Bipolar and Astrology
Can you spot bipolar disorder in a horoscope, and does astrology show a way of dealing with it? Naturally, it is to the Black Dog Institute, the doctor, the psychiatrist and/or the psychologist that anyone with bipolar turns first. Yet, if you are curious about your birth chart, as an astrology reader – you may also be curious to find out more about unusual patterns in the charts of famous sufferers.
Bipolar’s highs and lows have been linked to the swing of a pendulum, which is exactly how astrological chart patterns work, back and forth. Bipolar disorder is a serious condition which has prompted a range of support and information websites, including – appropriately – Pendulum.
I became intrigued by this question about the pendulum of astrology and bipolar depression (sometimes called manic depression in the past) after steering a former boyfriend through an episode of madness and sadness.
Another friend (both are successful authors) then confessed to me, that she was bipolar too, though in a mild form. I took a look at both charts, out of idle curiosity, and was astonished to see both my friends had horoscope placements in a chain, at the same – or close – degrees. Their horoscopes were tilted. Unbalanced.
Cyclothymic Disorder
If you have an open mind about bipolar and so-called ‘bipolar light’ which is the milder form of mood swings – Cyclothymic Disorder – the clue is in the name. Cycles which are out of order, sound rather like cycles in a personal birth chart which are also ‘disordered’ or not evenly balanced.
By this, I mean those transits where it never rains but it pours. This happens when you have many factors in your chart all at the same degree, or one degree away. I interviewed Kurt Cobain many years ago, and when Nick Soulsby asked me to include my story about Kurt in his brilliant book, Cobain on Cobain, I went back to the tape.
You can hear the exhausted, flat voice of someone on a low, throughout. He was nice. He was funny. He was sensitive. He may also have been on the down curve of bipolar. Kurt’s cousin, Bev Cobain, a registered nurse with a background in mental health, said he had been diagnosed with bipolar but did not seek treatment.
New Approaches to Bipolar
New approaches to Bipolar are far more open and broad-minded than we ever saw last century. In fact, in Bipolar Disorder – The Ultimate Guide, by Sarah Owen and Amanda Saunders – you will find Reiki and aromatherapy on the list of complementary therapies which accompany medication and cognitive therapy.
Astrologers in general tend to eyeball Bipolar Disorder and also Cyclothymic Disorder with interest, because elation/elevation/grandiosity are associated with Jupiter and depression with Saturn. These two extreme states, which are common with Bipolar, reflect horoscope symbols. Even the idea of a swinging pendulum, S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and rhythms suggests Ceres. She is a symbol for the four seasons. Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter. When I wrote about Ceres and Depression on this website some time ago, I was overwhelmed by comments. Kurt Cobain, born on 20th February 1967, had an extreme chart (a lot of factors clustered together at the same degree, or within one degree) and he was born with Ceres locked into a chart pattern. In a moment I’ll look more at Bipolar, Cyclothymic Disorder, and highs/lows in general – in terms of your chart. We will also look at ways to use a diary or journal to track your own cycles.
Bipolar is also about extremes. Extremes of mood and sometimes quite extreme behaviour. Some horoscopes show extreme patterns. Clusters of planets or other symbols at the same degree, or close by.
In the interests of opening up the discussion on an astrology website, let’s take a closer look at everyone from Adam Ant to Catherine Zeta Jones, who have gone public about their bipolar illness. If you’re on this website, then you’re already familiar with the idea of cycles in a circular horoscope, back and forth from one zodiac sign to another. Does our astrological pendulum model have anything useful to say about the other pendulum?
Going to Extremes – Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex, Sir Ray Davies and The Kinks
“By now, Davies was in a seriously conflicted state, drinking heavily and self-medicating. He was mixing champagne and valium, in an attempt to stabilize his mood swings which oscillated between elation and depression.” (Ray Davies: A Complicated Life by Johnny Rogan).
Born on 21st June 1944, Sir Ray Davies, one of the most brilliant writers and performers in modern music history, has a complicated birth chart, to suit a complicated life. In common with so many people who go to extremes, and suit the eccentricities and extremism of the music business, he has an unbalanced chart.
Saturn is at 0 Cancer and Neptune is just one degree away, at 1 Libra. The Sun is at 29 Gemini, so approaching 0. The North Node is at 29 Cancer and The South Node is at 29 Capricorn. That is a big horoscope cluster around 29, 0 and 1 degree of four signs. This is a really good example of how transits, or travelling planets, can land on 29, 0, 1 degrees and simultaneously trigger not just one part of yourself and your world, but five. This lopsided ‘weather’ in the chart can take you high and low, depending on the planet triggering. Jupiter moving across 29, 0, 1 from one zodiac sign to another, would always hit Sir Ray’s complicated Cancer-Libra-Gemini-Capricorn pattern on a regular basis. That’s a high. Then Saturn comes along. That’s a low.
Poly Styrene, one of the best-known and best-loved punks, also had an extreme chart. Born on July 3rd 1957, Poly had the Sun at 10 Cancer, Mercury at 9 Cancer, Saturn at 8 Sagittarius – so it never rained but it poured. If you have one cluster at the same/close degrees that means even the monthly cycle of the Moon will repeatedly trigger not just one, but as many as three parts of your life and yourself. If Saturn is one of them, that can be very hard work. It seems to have been this way for Poly Styrene, who poured herself into her creativity.
Highs, Lows, Astrological Weather
You are obviously under medical care already if you have Bipolar Disorder or perhaps Cyclothymic Disorder, and perhaps you are trying alternatives which complement your approach to life. See how astrology works for you. This may be particularly useful if you are tracking your own moods and trying cognitive therapy.
Even if you just have obvious highs and lows, in terms of your enthusiasm, energy levels, lust for life – going from sharp spikes ‘up’ to very low periods – it may be handy for you to see if you have clusters at the same or similar degrees in your chart, and then track what happens when those patterns are triggered by transits (or travelling planets) at the same degree.
Watch what happens when Mercury is on that spot, or even retrogrades over that spot. Watch what happens when Ceres and Saturn pass through. When Jupiter passes through. If you feel you go rapidly from high to low, track the Moon, which also moves quickly across your horoscope. You can always see the ‘astrological weather’ on the front page of this website.
Unbalanced Horoscopes and Mental Health Balance
The term ‘multipolar disorder’ is gaining interest as an alternative to ‘bipolar disorder’ because there is a lot more to the condition than just being up/down – it can have a wide range. A spectrum. Experts are also starting to consider each person ‘s condition as unique.
This fits with the clustering you’ll see in the personal birth charts of well-known people with bipolar, below. There are multi-patterns, or many points/poles in the horoscopes. Astrology itself is about the unique individual. The absolutely singular life, personality and experience of one person, with one birth chart, and his/her chemistry with those other unique individuals around them, who also have singular birth charts! This is Mariah Carey, born on 27th March 1969 at 7.27am in Huntington, New York.
Those red and blue lines across the chart are aspects, put there by Astrodienst, the source of the horoscope. They look not unlike the illustrated swing of a pendulum, going back and forth around a circle. Not just any circle. Mariah’s circle. She’s one of a kind.
Checking your horoscope, using a diary or journal – also understanding how transits (cycles) and even people – can create a particular chemistry with your astrological ingredients – may help you.
Calendars, Cycles, Time, Seasons and Rhythms
For the sake of convenience, let’s call multipolar ‘bipolar’ but bear in mind, it’s often about a big spectrum of mood. What is undeniable, though, is that depression and bipolar disorder often seem to be triggered by seasonal change.
