SUN.......SUN....SUN....

Another quote from 20th century British astrologer Ingrid Lind's out-of-print little book Astrology and Commonsense (1962). Here she considered astrological Sun.

SUN: Stands for the male principle. It "rules" or has affinity with the sign Leo.

Keywords: power, vitality, self-expression.

The sign of the zodiac containing the Sun at birth can be known by the birth-date alone, without reference to exact time. For many this constitutes the whole art of astrology and they will tell you that they are Leo, Taurus, Libra, as if by virtue of having Sun in a given sign they were the sign's embodiment. But while the Sun's position strongly affects the individual this is a gross over-simplification. In any chart the Sun should be studied quite separately from its sign-position before any conclusions are formed. Its strength is highly significant: for instance if rising exactly or overhead it fortifies the personality and enhances the likelihood of (or urge for) prominence. If it strongly aspects other planets the strength of such planets is increased, for the Sun empowers all it touches.

Solar traits are similar to those of the sign Leo, which is "ruled" by the Sun; and a strongly aspected Sun can correspond with characteristics associated with those of Leo regardless of the sign it is in. Too much Sun tends to make the individual overbearing ("too much" could be the Sun rising, where it strengthens the ego, and in strong but not easy aspect to other planets, or it could result from too many planets in Leo.)

When considering the Sun, as indeed any single factor, the general picture of the chart with its strengths and weaknesses must be kept in mind. A chart (or person) can be strong enough to support an overbearing Sun; but, if otherwise weak or afflicted, as will be shown in the chart, the pronounced characteristic is nothing but a nuisance to its owner, since it will only accentuate the difficulties of his make-up.

It's useful to be reminded that a "strong" position of the Sun in a natal chart can seem to endow the individual with Leo-type characteristics. There's a snag though: an exact time of birth is required before the Sun's position (chart-wise, not sign-wise), can be established.

ASTROLOGICAL MOON & Compatibility

Sun is wending its way through zodiac sign Cancer. Astrological doctrine tells us that the sign of Cancer is ruled by, or has affinity with the Moon. So... a look at what 20th century British astrologer Ingrid Lind had to say about the Moon's role in astrology. Extract taken from her out-of-print little book Astrology and Common Sense (1962)

MOON: Stands for the feminine principle. Rules or has affinity with zodiac sign Cancer. Keywords: Response. Fluctuation.

The Moon in any chart has a strong bearing on personality, emotional nature and outward behaviour. The native's general response to life is often suggestive of the sign containing the Moon. In marriage, there will be a very strong link when the respective Moons are found in the same degree of the zodiac, as this will mean similarity of emotional response; or when the Moon of one corresponds with some important degree in the other's chart.

It would seem, then, that an individual's tastes and traits are to some extent indicated by the Moon position; and these are tastes and traits he will recognise and find attractive or sympathetic in someone else.

Just as the minute-hand on a watch gives precision, so the quick-moving Moon gives personal indications. Everyone born in the same (zodiacal) month has the same Sun sign, but the Moon may be in any one of the twelve.

The Moon stands for the feminine principle throughout the life. It is especially important in childhood, when the child is, so to speak, part of the mother. Indeed, all the instinctive responses of babyhood to pleasure, pain, hunger and so forth, which continue in more controlled form, let us hope, throughout the life, are Moon attributes. It is easy to understand that too much Moon is a mixed blessing, as the native will be over-sensitive and make exaggerated responses.

Moon virtues are the best "mother" virtues, such as can manifest in man or woman as kindness, protectiveness and so on. When the Moon is prominent but inharmoniously aspected there is abuse of the feminine quality, in possessiveness, hyper-sensitivity, shyness, "introversion" and the like.

For no reason that I can think of I connect the Moon with the lessons that appear to have to be learned by the individual, or the difficulties which he must face. I have no statistics to back this up; but I have found that in as much as the main problems of a life can be reduced to keywords, these often correspond with the characteristics of the Moon sign. If your Moon is in Scorpio, whall we say, there would be advantage in your studying this sign. Scorpio matters - strong feelings, sex problems, violence or intensity of emotion - may be in need of control or understanding.

Hmmm - I have Moon in Aries, so my life's problems/lessons correspond with Aries characteristics? Trying to become more in tune with Aries characteristics, trying to overcome a natural shyness, timidity and introversion have been a life lesson, I guess. Don't know - not altogether convinced on this point.

