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One of the
greatest uses for electional astrology is travel. At the moment you begin
a trip by walking out your door, you've essentially birthed a new life,
at least for the duration of that trip. Experience has shown that the
astrological conditions affecting this moment of time, your departure,
reveal much about how your trip will unfold. If you leave under stressful
astrological conditions, your trip will be stressful. If you leave at
a time when the planets are aligned favorably, you'll have a good time.
In my previous
StarIQ articles, I talked about the void-of-course
Moon and Mercury
retrograde. These are very important things to keep in
mind when going about choosing a time to travel. But there is much more
than those two factors to reckon with in the world of electional astrology,
the branch of astrology that deals with choosing the best time to commence
an event. This article will attempt to lead you deeper into the subject
using travel as an example.
Let's say
you've always wanted to travel to Europe. You've got very little time
off from work, and you really want to have a memorable, safe experience.
Electional astrology might be worth checking out. If you know the basics
of an astrological chart (the signs, houses and planets), here's a way
to "try this at home." (Please remember that astrology is a
complex subject and that no single technique is a 100 percent guarantee
that things will go perfectly.)
What’s
Your Travel Planet?
First you've
got to know what your key travel planet is. Get a copy of your natal chart
and take a look at your Ninth House of travel. What's the sign that's
on the cusp (where the house begins) of your Ninth House? Once you determine
that, you'll know what planet you need to track. For this exercise, we'll
stick with the traditional rulerships. Mars rules Aries and Scorpio,
Venus rules Taurus and Libra, Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, Jupiter rules
Sagittarius and Pisces, Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius and the Sun
and Moon rule Leo and Cancer, respectively. If you have Taurus on the
Ninth House cusp, then Venus, ruler of Taurus, is your travel planet.
Tracking
Your Travel Planet
Your next
step is to track Venus, or whatever planet is the ruler of your Ninth
House. You'll need to have an ephemeris, or listing of planets, and you'll
need to know the aspects, or angles. Squares and oppositions between your
travel planet and other planets indicate that energy may be blocked, while
sextiles and trines symbolize flowing energy. Conjuntions can vary in
effect depending on the nature of the two planets involved. Mars and Saturn
don't mix easily—those two are like having one foot on the accelerator
and the other on the brakes. But the Sun and Venus or Mercury and Jupiter
are good conjunctions for travel.
I strongly
recommend learning how to use an aspectarian. These often come with an
ephemeris and are useful because they show the planetary aspects for each
day. Learn to be comfortable with an ephemeris and aspectarian. They are
really no worse than a train schedule! Watch for when your Ninth House
ruler (your travel planet) changes signs, and when it moves into conjunctions,
oppositions, squares, trines and sextiles with the other planets.
As you follow
your travel planet through the signs of the zodiac, notice when it makes
an opposition to Saturn, or if your travel planet is Saturn, note when
it is opposed by the Sun, Mercury, Venus or Mars. These are extremely
signficant indications for your travel plans! Think of it this way—your
travel planet is the "god" of travel for your chart. When your
travel planet is in harmony with other planets, your travel experiences
will generally be harmonious. When your travel planet is "out of
phase" with other planets, travel will likewise be inharmonious.
So the lesson here is to avoid, if possible, traveling when the ruler
of your Ninth House is making an unfavorable aspect to another planet.
This is especially true when the aspect is a square and the other planet
is Mars or Saturn, and don't expect Uranus, Neptune or Pluto to be much
friendlier.
Choosing
Your Departure Time
The goal
of electional astrology is to find times when positive aspects hold sway
and there are as few "red lights" as possible up there among
the planets. Let's say you've decided to travel when the ruler of your
Ninth House is moving toward a trine with Jupiter. You've decided to leave
a a few days before the trine becomes exact (so you can experience it
during your trip) and you have narrowed your departure date down to two
or three days. Here's where the void-of-course Moon comes in.
Leaving under
a void-of-course Moon means being subjected to changes and adjustments,
and living with whatever the outcome is. Unless you love to "wing
it," don't pick a time to leave when the Moon is void-of-course.
If possible, look at your aspectarian and pick a time when the Moon is
making a favorable aspect with another planet. This will insure that you'll
get to where you're going, and get back to where you left off. Even better
yet, pick a time when the Moon is making a favorable aspect with, you
guessed it, the ruler of your Ninth House. If you catch my drift here,
the object is to avoid negative astrological aspects and multiply the
number of favorable ones.
Repeat
Trips
What do you
do when Mercury is retrograde? Well, it's true that Mercury retrograde
favors repeating what has already been done. If you've been to Florida
before, and you want to go there again, then Mercury retrograde is for
you. This would be especially true if Mercury was the ruler of your Ninth
House. Mercury retrograde is not a reason in itself to avoid travel, just
make sure that your travel plans bring you to familiar places. It's a
great time to visit an old friend and catch up on old times. It's a great
time to take that train ride you used to take, or the same airline you
flew on the last time you traveled. On the other hand, want to have a
difficult trip or vacation? Pick a time when Mercury is retrograde, and
the ruler of your Ninth House is making a square or opposition to Mars
or Saturn, and then travel somewhere you've never been before via a means
of transportation you have no experience with. It's your choice.
With an ephemeris,
aspectarian and a table of void-of-course Moon times, you could do much
to improve your travel experiences. It's all about keeping track of what's
going on up there and using it down here. It's like surfing or hang-gliding—you
learn how to go with the flow, not impose your will on the world.
Remember
the Hermetic axiom "as above, so below?" This electional astrology
technique is proof of that ancient notion.
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