The Tropical Chart ( in my own terminology the Geotropic or GT ) is the one with which we are all familiar, and expresses the ‘new creation’, the ‘growing tip’ of our self, the embodied and environmentally conditioned personality of the current incarnation and its consequent psychology. At this level of self we have maximum free will to shape ourselves through coping or failure. This is the ‘little’ self which we must master at all costs, or become increasingly the slaves of our bodily drives and desires. Even when it is full of positive qualities, this Tropical identity is essentially selfish, and has always to be directed or monitored by higher levels of the will.
My example chart is that of Queen Elizabeth II. Her Tropical Sun is in steadfast Taurus, Moon in regal Leo, Ascendant and selfless South Node in serious, hard-working Capricorn with ruling Saturn high-profile on the Midheaven. The North Node urges her toward protective and responsive Cancer.This is her basic nature and path, in her current incarnation. |
In synastry, contacts between Tropical charts show compatibilities or potential conflicts of interest, similarities or differences - but these do not in the end determine the strength, importance or longevity of a relationship even though they affect it; the stock phrase ‘This thing is bigger than both of us!’ in fact holds the key - the strong relationships are the deep ones, based in the soul or in shared vocation, and to see them we must look to the other levels.
The Flip Side!
There is one major issue in Tropical charting that has never yet been satisfactorily resolved: the matter of Southern hemisphere births. Until very recently I was very unsure whether the zodiac sequence retained its integrity at Southern latitudes, beginning as usual at the point of the Northern Spring equinox, or whether the zodiac reversed, taking as its Aries starting point the equinox of the Southern spring, which in Northern latitudes is the autumnal Libra point. If this reversal were true, then it would not only affect every individual born south of the Equator but the relocated pattern of anyone moving from North to South.
However, the Antipodes have loomed ever larger in my life since I was first treated to my father’s tales of his life in Queensland as a young man. I have had Australian and New Zealand dentists, an employer in New South Wales, many astrological friends and clients in South Africa, South America, New Zealand and Australia, friends in the Church in Victoria, and now a growing family in Canberra. Ten years ago my younger son fell for an Australian living in London; eight years ago they moved to Melbourne, and for the past six years have lived and worked in the Australian capital. My two grand-daughters are now growing up there - and this summer they were able to come to the UK for a visit.
This was not only a great delight for me, to be able to hug and get to know these two lovely, high-spirited girls, but a heaven-sent opportunity to learn some astrology! My son is a Sun-Virgo with Gemini rising. His girls are children of Water - Cancer and Scorpio. Their mother was born at the year’s end in Capricorn. Unless the zodiac is reversed! In this case I would be meeting a Cancerian daughter-in-law and two little earthy people, and my son would enjoy his life ‘down under’ more as a Piscean than a Virgo. This has clearly not been the case. On the phone I am not speaking to a changed man, and he continues to make himself useful as an IT trouble-shooter. His critical faculties remain undiminished! His partner reminds me very much of my Capricorn cousin in London; and for several years now she has been building her own very successful business from home, determined to be a high achiever both in this and as a mother. Her parenting strategies are extremely methodical.
The girls also seem true to their tropical Sun-signs; my Cancerian grand-daughter is a huggy, somewhat clingy little soul who can cry at the drop of a hat, can sulk spectacularly ... and collects things. Very girly. But she also has an Aries Moon; she hurls herself into adventure without a second thought! Our little Scorpio, also up for a challenge, shows signs of depth and focus even at four years old; and her rages are monumental. A Virgo Moon is evident when she picks up a pen; already she draws and colours with great precision. Their mother’s tropical Moon is in Gemini. She spends every spare minute detailing her thoughts and activities on Facebook and networking with an impressive circle of friends. Were her Moon opposite in Sagittarius she would be warm and funny. That Moon is a degree from her father-in-law’s Sun and her Sun is conjunct his Capricorn Moon. My son’s Moon is in Taurus with Saturn. He found her ... and in a curious way has married his father!
The point is that all the above are characteristics that lie too deep, are too richly developed to be merely responses to a 24-hour flight. Mother and daughters are not Sun Cancer/Moon Sagittarius, Sun Capricorn/Moon Libra and Sun Taurus/Moon Pisces that have miraculously transformed into Sun Capricorn/Moon Gemini, Sun Cancer/Moon Aries and Sun Scorpio/Moon Virgo over the course of one day and eighty-plus degrees of geographic latitude. They had to be Capricorn/Gemini, Cancer/Aries and Scorpio/Virgo in the first place.
What about well-known Australians? Here is a small collection from my files - Jack Brabham, Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer, Clive James and Fred Shade. And in South Africa of course we have Nelson Mandela. South America gives us Ayrton Senna. Here we have the Sun in Aries, Aquarius, Aquarius again, Libra and again Libra, Cancer, and another Aries. I wish they were more diverse!
