Time for another the Ask the Astrologer question! Once or twice a month, I answer a question in a way that aligns with what you might hear in an actual astrological consultation. This is not your usual advice column, and not your usual astrology column, either.

This feature has been running on the first of the month, until now. Due to a focus on some other things in my life, I put it on hiatus from November 1st until mid December. I currently have enough letters in the queue to run this as a bimonthly feature through mid January, or until March as a monthly feature. If you would like to see it continue, please send me a question! See the end of this post for how to submit.

I have a natural aptitude for sports, especially football (aka soccer) and I'm pretty hard working when I get down to it. Even after long hiatuses, I can still play much better than the people around me. Now, I wonder which placements in my chart help me with that. Could it be my Mars/Venus mutual reception in the 9th and 10th houses? Or maybe my Sun in Aries in the 8th house? My Leo rising? Pluto in my 5th house in Sagittarius, aspecting both my Venus and Mars? Maybe Mars being so close to the midheaven? If any of these show my natural aptitude in sports, or maybe even pursuing a career in it, I'd like to know.

I'd also be fascinated to know if there’s anything in my chart that could help me achieve fame/recognition or wealth. - Giovanne

Every placement you mentioned helps with your aptitude in sports. Aries loves challenges and competition and needs to be active. Sports are a natural outlet for Aries energy. 

Your Venus and Mars are indeed in mutual reception--that is, in each other’s signs. Mars rules Aries, Venus rules Taurus, and you have Mars in Taurus and Venus in Aries. Venus in Aries is a tomboy, not the elegant lady, generous earth mother, or effusive lover she would be in other signs. Taurus tamps down the firecracker energy of Mars, making him slower to act or react, in contrast to most other signs, where Mars would be highly impulsive and reactive (the extent to which the person would be impulsive and reactive depends on many other factors besides sign placement). 

Having them in each other’s signs--mutual reception, in astro speak--allows you to tap easily into the gifts of both Venus and Mars, even though neither of them is in a sign that best showcases its traits. It’s a little like having two domiciled planets, only easier: planets in mutual reception know they need each other and don’t vie for dominance. They are natural team players. With no internal conflict, you get both the competitive energy of Mars, with Taurus’s physicality and willingness to work hard when you get down to something, and the grace and magnetism of Venus, bursting with the go-getter energy of active Aries.

Mars being at your midheaven, and Venus ruling it, gives them both say over your public image and your career. Right now, at the age of 17, you are known as a sports star, at least to your peers. If you continue with soccer, you may become known that way to your wider community, or your region, or who knows, maybe the world. Quite possibly, either way of being known would fulfill your desire to be famous. If you become a professional player, the career meaning of the midheaven also applies. And if you don’t become a professional player, or if you do but later change careers, Venus and Mars will still describe your career, just in a different way.

Pluto is a whole other topic. Due to space constraints, I won’t say much about it, but Pluto in a natal chart has everything to do with the native’s relationship to power. I expect you wield a lot of power, probably unconsciously: your Pluto forms mostly easy aspects (trines to your Venus and ascendant) and is conjunct your south node (not shown in the chart, but it’s opposite the north node; south node represents deeply unconscious ways of being and expectations you brought into this life). Quite possibly, your Pluto is at the root of your desire for fame and fortune (fame and wealth are forms of power, and therefore Plutonian themes), but there are also other parts of your chart that likely play a part.

Your Leo ascendant and Leo Moon, with powerful Pluto and magnetic Venus trine that Leo ascendant, pretty well guarantee that you draw attention to yourself, and that you strongly desire recognition (Moon represents your deepest desires). Leo is the performer of the zodiac. As a sports star, you perform on the field and receive accolades. That feeds the Leo in you.

You also have all of your planets above the horizon (top half of the chart) except Pluto and Neptune. The more planets you have above the horizon, the more likely it is that you feel a need for your life events and achievements to be recognized by others. Combine that with the Leo Moon and ascendant and Pluto being a strong force in your chart, and it’s natural that you thrive on the recognition you get for being better at soccer than anyone else. It’s natural that you want to be rich and famous. Your chart doesn’t tell us whether you’ll ever be rich and famous or not--that depends on your circumstances and what you do with them--but it shows what’s driving that desire. 

There’s one more ace to turn over, and it explains why you’re so good at sports so young and so effortlessly. You have a couple of planetary trines in the fire signs: the Pluto/Venus trine* that you noticed, and a trine between your early Aries Sun and early Leo Moon. They’re both separating trines. That means that at the moment of your birth, each of those trines had already perfected, reaching the moment when the planets involved were exactly 120 degrees apart, and had started to move on.

A trine is smooth flowing energy. Planets in trine “want” the same thing and work together effortlessly. Trines in the natal chart represent gifts you were born with. They’re what comes to you effortlessly. When the trines are in fire signs, the gifts they bring you are talents, and opportunities to use and develop those talents, for active and expansive kinds of things. Sports fit the bill.

If your trines had been applying--that is, had not yet reached the exact 120 degree mark at the moment of your birth--your talent would have taken somewhat longer to fully manifest. You probably would have been good at sports at a young age, but still with room for improvement. An applying trine is a gift in the process of being given. A separating trine is a gift that’s already been received and opened. With your fire sign trines being separating trines, you have already received your full gift for sports. It has fully manifested, early in your life. You are already at your peak. 

So, if you want a career in sports, now is the time to pursue it. If you’re going to be a star, it will happen while you’re still young (between now and, probably, your early to mid twenties). Later, you may still be good, but you won’t be getting much better, and there might come a time when you no longer find it challenging enough. Aries tends to need fresh challenges. In fact, since you mentioned long hiatuses, I wonder if you already find it not challenging enough. 

Professional athletes usually retire young enough to have a second career, and your chart shows great potential for other kinds of careers that could make use of your gifts and your desire to be well known. But that is another reading. Please get back in touch when you’re ready to consider an additional career. It would also be great to have an update in a few years on how soccer has gone for you.

*Pluto and Venus also trine his ascendant. The Venus trine to the ascendant is applying, while the Pluto trine is separating. An aspect to the ascendant is a bit different from an aspect between planets. It may play a part in the native’s physical appearance, overall presentation, and how they’re perceived by others, but it wouldn’t have much, if anything, to do with their talents. For that reason, I’m focusing on the trines between planets for the purpose of exploring his gift for sports.

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