Astro Genealogy

The family history seen in the natal chart

First of all, I would love to mention and honor astrologer Daniel Dancourt who introduced me to Astro genealogy. Great part of this article is based on the notes taken during his clases and seminars.

Introduction

We are heirs of our family history.  The life experiences of our ancestors left impressions in our unconsciousness because, throughout the generations, our ancestors conveyed us their own ways of perceiving life, of moving from one place to the other, of feeling, and thinking.

Some of the symbols are associated with the masculine lineage and others are associated with the femenine lineage.  In the astrological chart, the archetypal themes and the storyline are also acknowledged as they repeat themselves from generation to generation as if that ‘family soul’ had something to learn throughout the generations.

In our own natal chart, we identify with some ancestors because we find that their stories have some coincidences with our own personal stories. On the one hand, for instance, some members of the family share either the same or similar vocations and on the other hand, other members of the family provoke our rejections or arouse the rebel within us due to their way of being or living.  Our own behavior may allow us to do something our ancestors did not dare to do.

In previous generations, a victim may exist (for instance, a victim of a crime or of a war) and in the following generations, a murderer may balance out the suffering felt before or quite the contrary, a victim may show up to make up for what the murderer committed previously.

There are role models of being in partnerships, ways of becoming a mother or a father, ways to follow our own religious beliefs, our own philosophies, our moral values, the cultural traditions that are conveyed from generations to generations.

By studying astrogenealogy, we will try to establish a connection between our present time and what transpired in our family history in order to uncover which family patterns and which facts of our lives some of our behaviors respond to. The awareness of the place we have in the ‘family storyline’ will help us free ourselves from some of the mandates that kept dragging on for many generations.  It is a journey to the past but it is also a journey to our own inner reality.

The idea is not to look back as it is to acknowledge conflicts or frustrations that are being repeated and to retrospect in order to receive the blessings, the gifts, the talents that we also get through our ancestors. 

It is not necessary to know exactly the dates or data from the past in order to carry out the study of astrogenealogy; the idea is to be open to receive images or sensations that are kept alive in our memory and that connect us with our ancestors.  At any rate, if we do have parents, siblings, grandparents will prove to be quite revealing in order to uncover the relationship between the members of the same family.

Therefore, in the study of astrogenealogy, the interpretation of the natal chart is approached as a symbol of this conscious or unconscious inheritance that has been conveyed from parents to children.  Our intention is to wonder what ‘that family soul’ has to learn throughout the generations so that we find a story because it is said that ‘without roots, there are no wings’.

Interpretation of the signs, house and planets according Astrogenealogy

In the interpretation of the natal chart from the Astrogenealogy viewpoint, the signs symbolize the different issues related to the story of the family. The planets are the actors of the story of the family, being parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, or ancestors who are even further away and the houses represent the different circumstances that these characters face.

The signs

I will refer to the influence of the signs when they are prominent in the astrological chart maybe because they are the Sun sign, the Moon sign or the sign where the Ascendant is.

Aries: in Aries, the issue of anger is present, as well as the struggle, the activity, the competence.  The struggle to survive; natives who conquer uncharted territory.  There are strong male ancestors.  Authority figures like military personnel or peace officers could have been members of the family.

Taurus: a sign that has to do with our finances. Sometimes, the managing of money is intertwined with our feelings. Landowners may show up in the family, relatives who own properties that pass from generation to generation.   Food-related subjects may be present, for instance members of the family who work in the food industry or relatives who lived in the countryside and worked the land.

Gemini

Families who have lots of interaction among siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Conflicts can be inherited as well as the way the parents, grandparents relate to their own siblings. Travelers or traders can also show up.   Schooling can be also highlighted as well as relatives who may be teachers.

Cancer

The maternal side of the family is strong. In some cases,  the presence of a grandmother or a great grandmother on the father’s side of the family may be strong but regardless which side the grandparent comes from, this sign tends to represent important female figures.  Sometimes, a very strong relationship between the grandmother and her daughter is repeated throughour generations.  It can be seen up to 2 or 3 generation of only daughters.  In the case of a male with strong Cancer energy, he gets to be pampered by all the women of the family.  We also find that this sign influences natives who have a lot of interest in learning about their family tree and stories of the ancestors.

