FIXED STARS

A Solar Writer Report

for Coco Chanel

Written by Diana K Rosenberg

Compliments of:-

Christine Bennett

PO Box 420

Spit Junction 2088

Australia

Tel: 1300 880 448

Email: cb@ittakes2.com.au

Web: www.ittakes2.com.au

Astrological Summary

Chart Point Positions: Coco Chanel

Planet	Sign	Position	House	Comment
The Moon	Pisces	11°Pi30'	2nd
The Sun	Leo	26°Le16'	8th
Mercury	Virgo	14°Vi54'	8th
Venus	Leo	17°Le31'	8th
Mars	Gemini	27°Ge07'	6th
Jupiter	Cancer	23°Cn02'	7th
Saturn	Gemini	9°Ge07'	5th
Uranus	Virgo	22°Vi00'	8th
Neptune	Taurus	21°Ta05'	4th
Pluto	Gemini	1°Ge11'	5th
The North Node	Scorpio	4°Sc41'	10th
The South Node	Taurus	4°Ta41'	4th
The Ascendant	Sagittarius	29°Sg40'	1st
The Midheaven	Libra	29°Li44'	10th
The Part of Fortune	Cancer	14°Cn54'	7th

Chart Point Aspects

Planet	Aspect	Planet	Orb	App/Sep
The Moon	Opposition	Mercury	3°24'	Applying
The Moon	Square	Saturn	2°23'	Separating
The Moon	Trine	The North Node	6°48'	Separating
The Moon	Trine	The Part of Fortune	3°23'	Applying
The Sun	Conjunction	Venus	8°45'	Applying
The Sun	Sextile	Mars	0°50'	Applying
The Sun	Square	Neptune	5°11'	Separating
The Sun	Square	Pluto	4°54'	Applying
The Sun	Trine	The Ascendant	3°23'	Applying
The Sun	Sextile	The Midheaven	3°27'	Applying
Mercury	Conjunction	Uranus	7°05'	Applying
Mercury	Trine	Neptune	6°10'	Applying
Mercury	Semisquare	The Midheaven	0°10'	Separating
Mercury	Sextile	The Part of Fortune	0°00'	Separating
Venus	Square	Neptune	3°33'	Applying
Mars	Opposition	The Ascendant	2°33'	Applying
Mars	Trine	The Midheaven	2°37'	Applying
Jupiter	Semisquare	Saturn	1°04'	Applying
Jupiter	Sextile	Uranus	1°02'	Separating
Jupiter	Sextile	Neptune	1°57'	Separating
Uranus	Trine	Neptune	0°55'	Separating
Pluto	Semisquare	The Part of Fortune	1°17'	Separating
The North Node	Conjunction	The Midheaven	4°57'	Applying
The South Node	Trine	The Ascendant	5°00'	Applying
The South Node	Opposition	The Midheaven	4°57'	Applying
The Ascendant	Sextile	The Midheaven	0°03'	Separating

Fixed Stars

The heavens declare the glory of god; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. -- Psalms, 19: 1-2

Fixed stars, constellations and lunar mansions are the most ancient astrological heritages of humankind. Long before there were horoscopes, aspects, houses or signs (or even systems of writing!) the dedicated priest-astrologers of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Greece, Phoenicia, Egypt, China, India, Central America, indeed, of virtually every ancient civilization of which we have record, carefully observed and analyzed sky-patterns, and attempted to relate their observations to the experiences of humankind, under the universally-held doctrine, "as above, so below."

Until recently it was difficult for modern astrologers to research stars; the available star lists were limited, their positions outdated, and new information hard to come by, and by the mid-19th-century astronomers had shifted their focus from the Ecliptic (i.e. Celestial Longitude, easily converted to tropical degrees) to the Equator (Right Ascension), which required complex calculations to convert to tropical degrees. Only in the last two decades of the 20th century did computers, conversion programs and extensive star catalogues make it possible for astrologers to return to basic research on the stars and to the study of their effects. At the same time, knowledge once available only to the most learned priests of the earliest civilizations has at last come into our hands, and we may now benefit from their learning.

