Interferences and Combust Moon

[fisheye]

Hello,

i recently posted a chart that AG helped me on, but that also made me go back and study a couple other charts that now I'm not so sure about my interpretation.

This chart i read for a friend who asked if she had possibly just met a soulmate. This is originally how i read this, but now i'm thinking i missed a couple boats...

First i saw that Mercury and Jupiter were the sigs, and were in a wide conjunction. I read this as a positive sign especially since Mercury was applying to Jupiter-who was dignified by house. But-what i didnt really put much weight on at the time was that Mars was sitting there between them, thus causing an interference that would disrupt the flow of the aspect. might this mean someone else might be involved or that circumstances would prevent something from happening?

Since the Sun rules the 4th house of outcome and it sits right next to the MC, i also thought this favored a good result. But, I failed to notice that Moon is Combusta at 2 degrees Scorpio, which means that the outcome is unfavorable, or that the chart is unreadable? not sure which. And, while the Moon is square the two sigs, i just thought that meant that it would take longer for the relationship to develop, but better an aspect than no aspect.

now i feel bad for possibly giving a false reading. luckily i forewarned my friend i was barely getting into this so to take it with a grain of salt. but still... did i get anything right?

fish

[archergirl]

Wellll...

The Moon isn't combust, as your title suggests; it's in the Via Combusta. 'Combust' means conjoined with the Sun; combustion occurs when a planet is within 8 degrees of the Sun and the planet's energies are 'burned up'. If it's within 17 degrees, it's 'Under the Sunbeams', a place of debilitation. Via Combusta (the Burning Way) is between 15 degrees Libra and 15 degrees Scorpio, and describes an unstable and anxious state; this particularly pertains to the Moon. The moon in this chart is also in fall in Scorpio, however, so is particularly debilitated.

Mars does indeed interfere and there is no getting around that. Mars can represent many things: another person whom the Mercury person meets in the meantime; it can mean an argument, etc. depending on the context.

The bigger problem is that the Moon, in fall, has separated from Mercury and translates the square to Mars. This means a fairly clear 'No'.

We have to think of the moon as the engine of a car; if the engine is powerful it can carry the vehicle forward with ease, even if that vehicle is loaded up with a lot of extra weight. Think of a semi: it pulls a huge amount of weight behind it on the trailer. Now, try hitching that trailer to, say, a 1987 Honda Civic. Will it be able to pull all that weight? Heck no.

A Moon in dignity is like that semi: because it is strong it can pull a lot of extra 'stuff' along and move the chart along, even if there are difficult aspects such as squares. A Moon in fall is extremely weak; like that old Honda engine, it can't manage to pull anything behind it, most especially the difficult square aspect...particularly because there is no reception between the Moon and Mercury.

When asking questions about soulmates and whatnot, ignore the 4th house *(end of the matter), because that particular house is only useful in questions where the outcome is uncertain and depends upon a third party, such as in legal trials. In romance questions, what you really need - what you ONLY need, in truth - is a coming together of the 1st and 7th significators, or a healthy translation of light between them, via another planet...healthy meaning with positive reception.

Unfortunately in this chart, there is no testimony that this person is a soulmate, let alone that they will have much of a relationship.

AG

[fisheye]

Yikes! I guess I missed the mark completely with this one. Thank you so much AG for your explanation. This really helps me a lot. I didn't realize before how much a planet can interfere if it sits between two sigs. But it makes sense. I'm glad, too, that I have a stronger understanding of the Moon's role (i do well with imagery so the metaphor was awesome).

fish