The reasons for this would have to be taken in a full reading of the chart which I am not doing in this article. The fact that this chart is not conducive to childbirth is descriptive, not judgmental. This person is being pointed in another direction. Despite the prejudices of our society toward having families and raising children, we are not all by any means here on earth to reproduce or breed.

In exchange, this person has been given a strong will and the ability to nurture abstract concepts and ideas. She has a tremendous capacity to grapple with what is not embodied :-) i.e., with sheer energy. Indeed, she has made a very successful career of this, healing others with her understanding of space and energy

Chart C - click to see larger version

Chart C has Venus in the 12th house in Aries together with the North Node in Taurus.

The difficulty of the 4th house in this chart catches my eye immediately. This individual has so much personal family karma it is difficult to imagine them having time for anything else! Right away, I want to know all about the father and the father's father (4th house).

In some readings, I use Lois Rodden's interpretation of the 4th, 8th and 12th houses as wealth. I invited Rodden to my bookstore in the 90's, The Magic Bookstore in National City, California, to do some private readings. Rodden specialized in financial readings and I had one with her.

The earth houses, 2nd, 6th and 10th represent our ability to "make a living", get a paycheck, earn money, have personal income and take care of our day to day financial responsibilities. But "real" wealth -- where you don't have to ask the price of something -- is represented in the water houses, according to Rodden.

This person has a sorely afflicted 4th house, a terrific 8th house (ruled by Sagittarius and containing a beautifully aspected Jupiter) and a very promising 12th house, ruled by Taurus and containing Venus in Aries and the North Node in Taurus.

For one thing, with the Nodes, this person is supposed to stop the compulsive daily routines of Scorpio in the 6th (with Neptune there, no less) and move into the vast waters of abundance found with Taurus in the 12th.

This person is specifically to forsake self-destructing, focusing on the minutia of a frenetic little routine, anal compulsive over analysis, analysis paralysis and perhaps even the delusion of Neptune, which never fulfills its promises (the 6th house)! The ruler of the 10th house is posited in the 2nd house and there they are to forsake the instability and erratic surprises of Uranus in the 2nd -- they can't rely on "income" per se. Instead, in the 12th house they find sustenance and the wealth of Agamemnon.

I would read this chart as a necessity to correct the family karma regarding wealth and the trappings of wealth. It looks like the family has a history of royalty or very regal aristocracy such as the boyars in Russia. Their is difficult karma to overcome, Perhaps ancestors paraded their wealth. Perhaps they squandered it. Perhaps they were lured to their deaths by it.

At any rate, in this lifetime, this person is here to redeem the family jewels. This person is here to establish that money can be earned, saved, invested and reinvested intelligently, peacefully and perpetually. In this case, Venus in Aries is the desire that drives this person to make this a personal goal.

Chart D - click to see larger version

The thing that first strikes me about Chart D is the Piscean/Neptunian "flavor". Venus is in the 12th house. The Moon is conjunct Jupiter, both in Pisces. Neptune sits on the angle in the same house as the North Node, both things giving it importance.

But there is also a Venutian influence to this chart which includes, importantly, both its Taurus and Libran aspects.

On the Taurus side, Venus is in its own sign in Taurus. Saturn is in the 2nd house (associated with the Taurus aspect of Venus).

On the Libran side, the North Node is in the 7th house (associated with Libra). Uranus and Pluto are in Libra.

In addition, Venus herself in this chart sits midway between Jupiter and Mercury balancing the higher and lower minds. Jupiter brings the Moon into this dialogue by conjunction and Mercury brings Saturn as well. So Saturn and the Moon are protected and included just inside the trine formed by Jupiter and Mercury of which Venus is the fulcrum.

There is a very special relationship between the Moon and Saturn, an esoteric association based on the progression of the Moon around the birth chart in concert with the transit of Saturn. [Dane Rudyhar] When together, the Moon and Saturn symbolize the most vulnerable members of the human family, the very young and the very old. This theme is in turn echoed in Saturn's placement in Cancer in this chart. Mercury, the young aspect of the Mind accompanies elderly Saturn and Jupiter, the sage aspect of the Mind accompanies the baby Moon. Here we see more subtle balancing going on. The concept of balance is ruled by Venus in her Libran aspect.

