This chart-work came up as a sort of ‘challenge’ on a Twitter thread a few days ago. The chart belongs to a young man who calls himself ‘AtheistBlogger’. He attracted my attention by making a wild comment on Twitter: “Astrology is crap,” which seemed a scary-kind of blanket statement to apply to such a well-researched and ancient subject of inquiry. His initial statements called to mind some since-debunked anti-astrology study done by an academic which wished for his statistics to prove astrology worthless, and skewed them in order to do so; he also mentioned the notorious $1,000,000 challenge by the “Amazing Randi“, the rather bushy-faced, failed-stage-magician-turned vigilante who stands against everything that can’t be seen in a laboratory test-tube, be it religion, alternative medicine, or astrology, as his reasons for committing the noble art & science of Astrology to the ash-heap… and who has set-up a false challenge… false because his standards for belief are so strict, Jesus Christ himself wouldn’t make a dent in the Amazing Randi’s skepticism… So, from his bold statement, we know AtheistBlogger has quite a bit of self-confidence. And he is a stand-out as an atheist, wanting all the world to know he’s an atheist… He may change his mind about that in a few years… The bold kind of statement only a very young man who hasn’t seen much of the world yet, impetuously makes!
His chart is an amazing ‘stand out’ in the incredibly bad aspects it forms to MY personal chart, which really is a wonderful validation of Astrology — I’m so glad he appeared in the cross-hairs for this encounter — because his chart PROVES Astrology through the definition of its many significant comparison aspects with my own chart. After all, it wasn’t anyone who got into this dispute about Astrology in Twitter except him — and me! I invite anyone who cares to, to visit a good synastry site, such as CafeAstrology, and read-up on the powerful aspects between AtheistBlogger’s chart and my chart.
See the comparison below! I’ve included both charts. His Sun & Jupiter in 9 & 11 deg. Taurus square my Moon and Pluto; his Mercury in 20 Taurus 1-1/2 deg. square to my natal Leo Saturn; his Uranus, Saturn & Neptune oppose my Mercury & Venus; his Mars opposes BOTH my Pluto & Saturn; and his Pluto squares my Moon-Pluto-Saturn. All those bad aspects! You NEVER see this line-up of powerfully negative aspects between friends. Maybe two enemies who meet in a killing field to cut holes in each other, but never friends! There is, however, a ghost of a chance of some ultimate kind of limited understanding arising between us, based on his Libra Moon in a (weak) 5 degree trine to my Gemini Sun and his Gemini Venus being conjunct my Sun. But there is so much anger and dissonance in other parts of the charts, that these factors are about 10% as strong for the good as the others are for the bad. As I said, to get the full inside story, just look-up any or all of those aspects between AtheistBlogger’s chart and my own and you’ll see how difficult any kind of relationship, except perhaps a mutually abusive one, would be between us.
One thing I invite anyone conversant with Astrology to look at, is how in AtheistBlogger’s chart, there is a T-Square of planets in Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus, and nothing at all in Leo. Then, look at my chart over his chart… my Moon-Plu-Sat in Leo turns his T-Square into a Grand Cross! It “completes” his chart. It gives him something his chart is woefully missing — an experience with a new kind of reality, in this case, the reality of spiritual things and ancient beliefs that are still alive –for a good reason– today!
So, let’s look for these elements in his birth chart and see what turns up! Here’s the chart based on the data AtheistBlogger gave me in a personal e-mail message, courtesy of Astrodienst (aka Astro.com), where I do a lot of my work.
'Atheist Blogger" 29 April, 1988 22:00 Southampton, ENG. UK.
Ed Augusts. June 11, 1948. 5:30 a.m. Bamberg, GER.
At first I wondered if he would give me his actual chart data, or use the birth date of some well-known public figure so that he could make fun of me afterwords for describing him using a chart belonging to some rap singer or football player! I suspected a ruse, because that sort of thing has been done in the past on USENET sites, where skeptics used to gather before Google archiving put an end to their most rampant abuses. But after looking at the chart for a few minutes, I wrote a message on Twitter stating that AtheistBlogger had been good as his word, and sent me his true birth data. How did I know? Because the major positions and aspects portray the person who came forward on Twitter.
I was primarily looking for aspects among the planets that indicate wild, individualistic, rash, and very, no doubt overly, self confident mental states and behaviors which would fit someone blogging about atheism and denouncing people’s beliefs in public.