This is a big one in astrology. The cycles of the Sun, for example, accompany the four seasons in a chart, at equinox and solstice. High periods and low periods connected with Seasonal Affective Disorder may have an astrological link. It’s worth looking for. This is especially worthwhile if you are interested in CCBT, or computer cognitive behavioural therapy, also known as Mood Gym online. It’s all about interactive ways to gather coping skills. For many people, figuring out chart patterns and ‘seasons’ is also an interesting way of working out.
If Autumn or Fall is always when you hit mood highs or lows, for example, it may be that you have a chart cluster in your horoscope around the same degree, that is triggered by an Autumn/Fall New Moon.
Providence Dou photograph.
Extreme Charts, Extreme Experiences
People with bipolar can be unusual and often intense. They may go to extremes and have extreme experiences. It is common to find bipolar shopaholics, who spend over their credit card limit in a frenzy. Bipolar people can also churn out work in a great, sustained rush – with very little sleep. They can talk too much, to the point of gabbling. Great writing, music, performance or art can come out of it. Unforgettable achievements.
Before I became a professional astrologer, I was a music editor. I met a lot of rock’n’roll stars in the course of my job and many of them were either high/low swinging people, or actually had a serious illness.
Adam Ant used his creativity, courage, style and imagination to deliver the most outrageous, over-the-top performances and film clips, with hits like Ant Music, Prince Charming and Goody Two Shoes. He also crashed into dreadful depression and has recently ‘come out’ about living with Bipolar Disorder.
These ‘brilliant bursts’ are just some of the common symptoms on the bipolar spectrum, which is complicated. The down side is – not getting off the bed. Having difficulty concentrating. Dark moods. Dangerous moods, perhaps. Finding it hard to even brush your teeth. This Guardian story, written after Catherine Zeta Jones admitted she was bipolar, covers more facts in greater detail.
If you have a chain of extremely close patterns in your horoscope, that’s out of the ordinary. Just like you. And your astrological ‘weather’ will feel more intense, because it affects so much of your life and personality at the same time.
Ruby Wax (below) has a chain of horoscope factors at 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. When she has transits (travelling planetary hits) across 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 a huge part of herself, and her world, is triggered, for better or worse – according to the astrology. She has blazed a trail for herself and other people with depression and anxiety.
Spike Milligan, another brilliant mind, had factors at 25, 26, 27 in another chain. Another intense person – and life.
What turns up repeatedly in these birth charts is the presence of Saturn or Ceres.
Taking it apart, it means that every time you do X you get Y. Every time you try to ‘do’ your Uranus in Virgo in the Sixth House of work, if you are Sinead O’Connor, you get Saturn in Pisces in the Twelfth House of the inner self. Saturn has long been a symbol for all that is heavy, burdensome, difficult, weighty and often just…sad.
What do you do, when you have a chart like this, when Saturn is tied to another planet? Maybe you reach for another ‘cluster’ or big part of you, and do that instead. And maybe you do it a lot.
This takes us back to the pendulum idea of swinging from one extreme to another.
Mariah Carey, Spike Milligan, Ruby Wax, Carrie Fisher, Stephen Fry, Catherine Zeta Jones, Robin Williams, Adam Ant, Kurt Cobain
This is a very light piece of research – a glance – at bipolar people and their horoscopes, uncovering personal birth charts for famous people with this illness. This is not science. These are not proper statistics.
This is really there for you to ponder and perhaps apply to your own chart, and your own experiences – especially if you keep a diary or journal as part of the non-medical side of your treatment. It’s an experiment you can join in.
Even if you just suffer from physical, mental and emotional highs and lows – going from wild energy and intensity – to flatlining – you may find this experimental idea interesting, once you start to track it in your own chart and life.
Clustering degrees in zodiac signs are worth a closer look! Yet – it is important to know that astrology is not about statistics. You cannot feed a bunch of charts into a computer, look for exact degree patterns involving Saturn or Ceres (the two culprits in depression, below) and draw conclusions about the likelihood of depression, Bipolar Disorder, Cyclothymic Disorder or anything else.
Why not? Astrology is alchemy. What you experience, and who you are, is based on the people around you, who also have charts which interact with your own. This is called synastry. Perhaps a parent, or partner, has the kind of chart which triggers your own clusters/patterns. Moreover, with any chart, we have to look at the weather passing through. The transits. As you’ll see below in two well-known examples involving Stephen Fry and Adam Ant, when they hit crisis, they also hit rare astrological weather.
What else contributes to the alchemy of a unique person having a unique moment in time, around other unique people? The place. Countries and cities have horoscopes too, which surprises some people – yet prediction shows us that they work. Number-crunching vast numbers of people can only help us up to a point in astrology, because everything is a combination of factors, in one complex piece of chemistry. It is unrepeatable.
I looked at the charts of famous people who have gone public about living with this illness called Bipolar Disorder. Not just Spike Milligan and Ruby Wax, but also Mariah Carey, Carrie Fisher, Stephen Fry, Robin Williams, Sinead O’Connor, Catherine Zeta Jones and Adam Ant. I also looked at Kurt Cobain, whose cousin claimed he suffered from it too.
Here’s what I found, using Astrodienst data. Out of a small handful of planets and nodes -without even using the angles or the asteroids – we’re seeing a striking number of birth chart factors at the same numbers (degrees) or extremely close by.
In all these birth charts, there is an intense and concentrated emphasis on just a small handful of signs and houses (personality traits and life areas). It means – it never rains, but it pours. There is nothing even or balanced about having exact aspects, or virtually exact aspects, in a chain like this.
In astrology, ‘aspects’ is an ancient word referring to the angles that horoscope factors make. If you have the Sun at 15 Sagittarius, North Node at 14 Taurus and South Node at 14 Scorpio (like Sinead O’Connor) then the Sun, North Node and South Node are in almost exact ‘aspect’ to each other.
Sometimes you’ll see one planet doubling up in a couple of ‘chain’ patterns. This happens with Ruby Wax, whose Mars at 21 Taurus appears in two close horoscope connections. When other people with regular charts have transits at 21 degrees, it only hits a small part of their chart, and their life. In astrology, when Ruby Wax has a transit at 21 degrees, it’s a double whammy. A bigger pendulum swing.
As you can see, below, I have used charts with just 14 regular ‘old school’ astrology factors to keep it simple. So I’ve looked at the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Ceres, Chiron, North Node and South Node.
Out of those 14 classic chart factors we’re working with, a remarkable number fall at the same, or close, degrees.
For Sinead O’Connor, that’s half her chart. For Spike Milligan, more than half his chart. For Carrie Fisher, more than half her chart. For Ruby Wax, over a quarter of her chart. For Mariah Carey, over a quarter of her chart. For Robin Williams, more than half his chart. For Stephen Fry – almost half his chart. For Catherine Zeta Jones, approaching half her chart. It’s the same with Adam Ant.
The Importance of Ceres and Saturn
Ceres is often ignored by mainstream astrology, despite her being reclassified as a planet in 2006. In fact, she is seen by astronomers as the equal of Pluto. She is a symbol of the four seasons. In fact, Ceres was discovered in the year music lovers experienced The Four Seasons for the first time. She is also a symbol of highs and lows. Summer and Winter. If you are curious about Ceres, do hit Search to find out more.
Saturn is a symbol of tremendous responsibility and great burden. Saturn is one of the best-known planets in astrology, and is associated with fear. The planet itself is pale yellow, when viewed through a telescope. Saturn also has rings around it. In astrology, people with a prominent Saturn tend to ‘ring’ themselves with defences, or encircle themselves with walls and barriers.
In the charts below you will see unbalanced, extreme chart clustering – a lot of factors at the same, or very close degrees – but also the appearance of either Saturn or Ceres. Sometimes both.
How can astrology be useful? By identifying the signs, the symbols in the chart, the houses – and watching the transits – anybody who is prepared to keep a diary may be able to get new insights into what is going on.
