theforensicastrologer

On the next level, you then discern what houses these rulers are placed in and discover what signs rule the cusps of these houses.  It is through these layers of planets, houses and aspects that you can fathom the chart as a whole.  For instance, you see that Aries is rising and Mars rules Aries.  In turn, Mars is placed in the sixth house in the sign Virgo.  Mars is disposed of by Mercury, which is placed in Pisces in the twelfth house.  Here you have cadent houses that take on importance in the chart through placements of dispositors.  This scenario gives importance not only to Mars, Mercury, the sixth and twelfth houses but also the rulers of the twelfth and sixth houses.  In this case, this means Neptune and Mercury and you must check out the aspects that may exist between these two planets, where they are placed and what planets also dispose of them.  I know this is a lot of layers and it gets complicated in the reading process, but it’s necessary to get all the information you can from the chart.  In a great many charts, the answer to your question isn’t obvious and it isn’t easy to find.

Sometimes you find the answers in a secondary relationship between planets and rulers.  This is especially true when the case you are studying involves several people, travel over distances, many days or uncertain times.  Leapfrogging from one planet to another based on their relationship can often shed light in areas that might go missed.  Aspects between planets and their dispositors are also enlightening.  Also consider that planets placed in a house can have aspects to the rulers of the house in question or have dispositors placed in aspect with angular rulers.  All of these influences would have importance in the story.  But more often than not you will consider everything I have covered and end up getting the story from a few simple placements.  This was true of the case I did not long ago on Julie Backstrom.  The planets were real plain, simple and in the foreground.  I did not need to venture into other levels in order to find answers.

An example of a case that I had to jump around through dispositors and house rulers and a great many aspects was the Haleigh Cummings disappearance.  The chart did not have a clear story to tell, the picture was not clear and, in fact, was muddled by many placements, aspects and dispositions that were in conflict.  When you have a chart like that one, that has so many conflicting elements, then you have to resort to counting them out to find the answer.  What I mean is this:  If 3 aspects say she ran away and 5 say she was abducted then you can go with abduction.  Perhaps the person was with her abductor willingly at first and then had to be forced later on when she changed her mind.  It will be up to you to weigh the various aspects against each other, determining the rulerships along the way, to discover which planets and aspects are stronger and more precedent.

Rulerships are important because they tell you which planets are strongest and which aspects matter in the chart.  Mars in Aries is in exaltation so it outweighs Venus in Scorpio, which is in fall.  Venus in Taurus, as another example, would outweigh Neptune in Virgo.  So in this regard rulerships are important because they allow you to isolate the most influential planets and therefor consider their aspects more gravely than others.  Remember, though, that rulerships of the angles is a more important consideration than the rulerships of planets in other houses, even if they are dispositors.  So the first house ruler is the most important placement in regards to the subject; the fourth house ruler is the most important placement in regards to her location; the seventh house ruler is the most important placement in regards to her relationships (including with her abductor); and the tenth house ruler is most important in regards to authorities, parents and the public in the matter at hand.