the-astrology-book

Homosexuality and Astrology
sonal Astrology in her hometown of Zutphen. In 1996, she organized an international
astrology conference in Amsterdam (at the now extinct Oibibio Centre) after having
organized with Tees Reitsma of Astrokring many spiritual astrology workshops
between 1988 and 1993.
From 1997 to 1999, Hoen had her own national spiritual and astrology radio
program on Q Radio until the station had to stop because of a lack of funds. In 1998
she started email courses in astrology. She is the vice president for the Netherlands
branch of the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR) and she edits its
weekly email newsletter. She is a freelance astrologer for the Dutch health magazine
Sante and provides chart interpretations for a weekly television program.
Hoen also has a busy consulting practice and has done thousands of charts.
She conducts spiritual master classes in astrology in a nature resort with students and
astrologers from all over the Netherlands and Belgium. She lectures in Europe and the
United States and taught at the Faculty of Astrological Studies in the summer of
2002. Her take on astrology is spiritual and is influenced by Dane Rudhyar’s and
Alexander Ruperti’s approach.
HOMOSEXUALITY AND ASTROLOGY
The treatment of homosexuality in astrology has tended to reflect the social conditions
and the attitude toward homosexuals at the time. Ptolemy, the father of Western astrology,
very matter-of-factly mentions patterns that distinguish homosexuals from heterosexuals
in his classic work Tetrabiblos. If Venus (the ruler of romantic relationships) and
Jupiter precede the Sun in a man’s chart, and if the former two planets also aspect Mars
(the ruler of passion), then he will be sexually interested only in other males. If, on the
other hand, Mars and Venus are in masculine signs in a woman’s chart, she will be
inclined to lesbianism. In another place, Ptolemy notes that links between Mercury
(corresponding to the Greek Hermes) and Venus (Greek Aphrodite) indicates an
attraction to young men. This interpretation may have been suggested by the joining of
the Greek names of these two planets, which results in Hermaphroditos.
By way of contrast, astrologers who matured during a period of time when society
viewed homosexuality as a behavior disorder tend to attribute interest in the same
sex to certain afflictions in a horoscope. Charles E. O. Carter, an important astrologer
of the early twentieth century, discussed homosexuality under the heading “Immorality
(Sexual)” in his Encyclopedia of Psychological Astrology. Carter saw the key to homosexuality
in Uranus (ruler of, among other traits, eccentricity) and Neptune (ruler of,
among other characteristics, secrets, deception, and hidden things). A native with a
poorly aspected Uranus, particularly when Venus was involved, was thought to be a
prime candidate.
As homosexuality has acquired a more acceptable position on the sexual landscape,
astrological speculations that attributed same-sex preference to difficult aspects
and unfavorable placements have been quietly put aside. The contemporary astrological
community is highly tolerant of unconventional sexual orientations, and there
now exist sun-sign guides to love and romance expressly for homosexuals (e.g.,
[322] THE ASTROLOGY BOOK