For Beginners in Astrology

If you came to my blog and are in the dark about those astrological details, or have no idea how to find your planets in signs or house, or wish to understand more in depth about some astrological themes, I suggest strongly the following sites:

Astrodienst: One of the most reliable serious sites in the internet for astrology. They have great reports, and even a section of the site that is free. You need to register first though.

You can calculate your birth chart for free and get a free pdf report with a list containing your main planets positions in your chart, in which sign your Sun, Moon, etc. are in your birth chart.

I strongly recommend if you want to know about your planets in signs and houses as well as making your synastry chart and composite relationship chart.


Cafe astrology: Very interesting site, simpler than Astrodienst, but you can check easily, with the help of tables, in which sign Sun, Venus, Mars, North Node, etc. are placed in your Natal Chart. (for venus, for example: http://www.cafeastrology.com/venussignstables.html).

Is a site full of very well written content, pretty innovative! In regard of paid reports, I would still prefer Astrodienst, because cafe astrology`s reports are a little more generic and not as deep as the one from the site above.


Astrotheme: Great site where you can calculate and see where are your planets in your chart, and you don't need to register for that. Also is interesting because you can see what celebrities have similar chart to you, and they have a huge database of celebrities and known people, if you are interested in checking how compatible you are with Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie ;) .

They have very interesting and cute articles about the 12 ascendants, Venus in signs/houses, Mars in signs/houses.

I would recommend to take a look. Is a good second site for beginners in astrology, since the articles are short and fun.

For a start these are one of the best sites to take a look, if you are curious about astrology more than just knowing if you are Aries or Cancer, i.e., your Sun is in Aries or Cancer.

See you on next post,

Lina

Finding your perfect love match!

have tried many techniques related to relationships, even with my past ones and checking about a person character. When you get involved with someone, for me, the most important is their character strength, their maturity and so on.

So depending on what you seek in a partner, you might want to look for certain clues in your candidates to date/boyfriend/girlfriend's birth chart to understand better who she/he is under the masks we commonly use everyday to present ourselves to the world.

This post will try to show the link between the main aspects that you might wish in a partner to get involved in a relationship and what to avoid or look for in a birth chart to see a fruitful romance bloom, avoiding disappointment and big hurts. So lets see what to look for (or avoid) in the natal chart of your possible love interest!

So, If you are looking for a:

 

What to look for in his/her chart: 

*Moon in Aries, Leo, Scorpio, sometimes Moon in Cancer or in Sagittarius can give also predisposition for being a fiery lover;

*Mars in Aries, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius;
*Aspects between planets like: Venus conjunct Mars; Mars square/conjunct/opposite Pluto;  Moon conjunct Mars or Pluto; Jupiter conjunct Sun or Mars.

What to avoid:
*Sun in Pisces or Aquarius;
*Moon in Gemini, Virgo, Capricorn.
*Aspects between planets: Venus and Mars not in aspect to each other or another personal planet (Sun, Moon, Mercury), Saturn conjunct Moon, Saturn in bad aspect with Mars or Moon.

 If you desire a family man/woman in your life, that will bring    romance, an old-fashioned romantic kinda person, loyalty and seriousness to a relationship look for these hints:  

What to look for in his/her chart: 

*Moon in Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn,  sometimes Moon in Cancer or in Sagittarius can give also predisposition for being a fiery lover;

*Sun in Pisces (but watch out, only sun is not a good evaluation when we are talking about feelings!);
*Mars in Taurus, Libra, Capricorn.
*Venus in Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo, Cancer, Pisces.
*Aspects between planets: Venus conjunct Jupiter or Moon or good aspects between these planets; Saturn trine or sextile Moon;  in lesser degree, Sun well related to Venus. Neptune in good aspect with Moon or Venus can also indicate someone romantic in love, but not necessarily he will be trustful or loyal, family type of person.

