Joanne Wickenburg Intercepts and Retrogrades: Your Hidden Powers

ASA Lecture, April 15, 2005

Interceptions
Ms. Wickenburg began by stating that when she first researched intercepts, one book said that an intercepted sign is a quality you over-expressed in a past life and therefore its being taken away fro you. !nother book stated "ust the opposite. Some basic concepts #n a basic chart, each house has a cusp which is like a door that takes you into that life experience. We ay have different internal reactions to those experiences, but basically we all have the sa e 1$ houses in our chart % the 1$ basic areas of our life that are out there for us to explore. &he cusp is a critical point because its a doorway into the next area of life. &he sign on the house is what that roo is going to look like. &oward each area of life we have a specific need or thing were here to learn - the quality of the sign on the cusp. the personality characteristics co e out of the need. !ries, for exa ple, shows where you are challenged through the experiences of everyday life to know you can do so ething on your own. Where do you want to do your own st nd thing' !ries on the 1 house says, # a an individual. (n the $ house, # a rd resourceful. (n the ) house, # a intelligent, etc. *ou dont necessarily co e in knowing these things+ theyre what youre here to learn. Wherever you find !ries, you find an identity crisis, who a #' -o you find out who you are, or do you look for so eone else to define you' .o, each sign has a specific need out of which specific personality characteristics e erge. &he house where the sign appears shows the area of life where the need is expressed. &he house ruler shows where you can go to eet the needs. *ou go out and gather experiences and bring the ho e to the house the planet rules. !n intercepted sign has no house cusp/no doorway into the external experiences of life that fulfill its needs. &he need the sign represents is "ust as strong. #f you have no interceptions, there is a s ooth flow. With interceptions, things begin to get distorted. 0ouse syste s break down in the 1orthern latitudes, because life breaks down when you get into the extre e latitudes. Interceptions are environmental An intercepted sign means there is a strong need in you but the environment you were born into did not have the kind of faci ities you needed to fee you were deve oping the !ua ities of that sign" #n fact, the outside world probably encouraged you to beco e the sign on the cusp of the house % and signs that are side by side are never co patible. .o if you have !ries on the house cusp and &aurus intercepted in the house, the people around you will encourage you to go out and initiate activities but wont give

you the skills to get results fro confused.

all the things you have initiated. .o you feel

What is unique about the chart, the houses, and intercepted signs is that they show the quality that no one really understood about you. 2ecause the people who raised you didnt recogni3e that quality in you, they didnt know you needed those skills. 4or exa ple, if you have 5e ini intercepted in a &aurus house, everyone is teaching you to be practical, get results. #nside youre full of questions and want to try all these different things, and you dont know how to do that. &he 5e ini part of you is not welldeveloped when it first starts to co e out because it has never had any training. 6verywhere you look, your 5e ini is held back and so you feel stupid. !t least 78 percent of clients will have interceptions. -ont skip over the interceptions and dont look at the as a punish ent. (nce you co e to ter s with what your intercepted signs ean, they are the ost creative parts of you. &he reason is that they have not been highly conditioned by outside forces. &here are co pensations for the interceptions in other parts of your chart, so you arent wounded for your entire life. &ransits will bring the out. &he sa e chart will have different interceptions with different house syste s. 0aving tried all the house syste s, 9oanne has found that :lacidus is the ost all-enco passing. !strology is really a si plistic study. #t deals with houses, signs, and planets, and how they all interact and interrelate with one another. Interceptions and polarities #ntercepted signs occur in pairs. #f !ries is intercepted, ;ibra will be too. &he polarity operates in everything we do. #t keeps us balanced between e and the , and vice versa. When you find intercepted signs, you have the dile a of not being able to see those two parts of yourself very clearly. &he two signs tend to operate against each other. &heyre not in constant awareness of the opposite that tends to co e ore naturally to other people. #t takes longer in life to balance the out. !ries<;ibra intercepted - who a #<how do # learn to relate' #n !ries, youre trying to learn to do your own thing without help fro the environ ent. ;ibra is looking for a relationship but it cant successfully have one if it doesnt have a clear view of who it is individually. #f !ries is intercepted, :isces is on the house cusp. :isces teaches you to have faith. !ries is the leap of faith that activates the creative vision. #f ;ibra is intercepted, =irgo is on the cusp. *oure trying to be balanced and equal and find har ony within an area of life where youve been taught to be critical. &rying to do both at the sa e ti e is confusing and "angly, but you can learn to value both. &aurus<.corpio intercepted - # need to have this for e<eli ination. &aurus is where you learn to accu ulate those things that give you co fort and a sense of worthiness.