Also, I tend to see astrological compatibility in a slightly "looser" way than that in Ms Lind's examples. Sure, it'd be nice if we found ourselves with a partner whose Moon's degree matched our own, but other, "looser" connections are good too. I like Sun/Moon sign compatibility in a relationship. E.g. My Moon in Aries, husband's Sun in Aries. His Moon is Leo and opposite my Aquarius Sun - some might consider that to be a bad thing, but Air and Fire mix and balance, so while it might not be ideal (what is?) - it works. We both have Moon in Fire signs, so have a basic "elemental" understanding of one another - in theory. I'd trust elemental compatibility over most other astro-doctrine.

There are lots of ways compatibility can be found between two charts, but nothing beats that instinctive "knowing feeling" about another person in real life, whether in relation to romantic, professional or platonic friendship. Our inner antennae can be powerful indicators if we allow them to be.

VENUS - in general

With Venus at the forefront of astrological chat this week, here's what astrologer Ingrid Lind had to say about the planet's role in astrology and in the natal chart generally. The quote is from her little book Astrology and Commonsense (1962), from which I quoted extracts for each zodiac sign last year.

VENUS
Governs adolescence. Rules or has affinity with the signs Taurus and Libra. Keywords: harmony, unison, relatedness.

There is no doubt that all aspects to Venus in the chart indicate the ability or otherwise for forming relationships. Venus always seems to me to be very vulnerable to all aspect contact. Contact with Uranus can sway her to the unusual or perverse, with Mars to passion, with Jupiter to prodigality. Restricted by Saturn she functions coldly; friendships are made with difficulty or end in sorrow.

I realise that a planetary principle has no sex and applies to man or woman. Nevertheless I am inclined to visualise Venus as a sensitive and artistic woman. She takes colour from the sign she is in to a pronounced extent; in Pisces, for instance, tender to the point of folly, in Capricorn calculating her value. She is so to say the love-nature of the native and by means of the chart this can be isolated and studied apart from the rest of the chart.

There is also the connexion between Venus and money matters and it is useful to study Venus in a chart in relation to the native's attitude to money or possessions.

Hmm - does this work for me and mine? I have Venus in Sagittarius. Husband has Venus in Taurus. I can't say I'm particularly Sagittarian in my "love-nature" - maybe I've gone "over-the-top" at times, unwise over-enthusiasm for a person or project isn't unknown to me, but it's not exactly the norm. Sagittarius connects to travel, and I do love, love, love to travel! There's a trine from Venus to Saturn and Moon in Aries in my chart, as well as a square to Neptune in Virgo. Both aspects could serve to rein in potential excesses, I guess.

As for husband, his natal Venus is at home in Taurus, he's in love with (as well as me, I hope) art and music, dotty about jazz in particular. His Taurean love-nature could be classed as classic, I guess....except that Venus is conjunct Uranus (my Sun's ruling sign). Not classic at all - jazzy in fact! Interesting!

Zodiac Sign CAPRICORN

As Sun has now entered Capricorn I'll post the last excerpt from Ingrid Lind's out-of-print little book Astrology and Commonsense - her entry on the sign of the sea-goat. Before flexing my typing fingers for that, just a word about Capricorn's symbolic depiction as a goat - properly a sea-goat (fore-part goat, hind-part fish)but often nowadays the sign is depicted by a common-and-garden goat. There's all manner of explanation of the whys and wherefores of the mythological seagoat online. Accept whichever feels right, it makes little difference. But it can be an interesting study for its own sake. Skyscript's piece on Capricorn addresses the symbolism, and serendipity astro-lovers.com has an interesting page on the various strands of mythology associated with Capricorn.

So...from Ingrid Lind (who, given the title she chose for her book, probably had a good helping of Capricorn in her own astro-makeup)~~~

CAPRICORN

Quality: Cardinal
Element: Earth
Ruler: Saturn

Capricorn is a straightforward sign in the sense that it is at one in character with its ruler, Saturn. It will be remembered that Aries, first of the cardinal signs, combines action with fire and passion (Mars); Cancer is action in emotion and sensitivity (Moon); Libra is action in airy, mental concepts and in art and co-operation (Venus). In Capricorn cardinality combines with Earth and we see action allied with caution and commonsense. The ruler, Saturn has a chilling effect and there is no heat in Capricornian activity; no hurry, no impatience. Earth signs know and understands the rhythms of nature and Capricorn knows that the seed must be given time to grow and bear fruit. Steady, driving ambition and one-pointedness will bring the Capricornian slowly but surely to the top. He can be a hard taskmaster, for he will exact from others just the amount of work he feels it is their duty to perform. Sentiment, compassion, do not enter into the bargain. An eye for an eye.

