Dr
Z's Transit Authority
One of the most straight forward and basic techniques used in predictive
astrology is that of following "transiting" planets.
If
you've previously done any cursory investigations of astrology on
the Internet - then you've surely already at least been exposed to
and heard the term "transits" being casually bantered about.
Snapshot
Your astrological birth chart is a snapshot of where the planets were
located on the Western Tropical Zodiac at the exact moment when you
were born. However, your life (and time) refuses to stand still -
and the planets continue on with their individual journeys through
the sky, forever circling the Zodiac….
Here's what a "transit" is: the positions of the moving
(transiting) planets are compared with the stationary planetary positions
in one's birth chart.
Planetary Playhouse
Transiting planets are continually acting out their grand theatrical
performances with your birth chart (planetary positions and houses)
as their chosen stage, scenery, and backdrop.
Generally Speaking...
The "strongest" or most "significant" transits
typically occur when one of the slower moving (transiting) planets
(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) makes an aspect to ("hits")
one of the faster moving (but stationary) birth chart personal planets
(Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars).
The astrological concept of transiting planets is generally analogous
to the Jungian psychological concept of an archetype being "constellated"
(i.e. energy produced through friction) in the human psyche.
Whether or not depth psychologist Carl Jung purposely chose the
language "the constellating of an archetype" in deference
to astrology (i.e. the term Constellations), I'm clueless. However,
early in his professional life, Jung became a devotee of astrological
principles and symbols.
Unfolding of Soul
The concept is that on the level of psyche the "transiting"
(moving) planets reflect an inner archetypal "time clock"
and/or cycles of energies. These cycles reflect the natural patterns
of soul growth, development, and maturity occurring within each one
of us. These inner energies are potentially "constellated"
(activated or excited) as the transiting planets pass over the stationary
birth planets.
As
you'll discover in the article, "The King Is Dead, Long Live
the King," Jung in the Mysterium Coniuntionis referred
to this process as a type of alchemical planetary bath - "a bath
into which all the planets pour their 'influences."'
In
ancient Greek mythology, each of the seven known bodies spinning around
the Earth were associated with a different metal:
Sun
– Gold
Moon – Silver
Mercury – Mercury
Venus – Copper
Mars – Iron
Jupiter – Tin
Saturn – Lead
The
ancients mythologized that as the planets spun around the Earth, they
(the planets) each spun their individual metals (influences) into
the depths of the Earth.
Here's
a short quote from Jungian author Edward F. Edinger:
"Psychologically
we can understand this image as referring to the archetypal constituents
of the ego. The building blocks of ego are divine qualities stolen
from the gods or products of dismemberment of a deity –
earthly representatives of transpersonal principles."
Why do these inner energies tend to become linked with external "time
and space" events in your life?
As Carl Jung stated: "The psychological rule says that when
an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside,
as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided
and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world
must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves."
CW 9ii
These inner energies are often unconsciously "projected"
(by you) out onto your external "time and space" reality.
So - from the personal, subjective standpoint of the "ego"
(or the "I") - transits are experienced as external events
that "appear" to be happening "to us."
The rationale
for primarily looking to the slower moving (transiting) planets
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto - is: the longer a
slower moving (transiting) planet hangs around in one place in the
chart - the longer its archetypal, life changing energies are hanging
around one place in your psyche and projected out into external,
"time and space" reality in the form of external "time
and space" events.
The
Houses
I hate overloading you with more information than you can possibly
handle, but I'm going to do it anyway...
It's also very important to take note of which natal (birth) houses
the slower moving (transiting) planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, and Pluto - are passing through.
It's especially important to take note of when the moving planets
pass directly over:
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