SUN: 2 of Sagittarius: Natives of this degree seek excitement. A soft, easy-going, routine life would be utterly intolerable. They will seek whatever excitement is near. He is fascinated by anything unknown and undefined. If he finds nothing virtuous and legal to be excited about he will gamble on crime, just for the sake of challenge. He is the type of person who will learn the skill and art of pickpocket or picking locks even as a stage trick. The only problem here is that he cools as soon as the skill loses its excitement. He seeks the spectacular at every turn in the road. Imprisonment would be most intolerable for him and perhaps intolerable for the prison as well for he would keep things stirred up even if it cost him his life. A warlike and aggressive nature. The native may be as well a romantic Stummer und Dranger as a quarrelsome swashbuckler, ever ready to engage in brawls and therefore exposed to the risk of violent death. Anyhow, he cannot put up with the dullness of a humble middle-class life. The unknown calls him, and a craving for wonderful adventures possesses him.

MER: 24 of Scorpio: Natives of this degree have strong tendencies to build their own world for themselves, preferably in an undeveloped area. They have much planning ability of a concrete nature. There is also a suggestion that a more psychic, mystical, or ghost-like quality is hidden here, which perhaps, true to the Scorpio nature, must be researched and made provable to a skeptical audience, but never presented on faith. In fact, much pessimism is reported here. There is extreme thrift. All tragedies leave lasting impressions and seem to be dwelt on beyond any normal reason. In spite of the pessimism and gloom there is also much personal virtue which may be felt by those who know him. Many a feminine virtue; a sensitive, modest, earnest disposition, a great love of peace, of the family and of home. There is a deep-seated sense of duty and above all a real passion for work applied to useful and concrete things. Few have such practicality. A firm character, an extraordinary self-possession, as the native never will lose her composure and is perhaps even too cocksure. Nor is this the only defect. There is too much thrift, which can stiffen into closed fisted behavior, too much reserve, which may lead the native to shun society. The tragedy of life is so deeply felt that a pall of constant gloom is likely to set over the native. Every family mourning will leave lasting traces. For all his thrift, the native will stay poor, or nearly so, but will manage to have a house of her own, will be esteemed for her virtues and is not unlikely to leave behind not only an honored but a famous memory, provided that the rest of her pattern bears it out.

VEN: 20 of Scorpio: The qualities shown here are insufficiently developed to show very strong direction. The native seems to have enough tenacity to continue what he begins and suggestion of more highly useful abilities which, for the most part, do not show much development. He is often subject to the demands of passion, largely sex drive. There is a restless desire to travel. You may have an interest, undefined, in spiritual development. He is likely to have considerable prowess and vitality. His restless activity may result in a spiritual illumination if he has control and the necessary support from the rest of the chart. This degree favors social advancement and success in one's chosen career, but it assures neither stability in it nor firmness of character. Where other factors concur, the native may attain to renown or glory which, though, never will rule out ups and downs. Success is within the native's reach on account of his courage and his spiritual height, supported by a rugged yet pliant body, and in glaring contrast to his unbridled lustfulness. Few people will be such an easy prey of women, gambling and wine; on the other hand, few can stand hardships as well as he can. But his balance could drift into inner split, his force into quarrelsomeness or love of word fights, or into aggressiveness altogether. Travels, probably east, will play a remarkable role, and during his wanderings the native is likely to make discoveries or important researches. A potentially unlimited intelligence lit by spiritual hope.

MAR: 13 of Sagittarius: It is well to look to the emphasis Uranus is making in the chart to determine what might be expected here. Basically, the degree seems to be preoccupied with money, a perverted greed for money. The effects of this degree up to now are very discouraging. Much depends on how much ability the native has to see through pretenses to the real values inherent in any philosophy which must be found under the surface. These natives are tested severely and few have come up with passing answers to Uranus type problems. The native is tempted to take a non-conformist path but must understand what he is doing to avoid becoming a rebel without a cause. This degree glaringly denounces the greed of filthy lucre. In order to achieve wealth, the native would gladly tread over his father's corpse (which is hyperbolic expressed but may literally come true, as the native's career may well drip blood, even the gore of mass murder). But we must not lose sight of the result. Ill-gotten is ill-fated. The wrists of the worshipper of the golden calf risk becoming too well acquainted with shackles or straight jackets. Unless powerful stars come to his help elsewhere, moral decay, bodily contagion or the breakdown of his reason will take the poor wretch to jail, the isolation ward or the lunatic asylum.