Click here to review the Libran and Taurus aspects of Venus.

When polarized, Taurus and Libra can represent Beauty and the Beast or a couple like Christy Brinkley and Billy Joel.

the perfect Libran beauty
fair, symmetrical, perfect form and balance
[photo from free-celebrity website]

Brinkley has the perfected or "ideal" symmetrical beauty of Libra while Joel holds up the earthy, chthonic Taurean end of the polarity. The fact that this combination is glorified in a myth that continues to fascinate us through the ages is no surprise. Beauty and the Beast is re-told again and again because it strikes a chord in our psyches. These two are the perfect pair: "beautiful" Libra and "beastly" Taurus, both ruled by Venus. You may experience a negative mirror of this in the chart of Adolf Hitler, the Man Who Would Be an Artist, who has Sun in Taurus with Libra Rising.

There is no judgment meant here by attributing the word "beast" to Taurus. It is poetically descriptive and not judgmental. For a greater understanding of the bestial aspects of Taurus, also connected with the split in Medieval Catholicism which makes all things of the flesh, the earth and the body bestial and "lesser" than the exalted ideals of the intellect, such as ruled by Libra, see Liz Greene's discussion of the Sun Sign myths in The Astrology of Fate. In her book, Greene gives a primary myth for each of the Sun Signs. The myth she associates with Taurus is the myth of the Minotaur, a creature engendered by the unnatural love of King Minos' wife for a bull. In this myth King Minos, the Minotaur and the hero Theseus all represent an aspect of Taurus. (mino = Minos + taur = bull)

Greene sums it up her section on this myth with wisdom from the Buddhist religion, "Do not slay the bull, but learn to dance with it in a deepening pattern of mutual respect, so that the bull becomes more human and the human more animal." This is, in fact, one of the mediating roles of the goddess Venus or Aphrodite as she is called in Greek mythology.

Aphrodite is paired in myth with Hephaistos, the smith god, whom she cuckolds constantly in an early version of the Beauty and the Beast pair. Hephaistos was misshapen and unwanted. His mother cast him from the heavens in shame.

Venus and Vulcan
by Bartholomaeus Sprang, Flemish c. 1600

The Libran aspect of Venus is represented in Greene's book by the myth of Paris (for the young Libran) and Teiresias (for the mature Libran). Paris as you recall, made the judgment for Zeus as to who was fairest, Aphrodite, Hera or Athena. A portion of his story is retold in the recent movie, Troy. That's the same Paris, later in his life.

Teiresias was asked to settle a quarrel between Zeus and Hera as to who had more pleasure in sex, men or women. He was uniquely suited to do this for reasons from his past. [Email me if you would like to take a guess as to what he said and I'll tell you if you're right.]

Both men suffered greatly for their choices. Although Paris tried to get out of his position and then made all three goddesses swear they would not seek vengeance, as soon as he chose Aphrodite, Hera and Athene went off together to plot the Trojan War in revenge. In Teiresias' case, he was blinded. Notice, too, that both men were forced to make a decision or judgment which no god would touch with a ten foot pole! This is typical of the life path of many a Libran who must chose under impossible conditions. The peppy little metaphysical buzz word "win-win" is not to be frequently found in the Libran lexicon.

Paraphrasing Greene here, the judging faculty of Librans is their great strength but they also have the awareness that in making an ethical choice, which comes from their ego, they will let loose an equal and opposite force in their psyche which will give life to the choice not made -- and with a vengeance. Greene believes the indecisiveness characteristic of this sign is really a reflection of their awareness of what any choice will cost them and their reluctance to suffer the consequences. The dynamic is inherent in the choice making process but it is the acute awareness of the penalty to be paid which is uniquely Libran.

One of the roles of the goddess Aphrodite is to mediate between the Taurus and Libran aspects of Venus. Aphrodite does this because her legendary acceptance of pleasure is universal. She does not differentiate between -- and will gladly fill any role -- prostitute, courtesan or wife, as long as the pleasure is her's.