.corpios role is to eli inate those things that hold us back fro evolving. #t deals a lot with trust. ;ibra on the cusp is about establishing cooperative partnerships, and .corpio is about how you aintain those relationships. What parts of you do you need to exa ine and let go of so you can really erge with another person' #ntercepted &aurus ay be accu ulating things, habits, and attitudes but not reali3ing that at so e point those things beco e obsolete and ust be recycled. #ntercepted .corpio ay throw out too uch and too soon. .corpios role is to regenerate but it needs to know what still has value before it "ust starts eli inating stuff. 5e ini<.agittarius intercepted % accu ulating<disse inating infor ation. 5e ini intercepted person is always asking questions but not really getting answers because the environ ent doesnt really connect with what youre talking about. Where 5e ini is intercepted you ay accu ulate data without considering where the data fits. #n the area of life ruled by .agittarius, which is where you see the broader picture, your ideas can get so abstract that you cant verbali3e the in a way that akes sense to anyone else. *our belief syste s ay not really fit the environ ent youve been brought up in. ;ook outside, look inside, but dont expect to find all the answers in the circle of people around you. >ancer<>apricorn intercepted - belongingness in the inner and outer worlds. #n the >ancer area of life, our role is to create a sense of e otional security. #n >apricorn, the issue is social security, knowing where you belong in the outside world and feeling co fortable with that. #f >ancer is intercepted, the world you were brought up in wasnt able to give you the kind of nurturing that ade you feel safe. With 5e ini on the cusp, you got infor ation instead of security. #f >apricorn is intercepted, .agittarius on the cusp so you got a lot of lofty ideas that had no connection with what you actually needed to do to be successful. &hese are polarities we all deal with every day of our lives, but they are e phasi3ed with the interceptions. ;eo<!quarius intercepted - :ride, self-confidence<the i portance of the larger co unity to work together for progress, change. ;eo is where you need to feel good about yourself, to have that sense of self-i portance we all need. When ;eo is intercepted, its in a house ruled by >ancer, which is uch ore reserved and unco fortable in the outside world. ;eo intercepted is like theres an actor inside. *ou have to find that creative center through ore unique avenues+ look outside the box to get answers those around you cant give you. !quarius is where we all want a sense of social connectedness and contribution to social refor . #ts trapped in >apricorns house. Maybe it will take a powerful transit to hit you over the head and bring out the !quarius energy. &ransits say, ?do it now, do it now, do it now@A &hey bring out the energy thats been boxed up inside of you. =irgo<:isces intercepted - >ritical, analytical<-ont worry about the details, "ust believe in the ideal. With =irgo intercepted, youre struggling to be ore organi3ed and analytical. *ou ay have a weird sense of order that works only for you. ;eo on the

cusp is saying "ust go out and be yourself, while youre inside taking yourself apart. With :isces in the opposite house, youve forgotten how to put yourself back together again. :isces is where you need to be happy with your drea s. &he !quarius house cusp is telling you to be ore scientific or progressive+ not to let your fantasies and ideals drag you down. 2ut once you contact the , they dont drag you down+ they ake you whole. Intercepted houses With interceptions there will also be signs that ?ownA $ houses, called intercepted houses. Watch the degrees. &he house with the lesser degree is ore evolved and will e power you. &his house has been intercepted and dragged into the following sign. 4or exa ple, if you have the sa e sign on the C and D houses, relationships and regeneration go hand in hand. *ou get into relationships that constantly regenerate you. &he proble is generally not getting into the relationship but aintaining the relationships. #f you see an intercepted sign, tell the client they have a hidden potential. &hey have the ability to bring to bring out that sign in a way thats uniquely their own. Rulerships and stelliums th .ay you have 5e ini on the C . Mercury rules that house. ;iterally, it owns that territory. #t ay not be in that house and probably wont be. #ts role is to go out and get infor ation so that 5e ini will know what its talking about. .uppose Mercury is the th 11 house, where it goes out and eets people and sociali3es and learns about the world. 5radually it gets the experience and knowledge it needs to have a personal relationship. th Entil Mercury does that, personal relationships in the C house probably wont be vey successful. #ts the experiences that the ruler goes out and accu ulates in the house it occupies that actually co e back to fulfill the needs of the house. &here ay also be planets in the house. Mercury, the ruler, is the key that opens the door to that house. (nce the door is open and youre involved in a relationship, you find all these things happening, depending on the planets you have in that house. &he i portant thing to re e ber is that they rule other houses, too. When you have a stelliu , all the other houses that these planets rule are dependent on your being able th th to work with other people in a har onious way FC houseG. *ou are trying to get C house experiences in order to fulfill the needs of the houses they rule. (bviously, they have to give so ething in return. &he planets in the house offer so ething in return for the experiences they need. #t doesnt atter whether or not you like what those planets have to offer. &hats when the chart begins to co e alive. *ou start to see that everything has a consequence and everything flows together, and everything in the chart eans so ething unique. Marc 6d und 9ones used to say that everything in a chart eans so ething different. &here are any things that suggest so ething si ilar, but nothing takes away fro anything else. 4or exa ple, if you have no planets in utable signs but any planets in cadent houses, does that co pensate for the lack of flexibility shown by no utables' B
th th