No one, fortunately perhaps, is all Capricorn, any more than any one person can embody or exclusively manifest any one of the signs; but for the man or woman who wants to succeed in the world the chart will disclose no better ingredient than Capricorn.

Regarding Taurus, the first Earth sign, I remarked that it was like the flour in the cake. Capricorn is like reinforced concrete in the building, giving human character the core of toughness, the quality of endurance, so necessary if one is to cope with the difficulties of human life.

Whatever the profession, Capricorn gives the ambition, cool and deliberate, to ensure success. A successful actress who combines Capricorn with one of the Venus signs (Taurus, Libra), will put her beauty to effective use. A politician or orator who combines it with the communicativeness of Mercury will do the same with his gifts. The general balance of the chart may indicate aptitude for any career; but Capricorn will provide the will to succeed.

Capricorn Qualities (notes in brackets are mine)
Ambition
One-pointedness (I think this means single-mindedness)
Coolness (not the "hip" kind -the cold kind)
Steadfast endurance
Reliability and commonsense

Capricorn Faults
Ruthlessness
Any-means-to-and-endness
Callousness
Nagging persistence
Rigidity and coldness.

As we approach Christmas once again, a time traditionally set aside for honouring the birth of Jesus Christ, even though it's been pretty well established that he wasn't born on 25 December, and nor was he as Kris Kristofferson's lyrics proposes, "a Capricorn".

Remember?

Jesus was a Capricorn
He ate organic food
He believed in love and peace
And never wore no shoes
Long hair, beard and sandals
And a funky bunch of friends
Reckon we'd just nail him up
If he came down again.

From all that we read about Capricorn in modern astrology, it'd seem the least likely of all the 12 zodiac signs to fit the personality of Jesus, as told. And yet - dip into the mythology of the seagoat (mentioned in para.1 of this post), then maybe Capricorn isn't as bad a match as modern astrology might indicate. The fish tail of the goat is thought by some to indicate the emotional depths of the sea from which life originally emerged, while the goat's fore-parts indicate the earthy substance of life. The compassion of Jesus for the suffering of others matches the emotional element of Water indicated by the fishtail, and his flesh and blood presence as a teacher on Earth could be said to relate to the earthly image of the goat's fore-part.


Doesn't much matter what one chooses to believe, or whether one feels the need to belong to any organised religion - the key is to try to live by a single tenet of Christ's teachings: "Love one another". We truly need nothing else, no further embellishments.

ZODIAC SIGN SAGITTARIUS

Sun is now in Sagittarius - as it is each year between 22 November and 21 December - with lee-way of a day in either direction. I thought I'd already completed a year of excerpts from Ingrid Lind's out-of-print little book Astrology and Commonsense, but on checking I find I've still a couple of signs to go before completing the zodiac - I began in January with my own Sun sign, Aquarius.
So.....

SAGITTARIUS


Quality: Mutable
Element: Fire
Ruler: Jupiter

In the last sign, Scorpio, I made no attempt to carry on the imagery of the gradual progress or development through the signs; but I hope it was made clear that the complexity reached through inharmonious mixing of quality, element and ruler had reached a high level.

In Sagittarius we have a respite and the explanation is easy to understand when we look at the ingredients of this sign. It is not hard to think of a fire as mutable, and Jupiter expands or exaggerates whatever it contacts. This gives us exaggerated fire and mutability which in a phrase describes Sagittarius, the mutable or adaptable expression of an ardent temperament.