There is another way to mediate between the Taurus and Libran aspects of Venus and that is to draw the ideal down into reality through some mediating form such as art or sculpture.

We have looked at what happens when Taurus and Libra are polarized but what is the result when they are harmonized or synchronized? I think that is what this chart is all about.

Now let's look at the other half of this chart. Here is a simplified diagram of Chart D.

We have been discussing the planets included in the trine between Jupiter and Mercury with Venus in Taurus at the fulcrum. These planets are on the eastern hemisphere and are passive or neutral inner planets, none past Saturn. The planets included are Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

There is a compensating or balancing trine in the western hemisphere which includes Neptune to Mars with Pluto in Libra at its fulcrum. Mars sits at one end of the trine which includes the outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Venus acts as a fulcrum in the eastern hemisphere. Pluto acts as a fulcrum in the western hemisphere. Intuitively, this creates a special relationship in this chart between Venus and Pluto as they are both fulcrums of corresponding trines. They happen each to be in a Venus-ruled sign. Venus is in Taurus. Pluto is in Libra. They have no other relationship to each other in this chart but this esoteric one. Yet I believe this contributes to an understanding of how to interpret this chart. Pluto is in the 5th house which will prove to be "informing" later in the discussion.

FULCRUM

All ten planets are within these two trines. The North Node is outside this pattern as is the Midheaven but these are not planets. This is significant, too, and will be discussed later.

One of my reasons for reading this chart as a synchronization is the emphasis on higher energies. The Sun is trine Uranus in Libra. The Moon is in Pisces conjunct Jupiter in the 11th house. Neptune is on the angle in Sagittarius. This calls for a "higher octave" reading.

I am referring to some of the ways in which you begin to perceive the soul of the person you're reading for. Two people can have the exact same chart but the underlying soul will not be the same.

When both the Taurus and Libran aspects to Venus are highlighted in a chart like this, we are involved with bringing things into form in a beautiful or aesthetic, harmonizing way. Images of Pygmalion come to mind or ancient sculptures of the goddess Venus ... perhaps some of Michelangelo's work.

David by Michelangelo

To me, sculpting is the perfect mediation between Taurus and Libra. Michelangelo's chart involves Aries/Libra and Taurus. The statue of David is generally considered to be the most perfect representation of a male human figure in the history of the world. This makes it the very embodiment of Libran ideals. Here is a detail from David. When visiting the statue, you will never get this perspective, by the way.

In contrast, here is his self-portrait of Michelangelos as the earthy god Bacchus.

Michelangelo's hands are very Taruean. Imagine how strong and how sensuous the hands of a sculpture like this must be. Here is another of Michelangelo's masterpieces. Contrast its ideal nature with the physical appearance of its Creator.

The Dying Captive by Michelangelo

With this chart, I'd like to go further before giving the meaning of Venus because its meaning in this chart is such an integral part of its relationship to the whole.

There is another kind of balancing going on here, in the Gemini Sun and its opposition to the North Node in Sagittarius. Gemini is the sign of dualities, among the most often considered, the duality of good vs. evil. It is Gemini's ability to manipulate opposites that makes it the Magician or Magi of the Zodiac. In addition, the reconciling of opposites pairs it up with the other "two-world" signs, Libra and Pisces, both of which are prominent in this chart.

The opposition of Sun to North Node, the conjunction of Sun with South Node, is an aspect of a Libran nature. It indicates that this person has at the same time, important new work to do and important old work to do from former lives. The opposition aspect suggests a Libran theme as well and it takes place across the 1st/7th (Aries/Libra) house axis.

Gemini sees both sides of the coin. Libra knows that every decision for white means an equal and opposite reaction from black. (Libra rules the concept of karma ... see Emerson's Essay on Compensation for a very fine discussion of karma from this perspective.) Pisces lives in two worlds, this one and the divine.

Here is another parallel or mirror image in the crystal foundation of Chart D. The Sun in Gemini is the planet that is out of aspect in the eastern hemisphere. It is trine the only planet that is out of aspect in the western trine, Uranus.

