Chart Synthesis ✦ Dawn Bodrogi ✦ The Inner Wheel
Lately, in the third round of the Alchemy class, we have been studying the nature of consciousness. Consciousness is a word we throw about all the time, but do we really understand what we mean when we refer to it? How does it differ from the entire notion of mind? We can split hairs through eternity over what it means to be conscious. It implies awareness — but what else does it encompass?
Mercury refers to ordinary mind — the gathering and processing of information. Gemini connects with this, remembers that, hooks us up with what’s around us, constantly throwing things in the basket. It’s up to Virgo, the second Mercury sign, to test and process the information, to make it relevant and useful. Mercury is about the way we put it all together — our thought processes and personal information highways. Mercury gets us from here to there.
Beyond Mercury: The Nodes and the South Node Sensibility
We don’t negotiate the world only through Mercury. If we did, we would be robotic and predictable. Our consciousness includes not only what we know, but what we sense — our response to a universe that is active and alive. The Nodes are often considered the seat of consciousness, where the path of the Sun meets the path of the Moon — where past, present, and future come together.
Our South Node, by sign and house, indicates the kind of sensibility by which we come into this world. If you want to chart somebody’s natural thoughts and reactions, look at the South Node by sign and house, and then look at the Moon and its closest aspects.
When I combine my ninth house Gemini South Node with my Moon/Uranus conjunction in Leo, it reveals things about me I probably should keep to myself. There is a kind of intimacy that is unveiled when one’s consciousness is probed. It defines us so deeply that perhaps only a few should be let in there.
— Dawn Bodrogi
When I was younger, my Pisces Moon brother would call me out for not caring about the family. Not so, I would say — with Venus in Cancer, I appreciate you. But where was my awareness focused? Certainly not on home and domestic issues, which were barely a blip on my radar unless there was a real crisis. My thoughts were elsewhere. My life was elsewhere.
Which is why it’s so difficult to move from the South Node sensibility to the North Node. We’re supposed to balance the Nodes, not abandon one end for the other — but even the small task of including another way of knowing seems impossible. Even something tiny like giving up coffee for tea is monumental. When we strive to move to the North Node, the Sun, its house, and its aspects is our guide. The Sun both literally and figuratively provides light. We can see our way clear.
The Partnership of Mind: Moon and Mercury
Conscious awareness takes us well beyond Mercury. Mercury describes the way we sort things out, but what are we sorting? Nothing less than the entirety of our life experience — feelings, thoughts, impressions, instincts. The South Node provides the general colour of those impressions, whether we see life through rose-coloured glasses or through some more intense indigo hue.
Again, we are dealing with the Moon — the conductor of this orchestra of experience. In keeping with the musical metaphor, it’s Mercury who creates the arrangements. The Greeks were eloquent about the Moon, having many different descriptions for her phases. The alchemists of the medieval and Renaissance world believed that the Moon and Mercury worked together — Moon/Mercury as the vehicle of transcendence. The silvery, ever-shifting Moon and the quicksilver, changeable nature of Mercury, reflecting one another. The vehicle of change in the soul is the evolution of consciousness. And this consciousness must be embodied — which brings us back to the Moon again.
Mental Chemistry: A Technique Revived
Astrologer David Perloff recently wrote a wonderful article in the Winter edition of the Geocosmic Journal, revising an analytic technique developed by Marc Edmond Jones called Mental Chemistry. Jones is not a name you hear much anymore, which is a shame — he developed the modern Sabian Symbols and the whole notion of chart shapes (bucket, locomotive, and so on). He was a Humanistic astrologer who helped move the practice away from strict prediction. His work on aspects is also impressive.
The technique is not complicated and is concerned with two things: the speed of the Moon and Mercury’s position relative to the Sun.
Mercury’s position. Put the Sun of the chart on the Ascendant. Is Mercury ahead, in the 12th house, or behind, in the 1st? Planets cross the angles in a clockwise direction. If Mercury has crossed the line before the Sun, it is ahead. After the Sun, it is behind. Jones’ keywords — Mercury Ahead: Eager. Mercury Behind: Certain, Cautious. If Mercury is more than 14 degrees ahead or behind, Jones called it Untrammeled — free of restraint.
The Moon’s speed. The Moon has a wonky orbit — it speeds up as it nears the Earth, slows down as it moves away. You cannot determine speed by looking at the chart. The easiest method: calculate the Moon’s position for 24 hours prior to birth and subtract from the natal degree. The magic number is 13 degrees 11 minutes. Greater than that — Moon is fast. Less — Moon is slow.
The Four Types
Fast Moon / Mercury Ahead
Quicksilver wit — processes and takes in like lightning. May not stick around, may change their minds often, may have fingers in too many pies. But it works for them.
Slow Moon / Mercury Behind
Thorough. Don’t come to conclusions readily — goes into a question in depth. Often shoots itself in the foot by blaming itself for not being as fast as others. The truth is they take in more and are often more qualified because of what they’ve retained. Quiet in class, but getting it. Much depends on planetary position — a Slow/Behind with Moon sextile Mercury and Uranus will seem faster than the type usually suggests, though the speed of processing remains the same. Out of Bounds planets also alter type — but that’s for another day.
Fast Moon / Mercury Behind
May talk and think like lightning, but takes their time putting it all together. Robin Williams was a Fast/Behind type — too much information to process in a practical way, so it ended up all over the place. These types can dazzle with a wall of words which acts as a shield until they get their thoughts together. If information overwhelms them, they may shut down entirely, as if someone pulled the plug. They need time away to process their vast input.
Slow Moon / Mercury Ahead
Won’t take in such a broad range at once, but quick to process what they do take in. Both Barack and Michelle Obama have this placement — like is attracted to like. When Paul McCartney was asked for a comment on John Lennon’s death, caught on the street, all he could manage was “a drag.” That haunted him for years. A typical reaction of a Slow/Ahead type who didn’t have time to absorb what was happening. Compare Meryl Streep — also Slow/Ahead — in any interview. She takes a moment, then answers deliberately and with total awareness of the moment.
I have found that this technique is as vital as knowing the phasal relationship of the Sun and the Moon if you are trying to experience a chart the way the person lives it. I now include both techniques every time I open a chart. The purpose of astrology, and of life, is to evolve. Mental Chemistry shows the means by which we evolve. I encourage you all to play around with it and come to your own conclusions.
See also: Synastry Studies: The Inner Script
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The Moon is the conductor. Mercury makes the arrangements.