Why Mom Fell

and the principles of astrological confluence

by Hank Friedman

In this article, I will be exploring planetary factors in my chart that indicated that my mother would fall. Those just starting out in astrology need to understand that even by examining one's own chart, an amazing amount of information can be found about one's relatives, spouse, etc.

I will be using my chart in this article, because my rising sign and houses don't change from Western to Vedic, and this congruency makes the principles I'll be exploring easier to digest. You can see both my Western and Vedic charts by clicking on this link:
https://learnastrologyfree.com/hank1jpg.htm.

Because of my extensive knowledge of both Western and Vedic astrologies, I have come to understand when each is the accurate approach to use. For example, I use Western astrology to discern psychological temperament, but I use Vedic astrology (with its the Sidereal Zodiac and Whole Sign Houses) to determine house rulerships and planetary strengths by sign.]


Planets that signify people and life themes


1. Significator: When this word is used by itself, it means a planet that unversally signifies a person or theme in everyone's chart, regardless of house placement or house rulership. For example, Venus is the significator of spouse and relationship themes, and the Sun of father.


Planetary significator

Person signified

Moon

Mother

Sun

Oneself

Sun

Father

Venus

Spouse

Mars

Younger Siblings

Jupiter

Progeny

Jupiter

Older Siblings


To find other significators, read my Common Significations in Vedic Astrology table at: https://learnastrologyfree.com/significatorsjpg.htm


A very important principle, which I have mentioned in previous articles, is that these significators are much less effective in defining the nature of a person (or life theme) than more transitory factors like the ruler of and occupants in the house. That's because everyone has a Moon in their chart, but the ruler of the 4th house (and occupants of the 4th house ) differ in every chart, and are therefore much more individual and therefore specific.


2. Primary Significator. As I stated in my essay on Finding Synergy, which I strongly encourage you to read at: https://learnastrologyfree.com/september04astro.htm, specific planets or pairs of planets -- in individual charts -- can be profound and central indicators of people or life themes. In this article, I will call a planet that is the primary indicator of a life theme or person a Primary Significator, to distinguish it from planets that ordinarily signify a theme.


Any influence (natal or transitory) upon a primary significator greatly influences the person or the life theme signified .



How can a planet become a primary significator?


A. Significators in, or aspecting, the houses they signify themes of. E.g. if Venus is in the 7th house, or by traditional and Vedic rules in the house opposite to the 7th house (which is the 1st house) thereby aspecting the 7th house, it becomes the primary significator of relationship for a person's chart.


In this article I employ Vedic aspects, which are whole sign (and therefore only relative sign positions matter, not orb.). The Vedic aspect rules are:


Planets aspect houses whether they are occupied or empty.


All planets aspect the house opposite to the house they occupy (and all of the planets in the opposite house).


Mars aspects the houses 4 and 8 ahead of it (counting the house Mars is in), Jupiter aspects the houses trine (5 and 9) to it, and Saturn aspects the houses 3 and 10 ahead of it.


Planetary significator

Person signified

Moon in the 4th or 10th

Mother

Sun in the 1st or 7th

Oneself

Sun in the 3rd or 9th

Father

Venus in the 1st or 7th

Spouse

Mars in the 3rd or 8th or 9th or 12th

Younger Siblings

Jupiter in the 1st or 5th or 9th or 11th

Progeny

Jupiter in the 3rd or 7th or 9th or 11th

Older Siblings


In other words, if an ordinary significator happens to aspect the house that represents the same person (or life theme) then it becomes elevated to primary significator status.


B. Sensitive points for specific Ascendants.


For the indicated rising sign, each of the planets below is both the significator of and house ruler for a specific person.


