posted December 01, 2006 11:11 AM            

Does anybody know about his/her guiding planet? It supposed to be about innate special talents and skills. It also has to do with our inner guiding faculties. It's what help us cope with every day life in a productive manner. It can help with our vocation.

Here is a little information on it

From ancient times, the planet crossing the eastern horizon — the astrological Ascendant — immediately before the Sun has symbolized the practical channel through which solar will and vitality is expressed. The ancients called this body the "Planet of Oriental Appearance" because it appears in the eastern sky immediately before the Sun — that is, the planet rising directly before the Sun. Today, we refer to the Planet of Oriental Appearance at your birth time as your Guiding Planet or your Skill Symbol, because it represents both your inner guiding principle and your innate skills and special faculties, and how both may be best realized, enhanced and applied. Your Skill Symbol shows you how to best handle and cope with the demands and opportunities of daily life in a skillful, productive and fulfilling manner, and where your inherent skills and practical abilities lie. As your Guiding Planet, the planet rising immediately before the Sun symbolizes the faculties and inner senses scouting your path ahead, or your ability to navigate the best course to self-realization and fulfillment.
In other words, as Skill Symbol the Planet of Oriental Appearance is seen in its more mundane aspect, as abilities and skills that can be tapped and applied for practical results; as Guiding Planet, the same body shows it more abstract aspect, operating on a more intuitive or instinctual level, and less in terms of immediate practical application than in terms of one’s destiny or life as a whole. And usually the balance is more one than the other, so we are often challenged to integrate both sides — the practical and the intuitive — of the planet’s principles and functions.
Finding your Planet of Oriental Appearance is easy. If you have a copy of your birth-chart, simply look to see which planet immediately precedes the Sun in a clockwise direction.
http://www.khaldea.com/planets/oriental_intro.shtml

Uranus is my guiding planet. Of course,it's also unaspected. So my Uranus is very significant planet for me. It indicate my being an abnormal person which is true(Dyslexia,Dyspraxia,special education)especially thinking and being outside the box and not fitting the norms of society. I never felt like I ever fit in society,and I paid the price by being misdiagnosed by psychiatrists. I have very liberal religious,social,educational,and political views. I have a bit of rebel/wild streak in me,but I keep it in check.I am a strong believer in progression and reform. I love electronic music like techno and new wave. My guiding planet in my 2nd house,and so its influence is major in that house in regards to possessions,money,and security in general. It could reflect my ability as an astrologer and interest in activism as well love computers,internet communications. I guess it could indicate my investing a lot in Astrology software and books. It could indicate that I could make through Astrology. I could be self employed. Professional astrologers are self employed any way.

My birthdate twin,Winona Ryder is a bit unusual herself with her unaspected Uranus as guiding planet.

Uranus Guiding Planet

You are the sort of person who wants to revolutionize — or at least update and improve — whatever you touch. If you also possess insight and communication skills, you have the makings of a successful innovator. For you, it might not even matter much what you are innovating, discovering or revolutionizing, as long as you are effecting change! You may best meet problems or difficulties by seeking ingenious new solutions.
You have a knack for drawing criticism from conservative people who resent change, who like things just the way they are. That goes with the territory, but at times it might be productive to cultivate people skills, stability, perseverance and patience. More than most, you may find it difficult to "fit in" and many Uranus Skill Symbol people invent their own place in the world, often without precedent. A Uranian element of constant change and mutation may be evident in your personality and activities, which may bewildered others who can’t see the pattern and continuity beneath the surface.
As Guiding Planet, Uranus lets you know what needs to be shaken up; what’s out-moded and in the way, especially in the social and political sphere. More than most others, Uranus Guiding Planet people are often dissatisfied with themselves, their place in the world, and with general conditions. This is because Uranus lets them know in some definite yet unexplained way that things could be better, yet it doesn’t necessarily give much insight into how to manage things "after the revolution." Acquiring a historical and philosophical perspective may bring a better balance.

Oriental Planet in the Second House. You possess strong and highly productive skills and abilities which are apparent in all that you do. You may use your Skill Symbol very resourcefully for the acquisition of possessions and resources or as a means to acquire resources enabling you to pursue your real or personal interests and goals.

