Skye Thomas Approach to Horoscopes and Forecasting

History repeats itself. Life is cyclical. Therefore, it is no surprise to astrologers that we work with wheels. Each natal chart and horoscope wheel is a picture of the sky from a specific location at a specific moment in time. The chart is what the sky would look like if you were laying on your back looking up at the stars at just that moment.

If we were to make it a video instead of a stagnant chart, we would see all of the planets of our solar system circling around and around a circular track at various speeds. Sometimes, they would appear to go backwards because of the fact that the planets do not really revolve around the earth and therefore, as we travel around the sun, it sometimes looks like the other planets are moving backwards and then forwards. We call a planet “retrograde” when it is moving backwards in the astrology chart.

In our hypothetical video, we would see the moon traveling fastest around the circle. Most daily horoscopes are based on the ever-changing effects of the moon. The sun, Venus, Mars, and Mercury would also be rather quick; creating short-term events, dramas, and the most obvious felt effects upon our lives. Jupiter and Saturn would be traveling at a moderate speed creating trends and themes that usually last between one and three years. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto would be seen traveling slowly and creating long-term effects and generational influences.

Since Venus and Mercury are closer to the sun than we are, they will never be very far from the sun when looking at an astrological chart. Mercury is always in the same zodiac sign as the sun or in the one just before or just after. Venus can end up a couple of zodiac signs away, but never more than 48 degrees away from the sun. Mars will sometimes lag way behind the sun or race ahead, but it is not uncommon to have him somewhere in the same general area. This is why sometimes in the forecasting, it will seem like I am writing the same thing over and over again. If Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the sun all take turns passing through an area within a few short weeks of each other and they all interact with one of the slower moving planets, then it will seem as if a topic will keep repeating itself during that “season”. This will become even more of a theme if any of the planets turn retrograde and backtrack to pass over the spot a few more times.

A horoscope chart is divided into twelve equally sized segments called houses. To make things less confusing for new readers, I often refer to the houses as sectors when explaining what is happening in a forecast. Each house is ruled by a zodiac sign. The rulers of these houses no longer match where the equivalent constellation is in the sky at this time in history. Therefore, when a planet is in the constellation called Taurus, it is not necessarily in the house that is ruled by Taurus. The two have shifted away from perfect alignment over the centuries.

There are ten planets and twelve zodiac signs. Therefore, Mercury and Venus each rules over two zodiac signs. There are asteroids and other planetoids also traveling around in our solar system and astrology scholars are debating how to best read their effects on us. For now, to keep things simple, I will only refer to the ten planets we are most familiar with. And yes, I will still call Pluto a planet because astrologically speaking he is still quite powerful.

Each planet rules a zodiac sign and a house. When a planet is in the sign and house that he rules over, it is like a king in his own castle in his own country. This is a powerful placement for that planet. Some planets are made weaker in various zodiac signs and are made stronger in others. A planet in charge of action and drive can feel quite stifled in a zodiac sign that focuses on detail work or bureaucracy. However, that same planet could feel quite powerful in a social zodiac sign, a sexual zodiac sign, or a zodiac sign that promotes traveling around the world.

In an individual’s personalized natal chart, we use the time, date, and location of that person’s birth to create a picture of the sky at the exact moment and location of birth. It is not unusual for a personalized chart to have unevenly sized houses. Everyone always has twelve houses, but they can be of various sizes depending on how things line up at that time. The zodiac signs in a natal chart rarely line up perfectly with the houses. A bigger house might have two or even three zodiac signs matched up with it.

When writing generic sun sign horoscopes, we have to pick a location and write it from that perspective. It usually does not matter too much what location is chosen. However, a full moon or new moon might occur near a date line or a time zone change. It could occur after midnight in New York and before midnight in Los Angeles. Therefore, one of the two is going to think I put the wrong date on the forecast. When possible, I try to remember to make a comment about that happening, but it is an easy detail to forget to mention when one is bogged down in the details of the forecasting, the interactions of the planets, and how that particular new moon or full moon is going to affect each zodiac sign. For the 2010 forecasts, I decided to use Washington, D.C. as the location. This is because I believe that what happens there, will profoundly affect the United States and so much of what happens in the rest of the world. It should rarely matter, but if it does, those of you in other countries and time zones can adjust the datelines accordingly.

When referring to a range of dates, for example if I say, “From October 11th 2009 through March 9th 2010, Saturn will be clashing with Pluto”. There might be one or more dates within that range when they are mathematically at the peak of their battle. Some astrologers might only mention those peak days in their forecasts. I offer a range of dates. I start with when the energy or dynamic will begin to be felt by most people and carry it through to the point where the energy has lost its power. My philosophy is that by letting you know that it is building up or that there is still a residual force at work then you are better able to plan accordingly. I look at it like a divorce. You might file for divorce on a specific date and it might become final on a specific date, but there is probably at least a few months that the whole “divorce” energy is dominating your life. The same thing applies with something good like getting married. You might get engaged on a specific day or get married on a specific day, but the whole “getting married” energy lasts for weeks, months, maybe even a few years.

When describing the various interactions between the planets I often refer to them as if they are personalities with genders and motives. To a point, when I look at a horoscope, I see a stage with a group of actors frozen in time. Each planet represents an archetype personality. Each zodiac sign represents a country ruled by one of the characters. And each house is a home owned by one of the characters. So, a king in his own castle might be feeling pretty powerful but if he’s in his enemies home, he could be feeling like stirring up trouble or he could feel like he is stifled and unable to get anything done. Spending time in a friend’s home can be fun, creative, stimulating, and/or just amusing. My job is to predict what is happening in that scene of that play and describe it from the perspective of each zodiac sign. Who is visiting whose home or country? Who is traveling backwards and returning to something they were recently focused on? Who is working together, falling in love, battling, or simply spending time alone doing their own thing? To a point, each zodiac sign resonates with the perspective of their ruling planet, so Venus’s behaviors, choices, motives, and perspectives make sense to Libra. So writing a Libra forecast is like writing Venus’ script for the scene about to be played. As William Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players...”

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