I was looking with my student Mary at the chart of her grandson, Vincent. The child has a formation rarely seen: He has Sun in Leo, Mercury in Virgo, Venus in Libra, and Mars in Scorpio. In other words, four planets in their ruling signs. Some astrologers would say this is good. Certainly a planet in its ruling sign is made more powerful, in fact, Ptolemy, I think, said that it actually doubles the power of a planet.
So Vincent has these four powerful planets. This seems good on the surface, but the fact is, it could cause difficulty in focusing, for each of the four would want to assert their power over the others. The closest-to-exact square in Vincent’s chart is between Mars and Uranus, so of the four planets in their ruling signs, Mars becomes the strongest. This is because the closest-to-exact square is very empowering to the two planets involved in it, and this, then, coupled with Mars being in its ruling sign gives mars tremendous energy.
Vincent already loves to build things, for Mars loves constructive activity. He also likes to engage in detailed drawings (Mercury in Virgo). Mary says that he often will abruptly change his focus of interest and suddenly quit doing something which he previously seemed to like to do. This is very indicative of a Mars/Uranus square, for Uranus is unpredictable and always full of surprises.
The desire of Mars to build and construct coupled with Uranian inspiration could strongly signify that Vincent would be inclined to express himself through the arts. Whether this is through something like painting and drawing, or something more like architecture or sculpture is, I think, not easily known from the chart, though a strong mars likes to use muscles and wield tools, such as one would in welding steel or building a wall out of stone.
Mars/Uranus combinations have often been associated with accidents. I feel strongly that when Mars/Uranus results in an accident it is because of repressed energy desperately trying to found an outlet. If a person with a strong Mars/Uranus square allows their creative impulses to come forth spontaneously and uninhibitedly, they will probably have fewer accidents than the average person! The teacher Seth once pointed out that the repression of the urge to create could cause all sorts of problems, physical, emotional, and psychological. I believe this. Mars/Uranus must be encouraged to let out what’s inside it, and to find fulfilling avenues for the manifestation of its creative energy.
The degree of Vincent’s Mercury is Virgo 16, the Chandra Symbol being “A Jar of camphor crystals.” In homeopathy, camphor is given to erase the vibrations of other homeopathic remedies, and of other energies in general. Camphor burns with a pure white light, and hence is used often in Hindu rituals to symbolize the pure light of spirit. Vincent’s Mercury in this degree says to me that his mind is very intent on what it’s doing, so intent that it can, like camphor, erase anything extraneous to it, and that the mind is shut (the closed jar that the crystals are in).
A closed mind is not a bad thing, if it is allowing the purity of mind to manifest strongly. I feel Vincent carries within him ideas what he will share with the world, and to do so he needs to focus on them to the exclusion of the input of others, so that his own ideas can come forth with clarity and purity.
The Omega Symbol for this same degree is, “A woman cutting thorns off roses.” Roses symbolize love, thorns defensiveness. And so if his mind (Mercury) can let go of defensiveness and focus on love (I’m thinking of this as loving what he is doing or what he is into) then it can manifest its full power and he will be being true to himself.