The ecliptica is the primary resonating-board or interface for the multidimensional contents of the heavens, seen from our planet. Everything in the sky is brought to this plane which is our path around the Sun, an invisible belt of sensitivity on which all phenomena in the sky can be projected and ordered. This is the astrologers' tool, like the measuring-rod of a carpenter.

-- Sander Littel, 2003

All stars and DSO's (deep space objects - i.e. galaxies, black holes, clusters etc) in this work have been converted from Right Ascension and Declination, projected perpendicularly onto the ecliptic and expressed in celestial longitude, that is, in degrees along the Ecliptic measured from 0 Aries, the Vernal Equinox point. Each individual's chart placements are adjusted for precession (using epoch 2000.0) and then entered, each with its appropriate starset.

Black holes are dying stars collapsed into infinite density. One possibility is that they are collapsed neutron stars pressured into infinite curvature of space and infinite gravity; gravity so intense that nothing - not even light - can escape. X-rays from these (and other) sources reach and are absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, so it is possible that their energies may manifest in our lives. It is now thought that most galaxies may have black holes at their cores. Most bright stars are actually multiples (doubles, trebles, etc), but I have not indicated this in the text.

The Tropical And Sidereal Zodiacs

Because of a phenomenon called "precession of the equinoxes," over more than two thousand years the zodiac of signs, that is, of our familiar tropical degrees, has gradually shifted backward, largely moving away from the ancient sky figures that gave them their original names and identities; each sign of this tropical zodiac now largely overlays the star-figure that once preceded it. Our tropical sign of Aries now overlays most of the original sky-figure of the Pisces fishes, the sign of Taurus overlays the stars of the sky-Ram, tropical Gemini has backed onto the mighty Bull of Heaven, tropical Cancer now overlays the original Gemini Twins, most of tropical Leo covers the Cancer Crab (however, because of the uneven length of the ancient figures, the Lion's head and forepaws are still Leo in both the tropical and sidereal, i.e. constellational, zodiac), tropical Virgo occupies the stars of the body and tail of the Lion, tropical Libra now lies in the midst of the ancient Virgin-goddess, most of tropical Scorpio overlays the Scales of Justice, tropical Sagittarius rides the back of the menacing Scorpion, tropical Capricorn has taken over the original stars of the half-human, half-equine Archer, tropical Aquarius overlays the Sea-Goat's stars, and tropical Pisces largely overlays the figure of the original Water-Pourer.

These overlays are confusing at first, but they actually become enlightening when we search for the deeper layers of astrology's very ancient sources. For while I believe that the tropical zodiac is the most useful for day to day interpretation of horoscopes, it is the ancient sky-pattern figures that reveal the "fated," totemic level of our lives. Fate is a harsh word, conjuring images of helplessness, passivity, "what's-the-use-of-trying" emotions; but the actuality is that the soul, in each lifetime, has chosen a body, sexual polarity, set of parents, locale, schooling, economic situation, and formative matrix that will best nurture the spirit and carry it forward in the direction it has chosen to explore. It was astonishing to discover, after years of research, that there is nothing casual or coincidental in the constellational sky; the constellations are in no way arbitrary, casual, or even just seasonal markers - each one is an intensely sophisticated icon, designed to express the energies of its sky-space. And it is not only the ecliptic figures that play a part in our lives, but also the outlying, non-zodiacal aggregations that seem to fly above or swim below the Sun's eternal path; these areas were once called the "Sphaera Barbarica" and are as vital and important as the twelve familiar ecliptic-dwellers; indeed, each posture, position, length and breadth of every figure, has its reason and message.

