Hi all

An electional question. Setting up a chart for a wedding, all things look very good for 3 April 2008, 11.47 am, Salisbury, UK...

The moon's first aspect is trine to mars and it's final aspect is a conjunction with venus, after sextiling jupiter. venus and jupiter are angular, with jupiter conjunct the decendant. The sabian symbols seem pretty good. Cancer rising/cap dec should be fine, likewise moon pisces.

The malefics are hidden, the sun-moon midpoint conjuncts venus, and mars and venus are in trine. venus is parallel moon. Saturn makes a good applying aspect to jupiter.

The part of marriage conjuncts the woman's natal venus, and the part of love conjuncts the man's ascendant. Juno conjuncts his decendant, and psyche conjuncts his moon, while venus trines it. venus sextiles the woman's sun. Eros conjuncts the composite sun and MC.

The thing I would like your thoughts on is that the moon is waning in balsamic phase. Would all the positive stuff override this? I tend to think so. It seems the best chart of the period (15 March to 30 April) to me.

There is no moon aspect to saturn 7th ruler, but the moon saturn midpoint conjuncts the vertex axis..... ditto, obviously, between the 1st and 7th rulers as cancer is rising. There is no positive aspect between sun and moon - but neither is there a negative one.

Your thoughts?

Thanks :-)

Sorry, 11.45 am. Sabians better there for asc/dec :-)

Astrology can be frustrating. Electional astrology can be agonizing. I usually just give up, close my eyes and do what I was planning on doing. But that won?t stop me from commenting.

Cardinal Cancer on the Asc. is good for initiating things, but Cardinal signs are not known for making them last. The Moon as ruler of Cancer is in a cadent house, in shape-shifting Pisces and toward the end of its cycle. The Moon is hidden in the daylight and weakened by the Sun. The Moon?s last aspect is an opposition to peregrine retrograde Saturn (7th house ruler) and next applies to Mars, who is in fall in Cancer and in the 12th. But Mars is in the Asc. sign, so he?s in the 1st house in Whole Sign Houses. Even using Placidus, I think Mars in the Asc. sign is a troublemaker. He?s not so much weak as hidden and sneaky, and he?s square the 10th house Sun. I think it would be different if Mars were in Gemini. So, the Moon is separating from opposition to the peregrine retrograde 7th house ruler and is applying to a sneaky frustrated Mars ...

Venus, the natural significator of weddings, is strong in dreamy romantic Pisces, but it might be best to get her fastened down and secured a bit. Saturn is the accidental ruler of the 7th and weddings. Retrograde significators are said to be a real no-no. Jupiter conjunct the Desc. is in fall and at 6 minutes of motion is slowing down to turn retrograde. He?s in an earth sign, but I?m not sure how much stability there is in Cardinal Capricorn with ruler Saturn retrograde and in the cadent 3rd. Blessings from Jupiter will be limited.

Uranus right on the MC closely aspecting the ASC-MC axis? Uranus is the outer planet I have the most trouble ignoring. Wild, wacky and unpredictable ? that can make for an exciting marriage, but with all this unsteady Cardinal, Pisces and cadent energy?

No Sabian symbols, or midpoint contacts to the Vertex are going to help. The foundation is unstable. In fact, ignore all that silly stuff until you have the basics settled. Easier said than done.

Star,

The Moon decreasing in light is a worry - as the Moon's light decreases, then so do feelings.

The Sun at the Apex of a T Square from a perigrine Mars in Cancer in Detriment and a perigrine Jupiter in Capricorn, scores well being posited in Aries, Sign of exhaltation - could be to much of a good thing?

I think I would look for a time that would give more feelings and less aggravation.

Julie K

I also think that Uranus on an angle is reliably bad for relationships (and it?s more worrying here, since the Sun is square Mars in the 12th with the Moon next applying to Mars by aspect). If you can set this time back 15 mins, then at least you get Uranus off the MC and weak in the 9th. Venus and Jupiter are both then extremely close to the angles, and will help to set a more positive backdrop to everything else.

Thanks for your input, friends, all very useful. With moving Uranus further back into the 9th Jupiter then moves from 7th to 6th so it loses its place of great benefit. Not so?

I would have thought Venus being conjunct the MC would ground her sufficiently?

O dear... I will get my thinking cap back on!

I would see Jupiter as angular and '7th house'. The desc is at 22.57 Cap and Jup is at 20.47 Cap, so well within 5 degrees of the cusp and close enough to the descendant to be counted as on it.

Thanks Deb,

How much importance would you place on the waning moon in this scenario? It does make nice aspects

The matter of the waning Moon is interesting. In an electional chart some years ago, I saw the waning Moon as signifying that the couple getting married were almost middle-aged and had already lived together for over thirteen years. They were not starting something necessarily brand-new like a couple in their early twenties, or a relationship only recently formed.
Is this point relevant in this case?

That's an interesting observation pipedreamer. This couple are in their 50's and feel an inevitability - and yet no rush - about moving into marriage. More like just a natural progression I'd say.

Star,

The waning Moon may be appropriate with the older couple's wedding chart. Their 'feelings' would not have the passion of 20 to 30 year olds? Their needs are possibly more about true love and companionship?

Julie K

It's true, what a young couple want from marriage is quite different from an older couple, and yes I can see what you are both saying about the waning moon being not out of the question then. Thanks for your insight.