Sinead O’Connor – Born at 7.37am on 8th December 1966 in Dublin, Ireland
Sun 15 Sagittarius, North Node 14 Taurus, South Node 14 Scorpio.
Moon 26 Libra, Mercury 25 Scorpio, Uranus 24 Virgo, Saturn 23 Pisces, Neptune 22 Scorpio, Chiron 21 Pisces
Spike Milligan – Born at 2.30am on 16th April 1918 in Ahmadnagar, India
Sun 25 Aries, Uranus 26 Aquarius, North Node 25 Sagittarius, South Node 25 Gemini, Moon 27 Gemini
Mercury 10 Taurus, Jupiter 10 Gemini
Venus 8 Pisces, Saturn 7 Leo
Carrie Fisher – Born at 12.49pm on 21st October 1956 in Burbank, Los Angeles
Mercury 14 Libra, Mars 14 Pisces
Neptune 0 Scorpio, Pluto 0 Virgo, North Node 0 Sagittarius, South Node 0 Gemini, Saturn 1 Sagittarius
Ruby Wax – Time Unknown. Born on 19th April 1953 in Evanston, Illinois
Neptune 22 Libra, Saturn 23 Libra, Mars 21 Taurus
Pluto 20 Leo, Mercury 19 Aries, Mars 21 Taurus
Mariah Carey – Born at 7.27am on 27th March 1969 in Huntington, New York
Jupiter 0 Libra, Uranus 1 Libra, North Node 0 Aries, South Node 0 Libra, Ceres 29 Capricorn
Saturn 25 Aries, Venus 25 Aries, Mercury 24 Pisces, Pluto 23 Virgo
Robin Williams – Born at 1.34pm on 21st July 1951 in Chicago, Illinois
Sun 28 Cancer, Saturn 27 Virgo, Chiron 27 Sagittarius
Mars 11 Cancer, Uranus 10 Cancer, North Node 12 Pisces, South Node 12 Virgo
Stephen Fry – Time Unknown. Born on 24th August 1957 in Hampstead, London
Sun 0 Virgo, Neptune 0 Scorpio, Pluto 0 Virgo
Saturn 7 Sagittarius, Uranus 8 Leo
Catherine Zeta Jones – Born at 2.40pm on 25th September 1969 in Swansea, Wales
Sun 2 Libra, Venus 2 Virgo, Mars 2 Capricorn
Neptune 26 Scorpio, Pluto 25 Virgo
Moon 28 Pisces, Ceres 28 Capricorn
Adam Ant – Born at 6.20am on 3rd November 1954 in London
Sun 10 Scorpio, Saturn 11 Scorpio
Neptune 26 Libra, Pluto 26 Leo, Uranus 27 Cancer
Kurt Cobain – Born at 7.38pm on 20th February 1967 in Aberdeen, WA, USA
Ceres 23 Gemini, Chiron 24 Pisces, Neptune 24 Scorpio, Uranus 23 Virgo
The Strange Case of Stephen Fry, Astrology Skeptic
I really like Stephen Fry. I met him in Melbourne on morning television, in the Green Room at the Channel Ten studios, and he was one of life’s nice surprises – a star who is just as thoughtful, funny and kind as he appears to be on the screen.
He’s a pretty good test subject for this non-scientific look at a small number of famous bipolar people. Why? Because he’s clearly never going to be guilty of fulfilling a prophecy by any astrologer. He can’t stand horoscopes!
On 21st February 1995, Stephen Fry walked out of a play in London and disappeared. He was at a terrifying low point in his ‘manic’ depression. The flipside of his mania has been a phenomenally productive career. That night he saw the darkest of dark sides.
Fry was born with two clusters in his horoscope as we’ve seen above. Both were triggered that night. In fact, one pattern in his birth chart could only be activated every 240+ years.
Stephen Fry was born with the Sun at 0 Virgo, Neptune at 0 Scorpio, Pluto at 0 Virgo. On the night he failed to show, Pluto was at 0 Sagittarius and the Sun had just passed 0 Pisces and was at 1 degree of the sign. Big pattern.
As if that wasn’t enough, Fry’s other intense birth chart pattern, with Saturn at 7 Sagittarius and Uranus at 8 Leo, was triggered too, by transits at 7 and 8 degrees. Many people living with bipolar have had their lives changed by his award-winning documentary, in which he tells the story of this well-known extreme bipolar episode, in The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive
How to Help Yourself if You Have Bipolar, Cyclothymic or Highs/Lows
If you are a Premium Member and have your birth chart, or even have a basic (free) chart from Astrodienst, look at the degrees where planets and Nodes gather, but also look at where they are – Aries, Taurus, Gemini and so on. The language of astrology may be able to help you crack your own code, if you have an open mind.
One way to help yourself if you have Bipolar Disorder, is to identify the zodiac signs involved in a pattern, where you have factors at exactly the same numbers (degrees) or just one degree away. The signs tell you the life department and part of your personality where the bipolar highs and lows may be centred. What trips your switch? Who or what is a trigger for your episodes or swings?
Aries – First House. Taurus – Second House. Gemini – Third House. Cancer – Fourth House. Leo – Fifth House. Virgo – Sixth House. Libra – Seventh House. Scorpio – Eighth House. Sagittarius – Ninth House. Capricorn – Tenth House. Aquarius – Eleventh House. Pisces – Twelfth House. Reach for your memories the way a detective reaches for clues and get your hands on something solid. Your personal birth chart. The signs and houses are at your fingertips.
Be Your Own Bipolar Detective and Look for Astrological Clues
By tracking the transits of the planets and other factors, which you can see on this website every minute, of every day, you may be able to keep a tally of patterns.
I am writing this in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle House, in London, where the great man wrote some of Sherlock Holmes’ best-known adventures. So – I’m inspired to say, take a magnifying glass to the sign and house which is locked into your chart patterns.
You know, Sherlock was probably bipolar or multipolar.
In the television series, Sherlock, the great man ‘flatlines’ and sinks into low, dark, brooding moods. He shoots his gun at the wall. He is irritable. Then – he flies high. He gabbles like a madman, so nobody else can interrupt, crashing to a crime solution in minutes. It would take the police months, if they ever got there at all. Sherlock lives with a doctor – John Watson – but they never discuss his mental illness. Instead, Sherlock self-medicates with drugs.
Highs and Lows With Adam Ant
I am a fan of Adam Ant’s, and admire his honesty about living with Bipolar Disorder. He was the subject of an excellent documentary about his highs and lows, featuring journalist Paul Morley, members of his band, friends who stood by him – and even his old teacher. He was seriously ill for a long time and is now back on tour.
He was involved in a gun scare and ended up being hospitalised in the middle of January 2002. The astrological weather at the time saw Mars at 26 Pisces, the North Node at 26 Gemini and South Node at 26 Sagittarius. This hit Adam’s chart cluster at 26 degrees exactly.
This is a key degree for him. He was at his lowest point then. During his high points, when he had Number One hits across Great Britain, transiting Uranus in Scorpio was also at 26 degrees or close by. This happened on 12th September 1981 (Prince Charming) and a fortnight after his second number one (Stand and Deliver) on 9th May 1981. This brilliant face in the music industry was born with Neptune at 26 Libra, Pluto at 26 Leo and Uranus at 27 Cancer – so you can see how the transits hit his chart in an extreme way.
Transits are complex! You also need to look at who is around you, and where you are – according to all the laws of astrology, both people and place have their part to play in triggering your chart. It’s all about the unique moment.
Keeping an Astrological Journal of Your Highs and Lows
If you are curious about the business of keeping a journal or diary based on your bipolar highs and lows, please visit my Pinterest Astrology page, which has a section relating to this feature.