It has been my experience that the most meaningful and exciting reactions from clients come when I describe the constellation patterns and individual fixed stars on their charts (usually at the end of a reading). There is often a profoundly personal emotional response that resonates on a "life-myth" level of being. Frequently a client's deepest conflicts are delineated by the difference between the archetypes of the tropical signs and the original constellations: the variance, for instance, between proud, courageous tropical Leo and his underlying sensitive, cautious, vulnerable star-Crab, or the tropical sign of Cancer, home-loving, self-protective, careful, but now fully overlaying the original Gemini siblings, who were rollicking, daring, competitive adventurers! It is the task of each of us to find ways to reconcile these differences and make them work creatively in our lives. Many Cancers, for instance, become actors, writers, or filmmakers, permitting themselves the vicarious experience of danger and adventure while actually remaining quite snug and safe, while others expand Cancer's love of home to love of homeland and become super-patriotic, risk-taking test pilots, astronauts, or Olympic athletes! There is no longer a need to debate whether the tropical or sidereal zodiac is to be preferred. They combine their energies!

It has become apparent to me that the universe is imprinted upon and within us; I strongly take issue with the idea that if a star is not able to rise at a particular location or birthplace, and therefore would never be visible at that place, then it has no influence there and should not be used in the birth chart. The great 1st-magnitude star Canopus (Alpha Argo Navis, the brightest star in the constellation of the great ship) for instance, is never visible from Shelter Island, New York (latitude 41N00), yet its degree of celestial longitude exactly culminates, with the Sun, on a client's chart who was born there; her parents went to great trouble to arrange for her to be born on their boat, and traveling on water has been a major part of her life. Another client, born Jewish in Chicago (41N52) has Venus and Neptune (the latter co-ruler of his 9th house of religion) aligned in celestial longitude with stars of the Southern Cross (56 to 64.5 south declination, 0 - 13.5 Scorpio) in the far southern skies, and although Crux is never visible above 27º north geographic latitude, and thus not visible in the place of his birth, he became a convert to Christianity. After years of research, it has become apparent to me that all of the sky belongs to all of humanity, without strictures or curtailments relating to birth latitudes, longitudes or visual passages. The universe is not "out there" - it is within and a part of all of us, our co-creation with God; each of us resides at the focal center of our personal universe, and the entire cosmos is both within and without each of us. Each member of the human race, whatever his or her latitude of birth, is heir to, and part of, the entirety of the universe.

It has been suggested that only the brightest stars, and/or those close to the ecliptic, should be used by astrologers. I have not found this to be a useful approach; first, because even more than the stars themselves, the full constellation figures, including those of the Sphaera Barbarica, carry important messages and second, because some rather dim stars (4th-magnitude Omicron Leonis and Mu Cephei, for instance, at 9 Aries 42 and 24 Leo 15 respectively, in 2000) produce powerful effects that belie their pallid visual impacts. For the most part I have kept to the ancient sky-figures and left out the "modern" constellations created in the 17th and 18th centuries. There are a few notable exceptions: Indus, the Indian, for instance, does seem to relate to indigenous peoples. Every named star has been included.

I have described each star's placement within its constellation figure, as far as can be ascertained (some of these placements are open to question; however, they have turned out to be extremely important, and so have been attempted); each constellation figure is described as it is seen from Earth (rather than reversed as in a "god's-eye" view as some old sky maps show them). Left or right means the figure's own left or right; for this approach I have the authority of the 2nd-century BCE astronomer-astrologer Hipparchus, considered the greatest ancient authority on constellation figures; this is from his only surviving work:

"All stars' positions are fixed with reference to our point of view, as if they were turned towards us, except if one or another of them is in profile. Aratus in many examples makes this clear; in all instances where he clearly describes the right or left portion of a constellation his description agrees with this hypothesis." -- Hipparchus, Arati et Eudoxi Phaenomena, I, 4, 1-8

It is interesting that this extraordinary scientist (discoverer of precession of the equinoxes) went to the trouble of writing a 2-volume work detailing the exact postures and positions of the constellation figures, correcting errors in Eudoxos and Aratus; it demonstrates the importance he placed on their precise locations and delineations. Roman astrologer Manilius, writing almost 2 centuries later, carried forward this idea:

"You must not divert your attention from the smallest detail; nothing exists without reason or has been uselessly created." -- Manilius, Astronomica, Book II (ca 10 CE)

Far from following these ancient authorities slavishly, when I began my research I discounted their insistence upon the importance of the placements of various arms, legs, heads, hands, eyes; it seemed to me (as it seems to almost everyone) that the constellations are fairly arbitrary, a sort of ancient "connect-the-dots" game, and a not-very-well played one, at that! With only a few exceptions, the stars of constellations do not seem to limn the figures they are said to represent. My early insouciance has had its comeuppance! Hipparchus and Manilius were simply stating facts.

