A Victim of Popular Astrology

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.

— Alexander Pope, An essay on Criticism

 A young man from Spain with whom I correspond about astrology told me the following story.  His mother is a fan of popular “sun sign” astrology.  When he was born with his Sun in Aries, his mother read that as an Aries her son was a natural-born athlete and warrior.  Based solely on his sun sign, his mother pushed him into playing lots of competitive sports, which he did not enjoy.  For the sake of confidentiality I will not reproduce his birth chart but I will discuss it in a general way.

The rest of this young man’s chart was strongly Piscean, and he longed to become a musician.  His Ascending sign was Pisces and he had a Moon/Jupiter/Mercury conjunction in Pisces just above the ASC.  With Moon, Jupiter and Mercury all in Pisces in the 12th Placidean House, his musical interest and creative bent were strongly highlighted astrologically.  Jupiter in Pisces ruled not only his ASC but also his MC and his Whole Sign 10th House of career.  In addition, his artistic and musical Venus in Taurus was sextile to this Piscean conjunction, as was his Mars in Capricorn.  Mars also conjoined the musical planet Neptune.

Young man born with Sun in Aries but with ASC, Moon, Jupiter and Mercury in Pisces.  His mother’s ambition for him is symbolized by Sun in assertive Aries.  His own heart’s desire is revealed by the Ascendant, Moon, Jupiter and Mercury in poetic Pisces.

The conflict with his mother correlated with his natal Saturn in the Whole Sign 10th (mother and career) in square to his Moon/Jupiter/Mercury conjunction in Pisces.  He experienced his Saturnian mother as a rigid and demanding woman who thwarted his love of music and pushed him into competitive athletic situations which he found unpleasant and exhausting.

This man’s assertive drive for independence (Sun in Aries) found expression not in the world of sports but rather in his defiance of his mother’s wishes and his breaking with her to pursue a career in music, much to his mother’s chagrin.  This story is a telling example of the dangers of sun sign astrology, which has been found wanting according to scientific research.  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  Forming judgments on the basis of a single factor in an astrological chart is often misleading and can have untoward consequences, as this young man’s life illustrates.