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Thomas Merton
AAAmerican Trappist monk (1915–1968) · Wikipedia →
Reading
Constructed, not stored: each reading below is assembled from what the tradition attributes to the body, the sign and the house. It describes the symbolism — it is not a claim about a person, and unlike the positions it sits beside, none of it is something this site can check.
☉ Sun in Aquarius · house 11
The drive to be someone in particular, pursued at a deliberate distance, on principle more than on feeling.
Among friends, allies, and collective hopes.
☽ Moon in Leo · house 5
The need for safety, and the habits that supply it, pursued generously and in the open, wanting the effort to be seen.
In play, romance, children, and anything made for its own sake.
☿ Mercury in Aquarius · house 12
The way a mind takes things in and hands them on, pursued at a deliberate distance, on principle more than on feeling.
In solitude, institutions, and what works on you unseen.
♀ Venus in Sagittarius · house 9
What is found agreeable, and how it is drawn near, pursued expansively, at the risk of overshooting the mark.
In long journeys, foreign places, law and belief.
♂ Mars in Aquarius · house 11
The capacity to want something and go at it, pursued by stepping back far enough to see the pattern.
In the wider circle — networks, causes, company kept.
♃ Jupiter in Aquarius · house 12
The appetite for more room than is currently available, pursued by stepping back far enough to see the pattern.
Behind the scenes, in retreat and in what is undisclosed.
♄ Saturn in Gemini · house 3 ℞
The encounter with limit, and what is built against it, pursued by talking it through, and by keeping several options open.
In speech, siblings, short journeys and everyday learning.
Retrograde — read as the same principle turned inward.
♅ Uranus in Aquarius · house 11
The impulse to break a pattern that still works, pursued independently, and slightly against the grain.
Among the people chosen rather than given.
♆ Neptune in Cancer · house 5 ℞
The pull toward what has no edges, pursued indirectly, and with a long memory for how it went last time.
In play, romance, children, and anything made for its own sake.
Retrograde — read as the same principle turned inward.
♇ Pluto in Cancer · house 4 ℞
What will not be negotiated with, only survived, pursued indirectly, and with a long memory for how it went last time.
At home, in the family line, and in the private base of a life.
Retrograde — read as the same principle turned inward.
☊ True Node in Aquarius · house 12 ℞
The direction a life is pulled toward rather than born into, pursued independently, and slightly against the grain.
In the part that operates without being watched.
Retrograde — read as the same principle turned inward.
⚷ Chiron in Pisces · house 12
The injury that becomes a competence, pursued permeably, absorbing more than is strictly useful.
In solitude, institutions, and what works on you unseen.
⚸ Lilith in Taurus · house 2
What was refused, and refuses in turn, pursued slowly, and with a strong preference for what can be held.
In what you own, earn, and consider worth having.
The tightest aspects
☿ Mercury ⚹ MC Midheaven · sextile, orb 0.16°
The way a mind takes things in and hands them on and the direction a life is aimed in public assist each other when asked.
Available rather than automatic — it takes a deliberate move.
☿ Mercury ☌ ☊ True Node · conjunction, orb 0.52°
The way a mind takes things in and hands them on and the direction a life is pulled toward rather than born into are fused, and cannot easily be told apart.
Neither can act without the other coming along.
♄ Saturn △ ☊ True Node · trine, orb 0.52°
The encounter with limit, and what is built against it and the direction a life is pulled toward rather than born into run together easily.
Easily enough that it is often not noticed, and so not used.
♀ Venus ◻ AC Ascendant · square, orb 0.63°
What is found agreeable, and how it is drawn near and the face a life presents before it says anything obstruct each other.
The friction is productive only when it is worked at rather than escaped.
☽ Moon ☍ ♅ Uranus · opposition, orb 1.05°
The need for safety, and the habits that supply it and the impulse to break a pattern that still works face each other across the chart.
The tension is usually met by over-committing to one side and meeting the other in people.
☉ Sun ☌ ♅ Uranus · conjunction, orb 1.15°
The drive to be someone in particular and the impulse to break a pattern that still works are fused, and cannot easily be told apart.
Neither can act without the other coming along.