As for the examples given under each starset and planet, I am keenly aware of the distortions that must result from the use of only famous or notorious people - where are the homemakers, social workers, secretaries, farmers, laboratory assistants, the quiet, often unnoticed performers of our daily tasks? For the most part, they were left out, only because if, for instance, I wrote "Jane Jones, secretary," so little could be read of her soul from that description, and the reader none the wiser about the energies of her placements. I can only hope that something can be inferred about the inner lives of the "Jane Jones" from the more prominent sharers of her stars. The descriptions of planetary influences are, of course, generalizations, and it should be noted that each planet can describe a person or persons in the reader's life, rather than the reader him/herself; Venus, for instance, stands for loved ones, and Mercury may represent a sibling, neighbor or co-worker; Jupiter can be an uncle or avuncular person, Saturn a teacher, father or father-figure, the Moon may describe the mother or a childhood nurturer, Mars an aggressive, assertive person in the life. These are never, however, individuals completely apart from ourselves - as souls we draw them into our lives, as they draw us.

There are no wholly benefic or wholly malefic stars. Each one proffers energies that may be used for good or ill. As I entered data it became apparent to me that stars and constellations, rather than being "good" or "bad," embody a polarity of issues, concerns and struggles that must be addressed in a lifetime, where the free will of the individual is tasked with the responsibility of choosing, manifesting and actively expressing the positive polarity. While a few may fail to even try, others might overcome great difficulties and achieve success, both spiritual and worldly. In working towards interpretations for each starset, I included as many positives as possible, but did not shrink from negatives; what I actually found in each case were polarities of concerns that were likely to come up in each life, rather than deterministic good-bad, right-wrong delineations. Each polarity really spans one issue - a person may express one side of it or the other: peacemakers and warmongers, for instance; activists for tolerance versus haters and bigots, idealists and cynics, each and all are "sensitive" to the issue at hand, and are making choices about where to stand: the issue will constantly crop up in their lives, and they are not likely to be indifferent or passive about it.

Precession corrections, especially for ancient charts, may appear to cause a chart's position(s) to change signs; Michaelangelo, for instance, was born with the Sun at 24 Pisces 01 in 1475, but because of precession, the stars his Sun aligned with, then in tropical Pisces, are now at the beginning of tropical Aries (the closest is 26 Piscium in the tail of the West Fish, which in 2000 was at 1 Aries 43; his Sun, precession corrected to 2000.0, is at 1 Aries 20). Thus, because of precession, a person born under one tropical sign might now appear to be placed in another. Even for some born in the 20th century with a planet in a late degree, precession correction may take the planet into the next sign. The important thing to remember, in this regard, is that the original tropical signs and rulerships hold sway on each chart; precession corrections simply serve to indicate which stars the original placements were aligned with. The longitude spans given for each Starset in this report have been adjusted for the date of birth of the individual.

Because I wanted to wanted to check out all stars, not just the most famous, or brightest, or those nearest the ecliptic, I began with a long list and often added to it as I worked, ending up with about 2,300. The stars included in this study were culled from this "master list."

About this Report

The stars represented on each horoscope mark, I believe, the points where a soul will be most intensely and constantly tested. The tests are acute, the failures (sometimes public) devastating, but while the victories are uplifting, they are usually hidden away from others. There is rarely publicity when a thief quietly decides to turn his or her life around; a person prone to anger and violence who has learned to contain his/her rage will get no medal for it; an accountant who has resisted the impul