To feel the life in a birth chart requires first of all of course getting to know the parts, but in order to feel the whole after you've learned the spectrum of the parts, you then step back and feel the dance of the whole. It's like going to a room, a party, and you walk into the room and the food is arranged in various ways, the decorations, the people. You walk around in the room and you get to know where things are, and you get to know the various party goers. Then you step on to the podium to talk to the group, so to speak. You have much more of a feel for the whole group, why they're there, what they as a group bring to the party. So we heartily encourage astrologers to do this process. To try to grasp the whole without first embracing the parts may not be as fruitful, although it has its value, as to get to know the parts and then to step back and feel their relationships and feel the whole that comes from those interactions.

The regions of Top, Bottom, Left, Right are very major in their effect on the portrayal and expression of the planets involved. It doesn't matter that this class member only has one water in their chart, it's in the first house. That makes it paramount in some very fundamental ways, in terms of the fabric of the Self. The planets in the Twelfth and First have a tremendous influence on the fabric of the Self itself--the expression of Self, the energetics of Self, the inhabiting of Self by embodying of Self.

The Seventh House and Sixth talk about how you plug into others. With Capricorn Moon, you plug into others with great groundedness and great rigor. With H's Jupiter in Pisces (it is always important to take the planet, not just the sign), he plugs in often as what he feels to be the compassionate hero--almost the need to be that. But in a certain way it's different from Self. It's very important to look at Twelfth and First for Self, and the plugging-in to others mechanisms of Sixth and Seventh.

In the bottom of the chart, it's how you explore your depths, so introspection and self-work come into the bottom two houses--Three and Four. We want to say that the Top of the Chart is how you meet the world. You may say how is that different from the First and the Seventh? It is how you meet life as a whole. This class member is much more immersed in life as a whole, because of her Pisces. H has an intermittent relationship with life as a whole with his Gemini. It's almost like this class members' participation in life as a whole is determined by those two Houses and the energies of the Cusp. So it is a connection again. They are all connections: connections to others, one-to-one; connections to the world as a whole; connections to one's wound and self at the Bottom; and self expression in the First and Twelfth. This is an important piece. We've given you the pieces--the initial discussion on it.

C: I'm surprised that the Twelfth is about embodiment. A: It's because the House above and below each of the axes count: Ninth and Tenth; Sixth and Seventh; Third and Fourth; Twelfth and First. It is natural for this class member to express enthusiasm about ideas. That is the Twelfth, as it is for her to express love which is in some ways the Uranus in Cancer in the First. The Twelfth represents what a person expresses that they often don't realize they express. The First represents what a person expresses with more intention and more consciousness. For P with Sun in Aquarius in the 12th, she expresses without realizing how much she expresses it, are her reflections, the things she reflects upon. We think "reflecting" is a very good word for Aquarius, abstract reflection. She doesn't see how much she does that. The soul's journey does become more conscious of the Twelfth house expression. The Twelfth House got a bad rap because as someone remains unconscious there, then the way they express themselves in the Twelfth is untempered. For instance, H's autocracy, with Pluto in Leo in the Twelfth, but he has become more conscious of it--not totally but more so.

Humans need to become more conscious of the Twelfth. It's not the same kind of effort as it is in the First, meaning the First doesn't have the effort that the Twelfth has, to bring things to light. So for instance, you might say that the unconscious self-work, initially, and movement inside is the Fourth, whereas the more conscious movement inside is Third. The more conscious interaction with a partner, the more conscious connection with a partner is the Seventh. The more habitual interaction is the Sixth, and habits are unconscious. The habits that drive the other person crazy are often in the Sixth House--habitual connections. With H's Leo Rising (Aquarius on the Descendent), his habitual thing would be micromanaging people, and with Aquarius there, distancing. This class member with her Sagittarius and Scorpio on the Descendent, her habits with the Sagittarius might be habitual enthusiasm even when others don't necessarily want to hear it, meaning sharing ideas or enthusiasm. (C: I don't do that much.) Right, and for both the Sixth and Twelfth which are Houses of enemies among other things, the more conscious someone is, the less it happens. But when this class member was a child, she shared enthusiasms and was slapped down for it. This is a very habitual intrinsic aspect of her nature and it was beaten down. And we think shutting down is the Scorpio side. There are times where she habitually shuts down and also the self-attacking in relationship to others would be Scorpio to some degree. So because it is in relationship to others--it is the introjecting of their energies, that is the Scorpio in the Sixth--where This class member took their energies in, and their criticisms in and their rejections in.