JUP: 13 of Scorpio: This degree typifies a lonely self-made man. There is very little gentleness displayed by this degree. The native usually isolates himself and although he enjoys the company of the opposite sex he is not a good marriage partner. These people tend to be very strong and very stubborn. Usually one accomplishes very little other than making a safe place for himself. He is cunning in the planning of strategy of various kinds and may put his talents to work in agriculture if other areas of the chart incline in that direction. Whether the native is high-born or a self-made man coming of an obscure family, fate certainly has earmarked him to occupy an eminent, independent position and to hold sway over others, owing to his inborn inexhaustible force. To obey him is a matter of course, nearly of necessity. An untiring, hard worker, he is fully confident in himself, and his firmness of purpose borders on stubbornness. Laconic, or even silent, he can scan and pierce everything around himself at a glance without betraying any of his feelings. Close but long-sighted, strong but on his defensive, cunning yet intelligent, he has fortune on his side and all the good or evil qualities needed to assert oneself and achieve success, his main asset being an iron will, unshakeable and undaunted; his main defect, a selfish, despotic, scheming ambition. When other aspects point to a liking for the career of arms, this degree will bestow the gift of strategy. Should the stars point to agriculture instead, the native would be a great organizer and manager of farms.

SAT: 8 of Leo: It is my belief that the fires of hell have been mistaken for the fires of heaven. The forces of evil are held together by cold and frozen elements. Therefore, evil forces need fear losing their identity when confronted by the fires of heaven. There is in this degree a mystical fire which, when understood properly, gives love and light as a true Son of God. However, all the dangers of fire are inherent here as a warning to anyone not properly prepared to deal with fire in a beneficial way. This degree may represent the blossoms or the thorns on the rosebush. This explanation comes not so much as a warning to the native who must deal with the fire, but to those who come in contact with him. For this degree gives quite a clear understanding of the qualities necessary to live in truth. We must of course remember that most people fall short of such understanding. However, the natives of this degree perhaps come closer than most of us to understanding these qualities. The true Son of God must be a perfect blend of love and will-power. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." This native will in some sense be subjected to trial by fire. It will be only the pure metal that survives such fires. He may even work in some field closely associated with fire, and may literally be subjected to threats of loss by fire. He may be expected also to have a tremendous ability to outwit his opponents by clever and cunning means, a wolf in sheep's clothing. In a highly spiritual horoscope this degree's influence will endow the native with the power of heavenly fire surging forth with ardor unquenchable, unsullied, and all-consuming. Its light will be hidden from the sight of the unworthy and might even stay invisible to most eyes or escape notice altogether. In the bush blazing with unearthly flame, much-too-human beings will fail to see the light of the Absolute and will be alive only to the fact that the thorns in the bush sting anyone attempting to violate its mystery. Such are the conflicting features of the zodiac's one hundred twenty-eighth degree; fieriness along with reserve; aims sublime yet secret; a nature flashing with hope and led by the most generous impulses of self-denial, yet constantly on its defensive, as the thorns and the flames in the bush clearly imply. On the contrary, should the horoscope as a whole point to a lustful nature, the Lion's eighth degree would shift to its opposite polarity and, instead of a divine imprint, give it a Lucifer bent. The burning bush will thus change into the lunar devilish image of Cain and the thorns. Then an unquenchable passion, impure yet devoid of hidden motives and mental reservations, will slowly and steadily eat up the whole being, body and soul. The fire might not die out before having wasted the mind to its innermost reserves and burnt out the organism to its last shred. Even a third case is possible - when the stars point to neither outspokenly spiritual nor lustful features, and the whole pattern appears uninspiring and mean, the subject proves a modest being of limited scope. The degree's fire then will enter the existence from outside. The native's activity might be bound to the fiery element; giving him a chance to rise to success and even to emerge into fame (should the whole contain hints of luck). Such might be the case of a smith working his way up to becoming an artistically gifted craftsman, or an industrialist running a successful foundry; also of a fireguard meeting a heroic death and rising to short-lived fame. Whether heavenward or earthbound, such a mind will be ruled by instinct rather than by reason. His spirit of justice and honesty, his sense of unalloyed integrity and fairness, often would entitle the native to a higher social status than he occupies.

