This article is adapted from Ray Grasse’s recently released So, What am I Doing Here Anyway? – a thought-provoking and highly entertaining miscellany of musings arising from Ray’s long experience practising astrology and reflecting on its philosophical values. Newly published by The Wessex Astrologer, (April, 2024).
ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES, after twenty of having practiced astrology for a number of decades – in my case, five – is the insight gained from studying a large number of case histories and the planetary patterns accompanying them. While nothing can really replace one’s own long years of experience, I’ve found that simple tips gathered from fellow astrologers can sometimes shave years off that slow and arduous process of trial-and-error experienced constructing and reading charts. So – in no particular order – here are some of my thoughts about this discipline that I’d like to share.
An early teacher of mine made an especially important point that stuck with me to the present day, which is this: the first thing you say to a client about their horoscope should be positive because your initial comments tend to make a profound and lasting impression. As one example of that, I remember an early consult where the vast majority of comments to my client were positive in nature. However, the very first thing I said to them was in a slightly negative vein about a challenging pattern I saw in their horoscope. After moving on and talking for almost an hour about other things in their chart, almost all of them upbeat, the client said to me in a dejected tone, "Well ... don’t you see anything positive in my chart?" I was stunned, but I’d learned my lesson not to make that mistake again.
This brings me to another step I always take when working with clients, which is to check their transits or progressions on the day I’ll be speaking with them. Is Saturn squaring their Mercury? If so, then I know I’d better measure my statements more carefully, since they could easily take what I say more negatively than intended. On the plus side, precisely because what I say could have a longer-lasting impact than normal, I’ll try to work with that energy toward leaving a more positive lasting impression by focusing on constructive suggestions as to how they might redirect, discipline or reframe the difficult energies in their chart.
Back when I first started doing readings, I’d generally launch right into describing what I saw in their horoscope, only to sometimes discover at the end I hadn’t addressed what they came to me for in the first place. Whereas I may have focused primarily on career, say, what they really wanted to know was about romance, health, or family life. For that reason, when I speak to a client these days, one of the first things I ask is, "What are you hoping to learn from our talk today?" That simple question has improved the quality of my readings dramatically and certainly leaves the client far more satisfied at the reading’s conclusion than otherwise.
I find it helpful to ask clients beforehand what their knowledge of astrology is, if any. That way I know if I can include the astrological rationale for what I’m saying. Besides giving them some hopefully useful education into the workings of astrology, not to mention my own thinking processes, I’ve found that including the technical reasons can help them better understand the points I’m making, by backing those interpretations with the astrological reasons familiar to them. To be clear, I never present it just at the level of jargon or technical terminology, and always make sure to present an in-depth interpretation of what those patterns mean. But for clients with even a beginner’s understanding of astrology, coupling my interpretations with some explanation for the reasons behind them seems to add a useful dimension of information for them.
One of the first things I do when preparing a reading (besides looking at someone’s Sun, Moon, and rising signs, or checking their elemental makeup) is to look for the closest planetary aspects in their chart, especially stressful ones. To some extent, the closest aspect(s) can indicate the most urgent and powerful karmas and lessons in life and may even be a central driving force for the entire chart.
One of my first astrology teachers, Goswami Kriyananda, once remarked, "If you ever have difficulty interpreting a chart, just look for the closest approaching square or opposition and talk about that. At the end, the client will probably walk away thinking, ‘What an incredibly accurate reading!’". While I personally don’t limit it solely to stressful approaching aspects, as he did, I certainly understand his thinking there.
While squares or oppositions can definitely indicate serious challenges, it’s important to remember there is always the potential for those energies to be redirected or transmuted in some way. For example, some of the greatest writers I’ve come into contact with have particularly ‘afflicted’ Mercurys. Likewise, the greatest martial artists sometimes have extremely challenged Mars, while the greatest spiritual teachers sometimes have very challenged Neptunes or Jupiters, and on it goes.
