Victory is Bittersweet

I won.

(see last post).

Got me 2.38 beautiful LILLYCOINS, to be used in the next race.

But betting on the favorite is always bittersweet. It’s the favorite, after all.

…and this is the time to go stupid.

This is the chart for Carlisle (18:35, August the 8th, 2025) racecourse.

This, technically, is an easy chart. Pay no (or not much) attention to the Quincunx: we have a real thing going on, with a real planet. The Sun’s anticion is a couple of minutes away from being hit by the fifth cusp.

Here are the possible horses.

The Sun doesn’t rule any house, and the conjunction with Mercury is already too far for me to bother with it. So, it’s Sun as Sun, in Leo (I think the conjunction with the fifth house is not symbolically relevant, because it’s what makes it the winner. But, who knows, I might be proven wrong).

Private Project is out of the question. Definitely not a Sun in Leo kind of horse name. Rawalpindi Express… Rawalpindi is a city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. I might be wrong, but there’s no symbolic relationship between Pakistan and the Sun. So, no.

Maynora is, Google tells me, a company in the minilab machine business and a Star Wars videogame character… Doesn’t look like it. The name also doesn’t sound solar.

We have Lady Lauren — Lauren comes from Laurel, which is a solar plant — and Homestrait — Sun is in its home. Lauren’s symbolism is much tighter… but it’s the last horse.

A reasonable bet would be, of course, Homestrait — the one with some symbolic connection, and the favorite. Maybe do a “win, show or place” thing.

So, of course, I’ll bet on 2.38 LILLICOIN on Lady Lauren winning.

It runs in a couple of minutes.

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A couple of answers of mine, from the Quora website, for those not into horse races.

What is the true node in Sagittarius?

The same thing as in any other sign, only in Sagittarius.

A Node (there are two of them, North and South, one opposed the other) is an intersection of the Moon’s apparent path in the sky with the Sun’s annual apparent course, the Ecliptic.

Whenever the Sun and the Moon are either conjunct or opposed on the nodes, we have an Eclipse (when they’re conjunct or opposed far from the nodes, we have a new/full Moon).

Nowadays we are able to know the exact position of the nodes at any point in time: the true nodes.

This was not always easy, so astrologers used to calculate the mean node (using a known true position and their mean speed).

Astrologically, they work by conjunction, only. The North Node means elevation, expansion, or highlight; the South, decreasing, contraction, or obscurity.

I know there are Eastern and Western zodiac, but are there also zodiacs for the North and South? If yes, what are they and how can I tell which one is mine?

They are not “Eastern” and “Western” in that sense: Western astrology (As in “Western civilization”) and the “Eastern” (Indian) astrology divide the Zodiac differently.

It’s the same Zodiac (the same belt around the Heavenly Sphere — an ideal section of an ideal sphere). Western astrology defines its beginning (Zero degrees of Aries) at the point in which the Zodiac and the Ecliptic intersect. Indian astrology defines its beginning as the point opposed to the star Spica Virginis.

That is, what is 0 Aries for an Indian astrologer is 24/25 Aries for me.

So, no, there are no “Zodiacs for the North and South”.

Which zodiac sign is the most advanced spiritually?

I was away for a long time, but that question deserves comment.

By definition, unless you admit people “advance spiritually” in other lives and are born with differences in this regard (which I don’t, which is not important, and which the world vision from which the Western Zodiac comes doesn’t, which is indeed important), no sign can be more advanced than any other.

You are born with a Sun sign. You are not advanced spiritually when you’re born, you’re just a baby.

Is tropical or sidereal more accurate, and why?

These question keeps showing up regularly. But the answer never changes: neither. Both can work really well, but that depends, ultimately, on the astrologer.

I’m a little confused, my sun is in the first house when I use Whole Sign. But it is in the 12th when I use Placidus. Which is more reliable?

This is a biased answer, of course, because I personally think Whole Signs are silly, but: Placidus is more reliable.

Whole Signs were useful as a house system when astrologers didn’t have the tools to calculate houses. Nowadays, all we have to do is to click once on a software.

I want to learn more about astrology and myself. Should I get a full natal chart reading by a professional first?

If you want to learn more about yourself (better still: if you want to solve some problem), yes, you should get a full natal chart consultation.

If you want to learn astrology, that’s not the best course. Focus on, well, learning: either through books, videos, or a teacher (which would be the best option).

Why are the houses in modern astrology moving counter-clockwise starting from the eastern horizon? Why is due south up and due north down? Why can't the chart just be flipped on the horizontal axis?

“Why are the houses moving counter-clockwise”?"

They are not moving in that direction. For a fixed locations, the houses don’t move.

They are numbered in this way for the same reason that Zodiac (the signs) is counted this ways: that’s the direction of the secondary motion of the planets (that is, the apparent direct motion of the planets in relation to the sky).

“Why is due south up and due north down?” Because those are the directions that the cusps of the houses point to in the Northern Hemisphere.

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That’s it. See you in a couple of days!

God bless you all.