I found what I was expecting to find right away, in the close opposition between Pluto (indicated with a symbol that looks like the letter “P”), and Jupiter, which looks a little bit like an ‘open’ number four, in the diagram above. They are linked with a red line, indicating a difficult, aka ‘malefic’ aspect. The textbook definitions of all the aspects in this chart are quite fascinating, and you don’t have to take my word for what they are; you can easily Google meanings for ‘natal Jupiter opposition Pluto’, if you want.
Jupiter is the King of the Gods to the ancient Romans; it symbolizes religion and philosophy. Pluto, just opposite, and in very close aspect (which makes it very strong), is traditionally thought of as the God of the Underworld. He undermines, challenges, hates, and often destroys the best qualities of the places in the chart he touches. In AtheistBlogger’s chart, this means religion (Jupiter) is under a dramatic challenge by what one could think of as the forces of unreason… the forces of darkness… the minions of misrule… the subterranean genii. Pluto does not just oppose Jupiter, it opposes the SUN in this chart, as well. It literally begins to look like a case of darkness (Pluto) versus light (the Sun).
Pluto is sextiled by Neptune which also trines (120 deg., a third of the 360 deg. circle), Jupiter. This gives him good reflexes as well as subtlety, based on tremendous sensitivity. He can use this to outwit his opponents. The Jupiter-Neptune aspect shows, surprisingly enough, an actual connection with religion, a familiarity with it. Perhaps as a child he was coaxed to learn the Bible from a parent or grandparent who hoped to indoctrinate the child in that system of beliefs. He didn’t reckon on AtheistBlogger disliking authority — other than himself! — and challenging any such teachings.
Another thing about Pluto… it is ‘squared’ (90 degree ‘right angle’ aspect) by Mars. This is a particularly nasty aspect which creates mental aggression (3rd house – Mars is in his 3rd house, the house of the mind). Mental (3rd House) aggression (Mars) badly influencing and influenced by, the forces which wish to control and manipulate others (Pluto). There is nothing at peace and rest in this square between Mars and Pluto. It causes a person to be unjustifiably wrathful, scornful, severe, and possibly violent against anyone who doesn’t share his personal opinions. It invites violence in its turn, so as a child, AtheistBlogger may have had more than his share of personal challenges — wins — and losses. It is as if at some point in his young life, he has already, or soon will, witness violence of a kind usually only seen in war. He may even be at the center of an episode of some kind of violence!
His sibling(s) probably include a brother, shown by Mars (male) in the 3rd House (siblings). He has at least twice the chance of having a brother than he does a sister… If he does have a sister, which is not as likely, she will be more aggressive and a source of possible trouble to him than most sisters, since Mars marks-her-out. In any case, there will be rivalries with this sibling over inheritance or other worries. He or she may have a sporty affable nature, but be prone to accidents and dangers (Mars square Pluto). He may lose a sibling because of Mars being in that house, that sign, and the way it relates to the other planets. Traveling abroad for said brother, and/or driving in the same car with this brother, may be dangerous (square both Jupiter and Pluto).
Writing or teaching could certainly be good careers for AtheistBlogger, and Jupiter and Mercury together also promise travel, so a Grand Tour is indicated. The mind is adept at languages, indeed all symbol-systems veritably fall before him. But Pluto over yonder, and Mars in the 3rd, shows the best of beginnings are ruined by people in power, or people behind-the-scenes who won’t put up with his mental arrogance and fault him for anything they can, until he is looking for other employment. His 2nd House of personal finances has a difficult conjunction of Saturn and Uranus, indicating sudden advancement and just-as-sudden radical change, such as dismissal or expulsion. The finances will be hard to regulate and keep regular with this aspect. An unchallenged source of income will be important as he goes along in life.
Moon in Libra in the 10th… in good aspect to Venus and Mars. He has a pleasant demeanor which masks the angry vituperation which sometimes challenges his mental state. But he is an avid learner. Libra Moon, well-aspected, makes him know how to behave among the fair and beautiful. His Mercury conjunct Jupiter shows he learns farther and wider than most people. He loves learning and is enthusiastic about information and news. The Libra Moon in the Midheaven initially helps him sell whatever merchandise or ideas he has to sell. He can sell to the public. He can bring an aesthetic before the public, be it as a gallery owner, a book man, reviewer and critic, or even an atheist. He has ideas about becoming famous by challenging people’s beliefs. This is basically a ‘sales’ idea. Various sales activities, not just atheism, would be appreciated by the general public and may be of interest to him.
