Anaretic Planets

http://www.cainer.com/ericfrancis/aug12.html

Dear Eric,

I'm really enjoying your articles and your page on J.C.s site -- very informative. I wondered if you could give me any pointers to some good reading on anaretic planets? Needless to say I have a personal interest as in my own chart I have Uranus at 29 degrees Gemini sitting on my ascendant from my 12th. house and making some very strong aspects to quite a few other planets. I haven't come across it being mentioned in any of the books I have read, in any detail and I only learned about it when it as briefly mentioned in an astrology class I attended several years ago. Would be really grateful for any leads you could give me.
Many thanks
Sonia

Dear Sonia

You are referring to planets in the last degree of a sign, about to change signs. Sometimes these are called void-of-course planets as well. The words "late in the game" or "advanced process" come to mind. Yet for some reason, I know that these planets often prove difficult or demanding, like if you don't deal with them, it's like nothing happens.

So look at these things carefully, and search your life for examples of how you deal or don't deal with the situations that the chart is pointing to.

I also suggest you apply some extremely basic principles of chart interpretation to these planets. You can use these to investigate any planet in the chart. One level of reading astrology is to be methodical. Methodical means using a method, and these are about the oldest in the book.

1. What sign is the planet in, and what is its relationship to that sign? Does it rule that sign, or is it doing something else?

2. What house is ruled by that planet? Let's say we're talking about Venus. If you have Libra on the 2nd house cusp, and Venus in Aries, that points Venus back to the 2nd house. What's the connection to the matters of the 2nd house?

3. What do the aspects tell you? What houses and signs are connected by those aspects and how would you merge those themes and receive a message?

4. Look at the progressions. Have these planets changed signs, and when did that happen? What were the events around the time of the sign change?

I can give an example from my own chart. I happen to have Ceres in the very last degree of Sagittarius, in the 6th house. Ceres, among other things, is about food. It is also about the grief of mothers. I can tell you that my mother was struggling intensely when I was an infant and that food has been a lifelong issue for me, as I have a gluten intolerance. So I must always, constantly, be maintaining a food vigil. Because wheat is put into everything from beer to sausage to sauces to fried fish to soup to bread and pasta, I must constantly be checking the ingredients to everything. This involves the 6th house, health issues, and it's in Sagittarius: it feels a bit like part of my religion.

This food issue involves my mother. I have a theory that it's related to pain she suffered before I was born, and that I used illness as an infant to get her attention. Being vigilant about food certainly does plenty, to the present day, to focus attention on the theme of my nourishment. I can read a food package faster than the scanner can read the bar code. And I am reminded every time I see that planet that, though it was a struggle for certain people to take care of me as an infant, I have to do it very well for myself today.