Birch Dragon
Well-known member
Dear Astrologers' Community,
I'm wondering if anyone's ever been faced with choosing between two compelling natal charts, or if anyone has anything to say about the conundrum?
When I first came onto this site one of the community's resident astrologers offered, out of sheer goodwill, to give my chart a quick rectification. The birth time I was working with came straight from a government-issued birth certificate. But as people on this site often emphasize, doctors aren't as interested in marking the exact birth moment as astrologers - and then there's probably a debate about what counts as the exact birth moment. So I took him up on it. Using about 8 meaningful dates from my life that stand out resoundingly, he found that my chart clearly made more "hits" to those dates if the birth time was pushed back five minutes. He told me of course that greater precision and certainty would require more testing out with more dates, but for the moment I have a second chart to think about and work with.
And now I'm torn. With a difference of only five minutes the only changes between charts are the house degrees. And yet, to my eyes they tell two different stories, especially if I consider Sabian Symbols (and since Dane Rudhyar's book on Sabian Symbols was one of the first books on astrology I ever read, I have a deep affection for them). Perhaps considering fixed stars as well. Hardly different, these charts nonetheless seem to tell the basic story of my planets and houses through two different framing themes - changing the way the overall story is read.
My problem is that both charts - both stories - have reasons to recommend them. I can resonate with both. But if we really can look at our chart and learn more and more about our selves and what trajectories we should be on in life - and if astrology really is an art of precision - then I want to know which chart I really should be focusing on.
Has anybody else ever faced this question, or have thoughts about how to face it? Do I make too much Sabian symbols and fixed stars? Is the difference negligible? Does it really even matter? Or must I choose now and choose wisely?!?!
I've attached both charts below.
In the next post I'm going to give more detail about the symbols and themes I see when I look at the two charts that make them, for me, two different frames for understanding my life - but frames I can't clearly choose between.
And as always, for any and all who respond: thanks for discussing and enlightening me on questions that, I worry, are ultimately pretty self-interested (or at least self-oriented).
I'm wondering if anyone's ever been faced with choosing between two compelling natal charts, or if anyone has anything to say about the conundrum?
When I first came onto this site one of the community's resident astrologers offered, out of sheer goodwill, to give my chart a quick rectification. The birth time I was working with came straight from a government-issued birth certificate. But as people on this site often emphasize, doctors aren't as interested in marking the exact birth moment as astrologers - and then there's probably a debate about what counts as the exact birth moment. So I took him up on it. Using about 8 meaningful dates from my life that stand out resoundingly, he found that my chart clearly made more "hits" to those dates if the birth time was pushed back five minutes. He told me of course that greater precision and certainty would require more testing out with more dates, but for the moment I have a second chart to think about and work with.
And now I'm torn. With a difference of only five minutes the only changes between charts are the house degrees. And yet, to my eyes they tell two different stories, especially if I consider Sabian Symbols (and since Dane Rudhyar's book on Sabian Symbols was one of the first books on astrology I ever read, I have a deep affection for them). Perhaps considering fixed stars as well. Hardly different, these charts nonetheless seem to tell the basic story of my planets and houses through two different framing themes - changing the way the overall story is read.
My problem is that both charts - both stories - have reasons to recommend them. I can resonate with both. But if we really can look at our chart and learn more and more about our selves and what trajectories we should be on in life - and if astrology really is an art of precision - then I want to know which chart I really should be focusing on.
Has anybody else ever faced this question, or have thoughts about how to face it? Do I make too much Sabian symbols and fixed stars? Is the difference negligible? Does it really even matter? Or must I choose now and choose wisely?!?!
I've attached both charts below.
In the next post I'm going to give more detail about the symbols and themes I see when I look at the two charts that make them, for me, two different frames for understanding my life - but frames I can't clearly choose between.
And as always, for any and all who respond: thanks for discussing and enlightening me on questions that, I worry, are ultimately pretty self-interested (or at least self-oriented).
Attachments
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