Thus Sagittarians are friendly, impulsive, impatient, light-hearted and optimistic. They feel warmly in love but acknowledge the need for freedom; and where Scorpio will be bogged down in emotional thraldom, Sagittarius will detach himself, his eye cocked for the next adventure. At a high level of adventure he is the philosopher who has learned the value of non-attachment and the futility of fear and suffering; and even if he has not advanced as far as this mentally, he knows instinctively the value of laisser-aller. (Note = letting go)

It will be remembered that the first five signs all had different ruling planets and that each sign was strongly of the nature of that ruling planet; when we talk of Mars we might as well be talking of Aries and so on for these first five. Then came Virgo, Libra and Scorpio, all with ruling planets in conflict with either quality or element. In Sagittarius we once again have a ruling planet in complete accord with the sign, and what is written later under the heading Jupiter applies to Sagittarius. But Sagittarius is in no sense a primitive sign. Its diverse ingredients combine harmoniously, giving power of relaxed enjoyment, and Jupiter gives the "big" quality that enables the Sagittarian to see things from a distance. Intuition is stronger than intellect, but there is no weakness here: it is more that the mind ranges beyond the confines of reasoning, or book knowledge.

Sagittarian Qualities
Justice
Friendliness
Tolerance
Dignity without pride
Philosophy
Optimism
Quickness

Sagittarian Faults
Rebelliousness
Over-heartiness (which can be very boring)
Untidiness
Pomposity
Hypocrisy
Trusting to luck
Over-impulsiveness, impatience, irritability.

My main thought on this is to remember that Sagittarian-types vary widely, depending upon how much planetary emphasis there is on neighbouring signs of Scorpio and/or Libra, and where Sagittarius' ruler Jupiter is found in the chart, for those born with Sun in Sagittarius. The piece can also apply, in part, anyone with Moon or ascendant in Sagittarius, or with a cluster pf planets in the sign. The above, excellent assessment though it is, is not a cut-and-dried prescription, it will almost certainly need to be watered down, heated up, blown around or given some grounding for each individual.

PS~~~There are several archived posts on Sagittarius, easily accessible by scrolling down to the Label Cloud in the sidebar, then clicking on "Sagittarius".

SCORPIO (and sign rulerships)

The Sun moved into Scorpio on 24th October, and will remain in the sign until 22 November (dates vary by a day, either way, year by year). Once again I'm quoting 20th century British astrologer Ingrid Lind, from her long out of print little book Astrology and Commonsense. Her take on the zodiac signs is so interesting. She makes it easy to understand how the traits for each sign have been arrived at, via the quality, element, sign ruler and whether the sign is negative/positive. It would be a pity for her words to be lost in the mists of time.

SCORPIO

Quality: Fixed.
Element: Water.
Ruler: Mars.
Negative.

It is small wonder that those with this sign strong are deep and unfathomable personalities with much to cope with in their own nature, for what could be more incompatible than the assortment of ingredients above? Fixity combined with water is hard to think of, and when we add the fiery ruler Mars, most active and masculine of planets, and call the result negative it is a puzzle, even to the astrologer with a clear picture of each separate ingredient, to envisage the whole.

The difficulty may diminish if we work backwards, from what are known as Scorpio traits to the warring components.

Intensity of feeling and emotion is a typical Scorpio trait. Emotion comes from the
Water element and gains added passion from Mars and tenacity from the quality of fixity. As to the negativity, this is true enough of the sign. Scorpio has none of the pioneering dash of Aries, the other Mars ruled sign, and we see that Scorpio force is indeed not the quick, decisive flash of Fire but the more terrifying weight of Water, a sweeping, inexorable tide. If Cancer was a gentle moonlit stream (the Water sign ruled by the Moon) Scorpio is the tidal wave or thundering weight of Niagara.

Martian passion and desire is never easy to control.In Aries, where all is simple, primitive masculinity, the sex force is quickly roused, expressed and forgotten. In Scorpio it is harnessed to emotion and fixity and runs deeper and with far more probability of complications and sorrow.

But if he can sink to the depths, the Scorpion can rise to corresponding heights of pleasure, ecstasy or spirituality. It is illuminating to find that the second symbol for this Sign is the Eagle.

Men and women with Scorpio strong are capable of making a powerful emotional impact on those around them. The very strength of their feelings makes them selfish, for they really appear to suffer more keenly than the average person and are only comforted by demonstrations of love or sympathy. They make wonderful lovers but are not the type to choose for a passing love affair. If an affair is to end it must be of THEIR choosing. They can be ruthless, the flood of their desire sweeping away all obstacles; and they can outlast anyone in feats of physical endurance. It is not that they are so strong, but their intensity combined with fixity of purpose makes them oblivious to everything but the aims of the moment.

The best type of Scorpio makes a most charming companion, for the enjoyment he feels is infectious. He enjoys life to the full from carnal pleasures to highest poetical or mystical adventures.

