Gender Identity

Hello there AW, I'm a returning forum member after I hadn't logged on over a year (Last log Jan. 5 of last year). While I write this post, a beautifully bright full moon in Cancer slowly sets in the western horizon. I've been doing good and stays out of trouble, but I never forgot the AW community where I had posted my thoughts and read others' views on astrology.

The other reason I came back to this forum is to examine my natal chart and whether there's anything on it related to my gender identity question: I'm a biological male with "female" tendencies for my whole life (I'm age 34 now) and I finally came out last year about this to family and few friends. Also I discovered my older half-sister is bisexual with "male" tendencies.

I also identify as straight (or gynephiliac) in sexual orientation, and it's important for others to know (some may don't) there are transgender people who are straight or heterosexual, as gender identities doesn't always follow or relate to sexual orientation. I had some dreams of myself as a woman and I believe I was female in a few past lives.

My birthdate Feb. 15, 1980: Sun (26') and Moon (20') Aquarius, Cancer ascendant and I came to notice my water signs: Uranus in Scorpio and Mercury in Pisces, with Aries in Venus (MC), Mars-Jupiter-Saturn triplicity in Virgo, and the strong effect of a Sun/Moon (ruled by Cancer) conjunction in Aquarius because the Sun is masculine followed by the feminine Moon.

My natal chart can be viewed here:
http://www.astro.com/cgi/showgif.cg...gif&res=100&va=&cid=rugfileSJPa6N-u1420551111

I like someone with more advanced astrological knowledge to examine my natal star chart, planetary positions in houses and whether the Sun/Moon conjunction provide a clue to my gender identity. I also believe from scientific research a person's gender identity and sexual orientation come from mental/neurological and genetic/chromosomal causes one is born with.

Sorry about that, Moor. I'm going to load a natal chart GIF for you and others to view. I'm not transsexual or transvestite, just have a sense of self on what my gender identity is. I identify as a male AND a female, and this has conflicted me, because I have a majority male identity. Many yet not all transgendered people may take on their gender identity by wearing clothes of the opposite sex or have a sex change operation, which I had not decided on these actions yet. I never decided to become a "female" in the official sense, other than there's a saying on this issue: biological sex is what's between the legs, while gender is between the ears (the mind).

Welcome back, CapAquaPis!

This many not be the answer you are looking for, but it is the one that I have to give.

How society defines "approriate" gender roles and sexuality, has varied tremendously across societies and historical periods. We happen to live in a time/place where women have tended to adopt styles formerly restricted to men, but in the first half of the 17th century, wealthy or titled men registered their status by wearing long curly wigs, lace cuffs and collars, lipstick and rouge, silks, embroidered velvets, and feathered hats. Louis XIV wore a long curly wig, make-up, high heels, velvets, and furs, and showed off his legs to advantage in white tights.

Yet some of these men were also expert swordsmen and military officers.

In the 19th century New England, girls at women's-only boarding schools and colleges developed intense loves for classmates. We know this from the letters they wrote to one another. It's not clear whether these relationships were entirely celibate: they involved hugging and kissing, if not outright sleeping together. It was assumed that these young woman would go on to marry, although many of them did not (the area had a surplus of women over men.)

Plato glorified homosexual love. And it only started out "Platonic." Greek homosexuality was commonplace, with its main unfortunate dimension beings its tolerance for young boys as sexual partners.

Women of my age will recall the Nancy Drew mysteries. Nancy's girlfriend George was a tomboy with short hair. And this was in the 1950s!

Freud totally got it wrong with "penis envy." Women in his straightjacketed society didn't want physical male organs. They wanted the same freedom and opportunities their brothers had. Jung got it right with his discussion of the "animus" and "anima." Each of us has a human nature that society would describe as more masculine, and a human nature that society would define as more feminine. We need to develop and honour them both.

So it's not "just you." As Leelah/Joshua put it in her suicide note, she wasn't the one who was messed up: it is society today.

Of course, people can look at your chart and point to this that or the other that might influence the way you are. To me, that's not the question. It's not necessarily even good astrology. It is, rather, how to use your chart to become the authentic person you have within you to be.

I'd start with your sun-moon conjunction and your Aries Venus conjunct MC, and quincunx retrograde Mars conjunct Jupiter. The sun and Mars are the "boy" planets, while moon and Venus are the "girl" planets.

CapAquaPis said:

I'm not transsexual or transvestite, just have a sense of self on what my gender identity is. I identify as a male AND a female, and this has conflicted me, because I have a majority male identity. Many yet not all transgendered people may take on their gender identity by wearing clothes of the opposite sex or have a sex change operation, which I had not decided on these actions yet. I never decided to become a "female" in the official sense, other than there's a saying on this issue: biological sex is what's between the legs, while gender is between the ears (the mind).

Click to expand...

And besides transsexual, transvestite, and transgender, there's also genderqueer, gender nonconforming, I-don't-want-to-pick-a-gender... just to start with. I personally know at least one person who describes themself in each of those ways, including one of my oldest and closest friends. It's groundbreaking territory!

To my mind, your natal chart doesn't show anything about your gender identity. Every placement or aspect you have that you might associate with your gender identity could also be found in the charts of cisgender people, so none of it guarantees that the chart owner is a gender nonconformist. However, you do have key placements that show you're likely to be a nonconformist of some kind, leading the way into groundbreaking territory... and that it's in your karma.

