by Alison Price
Mars in Aries: Fireworks
When Mars enters Aries it is at the beginning of the zodiac
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Where does the zodiac begin?
The zodiac starts at zero degrees Aries. Because the Sun on its path, the plane of the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator at zero declination on its path towards the northern hemisphere.
The Sun crosses the celestial equator twice a year at the equinoxes. Once going north March 20/21st (the Aries ingress) and once going south on September 22/23rd (the Libra ingress).
Planetary Ingress
An ingress is when a planet enters a sign or house either moving direct or retrograde.
As Mars enters Aries it is going home to the sign it rules.
The Aries Point
The Aries Point is zero degrees Aries in any chart. Some astrologers take any cardinal sign’s zero degrees as an Aries point. The cardinal signs are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.
What to expect when Mars is in Aries
- Action
- Energy
- Heat
- Competition
- Masculinity
- Activity
- War
- Conflict
- Confrontations
- Excitement
- Sexual awareness
- Fires
- Push, push, push
All of these things are ruled by Mars. When Mars is in its own sign it can operate cleanly and clearly at its true meaning.
Whilst Mars was recently in Pisces it was not a good place for Mars’ energy to be expressed.
Precession of the Equinoxes
This is the phenomena that the point of the vernal equinox (when the Sun enters Aries going north) is moving backwards through the constellation signs at the slow rate of one sign over a two thousand (ish) year period.
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The Great Years
In astrology a great year is almost 26000 years and each Great Year is divided into twelve Great Months or Ages of around a two thousand year (give or take) period. You have heard of these Ages as for example the Age of Aquarius.
Therefore the Age of Aries came before the Age of Pisces. Before the Age of Aries was the Age of Taurus.
In Ages each sign is before the present one going backwards through the signs. The “Ages” are reversed because of the precession of the equinoxes.
Great Years show large sweeps of history and are background noise for each time period.
The Age of Aquarius
We are now living in the Age of Aquarius (which began around the year 2000AD) and will last for just over two thousand years until about 4000AD. The symbol for Aquarius is two wavy lines like radio waves or microwaves and all technology waves and wireless devices and gadgets.
The Age of Pisces
Looking back, the Age of Pisces occurred from about year 1AD (at Christ’s birth) until 2000AD. The symbol prevalent at this time was the fish and this can still be seen on bumper stickers to indicate a Christian.
The Age of Aries
The Age of Aries was from +/- 2000BC to 1AD which is again a two thousand year period or “Age”. The symbols used in this age were the ram which is a male sheep. In Egypt Rameses I, II and III were cracking the whip. And the Romans developed metal armour and weapons to wear in battles and wars.
When considering this information you can see that the Mars ingress into Aries is highly important.
Mars enters Aries and starts the whole cycle again every two years. This is the time it takes Mars to make one orbit of the Sun and is the length or a Martian year. Obviously we are not experiencing Mars entering Aries for the first time it has happened. Mars get around.
We experience a Martian ingress into Aries every two years.
Mars disposes planets in Aries
As Mars moves through Aries it disposes planets in that sign. When Mars is in Aries it is a prime position to be final dispositor. Always give a quick scan to see if this is the case.
by Alison Price
The Victoria Landscape Zodiac
Victoria is the capital of the province of British Columbia in Canada. The city is situated on Vancouver Island on the west coast and is named after Queen Victoria.
I have a particular interest in the Victoria Landscape Zodiac as it is very close to my home. This is an example of local astrology at it’s best.
Landscape Zodiac
A landscape zodiac is found when you lay the planisphere (a star map of the northern skies) over a street map of a place (in this case the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada) or other land area and find correlations between the astrology sign meanings and the topographical geography of the earth.
These correlations can be in the forms of street names, parks, buildings, cemeteries, hills, streams, marshes or ponds.
Polaris Star as the Center Point
In the Victoria Landscape Zodiac, the north pole star Polaris is centered on the city at the aptly named Pointer Place.
The wheel is then adjusted until some form of connections is determined. Once the rotation angle has been decided the zodiac is set to that degree on the city map. In this way, the city of Victoria is segmented into the twelve signs.
Once the rotation angle has been decided the zodiac is set to that degree on the city map. In this way, the city of Victoria is segmented into the twelve signs.
Sidereal Zodiac
The constellation shapes created by the stars do not line up with the tropical zodiac because of the precession of the equinoxes. This is well known phenomena of which astrologers are aware.
Effigies
The shapes of the sign symbols, when laid on a map, are known as effigies. These sign animal shapes (except Libra which is the scales) are then drawn onto the city map. See image.
Tropical Zodiac
The astrological tropical zodiac is placed on the outside which is similar to a natal chart.
At this point, your natal chart can be overlaid on the city map and your personal natal planets will be in the same position of longitude and in a particular position in Victoria.
Discovery
People in the history of the discovery of Landscape Zodiacs are Katharine Emma Maltwood, Mary Dowds and most recently Donald Allen who is the latest dynamic researcher working on the Victoria Landscape Zodiac.
Donald Allen has explicit permission to use the information and maps drawn by Mary Dowds to continue his exploration of the Victoria Landscape Zodiac.
He has successfully discovered the Victoria Cancer and Pisces effigy on the map which adds to his knowledge base.
Southern Hemisphere Landscape Zodiacs
Research into landscape zodiacs in the Southern Hemisphere using the southern skies planisphere and the southern cross will have to be pursued. Come on South Africa!
Your Chart Overlay
If you would like to see your natal chart overlaid on the Victoria Landscape Zodiac please contact Donald Allen with your details and for a modest research donation ($19.99 by PayPal) he will provide you with a full-color image of your chart married to the beautiful city of Victoria. He looks forward to hearing from you.
About Donald Allen’s ongoing research
Donald is actively researching the Victoria Landscape Zodiac and he would love to hear from you.
You are invited to contact Donald Allen by email at victorialandscapezodiac@yahoo.com and you can visit his Victoria Landscape Zodiac Facebook page.
All images in this post (c) 2013 Donald Allen
The VLZ project is a work in progress I hope to keep you up-to-date with developments.
