House placement

Without an accurate birth time, you can never know what your Ascendant is (see Chapter 11 for more about Ascendants). You won t have trustworthy house placements for your planets. You may not even know your Moon sign because it changes signs every two or three days. Without an accurate birth time, interpreting your chart correctly will be challenging. And predicting the future will be close to impossible. 

To figure out what those placements mean, list your planets by sign and by house and then look them up in this chapter (for the personal planets), Chapter 10 (for the outer planets), and Chapter 12 (for the house placements). 

Consider two babies bom on July 6,1935, one around 4 a.m. local time and one, in another part of the world, around 6 a.m. Their planets are in identical signs of the zodiac. But their rising signs (see Chapter 11) aren t the same, and neither are their house placements. How much difference would that make ... 

It would make a world of difference. One child, bom with Gemini rising, Mercury on the Ascendant, and the Sun in the first house, is Candy Barr, the platinum-haired stripper who died in 2005. The other, born with Cancer rising, Pluto on the Ascendant, and the Sun in the twelfth house, is the Dalai Lama. This stark difference suggests how crucial the rising sign and house placements can be. They re as important as sign placements. 

The planets represent types of energy, the signs represent various ways of expressing that energy, and the houses represent different areas of experience where those energies are likely to operate. House placements are based on the time of your birth, not on your sign. For instance, if you were born shortly... 

Placement of vascular access ports is similar to that of a long-term indwelling arterial catheter. A small incision is made over the selected vein and a second incision is made lower in the anterior chest to create a pocket to house the port. The catheter is tuimeled subcutaneously from its entry point into the vein with the tip inside the right atrium. The final position of the catheter is verified by fluoroscopy, secured with sutures, and the subcutaneous pocket is closed. The port septum is easily palpable transcutaneously, and the system may be used immediately. A surgeon typically inserts the vascular access port in an outpatient setting. 

When designing an active or passive system, many design considerations are common to the two systems. For example, some provision for removal of condensation that forms in the exhaust pipe will be required. Routing of the pipes from the basement to the roof must be considered when the house is being designed. Placement of the exhaust is extremely important. 

Fig. 3 Exploded view of an iontophoretic drug delivery system showing major components top housing, printed circuit board assembly, a bottom housing containing reservoirs for placement of electrodes and hydrogels, and an adhesive laminate. (Diagram from International Patent Publication Number WO 96/39222.)...

The Moon, which shines by the light of the Sun, is symbolized by the crescent of receptivity (see Figure 8-1). To determine its placement in your horoscope, you need an accurate chart. To get one, I recommend going to the Internet (see Chapter 2 for specific advice). You could also do precise mathematical calculations, call an astrologer, or invest in astrological software. For a description of the Moon in the houses, go to Chapter 12. 

Mercury in the eighth house This placement gives you a naturally intuitive mind, the ability to ferret out secrets, amazing researching skills, and a profound mental engagement with the mysteries of life, including sex, death, money (which you resent having to worry about), and the metaphysical arts. 

Mercury in the tenth house With this high-profile placement, you re likely to develop a stimulating career, often involving the written word. Your ideal job has great variety built into it. In the absence of that, you experience frequent job changes. You require continued mental stimulation. You prefer to be in charge and are most successful when you can pursue your own ideas. 

Not every successful professional has one of these placements. The absence of an angular planet doesn t in any way doom you to failure. But if, perchance, Mars (or any other planet) happens to occupy the angular Gauquelin zones in your chart, that planet should be considered especially robust. In the case of Mars, it may not bestow you with the ability to outdo Shaquille O Neal (whose Mars is in the first house). But it should at least give you a certain swagger. 

Saturn in the fifth house You take a serious approach to playful things, and it s difficult for you to lighten up. You don t flirt easily and are more comfortable dating people who are older and more serious. Creativity is important to you, but because you may fear that you aren t talented, you may suppress your artistic urges. Or, you may rise to the challenge of Saturn and bring structure to your creative life. (Some people with this placement become professional artists.) As a parent, you re responsible and committed. 

Uranus in the eighth house Your sex life has a remarkable, even outrageous, aspect to it, and the same is true for your finances (and those of your spouse). You benefit from unusual investment. You re also drawn to metaphysical subjects, including the idea of reincarnation. And though 1 hesitate to mention this, you may as well know When it coexists with a rare pileup of especially tough aspects, this placement can indicate the possibility of sudden, accidental death — not necessarily your own. Should you worry No. Keep in mind that literally one out of every twelve people has this placement. For further information, see the J nearby Violent death and Princess Diana sidebar. 

The position of that planet tells you a great deal. In Andy Warhol s case, Virgo, the sign on the cusp of his second house, is ruled by Mercury. It can be found in flamboyant Leo — a perfect placement for an artist who literally painted money. 

For example, a person who has no planets in earth signs lacks practical abilities (and will have to struggle to make up for that lack). The presence of planets in the second, sixth, and tenth houses can counteract that inability by providing motivation. Such placements can t turn an aspiring poet into an accountant with an investment portfolio and a 401(k). But they can stimulate the poet to find some form of security (from planets in the second house), to get organized (from planets in the sixth house), and to seek public recognition (from planets in the tenth house). 

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