This class member has Gemini Rising, Pisces at the Top (so Aquarius in the Ninth) and Pisces and Aries in the Tenth (Pisces beginning the Tenth, Aries ending the Tenth). How does this class member connect to the world? With the Piscean aspect this class member sometimes has tremendous love and compassion for the world, and sometimes feels that the world is way too intense. Juliette says with Aquarius in the Ninth this class member sees the way the world should be and so her idealistic connection to the world is partially from that too. She says the activist within this class member is the Aries at the end of the Tenth.

Q: Significance of Cusps?

There are three Signs that impinge on all four areas we are talking about: the sign beginning the Twelfth, the sign beginning the First, the sign beginning the Second; the sign beginning the Ninth, the Tenth and Eleventh; the Sign beginning the Sixth, Seventh and Eight; the sign beginning the Third; Fourth and Fifth. That covers all the Signs. This is the meaning of what you might call Quadrants in a way. They are different Quadrants than your Astrology normally uses, but nevertheless they are a kind of quadrant. So even though it looks like there are only two Houses in each axis, it's the Cusps of three Houses that count. So the Cusps of all the Houses are included here. That is part of the holistic wisdom of what we are sharing today. You can play with this in lots and lots of ways. There's a lot of depth to this. Connection to the world. Are they We Signs, I Signs, or Them Signs. In expression of Self. Are they more extroverted than introverted; more introverted than extroverted?

So let's take H's Bottom for a moment. His Bottom has Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. This is why for instance some of his self-work is interactive. Even though he may go off by himself which is a Scorpio thing to do to feel through things, nevertheless his work with others, that is one-to-one, is very healing and powerful because of the We Signs. A lot of it is conceptual because if you think of Libra and Sagittarius--it's learning conceptually and not simply doing processing. The core, the center, may be the core in all four axis. This class member''s core approach to the world is compassionate as her Tenth House Cusp.

Q: How else can you describe the core?

We can show it visually, as the frontrunner versus two supporting actors on either side--like a triangle. So the frontrunner is the Center Cusp. The Center Cusp of H's self-work is private, emotional--Scorpio. The supporting actors are intellectual seekers-- Libra and Sagittarius. This class member's core approach to the world is Pisces. The supporting actors are the activist (Aries) and the idealist (Aquarius). The core approach to relationship for this class member with Sagittarius on the Cusp is a passionate opening of the heart to others, a passionate seeking to share and heal and inspire and make laugh and pour her fire towards them. Supporting that are the Capricorn rigor and the Scorpio depth.

H's core in relationship with the Aquarius is witnessing people. Witness as well as reflection is Aquarius. So bearing witness to others is a natural state which is why his neurotic compulsions to perform interfered with what really worked. By not having to perform, by not having to speak all the time he can listen, reflect, witness more. The witnessing is tremendously healing, so he is a clear witness. This is supported by empathy (Pisces), and again the rigor (Capricorn). His relationship with the world: the top of the chart is Taurus, supported by Aries and Gemini. This means his approach to the world is slow, and is in a certain way deliberate. There is a deliberacy to Taurus. Taurus takes its time. Taurus is cautious. It is supported by an Aries true search for adventure and to change the world. Notice that Aries on his Ninth is different than this class member's Eleventh. The Aries on this class member's Eleventh makes her a social activist. On H's Ninth makes him more an adventurer. That is significant too: which Cusp. His Gemini is fascinated by the world, fascinated by the diversity. The two supporters help him get out. But if he had not had Taurus at the top he would have gotten out a lot more. Taurus has inertia, you might say; it takes time to get it moving.