What to avoid:
*Sun in Gemini, Aquarius (unless with other planets in signs and aspects that indicate romance, see paragraphs above);
*Moon in Gemini, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius.
* Venus or/and Mars in Gemini, Sagittarius, Aquarius
*Aspects between planets: Sun and Moon in bad aspect to each other or another personal planet (squares and oppositions), Uranus in hard aspects (including conjunction) to Moon and Venus and Mars, since indicates a person that usually has problems with old/traditional values, Neptune hard aspects to Moon, Venus or Mercury (this last one having less effect, but can indicate a liar or an elusive person).

  
If you are looking for an independent, more brainy type of loving person, that usually would like  unconventional relationships like open relationship, unusual love making, unpredictable or/and exciting, adventurous relationships this are the clues you should look in your future partner chart:

What to look for in his/her chart: 

* Moon in Gemini, Sagittarius, Aquarius, somewhat Pisces (depends of rest of chart);

* Venus or/and Mars in Aries, Gemini, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Pisces, Libra (somewhat);

 *Aspects between planets: Moon conjunct or in any close aspect with Uranus; Venus or Mars in contact with Uranus (also Neptune, in relationships where one is the savior and the other the underdog); Pluto with hard aspects (including conjunction) to Venus/Mars (unusual love making, taboos).  

What to avoid:
* Moon in the Earth signs; Moon in Leo (he/she needs a lot of devotion and attention to accept unusual sharing of your love with anybody else, including your dog (kinda joking));
* Venus in Earth signs; Venus/Mars in Scorpio (if in a committed relationship though, since when they enter a real partnership, you should be consumed by their deep waters of passion, if you look to the side or don't correspond their intensity, watch out for the wrath of revenge to come in your way; but if you don't desire a long term romantic involvement with them, is OK, they can be very unpredictable and exciting in love making!);
*Aspects between planets: Saturn conjunct (also trine and sextile somewhat) Sun/Moon (these people are serious and generally take love serious too!); Moon conjunct Pluto (people with deep intense emotions); Moon conjunct Venus/Jupiter (they need lots of affection and cuddling!).

In next post, I will write a little about synastry and how to relate our natal chart to our partner (or potential candidate)'s chart.

But watch out! Of course, this observations are based on astrological literature, my personal/practical experience with readings and intuition, but one has to keep in mind that the whole chart should be taken in consideration, not only one aspect or a planet in a sign alone. I just highlighted the most common points I found in charts and literature along the years. If you have a different experience or observation, chime in!

Willpower: is it finite? Why is so hard to be determined and have willpower?

Did you ever have that feeling when you have to resist a temptation and later you can't resist anything else? You wanna loose 10 kg this week, start a rigid diet, but then end up losing control over your house organization, your chores at work/university?

Interestingly, scientific researches are suggesting that our willpower is a limited resource, like food, money and so on.

Sure, there are critics to the matter, but an interesting article discuss about this new finding and how it relates even to the fact that poorer people don't choose to be poor: the more they have to resist temptation of buying things due to a restricted budget, the harder is to keep self-control to study long hours, have creativity, so on, and to develop yourself. The fact of being under big restrictions and having to exert strong self control in one are might take a huge toll in our psyches.

So, If you feel depleted on your willpower to achieve your goals, one line of research "has found reason to think that drained willpower can be restored in the short term—by taking a walk in nature or watching a humorous video, for instance"— studies on how to make your total willpower bigger in the long term are not yet clear. 

For improving studying or working, a small break to walk around some green area, having a tea or watching an youtube video on something funny might help you return to those important tasks that wait your diligence to build up for them to be finished. Some psychologists suggest for each hour of study, 10 minutes of break are recommended for the best results. 

So don't put too much on yourself or feel guilty if you take a small break. The important thing in life is living a fruitful happy existence. God loves you and all of us, and so we should love and care for our own well-being (and when we are well, we can also take better care of our loved ones). 

Reference: http://www.tnr.com/article/environment-energy/89377/poverty-escape-psychology-self-control?page=0,1

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45195530/ns/today-today_health/t/self-control-tips-pump-your-willpower/

North Node in Aries - Awakening the Inner Warrior

So, here we start with North Node in Aries, one of the most straightforward paths to follow (as are the people born with this Sun, direct and without frills):  be bold, be active, act fast.