Of course – Bipolar disorder is an illness which is always treated first and foremost by medical professionals. Astrology is just one tool in your tool kit of life, yet as minds are being opened to complementary therapies and cognitive techniques, from acupuncture to journaling, it may be time to cast your eye over your chart.
Useful websites if you are suffering from depression and need to talk –
The Samaritans UK
The Samaritans USA
56 Responses
Thank you Jessica, another very interesting article!
I am trying to solve a puzzle looking at my birth chart. I have noticed 6 factors at the same degree 23. Would you be able to help to decode it?
Also I have a chain:
Uranus 14° Sagittarius
Moon 16° Libra
Mercury 17° Virgo
Sun 23° Virgo
Saturn 23° Scorpio
Pluto 03° Scorpio
Mars 04° Virgo
Jupiter 07° Aquarius
NorthNode 10° Taurus
SouthNode 10° Scorpio
Justina
The most unusual thing here is the sequence at 23 degrees. Two of them are in Scorpio in your Eighth House of finance, property, charity and business. You can test the ‘extremes’ theory for yourself this year, as Jupiter will pass 23 Scorpio and bring the whole pattern to life. O Friday 5th October, for example, Jupiter makes a pattern at 22 Scorpio, which is very close. Track October, November to see why you go to extremes. Jupiter is of course expansion, optimism, big thinking, ‘big balloon’ buoyancy and so on. Think back around 12 years to the last time Jupiter passed 23 Scorpio and there’s your clue. Jupiter’s transit would normally trigger just one or two factors in an average chart, but in yours it triggers six, which is very high.
When I was young Pluto transited thorough Scorpio opposing most of the planets in my chart. I went thorough therapy and changed my inner identity, changed my religion too. Some of the events emerged were not very safe. Saturn transiting there gave me a lot of limitations and depression.I have worked my hands to the bones.
Thank you for passing this on.
Hi Jessica
Really interesting article!
Do you think my horoscope fits into your theory?
I do have the ability to focus and deal with challenges (as I currently am, and have been for the last 4 years) but don’t suffer the lows, except once in a blue moon.
Sun
16° Leo 57′ 10″
Moon
19° Capricorn 03′ 52″
Mercury
27° Leo 25′ 33″ R
Venus
18° Virgo 18′ 07″
Mars
23° Libra 20′ 44″
Jupiter
24° Gemini 05′ 43″
Saturn
15° Pisces 48′ 46″ R
Uranus
13° Virgo 26′ 08″
Neptune
17° Scorpio 15′ 55″
Pluto
15° Virgo 03′ 35″
Chiron
21° Pisces 41′ 55″ R
NorthNode
11° Gemini 50′ 32″ R
SouthNode
11° Sagittarius 50′ 32″ R
Thank you x
You have a couple of conjunctions there. Mars at 23 Libra and Jupiter at 24 Gemini. And also that chain at 15, 16, 17, 18 degrees. This is the chart of someone for whom it never rains, but it pours. It would be useful for you to keep a diary or journal to see what happens when the Moon (even) crosses 23, 24 and 15, 16 17, 18. Looking at your chart now, your most recent experiences of extremes have involved Pluto in Capricorn, moving very slowly from 15-18 degrees and triggering that whole pattern.
Hi Jessica,
Firstly, thank you for your advice last week. Once again you were spot on. 🙂
I echo the comments of the others, another great article. Since I’ve had my chart done, I’ve wondered about the factors in my chart at close or same degrees and what they might mean. I don’t experience extremes highs and lows however, I can be quite focussed and intense. Can you help me figure out my chain. Thanks so much. A
Mars 00° Aries
Saturn 00° Gemini
Pluto 02° Libra
Neptune 03° Sagittarius
Sun 05° Capricorn
Venus 05° Aquarius
North Node 05° Aquarius
South Node 05° Leo
Moon 13° Taurus
Mercury 13° Sagittarius
I am glad the astrology was spot on. Thank you for your kind words. The most important patterns here are Mars at 0 Aries sextile Saturn at 0 Gemini, and Pluto at 2 Libra sextile Neptune at 3 Sagittarius. Any time you see a transiting planet go across 0, 1, 2, 3 degrees you’ll experience issues about your face, name, reputation, profile and appearance (Mars in Aries in the First House) and the heavily loaded issue of communication, which may be felt with the telephone or the internet, but also in areas like being heard, read and understood. Saturn is really about core fears and in Gemini in the Third House there are challenges around digital and also face-to-face communication. The Pluto-Neptune aspect is really about the relationship you have with your former, current or potential partner (you need to control it) and also your need to escape from the real world, by either travelling, emigrating or immersing yourself in foreign cultures and among foreign people. As this all works in a chain, I am sure you can see how the story goes, every single time. You have difficult episodes on the internet, or with social media, or perhaps with languages/speech/hearing/public speaking. It reflects on your image. You then flick to your need to run partnerships, or even run your partner, and the escape hatch is really travelling or being around people who let you travel in your mind. I mention this because Uranus is set to go to 0, 1, 2, 3 Taurus from May 2018 so this is your chance to crack your own code and rethink your own patterns, if you want to. When you say you are intense – this may be why.
Hi Jessica!
I am afraid I have halfsuspected myself of being bipolar when I go through colossal lows, and be exuberant soon enough. Does my chart indicate anything like that? January February have been main suspects in this cycle. I have tried this analysis myself earlier but wasn’t quite sure how to decipher the patterns.
Thank you much for your time.
Bipolar disorder has to be diagnosed by a doctor, but even if you do not suffer from this clinical condition, you might still have the kind of personality and life where you find yourself ‘flatlining’ when everything is very quiet, low and flat – and then peaking, when you go over the top in some way. A typical example would be over-eating, over-spending, over-scheming, over-dreaming. January and February find the Sun in Aquarius so let’s see if that is the trigger you suspect. You have Fortuna at 16 Aquarius in your Eleventh House of friends, social life, social media and particularly groups of all kinds, from teams to societies. The Moon is at 17 Pisces. All your angles are in Gemini, Sagittarius, Pisces, Virgo – also at 16 degrees. That is a huge cluster across 16, 17 and every time the Sun goes to 16, 17 Aquarius as the year begins, you feel it. It might be useful to look up those signs/houses and symbols in your chart to see what is going on. Fortuna is by herself a symbol of highs and lows. If you look at pictures of Fortuna, she is spinning the wheel of fate and fortune, and some people are at the top and some people are at the bottom. I have a feeling your Fortuna in Aquarius might be the key.
Hi Jessica. This is very interesting. Looking at my chart I have two long chains: one from 00 to 06, and the other one from 18 to 27. I have never been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but having said that I have a sister with the condition, as well as one best friend. The latter I helped with finding alternative therapies as she was not responding well to the standard medication and as she later told me it saved her life. I am therefore intrigued by your post and will share it with her, but I’m intrigued by what the two chains in my chart mean. Thanks Jessica for any insight you can provide.
Thank you for passing on what you did for your sister, in terms of alternative therapies for bipolar disorder. The most obvious chain is at 6 degrees in your chart, but it would be based on having a 100% accurate birth time. If you do know that you were born (to the minute) at just before midnight, you have what is known as a Grand Cross in Aries, Libra, Cancer, Capricorn. That is the main focus here, and any time you have a transiting or travelling planet hitting 6 degrees, you would have major choices about partners (Libra) family (Cancer) and career (Capricorn) all at the same time. When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s bad, it’s seriously not great. Why? Everything goes off at the same time. If this sounds about right, then you know your birth time is right, and any ‘weather’ at 6 degrees is worth tracking.
Jessica, Fascinating article. Along with several stelliums, I’ve identified the following chains. I’ve used all of the factors (& not the 13) only to illustrate fully the closeness of the degrees in the chains. I don’t have Bi-Polar, but I have felt unsettled & that I don’t fit in since I was a young child. Would you be willing to provide some interpretation, please?