Unhappy Scorpio can be the most miserable and degenerate of men (I'll add "or women"). Dangerous too, for passion running riot with flood force is not readily controlled.

Scorpio Qualities
Staying power
High libido
Ability for poetical or satirical expression
Strong will and dignity
Ability for detection, research or secret-service
Fidelity

Scorpio Faults
Obstinacy
Debauchery
Sarcasm and mental cruelty
Relentlessness
Secretivity
Tendency to enslave others

For some of my own archived sribblings on Scorpio, simply click on Scorpio at the Label Cloud in the sidebar.

I'll just add, here, that Mars is Scorpio's traditional ruler. When Pluto was discovered in 1930 astrologers allocated it as modern ruler of Scorpio. I'm in two minds about the modern rulerships in general: Pluto/Scorpio, Uranus/Aquarius, Neptune/Pisces. I often wish astrologers had left things as they were before discovery of the outer planets. Traditionally the two "lights": Sun and Moon each ruled one Sign, while the other planets each ruled two, allocated in the order of speed of movement ~~ Sun ruler of Leo; Moon ruler of Cancer. Then: Mercury ruler of the signs on either side of these two: Gemini and Virgo. Venus ruler of the next pair: Taurus and Libra. Mars ruler of Aries and Scorpio. Jupiter ruler of Pisces and Sagittarius. Saturn ruler of Aquarius and Capricorn.

More and more I'm realising that Aquarius has more in common with Saturn, unless Uranus is tightly linked to personal planets. Uranian traits of rebellion, unexpectedness etc. can apply to any other zodiac sign equally, where Uranus is linked to personal planets. Same idea applies to Neptune, and Pluto. That's just my own view though - I guess astrologers with decades of experience knew best. There's a good piece on rulerships at Skyscript: The Philosophy of Sign Rulership ; and another on The Modern Planets and Traditional Astrology, at Ambrosia Academy of Astrology website - illustration is copied from there too.

Words of Wisdom from 3 Female Astrologers

British Astrologer Ingrid Lind from 20th century:

It is fatal to think of "the Stars" as determinants. We must not turn them into inexorable or malignant gods. This is altogether to mistake their power and to misunderstand the function of astrology, which is to give us a glimpse of a cosmic purpose with which we should try to harmonise. A man imprisoned in Saturn's dungeons may find real freedom in himself, and the chaos of disillusion of Neptune may drive him inwards until he finds the secret of his own integrity. Hard times may turn him into a walking complaint or he may learn to enjoy freedom from possessions. There is no difficult condition that courage cannot turn to good use.
(From the Conclusion to her book Astrology & Commonsense.)

Astrologer Liz Greene:

I do not think we have lost our fear of fate, although we mock it; for if the modern individual were so truly enlightened beyond this ‘paganish’ concept, he would not surreptitiously read astrology columns in the newspaper, nor evidence the compulsion to ridicule whenever possible the spokesmen of fate. Nor would he be so fascinated by prophecy, which is fate’s handmaiden.

The late Maya del Mar, written in 2003: excerpt from a Special Message, "Future Note: The State of the World".

Maya died in November 2006. Her words echo down the years.

"In the 50's, how many of us expected the revolution of the 60's, which loosened up the whole tightly wound society? It was a huge breath of fresh air, and it was strongly resisted by the power structures. At that time we had a big outer planet conjunction—Pluto and Uranus meeting. Pluto is transformation and Uranus is revolution, so together they started a major reform cycle.

We are approaching the first big turning point of that cycle. Uranus will square Pluto from 2010-2012, and the push for change will be irresistible. This process begins with Pluto entering the cardinal sign of Capricorn in January 2008, and continues with Uranus entering the cardinal sign of Aries in May 2010. Cardinal signs mean action, and we will be caught up in a whirlwind of activity. Uranus in Aries means a new beginning in the assertion of independence.

Hold the light!"

(Engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi : Two women with the signs of Libra and Scorpio)

PISCES

The Sun is now in the sector of the zodiac we call Pisces. I'm going to follow the syle of last month and present astrologer Ingrid Lind's view of this sign, as set out in her little book Astrology & Commonsense. It has been out of print for a long time, and it'd be a pity if her words were to be lost, for she often had a fresh take on things.

