It’s my great pleasure to announce the launch of my website Old-School Astrology, and with it the rebirth of my astrology practice!
This moment marks the culmination of over 2 years of intense hard work and dedication.
In July 2016 I decided to turn my unwavering passion for astrology into a professional practice, and finally put my writing degree to use by starting an astrology blog. Since making that decision I’ve faced a lot of challenges, both in my astrology and in my personal life, but the stress and pain of the past two years just makes this moment all the sweeter!
My plan for the first year of this website is to take things slowly, roll out each of my astrology services one at a time, and just get into the groove of reading charts for people.
Right now, the only astrology service I am offering is horary astrology » but later in the year I will begin to offer elections and birth chart readings too. So if you’re keen for a birth chart reading, have patience and you will be able to get one later in the year at a very competitive price!
My idea with this gradual roll-out is to use horary as a test, so that I can get to know the impact that an astrology practice has on my life. I am feeling this out, and I am in no mood to rush.
I’m also taking a slow and steady approach with my prices. To start with they will be fairly modest, to reflect the stage I am at in my astrology journey. As my experience and confidence increases, so will my prices.
After the first year has passed, I will probably start turning my mind to teaching an introductory course and expanding my offerings. But for now the focus is chart work, pure and simple.
My other plan for 2019 is to write a lot about astrology. So, God-willing, you can expect to see fairly regular blog posts from me on a range of topics. I have a rather long list of ideas for posts that will probably take a while to exhaust, so watch this space! I’m currently seeing it as a mixture of philosophical rants and case studies, but I also have a couple of larger research projects I’m interested in exploring.
It is a rare thing in life to see your dreams become reality. So I plan to enjoy this moment to the fullest extent - a bottle of champagne is cooling in the fridge and a cigar is resting on my dining room table. And when this post finally goes live, you can picture me enjoying both.
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Below is the elected time for the launch of this website. I think you’ll agree it’s a fascinating election!
Note: in my natal chart I have Aries rising and a cazimi Sun/Mercury conjunction at 18° Sagittarius in my 9th whole-sign house.
In the elected chart 0° Aries rises, mirroring my nativity, with Mars in Aries in the 1st whole-sign house, applying to a trine aspect with the highly auspicious Jupiter-Venus conjunction in Sagittarius in the 9th whole-sign house. The symbolism of this configuration could not be better, as the 9th house is traditionally the house of astrology and wisdom; having both benefic planets conjunct in the 9th house is pretty much the ideal scenario for this kind of election, especially considering that the conjunction takes place in Jupiter’s domicile Sagittarius.
Another really nice feature of this chart is having the Moon in Leo in the 5th whole-sign house, applying to trine aspects with both Mars and the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, forming a rather lovely grand trine connecting the 1st house (me), the 5th house (creativity) and the 9th house (astrology).
Old-School Astrology launch - 11am 22 Jan 2019, Canberra Australia (0° Aries rising)
Having both the Moon and the Lord of the Ascendant in applying trine aspects to both benefic planets at once is a very positive-looking configuration. Another nice plus is having the Lord of the Ascendant Mars and the Lord of the 10th house Saturn both angular and placed in their domiciles.
It also seems quite fortuitous for an astrology business to have Venus, the Lord of the 2nd and 7th houses (money and customers), conjunct Jupiter, the Lord of the 9th house (astrology), and to have that conjunction occurring in the 9th house.
There are always a few downsides in every election; in this, there’s two worth commenting on.
The first issue is the close separating square aspect between the Lord of the Ascendant Mars and Saturn, which is decidedly Not Great, especially considering that Saturn rules the 10th house signifying my career and public status. At least the aspect is separating, showing dynamics that are departing, as opposed to an applying aspect which would signify potentials that will unfold in the future. My hope is this will relate more to the departure of tension between myself (1st house) and my chosen career (10th house), and the unfolding of my astrology journey (9th house).
The second issue is that Mercury, while well-placed in the 10th house, is also conjunct the South Node and under the Sun’s beams (my peers may also note his proximity to Pluto). As Mercury is traditionally the universal or ‘natural’ significator of astrology, this too is probably Not Great.
But let’s not forget that while Mercury is the universal significator, Jupiter is the accidental significator of astrology by being the Lord of the 9th house (both in my nativity and in the elected chart). And, if I can channel my inner Morinus for a minute: accidental significators are more personal than universal significators, so it makes sense to go for a chart with a super-charged 9th house ruler at the expense of the universal significator.
In other words - it’s a poor day for astrology, unless you have Aries rising.
Time will tell how this plays out, so it will be fun to revisit this post in a few years’ time and see how things have gone!