Leo

Dignity and self-esteem are highlighted here.  In some cases, the elder son is the only child. It can also be the case of the eldest grandchild, the first child that comes to the family who was eagerly expected and desired and became the center of attention. The paternal side has a more prominent influence here, the influence of an important grandfather.  Acknowledgement is being sought.  In some families the issue of luxury is present.  They are concerned with the place they have in the world.  Natives who are performers or related to the arts or the show business.

Virgo

It is a health-related sign. There are recurrent illnesses in the family. A native that had to become a caretaker or be of service. In this sign, the feminine also predominates.  Everything related to food and nutrition may be present.  Guilt is another dominant issue for Virgos.  The natives may be inclined to carry the mistakes committed by previous generations.  Another subject that shows up here is the fact that some members of the family, specially women,  industrious women, that had to start working when they were very young in order to financially support the family.

Libra

There is a very strong social connotation. Members of the family that assumed public role or that they had an intense social life.  Outward appearance or self-image is also important.  Libra native appreciate and value being in partnership. There is a strong partnership role model that the parents or grandparents had and its influence is conveyed from generation to generation.  It is also related to people who work or belong to the world of fashion or the aesthetics.

Scorpio

The subject is death. It is very common that when a Scorpio native is born,  someone dies in the family. It has a bearing on the family bereavement. Scorpio is also related to the subject of sexuality that is oftentimes hidden, the issue of shame.  Other important issues are related to money, inheritance, estate conflicts. Therapists, investigators, esoteric-related natives may be present.

Sagittarius

The subject of beliefs.  A world vision is being conveyed from a religious or cultural point of view.   Prelates, religious, people, professors may be members of the family.  The subject of coming from foreign countries is very strong,  grandparents that were immigrants, members of the family who travel, who have different nationalities.

Capricorn

The transgenerational inheritance is quite strong; what is received from the spirit of the ancestors. This is the reason why the image of the grandparents is important; the members of the family that were brought up with their grandparents.  The place that one has in society is also relevant and oftentimes the sensation of failure shows up as a result of not having achieved that place of prestige.

Another subject to mention is the issue of responsibility; to be in charge of others. In some cases, orphanage is present. Having lost the parents while being young or that one of the parents lost his or her own parents at an early age.

Aquarius

Big families may possess an Aquarian influence that acts like a human group where the members of the family are considered to be part of a community. There is also a break up with the traditional way of living as a family; cases in which people separate or go to live in a foreign country, people who have rebelled or who have broken the family mandates.

Pisces

Strong unconscious identifications are common in this sign. There is a great tendency to repetition, things that happen to a person that are hard to explain, like sensations, situations that the ancestors lived. Clairvoyant people show up in the family, people who are either health-related, in the service of helping others or they are healers themselves. The subject related to mental health can also be present here. People who have suffered, who were victims of abuse. Very sensitive beings, artists.

 Planets

The planets symbolize archetypal energies and represent the different characters of the family.

Masculine Lineage

Sun:

The spiritual transmision of the father role in the family –  The paternal lineage, the grandfather.

Everything comes to life through the father –

Mars:

The men of the astrological chart.  Masculine lineage, ability to struggle and to survive.   Aggresive situations, conflicts in the family.

Feminine Lineage

Moon:

The role of the mother in the family –  The grandmother lineage  -  Everything comes to life through the mother -

Venus:

Feminine characters of the family (sisters, aunts, mothers, grandmothers, when they were young)- Affection, how love is conveyed through the structure of the family tree.

Mercury:

Siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins - Comunication among the members of the family  -Everything related to schooling, to the intellect, journeys, trade, transfers.

Jupiter

Figures who protect the family.  It may be an uncle, or a mentor or a godfather- A masculine figure like a mentor or a guide. -  Issues related to journeys, justice or education-  Exceses, gambling or expenses,

Saturn

The father seen as a structural figure of the family tree. The grandparents.  Patriarchal and authoritarian figures. Figures that bring experience and wisdom, from the masculine lineage as well as the feminine one.  Situations in which there may be an orphan,  lack of resources or lack of affection.  People related to the countryside, to agriculture.

Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

The transpersonal planets who are in contact with the luminaries or with personal planets indicate importants subjects that are repeated and transmitted through the generations like exiles, time of wars, material and spiritual legacy and so on.

They speak of very old facts within the familiar history.

Uranus: break-ups, unforseen circumstances. Figures that have broken up traditions. Interesting mental legacy. It is also associated with insanity or with people who have been left out. The exile.