DESC/ North Node 00º Sagittarius
ASC/ South Node 00º Gemini
Diana 01º Pisces
Psyche 01º Taurus
Aesculapia 02º Cancer
Ceres 04º Taurus
Pluto 06º Libra
Salacia 06º Aquarius
Juno 06º Gemini
Venus 07º Cancer
Vulcano 10º Gemini
Neptune 10º Sagittarius
Bacchus 12º Aquarius
Cupido 13º Leo
Jupiter 13º Aries
Vesta 14º Pisces
Saturn 15º Cancer
Mercury 16º Gemini
Apollo 17º Aries
Ops 18º Scorpio
Minerva 20º Leo
Fortuna 21º Taurus
Proserpina 21º Aquarius
Sun 24º Taurus
Moon 25º Cancer
Chiron 25º Aries
Mars 26º Pisces
Panacea 27º Pisces
IC 28º Cancer
MC 28º Capricorn
Hygeia 29º Taurus
Uranus 29º Libra
You have a ton of chart clusters at the same, or similar, degrees – so life will often feel unbalanced – every time you have transits at those degrees, an unusually large number of horoscope factors are triggered, all at the same time. This classically results in feeling big highs and lows. So, for example, any time you have transits across 24, 25, 26, 27 it’s like an episode in a television series and it will either be the best feelgood comedy you ever saw, or some really difficult drama. Sometimes it’s just a thriller. You mention feeling unsettled and not fitting in. A diary would help a lot. Maybe you already keep one. You were born with Saturn at 15 Cancer in your Fourth House of home and family. Through no fault of your own, you have been given some of the toughest tasks in your life, in terms of parents, siblings or other family members, and perhaps your actual ability to feel at home in the world. We all have Saturn somewhere in our chart and it shows where we feel unprotected, vulnerable and exposed. It also shows where we have some tough lessons to learn. This can even be about the actual house, the apartment, the home town or the homeland. Mercury at 16 Gemini is semi-sextile Saturn, and as this is how you communicate with the world, and how you connect with other people, my immediate thought is that a brother or sister may be the issue here. This is purely because as children we are left alone with our sibling, and that is how we learn to talk and read. Whatever you might think of that, a diary will help. Why? Because nobody is watching or editing. You can get things off your chest, especially about home or family, or even your feelings about where you come from – and then rip it up. You can also monitor what happens when you have slow-moving outer planet transits across 15, 16 degrees. You also have Vesta quite close by at 14 Pisces and this is your secret passion for a man who is also sought after by one or more other women. And sometimes it’s not secret it’s unconscious. Before I get too Jungian on you, though, let’s just stick to the practicalities of Mercury-Saturn across the Third and Fourth House. Look up both houses on Search and you will get a better feeling for how the two areas of your life always bring each other in.
Wow, this is quite interesting, thank you for your insights! My chart is like this and I feel kind of always low:
8 Aires Venus
8 Virgo Uranus
9 Cancer North Node
10 Aquarius Mercury
13 Virgo Pluto
13 Pisces Chiron
17 Aires Jupiter
17 Scorpio Neptun
25 Aires Moon
25 Aquarius Saturn
28 Aquarius Mars
28 Aquarius Sun
Any comments on this?
Thanks a lot!
Best Chrissie
Saturn is the key here. You were born with the Moon at 25 Aries in the First House of image, profile, appearance and reputation. The Moon is also exactly sextile Saturn at 25 Aquarius. As a general rule, Chrissie, give yourself more time and space when you have transiting planets passing over 25 degrees of any sign, because they will always trigger these questions about how you look and appear to other people, at the same time that you are dealing with issues about your social life, friendships, social media and groups. Saturn in any chart describes where we have tough karma. Where things happen to us, that make us more defensive, less likely to trust the universe, and far more cautious and careful. We all have Saturn somewhere in our chart and you have him in your Eleventh House of friends and groups. So, going right back to childhood, you have had one lesson after another about this. It always impacts your ability to face the world as the Aries Moon is dragged in. Hit Search and have a closer look at Saturn, Aquarius, Moon, Aries. This is really like being Lucy in Peanuts and struggling to be in the gang, or outside the gang. A really simple way to take the pressure off yourself is just to do less of social media, or subject yourself to far less ‘tests’ in terms of social life, groups, teams, clubs, societies, committees and the rest.
Thank you for your amazing insights Jessica. I seem to have a number of 21 degrees including my sun. is this week of particular importance for my chart and is it in any way positive. Im a stay at home mom so the career side of things is not relatable for me. As always with thanks A
Chiron 20 Aries, Sun 21 Aries and the North Node and South Node across 21 Gemini and Sagittarius creates a strong pattern at 20, 21 degrees in your personal birth chart. This is essentially about your identity (Aries) and your image and face (Aries) on the internet (ruled by Gemini and Sagittarius). I suspect that if you are a full-time mother at home, you’re probably online, and may be using websites where you channel that Aries need to be seen and heard – upfront. This pattern is really about seeing what you can get away with, which Chiron always represents. The so-called impossible or unthinkable – to a Chiron-Sun person – is really just an experimental test. The Nodes describe karma and past life experience, and in Gemini-Sagittarius they describe several lifetimes spent in language translation. These days you probably express this via the ‘world’ part of the worldwide web. This is a good example of a chart where it never rains but it pours. Any time you have slow-moving outer planets like Pluto crossing 20, 21 of any zodiac sign, this part of yourself and your life is triggered. It can feel intense and extreme. At the moment Pluto is doing just that, as on Thursday Mars at 21 Capricorn will conjunct Pluto at 21 Capricorn. I have a feeling this will be about big business, corporate life and perhaps governments, which will end up having a direct impact on your internet use – and possibly your travel plans – as Sagittarius also rules literal travel, as well as ‘head trips’ online.
Thank you for your wisdom here Jessica, I am going to research some more. Please could you be my guide to decode my clusters, they are around 19,20,21 & 7,8.
Kind Regards,
Claire
Claire, people who go through extreme highs and lows tend to have clusters just like yours, and they involve Ceres or Saturn. You were born with Ceres at 9 Aries, Venus at 8 Scorpio, Salacia at 9 Aquarius. This is really about owning your image and running your reputation, your look, your name, your title, your profile, your appearance. This is particularly true online. Whenever you have transits across 8, 9, 10 Aries you will find the pattern is triggered and it can feel quite intense, sometimes for financial reasons (Scorpio) and sometimes because of the group itself – be it social media or in the real world (Aquarius). You will experience transiting Chiron over 8, 9, 10 Aries over the short term and may want to get to know this pattern in your chart better. Look up Ceres, Aries and the First House to understand the core of the matter, which is how you package, present and profile yourself and how that makes you feel.
This is so interesting. Typing Ceres, Aries, First house just now. Thank you as always
Hi Jessica,
Your articles are so fascinating. I’m a huge fan of your work.
My mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was a young child. This of course caused a great deal of instability in my youth and young adult years. I also suffer from depression, which appears to be seasonal in nature. I have always been fearful that I would develop bipolar disorder (I also suffer from anxiety as well). Anyway after reading your article and looking at my chart, I have a gang of patterns that cause it to be imbalanced. Can you take a look and tell me what sticks out to you?