This is a chart about communicating (Sun in Gemini) something positive, enlightening and philosophical (North Node in Sagittarius) to another person (7th house) and as everyone knows, anything said to a person in the 7th house is something that should be listened to very carefully by the tenant of the 1st house :-) This theme is echoed as Jupiter, which rules Sagittarius, accompanies the Moon in the 11th house and Saturn is accompanied by Mercury, which rules Gemini in the 2nd, both having to do with communication. The holder of this chart is taking a graduate review course this lifetime.

This chart is about spreading the gospel. I mean gospel in the pure sense of its derivation from the Greek word euangelin, meaning good + news. This is a chart about spreading the good news.

And what is this good news that is to be shared? I believe it is very profound. Let's explore the symbolism inherent in this chart a little further for there is another use to Gemini that is mystical, magical, potent and transformational.

The split between the Taurus and Libran aspects of Venus was set forth very early in our collective lives in the philosophy of Plato. Libra, for example, embodies the ideal of Platonic love. This kind of love was elevated by Platonists because it was supposed to be more pure, more sublime, a sublimination of base desire. It did not involve the messy, smelly, instinctual body.

Marsilio Ficino was a Florentine philosopher and astrologer in the late 1400's, who had a tremendous influence on later thinkers. I am going to quote from a few pages the chapter called Fate and Transformation from Liz Greene's The Astrology of Fate. I recommend that you read the whole chapter ... indeed, the whole book.

Liz Greene quotes Ficino's formula for changing one's fate on page 122: "The force of fate does not penetrate the mind unless the mind of its own accord has first become submerged in the body, which is subject to Fate ... Every soul should withdraw from the encumbrance of the body and become centred [sic] in the mind, for then Fate will discharge its force upon the body without touching the soul."

In other words, to avoid your fate, generally assumed to be negative, you should free your mind from attachment to worldly things. This is straight Platonic doctrine and it is similar to many eastern religions and has accompanied western man for many centuries in his travels through religion and philosophy. It represents a split between the ideal and the real, the sacred and the profane, which is echoed in our art, culture, religion, law and in the individual psyches of each of us. This split, says Greene, "poses enormous problems". The split is symbolized by the Taurus and Libran aspects of Venus as well as by Beauty and the Beast, the virgin and the whore, the spirit and the body....

Greene continues several pages later, "Once [Ficino] had got his hands on the Corpus Hermeticum, [a compilation of Gnostic and hermetic texts from centuries earlier -- click to browse and order from a selection I recommend at amazon.com], he was convinced that image [or imagination] had the power to alter or mediate the effects of planetary fate on the physical plane. Here we are in the terrain of analytical psychology, where the symbol has an almost magical capacity to mediate between the blind world of instinct and the rational world of the ego through a transformation of libido or psychic energy."

Her statement here correlates with the esoteric knowledge that symbols are realities on the higher plane.

Greene repeats a similar assertion on page 127, "To Ficino, a bad transit began to emerge as a kairos, a right moment when a new relationship might be made with fate through what he called 'natural' magic."

To summarize her assertions, Greene proposes that for Ficino, as for his master Plato, the real world was not the corporeal one, but the world of ideas, eidolos, or, as Jung might put it, the archetypes of the collective unconscious. On page 130 she explains, "There are different levels at which fate can [enact] itself in our lives. These different levels are perhaps intimately connected with the inner attitude of the individual and with his relationship, or lack thereof, with the world of images and symbols....

"Symbolic products of the unconscious hold the borderland between the formal world of the archetypes and the daylight world of consciousness. These images are the "stuff" in between, the anima mundi or soul of the world. They and their ground of psychic substance fall under the governorship of Hermes, lord of borders and roadways and crossroads, who in alchemy is called Mercurius.... Work on this stuff in accordance with one's natal pattern, suggests Ficino, and one builds the connecting link ... between God and his creation, between Ideas and corporeal reality, between archetype and instinct, between freedom and fate."

A kairos, or "right moment when a new relationship might be made with fate through what is called 'natural' magic is commonly referred to as transformation or healing and the reason I am quoting this material is that I believe the lady with Chart D is someone who can work this magic. Natural magic is somewhat akin to ritual but not necessarily embodied in any physical form. Ritual is ruled by Taurus.