Neptune: Abandonment, confused situations, losts.  Fishermen, sailors in the family.  Persons who have been left out, indigents.  The victim role, “to pay off” for something that a member of the family did in the past, to atone for some kind of guilt.  Family issues with alcohol or drugs.

Pluto:  unresolved grief  -family secrets-  Family figure who exercises power or authority over other members of the family.   Shadowy figures that carry a secret or a guilt.  People who are manipulators.  Police officers or investigators. Therapists.  Taboo issues: sexual abuse, violence, crime rate.

Astrological houses

Symbolize the circumstances, facts, and the stage where the family story unfolds.

House 1

Denotes the emotional weather of the family in the moment of birth and also during the first years of life.

The Ascendant is very important and it is related to the place the person has and the way the member makes his or her presence feel within the family group.

House 2

Seeking security.  Money issues related to the family.  How this issue was perceived at an early age.  How the family lives the issue of feeling safe.

House 3

Represents siblings but also aunts and uncles as they reflect the bonding between the parents and their own siblings and how that model impacts the way the individual relates to his own siblings.  Schooling, intellect and state of mind.

House 4

 An important house in astrogenealogy because it represents how the bonding is being repeated throughout the generations of parents and children.  Family roots. Family genes are conveyed within the family.  The family memory.

House 5

How the family creative energy is conveyed. Romance and affairs. 

House 6

Health issues in the family.  How to be of service or to be helpful.

House 7

The choosing of a partner that has direct relationship to the family history. The partnership role model that is conveyed from generations to generations.

House 8

It has a very profound psychological connotation that has to do with the family shadow.

How sexuality has been experienced throughout the family history.  Unresolved grief. Legacy, money conflicts.

House 9

The ideal, the dogma, the religious beliefs, the ethical or moral values that are conveyed  from generations to generations. The planets placed here can represent family figures that have fulfilled the mentor or the guide role.

House 10

It may represent the mother of the father as family figures who convey authority.  The seeking of a place in the society of the family.  Issues that have to do with being a professional, for example whether or not the parent’s or any ancestor’s career is pursued.

House 11

Issues related to ideology, politics.  The involvement of the family in social life. Groups of belonging.  Friendship or social relationship that somehow had some influence in the family history.

  

House 12

The family soul.  The family secrets.  Blind repetitions of unresolved past situations that come back in different generations. Mysterious forces in the family tree that the consciouness finds it hard to understand.

Different circumstances in the history of the family.

Wars

In this case, Mars is obviously prominent and its aspects with other planets can bring war-related events.

Exiles, Migrations

Uranus is involved when the exile must be quick like when people have to escape.  The 12th house is also involved.

Abuse

Pluto is involved due to its abusive nature and also because it is hidden; it is a taboo issue that nobody talks about it; Pluto making aspects to the Moon, to Venus or to Mars.

Insanity, Exclusion

Uranus and Neptune are associated with insanity or with outcasts; natives with planets in the 12th house because they are hospitalized and many times they are excluded from the family.

Inmates in the family

Here, Saturn may show up as well as Pluto or Mars if the incarcelation was due to violent motives.  Neptune and the 12th house may also be referred to when talking about swindle or fraud cases.

Poverty

Saturn, Capricorn and also Taurus for its predominance in financial issues.

Alcoholism, drugs

Pisces, the 12th house, Neptune

Family Secrets

The 12th house: planets in this house may denote unresolved issues that keep coming back throughout the different generations for having being left out.  Pluto is involved when those secrets have to do with money or with sexuality.  The 8th house is also present here as it deals with unresolved grief; the house where one faces its shadow and its silence.

Abandonment

Neptune speaks of the confusion or of the unknown origin. Saturn speaks of abandonment for war or poberty motives.

Accidents

In cases of car accidents, Mars and Uranus aspects are common as well as the 3rd house.

Natural Disasters

On many occasions, these type of natural disasters like earthquakes entail a feeling of guilt for having survived.  Profound complexes that Pluto aspects can reflect as well as planets in the 8th house and difficult aspects to the Moon.

Illnesses

Illnesses that are repeated throughout the family history are associated with different planets, the 6th house will also be populated, the sign of Virgo and the 12th house, if there were hospitalizations.

Political Activism

Jupiter is associated with ideals, Uranus can also be present if the activism had revolutionary connotations.

