Down the Stairs

Life is full of surprises. Some of them not the most pleasant. Seemingly happening out of the blue, like thunder out of a clear sky. Rare, but not impossible. Changing our perception of reality, and make us look at our own lives differently. Usually, it is such events that put a person in front of a choice - to leave everything as it is, or to make a step into the unknown. The weak in spirit stay in their past, which becomes for them an eternal present, resign themselves to their own timidity, which they find many excuses for, being unable to overcome the fear of the unknown - a new future that will never happen. They wonder what their lives might be like if they took just one step. Towards the new. But alas, their familiar way of life is more precious to them than their own happiness. Comfortable unhappiness is their lot in life.

Addictions have always been the scourge of mankind, no matter what form they take. Alcoholic, gambling or drug addiction, no less than adrenaline, sexual or emotional - all these are different forms of the same essence. Addiction. In essence, a homeless person who drinks cologne containing alcohol is no different from a spoilt major who drinks Hennessy every day. They're the same berry, just growing in different places. Whether it's in the sunshine or in the shade of a swampy tree, it doesn't matter. The poison has already taken root in their souls, and evil is already lurking behind the outer guise.

We have always been surprised by the attitude to life of people who think that addiction to Chateau Mouton Rothschild is something different from addiction to ordinary Cabernet Sauvignon. If a measure has gone to excess, it doesn't matter whether it's gold, silver or bronze. The bottom line is the same. And it is, with few exceptions, inevitable.

When we receive questions about addictions, more often than not we realise that things have gone too far. It's extremely rare that we get these kinds of questions early on, when there's still a chance. And yes, most of them are questions from relatives and close friends of the addicted person, whose fate they care about. We wish we could say that in more than twelve years of practice we have seen happy resolutions to these questions, and some miracles that change the situation by 180 degrees. We haven't. Reality is too cruel, compared to the illusory perception of the spiritual children of Robert Sharma and similar impostors - these pseudo-gurus of our time - as well as other ‘experts’ who promise to change reality in some miraculous and magical way.

Astrology does not change reality. It shows it as it really is. At least the real astrology and not its miserable semblance, bordering with Eastern horoscope and other astro-psychological nonsense, so close to many info-gypsies from other branches of predictive directions.

When we deal with addiction issues, all we can do is to see if a person is able to get rid of it, if this or that specialist will help him or her, and if things have not gone too far. In other words, we can see how everything will develop in time, in fact, regardless of what the addict starts to visualise in his mind or what other advice of spirit seers, gurus or magicians he starts to follow. That destiny which is destined by the Divine.

When we hear some ignorant cries that everything is in the hands of man himself and nothing is predetermined, all we can do in response is to smile. For practical experience shows quite the opposite. Theory does not always go side by side with practice, and for many it forever remains just a theory, or worse - an informational mirage, like Blinovskaya's courses, now quite rightly tasting the consequences of her actions behind the walls of places not so remote. Only a man in his ignorance can believe that he is the ruler of the world - a modern Harry Potter and Dumbledore, in one person, with a magic wand, changing reality with a single wave of the hand. Until some little thing, whether in the form of addiction, illness or sudden death, visits his rose-coloured clouds of illusion, illuminating them with a stroke of lightning.

Enough words for an introduction, though. After all, we have something to back up our words in practice. And for this purpose we have decided to take one of several rather heavy examples of addiction that began more than ten years ago. The querent turned to us several times, both at the very beginning of her son's addiction, and when she found a doctor (not a magician, by the way) with the help of whom she hoped to help him, and afterwards, when everything went so far that she decided to isolate her son for a year in a rehabilitation centre, where he spent some time before asking her last question. Hope never waned throughout those ten years. With periodic questions to us, the answers to which confirmed themselves in life. Ten years on the ladder leading her son down…

Will alcohol become an addiction?

