Alan Oken - Rulers of the Horoscope: Finding Your Way Through the Labyrinth

Acknowledgments

O ne of the most wonderful things about writing a book, especially after one has reached a certain age, is the ability to write what you please, but writing what pleases you doesn't necessarily mean that it will be published. In August of 1998, 1 visited with Elaine Gill of The Crossing Press. Elaine sat me down in her office and said, Alan, I want you to create a series of astrological books for the intermediate and advanced astrology student. Write on any topic you like and we will publish it. Thank you, Elaine Gill, for your confidence in my work.

I also want to thank a number of my contemporaries, professional astrologers all, whose friendship and support over the years have done so very much to keep me inspired, active, and involved in the progress and development of astrology in our times. A special word of gratitude is due to my respected colleague, Ray Merriman, who took the time out of his intensely busy work and travel schedule to read the manuscript and write the forward to this book. My love and deepest appreciation go out to my remarkable editor and dear friend, Erin Sullivan. Her fine and dedicated work in the preparation of this volume is sincerely appreciated. My gratitude and love to Jean Redman of The Mystic Bear in Albuquerqueyou are the steady light in my heart. I would also like to acknowledge the organizing team and the faculty spirit of the United Astrology Congress, who have collectively contributed so very much to modern astrology. One final word of appreciation is in order to my many students and friends in the USA, Britain, Europe, and Australia, too numerous to mention but not too numerous to keep ever conscious in my heart. To all of you, dankeschn, obrigado, tusind talc, merci, grcias, grazie, dank U, good on ya mate, and many, many thanks.

Finally, I would like to thank my new publishers Yvonne Paglia and Donald Weiser for their belief in my work, and for making it available to yet another generation of students.

Demetra George

Astrology and the Authentic SelfIntegrating Traditional and Modern Astrology to Uncover the Essence of the Birth Chart
2008 ISBN: 978-0-89254149-2 320pp Price:$ 24.95

Demetra George and Douglas Bloch

Asteroid GoddessesThe Mythology, Psychology and the Astrology of the RE-emerging Feminine
2003 ISBN: 978-0-89254--082-2 368 pp Price: $ 22.95

Demetra George and Douglas Bloch

Astrology For YourselfHow to Understand and Interpret Your Own Birth Chart: A Workbook for Personal Transformation
2006 ISBN: 978-0-89254-122-5 272 pp Price:19.95

Betty Lundsted

Astrological Insights into Personality
2004 ISBN: 978-0-89254-098-3 352 pp Price: $ 19.95

Tracy Marks

Astrology and Self-DiscoveryAn In-Depth Exploration of the Potentials Revealed in Your Birth Chart
2008 ISBN: 978-0-89254-136-2 320 pp Price: 18.95

Tracy Marks

Art of Chart InterpretationA Step-by-Step Method of Analyzing, Synthesizing& Understanding the Birth Chart
2008 ISBN: 978-0-89254-142-3 192 pp Price: $16.95

Alan Oken

Soul-Centered AstrologyA Key to Your Expanding Self
2008 ISBN: 978-0-89254-134-8 448 pp Price: $ 22.95

Alan Oken

Alan Oken's Complete AstrologyThe Classic Guide to Modern Astrology
(Includes Alan Oken's Introductory Astrological Trilogy: As Above, So Below
The Horoscope: The Road and its Travelers Astrology: Evolution and Revolution)
2006 ISBN: 978-0 89254-125-6 208 pp Price $ 29.95

Jackie Slevin

Finding Success in the HoroscopeThe Slevin System of Chart Analysis
2008 ISBN: 978-0-89254-141-6 208 pp Price: $ 18.95

Peeling the Onion

I t is vitally important that the student come to experience the planets, signs, houses, and aspects of the horoscope as fields of energy. The entire scope of astrological literature is devoted to giving verbal definitions to the energy of life and its myriad interconnections and possibilities of manifestation. The present work is no exception. Any astrological author strives to define such factors with exactitude, precision, and perception. In this respect let us elaborate a bit upon the seven major modes of expression through which the astrological energies unfold their meanings in the natal chart. Once these primary factors are reviewed, summarized, and explored, we shall devote the rest of this book to an eighth factor, the primary subject of this work, the dispositors and hidden rulers of the chart. The reader will see from this discussion that the powers and values of dispositorship are like a needle whose thread weaves the entire chart into one integrated and comprehensive entity.

The Planets

The planets reveal the whats of the horoscopewhat energy is at work? All the planets reflect the light of the Sun, the principle of vitality in the natal chart. The Sun is to the horoscope what the King is to a game of chess. The Sun has little movement of its own (it is, after all, a fixed star), but without its presence, there is no energy at all, no chess game to be played, no horoscope to be lived. Thus, in traditional, personality-centered exoteric astrology, the Sun is the center around which the entirety of the chart unfolds.planetary powers (especially Saturn, Pluto, or Neptune), cannot energize in any consistent and positive way the condition of the other planets whose light is, after all, reflected solar light.

The planets however, are the most important features in the natal horoscope. They represent the primary differentiation of the radiation of the solar life force and therefore are the expressions of the prismatic effect of the Sun's rays manifesting through the solar system, giving color, form, conditions, and shades of meaning to the purpose of the nativity. Although the planets have their own natures and their particular effects upon one's life, they are held in place by the play of solar gravity upon their own orbital speeds. This physical phenomenon has a metaphysical counterpart. It reveals that the Sun, as symbol of the Creator, dominates its creations but is ever interacting with them and affected by them. The planets do have a life of their own, and express their own energy fields and destinies, but all of this is totally reliant upon the ability of the Sun to emanate the central point of life-giving light-substance. It is true that if there is a Mars/Sun aspect in the natal chart, for example, both bodies will affect each other. In this case, the Sun definitely further energizes Mars for good or ill according to the nature of that aspect (square, trine, sextile, etc.). Mars, however, returns the favor by adding a quality of assertiveness and aggression to the principle of solar vitality, which then radiates out and integrates with all of the other planets in the chart. In essence, all the members of the planetary family in the solar system will be touched by the energy of Mars through its direct contact with the Sun.

The Signs

The signs reveal the hows of the horoscopehow are the energies of the planets manifesting? The signs definitely have their own energy, but it is an energy of form rather than of essence. It is an energy which shapes and molds rather than creates and projects. The planets impregnate the signs with the essence of their vitality and express their nature through the form-giving dynamics of the signs in which they are placed. Venus, for example, is always seeking partnership and complementation. In the sign Taurus, she will bring into one's life relationship issues that involve money, substance, and tests of true human values, i.e., the forms of Taurean expression. But when placed in the sign of Aquarius, for example, Venus' urge to merge tends to be much more idealistic and impersonal in her approach to others, and far less materialistic and personal than when in the sign of the Bull.