Let me explain.

All of Chart D is involved with the split between the ideal and the real. We see that in the dual representations of Venus, the mirroring of aspects and patterns between the eastern and western hemispheres, the inner vs. outer planets, the Sun opposing the North Moon Node across the 1st and 7th houses, Saturn in the 2nd house and Venus/Pluto in Venus-ruled signs at the fulcrum of the two triangles.

The Sun in Gemini now seems to be a reflection of Hermes, Mercurius and the borderland territory of symbols Greene has referred to as an integral part of the magic that heals -- the symbolic magic that heals. The Sun rests within the triangle bordered by Jupiter (symbols) and Mercury (aka Hermes, Mercurius).

In addition, Mercury accompanies Saturn in Cancer in the 2nd house.

Let's look for a moment at one of the more important roles of Mercury, that of the psychopomp or Guide of Souls in the Underworld because the ritual (Venus in Taurus) this lady will perform is transformational (Venus is paralleled by Pluto in Libra in the second triangle and represents a trip to the underworld, the kind of "bad transit" that brings back the gold). It is Pluto that aspects the Midheaven positively. Venus does not.

The most familiar myth that describes Mercury's role as Guide to the Underworld, is one of the most important and oft reproduced myths in the western world, that of Orpheus and Eurydice. Almost every early opera had this theme, Marcel Camus treated it in his award winning 1959 movie Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus).... Please put "Orpheus and Eurydice" in a search engine, press "images" and see how many artists have chosen it for a theme.

Read more about Mercury's role as Guide to the Underworld.

It is Mercury that mediates between the conscius and the unconscious minds. This is a sub-liminal or threshhold experience along with other magical "places" such as dusk and dawn, standing in the doorway, and following the yellow brick road. For an absolutely unparalleled rendering of the magic of threshhold experiences, rent LadyHawke for an evening.

LadyHawke with Michelle Pfeiffer
(Pfeiffer looking particularly Libran here)

Although my favorite mediator is sculpture and other forms of art, the threshhold that Mercury guides us across is horizontal not vertical. Mercury leads from one aspect of the mind to another, crossing back and forth from the world of the unconscious to the world of the conscious, sort of like a living symbolic corpus callosum. The mediating principle in this case is symbols. When Mercury in this Chart D sits next to Saturn and trines Jupiter in Pisces, we have a Psychopomp (psyche = souls + pomp = sender). Mercury took Souls to the Underworld and on at least one important occassion, took them back. That is the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

In this context, it is interesting to ask about the meaning of or use of Saturn in Cancer in the 2nd house. Normally Saturn is the wound. In this chart, I am going to read it as the gift. Saturn in the 2nd house relates to the body, to giving form to things, to the Taurean aspect of Venus and to those very characteristics that so offend the Libran, smelly, messy bodies full of instinctive drives, hair, sweat, bodily fluids and enslaved by the five senses -- also trapping us into our fate if you refer back to Ficino.

Thorwald Dethlefsen has said something similar when he reminds us in The Challenge of Fate that the ancient Norse word for "fate" is the same as the word for "sexual organs". He states that the front of our bodies and the way we present them to people are the map for our life. You can think about this, knowing that you have the perfect body to accomplish what you came here for. You can transform your body as well and thus your fate.

Learn more here about Thorwald Dethlefsen.

It may help now to remember Saturn's esoteric association with Binah of the Kabbalah, called "Understanding" and ruling the Queen cards of the Tarot deck. On the Tree of Life, The Magician, a Mercury ruled trump card leads to Binah from Kether, the Crown, and The Lovers, another Mercury ruled card, is one of the paths leading from Binah. It leads to Tifereth, the center of the Divine Suns/Sons.

Saturn in Cancer combines the nature of Saturn, which is to take physical form, with the archetye of the mother, which is to bestow physical form,in the sense that it is our mother who gives us our physical body. Saturn in Cancer could be read symbolically as "the Mother" or "She Whose Body Gives My Body Form". In the 2nd house, it suggests a ritual or initiation of descending into flesh, indeed the very act of incarnating. Saturn, always the Initiating Priest, could be construed in this sense as bringing a Soul into a body, especially because he is accompanied here by Mercury, who is the Guide of Souls.