First of all, we note that over a period of more than ten years, the querent has asked us four times about her son, not to mention other questions that do not play any role at the moment and have nothing to do with the topic at hand. Unfortunately, one chart of the questions was lost for purely technical reasons - the astrological programme in which we stored all the questions erased the entire database after an update, and we lost a huge number of question charts. By the way, we stepped on this rake twice - the first time in early 2013, but, unfortunately, we did not draw the proper conclusions. The second time was in 2015, as mentioned above. Nevertheless, we still have three question charts and the first of these takes us back to the distant year 2013, while the other two were cast in 2021 and 2024, and are of particular interest to us. The  chart for 2015, alas, was not saved, for the above reason, although the question itself was about going to the doctor and coding her son from alcohol addiction.

To understand the background of this question, the querent began to contact us in 2010, when we were still working in the field of modern astrology and of course that work can in no way be compared to work in the field of traditional astrology and horary astrology, in particular. She was a fairly well-to-do woman, of high social standing, holding one of the highest management positions in one of the Latvian banks. She is currently married to a very wealthy businessman for whom money has never been an issue. All this is said to make you realise that the querent was initially, at the time of asking the question, rich and educated. Her son received a great education too and had no need for anything, which played quite a cruel joke on him, because in 2011 he almost went to prison for complicity in the distribution of drugs, falling into bad company. Major boys like himself decided to start doing business with the wrong people and almost paid for it with their freedom. The question of whether the court grant clemency for him was also considered by us, and the answer was accurate - it was at this time that we began to study horary astrology, based on John Frawley's books. This was the first serious wake-up call in her son's life, which warned that neither money or education were a guarantee against life's adversities. Next came questions about her personal life, divorce and some others, among which was also a question about her son, who at that time was working in the famous company, earning a good salary, which he was constantly squandering on his own needs and pleasures. Added to this money was the money of his mother - the querent - who had always given him a great deal of financial support. All of these factors combined to produce the outcome you will see in the 2024 chart. Now we turn to the past.

In 2013, the querent asked a question about her son, due to his periodic absences at work. She began receiving complaints from her son's boss, whom she knew, that he periodically went on a bender for a few days, but usually not for more than a week. At work her son was valued for his professional qualities, and if it were not for his new habit, he could quickly build a fairly successful career. In this regard, the querent asked her first question about her son's addiction. She wanted to know if this habit would develop into a serious dependence on alcohol or other substances.

15.04.2013 22:21 (GMT +3), RIGA, LATVIA

We will not analyse in depth all the details of the question charts, as this is not a workshop and we are not aiming to teach. We will just highlight the main points of each question chart, tying everything together at the end.

The querent is asking about his son, who is represented by the ruler of the 5th house, and that is Mars. Mars is in his own sign, on the cusp of one of the weakest houses of the chart, the 6th. Although Mars is in its own sign, being in the Sun's rays - combustion, which has no effect on the planet in its own sign, nevertheless the ability to dazzle is retained by the daytime luminary. The Sun does not rule any house and it plays no role other than descriptive. We can see at once that he is unlikely to listen to any argument or advice. Nevertheless, the work must be done.

The fact that Mars in the chart also represents the querent is irrelevant. The querent is important here only in the sense that because of him we have a question about the son, the ruler of the 5th house of the question chart. The question always takes precedence.

It is not a question of fine pastimes and leisure, which would correlate with the 5th house of pleasure. The crux of the question is not whether partying is harmful to the son, but whether it will all turn into some kind of addiction. It is no accident that beautiful Venus is the natural ruler of both the 5th and 12th houses - when our pleasures go to extremes, they become our addictions.

And therefore we must turn to the rulers of the 12th radical and turned houses, as the question is asked not about querent, but about another person and try to find the interrelation between the son of the querent and the rulers of these houses, if such interrelation will be in the given chart of the question. And these are Venus and Jupiter, the rulers of the 12th radical and turned houses, respectively.

We see, based on Venus receptions, that Venus harms Mars, being in the place of its detriment. Literally, the addiction harms her son. That Jupiter has no receptions to Mars is irrelevant. Nor does it matter whether Mars itself has receptions to Jupiter or Venus. And even though Mars is in triplicity of Jupiter and face of Venus, still, that can't describe more than what we already know from the context of the question. Even if it had no receptions at all, it would say nothing about whether or not this would develop into an addiction.

