Thanks for the feedback, Konrad, but I feel like we're "the blind leading the blind" in a blind reading! You can't comment on this man's inner state, yet that is what modern astrology was designed to do best.
Yes, it is an issue, to be sure. Looking at your later post than the one I am replying to, you ask if the Traditional astrologers could assign another planet to act for what Pluto is said to. I don't speak for anyone but myself here, but I would question whether or not a lot of this consciousness transformation and such like is happening in the first place. How do we even set such a thing conceptually to even begin to talk of it never mind describe it to another on the basis of an astrology chart? The other things like crime are traditionally associated with the malefics and Mercury, particularly Mars and Mercury together.
I won't try to back-pedal on mistakes, but I will say that your comments and mine on some points are not necessarily contradictory. Someone can be married to the same woman for 40 years, for example, because he's either found someone who is compatible or perhaps they share views about traditional marriage. This doesn't mean he feels comfortable in the presence of "liberated women" inclined to challenge his traditional way of thinking (Mercury sextile Saturn.)
Right, but I should clarify he is happily married, they are not together "for the kids" or anything like that. If by traditional, you mean the old "woman in the kitchen, man at work" paradigm, no he doesn't view himself or women that way. While not liberal, he does not express gender specific roles at all. Remember, with all female siblings, he is used to being around women constantly.
It appears that I totally mistook the first house meaning, yet we also have Leo rising and a first house sun, so even if we blot out Pluto, how would you see these features correlating with a retiring personality? In traditional astrology, Mercury is angular and has a lot of essential dignity, although combust.
If you're asking me, I would look at the lord of the Hyleg, the Sun, which is actually the Sun (I use the Sidereal zodiac). In Hellenistic astrology, this planet is the
oikodespotes or Lord of the Nativity and it was seen to describe the life of the native. Added to this, the Sun is also ASC lord so doubly important. I have mentioned this planet before in posts both here and on my blog, and also that Valens had an issue with Petosiris' view that this planet was the only one we should pay attention to for the whole life. Without putting words in Petosiris' mouth, I would suggest that if this planet is not doing so well then the whole chart is dragged down by it despite other significations. On my blog, I looked at Amy Winehouse's chart and her
oikodespotes was Venus. In Cancer and conjoined Mars in fall, she had a short, troubled life despite her material success and fame. That said, this native's chart ruler is the Sun who is besieged by the malefics, separating from Mars and appplying to the out of sect Saturn and in
kollesis with both (that being the 3 degree aspect spoken of by Porphyry). Furthermore, Saturn is in the Sun's fall, and this is a not a good state of affairs. I believe Sahl describes it as interacting wth one's enemy or one in the place of one's enemy. That Saturn is rejoicing in a masculine sign, in the same hemisphere as the Sun and exalted is the only thing that stopped the life from being very, very trying. To answer a later question, yes the native has many regrets, and most are due to his inability to assert himself and take a risk. The fact that the lord of Spirit is averse to Spirit doesn't help in that regard either.
I should mention that after I worked out the man's birth date, I went on-line to see whether anyone else had it, by way of getting some biographical sense of how such a chart might manifest. I found two people: one, a Scottish political leader (born later in the morning,) and the other, the rock musician Elvis Costello (no known birth time.) The politician's Wikipedia bio said nothing about his personal life. However, I learned from a New Yorker article that Costello indeed had an alcohol problem until he was able to give up drinking-- so planetary potentials can manifest differently over the life course.
Without a birthtime, I don't want to comment more than saying a lot of people will have that configuration and not have any problems, we need some way to discern when it will show up and when not.
One thing that is hard to read off a blind chart is the native's social context. If this man had been born in an upper middle class family in the US, it would have been expected that he would attend university after completing high school, as a matter of course, and been exposed to opportunities to develop his talents. But if we are looking at a working-class or poor family in a coal-mining town where higher education wasn't valued because it was seen as unobtainable (and even suspect,) then you could easily have an intelligent man with some artistic ability who was never able to use his mind beyond engaging in TV quiz shows, and whose artistic abilities (Venus domiciled in Libra, ruling the MC) were never encouraged or developed. In the third house, a Libra Venus might merely manifest as a soft speaking voice.
Yes, social context is important for some things, but not for something like creativity. If one is creative, one finds ways to express it even if it is something as simple as wearing exotic shoes. But believe me here, this native is pragmatic in the extreme with no apparent creativity. He uses what works the most effectively with no care for appearance or style. His is very much a life dominated by this Saturn.
If you know or knew this person well, Konrad-- do you suppose he really repressed the strong, vibrant, and dominating qualities that he had within him to express? Put differently, do you think he felt/feels disappointed in his life?
I know him well, and no there is no repression of vibrance or dominance. He has a playful side, but that is to be expected with Mercury rising and Venus conjoined Spirit. As I said, I think he holds some regrets due to previous inaction or fear of taking a risk.
Thanks again for the feedback, Konrad. It is how I learn astrology.
You're welcome, I'm glad I could help. Again, I have a lot of respect for you being willing to read the chart blind, it is an intimidating thing. Looking at how you practice astrology, it is not the best thing either since you are focused very much on the internal person. Who knows, perhaps if the native was here, he would refute what I am saying. I am only going off of my observation and my own experience of him which, of course, has its own limitations.