As before, and in the spirit of Ingrid Lind's writing elsewhere, I think we sould read any reference to "Piscean" as "Pisces-type". There are people whose natal Sun isn't in Pisces who display many (even all in some cases) characteristics of Pisces, due to some heavy emphasis on the sign in their natal charts

PISCES (from the book as shown):
Quality: Mutable
Element: Water
Ruler Jupiter. (Modern Ruler: Neptune)
Negative.

Like Aquarius, there is some confusion about rulership as Neptune has much in common with this sensitive Water sign. But for my part, and this a purely personal opinion, I find that Jupiter fits in too well to be discarded. There is a kindly warmth and a generous, philanthropic urge about Pisceans that could not spring from anything so nebulous as Neptune. The last of the emotional Water signs, we find none of the conflict that there is in Scorpio where emotions are ruled by Mars (passion) and where fixity adds to the difficulties. In Pisces water combines easily with mutability, for it is the nature of water to conform to the shape that contains it; Pisceans are the most adaptable of people. They like to be with someone stronger (a vessel as it were, to contain them) and they give in to others' wishes, not from servility but because they are naturally generous and amenable. Pisces is known as the actor Sign because of the ease with which Pisceans put on another personality. Where Aquarius has the positive urge to help humanity in a detached spirit, Pisces, impressionable and emotional, has kindly sympathy and readily sacrifices self-interest.

The evolved Piscean is patient, sympathetic and broad-minded; but it is obvious that such qualities can be put to good use or into sloppy sentiment or spineless dissipation.

In these brief descriptions I have tried to show how each Sign corresponds with a set of qualities and corresponding faults. If we are predominantly a gentle Piscean and nothin else in our chart introduces, for example, a Martian streak of aggression, then we can be sure that our reactions will fall largely within the limits of the basic character of the strongest Sign. For instance, if roused to anger the Piscean would show quite a different face from the Scorpion. His Jupiterian dignity would be aroused and he would make it quite clear that he was displeased; but there would be no instinct to hit out or wound, which would be the recourse of one strongly ruled by Mars.

Piscean Qualities
Patience, sympathy, philanthropy, self-sacrifice, sensitivity, gentleness, adaptability and talent for acting, dignity, tolerance.

Piscean Faults
Weakness, sentiment, playing the martyr, peevishness, deceit, hypocrisy, dissipation.

Personal experience of Pisces: I have Jupiter in Pisces exactly semi-sextile to Sun (it probably "softens" Aquarius a bit - no bad thing?) My husband has Mercury & Saturn in late Pisces conjunct Sun at 1 Aries. A lot of what was written by Ms Lind rings true for my husband - apart from "patient" and maybe "tolerant" - he's as impatient as the next Sun Aries person - and, on a bad day, about as intolerant too. He is very adaptable, moreso than I am. He took to life in the UK much more easily than I took to life in the USA!

A while ago I began researching my family history, and was able to obtain a birth certificate for my paternal grandfather, around whose origins there had always been some mystery. The mystery remains as to who was his father, however. But I now know I had a Sun in Pisces grandfather, born in Suffolk on 9 March 1882. He had Sun and Venus in Pisces, Mercury in Aquarius and a clutch of planets in Taurus. My Dad, and at least two of his siblings, and several of my cousins from that side of the family have Aquarius Sun - probably inherited from Grandad's Mercury! Grandad's youngest son, my Uncle Laurie, had Sun in Pisces, like his father as it turns out; he became a ship's captain (ocean liners), very appropriate for Pisces!

Below: At Uncle Laurie's wedding: Grandad with his 5 sons (he had 5 daughters too). Grandad second from right; my Dad second from left, Laurie third from left.

My Sun Piscean Grandad wasn't easy to get to know - a man of very few words. If my researches have uncovered accurate information, he'd had a very hard childhood. Born out of wedlock, his mother seems to have been disowned by her family. Mother and child were listed as living in a workhouse for some years. My grandad, when of age, left the south of England, walked up to Yorkshire (200+ miles) and found work as a shepherd in East Yorkshire. He met and married my Grandmother, served in World War 1, and after became a postman until retirement.