Anyway, are these authentic, or should they be their opposites? Jack Brabham was eventually knighted for his services to motor sport; he is, now in his eighties, one of the most famous and accomplished racing drivers and constructors in the sport’s history. There are certainly Librans competing in F1 today (the taciturn Kimi Raikkonen for example) but I would put money on Brabham’s Aries Sun, which would have built into him the drive, passion and life-long competitive spirit to accomplish so much in the years before his retirement. Brazilian Ayrton Senna has also gone down in motor sport history as the third most successful driver of all time in terms of the number of race wins; a very aggressive driver, he won three F1 championships, and was spectacularly fast and competitive in the rain. Surely Aries. Significantly his Moon was in Capricorn, a tropical sign found so very often in Grand Prix drivers’ patterns - not slowcoaches at all, but highly ambitious and efficient, and possessed of sufficient discipline, focus and staying power to control for two hours the raging beast that is a modern racing car, and get it undamaged to the chequered flag.
Barry Humphries and Germaine Greer would both be Sun-Leo if the zodiac were flipped; but although each enthusiastically courts the public in their own way through comedy and astringent social comment, the sheer eccentricity of these two media personalities argues vigorously for Aquarian Suns. The Moon, too, is key to an unchanged zodiac - Humphries has the Moon in Aries, far more descriptive of his loud, self-centred alter ego Dame Edna Everage than Libra could hope to be! Greer’s Moon is in Taurus, not its opposite Scorpio; this is less clear-cut, bearing in mind how acerbic she can be on issues that raise her hackles - but (see later chapters!) we have also to consider the importance of the Sidereal zodiac at the births of public figures, and once again we would find an Aries Moon.
Journalist, poet and broadcaster Clive James (alas now extremely ill and expecting to leave us) is a gentle and sensitive soul with Moon in Cancer who loves dancing. Fred Shade, a personal friend, formerly principal flautist in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and now a Liberal Catholic priest, is another kind and gentle ‘people person’ with a stellium in Libra including the Moon. Neither of these men could conceivably be born in the opposite sign.
As for South Africa's Nelson Mandela, with Moon in Scorpio adding yet more depth, feeling and courage to his patriotic Cancer Sun, what do you think?
After my flirtation with the flip side, I am now content that the Tropical zodiac is not tied to the seasons, reversing with the shift from North to South latitude, but - as western astrologers have generally assumed - has its single origin at the Northern spring equinox, which therefore functions as the ascending node of the Sun in relation to the Ecliptic.
Summary
There is no doubt that the Tropical chart, based as it is on the inter-relationship of the Earth’s body with its orbit around the system’s Solar heart, has everything to tell us about the new life-journey upon which we are embarking, the circumstances of our birth and upbringing, and the material and psychological needs generated by our genes and developed as we grow. If we use these characteristics and this life as well as possible, we lay down strengths and virtues that will see us through our subsequent lives - wherever and whenever these may be. If we don’t, then we have it all to do again. But the Tropical cannot be taken in isolation: the Draconic layer of the natal chart reveals those fruits of earlier lives that will now stand us in good stead - and sometimes hamper us; the Sidereal Signs are crucial to our role and image in the eyes of the world; the Heliocentric perspective offers insights into our very viability; and the fine tuning of the Dwad takes us beyond the material self into the ‘I’ behind the eyes.
So ... read on!
The Flip Side!
There is one major issue in Tropical charting that has never yet been satisfactorily resolved: the matter of Southern hemisphere births. Until very recently I was very unsure whether the zodiac sequence retained its integrity at Southern latitudes, beginning as usual at the point of the Northern Spring equinox, or whether the zodiac reversed, taking as its Aries starting point the equinox of the Southern spring, which in Northern latitudes is the autumnal Libra point. If this reversal were true, then it would not only affect every individual born south of the Equator but the relocated pattern of anyone moving from North to South.
However, the Antipodes have loomed ever larger in my life since I was first treated to my father’s tales of his life in Queensland as a young man. I have had Australian and New Zealand dentists, an employer in New South Wales, many astrological friends and clients in South Africa, South America, New Zealand and Australia, friends in the Church in Victoria, and now a growing family in Canberra. Ten years ago my younger son fell for an Australian living in London; eight years ago they moved to Melbourne, and for the past six years have lived and worked in the Australian capital. My two grand-daughters are now growing up there - and this summer they were able to come to the UK for a visit.
This was not only a great delight for me, to be able to hug and get to know these two lovely, high-spirited girls, but a heaven-sent opportunity to learn some astrology! My son is a Sun-Virgo with Gemini rising. His girls are children of Water - Cancer and Scorpio. Their mother was born at the year’s end in Capricorn. Unless the zodiac is reversed! In this case I would be meeting a Cancerian daughter-in-law and two little earthy people, and my son would enjoy his life ‘down under’ more as a Piscean than a Virgo. This has clearly not been the case. On the phone I am not speaking to a changed man, and he continues to make himself useful as an IT trouble-shooter. His critical faculties remain undiminished! His partner reminds me very much of my Capricorn cousin in London; and for several years now she has been building her own very successful business from home, determined to be a high achiever both in this and as a mother. Her parenting strategies are extremely methodical.