To start with, there's your sun and moon in Aquarius in the eighth house. Having them in Aquarius suggests a personality that doesn't want to conform, that can't help seeing what's wrong about society, that wants to step outside society's limits... and the eighth house indicates the otherworldly and transpersonal energies. When you're working within the eighth house, you're working with the unconscious energies that shape people and society: myths, the collective unconscious, the forming of social norms, the dissolving of individual personality.

I think of the eighth house as the house of the shaman. The shaman is the one who journeys into the otherworld on behalf of the tribe and works with the energies that everyone else is afraid to touch. And shaman brings to mind healers, both ancient traditional healers and modern alternative healers such as hypnotherapists, acupuncturists, reiki practitioners, herbalists... and some who even call themselves shamans.

In the old tribal societies, it was extremely common for shamans to be two spirit people--that is, gender nonconformists who were said to have both a male spirit and a female spirit. Even today, I would say that's still going on. I work in alternative healing myself and know many different kinds of alternative healing practitioners, and I've noticed that a significantly higher percentage of them are LGBTQ than the general population.

So if you are a gender nonconformist, you're a modern day shaman--and you have your south node in that part of your chart, too, conjunct your sun, which suggests that you have the soul of one of those ancient two spirits shamans. That could be interpreted literally, as a reincarnation story, or you could interpret that as just a replay of an old story from humanity's past if the reincarnation angle doesn't make sense to you.

South nodes and the aspects they make also tell the story of what went wrong in the karmic past and, together with the north node, what you need in order to make it right in this lifetime. I don't have time to write it out now, but could post more later....

Okay, back to the karmic story in your chart. To make it flow best, I'll write it as a reincarnation story. If that model doesn't work for you, feel free to adapt the story as you see fit.

Your south node represents you in the past life. The sign and house it's in represents its situation. Any planet conjunct the south node also says something about who you were and what happened for you, and so does your south node's ruler and any aspects it makes. Since your south node is in Aquarius, which has two rulers, it's co-ruled by Uranus and Saturn.

Sun conjunct the south node suggests that you were a larger than life person, a leader, someone who drew people to you. You also have the moon in the same sign and house but just a little too far from the south node to be conjunct. In that case, it might add a detail to the story, but not such a prominent one. Moon can represent, among other things, family, clan loyalties, or tribal loyalties. The sun/moon conjunction near your south node, in that particular sign and house placement, seems to fit very well with the picture of a tribal shaman: a leader, working with otherworldly energies on behalf of the clan.

Then you've got a couple of planets square the node--and curiously, they happen to be your south node's co-rulers. As part of the karmic story, planets in square can represent obstacles you perceived as insurmountable, what hindered or stopped or hurt you in the past. If any of those planets are your south node's ruler, they suggest that you contributed to your own downfall in some way. As pieces of your chart for this life, they indicate what you need to absorb and integrate in order to grow past the south node and absorb the north node's message.

As well as being the house of the shaman, eighth house can also indicate being surrounded by death, destruction, or other extremely harsh circumstances. Saturn square can indicate harsh circumstances, restrictions, conflict with authority... and Uranus square can indicate betrayal, sudden catastrophe, anything that shook you up and changed things. One possible interpretation of those configurations, with an Aquarius/eighth house picture, is that you were once a rebel against society, likely leading a group of rebels, doing something considered taboo, breaking religious rules, etc. (eighth house), and you were killed for it. Another possibility is that we could be looking at a life as a shaman in which you overstepped the boundaries of that role and got into serious trouble. And, of course, we could be looking at more than one past life here.

Either way, north node in Leo indicates that what you need in this life is to solidify your Aquarian message and make it heard, make your personality visible. North node in the second house also suggests solidifying: it's the house of security, individual resources, body, sense of self.

Your sun being conjunct your south node suggests that you still had plenty of that past life story to work out and finish when you came into this life. Amplifying that message is the fact that your sun is the ruler of the north node's sign. This isn't a lifetime to throw away the previous patterns, but to expand on them even more.

That your gender identity is an expansion of your karmic story makes plenty of sense in that light.

Makes perfect sense. My gender identity is more spiritual than genetic or neurological. I believe all people have a "masculine" or tougher side and a "feminine" or gentler side. We're all human and can be tough and gentle in our approach to life. We hear about men are "tougher" and women are more "gentle", but don't follow gender roles or generalize by stereotypes. We all work hard and raise children, so our toughness in strength and gentleness in care is more than what our genders or biological sexes determine. Our society despite more emphasis on gender equality still believes there are alleged "masculine" behaviors and "feminine" fashion.

I actually call myself a feminist since I believe women are our equals and deserve civil rights, no matter what genitalia she is born with. But I don't deny the fact women have special needs, issues and concerns from their experiences as women. Sexism like racism, homophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, classism and ableism (a long list) are based on ones' ignorance, bigotry and prejudice towards groups of people because they feel they're "different" from the majority (or from themselves). Discrimination against women is universal, like a culture believes a "woman's place is at home with her kids or the kitchen" greatly limits opportunities in women's lives.

Not only shamans to be considered, sorcerers or witches in medieval times in Europe were accused of violating strict social norms and religious dogma of the era like gender roles. Witches are portrayed as "wicked" women who either are too smart (advanced knowledge on some subjects), too "ugly", or known to preach religion, esp. when it goes against the state religion (the Christian church) which condemned women for preaching the word of God or against medieval Christian beliefs. Thousands of women accused of witchcraft were drowned to see if they can "float" or burned at the stake in a public square. I could had been a wicked witch!