What does that tell you? Simply, that a planet that is stressfully aspected essentially forces a person’s awareness onto a given area to such an extent that it can (ideally) lead to greatness. The astrologer’s job is to help the client better understand that, and redirect their difficult potentials in ways that can be more fulfilling and constructive for them.
A particularly useful concept gathered from my early teachers was the notion that the Sun is an "objective amplifier" whereas the Moon is a "subjective amplifier." What does that mean? Planetary aspects to the Sun indicate events or energies that tend to be more out in the open for everyone to see, whereas those to the Moon tend to be experienced more internally and subjectively, often in a largely private way or through relationships.
For example, Uranus squaring the Moon in a chart can indicate intense emotional restlessness and a need for freedom in relationships, sometimes with a rebellious streak thrown in. That may not be quite so obvious to casual acquaintances, but it certainly will be clear to the individual with that aspect. By contrast, Uranus squaring the Sun in someone’s chart indicates a concern with freedom and independence in ways that are more obvious to others, especially in professional contexts. In many cases, it can cause someone to be more entrepreneurial or at least want a longer leash in work situations.
In my own work, I’ve found it especially helpful when speaking to clients to look for what I call the ‘late bloomer’ dynamic, whenever that may be applicable. A culinary analogy would be how some foods are perfect right from the start, such as an apple, a Caesar salad, or a glass of milk, but certain foods – like gourmet cheese or a fine wine – age more slowly and reveal their greatest virtues over longer spans of time. Horoscopes can be like that sometimes, and it’s suggested by various factors.
The most obvious of those are Saturn aspects, such as trines to personal planets, Saturn on the angles, or sign placements including planets in Capricorn.
The late singer Tina Turner had a particularly conflicted horoscope when it came to relationships, shown by a T-square involving an opposed Sun and Moon to Mars in the 7th – that suggested a combative energy around partnerships (though it also accounted for much of her dynamic and assertive energy as a performer). But she also had a tight Saturn-Venus trine, which suggested that things would become much better for her in later years both romantically and financially, which is exactly what happened.
While this late bloomer process unfolds more smoothly in the case of trines or sextiles, even hard aspects from Saturn can evolve this way. As noted, hard aspects like squares or oppositions bring greater urgency towards working on whatever areas are affected, although the ‘ripening’ tends to be accompanied by delays and frustration. Consider the example of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, born with a close Saturn-Venus opposition across the asc-desc. Both his career and love life experienced enormous ups and downs, but he had his most productive creative period between the ages of 69 and 90!
Needless to say, when evaluating this late bloomer dynamic one needs to consider the entire chart as well as the attitude and resilience of the individual. That said, I’ve found discussion of this to be one of the most helpful and reassuring elements for certain clients, to the extent that some told me it was the most valuable insight they carried away from our consultation. Learning that there is a light at the end of the tunnel – especially when it comes to younger clients struggling with a hard life – can provide a major boost to their morale and hopefully provide some much-needed direction.
I pay enormous attention to the most elevated body in any chart, especially if it is close to the midheaven. Why? In my experience, the highest horoscopic body is intimately related not only to reputation but to one’s primary aspirations. By contrast, whereas the 1st house tends to indicate who one is, in terms of everyday personality, planets near the top of the chart indicate what one is aspiring to become. (Much the same applies to the zodiac sign on the MC.)
Case in point: someone with Mercury as their highest planet will tend to have a powerful desire to teach, write, or communicate; someone with Venus high in the chart may be driven to be an artist, fashion designer, or project beauty to the world in some way; in the case of Saturn, the native may be driven to business, politics, architecture, or science, etc. In line with the late bloomer dynamic, I’ve also found planets near the top of the chart often unfold more fully later in life, usually from the 40s onward.
Though I’ve found the doctrine of dignities and debilities useful in some contexts, such as horary, in certain contexts the doctrine is capable of doing more harm than good. Here’s an example: I recently saw someone on social media bemoan the fact he was born with his Mercury in Pisces. Why? Because he had learned it was in its ‘fall’ there. He obviously regarded this placement as a true negative in his life, a horoscopic liability he simply had to live with. Sad to say, I’ve come across this attitude more times than I can remember; it’s obviously a destructive one for those who subscribe to it, since it dramatically limits their sense of those planets’ potentials.