1o@ (n the contrary, it eans you dont have adaptability but you are constantly put into situations that require you to be adaptable. #ts a double wha y, not only are you not adaptable, but you are constantly in situations that try to ake you adaptable, and its not working. 4ortunately, things always progress into the next ele ent, so you get so e balance that co es out of "ust being alive. #f you have planets in an intercepted sign, then you have other areas of your life, described by the houses those planets rule, that are trying to get you to bring out the intercepted sign. &hey are trying to get you to be ore than you were taught to be. *ou ay also have the ruler of one intercepted sign in the other intercepted sign. ;ook at this as a sign that youre supposed to do so ething uniquely your own. *oure supposed to delve into things that arent obvious. *ou will ake istakes along the way, because you have no experience and no textbook telling you how to do it, but the result can be incredibly creative and unique. &he thing to re e ber about intercepted signs is that it all goes back to the environ ent. .o eti es it can give you what you need and so eti es it cant. &he cultures that traditionally use the equal house syste are 6ngland and 6ast #ndia. 6qual house syste s work in cultures where the rule has traditionally been, ?you are what you are told to be.A *ou live within your caste. &ry doing an equal house chart beginning with your idheaven as a way of looking at your destiny without the environ ent. &he reality, though, is that were here to fulfill our destiny within the environ ent were given.

Retrogrades
When a planet is retrograde it is closer to the .un than at any other ti e in its cycle. #t has been said that a retrograde planet is repressed or weakened, but actually it is closer to the earth than at any other ti e and uch brighter than when its direct. ! retrograde planet is potent in your life. Hetrogradation eans that things are repeated. With =enus retrograde, you always re- evaluate relationships. #ts a agnet+ we attract to ourselves the things and people we think we deserve. =enus says, ?# want this, # want that,A and Mars goes out to get it for her. #f the co unication is bad, as in a square between the , Mars ay bring back so ething =enus didnt want. With squares were constantly having to learn how to do so ething we dont know how to do yet. When a planet is retrograde, it psychologically functions through its rulership in an opposite way. Mercury wants infor ation. 1or ally, 5e ini goes out and gathers infor ation and then brings it to =irgo to be analy3ed. When Mercury is Hx, so uch infor ation is