By itself and at a certain mundane level, Saturn in Cancer in the 2nd house might be read as "low self esteem" or "money problems" or "inability to nurture oneself emotionally or materially". But in this chart, read as the "Gift Back", the enlightened Saturn, it is the ability to bestow these two things upon others, the material and the emotional. Saturn gives the body and Cancer nurtures the Soul.

The mundane use of this energy might be simply to give birth but if you look at this Chart D, Pluto in the 5th house in Libra is a constraint against the literal giving of birth -- creating a real child -- because Pluto rules destruction not creation and idealistic Libra in the 5th house says, "Let's don't and say we did!" This planet Pluto is instead used for the kind of transformation Ficino refers to and a spiritual child is created with the union of body and Soul, healing that troublesome split in our western psyches.

Another constraint against reading this as literal childbirth is that Venus in Taurus in the 12th squares the Midheaven (the place in the chart which represents "mother"). Venus says, "Let's create but not that way. Let's create in the womb of the 12th house ... let's create something in the oceanic womb of the Goddess, something timeless, placeless, let's make something of the Soul." This image reminds me of Crowley's Devil trump card. Here you see the endengering capability of Saturn expressed symbolically with the same transgender aspect that Binah in the Kaballah has.

The Devil Card (Saturn/Capricorn)
from the Crowley Deck of Thoth

This is the meaning of Venus in this chart I believe. But I would like to tie it in with the Gemini Sun and Sagittarius North Node.

The Moon square the North Node repeats this theme. This aspect says, "Whatever the Moon is normally about, it is at cross purposes with your path in life, i.e., it will pull you off your path to be a mother." The woman with this chart cannot have a conventional definition of herself as a woman. She must be like Venus, Aphrodite herself, with her universal acceptance of the feminine. If anything, Venus intercepted in the primordial 12th house demands that she be closest to the very ancient Goddesses such as Inanna, with her dual nature in Erishkegal or Anat Supreme Goddess of the Ugaritic pantheon.

Another image that suggests itself at this point is Birth of Venus, aka "Venus on the Half-Shell". Painted by Sandro Botticelli, a contemporary of Ficino, this is probably one of the best known and best loved paintings in the western world but it depicts a very chthonic event. Venus was experiencing a sort of dark reversal of parthenogenesis, being born from the severed genitals of Uranus when he was castrated by his son, Saturn also called Chronos (who has morphed into Father Time). This Venus is much closer to the earlier goddesses such as Inanna, who were destroyers every bit as much as they were creators.

[Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus. There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over the waves of the loud-moaning sea in soft foam, and there the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously. They clothed her with heavenly garments: on her head they put a fine, well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced ears they hung ornaments of orichalc and precious gold, and adorned her with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white breasts, jewels which the gold- filleted Hours wear themselves whenever they go to their father's house to join the lovely dances of the gods. And when they had fully decked her, they brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when they saw her, giving her their hands. Each one of them prayed that he might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so greatly were they amazed at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea.]

So how will this person use her Saturn in Cancer? I believe with the help of Mercury, the Psychopomp, at her side, she will take or guide Souls into bodies and transform fates in the way Ficino describes. Her Pisces Moon gives her the imagination or images required. Jupiter helps the Moon by supplying the magical symbols. Sun and Mercury give the ability to mediate horizontally that Saturn and Venus give vertically. And Pluto in the 5th house becomes the kairos or moment of transformation.

The message or gospel then becomes, "Let me be the midwife to your Soul. Let me guide you over the threshhold of transformation, connect your Soul to your body, give you spiritual birth by healing this split which our culture has invested in for centuries. Let me ritually baptize you in the waters of the 12th house and send you forth redeemed into the world, washed anew and given second birth (Neptune on the Descendant) so that great beauty is born out of the ugliness that has resulted from centuries of severing the body from the Soul.

The eastern hemisphere triangle and its planets represent the ritual preparation for this initiation. One of the greater meanings of Taurus and the 2nd house is ritual.

