Skyscript Astrology Forum

2019-2020 Profected ASC Taurus- Lord of the Year Venus

Venus, Lord of the Year in the Solar Return is conjunct transiting Jupiter in the natal 1st House in Sag.
This conjunction is not challenged much except for a wide separating square to Neptune and a Novile to the SR ASC ruler Mercury, a 9th Harmonic quality with the ability to think outside of the box.
Transits: Mars in Aries sat in the Profected 12th the whole year, sending good rays to the Venus/Jupiter in natal ASC. Challengers would be overcome by their own deed.
Solar Chart - Sag Venus/Jupiter conjunction is in the Solar 2nd House/ Profected 8th House
According to Act Blue (an organisation helping left movements to raise money, including the Democrats) Small-dollar donors made Q3 2020 the biggest quarter in ActBlue’s history by all metrics:
6.8 million unique donors gave 31.4 million contributions, with an average contribution of $47.07, to 14,223 campaigns and organizations for a total of $1.5 billion.
Let's look at the Solar Return ASC Virgo- Ruler Mercury
Mercury, SR Ruler is conjunct natal Mars (natal 12th/Profected 7th) in a Grand Trine with transiting Neptune and the NN. He did face nasty challengers in the ring. And he spent most of the year in his basement playing low-profile.

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2020-2021 Profected ASC Gemini - Lord of the Year Mercury

Mercury, Lord of the Year sits in the Profected 6th/Natal 12th conjunct natal Mars challenged by the transiting Uranus opposition.
Transits: There will be challenges from Jupiter/Saturn during the whole year and Mars in January prior to being sworn into office. It will be a constant fight to pass new legislations and civil unrest. Health is a concern.
Timeline: The 6th House Mercury/Mars position has already brought some indications when he broke his foot playing Tug of War with his dog.
Mercury will StationR at the end of January in trine with his Mercury/Mars
Again at the end of May, this time in his Profected 1st House. He should be cautious for his health at this time.
And last, at the end of September.
In his Solar Return, Mercury repeats itself on natal Mars but this timei it is right on the SR ASC in Scorpio, putting everything said above to the foreground.
Solar Chart: His profected year in Gemini falls in the natal Solar 8th. Enough said.
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I did not draw the Solar Returns according to Donald A. Bradley, which Robert Hand recommends. It is cast for the time the Sun occupies the exact point with reference to the fixed stars that it held in the birthchart. There is an option in Solar Fire, using the Precessed correction. It would be interesting to see if anybody as done some research on the matter.

Cheers!
Ouranos

Hi Ouranus - thanks for this analysis. That's very helpful. I've put the charts below, drawn in Planetdance, Jean Cremer's software, which can be downloaded at www.jcremers.com.

Joe Biden's Transits and Profections
Joe Biden's Solar Return 2020
This chart does show concerns for Biden's health: SR Mars on the cusp of the 6th (Porphyry), ruling the SR Ascendant, with Mercury rising ruling the 8th (profected 1st). SR Mars is in the bounds of Mercury (Egyptian) and SR Mercury is in it's own bounds. Natal Mars is on the SR ascendant. There seems to be a close relationship between Mercury and Mars in the SR and the unfortunate 6th and 8th houses.

SR Venus, ruler of the 12th house is in it's own sign in the 12th. Natal Saturn is close cusp 8th. To note, the directed MC is opposite natal Saturn.

Ed

Ouranus wrote:

I did not draw the Solar Returns according to Donald A. Bradley, which Robert Hand recommends. It is cast for the time the Sun occupies the exact point with reference to the fixed stars that it held in the birthchart. There is an option in Solar Fire, using the Precessed correction. It would be interesting to see if anybody as done some research on the matter.

Ouranus, you have discussed the tropical charts for Biden, and it would be very interesting to see the sidereal comparison as you suggested. With both tropical and sideral astrologers posting on this topic, we all have to begin labeling our posts Tropical or Sidereal or Tropical Precession Corrected. It's good that you noted that you're not following Robert Hand's method of precession correcting the tropical chart. That's an imporant point. I think this two-way zodiac/precession correction discussion is a good thing, long overdue in the astrological world.

The sidereal moderator, Martin Gansten, would be the perfect person to post the sidereal perspective on Joe Biden's charts as he has just published Annual Predictive Techniques of the Greek, Arabic, and Indian Astrologers which covers solar returns, profections and use of the terms.

