Mixed Messages

In my chart right now, I have 7 (count ‘em 7) transits, progressions, or solar return aspects affecting the astrological markers for hormones and female identity. I thought I’d talk a little bit about my own at the moment rather complicated chart as a way of addressing something that frequently happens in life–mixed messages.

At the moment, the Moon in my chart is getting messages from (is in aspect to) Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune. And they’re not all the same messages. Some aspects are stressful; others are considered less so. Some are indicative of stimulating activity, some indicative of dissolving or winding down activity. Some messages are expansive, and some are restrictive.

Meanwhile, Venus in my chart is in conversation with Jupiter, Uranus, progressed Venus, and the Moon. The messages involved in these conversations are similarly mixed. Uranus conjunct Venus is not a particularly mild aspect, while progressed Venus sextile natal Venus usually is. Not to mention that Mars is stirring things up, both in aspect to my moon, and by affecting my 6th house, while Saturn is affecting both my 6th house and my Ascendant. In addition, I have a fairly major progressed aspect going on involving my sun (core identity).  

This kind of complexity (several different kinds of charts, a plethora of contradictory aspects) is what makes astrology seem very very complicated when you’re first learning it. But the real life situation is perhaps not so exotic. Put bluntly, my poor female reproductive hormones (Moon and Venus) do not know what the heck to do with themselves these days. This is not surprising biologically given the fact that I am a baby boomer and hormonal fluctuations do occur for women in their ‘third age.’

In real life, my hormones are expanding (Jupiter), dissolving (Neptune), being activated (Mars), on a rollercoaster (Uranus), implicated in a transitioning sense of identity (sun progression), all while affecting my self-image (Ascendant) and my health (6th house). I have in my chart what I would consider to be astrological markers for insomnia (excitable Uranus affecting the 12th house of sleep and dreams) and erratic periods, while Mars square Moon has been shooting sporadic bursts of energy (adrenaline) into my system (and I can really feel it!), and creating periodic hot flashes. Meanwhile, transits to the 6th house and Mars have also shown up within the last two months as a broken tooth, a chest wall inflammation, and an ear infection. It’s as though my body is burning down, falling apart, and exploding with stressful change. So…what to make of all this activity, astrological and physiological?

Well, let’s break it down a little. The solar return aspects and the progressions have multiple meanings which have been playing out on a variety of subtle levels throughout my solar year. It’s been fascinating and something of a joy to watch them evolve and take on new shadings of insight as they go through their rather leisurely process through time. It is only when major transits become exact (within a degree) that a crisis around a latent theme (in my case hormones) emerges full-blown. For me, a number of transits happened to kick into gear this fall, precipitating something of an onslaught of concurrent physical challenges.

This is frequently how things happen for my clients. Let’s say a client has her own underlying theme (with Venus and the moon implicated, it could be the desire for a love life). The theme will show up in various ways in her solar return chart, and in her progressed chart. The fifth house will show up, the 7th house will have some activity; there’ll be aspects with the moon, Venus or Neptune, or the ruler of the 5th or 7th houses will be involved in some configuration. Those aspects will be there for some time, sending messages in the background of the client’s life.

And then a major transit will trigger an explosion of awareness, distress and/or confrontation with the latent underlying theme. It will become quite important to the client to try to understand what’s happening. Is the person she’s attracted to going to reciprocate the attraction? Will she ever find love again? Is the person she’s involved with getting ready to leave? Is she fooling herself? Has she gotten herself entangled in the same old relationship, made the mistakes she swore she’d never make again? Multiple questions arise and the answer doesn’t seem clear. The background and transiting aspects are contradictory. Some seem to bode well for happiness; others look to spell doom. The client is not sure what message to believe.

In my male clients, such clusters of energy sometimes show up as patterns of small explosive (Mars energy) events. The car engine literally blows up on the freeway; the dog is mauled by a neighbor’s Rottweiler; the ex re-enters his life and makes an inflammatory announcement; the kids get in a fender-bender and crumple the car. Minor emergency room visits become par for the course. In the background of the minor events, major life issues and decisions are simmering. Yet the evidence on which the man would usually rely seems temporarily unreliable, and he’s not sure what to do. The messages seem mixed.

These periods of life–transitions, bumpy transitions–are tricky. It is as though the chaos in the charts mirror a person’s own need to sort things out. The charts (elements of a person’s psyche) are involved in an intense dialogue and negotiation process. Tendencies from the past (the natal chart) conflict with the information from the present (transiting and progressed planets). The person is undergoing a makeover of sorts, and although a makeover by definition improves things, the process of spiffing oneself up is often anything but pretty.

During such a time period, although the current messages seem mixed, the overall message is not at all. The big message is almost always this: you are undergoing a major life change. You will give up some things, and you will gain some other things you never had before. You will be reborn in some significant area of your life.

To paraphrase Bob Dylan, when you're getting mixed messages, you're not busy dying--you're busy being born.