Thanks
Thank you very much. I just had a person with bipolar bite my head off, on Twitter, so I am glad my instinct was right, and there were enough readers here, to make it worth passing on the information! I am sorry you spent your childhood with a mother who suffered in this way, and there is always that question of nature/nurture – is it the genes, or the environment, or both? Your horoscope will give you a different point of view! First of all, you’ve found clustering around the same degree. Both clusters include Ceres and Saturn, which are chart symbols we find in all these famous bipolar disorder examples. First up, you have Saturn at 4 Scorpio in the Eighth House, Vulcano at 4 Aries in the First House and Mercury at 5 Aquarius in the Eleventh House. This means that any time you ‘do’ money, business, charity, property or possessions – especially involving family, close friends, syndicates, boards or partners – you also have to ‘do’ your Saturn, and that brings in issues involving Vulcano and Mercury at the same time. As Mercury is in your Eleventh House of friends and groups you would have to be careful (for example) mixing cash and that together. A classic example would be a very difficult shared household of friends where you all split the rent. There are many ways to play that pattern you have and I am sure you have your own story. Moving along to the next cluster, Ceres at 27 Capricorn in the Tenth House aspects Neptune at 28 Sagittarius in the Ninth House, Vesta at 28 Pisces in the Twelfth House, Panacea at 26 Leo in the Fifth House, Ops at 28 Aquarius in the Eleventh House. Again, we have Aquarius and the Eleventh House turning up, so the more you can find out about how you are affected by social media, particular friendships, group goals, teams/clubs/societies – the better. This chart is really like being one of the Knights of the Round Table and really struggling with it – not all the time but often enough to make life hard work. See if you can look all that up and start to piece the jigsaw together. Jupiter transits can be very healing and helpful and you have Jupiter going through Sagittarius in your Ninth House of travel and travel in the mind, in 2019, where he will cross your Neptune at 28 Sagittarius and also ‘ping’ those other factors including Ceres. This sounds like a very important holiday, relocation, emigration or move. It may involve a spiritual or foreign component which makes a huge difference to you. Watch out for it. I am so tempted to say ‘meditation’ to you because it is a proven medical helper, with anxiety and depression and of course the Buddhists are masters of it. Have a look at what Harvard University has to say about meditation!
Hi Jessica, loved this article. You are one of the few astrologers I’ve read who posts such insightful content, a breath of fresh air from all the sun sign psychobabble on the web!
I’ve always wondered what the clusters in my chart indicated, I have a chain from 14-16 (4 planets at 14 & 15) and another cluster 25-27. I don’t suffer from bipolar but do feel things in a very intense way so maybe this is the clusters at work. Any insight would be much appreciated.
All the best, Victoria
Thank you Victoria. Intense feelings – extreme emotions – seem to accompany extreme chart patterns. This is where so much of the world’s great music, film, art and writing comes from. The common factors in depression seem to be Ceres and Saturn, just based on this tiny group of people. In your chart, you don’t have either of these in your cluster at 14 and 15, but it is such a ’tilt’ in your horoscope that you would find huge swings up and down in your life, as whenever a transiting planet like Saturn or Jupiter passes by 14, 15 you feel it far more intensely than most people. Neptune at 15 Sagittarius, Pluto at 15 Libra, Uranus at 14 Scorpio, Psyche at 14 Libra, Cupido at 14 Virgo, Vulcano at 14 Virgo are worth watching in your chart. If your birth time is exact, you also have the MC or Midheaven at 15 Capricorn and IC or Immum Coeli at 15 Cancer. Watch what happens when Jupiter (expansion, growth, exploration, benefits, solutions, opportunities) moves to 15 Sagittarius in 2019 as it will trigger that pattern and you could easily move, emigrate or take the vacation of a lifetime. It would be a massive learning experience for you, but you would also be ‘teaching’ others. A genuine exchange of minds and cultures.
This is so interesting! I haven’t noticed any “rain/pours” patterns in my life, but I have a bunch of clustered degrees. I’m able to focus very intensely, and have tons of interests I pursue. I also have a lot of Scorpio factors, and I’m not sure how my Saturn/North Node in Scorpio is really affecting my life–I’ve learned quite a few Scorpio-type lessons, but now I have a stable home and family. Would you be able to offer any insight into my chart? Thank you so much!
01 Neptune Capricorn
01 Hygeia Taurus
12 Mars Leo
13 Venus Cancer
13 Uranus Sagittarius
13 North Node Taurus
13 South Node Scorpio
13 Chiron Gemini
13 Juno Libra
13 Fortuna Sagittarius
13 Apollo Virgo
14 Ops Libra
14 Cupido Virgo
15 Mercury Leo
18 Bacchus Sagittarius
19 Salacia Aquarius
20 Moon Cancer
21 Sun Leo
21 Saturn Scorpio
21 Minerva Scorpio
Thank you. The key factor with all these celebrity charts is either Ceres or Saturn. Sometimes both. You have the clusters of ‘extremism’ with that epic line-up at 12, 13, 14 degrees in particular, although we don’t see Ceres or Saturn there. We do find Saturn at 21 Scorpio exactly conjunct Minerva and square the Sun, and the Moon at 20 Cancer is really close by. That is something to watch, as whenever you have slow-moving outer planet transits across 20, 21 you will need to look at the money, the house, the possessions, the business, the charity or the apartment and see how much it is affecting your emotions. I think this may be the past Scorpio-type lessons you were referring to. Jupiter is a great healer and when he moves to 20, 21 Scorpio you may find even long-standing issues are cleared up.
It’s a very interesting article.
Whilst I don’t have bi-polar, I am highly susceptible to periods/episodes of pretty bad depression. I had one last year from Mar 2017 to Sep 2017, which forced me to quit my job and move back with mum – I didn’t work until November 2017.
Frankly, I’ve been seeing similar symptoms again since last week of Mar 2018 (this year), and still continuing now – which I think is correlating with the
Aries weather and retrograde that you’ve been covering in your blogs – which is actually again is quite interesting.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you. Time to start a diary, or restart it. If you have episodes of depression the usual culprits are a) A large amount of factors clustered at one particular number/degree – or close by. This means that when these factors in your chart are hit by travelling planets or transits, it never rains but it pours. This can make life very, very good or very, very tough. The other factors are b) Saturn and c) Ceres. So let’s have a look at what is going on. You have 10 factors out of 34 clustering together at the same degrees. That spells unbalanced cycles. First cluster – Sun 21 Libra, Mars 21 Virgo, Diana 21 Leo. Second cluster – Saturn 26 Scorpio, Venus 27 Virgo, Fortuna 27 Sagittarius, Ascendant (AC) 27 Pisces, Descendant (DC) 27 Virgo. Third cluster – Ceres 23 Leo, Moon 24 Libra. You will also notice that Saturn and Ceres are involved in the chains. What you are looking for are transits across 21 degrees, 26 degrees and 23 degrees, especially involving the slow-moving outer planets, as it means you can spend six months to a year, dealing with the cycle. In the year when you were badly depressed and moved back in with your mother, Saturn was nearing the end of his stay in the final degrees of Scorpio, and of course this triggered your pattern at 26 and 27 degrees, as Saturn crossed 26, 27, 28, 29 before he quit Scorpio! I think you would really gain from getting to know these placements in your chart – the symbol, the zodiac sign and the house. Use Search and your ebooks to do that and start keeping a journal and observing what is going on. I am sure you know the Saturn Return is notorious for depression. Congratulations on working your way through it. I also think you should look at Ceres in your chart in the Fifth House as she is a symbol of mother-daughter relationships and the first thing you did was move back in with your mother.
Hi Jessica,
Please interpret all my clusters for me:
Saturn at 6 Sagittarius
ASC at 6 Sagittarius
Mercury & Pluto at 6 Scorpio
DESC at 6 Gemini
Minerva at 6 Aries
Diana at 7 Scorpio
Vulcano at 7 Virgo
Cupido at 8 Sagittarius
Vesta at 8 Aries
North Node at 20 Aries
South Node at 20 Libra
Venus at 19 Scorpio
Uranus at 19 Sagittarius
Salacia at 19 Aquarius,
MC at 18 Leo
IC at 18 Aquarius
Aesculapia at 17 Leo.