My own opinion has always been this: there is no aspect or placement that doesn't have constructive application somewhere, somehow. For example, Mercury in Pisces may be difficult for certain things, admittedly, but it’s actually a perfect placement for a poet, fiction writer, mystic, astrologer, musician, singer, mythologist, or priest/priestess. Consider some of the famous natives born with Mercury in that so-called ‘fall’: Abraham Lincoln, Lady Gaga, Kurt Cobain, Edgar Cayce, Justin Timberlake, Elton John, Victor Hugo, Bach, Tony Robbins, Copernicus, Eckhart Tolle, Billie Holiday, Baudelaire, Aretha Franklin, Rudolf Steiner, and others. I approach all placements and aspects with that attitude, in terms of not just discussing their negative potentials but their positive ones as well.
As many of us know too well, some clients come to us hoping we’ll make important life decisions for them. Should I marry this person? Should I have babies? Should I get plastic surgery? In the spirit of Star Trek’s ‘prime directive’ of non-interference, I don’t believe we should interfere in the destinies of others, beyond advice that may be appropriate and wise to offer. We’re there to help them understand the perils and pitfalls of their horoscopes and to plot out possibilities as best we can, but I am always careful never to say, "You should do this!".
Here’s an example: When I was 21 and had just started doing horoscopes, I became friends with a young woman whose chart showed an incredibly challenged 5th house, with Saturn in Scorpio there at the focal point of a T-square involving the Moon and Venus. She didn't ask me about children and had no interest in astrology at all, to begin with, so she wouldn’t have cared one way or another what I had to say on the matter. But I remember thinking how problematic it could be if she ever decided to have them, as far as raising kids or even dealing with the physical challenges of childbirth.
As it turned out, I lost contact with her over the years but got back in touch with her decades later. When I asked her if she ever wound up having a family, she said she endured no less than five miscarriages before finally giving birth to a healthy son, with whom she enjoyed a fantastic relationship. Having that one son "made all the earlier sufferings worthwhile," she said.
Thinking back to the old days, I suspect that had she asked me whether or not to have kids, I may have steered her away, citing the potential problems. Yet that is not the job of an astrologer! Having that difficult Saturn didn't mean she shouldn't have children; it simply indicated the struggles she might encounter if she did. Knowing what I know now, if someone like her were to ask me that question these days I would offer my best insights and information, including both positive and negative possibilities, but I would leave the decision to them for both ethical and karmic reasons.
I’ve found that one of the trickiest – but also most important – areas to deal with when talking to clients is the so-called ‘afflicted Moon’ problem. This is when a client’s horoscope displays a particularly challenged Moon, due to a barrage of squares, oppositions, or conjunctions, with few or no supporting aspects to help balance things out.
In simple terms, this can indicate a difficult challenge for that person in emotional concerns, especially (but not strictly) during childhood. It’s not only a complicated situation for the astrologer in terms of how to provide a fully nuanced interpretation, but because of how easily the client can misread any comments to amplify an already existing challenge.
Suppose a client has their Moon tightly conjoined to Saturn – arguably one of the most difficult and frustrating combinations (as I well know, having my Moon-Saturn conjunction in the 1st house). I’ve sometimes had clients with a pattern like that refer casually to their "bad Moon" – as though that’s all there is to it, seemingly with no idea as to the positive potentials of that combo. But consider some of the notable luminaires born with that celestial duo, like David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Sophia Loren, Miles Davis, William Burroughs, and many others.
I feel it’s our job to make clients aware of the serious challenges their charts may indicate, but not without underscoring the positive prospect of those energies too. As the abovementioned celebrities illustrate, difficult energies can become the key to great accomplishments. Focusing solely on the negative runs the risk of providing a misleading impression of their horoscopes and, in turn, their entire lives.