I thought it would be interesting to look at Joe Biden’s 2919 solar return the way the Fagan/Bradley sidereal school would see it, and compare the interpretation to that of Ouranos. This gives us an idea of the differences between tropical and sidereal interpretation. With Fagan’s mothod, the angles and aspects to the angles are the keys to the SR chart.



This year was a very significant year for Biden as he was chosen as the presidential candidate for his party, and was elected president by popular vote just before his 2020 solar return checked in.

Ouranos wrote:

Venus, Lord of the Year [tropical profection lord] in the Solar Return is conjunct transiting Jupiter in the natal 1st House in Sag.

The significance of this sidereal year is shown by the natal MC falling on the ascendant of the SR chart with transiting Moon (Biden’s 9th lord) conjunct the MC. There is no avoidance for a very public year in this solar return. Exalted 9th house natal Jupiter is sextile the SR ascendant suggesting ultimate success for the year. (Using India’s methods, Biden’s natal Jupiter is flawless as it has a double exaltation using the navamsa.) Sun, lord of the SR ascendant, is conjunct fortuna and trine this natal Jupiter near the 11th SR cusp. The SR ascendant at 29 Leo points to an important transition year to a new stage of life.

Solar Chart - Sag Venus/Jupiter conjunction is in the Solar 2nd House/ Profected 8th House

According to Act Blue (an organisation helping left movements to raise money, including the Democrats) Small-dollar donors made Q3 2020 the biggest quarter in ActBlue’s history by all metrics:

It’s very interesting that this emphasis on Venus-Jupiter and Biden’s 2nd house is shown sidereally by this conjunction on the IC angle. In Biden’s natal chart these planets are in his 2nd house of finances. He did do very well with campaign contributions in this solar year as Ouranos pointed out.

Profections
Just this year I’ve started to study profections and have yet to read Martin Gansten’s chapter on profections in his new book. So taking a stab at profections, Mars is the lord of Biden’s 2019 profection which is natal Aries containing 9th lord Moon and Fortuna. Transiting Uranus is in the profected 1st house conjoining natal Moon. The profected ascendant is in the 9th house (sign) of the solar return, an ancient house representing royalty or the king.

Let's look at the Solar Return ASC Virgo- Ruler Mercury
Mercury, SR Ruler is conjunct natal Mars (natal 12th/Profected 7th) in a Grand Trine with transiting Neptune and the NN. He did face nasty challengers in the ring.

This transiting Mars (profection lord) is in the profected 7th house of the opponent, and opposing natal Moon and transiting Uranus. So this sidereal position of Mars is symbolically correct for the bitterness and contention of the campaign period which continued up to the day of election. So (talking to myself) this supports the house position of the transiting profection lord, 7th in profection, 3rd in solar return with Mercury (attacks via communication). Aries, the profection for the year is Biden's natal 6th house sign, traditionally the house of enemies.

Astralwanderer,
Thank you for posting the charts. Nice visual post. May I ask you where you posted them? Great software!

Therese,
Thank you for your insights with the Fagan sidereal school. I have yet to come to term with the concept of Foreground, Middleground and Background with less or no emphasis on House rulership. I have the 1968 version of Bradley's book on Solar and Lunar returns and it is full of annotated remarks of my own in it. There is great value in his approach which need to be restored for future generations of astrologers.

Hi Ouranos - thanks for your feedback. The charts are hosted on imgur. I set up a free account a few years ago to hold charts for skyscript. Thanks for the positive comments about the software too. I was interested to post the charts when the methodology I coded for the Planetdance traditional astrology module seemed to replicate your own approach to these charts.

For reference here is Biden's 2019 SR.
This shows both SR Sun and SR Moon angular in the SR chart. Natal MC is in the SR ascendant sign, but not conjunct the SR ascendant degree.

All the best. Ed

Ouranos wrote:

Therese,
Thank you for your insights with the Fagan sidereal school. I have yet to come to term with the concept of Foreground, Middleground and Background with less or no emphasis on House rulership. I have the 1968 version of Bradley's book on Solar and Lunar returns and it is full of annotated remarks of my own in it. There is great value in his approach which need to be restored for future generations of astrologers.

The best book on Fagan school solar returns is Jim Eshleman's Interpreting Solar Returns (ACS Publications, 1979, 1985). Both Bradley's book and Eshleman's are old now by publishing standards. I feel that the methods of this sidereal school are too limited, so modify them for myself. I use houses and natal chart house rulers in sidereal returns. For the most part the few Fagan-Bradley school of astrologers left would eliminate some of the techniques in Bradley's book.