URA: 20 of Gemini: This degree gives an excessive curiosity which arouses situations which the native is unable to cope with. Once you have stirred up a situation you are in danger of being overwhelmed by the aftermath. There is also a sense of over-optimism which contributes to the whole process. The whole tendency is most dangerous in the occult or political fields. The use of drugs and probably alcohol would be particularly dangerous to a native of this degree. In general, the native of this degree is prone to stir up far more action than he is able to handle and ultimately the whole situation falls back on him. It is not a situation where he can stir it up and then move out of the way. He seems to be the center of what he stirs up and then finds there is no escape. If he develops the help of trustworthy and reliable friends they may be a measure of help to him and even protect him in some instances from disaster. He may also believe he is being lead through some psychic influence by God, whereas in fact he is only being deluded. Persons with this degree activated should be extremely cautious of channeling, automatic writing, seances and use of the Ouija Board which are so popular today. Some of the bright gifts of this native are not in keeping with the whole of his being. If the rest of his horoscope restricts his activities to the practical field, his hard work, well-trained mind, and influential friendships will permit him to achieve some aims. He may improve his position, gain wealth for himself and his family, etc. On the contrary, should other astrologic data confirm, or simply not hinder, the occult, mystical, or spiritual powers present in him, the native may attain higher results, but on the indispensable condition that he take in a reef, not trust his visions too much, and not overreach himself. Above all, he ought to remember that anyone who rouses powers beyond his own control runs the risk of being crushed by them. This applies, of course, to political power as well, though the danger is far greater in the super-sensible field.

NEP: 10 of Libra: The native tends to isolation which, in itself, tends to misunderstanding. He often seems to do the work of a scavenger. Whether he is forced by circumstances or by something he attracts to himself is difficult to determine. At any rate, he preoccupies himself with the lower forms of humanity, either through sociological study or by the position in which he finds himself. There may be a deep-seated sense of inferiority which contributes to his choice of study and alignment with underdeveloped and underprivileged humanity. Usually, he seems not to advance very far by his efforts and is more likely to develop negative than positive attitudes. He usually suffers severe criticism and may be imprisoned or be forcibly restrained in some manner. The native's work is indispensable to society's bodily and mental healing, but he must have the stomach for it. The native is likely to be a profound thinker and to have a serious, dreary, ceremonial outward attitude. His garments are likely to be more slovenly than niggardly, perhaps downright grubby or, if well groomed, he is likely to show a definite partiality for black. If smart at all, the native will be so in his style rather than in his dress. All this is more or less probable. But only the nativity as a whole will be able to tell us whether we are faced with a great philanthropist so engrossed in his study of the most hideous social evils as to forget his own outward aspect altogether or, with a public man who, even if honest, meddles with the loathsome ordure politics mostly consists of; or with a swineherd, a humble sweeper, or an even humbler scavenger in a backward hamlet. Freedom and life itself are open to risk of a kind varying according to the subject's social status and special activity. When harmful influences are together at play, he can turn out to be nothing but a dirty pig, a regular, authentic, unadulterated swine. In higher nativities this influence may induce an Arcadian strain, a taste for domesticated nature.

PLU: 13 of Leo: There is more stubbornness than any other quality associated with this degree. The native has faith only in himself. He has tremendous capacity to do as he chooses; even this may be against his own best interest. He runs grave risks and takes extreme chances although he is brilliant and attended by a certain amount of luck. He is deprived in the area of relationships. He works alone with little respect for others. This native is actually weakened by luck. He escapes too many of the natural consequences of his behavior until it is too late to mend his ways. However, he seldom arrives at the place where he recognizes his own responsibility for his condition. All good and bad features of an extreme steadfastness and positivism; on one hand, firmness, constancy, sturdiness, endurance in exertion and a sense of phenomenal reality; on the other hand, stubbornness, restiveness, pigheadedness, hypercritical skepticism and unappeasable lustfulness. As a result, the sources of income and means of subsistence are lastingly assured - nay, too lastingly-which might hinder and thwart progress, even mobility in general. There is no enthusiasm, no spiritual urge, and no faith in men or in the future, not to speak of faith in God. The character is, therefore, skittish, sullen, sometimes cynical, often unpleasant on account, or in spite of, the fact that the native professes very firm principles and sticks to them. Whatever his luck, the subject never feels happy and is therefore in a state of constant dissatisfaction.

For interest.

Bradley Murdoch, born February 19, 1958, jailed for 28 years for the convicted murder of a tourist in the Australian outback, has his natal Uranus at this degree.
John Dmjanjuk, born April 3, 1920, tried and convicted as an accessory to 28,000 murders at Sobibor extermination camp, had both Jupiter and Neptune conjunct this degree.

7°12 Leo - *Praesaepe: Inner drive, reclusive, blindness, murder, tragedy, fires. Unfortunate; Mars/ Moon

7°24 Leo - *North Asellus (Asellus Borealis): Patience, beneficence and courage, heroic and defiant leader. Fortunate; Sun/ Mars

8°35 Leo - *South Asellus (Asellus Australis): Military preferment, blindness, eye trouble, shipwreck, mass murder, horrors, self-willed, uncooperative. Unfortunate; Sun/ Mars