Aries:             Moon is ruler of the 4th: Mother      Venus is ruler of the 7th: Spouse


Taurus:           Jupiter is ruler of the 11th:  Older Siblings


Leo:                Sun is ruler of the 1st: Oneself            Jupiter is ruler of the 5th: Progeny


Virgo:             Mars is ruler of the 3rd: Younger Siblings 


Scorpio:          Jupiter is ruler of the 5th: Progeny        Venus is ruler of the 7th: Spouse


Sagittarius:      Sun is ruler of the 9th: Father


Aquarius:         Mars is ruler of the 3rd: Younger Siblings      Jupiter is ruler of the 11th: Older Siblings


A more extensive listings of house rulers for specific Rising Signs can be explored in my article at https://www.learnastrologyfree.com/houselords.pdf. This article also gives several examples of applying this principle.


3. The ruler of houses aspecting or occupying their own house.


This is again Ascendant based.


Because Saturn aspects three houses ahead, four houses back, the house it occupies, and the house it’s opposite to, for Aries rising, for example, Saturn's placement in houses 2, 5, 9, or 11 will mean it aspects its own 11th house of Aquarius, and therefore transits to Saturn are likely to impact ones older siblings (because the 11th house represents older siblings), as well as group involvements, friends, and other 11th house themes.


The table on the next page shows what houses the ruler of each house has to occupy and what person it will then signify for each Rising Sign. The table took a lot of time to construct, but will make it easier for someone not familiar with this approach to apply these principles.


Look for example at the planet that represents yourself in your chart by first finding your Ascendant, and then looking to see which planet signifies you (which will always be the ruler of the Ascendant), and then notice what houses it has to be in to become the primary significator of you. If it is in one of these houses, then everything about that planet in your natal chart (its strength, aspects, house, sign, etc.) become incredibly important in describing you and your life, and every event that impacts that planet (transits, progressions, directions, dasas, etc) with be the preeminent times in your life for self-growth, personal transformations, the deepest challenges, etc.




Ascendant

Moon

Sun

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Aries

 4/10

 mother

5/11

children

3/9

younger sib

1/7

spouse

1/6/7/10

oneself

1/3//5/9

father

2/5/9//11

older sib

Taurus

3/9

younger sib

4/10

 mother

5/11

children

1/7

oneself

1/4/7/12

spouse

3/5/7/11

older sib

3/7/9/12

father

Gemini

---

3/9

younger sib

4/10

 mother

1/7

oneself

5/11

children

4/5/8/11

older sib

1/3/7/11

spouse

3/7/9/12

father

Cancer

1/7

oneself

---

3/9

younger sib

4/10

 mother

5/11

older sib

2/5/10/11

children

1/3//5/9

father

1/7

spouse

Leo

---

1/7

oneself

5/11

older sib

3/9

younger sib

1/4/9/10

 mother

2/3/6/9

father

1/5/9/11

children

1/7

spouse

Virgo

5/11

older sib

---

1/7

oneself

3/9

father

3/7/9/12

younger sib

4/8/10/12

 mother

1/3/7/11

spouse

3/5/8/11

children

Libra

---

5/11

older sib

3/9

father

1/7

oneself

1/4/7/12

spouse

3/7/9/11

younger sib

2/4/7/10

 mother

3/5/8/11

children

Scorpio

3/9

father

---

5/11

older sib

1/7

spouse

1/6/7/10

oneself

1/5/9/11

children

1/3/6/9

younger sib

2/4/7/10

 mother

Sagittarius

---

3/9

father

1/7

spouse

5/11

older sib

2/5/10/11

children

4/8/10/12

 mother

1/5/7/9

oneself

1/3/6/9

younger sib


Capricorn

1/7

spouse

---

3/9

father

5/11

children

1/4/9/10

 mother

4/5/8/11

older sib

3/7/9/11

younger sib

1/4/7/11

oneself

Aquarius

---

1/7

spouse

5/11

children

4/10

 mother

3/9

father

3/7/9/12

younger sib

3/5/7/11

older sib

1/4/7/11

oneself

Pisces

5/11

children

---

4/10

 mother

1/7

spouse

3/9

younger sib

2/3/6/9

father

1/5/7/9

oneself

2/5/9//11

older sib



The Effects upon Primary Significators


A. Any aspect to the primary significator affects the person or life theme greatly.


B. Any major transit to the primary significator will similarly affect the person (or life theme) signified either directly (things get better or worse) or their relationship with the native.


