Baby's First Aspects.

Go back and look at your first aspects. What were they? How did they manifest in your life? (Sure, like you'd really be able to know.) Anyway, I had a Sagittarius Mother who was very forthcoming with most of the trials and tribulations of having become my Mother so I probably have more of an idea than most.

First check the Pre-Natal Lunar and Solar Eclipses. If anything in them hits anything in the birth chart it might indicate a strong emphasis on that part of your life. Also, check the Eclipses against the Mother's chart. Find out what kind of mental and emotional shape she was in and forgive her. (Forgive her anyway, but set up some really strong boundaries). Some Mothers endure difficult pregnancies and then the child comes out fine, other's seem to sail through and the child has problems. Who knows why this happens. I wonder if the Eclipses in particular have something to do with this. Some illnesses are thought to be created while the Baby is in the womb and I wonder if there are any correspondences between Eclipses or other problems. Solar Flares, I imagine, might influence the Baby's heart rhythms, for example.

The Moon travels fastest so it probably made your first aspect just in the same way. Your Mother was probably the most important person in your life at that point. Check to see if the Moon was Void of Course, maybe this brought a sense of relief around you for a few hours. Check the planet the Moon aspects first and see if that's a strong point in your chart in some way. I heard Michael Lutin, World's Greatest Astrologers of All Time (or at least part of the Pantheon), speak once. He said that the degrees that are first hit are most vulnerable to successive hits later in life. They may become "sore spots" in your chart that you subconsciously react to. It would be good to know these points. Maybe they're "good spots" instead. Maybe your First Aspect was a Trine. You can read a whole little story into this, or, at least I can. My first Moon aspect was an inconjunct to Mercury. I'm pretty certain the first words I heard was, "Wow she's Fat!" (Remember I had a Sagg Mommie and they can be candid) My second aspect was a sextile to Jupiter so the Nurse probably said something nice about Fat Babies (Jupiter in 6th house of nurses).

Also, people claim that the Phase of the Moon is very important in Baby's development.

And, of course, you want to check the baby's planets against the Mom and Dad's planets. If the baby's inner planets are in difficult aspect to the Mother's Mercury and Venus and Mars there may be a difficult set of petty adjustments in how they relate during the first year. These could balloon out later on in life into big problems in the relationship so it might be helpful to just recognize them and maintain a light hearted approach to the differences.

Because....

Mercury and Venus follow the Sun around pretty closely so a child's first year will be the experience of these 3 planets making their way around the chart. Mercury is Observation and Venus is Relating (and vanity, oh go on, admit it you were adorable and you knew it). The Sun is good old Ego. Take a look at when these were hitting your other planets and angles. When did they hit your Ascendant. Oh, the Lucky Baby who gets his/her first photos taken on the Day that Venus passes over the Ascendant. Pretty Baby with nice dimples. Be sure to check for Mercury and Venus retrograde Stations to make sure they aren't making stress aspects to Baby's natal signatures.

During the First year, Jupiter will change signs which it does roughly on a yearly basis. So, Baby's first year is taken up by Moon, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter perceptions. Sounds pretty nice. Those are the lights in Astrology and generally looked at favorably later on in life. When someone says they want to return to the womb, I don't think that's it at all. They want to the way the world looked during their first year.

Mars takes two years to make its way around the chart. So, Baby has been around the Block completely by Age 2 Mars wise. Mom and Dad are starting to feel it. Mars is Action. Mars is Toddler with a Bat. This repeats Age 4, Age 6, Age 8, so on. I'm beginning to suspect that the synastry aspects between the Parents' Mars and the Baby's Mars is very important. It's a lot easier to understand your kid if he/she is expressing the Terrible Two's with your own particular sense of Panache. There evidentally are 12 different ways to repeatedly slam the kitchen cabinets which correspond to each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac. And, boy, let me tell you, we always prefer the kid who slams the cabinets according to our own style of mayhem. Otherwise, it's just noise. These 2 year Mars phases may be mirrored by Saturn's 2+ years change of sign and the Progressed Moon's slightly faster change of sign. Saturn and Moon represent the Parents and they are learning how to deal with you.

Of course, you always want to pay attention to when the slow moving planets and the progressed and Solar Arcs Inner Planets hit another planet, hit an angle, or change a sign. These are particular to each Baby.

And, at some point the Outer Planets make semi-sextile (30 degree aspects); and sextile (60 degree aspects) to themselves. These are the easier times, when you were so bored and just couldn't find anything to do. These will happen at differenet times for different people due to retrogrades. The semi-square (45 degree) is a tense 8th harmonic aspect and may bring some tension to how you express the energy of a certain planet. I was 6 when I had my Uranus semi-sextile (I wouldn't take off my Go-Go boots); I was around 9 years old when I had my Uranus semi-square (Problems with friends); and I was around 12 when I had my first Uranus sextile and this was around the same time as my Neptune sextile. I remember practicing for cheerleading competition even though I couldn't do a cartwheel. Man, if only I could have nailed those cartwheels.

The Saturn Square happens around Age 7. Baby's teeth come in adding practically a whole bottom half to his face. You never know what they're really going to look like until they get those 2d sets of teeth. I seem to remember that this was the age that we were taught to tell time. This is when we become fearful of our standing in the community and also when we catch on (or not) that Disciplined restraint can get us places in life. Maybe we begin to make our own decisions. This is mirrored by the square of the Progressed Moon to the natal Moon. It's the Waxing Phase of the Progressed Moon for you and it could mean first Protection and then a Struggle to the relationship with the Family, Home and Mother. Here's a link to a description of Dane Rudhyar's approach to Progressed Moon interpretation: http://starcats.com/lunar.html.

I believe at Age 8 or 9 there is a Venus phase of some type that's formed due to Venus' Retrograde Motions. A Mars Cycle is also formed at some point but I don't know what these are. Erin Sullivan talks about them in her book on Retrogrades but my copy is in storage and I can't get to it. Buy her book and learn and I should do the same.

At Age 9 the Nodes oppose themselves. The Child might feel confused about life or have a change of attitude. I wonder if this is the final phase where Children give up their psychic and past life visions in order to adjust to the new life.

The Saturn Opposition happens around Age 14 and is quickly followed by the Jupiter Square and is once again shadowed by the opposition of the Progressed Moon to itself. I suppose Age 14 has a Mars Return too. This is Adolescence. If the planets are Retrograde natally and under heavy aspects, there might be a stifling of Adolescence.

Of course, in here there are also trines and sextiles which show an easy time. Plan your Divorces around these, it might make things go easier for Baby. Jupiter trine Jupiter: Age 4 and then Age 8. Saturn trine Saturn: right after the 8th Birthday (but then that brings in the Half Nodal Return which is not recommended). Age 4 looks like a good age for a kid to go through your Divorce. Do NOT wreck his/her Jupiter Return at Age 12 with it, that's just absolutely rude. If you wait that long then just wait until all Children have cars or can ride on public transit by themselves so they can at least get out of the house and away from you.