Religious Beliefs

Jupiter is present as well as Sagittarius and the 9th house

Journeys

Families who travel a lot or who live abroad.  Jupiter, Mercury, the 3rd and the 9th house are involved and sometimes there are aspects between Uranus and the Moon that denote changes of residence.

Interpretation of a natal chart from the astro-genealogy viewpoint

During the session, the first question to be asked is about the make up of the consultant’s  family in order to draw a small family tree.  The names and dates are meaningful because sometimes the astrological signs, dates, and names are repeated.

It is also important to observe which place the consultant takes among his siblings, if he is the only child, or if he is the eldest.  Each place in the family has a weight that is shown in the natal chart.

Then, the question to be asked is what he remembers about his family history and fundamentally what facts and circumstances he is aware of or and what specific facts called his attention when he heard the story retold by a member of the family.  Sometimes, the consultant tells something related with the story of his father or his mother, or any of the grandparents and this tale provides the key, it speaks about the character of the family whom the consultant identifies with and somehow that key presents the issue that needs to be addressed.  Something important that will be taken into account is the anniversary syndrome, specific dates and ages that may have a strong bearing on the memory when this one is being refreshed. In many families there are facts that are repeated, sometimes there are similar ages or similar dates. Transits or progressions can give us a clue about which aspect of the family story the consultant is ready to bring to the surface.

Example

Persecution of family members for either religious or political ideology

Celia -  May 9th, 1956- 4:05 AM- Buenos Aires- Argentina

Celia is a medical doctor, she is divorced and has a daughter. During the 70s, she was politically active.  When she was 20 years old, she was arrested - missing for 4 months and then transfered to prison in Devoto, (Buenos Aires) where she spent 4 years.

In this particular case, I will focus on the elements of this family history that somehow are related to the so difficult experience Celia had to endure during her youthful years. 

Celia tells me the family history that as she learned about it when she was very young.

Celia’s paternal grandparents were polish and they arrived in Argentina in 1924.  They were married and had a two-year-old son (Celia’s father). Her relatives remained in Poland and some of them died in concentration camps during the second world war.

The story that she brings to the surface is her father’s aunt (paternal grandmother’s sister) who was stepped into a truck along with her young daughter and was transfered to a concentration camp.  The mother decided to throw her daughter out of the truck and onto the ground in the middle of nowhere in order to save her.  The little girl was picked up by some peasants who raised her.  When the war ended, she resumed contact with some of her relatives.  She had children who pursued a career and became professionals; she lives in The States. This girl is a survivor despite the fact that she suffered the death of her parents and her aunt and uncle.  She could ‘rebuild’ her life. 

Celia is a survivor despite the tortures she had to sustain, the time she had to spend in prison and the death of many of her classmates. She received medical attention and she could ‘rebuild’ her life.

 In this case, we could see the Aries influence on the Ascendent, Mars in Aquarius in the 11th house supporting her being politically active, her aquarian ideals of enjoying freedom and fairness. Ideals that she, herself, along with her classmates carried forward vehemently. To some extend and seeing this from her own family ancestors viewpoint, she takes part of this struggle as if she would be continuing something that started off during the second world war.  During the introduction, she spoke of victims and killers as if she would somehow “take revenge” for all the suffering her family had to endure.  It is not a coincidence that at the time of the ‘punishment’ her oppressor made evident to her the fact that she was Jewish.

We also see clearly that Mars has difficult aspects being part of a T square in the natal chart.  On the one hand, the square to the Sun (this story belongs to the father’s side of the family) on the other hand, the opposition to the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction.  Jupiter rules beliefs, ideas, the foreign land, and when Jupiter conjunct Pluto, it may symbolize “the shadow hand of power” that steps down on people because of their race, beliefs and ideas.  Saturn is also within orb of the square to Pluto from Sagittarius and it is near the 9th house (given emphasis on foreign countries, beliefs and religion).

My attention is called on the fact that ‘femenine is given power’ here, motherhood, as the Moon is in Taurus and Venus in Cancer.  The mother saved her daughter by throwing her into a truck, but it requires a lot of stamina to make that kind of decision.  The Moon is in orb in opposition to Neptune highlighting a mother’s sacrifice.

In Celia’s family, doctors and attorneys were found in different generations as we can we see karmic Saturn in Sagittarius (trining Uranus).  “Formal” education is appreciated and valued. Mercury in Gemini is exalted and placed in the 3rd house, the need to study, to learn and the eagerness to acquire knowledge.

