Llewellyn's Astro Update

Your birthday comes around once a year and it is a time for celebration and reflection for you. Astrologically, you also have a yearly Solar Return, which is determined from a new chart that is created when the Sun returns to the place it held degree-wise at your birth. It is a time for you to deal with new energies, through the placement of the Ascendant, Moon, and planet positions that are created in the Solar Return chart, and compared to your natal (birth) chart.

Through your yearly Solar Return you can learn how your emotional energies will play out for the coming year. In addition, you can determine the positive trends you should be able to look forward to, along with some of the challenges you might face in the year ahead.

A Solar Return is about astrological energies, the way those yearly energies are captured into your Solar Return chart, and the impact they will have on you, and your life, in the coming year. But there is another way you can interact with the astrological energies surrounding your birthday, and that is taking note of your half-year birthday.

It's interesting that a half-year mark is always a real watershed time for children, and they can't wait to say they are six-and-a-half, or ten-and-a-half, since they instinctively know they have passed a barrier, and are on their way to a new birthday, and a new age, while still holding on to the present time, and the age they currently are. Children have a lot of innate wisdom about life, and the feeling that something important occurs when they hit their half-year mark is one of them.

No matter what your actual age is, when you are at the halfway period between your past birthday and the one that is due to come to you, if you can spend some time reflecting on the energy of the day, you might discover some important lessons for yourself, and a few intriguing ideas may occur to you, ones that could be pathways for you, or tell you something about yourself.

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Maria Shaw's 2007 Summer Love Forecast

By: Maria Shaw

Aries--You're riding high with lots of romantic energy to burn, thanks to fiery mars in your sign between now and late June. It's as if nothing can deter you from finding Mr. or Miss Right. Sparks fly between you and a co-worker in June, but the real fireworks explode near the fourth of July, helping you both reveal your intimate, true feelings. If you meet a Sag, Leo or Aquarius, it's the real thing. Cancer or Capricorn? Consider it nothing more than a summer fling! Married Rams will find less stress on the home front this summer. You're actually working on the same page for a while. Enjoy the late summer when most of the harsher aspects have subsided, astrologically speaking, and you're back to your old selves again.

Taurus--Ruled by the planet Venus, it's no wonder everyone finds you so charming. And never more so than in the summer, your favorite time of the year. In July you'll be the first to apologize after a mars transit has your lover up in arms. Your logical down to earth advice helps you to find a common, middle ground. If you're single, the stars say you'll meet a gorgeous new love at the beginning of summer. However, it may take you weeks to get something going. Somebody's gotta get this party started! Normally, you take things a bit slow in the game of love, but you shouldn't, especially around the new moon in July.

Gemini--Take a chance on romance this June and you won't be disappointed. The full moon around the 1st highlights love and commitment. In fact, many of you could be planning on walking down the aisle or at least putting your heart on the line. You could easily catch the eye of several admirers. Who says you have to choose? If you're already attached, you may have big plans for your summer vacation but your partner does too. And guess what? They don't all coincide with your plans. Better sit down and talk about it now to avoid arguments later.

Cancer--May's full moon stirs your creative juices and a strong desire to find true love. Cupid's in your corner then because of a lovely Venus transit but you'll have to do your share too. Take a shot on romance and invite the object of your affections to dinner. You won't be disappointed when the relationship moves fast forward by the end of June (when the full moon in your opposite sign) promises to make your dreams come true. Married Crabs have the opportunity to strengthen the binds that tie and indulge in some very romantic getaways over the 4th of July.

Click here for the more 2007 summer love forecasts.

Excerpt from Noel Tyl's Guide to Astrological Consultation

By: Noel Tyl

Establishing Measurement Essentials
- Anchoring the Computer Process

Astrology is portraiture. The horoscope is comprised of many colors; it is organized with particular spatial relationships; it is defined by different brush strokes; and it is then appreciated as a whole, to reflect a focus of creation.