C. The condition of the significator (e.g. exalted, combust, in major yogas, having strong aspects of benefics or malefics) will color the life theme or person represented by the planet very much.

 

Examples:


Both Venus and the 7th house are descriptors of relationship themes. If a person has a Venus that is also the ruler of the 7th house (which gives it a double influence upon relationship), then anything affecting Venus will impact relationship themes.


So if – condition A above – Saturn is tightly conjunct Venus, then Saturnian themes will infuse relationships, such as having an unavailable partner, delayed partnership, a depressed partner, a very serious, fearful, or inhibited partner, etc.


Or – condition B above – if the person's natal Venus is squared by transiting Pluto, relationship will undergo very deep changes or even end. (And this would most likely not happen if Venus were not the lord of the 7th house.)


Or - condition C above – if Venus is exalted in the chart, the person will have exalted partners, i.e. partners who have a lot going for them.


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All of this finally brings us back to the title of this essay, Why Mom Fell, and how my mother's fall inspired me to write this article.


If a chart does have a primary significator for a specific life theme or person, then there are fewer chart factors that need to be transited simultaneously for a life theme or person to be greatly impacted.


E.g. in the average chart, the Ruler of the 4th house, the Moon, and the planets in or aspecting the 4th house are all different from one another. So it becomes highly unlikely that a single transit will affect all of these factors.


But if the ruler of the 4th house occupies the 4th house, then a transit affecting it (or it and the Moon, significator of mother) with impact the mother's life greatly, and since there are only one or two planets to consider, this is much more likely to occur.



In my chart, that is the case. My Moon is in the 4th house, and is therefore the primary significator of mother, and so any transits to the Moon will doubly affect her.


But in fact my chart had "a perfect storm", i.e. all of the factors signifying mom: the ruler of my fourth and the Moon in the 4th house, were transited.


 On the fateful day, transiting Saturn conjuncted my natal Mars, the ruler of my 4th house, but because Saturn was also two houses behind the Moon therein, by Vedic aspects, it also aspected my Moon, the primary significator of Mother.


And within two days of Saturn entering the first degree before Mars, my Mom fell and cracked her pelvis.


This really woke me up to the importance of focusing on the places in any chart where life themes can easily be impacted multiple times.


Further Examples


Note: in Vedic astrology, the forward sextile of Saturn is a preeminently powerful aspect (even if the orb is wide by Western astrology standards).


Saturn becomes the Primary Significator of children in Paul Newman's chart because it aspects both the 5th house and the significator of children Jupiter. While there were no major transits, by Western reckoning, on the day of his son's death by drug overdose, transiting Saturn was forming an exact sextile to natal Saturn on that day.



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As you explore and use these principles, which are part of finding synergy (mentioned at the beginning of this article), you will find them incredibly worthwhile.


Most Western astrologers fall into the trap of expecting transits and progressions to universal significators to cause events around the themes represented by them. But once you know what planet is the primary significator of a person or a life theme, and examine its position in the birth chart (and explore transits and progressions to it), a whole new world of understanding opens up.

Postscript

One might draw the conclusion that a fall and a cracked pelvis would be both very traumatic and very painful, but in fact my mother felt very little pain and did not need any additional medical intervention.

This is shown, in my chart, by the great strength of the Moon, the primary significator of mom. Not only is the Moon bright (waxing and a couple of days from Full), but the Moon also gains strength by being in the 4th house (this is called directional strength or dig bala), and in addition the Moon is only aspected by strong benefics, Mercury and Venus.

So it's strength and positive aspects kept my mom's fall from being more serious.



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