Frequently asked questions

Q: Isn’t it simplistic to say that you can divide everybody into twelve groups?

A: Well, we do say introvert or extrovert and that’s just two groups. :)

The ‘twelve group’ idea is based on Sun sign astrology, horoscopes, which are not astrology.

Sun sign astrology was popular because that was all most people knew about their chart. Now, with computers and the internet, it is easy to find out far more.

Back when I thought Sun sign astrology was all there was, I turned to numerology because astrology told me that I was a Capricorn Sun sign and I did not feel like a Capricorn. Ambitious, status-seeking? ph-h-h-t!

Eventually I did find out that while I did indeed have a Capricorn Sun sign, that Sun was buried in the 12th house, opposite Saturn/Mars, square Jupiter, inconjunct Uranus and Pluto. No wonder I didn’t feel like a Capricorn!

I found out that my Ascendant is Aquarius so I enjoy being kind of different.

My Mercury – how I think and speak – is Sagittarian, curious, ever the student, mostly optimistic and a tendency to go on and on and on.

My Mars – which should be my get-up-and-go is in Cancer, next to Saturn, which is like trying to drive with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake.

Pluto in Leo in the Seventh house – I am always attracted to the most powerful, egotistical person in the room. (I still remember hearing this and realizing that astrology was indeed for me!)

And then there’s the 12 houses and what they mean and all the aspects…

I have tried a few times to figure out the permutations and combinations of the possibilities in an astrology chart but I am too far past grade 12 math to remember how to do it.

So, it is far more than 12 groups and I really, really don’t understand how people get along without knowing this stuff about themselves.

Q: What are Sabian symbols?

A: Sabian symbols are a divination system channeled in 1925 by Marc Edmund Jones, a spiritualist astrologer and Elsie Wheeler, a clairvoyant medium. Mrs. Wheeler was handed 360 pieces of paper, one at a time, and asked to provide a symbol for each. Unknown to her, each paper was connected to one of the 360 degrees of the zodiac (30 degrees per sign). Noted astrologer Dane Rudhyar was one of the astrologers who worked with the symbols, delineating the patterns that he found in them.

The symbols are often handy when you are staring at a chart and nothing clicks. I have often used them for that purpose and also for a system of asking questions and seeing the ‘what’ of the matter, the ‘why’ of the matter, the conditions surrounding the matter and the final outcome.

Q: I don’t know what time I was born. Can I still get an astrology chart done?

A: There are a few important parts of the chart that you won’t know if you don’t have the time of birth (like the Moon sign and the Ascendant) but there is still a lot of information for you. Just one example: Mercury represents how you think and how you communicate with others. You may be a Gemini, a sign associated with a gift for communication but, if your Mercury is in Capricorn, you may have to work hard to become expressive or, with Mercury in Scorpio, you may choose to keep your thoughts very private.

To submit a question about astrology or numerology, e-mail me.