I really like the humanistic approach to Astrology. That's pretty much my approach. Dane Rudhyar is the father of humanistic astrology.

posted December 01, 2006 11:44 AM              

*edited*

I thought my guiding planet was Venus, but it's the Moon!!! ...

though I don't relate much to the description...

posted December 01, 2006 11:52 AM            

It would not be Jupiter. It would be Mercury. Mercury is ahead of your Sun and Jupiter is behind your Sun. Mercury would rise before your Sun and Jupiter would rise after your Sun.

Mercury is the oriental planet in your chart.
Jupiter is the occidental planet in your chart.

Alanabelle,

posted December 01, 2006 11:57 AM            

Uranus is my oriental planet and it's unaspected.

posted December 01, 2006 11:59 AM            

I read it wrong as well. Chiron is behind my sun. The planet in front of it is.... VENUS!

That makes a wee bit more sense!

posted December 01, 2006 12:20 PM              

Neptune Guiding Planet

You have a special, innate affinity for things psychological, abstract, mystical, transcendental and musical. Your are probably highly imaginative with a sharp intuition, and you may be inclined toward seeing the mystical or transcendental side of things. Although you may not be sharply focused regarding the practical side, or tend to place a lower priority on mundane matters, understanding how your duties and tasks fit into a whole may increase your productivity. The astrological planet Neptune corresponds to higher mathematics and other nerdy activities like computer programming, and today Neptune Skill Symbol people may find a place there.

Sounds about right!

Thanks Raymond!

posted December 01, 2006 12:22 PM            

It does make sense that Mercury would be rising before my Sun.

posted December 01, 2006 12:34 PM            

Mercury Guiding Planet

A true mental type, you have a special knack for thinking and talking your way through challenges and problems. In meeting everyday experiences, your mind is your best guide. You do best when you thoroughly think things out beforehand, though you may have a tendency to think and talk too quickly, dismissing as irrelevant much of what people try to tell you or skipping over much of the information and experience which comes your way. Relying so much on thinking and talking, you may too easily fall into the "all talk and no action" syndrome.

If your Skill Symbol is Mercury, you work best under conditions of your own devise, though you are no doubt a quick study at mastering new systems and technology. Efficiency, reliability, self-mastery, and the ability to think and communicate clearly are your strong points. On the other hand, gossiping and a tendency to be led astray by others could prove damaging. You excel at mental work of all types, especially work that relies heavily on written or spoken communications, computers, technology and telephones. Having Mercury as your Skill Symbol doesn't mean you're smarter than anybody else, or even that you are a profound thinker. You might simply have a skill for processing data and information and using telephones and electronics.

As Guiding Planet, Mercury suggests inner guidance in the form of an intuitive sense of the connections and associations existing between people and things. As Guiding Planet, Mercury acts in a more electric, instinctual and intuitive sense than it does in its aspect as Skill Planet. Yet, true to the dual nature of Mercury, the highly active mental and analytical activities of Mercury may get in the way when it comes to tuning into the more abstract, guiding qualities of the planet. Surface noise and distractions may first need quieting with the help of relaxation, contemplation and meditation.

An Oriental Appearing Mercury is found in the birth-chart of Year 2000 presidential candidate Al Gore, and it is also featured in the natal chart of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, whose Oriental Gemini Mercury helps him communicate and promote the message of Buddhism and the plight of the Tibetan people worldwide. Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most influential writers and intellectuals of his time is another example of Mercury Oriental, and so are artists Andy Warhol and Paul Cezanne. Mercury Oriental seems well-integrated as both Guiding Planet and Skill Symbol in the natal chart of Fritjof Capra, the atomic physicist who saw connections between quantum physics and ancient mysticism, starting a movement of sorts with the publication of the superb book The Tao of Physics. The Oriental Planet alone doesn’t tell the whole story, and we always need to consider how it fits into the chart as a whole. Added insights may be gained by considering aspects the Oriental Planet forms with other natal planets. In Capra’s natal chart, Oriental Mercury is septile (the destiny-directed, possibly psychic, aspect) natal Uranus (the planet of discovery, invention and transformation) and the south lunar node, both of which are near the Ascendant in the twelfth house of hidden side of things.

