Books I Finished

• Flamer by Mike Curato: A heartfelt coming of age story. Curato really treats the subject with a lot of care.
• Miles Morales: Spider-Man Volume 1 by Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón: I am not a big superhero comic person but my library had this so I decided to give it a try. It was okay. I’d read more of it, honestly.

Books I’m Currently Reading

• Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Version) 6th. Edition by Nina Baym
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
• Introducing Literary Criticism: A Graphic Guide by Owen Holland & Piero
• The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron
• The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
• Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf

New Pages that were added/modified this week

• How to Read a Poem

Summary of things I learned this week

I was reading more Ancient Astrology this week and was reading about aspects. Demetra George went a little overkill with the repetition, hah. But it helped it stick in my head!

In Hellenistic astrology, the conjunction is not actually an aspect. The word they use for it is “co-presence.” It’s neither a good nor a bad thing, it really just depends on the planets.

There are some obvious good and bad aspects. The best aspect a planet can have is a trine (120 degrees or 3 signs between). A sextile (60 degrees or 1 sign between) is good too but it is only mildly supportive. The worst aspect is arguably the opposition. It is the opposite in every way: modality, triplicity, and gender. Squares (90 degrees or 2 signs between) are also not that great. These signs only have the modality in common with each other.

What I found really interesting was the fact that the Thema Mundi provides a basis for determining the quality of the aspects. The Moon is the ruler of Cancer. When the rays are projected from the moon, it makes aspects to Venus (sextile), Mars (square), Jupiter (trine), and Saturn (opposition). The same goes for the Sun, the ruler of Leo. Wild.

Speaking of planets, what planets are aspecting what also indicates the quality of the aspect. Benefics will always do good. Malefics in a “good” aspect may reduce harm or provide benefits at a cost. Malefics in a “bad” aspect are always bad and can increase the malefic qualities of the planet.

When I looked at my own chart, I realized that Mars and Saturn can see ALL the planets in my chart… That’s great, hah.