The girls also seem true to their tropical Sun-signs; my Cancerian grand-daughter is a huggy, somewhat clingy little soul who can cry at the drop of a hat, can sulk spectacularly ... and collects things. Very girly. But she also has an Aries Moon; she hurls herself into adventure without a second thought! Our little Scorpio, also up for a challenge, shows signs of depth and focus even at four years old; and her rages are monumental. A Virgo Moon is evident when she picks up a pen; already she draws and colours with great precision. Their mother’s tropical Moon is in Gemini. She spends every spare minute detailing her thoughts and activities on Facebook and networking with an impressive circle of friends. Were her Moon opposite in Sagittarius she would be warm and funny. That Moon is a degree from her father-in-law’s Sun and her Sun is conjunct his Capricorn Moon. My son’s Moon is in Taurus with Saturn. He found her ... and in a curious way has married his father!
The point is that all the above are characteristics that lie too deep, are too richly developed to be merely responses to a 24-hour flight. Mother and daughters are not Sun Cancer/Moon Sagittarius, Sun Capricorn/Moon Libra and Sun Taurus/Moon Pisces that have miraculously transformed into Sun Capricorn/Moon Gemini, Sun Cancer/Moon Aries and Sun Scorpio/Moon Virgo over the course of one day and eighty-plus degrees of geographic latitude. They had to be Capricorn/Gemini, Cancer/Aries and Scorpio/Virgo in the first place.
What about well-known Australians? Here is a small collection from my files - Jack Brabham, Barry Humphries, Germaine Greer, Clive James and Fred Shade. And in South Africa of course we have Nelson Mandela. South America gives us Ayrton Senna. Here we have the Sun in Aries, Aquarius, Aquarius again, Libra and again Libra, Cancer, and another Aries. I wish they were more diverse!
Anyway, are these authentic, or should they be their opposites? Jack Brabham was eventually knighted for his services to motor sport; he is, now in his eighties, one of the most famous and accomplished racing drivers and constructors in the sport’s history. There are certainly Librans competing in F1 today (the taciturn Kimi Raikkonen for example) but I would put money on Brabham’s Aries Sun, which would have built into him the drive, passion and life-long competitive spirit to accomplish so much in the years before his retirement. Brazilian Ayrton Senna has also gone down in motor sport history as the third most successful driver of all time in terms of the number of race wins; a very aggressive driver, he won three F1 championships, and was spectacularly fast and competitive in the rain. Surely Aries. Significantly his Moon was in Capricorn, a tropical sign found so very often in Grand Prix drivers’ patterns - not slowcoaches at all, but highly ambitious and efficient, and possessed of sufficient discipline, focus and staying power to control for two hours the raging beast that is a modern racing car, and get it undamaged to the chequered flag.
Barry Humphries and Germaine Greer would both be Sun-Leo if the zodiac were flipped; but although each enthusiastically courts the public in their own way through comedy and astringent social comment, the sheer eccentricity of these two media personalities argues vigorously for Aquarian Suns. The Moon, too, is key to an unchanged zodiac - Humphries has the Moon in Aries, far more descriptive of his loud, self-centred alter ego Dame Edna Everage than Libra could hope to be! Greer’s Moon is in Taurus, not its opposite Scorpio; this is less clear-cut, bearing in mind how acerbic she can be on issues that raise her hackles - but (see later chapters!) we have also to consider the importance of the Sidereal zodiac at the births of public figures, and once again we would find an Aries Moon.
Journalist, poet and broadcaster Clive James (alas now extremely ill and expecting to leave us) is a gentle and sensitive soul with Moon in Cancer who loves dancing. Fred Shade, a personal friend, formerly principal flautist in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and now a Liberal Catholic priest, is another kind and gentle ‘people person’ with a stellium in Libra including the Moon. Neither of these men could conceivably be born in the opposite sign.
As for South Africa's Nelson Mandela, with Moon in Scorpio adding yet more depth, feeling and courage to his patriotic Cancer Sun, what do you think?
After my flirtation with the flip side, I am now content that the Tropical zodiac is not tied to the seasons, reversing with the shift from North to South latitude, but - as western astrologers have generally assumed - has its single origin at the Northern spring equinox, which therefore functions as the ascending node of the Sun in relation to the Ecliptic.
Summary
There is no doubt that the Tropical chart, based as it is on the inter-relationship of the Earth’s body with its orbit around the system’s Solar heart, has everything to tell us about the new life-journey upon which we are embarking, the circumstances of our birth and upbringing, and the material and psychological needs generated by our genes and developed as we grow. If we use these characteristics and this life as well as possible, we lay down strengths and virtues that will see us through our subsequent lives - wherever and whenever these may be. If we don’t, then we have it all to do again. But the Tropical cannot be taken in isolation: the Draconic layer of the natal chart reveals those fruits of earlier lives that will now stand us in good stead - and sometimes hamper us; the Sidereal Signs are crucial to our role and image in the eyes of the world; the Heliocentric perspective offers insights into our very viability; and the fine tuning of the Dwad takes us beyond the material self into the ‘I’ behind the eyes.
So ... read on!