Saturn at 6 Sagittarius is the one to watch, as this ancient symbol of difficulty, is at 6 Sagittarius in your Ninth House, tied to Mercury and Pluto in Scorpio, Minerva in Aries, Diana in Scorpio and Vulcano in Virgo (with just one degree’s difference). If your birth time was strictly accurate than your Ascendant at 6 Sagittarius and Descendant at 6 Gemini are also tied in. Something that would help you a lot is understanding what it means to have Saturn in Sagittarius in the Ninth House, so do hit search to focus on what I have written about that. You also need to be aware that when you have transits at 5,6,7 degrees you need to allow yourself more time and space than usual.
Hi Jessica, Thank you for this article. As usual, it’s thought provoking and resonated. Although not diagnosed with bipolar or multipolar, I have had periods of depression. I’m working through some past events with healing inner work (hello, submerging twelfth house!), and after reading your article, now feel that some of my wild and unethical past actions, specifically, one dating back to 2003, could have been related to the same or one degree differences in my chart, of which I have a few. I’d be grateful it if you could provide some insight to this. Thanks again.
Your depression and what you call ‘wild’ past actions in 2003, sounds like the aspects between Jupiter (high, big, over the top) and Saturn (down, low) in your chart. You were born with Jupiter at 26 Gemini in your Third House of words, ideas and communication – and Saturn at 27 Leo in your Fifth House of lovers, children and young people. Not only that, but Diana at 25 Scorpio and Fortuna at 27 Capricorn also complete this pattern across 25, 26, 27 degrees. Scorpio rules your Eighth House of money, business, possessions, property and Capricorn describes your aims, goals and ambitions. I hope you can see that any time you have transits (travelling planets) crossing 25, 26, 27 that you have four areas of your life triggered at the same time. In addition, every time you ‘do’ your Jupiter, you ‘get’ your Saturn. If we go back to 2003 to see what was going on, and why you might have engaged in what you call ‘wild and unethical past actions’ we find Uranus at 26 Aquarius, Saturn at 26 Gemini, Jupiter at 26 Leo. That’s an exact match. You would really gain from keeping a diary or journal!
Oh, wow…. I’m blown away because my past unethical action in 2003 was in the communications, media and publishing industry and involved earning money in a career and industry I didn’t like, though it was a coveted job (for some) and it landed in my lap after a job interview where I spun some Rumplestiskin-type magic. I’m ashamed and embarassed to say that I left behind a pretty damning legacy. Thanks so much for the advice, and I will be keeping a journal definitely! It’s so powerful to be able to provide a framework for understanding my past actions and behaviour. Thanks again.
Thank you very much for this feedback. One of the most common reactions from people living with bipolar or extremes is – they go over the top in some way then regret it. But the past is the past. It’s gone. Have a look at the Stephen Fry and Adam Ant documentaries on YouTube where they are as honest as you, about dealing with the condition. I really hope your journal helps – it sounds like it will – your chart is telling an accurate story here.
Thank you Jessica. This is truly fascinating. What an amazing project it would be to be able to compare all mental health illnesses and acute episodes to horoscopes and planetary movements. Whilst it has long been acknowledged by health workers that the full moon has an impact on emotional disorders, you take it so much further. I was imagining a time when astrology is accepted as more mainstream again and if we could have software which would flag vulnerable periods, strengths and weaknesses from birth dates for Emergency Department staff, GPs and clinicians to help clients. Better still to flag in advance and help people to prepare. It would be really powerful to know in advance what your trigger points are and the dates when you needed to take extra care/be aware. Imagine your GP’s software sending you an SMS alert!
Thank you! This tiny sample of well-known people with Bipolar is really just to inspire people to start using their diaries/journals to get to know themselves better. It does take a bit of time to learn how to track the transits, but once you know what to watch out for, you may see a pattern. You are quite right about the Full Moon. Astrologers are now also making findings about the New Moon. In cases of rapid cycling, it may be the Moon which is behind the quick highs and lows – that is a really interesting suggestion of yours.
So interesting! I am bipolar 1. Wasn’t diagnosed until I was 27 and it ended my military career and began my art and language degrees. It was a godsend explanation to my insane up and down life but also a new reality of responsibility. It’s like being an over charged battery. 11 years later, I’ve come to really appreciate the superpowers aspects of being bipolar. Ideas that never stop, energy for days and hyper-intuition to name a few. There’s the downs of course, lots of them. But it’s my normal. I have the support in place to be my normal and it’s working really well now. I wish that for every person with a mental health challenge that would have them feeling like they don’t fit it. It’s like experiencing a more defined colour spectrum, worth fine tuning as a gift. Don’t get me wrong this perspective took a solid 10 years of intense therapy, meds and lots of less fun intensity, but it makes sense to me that an instrument capable of hyper sensitive experiencing would take longer to find the calibration. Do you see the patterns in my chart? Thanks so much 🙂
Thank you for this – your language degree immediately has me looking for Sagittarius/Ninth House factors in your chart. You do in fact have Neptune at 21 Sagittarius in your Ninth House of foreign people and places. Neptune is exactly square Saturn at 21 Virgo in your Sixth House of work – and this is also where we find the mind, body and spirit connection. Pluto is close by at 20 Libra in your Seventh House, which rules former, current and potential partners – but also enemies, rivals and opponents. Maybe that was your military career. Cupido is at 21 Aquarius exactly. Cupido is who/what you adore, and who/what adores you – and Aquarius is groups, involving friends. Again, this may have been your military career, within a unit. What is interesting to me is that you have ‘played’ the music of your extreme chart pattern, involving Saturn (low, slow moods) in two different ways. You tried the military, which I am guessing involved travel or at least education about foreign people/places – then you hit your Saturn Return and found a new way to ‘do’ Sagittarius, Aquarius, Virgo, Libra. What you have to say here is essential reading for other people living with bipolar, if they are diagnosed or not. I love the way you articulate it. You would get a lot from tracking transits across 20, 21 degrees. The outer planets are key, here, as they can take months, or even a year, to cross. So – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto across 20, 21 would show you how you are ‘working’ your chart pattern. Saturn is also worth reading more about, as is Neptune, because these two pin down what is going on.
I greatly appreciate this response. Thank you.
Hi There Jessica,
This is a very intriguing and eye opening subject you have touched on! I appear (I believe) to have some of these “chain” patterns in significant planets in my chart.
I did in fact suffer from depression in my youth, due to abusive parents.
I am though, quite curious to know if my chart in fact, leans towards a “bipolar” chain or any other personality anomaly? I have never exhibited any bipolar symptoms on the spectrum, ( in my opinion) thus far.
I did put myself into therapy in my twenties and have earned degrees in psychology, of which, has been very cathartic, and aided in my personal journey of healing.
I would love to here a prognosis of my chart from you. You always offer such clarity and insight.
I anxiously await another (ah ha!) moment from your response , that will clarify yet, another dimension of myself!
Many blessings to you and Thank you!
Cat
Saturn and Ceres are both woven into clusters in your chart, Cat, so you may want to look at both of those as starting points for recurring patterns. I am sorry you were put through having abusive parents, and also depression when young. If you are a psychology graduate you naturally know you’re not bipolar, in terms of extreme high-low swings – but if your birth time is strictly accurate, then Saturn at 13 Capricorn would have a major impact on your Tenth House of career, study, achievement, ambition, vocation and calling. Ceres at 24 Aquarius is locked into a second pattern and this is really about friends, social life, social media and groups – clubs, teams or less organised networks – and regular compromises where you have to relinquish control or ‘do a deal’ either with these people or the universe. That can bring on a lot of strong feelings. You can find out more by hitting Search or using your ebooks to decode these two placements which link to so much else in your chart. When you ‘do’ one, you ‘get’ the rest. So it can feel very extreme.