Marilyn Monroe was born with Mercury less than four degrees ahead of the Sun. While she doesn’t epitomize the "brainy female," she was very much attracted to highly intelligent men, accounting for her nearly delusional attraction to Robert F. Kennedy and her statement that Albert Einstein was the sexiest man she had ever met. In instances, which as Marilyn’s, when the Oriental Planet is very near the Sun, the planet rising immediately before the Oriental Planet may assume some of the Skill Symbol’s functions, and some degree of disassociation, or a lack of integration, might be seen. In the birth-chart of Marilyn Monroe, the planet Venus rises before Mercury and about forty degrees ahead of both the Sun and Mercury. While Mercury seemed to act well — at least in part — in her instance as Guiding Planet, leading her and attracting her to highly intelligent men, Venus (which is trine natal Neptune in the first house) seems to have usurped the role of Skill Symbol, leading her to fame as an immortal sex symbol and tragic female.

In another way, when the Oriental Planet is situated very near the Sun, it may operate in a rather subjective manner and the person may, in some capacity, seem to epitomize or idealize its characteristics. While Marilyn Monroe idealized Mercurial men, Allen Ginsberg (born when Mercury was Oriental, only one degree from the Sun, both in Gemini) epitomized certain Mercurial qualities — talkative, very quick-minded, analytical, nerdy, and an excellent promoter of his own and others ideas and work. Yet he is best known for his work of poetry (more a Vesusian or a Neptunian form then Mercurial) and his radical (Uranian) politics. In Ginsberg's birth-chart, Venus is the first planet to rise before Oriental Mercury, and it is forty zodiacal degrees from the two. Additionally, the Sun and Mercury form a quintile (talent, skill) aspect to Uranus on the Ascendant and another quintile to Neptune (music, poetry, drugs and mysticism), and a bi-quintile between Neptune and Uranus completes a triangular configuration of quintile-based aspects with the Sun and Mercury pair at the apex.

Because they are situated within earth’s orbit, Mercury and Venus are always near the sun in the sky, and therefore the two planets are more often seen in Oriental Appearance than any other planet. Additionally much depends on whether Mercury’s apparent motion is direct or retrograde (see the section on The Four Faces of Mercury).

Mercury retrograde is seen in only about ten percent of all astrological charts, and when it figures as Oriental Planet it often bestows prophetic qualities and a future-oriented outlook. People with Mercury retrograde as Guiding Planet are often tend-setters, ahead of their time or misunderstood in their lifetime, but honored by future generations. Examples included the visionary, futurist writer Aldous Huxley, who was one of the most intellectual men of his generation, and Helen Gurley Brown, the promethean new woman who helped create the sexual revolution in the pages of her Cosmopolitian magazine. http://www.khaldea.com/planets/oriental_mercury.shtml
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posted December 01, 2006 01:10 PM              

Ok, I was wrong before!

My "Planet of Oriental Appearance" is actually Mercury.

Mercury 23*Virgo, 4th
Mercury is also my Chart Ruler & it squares my Asc29*Gem
My Mercury is a singleton, only Earth sign in my chart.

quote:

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As Guiding Planet, Mercury suggests inner guidance in the form of an intuitive sense of the connections and associations existing between people and things. As Guiding Planet, Mercury acts in a more electric, instinctual and intuitive sense than it does in its aspect as Skill Planet. Yet, true to the dual nature of Mercury, the highly active mental and analytical activities of Mercury may get in the way when it comes to tuning into the more abstract, guiding qualities of the planet. Surface noise and distractions may first need quieting with the help of relaxation, contemplation and meditation.

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True, this force is strong in me (hhaha I sound like a Jedi). I am glad what it says about meditation because, although it's true for everyone, meditation is especially necessary for those with the strong Mercurial minds to quite the inner chatter and allow a clear channel to flow through. I can connect the dots really really easily and see all the 'alternate realities' all at once. I like abstract and hypothetical thinking very much too and I am able to do this, most likely, because I am a regular meditator. Sometimes though I can feel like one of those people, I think perhaps they're refered to as Mediums, that hear all the voices out there and it's really overwhelming to shut off.

This is a really neat thing to know about so thanks Glaucus!