When someone comes to me wanting to know about the period ahead, one of the most important things I can ask is what’s been happening during the previous few months, for better or worse. That not only gives me a far better sense of context in terms of how their current transits and progressions may already be manifesting but also how those energies will likely continue unfolding for them in the months ahead.
Suppose I look at a chart and see a progressed Saturn squaring Venus coming to a head nine months away. If, while talking to the client beforehand, they inform me they’ve been having marital problems over money, I’ll have a much better idea of what to think regarding that upcoming aspect – i.e., it could very well involve money. True, there are times when someone’s transits and progressions are so clear-cut in their meanings and potentials that I won’t feel a need to gather any backstory from them, but aside from those exceptions, posing carefully articulated questions beforehand can provide a very useful springboard for discussing their upcoming energies.
When preparing a more predictively-oriented reading, my very first priority is to understand the ‘big picture’ of what’s going on in that person’s life in terms of grasping the larger patterns and cycles in their chart. By comparison, when I first started doing chart readings, I simply worked from a planetary ‘hit list’ that displayed all transits and progressions over the coming year in strict sequence. Armed with that, I might have said, "On January 1st, you have Mars squaring your Moon; on January 7th, you have Uranus squaring your natal Uranus; while on January 20th, you have progressed Jupiter sextiling your Venus", etc., etc.
Yet that is an extremely simplistic (and inefficient) way to discuss transits and progressions. Why? Because it doesn’t give either the client or myself as an astrologer a true sense of the bigger picture at work in terms of understanding those aspects in their proper context and their relative priority and magnitude. For instance, take one of those transits I mentioned – Uranus squaring a client’s natal Uranus. An energy like that actually applies to a much broader phase or chapter in someone’s life, not just a passing moment in time lasting for a few days, and will set the stage for other shorter-term transits happening during that period. For that reason, I generally begin my forecast readings by carefully describing those larger ‘chapters’ happening in a person’s life and working my way down to the shorter-term transits and trigger points unfolding against the backdrop of those larger cycles.
Similarly, while studying historic developments on a more mundane level, I always focus on the ‘big picture’ first. For many astrologers, an initial instinct, whenever a major event happens, is to draw up a chart for the specific time, but the problem with this microscopic ‘in the moment’ approach is it can cause us to miss the forest for the trees if the historic event is not seen as a reflection of a much larger cycle.
Consider the Jan. 6th 2020 attack on the U.S. capitol. The vast majority of astrologers drew up the chart for the day and time when the mob breached the police barriers. Yet such a microscopic approach misses that this event was symptomatic of the U.S. Pluto return taking place at the time, a cycle indicating a spirit of upheaval in the national body politic. That’s decidedly not something shown by any microscopic look at a single moment in time without a sense of the larger historical context involved.
Or consider the abortion debate. Even if one could find a specific moment to erect a chart for that controversy (highly unlikely, considering it has been around for centuries), I doubt any single horoscope could explain the broader significance of this development. That may be better explained as a symptom of the broader cycle of the Great Ages – specifically the shift between the Piscean and Aquarian Ages. On the one hand, we have the largely Christian pro-life forces defending the values of the fading Piscean Age, with its heavily religious concern for the helpless unborn; on the other hand, we have the pro-choice forces defending the more Aquarian, independent and secular values of individuals. To be clear, I’m not suggesting either side is right or wrong, simply that there are archetypal dynamics involved. In some situations, a broader approach can provide a depth of understanding that no one horoscope for a single moment in time can really match.
As for my own choice of predictive methods, I typically focus on four things particularly:
a) transiting aspects to natal planets or angles:
b) secondary progressions to natal planets or angles;
c) secondary progressions to secondary progressed planets or angles; and finally,
d) solar arc progressions to natal planets and angles.
Other astrologers, of course, will choose to work with other factors, but these are the ones I’ve found most useful in my work.
I also consider, when applicable, the ‘world transits’ taking place at the time – that is, what’s happening astrologically for the world at large.