There is no doubt he actually “wants to do right“, except he keeps undercutting himself and bringing wrath down upon him from higher echelons. He does enjoy success with others socially, but mistakenly thinks it is his ideas which cause this success, whereas it really is based more upon his charm. Meanwhile, he reminds me of Fox News’ “Fair and Balanced” claim. He could go to Afghanistan or Iraq and report back on what he sees, and look good, smiling like a TV star while reporting, except the Mars-Pluto and certain other aspects are so challenging, he might not come back. That is another difficulty about travel. He WANTS to travel … Mercury conjunction Jupiter… and Jupiter conjunction Sun… test his skills abroad… but chances are he will run into escapades he didn’t anticipate, such as attracting possible violence to himself.
He can get along with and be quite popular, in his own way… Moon, Venus and Mars form a nice Grand Trine in Air. The personal popularity makes him think his ideas are sound, but the ideas are formed by completely different combinations (Mercury & Mars, for example) which are NOT sound at all, they are presumptuous, formed quickly from insufficient information, etc. Sun & Jupiter are conjunct, so he will enjoy the benevolence of some, but not all, of his relatives. His brother(s) won’t really be on his side or at his side during crucial moments, because of the bad aspects to Mars in 3rd. AtheistBlogger has a chance of experiencing an accident while driving, so he should never drive with a clouded mind or something deeply troubling or angering him. Anger = an afflicted Mars, and Mars is afflicted through its malefic aspects; with this placement in the 3rd, the house of the mind but also the house of short journeys around town, he can get into “road rage” situations that can prove dangerous.
AtheistBlogger is not, and should not be, poverty-stricken, even though masses of his actual fortune and intended fortune tend to disappear suddenly. His wife, if he marries, (which would be a wonderful thing for him), will be a speedy, talkative intellectual shown by Venus in Gemini. She might literally be a Gemini or other air sign and be versatile and a wonderful person to chat with. he’d better grab her, because her interests are liable to change as new data reaches her. He will probably meet her at work rather than school (10th House trine to 7th House). She may be important at his job, in some way. She will undoubtedly be chosen both for beauty (Venus) and also mental talents (Gemini). She can potentially heal many of the irksome qualities in this man (Venus conjunction Chiron, the ‘healer’). The sibling, being so competitive, may form a friendship closer to his intended wife or actual wife than AtheistBlogger may like. Gemini in the 7th often shows multiple relationships rather than one long, uninterrupted marriage, so he should enjoy her while she’s there. Venus is widely opposition Uranus, so there is some experimention in his life. If this aspect were close, there might be tendencies toward bisexuality, but such doesn’t appear to be the case in a wide opposition like this. If his career takes a tumble, as Uranus-Saturn in the 2nd indicates, he may be seeking a new companion about the same time he’s seeking new employment.
Mercury conjuncts Jupiter, so there will be various expansive mental pursuits, game playing, language-learning, etc., but Mercury and Jupiter in Taurus show a stubborness that even many experiences may be hard to ‘cure’. His friends will agree that AtheistBlogger, once he decides upon a course of action, is set in his ways,valorous, arduous, a fighter who never retreats.
The last few years have been confusing, as Neptune with its diffuse energies, has been going through Aquarius. His Neptune is significantly weakened by its conjunction with Saturn at birth, so the transits of the planet are made more difficult in later years. Any experiments or introduction of alcohol and drugs over the past several years must have, by now been analyzed as a bad idea. Sometimes hard-to-diagnose, difficult-to-cure illnesses and maladies occur as Neptune passes over one’s Mars, but in this case this may not apply only to AtheistBlogger but to one of his siblings as well. There is the chance of a difficult personal situation or even a ‘tragedy’ having been generated over the past few years increasing the unhappiness leading to his present face-off with God and his cold choice of a “hard science only!” solution to all of life’s problems. It’s very sad, really!
Venus and Mare, those wonderful ‘relationship’ planets, are both going through AtheistBlogger’s 7th House of partnerships & marriage, so he may be having a good month when it comes to socializing, with intriguing possibilities for fun, romance and action. At the very least, hobby pursuits will do well in July and early August.
That’s about all the time I have for this project… In conclusion, let me go back to the synastry (compariosn of charts) between AtheistBlogger and myself! The aspects are so fundamentally bad, it is no surprise we ‘challenged’ each other almost at once, on Twitter! There is just no chance this is random or accidental or exaggerated in the extent of the negativity. I could do the charts of 100 other people and not find one that is “so hard to live with”, for me, anyway, as AtheistBlogger! One day even the skeptics will realize they’ve been totally wrong about Astrology. It is not for nothing that Astrology took more than a thousand years to develop and has been believed in and used by intelligent people for thousands of years. One day those who look down at it, will invoke, use, and praise this ancient science!
This was a random assortment of observations made while gazing at the above natal chart, on the late afternoon of: 7-21-09. Best wishes, —Ed