So me & John Lennon share the same Sun/Moon but not the same Guiding Planet like I previously thought. Awww well

posted December 01, 2006 04:14 PM              

Venus Guiding Planet

You are very concerned with how others value you and all that you do. As a Venus Skill Symbol person, you may feel impelled to leave a personal impression on all you touch, hoping others will recognize, accept, value and praise your originality or worthiness. Your special skills are those requiring artistry, perception, personal charm and grace, evaluation and judgment. In meeting the demands of daily life, you do well when maintaining your emotional cool and relying on your intuition and judgment in seeking a creative solution.
With Venus as your Guiding Planet, you do well when you allow your instincts and personal values guide you through practical life. Yet at times there may be a conflict between the preservation of your personal values and a need to be praised and treated as someone special, especially when material rewards, comfort, security and luxury figure as incentives.
To achieve happiness, you need be especially careful concerning career, employment and personal relationships. Just any job won't do — your high expectations and sensitivity to criticism, combined with a need for creative expression and a desire to be appreciated and praised, may place you at odds with a conventional career. If you feel frustrated with your current career, a change to a career requiring creativity, judgment or evaluation may be the remedy. Similarly with your choice of companionship and mates. You need to be appreciated and loved, praised and respected, by those closest to you. Because Venus is the first planet within earth’s orbit, in astrology it symbolizes all inwardly directed energies and activities, and in today’s intensely self-centered society, it may be too easy for the Oriental Venus person to slip into the self-absorption of narcissism — the "it’s all about me" syndrome. So, appreciation of others and the development of social graces should go hand-in-hand with self-respect and self-worth.

posted December 01, 2006 06:14 PM              

quote:

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Mars Guiding Planet

You are the sort person who can, through sheer force of will, accomplish whatever you set out to do. Your best method is to devote yourself entirely to your goal, and you are seldom satisfied with partial success. Obstacles and difficulties are best met boldly, with determination and a massive mobilization of energy. Mars Skill Symbol people often find success and happiness in the fields of sales, promotion and athletics. But regardless of their particular vocation, they often reach a high degree of success through hard work and a knack for the sort of publicity and self-promotion that marks them as "stand-outs."

As a Mars Skill Symbol type, endurance, productivity, drive, self-promotion and an ability to get things done are powerful assets. But a natural tendency toward Martian ruthlessness may undo some of your best efforts — your worse enemies may be those to whom you have been insensitive.

As Guiding Planet, Mars bestows one with a keen and uncanny sense of the "unseen hand" at work behind the scene of any situation, as well as a natural ability to manipulate political forces and public opinion. It symbolizes insight into the motives of others, which is more like a gut feeling than a reasoned-out conclusion, and the ability to see trends in business, politics, culture and fashion before they become apparent.

John Lennon was born with Mars Oriental, close to Neptune and forming a close trine to an Aquarian Moon. His force of personality, promotional abilities, and sense of big social trends about to break forcefully upon the scene allowed him and his bandmates to rise from humble origins to realize success of a magnitude never before achieved by a musician group. Another English rock star to attain international fame and fortune, David Bowie overcame youthful shyness to attain huge and lasting success spanning a number of image metamorphoses and shifts of musical style and direction. A master of self-promotion, Bowie was born with twelfth house Oriental Mars rising less than one degree before the Sun, with Mercury rising eight degrees before it.

The birth chart of Lenny Bruce, the very important and highly controversial comedian of the 1960s, also shows Mars Oriental. In his instance, Mars Oriental (along with natal Sun) is at the apex of a T-Square, formed with an exact opposition of Jupiter, first house Capricorn, and Pluto, seventh house Cancer — a politically volatile and perceptive configuration which vented itself through the forceful Oriental Mars in the ninth house of big social issues, the legal system and the media. Through the medium of comedy as an art, whether performed on stage on through a number of highly-publicized legal cases, Bruce made it his function to expose and ridicule the prejudices and injustices that figured so largely in post-WWII America.

Another ‘60s icon, Janis Joplin was born when Mars was Oriental, rising thirty-four degrees before the Sun. On stage and in her vocal power, she released an unmatched personal force, and she rose from obscurity to international fame overnight not only by the force of personality and will, but also by a gut feeling about how to ride emergent energies. In her birth-chart, Mars Oriental forms a tight octile (or semi-square) aspect to Mercury retrograde and tri-septiles to Uranus and to Pluto. The controversial approach of social historian and writer Camille Paglia reveals her natal Mars Oriental. Hard, edgy and not particularly popular among feminists, Paglia’s Mars forms a square to edgy Uranus and a trine Jupiter.

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