In Celia’s case and also in the surviving girl, pursuing a career was very important.  She found an outlet in the interaction with other cultures that helped her unfold her own personal development.  The survivor lived abroad, in the States, and her children attended college.  As soon as Celia was released from prison, she finished her career and became a doctor.  He daughter is a student.

Different generations with the same family

Female artists

In this case, there are four generations of women who are artists. Mercedes is the only child.  In Luisa’s case, she had a sister who passed away when she was young.  We could say that it is a matriarch with a preponderance of female energy.  Mercedes, the grandmother, eccentric, a famous writer, who used to go to great writers’ gatherings in Buenos Aires.  She became a widow and she remarried.  Her daughter Luisa, also a prestigious writer and journalist, travels, teachers, publishes and lectures in different parts of the world.  She is separated and has only one daughter: Ana.

Ana is a sculptural artist; she has two children and always lived with her mother, she was very young when Luisa got separated. She never had a relationship with her father.  Her grandmother’s presence was very strong in Ana’s life, a mixed feeling of admiration and a burden upon her shoulders since her grandmother’s personlity was quite strong.  Ana’s daughter,Rafaela, also feels very close to her grandmother Luisa who is present in her life and travels with her as she shares her cultural interests.

Mercedes:  here we have a Moon in Leo. She is the queen of the family, the famous writer. Ana has Venus in Leo and, from her grandmother, she inherits the need to express herself creatively displaying her artistic self.  Mercedes attracted people’s attention due to her being eccentric, her way of conducting herself, the clothes and hats she used to wear.  Her daughter Luisa used to say that Mercedes was a mundane, seductive and fascinating character. She was excessive to the point of overshadowing the one who was writing those those beautiful texts in bed.  Neptune in Cancer, along with prolific Jupiter in Piscis, enhances the female sensitivity that speaks of Mercedes beingeccentric and imaginative, a character so unique as her own written literature which was translated into various languages and was critiqued as the precursor of the magical realism, a literary genre in which, later on, her own daughter stood out.  

Luisa:  the preponderance of the maternal side and the influence of the mother, a writer with a Mercury-ruled Virgo Moon in conjunction with sensitive and creative Neptune. Luisa has her Moon conjunct Neptune.  Here, we have the sacrifice she made for remaining alone with her daughter after the separation.  Her daughter Ana also has her own Moon in Pisces. We can see how the Neptunian matrix is being repeated. The sign of Virgo also speaks about industrious, self-employed women who became ‘self-sufficient’ and financially independent.  Virgo Moon (realism) conjunct Neptune (the magical). Luisa’s literature is focused on the Latinamerican magical realism.

Ana:  The Sun in Cancer in the 10th house refers to the strong presence of her mother and her grandmother. Mercury in Cancer: the writing gift that comes from the mother side. Venus in Leo:  represents the family women who are successful artists.  Pisces Moon also speaks of very sensitive women that somehow have suffered for love. The grandmother became a widow, the mother got separated very young and raised her daughter by herself. The grand trine formed by Mercury, Moon and Jupiter: represents her mother and her grandmother, both writers whose books have spread internationally.  

On the other hand, the Sun in opposition to Saturn refers to an estranged father and the lack of a masculine presence.

Ana paints huge paintings depicting relaxed women away from their daily routine. In her paintings, the strength and sensitivity of the femenine world can be perceived.  Venus in the 12th house also symbolizes the vast archetypical images that Ana receives as part of her artistic legacy from all the women in her family.

Rafaela:  The Moon in Cancer speaks of the strength of the maternal lineage. This Moon is conjunct the mother’s Cancer Sun.  The Ascendant and the Sun in Taurus, both ruled by Venus, a planet associated with women and the feminine.  In this case, Leo is on the cusp of the 4th house representing the femenine family legacy of women who shine in the art world.  The water grand trine symbolizes sensitivity and a knack for expressing feelings.  Saturn in Pisces takes part in this grand trine and Neptune in Capricorn (mutual reception) may represent something from the grandmother who has Moon conjunct Neptune and something from the great grandmother who has Jupiter in Pisces.  The Sun trines Neptune.  Rafaela is studying film and photography and she is already taking baby steps into the art world.

~This article was originally written in Spanish by astrologer Claudia Azicri. 
her website is http://www.astroestudio.com.ar/clazicri.html 

~The translation into English was done by Maru Dana, Ph.D. in Holistic Life Coaching based on Archetypal Astrology~