And here we come to the crux of the matter. The bottom line, which is, what happens if he continues? Because that is the free will for the son of the querent, at this stage, to stop or to continue. We won't see in every question chart of such questions that things are bound to get worse. But not in this case.

Mars, representing the querent's son in the chart, is in the 6th house - one of the weakest houses of the chart. What does this indicate? Does the querent's son possess a will? Or will he go with the flow, without any resistance? The latter, of course. In the context of the question we cannot ignore this. It is important precisely because of the context. He is weak-willed.

However, weak-willedness does not make the son dependent. Perhaps things will turn out so that he will naturally give up alcohol and other things, and take his head in his hands. Or it could remain as it is, without escalating into something worse. So what do we see? Mars is at the end of its sign, and it's getting ready to move into Taurus. And the important thing here is not so much that it will enter the place of its own detriment, but that it will enter the sign of Venus, who rules the 12th house of addictions, and will be under its control. In other words, we see that if he continues his lifestyle, the addiction will become permanent, for Taurus is a fixed sign.

The Moon aspect to Mars before his sign change should be ignored. The Moon is the co-significator of the querent, and it only reflects her emotional feelings about her son, nothing more. Even if there was no aspect at all, it would not mean that the querent is not worried about her son. Otherwise, why ask the question?

However, the Sun makes a conjunction to Mars before the end of the sign, and this plays a role. The Sun, on the one hand, could be the factor that prohibits Mars from moving into the sign of Taurus. Or, the Sun could also mean something else, which would only confirm our consideration and Mars' subsequent sign change. After all, Mars exalts the Sun. It is what is very important to Mars. What he puts on the pedestal of his life.

We must also consider the fact that Mars is in the house of its own joy. And it does not say that before us is a happy and optimistic person, but only that, in the context of this question, apparently these pleasures really bring him that feeling of euphoria, which makes him forget about work and plunge into night life. This may well be this symbolic Sun, the conjunction with which only confirms that this euphoria will take its course and turn into addiction. That's what we can say about the Sun.

So our answer was that if he didn't stop now, these pleasures would become his permanent addiction and the situation would become irreversible. Which is exactly what happened in the end.

The querent's son put pleasures above himself, his work and career, as well as the opinions of his loved ones. As a result, within a year he lost his job, and lived only thanks to the financial and other support of his mother. While addiction began to become more and more prominent in his life.

In 2015, the querent decided to go to a drug therapist to code her son from alcohol and other things. Once again, she asked us a question before this therapie. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the question chart itself was not saved for technical reasons - there is no possibility to restore it too, for the reason that we do not remember even the approximate date and the answer was not given by email. Nevertheless, we remember the essence.  We came to the conclusion that a drug therapist would not help her son to cope with his addiction, and we recommended to look for other options. Which is exactly what happened in the end. After a short period of time after the therapie her son started to fall back into all sorts of addictions again.

Will a hypnotherapist help?

Six years have passed since the last question. Querent has managed to remarry a wealthy businessman. Her son lived with them in their house for a while. However, her husband kicked him out of the house after a couple of years, as her son's addiction kept making itself felt, even though he had got a good job again. But, as before, the period of work was followed by a period of drunkenness, for 5-7 days, after which he came to his senses again and led a normal life. The son tried to overcome his addiction, but nothing came out of it. The addiction again and again made itself known and took over. As a result, they decided to try to ask a hypnotherapist for help, who would use hypnosis to code him from drinking alcohol.

It was when asking this question that the querent shared details about our previous answer about the drug therapist and also said that they had tried other doctors and specialists, but to no avail.

In September 2021, they were given a date for coding. The querent contacted us two weeks before the event, asking if coding with hypnosis would help her son. She also asked an additional question about whether her financial support for her son was contributing to his addiction, as she had given him several thousand Euros over the period of 2021. However, we will not deal with the last question, but will focus on the main thing - the hypnotherapist.