This class member's Tweflth/ First/Second. Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer. Front runner again is Gemini. This class member expresses herself with words. She shares ideas, words, perspectives, insights but they are supported by the Twelfth (Taurus) which is the solidness, steadiness, groundedness, presence and by the Cancer which is the mothering. It's almost like foreground and background. H's forerunner is Leo. So it's Here I am. Here's what I want to share with you. And it's supported by Cancer, I also want to nurture you and make sure I'm expressing feelings. The Virgo is again rigor. Let's make sure something is getting accomplished here. We could say in general that Capricorn and Virgo are more rigorous. In fact one of the reasons that H approaches the world with even the Taurus at the Top is that the world is a place to run errands, purchase things (Taurus Second House). Aquire things: the world is a place to shop. That brings him out of his shell a bit. The whole Taurus Second House archetype of acquisition as the reason for there being a world out there. Whereas for this class member with Pisces out there, it's the love, it's the people, it's the nature.

The Bottom of this class member's chart is Virgo. So discernment and the rigorous purification of Self. These are primary urges for this class member. Her self-work is a Virgoan approach. It does have discernment, and it is supported by the realization of the need for self-nurturing. Leo provides determination in some way. It provides a kind of I'm going to do this until it's done, steadfastness. That fire, that fixity. All the air signs provide a reflection to some degree, and so there's a reflection on the process. There's also putting what's learned (it's like this class member is building an intellectual framework with that.) In fact our thing about what's missing is very good. In all the axis, one element is missing. It has to be if there are only three signs. So the bottom of this class member's chart is missing water. So the shadow one, the one most important and last to fully incorporate is the self-nurturing. For H, the shadow one is grounding. It's like all the work on all different levels, but what about his body, what about grounding, what about really seeing what it takes to get his vessel intact. It's very important. Look at the Top of the Chart is exactly what is missing from the self-work and needs to be incorporated. It's what you give away to others. H provides grounding for others or the world. This class member provides compassion for the world, but not for herself as much. You bring the top into the bottom, fold the chart in half. P has Pisces Rising so she's got Gemini at the Bottom which means she has Sagittarius missing, which means having the faith, having deep abiding passionate optimistic faith is what has to be incorporated. That's her antidote. A has Libra Rising, so she like this class member has the self-nurturing missing because the Earth is at the Bottom.

H needs a partner he can reflect with and who can reflect him (Aquarius), but he does need to bring the missing element again, the passion and the expression. Does H not in his connection in relationship not disclose enough (Leo)--the having the trust in the other person that he can say whatever he needs to say. Do you see the opposites going again? With his expression he needs detachment (Aquarius) about his expression. Each needs the opposite. This class member is not as much an issue because she has a planet that rules Sagittarius on the Ascendant. Otherwise we would have said that she needs to bring faith into her expression, but the planet Jupiter balances that a bit. In relationship This class member tends not to be claustrophobic enough. In other words, Gemini sometimes represents claustrophobia, meaning the need for space, the need to take one's own space and time, and the freedom to come and go as you please is what needs to be added to relationship.

We are showing you a whole other approach to the four axis and their dance with each other that we think that will be useful. Each side misses an element and a sign, and the incorporation of that completes it. (C: And you can find it by folding the chart in half.)

More on the Bottom of the Chart

It is also important to understand that what is missing from the household is the bottom of the chart. What was missing from this class member's household was love. What was missing from H's household was groundedness. What was missing from P's household was faith, that kind of exuberant joy. Is that not also an interesting way to look at the element absent from the bottom of the chart? So when H said he always knew he was loved, he was accurate, but would tomorrow happen? He was not sure. There wasn't the ground. There was no one solid in his home. In J's case, with Virgo Rising and Gemini at the top, in her family there was no perspective, and there was no escape.

The bottom of the chart also represents what kind of burdens an individual has to carry for their family. So J with her Sagittarius had to carry the burden of being the only one who had faith. This class member had to carry the burden of being the only one who was impeccable, the only one who truly was rigorous. H had to be the emotional container with his Scorpio at the bottom because the emotions were so uncontained; no wonder he contained his own. P was the only one with perspective in her family.