This week: not one, but two questions from the “Ask An Astrologer” mailbag, both about the Cardinal Grand Cross. For more on the Cardinal Grand Cross, click HERE.

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JE writes: I just read your guide and I was wondering why you didn’t interpret Pluto (and the GC) conjuncting the Natal Sun. Pluto will “almost” conjunct my Natal Sun exactly at 14DEG Capricorn before retrograding but I’m sure I’ll still feel the effects… I already am. You did, however, interpret Pluto conjuncting Saturn. Wouldn’t a personal planet, especially the Sun be more noticeable and life changing? Just a thought.. Would love to hear yours.

An excellent question! Yes, there is certainly a case to be made for a difficult aspect hitting a “personal planet” (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars) being at least as much of a pain than when it hits the outer planets. And of course, let’s not forget Jupiter, the Ascendant, or the Midheaven. Or Chiron for that matter.

In either case, if the planet in your birth chart is being affected by a difficult transit, you’re going to feel the effects on the functions of your life  that planet rules, and you’ll feel it in the department of your life ruled by the house that planet rules. In your case, since your Sun is involved, you’re likely to feel it in your Ego, your self-image and self-esteem, your energy levels, and in your general sense of life-purpose. Furthermore, there will be an effect on whatever House in your chart the Sun rules, and on top of that, you’ll feel the transits of each of the four planets involved in the Cardinal Grand Cross through the four Houses of your chart they are currently in.

As you may have guessed by this point, sorting out the effects of four transiting planets in four different houses affecting one or more points in the natal chart is kind of complex. Doing a reading may only take me an hour, but that doesn’t count the over 20 years worth of experience doing readings that went into learning how to do that reading properly. And did I mention that I have a special on this month for new clients? Maybe I should.

Mostly though: I have broken down the Cardinal Grand Cross forecasts by outer planet transits/age groups because, to be honest with you, I find that method a lot more useful than a straightforward Sun Sign forecast.  There’s validity to those when they’re done properly, but everyone knows there’s more than 12 kinds of people and 12 futures out there, right? Besides, covering the effects of the transits on everyone based on their Personal Planets as well would be a massive chunk of work for me… and I already strain my word count to bursting as it is. And besides, how lame would this be…

ARIES: Total panic!!! Everything is on fire!!!

TAURUS: Things are messy but potentially constructive.

GEMINI: Stuff’s kinda weird, y’know, but it depends on how you look at it, amirite?

CANCER: Total panic!!! Everything is on fire!!!

…and so on. The Personal Planet transits are a little more… well, personal… and are best handled by an actual reading sometimes.

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JL writes: Why haven’t you written anything about people born before 1950? Will they not be affected by the Cardinal Grand Cross?

This is an excellent point. Although most astrologers, myself included, now use software that does all the calculations for us, sometimes there’s still no substitute for a good old-fashioned ephemeris… which is what we call a book of planetary positions for any given date.

As you can imagine, astrologers tend to use their ephemeris a lot. When it comes to sifting through past or future planetary positions looking for specific patterns, like those affected by the Cardinal Grand Cross, there’s no computer software that can really match the experience of turning pages in a book.

And as just about any astrologer can tell you, the average ephemeris does not have the world’s strongest spine. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had one that lasted more than a couple of months with me before it started falling apart one way or another. As proof: see the picture above of my ephemeris.

I only found the first half of it yesterday. Turns out it was hiding under a box. So, with my sincere apologies and a new ephemeris in hand, I hope to be presenting an update to my Cardinal Grand Cross series shortly, which will cover some of the important dates before 1950.

Questions about your birth chart, or astrology in general? Write me… I’ve got answers!

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