As explained before, the North Node is always the hardest way  (in the beginning) to view life but the most fulfilling in the (not so) long run, and the South Node is the easiest way, but that`s an energy that you wouldn't find enjoyment/fun if you follow you since you "been there, done that".

I know particularly well about the Aries energy, since my Ascendant is in it. But most interestingly, I married a lovely Mr. whose North Node Aries is in exact conjunct to it.

Is funny, since people with South Node in Libra (i.e. North Node in Aries, since the North and South node are always in opposite signs, see my introduction post to the nodes to understand why) are always trying to solve things with diplomacy, adapting to others to avoid fights, giving up a little to get to an agreement, without breaking peace and I (ascendant aries) am always going for an argument in a straightforward open manner to solve things.

So you can imagine that in the start my husband was deeply annoyed and afraid of showing me openly who he was, what he wanted, when we had an argument and that made him quite frustrated sometimes. With time and incentive (and a little of astrology analysis of how to do it ;) ), he started to bloom and even began acting sometimes a little too bossy. And he feels good acting like that after awhile (just hope he doesn't become a dictator though *crossing fingers*) and I see how fulfilled he is.

But jokes aside, the person with North Node in Aries, most than everything, needs partners and friends who will understand that leading, bringing the action, and the apparently me first mentality is what their inner soul wants to develop it most, even when (and because) it seems so difficult to them.

They are like babies in being fearless leaders, impulsive (like a kid) and daring; those are part of a group of characteristics of a side of their personality that needs to be developed specially because they lacked that side so much (in past lives, if you believe so, or in growing up environment/genetics/education/culture/family ancestry).

One thing that helps me when I need to get inspiration for working with my North Node is looking for a role model figure/symbol and seeing if it has the main qualities of the sign of my node, and which ones I lack most, and that I would feel good developing. For me one easy role model is the sign associated own mythological figure: Aries - greek God of war - or Mars, the ruler of the sign, the roman version of Aries.

Both of them represented powerful action and strong leadership, but of course with negative repercussions if acting without consciousness and responsibility for the society and our loved ones well being. In antique Greece, he was not seen with good eyes for it's irrationality and fighting/brawling initiator, wars, but the Romans loved him for his heroic, brave spirit, he was seen as second in line after Jupiter (Zeus equivalent for the Romans).

In this case, Aries,

So here are some tips for people that came to their present life in Earth with the North Node in Aries challenge:

Tips:  - Take action
          -  Be decisive
          -  Practice leadership
          -  Be independent (don't depend on others for taking action and getting what you want)
              -  Exercise your Willpower
          -  Fight for what you want, don't ignore your wishes and hide personality just for the sake of keeping appearances or peace in relationships (fake peace is not peace at all, is more like cold war)
          -  Develop your strength, physical and psychological
          -  Enjoy some challenge (competitive sports and games, active hobbies, etc.), but don't forget     the sportsmanship
          -  Practice something that gives you the feeling of speed or that makes you take quick actions (playing a car race video game, doing adrenaline sports, like motorbike racing, kart, so on)
          -  Enjoy the strength, intensity and volatile spirit of fire

          -  Act as a boss, even if you think is an evil thing to do, take responsible leadership, but avoid being a controlling dictator or you would risk ending up as a loner, and depending on the rest of your chart (the North Node is not the only indicator of what can make you a happy person) that might make you "gain the world but lose your soul".

Symbols to inspire the spirit of North Node in Aries: 

Professions: Surgeon, warrior, soldier, military/armed forces (position in command), butcher, athlete,firefighter, pioneer, explorer, adventurer, racing driver, political leader, work with fire.

Objects: Swords, fireworks, metals, cars, tools, knives, sharp instruments

Foods: Spicy foods, big meals, red meat, prosciutto, coffee, high content of protein meals

Colors: Red, Gold, Orange, Metallic colors 

Gems: Agate of fire

 Jasper