He used to take me to the movies once or twice a week when I was around 8 or 9. He was a great film fan, as was I. Other things I remember about Grandad: his hobby of mending old broken clocks, and his fascination with auctions (probably looking for more old broken clocks!) There was an auction room in our street, he'd attend the regular sales and bring us all manner of oddities, boxes of old books (which I loved to investigate), bits of furniture, which I'd use to furnish my "little house" in an old air raid shelter.....and so on. I wish I'd been able to get to know him better, later, but we lost touch after I moved away, and he died when I was around 19

Astrologer Ingrid Lind on Aquarius

Before we went away last week I ordered, from the UK, a used copy of a little book, long out of print: British astrologer Ingrid Lind's Astrology & Commonsense (1962). I didn't expect it to arrive for several weeks. It appears that packages from the UK to the USA are being held by the Department of Homeland Security for assessment/investigation before passing them on for delivery. A scare due to some terrorist threat from the Yemen is the reason for DHS's intervention, according to a source online. DHS are said to have hundreds of thousands of packets backed up; delivery can take anything up to 2 months. An item I ordered from the UK before Christmas has still not arrived! This slim paperback slipped through though (possibly because it contains no metal or liquids?) It was waiting for me on our return home. Marked 3/6 net (3 shillings and sixpence in British "old money"), well-worn, pages browned with age, but no worse for that.

I first became aware of Ingrid Lind via another used book I bought last year: Astrology by Louis MacNeice. I can find no information about her online. I'd love to have her birth data if any passing reader knows of it.

I'm impressed by Ms Lind's approach, to which I can relate very easily. Her continual emphasis that the Sun sign is not "all there is" is refreshing. She is the astrologer from whom I picked up the term -type: Taurus-type, Aquarius-type etc in preference to the more usual Taurean, Aquarian. Her ?-type is a far more accurate and less misleading mode of expression, in my opinion.

As the Sun is now in Aquarius, let's look at what Ingrid Lind had to say about the sign. She does lapse into using "Aquarian" here. It's not easy to avoid, and perhaps her use of ?-type came later. We ought to bear in mind that, as Ms Lind explained in an early chapter, "no-one is solely and wholly Libran, Taurean, Arien or whatever sign it may be that corresponds to the birth-month. As I have insisted, the Sun in a given sign does not necessarily give the most prominent feature in the make-up......." I feel fairly sure that she would prefer the reader to take any reference to "Aquarian" as "Aquarius-type".

I've broken the piece into paragraphs which dont exist in the book, but I suspect this makes for more comfortable reading online.



From Astrology and Commonsense by Ingrid Lind (1962) :

AQUARIUS: Quality: Fixed. Element: Air. Ruler: Saturn. Positive. (Modern astrologers consider Uranus as ruler).

It seems to me that the combination of Air (communication and intellectuality) with Fixity is the key to the Aquarian personality.

Aquarians are the most determined and independent people and they can be obstinate, headstrong and perverse. They show certain qualities that to my mind cannot be deduced from the ingredients unless Uranus is added as co-ruler.

Everything that can be deduced from the Quality and Element plus Saturn is applicable and I feel no doubt that Saturn is concerned, for there is a cold detachment about the reasoning powers that can be related to this Planet; but if we stop there we miss out many of the strongest characteristics of the Sign. I would suggest that there are Aquarians who might be termed Saturnian Aquarians and others who are Uranian. The former are serious and hold very firmly to their views. The latter have the Uranian urge to disrupt. They are the revolutionaries, the visionaries, or, if they go wrong, the fanatics and perverts, the people who go against law and order through an instinctive revolt against restraint.

But, and I cannot repeat this too often, no one person is wholly of one Sign; and in character interpretation we find generally that the effects of a Sign on the Ascendant, or of a Sign containing the Sun, are modified by other prominent Signs and the general shaping of the chart and planetary pattern.

We talk, then, of Aquarian characteristics, knowing they could manifest through a group of Sun-Aquarians in differing intensity. But a common feature would be independence, detachment, and a wide interest in humanity. Nobody with this sign strong likes to be pinned down to intimate personal relationships for longer than such a thing is felt as a personal need. They are like horses that must be ridden on a loose rein. If they feel that they are making the decisions and working in their own method all is well, but at a hint of coercion they turn into rebels. They cannot act a lie and are thus often considered unconventional.

Aquarian Qualities
Fixity of purpose.
Humanitarianism
Truthfulness
Ability for scientific & abstract thought
Voluntary faithfulness.

Aquarian Faults
Obstinacy
Perversity: Separatism
Fanaticism
Scepticism
Rigidity

Reminder: If anyone has knowledge of Ingrid Lind's birth data I'd be very grateful to receive it.