Jude's Threshold

Photo and design by Josephine.

The enigma of planetary “exaltations” in astrology has been a focus of mine for many years. In that time, I have compiled a vast collection of data – enough to fill a sizeable book. After cogitating on the subject, it is now time to coalesce everything in a (hopefully) organized manner. My aim is to demystify a few things, and I hope you will find the product interesting and helpful.

I originally intended to publish it on my own, and bypass the publishing industry which has been heavily “Amazonified” in the last decade or so. Amazon doesn’t care about authors, so F them.

Self-publishing is also daunting. So, even though I have some years of experience in layout and design, I though it would be more expedient for me to simply offer all the chapters online for a nominal subscriber fee.

That way, instead of me charging $40 for a…

Katie Bonnett was a young woman of 18 years when she fell in love with Fred Frye, who was 11 years her senior when they married in 1893. It was the first marriage for both. Six years later, they welcome their daughter Luella into the world. Then in 1907, another daughter, Esther, made her appearance. The 1900 U.S. Federal Census shows Fred’s occupation as a farmer. It also indicates Fred’s widowed mother living with them in a house that Katie and Fred owned. According to family lore, Katie was an intelligent and very pretty woman. The newspapers of the day were sprinkled with society news about the Frye’s many family events. However, events were to take a very dark turn.

Cardinal energy snaps in the atmosphere with the New Moon at 00° 50’ Aries on 21 March 2023, 10:23 AM PDT. The New Moon comes in right after the Sun reached Aries on March 20, strengthening the desire to start something new and fresh. Whether or not we can make that happen is another story. The Sun, Moon and Mercury are conjoined in Aries with all three semi-sextile Saturn in Pisces. Mars, Aries’s ruler, is still in Gemini and inconjunct Pluto in Capricorn as well as still within orb of a waning square to Neptune in Pisces. The dissonance created by this situation will likely make choosing a new path challenging.

The Aries stellium (Sun, Moon and Mercury) are semi-sextile Venus in Taurus and Saturn in Pisces. The Aries Sun and Moon are tightly semi-sextile Saturn in Pisces, a reminder of why it is important to take time to remain…

While there may be disturbances in the atmosphere down the road, on the Full Moon at 16° 40’ Virgo on 7 March 2023, 04:41 AM PST, it is relatively calm. Earth and water are in charge at this time, and the Virgo-Pisces axis almost always prefers peace and quiet to noise and drama.

The tightest aspect to the luminaries involves Uranus in Taurus which is trine the Virgo Moon and sextile the Pisces Sun. Both Virgo and Pisces are deeply committed to being of service as well as healing pain and suffering. Perhaps Uranus can spark truly innovative ideas to bring quality healing to as many people as possible. There will likely be resistance from some quarters that will emerge over the next few weeks as is indicted by a waxing T-square to Mars in Gemini. Perhaps the best thing we can do is work on being open minded and…

Astrologers often disagree about parental assignments related to the 4th House. Some insist that the mother belongs in the 4th, others that the father belongs there. Many of the classical texts refer to the 4th as the house of the native’s “fathers” or progenitors, meaning both parents. For example, Vettius Valens in Book IX of his Anthology calls the 4th “the Place concerning the life of parents” (Mark Riley translation).

There is a passage in Abu Ma’Shar that may shed some light on this dilemma. In Ben Dykes’ translation of Ma’Shar’s 10th century text On the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities (2019) the following comment appears on page 429 regarding the “lord of the orb,” a concept I’ve been using for a few years since reading about it in a 15th century text by Diego de Torres:

“And if the ‘lord of the hour of the house…

Often the New Moon in Aquarius is a celebration of our delightful eccentricities but that is not the case on this New Moon at 01° 33’ Aquarius on 21 January 2023 at 12:54 PM PST. The Capricorn influence is still quite strong on this New Moon, in part because the Aquarius Sun and Moon make an out-of-sign conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto suggests we let go of our garbage before moving ahead because having less weight dragging us down means we can move forward more quickly.

Still the Aquarius Sun and Moon benefit from a preponderance of air and fire in the lunation chart. In fact the luminaries make a waxing sextile to Jupiter in Aries which will hopefully offset the drag Pluto in Capricorn creates. Of course, the Aquarius Moon will be exactly sextile Jupiter in Aries shortly after the New Moon. It will be January 24 when…

After the two eclipses, a nice normal upbeat New Moon at 01° 38’ Sagittarius on 23 November 2022, 02:57 PM PST will be very welcome indeed! There is a touch of irrational exuberance because the luminaries make an out-of-sign trine to Jupiter in Pisces. Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius are sitting close enough to the Sun and Moon to deepen the whole Sagittarius experience for us.

One thing is very clear on this New Moon, it’s no longer as muddy out there with fire and air returning to dominate this lunation along with mutable signs. That’s a big change from the eclipses where fixed earth and water ruled. We might feel like we have more options again as well as more possibilities for creating better outcomes. This Sagittarius New Moon brings with it the desire to expand our horizons and the need to explore those. The Mercury-Venus conjunction in Sagittarius…