Wow Jessica this is so interesting, all my life I felt was not right or out of whack, it wasn’t until I was in my 50’s I figured out I may have some form of bipolar, I haven’t looked at my chart yet but I will and I will look up Ceres. I have always felt there was something missing in me but I can’t figure it out, can you look at my chart to see what I am missing as I feel it must be close.
thank you Sandi
Sandi, you have patterns around 9 and 15 degrees (clusters) which involve both Ceres and Saturn, the two symbols in the chart most associated with regular lows or even serious downs. Saturn is at 9 Aquarius, Ceres is at 16 Virgo. The first placement is about the hard work involved with groups, social media or friends. The second is really about the body, mind and spirit. You may actually have a physical condition which is affecting how you feel – you say not right or out of whack – so start there. Look at Ceres in Virgo in the Sixth House and you can Search on all three separate things. Look at seasons and even S.A.D. in your search as she was in fact, in charge of the four seasons. She was also associated with grains like wheat.
Omg I was just diagnosed with gluten intolerance, thank you for your response, this is such a big help, I will do more research on Ceres, thank you so much
I love it when the astrology works like that. Good luck beating the gluten issue.
Thank you Jessica for this intriguing article. Thankfully i have not suffered from depression but i have often described myself to others as being ‘all or nothing’, as i can have huge amounts of energy and the ability to focus intensely on things for prolonged periods and at other times i feel very lazy and frustrated that i can’t get motivated. I have a chain of 7 factors at 8 and 9 degrees. I would be most grateful for your insight into what areas of my life are affected and your support in identifying how I may work these highs and lows to my advantage. Thank you
Ops at 8 Virgo and Uranus at 9 Virgo in your Sixth House of body, mind and spirit lead that huge stellium you have around 8 degrees. You would certainly find yourself ‘all or nothing’ as you say, and go to extremes. I mention Virgo because you may need to find the missing link between how you feel, mentally and emotionally, and the tiniest details of your daily routine. Sleep. What you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Medication of any kind. Alcohol, illegal drugs or water intake. Fitness. Ops is the solution to the issue. Uranus is the constant change. In fact any time you had a slow-moving outer planet like Uranus himself, Neptune or Pluto at 8 you would really feel it. On a faster moving basis, just the Moon at 8 degrees every couple of days may have an impact. You could learn from a diary or journal and I would guess that September of any year is often when you experience either the massive energy/focus or the lack of motivation (the flatlining) just because we typically see the Sun, New Moon, Mercury and so on, in Virgo, crossing your Sixth House then. Essentially a big part of who you are, and how you live your life, is ‘led’ from the body, your physical condition and your physical state. Even something like sugar could have an impact – a lot of Virgo/Sixth House types find that.
Hello. Did you write this for me? Lol. Maybe so! After reading this article and looking at my chart, I feel I have all kinds of clusters and strings. Most notably that stand out to me are clusters including 1degree (Ceres involved), 11 degrees, and 22 degrees. I am wondering if there is any significance to the repeating digits (11, 22). I am also curious if there is any significance if some of the planets in these clusters are/were retrograde? I have had some bouts of depression in my lifetime but it typically followed what seemed to be direct correlation with direct circumstances in my life. I have always been able to work my way through these times and noticed that when the circumstrance was removed by choice (i.e. ending relationships with toxic people, distancing myself from people or things that contributed to my depression) then my spirit,if you will, felt light and joyful again. Is it possible that we can redirect our paths when it comes to depression?
Thank you. Depressing situations and people (as opposed to the medical condition of depression) come and go – and are part of life. Your Ceres at 1 Scorpio in your Eighth House is locked into a few patterns in your chart, as you say. This planet is a symbol of power and control questions in the horoscope. In Scorpio, in the Eighth, these habitually centre on the house, the money, the apartment, the business, the charity or the possessions. Each time you have a transit at 1 degree, the issues are revived, so that you are given a chance to handle them in a different way, or take a new angle. In this way, you can certainly redirect your path. In fact, that is the whole point of astrology. Ceres was the mother of Proserpina, who was taken from her by Pluto. Proserpina then married Pluto, which meant Ceres had lost her forever, to the Underworld. Ceres in grief and rage went on strike and neglected her role as goddess of corn and wheat, and the four seasons. It was constant winter and autumn, and people starved. The people protested to Jupiter to fix the problem, and so he decided to let Proserpina spend six months a year with her mother on earth, and six months with her husband Pluto, down below. When Proserpina is with Ceres we have summer and spring. I hope you are getting a feel for the ‘give and take’ and ‘come and go’ and ‘high and low’ of Ceres. The best thing you can do with Ceres in your chart is be a realist about life. You’ll have extremes. Yet, winter and autumn have their comforts and joys too, even if they are not spring and summer. Finance will be like this habitually for you, or perhaps particular properties or possessions. Be very careful about whom you get involved with, as if he/she/they triggers your Ceres in a difficult way (with Saturn at 1 Scorpio for example or Saturn at 1 Taurus) then you may find it very hard work.
Hi Jessica,
This is amazing.
I don’t suffer from it, but something made me read this. As we know, there are no coincidences.
It looks like most of my chart factors are clustered somehow.
Maybe it’s the reason behind years of (different) addiction(s)…. from the way I ate early on, to staying in a very bad relationship, to drugs. And, funny enough, on the outside it looked like I was fine, and I acted like I was perfectly fine… no mood swings, innapropiate behaviour, etc. :/
Would love to hear your opinion.
Thank you so much, you’re priceless.
Have a great weekend! 🙂
Addiction is really about Neptune so we look to that in the chart first. Neptune is associated with drug addiction and alcohol addiction in particular, because he was found in 1846 when anaesthetic was used officially. The idea of numbing/being numb also goes with the idea of Neptune as freezing sea water, which of course means we lose our usual senses. Neptune at 13 Sagittarius squares your Moon at 13 Virgo and you have a cluster around that degree. Start with this square, though, as it is the key to everything and whenever you have slow-moving outer planet transits at 13 degrees the old pattern will come around again, so you can question it and change it. The Moon in Virgo in the Sixth House is about your physical condition and physical state. It’s also about your work, and of course addiction can stop us working. The Neptune placement in the Ninth House is about taking a holiday from reality by travelling or travelling in the mind. The Ninth House has been associated with trips in astrology books of old, but also ‘tripping’. Astrology is pretty poetic at its core and you can play your Moon-Neptune square in many different ways, hanging on to the need to pursue a different reality, without having to succumb to addiction. The more you can read around Neptune, Moon, Sagittarius, Virgo the better and look closely at what is going on at 12/13 degree transits.
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I’m over those things now, but I looked on Serennu at the time when I really decided it’s enough, August / September last year.
Guess what?! I don’t even need to tell you. ;)))
Beginning of September 2017:
Sun 13 Virgo
Moon 13 Pisces
Neptune 13 Pisces
Panacea 13 Aquarius
Venus 13 Leo
Pallas 14 Taurus
Lilith 14 Gemini
&
North node 21 Leo
Jupiter 21 Scorpio
Saturn 21 Sagittarius
Diana 21 Capricorn
Mind blowing.
Thank you again. What would do without you? 🙂
I’m really glad you can see the astrology here. Just remember Pallas and Lilith are not part of the modern astrology family tree (it’s Roman/Latin and they’re not…) Do track your Virgo-Pisces oppositions though, as they hook up to your Sixth House, which is the body, mind and spirit. A journal could be useful just in case you are not already keeping one.
Hi Jessica, my estranged husband has mental health problems including addiction. He’s asked me to go to his country to start afresh. I love him but I’m wary. Any advice would be appreciated.
You really don’t need astrology to answer your own question there!