31.08.2021 16:02 (GMT +3), RIGA, LATVIA

This is a fairly simple chart to consider, as long as we understand exactly what we need to consider in this matter. The question before us is not so much about the addiction itself, nor is it about whether or not the son will get rid of it. Nor is it a question of the competence of the hypnotist - whether he is a good specialist or not. The querent is not making a choice between who she should turn to for help, who is more competent. We take it as a given that this specialist is really a master of his craft. Knowing the financial possibilities of the querent, she would not turn to some obscure specialist, who with the help of some obscure magical passes, prayers and other things, would get rid of her son from unknown things. However, this is not a guarantee of the fact that he will certainly help the son of the querent. After all, this is hypnosis, in which not only the power and knowledge of the hypnotist is important, but also the receptivity of the patient.

Where are we going with this? The point is that we must always understand the context of the question being asked. And the context is not so much whether the hypnotist is a good hypnotist or not, but is he able to influence her son and will he be receptive to that influence?

In other words, it is a question of receptions between the hypnotist and the son. And it is not the hypnotist to whom the querent constantly turns - the 7th house. But the one to whom she turns for the first time for help, an expert in his field - the 9th radical house. Not turned house, of course. So we need to consider the receptions between the 5th house ruler - the querent's son - and the 9th house ruler, the hypnotist.

Mercury rules the 9th house and is in Libra, ruled by Venus. Venus is the son of the querent, as it rules the 5th house of the question chart. Venus is in its own sign, and has no receptions to Mercury. In other words, Venus is immune to Mercury - son to the hypnotist. Will the hypnotist influence the son, even though Mercury seeks to help Venus by being in its sign? Of course not. Hence, the conclusion is that it would be better to look for someone else.

As with the previous answer, the querent did not take the advice. That is her free will, of course. However, this does not negate the fact that what we saw in the question chart turned out to be correct. The hypnotherapist was unable to influence the son of the querent.

Would treatment in a rehabilitation centre help?

It's been another three years. March 2024. The situation is even worse. If the querent had not been a wealthy woman, everything would have ended several years ago. It was only thanks to her support, including financial support, that her son's life continued in spite of everything.

According to the querent, the son began to drink very heavily. He had recently undergone a rehabilitation programme in one of the centres for addicts, where he stayed for one month. But after going through this programme, he snapped again. The querent began to think about putting her son back in the same clinic, but for a longer period of time, presumably a year, as the programme had this option. She decided to clarify for herself whether she should do this and whether a year's treatment at this rehabilitation centre would help her son if he was placed there? She also asked about travelling to India, thinking that a possible change of residence would help her son to change.

27.04.2024 20:50 (GMT +2), RIGA, LATVIA

Before proceeding, we need to understand the nature of the question. After all, as in the last chart, it is not so much a question of whether it is a good treatment centre or not. Although that point will play a role here too, descriptively. But the point is not so much about the centre, but whether the treatment at this centre will help her son. And that brings us to the turned 10th house of the chart, Mars. After all, it is her son's treatment. In other words, the crux of the matter is whether the treatment at this centre will help her son. We always need to be able to distinguish between what the question is really asking about and the words in which the question itself may clothe itself.

India, of course, will be represented by the ruler of the 9th house of abroad and that is Mercury.

The querent's son is Jupiter. And this tells us nothing about what he is like outwardly, in terms of his thinking or outlook. The context dictates the consideration of the question. And the context here tells us that it is important to consider whether a treatment or a trip abroad will help Jupiter, and whether Jupiter is able to accept their help.

Jupiter is in Taurus. The treatment programme is Mars, which is in the sign of Pisces. To begin with, we need to consider how good a treatment programme this is, and how receptive the son will be to it.

Mars is in its triplicity and in the sign of Jupiter. This suggests that the treatment is really quite good and they will do everything to help the son of the querent. This is a good thing. However, it doesn't mean that the son will be able to accept that help. Just because someone gives us a helping hand does not mean that we will accept it.

Jupiter is in the 8th house of the chart - one of the weakest houses. This tells us that he does not have the will to change things on his own. He is too weak.

Jupiter is in Taurus, where Mars (the planet of healing) is in its detriment. What does this tell us? Even though the treatment programme is really good and they will do their best to help the querent's son get rid of his addiction, it will have no effect on him, as he will be immune to the treatment and will reject it as well as its results, which means that he will not be able to get rid of his addiction with the help of this rehabilitation programme. He will revert back to addiction once he leaves the rehab centre.