co ing in and its in your face all the ti e that you cant really handle it all. *ou need to stop and process whats in front of you before going out for ore. =enus wants to be loved and appreciated. #f your =enus is retrograde, your values and what you want to ake you feel good are constantly an issue for you. 1or ally youd learn to love yourself and know what you want through &aurus. When =enus is retrograde, it operates through ;ibra, so you look to others to give you a sense of your own personal worth. &his generally doesnt work, so you then have to go back and do the &aurus thing. Mars wants to do. When its retrograde, you need to direct its energy in a less offensively !rian way. 2efore you i pulsively lash out, you need to see how your action will affect the people around you, as a .corpio would. Hetrograde Mars should lead to rebirth and regeneration. #ts ore significant when the personal planets are retrograde because they are who you innately are. 9upiter and .aturn show how we need to learn to integrate with society. 9upiter is the part of us who wants ore in life. When its retrograde, you need to bring it through :isces before the .agittarius rulership really works. #nstead of exploring any different beliefs and ideas and then deter ining what you believe, you need to find your source of inspiration within F:iscesG and as you expand your own ideals, you can reach out into the larger world. &he philosophical structure of your childhood will need to be transfor ed in a significant way. #f .aturn is retrograde, boundary issues are huge for you. 1or ally, when .aturn is direct, you will go out and learn the rules and beco e responsible within those boundaries. &hen when you go out into the next step, which is !quarius, youll have the foundation to ake effective change and revolution. When .aturn is Hx, the structure isnt there for you. &he only way you can find boundaries that work for you is to rebell against those that are already in place and dont work. (ften .aturn Hx cant handle authority figures. &hey need to develop the !quarian independence before they can recogni3e the i portance of boundaries. Eranus, 1eptune and :luto only have singular rulerships. &heyre all Hx about 78J of the ti e. &he differences are subtle. Eranus is that part of us that "ust wants to be different, to be an individual. When its direct, it knows how to do this in a way that works. #ts purpose is to break the rules, get rid of obsolete structures, ake so ething co e to life. #f its Hx, Eranus is al ost ore >apricornian. #n theory, if .aturn rules >apricorn and !quarius, could it be that Eranus also rules >apricorn and !quarius' #f Eranus is direct, it would be the Eranus that breaks out of the existing structure and creates so ething new. #f its Hx, it ight be better for these people to do the reflective thing, and go into an organi3ation and try to change it fro within.

&he retrogrades are there to repair things that are broken. 5enerally theres so e evidence, with retrogrades, that things need to be reassessed in so e significant way. Hetrogrades by transit affect us all. .aturn is retrograde a lot of the ti e. #t ay not ean anything to us personally. 2ut since its a social planet, .aturn Hx eans that all of us need to slow down, back up, re-evaluate, re-structure, ake inner changes. (therwise it beco es a control freak, rigid and unbending. #f we try to plow ahead, the ti ing is wrong. When Mercury is Hx, we need to deal with whats in front of us before we "u p off into a new direction. *our car breaks down % odds are, it was showing signs of trouble before Mercury went Hx but you werent paying attention. We need to stop and catch up with ourselves. &hen when it goes direct we can ove forward with less stress and ore clarity of ind. When =enus is Hx, its a ti e to re-evaluate what we really want, for ourselves and in our relationships. Maybe what you wanted last year isnt what you want now. (r you eet your ?perfect partnerA and you find out that you hadnt clearly defined that that partnership ight look like. ;ife needs change+ otherwise it gets boring. #t can be a healing ti e for our relationships. #f you have =enus Hx natally and =enus is Hx in the sky, you ay feel a certain co fort but its still not ti e to ake a co it ent. &ake advantage of that ti e to reflect on your own inner nature. When a Hx planet is in an intercepted house, a powerful part of you operates in ways that others ay not understand. *o ay not have learned positive ways of expressing that energy. *ou have to go through a trial and error process until you find so ething that grabs you, and that will be outside the ordinary structure of life. 1eptune is that part of you that wants you to go to a place that doesnt exist in ordinary reality. #ts where you get your spiritual food. 1eptune is your ulti ate creative part and it gets this creative energy fro so ewhere it can never define. When its Hx, the idea of pure faith is filtered in so e way. &here ay be a relationship between 1eptune and .agittarius. .o when 1eptune is Hx, you ay be looking for so ething to believe in but looking to established philosophical sources for that inspiration, and then it doesnt work. 4or exa ple, so e people get into astrology to disprove it. &hen they find that what theyre looking for isnt scientifically provable. &heyre looking for an already- established answer to so ething that can never be answered that way. 9oanne referred her listeners to an article about 1eptune on her website, www. "oannewickenburg.co . #f 1eptune is the u bilical cord between 5od and us, :luto is the part of 5od that beca e trapped in his creation. 6ach of us is one piece in the collective. #ts also our ulti ate social destiny, we each play a role in societys evolution, contributing to the

collective consciousness. Many people think :luto co-rules !ries and .corpio. #ts the planet of change. When :luto is direct, we will go through a change and co e out with a new identity F!riesG. :luto Hx goes through a process of personal internal identity crises before it has any understanding of how its life fits into the larger scope of things. When inner planets go Hx or - by progression, its a big deal because its a change in how youre consciously living your life. When outer planets change direction, it ay not be that i portant. #f Mercury is - at birth and turns Hx by progression, during that year so ething happens where you start looking at things differently. &he year =enus turns - or Hx by progression, you will often see a a"or change in relationships, values and love issues, even if the person is very young.