Suppose someone asks about starting a new business: their personal transits or progressions might be relatively uneventful at the time, but on the day they’re scheduled to open up that business, I see that Neptune is squaring Mercury – that needn’t ruin their new business prospects, but I would make them aware of that energy and what it could portend for their business, in both positive and negative ways.
Or suppose a woman has her Sun in the late degrees of Pisces. When Saturn first moves into that sign, she will likely feel that energy as a certain seriousness of purpose, or a desire to work hard towards something – even though it’s nowhere close yet to actually conjoining her Sun. As one astrologer I knew once put it, "You don’t have to touch the stove to start feeling the heat from it". That goes for major planets moving into the vicinity of your personal planets as well. Like I said, always focus on the big picture.
When looking at someone’s chart, I pay particular attention to station points, which is when a planet slows down and stands relatively still while changing directions. As Goswami Kriyananda once expressed it, station points have a "branding iron" effect which amplifies that planet’s energy considerably.
In natal charts, you’ll sometimes find a stationing planet assuming an oversized influence in someone’s life in ways that aren’t easily explained by other methods. My early teacher, Shelly Trimmer, was an exceptionally ‘Uranian’ character in many respects – independent, unconventional, inventive – yet the only thing which really indicated those qualities in his birth chart was having been born precisely on a Uranus station point. In my predictive work, I likewise place enormous emphasis on whether a stationing planet happens to be forming any close aspects to that person’s natal planets or angles at the time, since the aspect then becomes magnified.
There’s a familiar astrological saying: Only that can happen which is written in the birth chart. For the most part, I’ve found this to be true. Whenever I look at key transits or progressions coming up, I always consider the condition of those planets in the birth chart since those natal patterns will colour the outcome of those transiting aspects enormously.
Suppose someone has Sun-trine-Saturn in their birth chart. When transiting Saturn squares their natal Sun, things will probably be difficult, but the eventual outcome will almost certainly be constructive. Due to those natal patterns, the effects of transiting or progressed aspects will be heavily modified.
On the other hand, consider someone with a tight Mercury-Neptune square in their birth chart, who has transiting Neptune coming up to form a trine to natal Mercury; the resultant developments may initially seem positive, yet can easily degrade into something more problematic, presuming they aren’t careful (i.e., that they read the fine print on any documents being signed, watch speech more carefully, and think twice before sending texts or emails).
Finally, to sum up my philosophy of astrological consulting as simply as possible, I ask this question: "How can I help my clients best take advantage of their horoscope patterns, whether those be natal or predictive, while helping them avoid or redirect their more difficult potentials?".
Imagine someone has a hard Moon-Neptune aspect natally. I’ll make them aware of the negative potentials there, but as noted, I go out of my way to point out positive potentials, too. It’s true that this sort of energy can produce a certain amount of confusion, addictive behaviours, or co-dependency, but it can also indicate sensitivity, artistic talents, psychic abilities, and compassion for others.
Or suppose someone has transiting Pluto coming up to square or oppose their natal Sun. This will probably trigger an assortment of issues in their life, such as power struggles with authorities or colleagues or contending with unresolved anger from the past, but it can also indicate a period of personal empowerment, career reassessment, deep investigation into some subject, or even an activist involvement with social causes.
Covering both the positive and negative of horoscope patterns is an immensely important part of our work, and represents one of the most helpful gifts we, as astrologers, can present to the world.
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Ray Grasse Ray Grasse is a writer, photographer, and astrologer living in the American Midwest. Author of numerous books including Under a Sacred Sky, An Infinity of Gods, StarGates, Urban Mystic, Signs of the Times, and When the Stars Align, he worked on the editorial staffs of Quest Books and The Quest Magazine for 10 years, and has been associate editor of The Mountain Astrologer magazine for over 20 years.
Ray received a degree in painting and filmmaking from the Art Institute of Chicago, the latter under independent filmmaker Stan Brakhage. He has studied extensively under teachers in the Kriya Yoga and Zen traditions.
Ray has two websites online at: www.raygrasse.com and www.raygrassephotography.com.