The western hemisphere triangle and planets represent the initiation and projection back out into the world, driven by Mars in Leo in the 3rd house, culminating with Neptune on the angle in the 7th.

The Leo creative instincts are hooked up to the 3rd house which is a reiteration of Mercury as mediator.

The (re)birthing process begins with the eastern hemisphere triangle and Venus in the fulcrum as the Midwfe. Moving to the western hemisphere, the body is sculpted in the 5th house. The Soul is breathed into it or infused in the 6th (trine from Sun to Uranus). [Look at the west winds blowing on Botticelli's Venus. "Ruddy Zephyr" and "fair Chloris" appear to the left of Venus.

And in the 7th, the initiate is given back out into the world, with Neptune representing the images and Sagittarius the symbols of that very process described by Marsilio Ficino as natural magic.

As a final detail, Venus in Taurus in the 12th is intercepted, suggesting that it will not be used in the normal way. No house in this chart is ruled by either Taurus or Scorpio. All the outer planets in the western hemisphere triangle are retrograde, as well, suggesting the same. These outer planets must be used in abstract terms and to redo what has been done before, a theme with this chart that is repeated on many levels

This is a highly symbolic interpretation of Chart D but I believe it deserves nothing less. The highest point in the chart, Moon/Jupiter in Pisces is a very close description in astrological symbolism of this statement by Ficino in this paragraph: he was convinced that image (or imagination) -- [this is represented by Moon/Jupiter in Pisces the alpha and Neptune in Sagittarius, the reciprocal omega] -- had the power to alter or mediate the effects of planetary fate on the physical plane -- [Saturn in Cancer]. Here we are in the terrain of analytical psychology, where the symbol -- [Jupiter] -- has an almost magical capacity to mediate - [Sun in Gemini and Mercury] -- between the blind world of instinct -- [Taurus] -- and the rational world of the ego -- [Libra] -- through a transformation of libido or psychic energy -- [Pluto in the 5th house]."

The holder of this chart is a Spiritual Initiating Priest/Priestess who, in a form of ritual baptism, infuses Souls into the bodies of those who approach for her assistance. These are the children of the Goddess' womb, the oceanic depths of the 12th house. In this context, Venus in Taurus in the 12th house is the fulcrum of the creative triangle on the eastern hemisphere of the chart which might be considered the anvil upon which the hammer of the western hemisphere triangle beats mercilessly, driven by Mars in Leo square Uranus, to create a transformed creature of ineffable beauty at the exact ment of kairos, Pluto in the 5th house

As a final dispositor to the chart, both triangles and all planets fall within a T-square between the two reciprocal planets who set the tone for this chart, Jupiter in Pisces and Neptune in Sagittarius ... images and symbols. The Sagittarian arrow rises from outer rim of the 7th house, pointing upward and to the right, suggesting progess and evolution.

The woman whose chart this is, by the way, is as beautiful as Botticelli's Venus.

You can see that there are many different ways to interpret Venus and the 12th house. Always use your intuition. Take in your full first impression of the chart and the majority energy present, then begin to shape your interpretation. In my astrology classes, I explain to my students that they are to make a hypothesis and then keep testing it. The correct hypothesis, as in scientific research, is the one that is the simplest and that accounts for the most variables.

Ultimately, you will be able to test your hypothesis when your client arrives for their reading.

If you're a beginner, it's also important to remember how little most people know themselves. If they deny your hypothesis, keep an open mind. You could still be correct though they haven't the self awareness to accept it. Sometimes time reveals the answer and sometimes you will just never know. But I'm saying this so that you never lose confidence in yourself. Just do your best!

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Here are some books if you're interested in learning more about The Hermetica. These are quality books on the topic by the best authors. Some other books that purport to be on this topic are imaginative and even spurious, so please choose from among these instead.

Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, With Notes and Introduction by Brian Copenhaver

The Way of Hermes:
New Translations of The Corpus Hermeticum and The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius by Clement Salaman

Corpus Hermeticum by Hermes Trismegisto

Hermetica: The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings Which Contain Religious or Philosophic Teachings Ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus : Notes on the Corpus hermeticum (Hermetica) by Sir Walter Scott