Horoscopes on the Job
by Bruce Scofield
 0ne fact of modern life is that
for most of us some form of employment is necessary. Employment gives us the
framework around which we schedule and build our lives; and it is the direct
route to solving many of our material and social problems.
Astrologically, employment is a
6th-house phenomenon. From my perspective, it is something on which the health
of our social lives depends. As we all know, a troublesome job can make us
physically ill. I have long felt that the chart for the start of a job is second
or third in importance to that of the birth chart itself. To better understand
mental and physical health, as well as how the checkbook balances, astrologers
should look to this chart more often. Anyone trained in horoscope interpretation
will find job charts fun to read and a source of some very useful information.
A chart cast for the time that
employment begins is a viable event chart that can be used for both analysis and
prediction. The easy availability of exact times for these charts is remarkable
when you consider how difficult it is to get reliable times for other kinds of
charts, such as those for countries or individual births. In many cases,
employment charts can be dated by a time clock. In other cases, you can simply
note the time at which one began to get paid.
The exact time that a job really
starts is the critical moment. Interviews don't count, for they only exist in
the realm of possibilities; the start of the paid job is the real thing. There
can be a discrepancy, however, regarding the actual moment that one begins the
job experience and the moment from which one gets paid according to the
financial records. My experience indicates that the critical moment is when the
actual work experience begins -- not any pre-work socializing, but when
training, or problem-solving, or the activity of the job begins. Most jobs will
have a specific start time in the job description (which is recorded), and most
people will remember their first day of work. Because of this, job charts are
often easy to obtain.
The employment horoscope can
give insights into several things. First, it describes the job experience in the
widest possible sense. It shows how the job grows, changes, and functions in
general. The job chart will describe the degree of compatibility with others at
work, and it will point out problem areas on the job. For example, a strong
Saturn in an employment chart will coincide with a work situation that is
dominated by the rules made by old men, or something along those lines. If this
Saturn is afflicted, it could mean that these rules and old men are a real pain
in the back. With a powerful transit to this job chart's Saturn, a real crisis
could arise, one in which a definition of reality is probably being forced onto
the relatively powerless person who is the employee.
Employment charts allow for the
prediction of promotions, raises, conflicts, and social events that occur during
the employee's job experience. In one case taken from my book
on electional astrology, the transits of Jupiter over the employment chart's
Midheaven brought with it three major promotions during a 30-year job tenure.
Thus, if you or your client were considering asking for a raise or promotion,
this kind of information would be quite helpful. With it you could select a
favorable and appropriate time to spring such requests on the boss. Like other
astrology charts, employment horoscopes can be manipulated with various
astrological techniques, such as progressions and directions. They also respond
to solar and lunar returns.
For analyzing an employment
horoscope, the following is a list of the houses and how they might be
interpreted:
1st house - The general
conditions of the job; the social and physical environment.
2nd house - The paycheck,
payments, and available funds; afflictions here may indicate problems such as
pay cuts or no raises. The sign on the cusp may say much about the regularity of
the paycheck. Fixed signs suggest a stable pay schedule; mutable, irregular pay;
and cardinal signs, frequent alterations in pay.
3rd house - Communications on
the job, use of the telephone, computer, etc.; commuting and other
transportation issues.
4th house - The building or
location of the workplace; the office space itself; weather conditions on
outside jobs.
5th house - Recreational and
creative aspects of the job; possibilities of income growth and earning power.
6th house - Scheduling;
disruptions due to illness and technical problems; subordinates, such as
secretaries, who produce work that is necessary for the job to move forward.
7th house - Significant others
who must be negotiated with during the course of the job; partners and
cooperation in general.
8th house - Others' resources;
the psychic or emotional integrity of the social scene on the job; secret
financial schemes; hidden power agendas.
9th house - Long-distance travel
and communications; teaching and instructing; advertising and promotional
activities.
10th house - Management; the
boss; the objectives of the job; public relations.
11th house - Group activities;
teamwork issues; friendships on the job; clients and customers.
12th house - Submission of one's
ego to greater powers; hidden activities; regrets about the job; the job as
"doing time"; detention.
In regard to the 12th house, we
also have to consider the fact that most jobs begin when the Sun is in the 12th
house. As we know, most people really don't want to be employed, but they have
to in order to survive. Personally, I find work to be really bad for my mental
health and have struggled hard to be able to get paid for doing things that
interest me. In spite of all this, I would still rather be "doing"
recreation. Until employers allow more employees to start at odd times of the
day, most people will experience work as if it were a kind of mild prison
experience.
The employment horoscope has a
life of its own and as such can be compared to the natal chart of the employee.
All the standard techniques seem to work.
Since the employment horoscope
is such an accurate indicator of the job experience itself, why not manipulate
the time that a job begins? As a practitioner of electional astrology, I do this
for my clients when it is appropriate. Often, the best that I can do for a
client is to simply find the best day out of the two or three that the employer
wants the new employee to start. In terms of time, there is some lack of
flexibility since most jobs start at the same time as a regular workday --
in the morning when the Sun is in the 12th house.
In some cases, I have been able
to use real electional astrology to focus the chart on positive and productive
themes, and consequently a good job experience. It is my hope that this
particular use of astrology will eventually become more prominent and respected
by employers and all of us, electional astrologers and enslaved employees, will
have better lives.
Read and/or share comments about this
article.
REFERENCES:
1. Bruce Scofield, The
Timing of Events: Electional Astrology, Brewster, MA: Astrolabe, 1984,
($9.95).
?1995
Bruce Scofield - all rights reserved
This article was first printed in the Nov. 1995 issue of The Mountain
Astrologer. For subscriptions or back issues, call 800-287-4828 or go to
www.MountainAstrologer.com
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by this author:
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About The
Author
Bruce
Scofield, CA, NCGR is a practicing astrologer, lecturer, and author of
several astrology books, as well as seven hiking guides to mountains and
natural areas of the Northeast. He writes for many astrology magazines
and newsletters, and has self-published several of his own books,
including User's
Guide to Astrology, a practical
introduction to the subject of astrology. You can contact him at P.O.
Box 561, Amherst, MA 01004, (413) 253-9450, or through his web site: http://onereed.com.
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