One idea I believe to be valid is noting which natal houses come to the angles in solar return charts. And also which natal planets fall on solar return house cusps. I really don't use the foreground-middleground-background way of viewing planets in solar returns.

One idea I believe to be valid is noting which natal houses come to the angles in solar return charts. And also which natal planets fall on solar return house cusps. I really don't use the foreground-middleground-background way of viewing planets in solar returns.

I do the same and drawing the SR the way you did with the Precessed correction puts the foreground in perspective.

One of the common mistake I see while dealing with Profections is people looking at it like as if it was something constantly moving and forgetting to look at the Solar Return which is the entrance point of the Year.
Like for Biden's SR 2019, just looking at the new Lord of the Year. In your sidereal approach, you pointed out the importance of the Moon with the natal MC falling on the Ascendant of the SR chart. I will consider it in my approach (again always being torn apart between tropical and sidereal!)
In the Tropical approach also, with Venus Lord of the Year conjunct transiting Jupiter in the natal 1st House... And we could stop our analysis right there! We have an overall picture of the year.
Like anything else, looking at the Lord of the Year and SR with the Angles, the Sun and the Moon will give a more detailed picture of the year to come.

Something else I look at also are the planets involved by decans.
The first decan representing the first 4 months of the Profected year
The 2nd decan the middle of the year.
And the 3rd decan the last 4 months.
Say for example, your natal or profected ASC is in the middle of a sign and is being hit in the SR by a planet profecting to hit, you can say that the event will happen mid-year. I don't use it as a rigid rule of thumb but I have noticed that early or late planets in a sign will oftentimes overlap from the previous year or the next one. But I still have to perfect the timing on this and of course, the transits can also be helpful.

One last comment, Why use the Natal and Solar Chart? I remember one of my first teacher in astrology who was using both and saying 'Because they both work!'
He was born with the 1940 Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Taurus in the 4th House. With help from his father, he built his own house from the conception to the roof. Typical to Earth energy and tradition, he integrated the architecture of the Medieval Templars with not even a single piece of metal in the structure, using instead mortises and tenons. Three levels, the basement with rough wood, the main floor with hand-work wood crowned by a cupola with a stain glass mandala gazing at the stars.
And I am tempted to rely on his wisdom!

Kind regards,
Ouranos

I've been away from home today, but will try to write a reply now.

Ouranos wrote:

One of the common mistakes I see while dealing with Profections is people looking at it like as if it was something constantly moving and forgetting to look at the Solar Return which is the entrance point of the Year.

I've always seen the solar return as the primary chart for the year, but that's because I didn't consider profections until recently. So I tend to see the profection as secondary and how it fits into the solar return. (I'm still experimenting on how the two work together.)

Like for Biden's SR 2019, just looking at the new Lord of the Year. In your sidereal approach, you pointed out the importance of the Moon with the natal MC falling on the Ascendant of the SR chart. I will consider it in my approach (again always being torn apart between tropical and sidereal!)

Although many (perhaps most?) astrologers tend to ignore the tropical/sidereal question with solar returns, I think it's critical to research the question because essentially the two return charts are very different from each other. Of course I studied this situation myself a long time and converted to the sidereal zodiac. But this comparison really needs to be put on the table and studied openly by astrologers, not just an isolated astrologer here and there working alone.

In the Tropical approach also, with Venus Lord of the Year conjunct transiting Jupiter in the natal 1st House... And we could stop our analysis right there! We have an overall picture of the year.

But what about the tone of the year and all the contention of the campaign? Do you mean that the Jupiter-Venus conjunction shows Biden's win of the election? But that was only at the very end of his solar year.

Something else I look at also are the planets involved by decans.
The first decan representing the first 4 months of the Profected year
The 2nd decan the middle of the year. And the 3rd decan the last 4 months.

This is something I haven't thought of at all!

One last comment, Why use the Natal and Solar Chart? I remember one of my first teachers in astrology who was using both and saying 'Because they both work!'

The solar return chart indicates the main emphasis and events of the year. How would you see this using only the natal chart?

He was born with the 1940 Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Taurus in the 4th House. With help from his father, he built his own house from the conception to the roof. Typical to Earth energy and tradition, he integrated the architecture of the Medieval Templars with not even a single piece of metal in the structure, using instead mortises and tenons. Three levels, the basement with rough wood, the main floor with hand-work wood crowned by a cupola with a stain glass mandala gazing at the stars.

