by Cal Garrison
This week’s horoscopes are coming out under the light of an almost full Taurus Moon. Every week I think about how I want to spin this introduction way in advance. It’s usually the case that I draw inspiration from things that I learn in my conversations with my clients. This last week my decision went between the impact of intercepted signs and the real meaning and significance of the Trans-Neptunian Point, Hades. I settled on intercepted signs, only because all of the people I spoke to this last week had big interception stories.
Intercepted signs refer to the fact that in horoscopes that are erected for the northern or southern latitudes the12 houses are not all evenly spaced at 30 degrees apart. The result is that two out of the 12 signs get swallowed up inside two opposing houses and thus do not govern a house of their own. In the end this bumps two other signs into the position of governing two houses instead of one. This won’t mean much to you if you are not a working astrologer, so let’s talk about what interceptions do in real time to anyone whose chart displays this particular set of circumstances.
Over the years I have researched and read a lot about interceptions and most of what I have read never covered the subject thoroughly. Some writers led me to believe that intercepted signs had to do with past lives. Unfortunately, the people who made those statements never said too much about where they got that information or how it worked. In other books people wrote that intercepted signs had to do with qualities that were suppressed or recessed in an individual, and therefore, difficult, if not impossible for the person to express in a positive way. This explanation made more sense than the past life theory, but I wanted more. Only in the last few years have I come across an explanation for interceptions that allows me to say something useful to the people who come to me for readings – stick with me; I’m going to try to put this in a nutshell – here goes:
The nature of the signs that are intercepted indicate that in the early life of the client, there was a problem within the family and as a child, they wound up playing second fiddle to whatever that problem happened to be. It’s as if to say they grew up in an atmosphere where the parents were basically saying, “Can’t you see how hard it is for us to cope with this? Do us a favor and don’t add to the problem by needing more from us than we’re able to give.” As a result, the child grows up feeling uncomfortable about themselves in any situation where the original problem gets stirred up and becomes an issue. In essence, they don’t know what to do about it and/or they overcompensate.
Let me give you an example: I have Gemini and Sagittarius intercepted in the 12th and 6th houses in my natal chart. The Gemini-Sagittarius axis is about a lot of things. It’s about truth and lies. It’s about walking your talk. It’s about brothers and sisters and distant relatives. It’s about the lower mind, the higher mind, and a host of other things.
I grew up in a household where on the surface everything looked perfectly normal. Underneath it all there was an ocean of dysfunction, about which no one was telling the truth. In addition to this there were life and death issues with my siblings and a raft of problems with my aunts, uncles, and grandparents that was swept under the rug.
From early childhood I noticed all of this, but was extremely confused because it seemed like no one could see it but me. As a result, my inner and outer realities diverged and I grew up split between thinking I was nuts, and trying to go along with the program and pretend everything was hunky dory. What came out of it over time is that in situations where the problem became obvious, I would be unable to keep my mouth shut and be the one to blurt out, “Mommy, why is Grampa falling down drunk?” or, “How come no one is talking about the fact that Cousin Jackie is in jail?” I grew up always being the one who noticed the elephant in the living room, the one who was constantly admonished for talking about what everyone else was thinking but too polite or too uptight to say out loud.
What’s interesting about this is that as an adult, I am fascinated with conspiracies and what people refer to as conspiracy theories. I love digging up dirt and bones and uncovering secrets. This penchant has actually turned into a gift. I am in love with and passionate about the truth! It blesses me and my clients in my work arena because you can’t do in depth astrology if you don’t have a burning desire to root out the truth.
And so, what about the signs that get bumped into the position of ruling two houses each? In my case, Cancer governs my first and second house and Capricorn governs my seventh and eighth house. The moon rules Cancer. It is the inner world. Saturn rules Capricorn. It is the outer world. The moon is the mother. Saturn is the father. Relative to my birth chart this says that I have major mother and father issues, and a split between who I am emotionally or inwardly and who I am out in the world. It also means that Mommy and Daddy were lying about something, and whatever that was, made it difficult for Cal to figure out how to a) Be herself, and b) How to function in her relationships with people and in her relationship with the world.
I study charts with intercepted signs all the time. Last week I did four of them. The more I learn about how this condition operates from person to person, the more my mind gets blown, and the more I am able to help my clients beam in on what actually happened to them. Just today I did a chart for a woman whose interceptions caused her to spend her childhood taking a back seat to the problems that her parents had giving and receiving love. As a result, she grew up walking the line between feeling forced to conform to very strict standards, and having the freedom not just to be who she really is, but to be loved for who she really is.
It’s interesting isn’t it? So many people think that astrology is just fortune telling. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a good astrologer can dig up in two hours what it would take a shrink 10 years to unearth. I share these things with you to get you thinking, and also to put what time and experience have taught me about astrology into words. I hope that it is of interest to you. Let me leave you with that and invite you to take what you can from this week’s ‘scopes.