Also, Jupiter is in the sign of Venus and Venus in this chart is addiction (it rules the 12th house of addiction, in the question chart). Given that Jupiter is in a fixed sign and in the sign of Venus, this indicates that the addiction has already become permanent, he is in its power and it is impossible to get rid of it. That's the truth. In his case it has gone too far.

Remember the very first chart above, where the son's planet was just about to enter the sign of the planet of addiction. In this chart you see the result - the result of a choice made over 10 years ago. The addiction has taken over and has become permanent. There's no getting rid of it. It has gone too far.

In addition to the above, on the cusp of the querent's son's house is Saturn, which rules his 12th turned house - the addiction in his life. It is something that is constantly weighing on his head. And furthermore, Venus, which is also in the chart signifying addiction, is within his house - it is what is in his head. Everything suggests that addiction is completely consuming him.

Given that the treatment is good, but he will not be receptive to it and that he is at the mercy of the addiction - and it is unchangeable - if the querent leave things as they are now, nothing good will happen. It will only get worse. Therefore, one should also consider the option of moving to India.

India in this chart is represented by Mercury, which rules the house of abroad. Mercury is in Aries - in the place of Jupiter triplicity, as we have a nocturnal chart. This suggests that India could have a positive influence on him and that is good. However, we must also consider if the son of the querent will be receptive to it and will not reject it as well, like treatment in a rehab centre.

Jupiter is in the 17th degree of Taurus, where he has neither positive nor negative receptions to Mercury - yes, he will not reject, but it will not benefit him either. He will not be influenced by India in a meaningful way. Thus, the trip cannot be called a panacea in this situation either - it will not change anything.

This is a case when the addiction has gone too far and has become permanent and he will have to live with it for the rest of his live. Alas, neither a rehabilitation centre nor a trip to India is of any use here. Even if he spends a year in a given rehab centre, he will still go back to what he is trying to cure himself of.

However, this does not mean that one should give up and do nothing. In the chart of the question, his planet is in conjunction with Uranus - a factor that cuts off all possibilities and limits everything. And it seems that the only way out in his case is either maximum restrictions in everything, or some place where everything will be very strictly limited. It's something to live for. It won't cure him and it won't get rid of his addiction. But it will prolong his life.

Perhaps this is all very enlightening from a charting perspective, in the sense that we are seeing the real astrology in action. But think about this - how does the mother feel when she asks questions about her addicted son? And how does the son, whose life is going downhill, feel? What we are saying is that in our work as astrologers, we must always remember that it is not so much planets and houses that we have in front of us, but people and their lives. And we have to realise this when we consider and answer such difficult life questions. Do you think it was easy for us to tell a mother that nothing could help her son? That things have gone so far that no doctors, no isolation, no travelling abroad will help? Think about it. How does it feel, seeing all this and knowing that we can't help but answer the question being asked, to tell such a truth? Where can we find the words to comfort the heart of a loving mother losing her son? Of course, we have said that even if we know the answer, we must not give up and we must not give up trying to help, even if we know that it is futile - because this is what the greatest role of a mother is all about. To be there even when there is no hope left. But what does it feel like to go through it yourself? This is something for us to think about, not so much as astrologers, but as human beings.

Well, as you can see, the reality of life is not as it is painted in books from the category ‘Change your own destiny’ or ‘Magic in you’. Sometimes reality is able to give a sledgehammer to the head of the one who stays in the pink clouds of his own illusions, continuing with the help of affirmations, visualisations and other things, to create castles from the air.

We would like to say that this is an isolated example in our practice where we see such a result. Alas, it is not. And while this is one of the most striking examples, it is nevertheless not the most tragic. The most tragic were two other examples, where the answers not only proved themselves over time, but also led to the most tragic results for addicted people - in one case it ended in death from addiction, in the other - suicide.

We would like to say that there is some magic recipe for the power to change what is unchangeable. But alas, there is no such recipe. And when we ask ourselves what we should believe - our own practical experience or the books mentioned above? We confidently answer ourselves - we believe in astrology. What about you?

AMY WINEHOUSE - REHAB

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