The astrologer paints the portrait; the client corroborates the image. Astrologer and client communicate. The language between them transmits the portrait's lights and darks, its vivid sections and its vague ones, the major accents and underlying subtleties. The language must be accurate to begin with, flexible in application as the portrait develops, and memorable in imagery throughout.

With modern astrology, the computer is the astrologer's sine qua non assistant. The computer tells us all the details: the paints we mix, the accents we capture, and the composition we reflect from the horoscope. The computer output for the horoscope portrait must be carefully thought through in its inventory and calibration: how many measurements do we need and how are they justified? We must gain an efficiency and consistency in our work in order to be reliable, to reinforce a personal style, and to grasp that which is meaningful to the client's development, every time we do a horoscope. The measurements the computer gives us are tied to the extremely important considerations of aspect contact and orb.

Developmental Tension

When I entered astrology some forty years ago, I was uncomfortable with how polarized astrology was: everything was given a value judgment, either positive or negative, good or bad, "benefic" or "malefic"; so-called "afflictions" abounded. That was state-of-the-art portraiture; descriptive overviews confined within value extremes. Trines were welcome; squares were not.

But none of this correlated with behavioral reality! We creations do not seek the flaccid comforts of a tension-less environment. Tension is essentially important in our life: the roots of a plant push against rocks in the soil in order for the plant to reach the sun; muscles contract in order to grow in strength; frustrations are assimilated to become motivations; light defines the dark, each helps the other be. There is a spectrum between values not a polarization.

I worked hard to rid astrology of the "bad words." I offered the concept of "developmental tension," which contained no value judgment while grasping the concept of gradated tensions en route to fulfillment.

By: Marguerite Manning

The Birth Chart: Your Contract with the Universe

Young blood doth not obey an old decree:
We cannot cross the cause why we were born.
- William Shakespeare

So you want to know who you are and why you're here? Well, aside from rubbing a lamp, I suggest you take a look at your birth chart. Not the customary "Oh, with my 9th house Jupiter, I should have been a talk-show host" look, but perhaps a more spiritual look, one that requires a higher level of consciousness. As I'm sure most people would agree, within each one of us there's a distinct and vital life force that embodies the very essence of who we are and radiates our uniqueness to the outside world. We think of it as our "will" and call it our "soul" because it's been the core of our individuality for as long as we can remember, or as most people would argue, even longer. So would I, because, like most people, I believe that the soul is the eternal part of us-the spirit within that is constantly struggling to succeed as a human being in this world because it's really striving to evolve to a higher place in the spiritual one.

According to my research, you probably do as well. Then why not study the birth chart from a perspective that allows us to observe the circumstances that shaped this inner spirit and created us? If we truly are in search of self-enlightenment, what view could reveal more of our human potential in this lifetime than one that is elevated enough to encompass the evolution of our soul before it got around to being us? With hindsight being what it is, an ounce of yesterday must surely be worth a pound of tomorrows, especially when a good look at yesterday not only reveals where our spiritual journey began once upon another lifetime, but also provides us with an invaluable glimpse of how much further we still have to go to live happily ever after in this one. Insightful stuff.

Fortunately for us, it's all right there, celestially reflected in the natal sky. We only have to find it, which is why we'd be smart to look at the birth chart as something more than just a computerized illustration of what was happening in the heavens on the day that we were born. While that's exactly what it is, when we view it from a spiritual perspective it becomes something even more: a celestial documentation of our soul's commitment to the universe, the one that explains why we came into the world and what we promised to do once we got here-what we like to call our purpose.

Is it any wonder that astrologers put so much importance on the birth chart? It shouldn't be. This pie-shaped diagram is more than just a picture of what the heavens looked like at the exact moment and from the precise location of a person's birth- it's actually two. From a physical perspective, it's a mathematical graph of the cosmic influences that were in effect at the precise moment a person took his or her first human breath. From a spiritual perspective, it's a personal record of that point in time when the soul showed up to report for duty in this lifetime. Confused?