Do you happen to have his birth data? He was obviously a very skilled and gifted carpenter. We need a lot more data on people who have special abilities.

Thanks!

Therese

Therese,
I understand very well your position on tropical/sidereal. It is like the debate, was Hitler a Taurus or an Aries. And since astrology is also an art, full of grey areas, it fosters our own delusions. I have spent so much time in my life trying to unlearn many things in astrology. A French author, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt wrote a book 'La Part de l'Autre'(The Other Part? or Half?) not sure it has been translated. It is a fiction about the life of Hitler he had been accepted at The School of Arts. Many years ago when I was doing consultations, I had this woman who would come to see me every now and then for a reading. She was an ex-nun and as soon as she would storm into my office, she would start talking about everything she had missed in her life and she was like a tsunami. There was no way I could interrupt her. At the end of the hour, hour and a half, with the chart reading left undone, she would tell me 'Keep doing astrology, you are very good at it'.

But what about the tone of the year and all the contention of the campaign? Do you mean that the Jupiter-Venus conjunction shows Biden's win of the election? But that was only at the very end of his solar year.

I would say yes. Popularity as he had like what, over 81 M votes. And Jupiter/Venus in the 3rd decan, at the end of the year.

The solar return chart indicates the main emphasis and events of the year. How would you see this using only the natal chart?

To be honest, I would not have ventured to tell him as a client that he would become President of the U.S. one day.
He does have the MC in Virgo in between the trine of Jupiter in Cancer and Sun/Venus/Mercury (Ruler of his MC) in Scorpio.
Ray Merriman is oftentimes talking about some supercharged degrees like between 15 to 19 degrees Virgo (where his MC falls), reason being because of the several slow planets conjunctions in the 60's which are unfolding in their cycles. And I have also noticed that major events affecting Humanity's collective conscious and unconscious are happening in the Mutable axis. September 11th, deaths of Lady Diana and Mother Teresa, the Internet just to name a few.

As for my first teacher of astrology, I have to retrieve his birth data, it is somewhere in a box. He was Capricorn with Sag rising with his Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in the 4th House. But he had a PHD in Philosophy so he was a teacher and carpenter was more like a hobby for him. It took him 10 years to build his house. Patient Earth energy!

I love reading your voice in this forum Therese.
Ouranos

Ouranos wrote:

I understand very well your position on tropical/sidereal. It is like the debate, was Hitler a Taurus or an Aries. And since astrology is also an art, full of grey areas, it fosters our own delusions.

This returns to the basic question: Is astrology a science or an intuitive tool which each astrologer crafts to his own design? Perhaps some of both. As for science I always return to a passage in Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi:

Sri Yukteswar, astrologer and spiritual master:

“The stars are about to take an unfriendly interest in you, Mukunda. Fear not; you shall be protected. In about a month your liver will cause you much trouble. The illness is scheduled to last for six months, but your use of an astrological armlet will shorten the period to twenty-four days.???

https://www.crystalclarity.com/autobiog ... hapter-16/

For those on the scientific side of the argument, today's practice of astrology is a plaything, and as you said, Ouranos, "it fosters our own delusions." Astrology may be a helpful counseling tool, but the scientific aspect is as yet undiscovered. Only individual efforts at research here and there support astrology as a science. The sad story is that even these efforts are basically ignored by astrologers who favor seeing astrology as an intuitive tool where "to each his own" is the norm.

Interesting story about your ex-nun client! Thanks for your kind words about my posts! I often wonder if anyone read them. But each of us has a small bit of wisdom to add to the astrological puzzle, so we have to keep trying.

Therese

You are right Therese. The more I have 'learned' in astrology, the more I have been confronted to my own ignorance. Yearning for knowledge should be accompanied by wisdom.
I just read an article this morning about the most prominent local astrologers and a review of their predictions for 2020.
It goes from 'An easier year than 2019' to 'Work hard and be pragmatic'. Another one goes on to say 'Our revenues will increase and for several years to come.' And the best one, relayed by France Presse Agency '« Trump, the destiny of a child in paradise who walks on a quiet road and who can overcome all obstacles’’!!!
By the way, I have received the book from Martin Gansten 'Annual Predictive Techniques' and I will go back to kindergarten remembering the quote from Lily Tomlin 'I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework'.

Cheers!
Ouranos