Information on the Fixed Stars

Going beyond the planets! (well, there are a couple new planets at the end)

Mark Dodich is fascinated by the Fixed Stars, those heavenly bodies that make up the constellations that inspire awe (when we finally get a clear sky in western Oregon!). The ancients have had a love affair with the stars since the beginning of time. Also see new planet information at the bottom of this page.

Modern astrology deals with the study of our solar system’s planets. This study is relatively new, having been done for only the past 4,500 years ( or much longer, if interpretation of cave paintings of zodiac signs show the early roots of sky watchers).

The stars are termed "Fixed Stars" because they do not appear to move, as compared to the planets that appear to continually wander the sky. Meanings and positions of some fixed stars are at the bottom of this page.

Ancient Egyptians worshiped the star Sirius (Isis) as its July rising brought fertility to the land through the flooding of the Nile River. An ancient African tribe called the Dogon knew that the star Sirius was a binary star (twins) long before the discovery of telescopes confirmed what the Dogon already knew.

And where would modern religion or the Christmas holiday retail business be without three wise astrologers called the Magi?

New technology makes the study of these ancient stars practical. It is now easier to add the stars to your natal chart because we are able to calculate the stars that are personally significant to you

Updated and Expanded Offering: YOUR PERSONAL FIXED STAR REPORT IS NOW AVAILABLE: $50 This report consists of three components. 1) A computer generated written report that explains the most significant fixed stars based upon your personal natal chart. The information adds an interesting dimension to your birth chart and is an easy read. With this report, you can look at the night sky with new vision. 2) This part includes a map of your region or country (USA, Europe, etc.). The map does require accurate birth time. Similar to the Earthlines (AstroCartoGraphy) maps shown on this web site, but showing star lines at significant location. You simply look at the letter on the end of each line then look up a few sentences about the star (or you can purchase the Fixed Star book by B. Brady through the internet or a metaphysical bookseller.) This section requires just a bit more effort on your part, but still does not require astrological knowledge. 3) This section really does require some astrological knowledge and abilities. There is a print out of stars that were aligned with your chart. There are directions with the printout, where you look up keywords for the meaning of the star and the meaning of the planet, then combine the meanings. As I say, this section is a bit more difficult and non-astrologers tend to find it to be too much.

NOTE: this fixed star package is good for life. It is priced at a low cost because some of the information may not be useable by non-astrologers. One of these days, I shall do a more extensive write up to help non-astrologers. For now, enjoy the lower price. You will look upon the stars and know that certain stars have special meaning for you. Please not that this report is not like the Individual Astrology Report located elsewhere in this web site. The Fixed Star Report does not tell you about transiting cycles in your life for the year ahead. A Fixed Star Report adds dimension to a natal, planetary astrology consultation. It does not replace natal astrology. If you love to look at a starry night, you will enjoy this report. Provide: name, birth date, birth place, birth time (accurate time is important for the map to be accurate, but isn't as important for sections 1 & 3). Send a check for $36 per report (international mail, please add $4) to Mark Dodich, PO Box 16267, Portland, OR 97292-0267 USA

Study the Stars with astrologer Mark Dodich:

Learning about the meaning of the stars helps you expand your perception beyond the limitations of our solar system. New stars will be added below from time to time. Also click on the stars listed in the left column for more information.

Much of the ancient information on the stars was lost, buried under layers of dust, or destroyed by crazy religious people in places like the burning of the library in ancient Alexandria. Emerging research on the stars is one of the hottest niche growth areas in modern astrology. The information contained in this section was taken from a variety of sources. The best place to start your research into the stars is Bernadette Brady’s “Book of Fixed Stars.”

Your personal FIXED STAR REPORT is also available to you. It is described in the paragraphs above. The report is valuable to you because it gives you the opportunity to look at stars that have a personal effect on you (rather than getting lost in the infinite star possibilities).

A few years ago, I did a star research project by applying stars to an AstroCartoGraphy® Map (see EARTHLINES™ on this web site). The results showed that most people totally resonated with the stars. Some participants thought it was interesting but wondered if it had practical application to their daily life, and only one really thought it was a waste of time and money.

This latter person was at a place in life where she could not see beyond her attachment to the transitory material pursuits of mundane life. If it wasn't’t going to make her rich or satisfy her romantic longings, what use was it? It turned out that she was under the influence of the bright Pleiades star, Alcyone. Stars in fuzzy-looking clusters like the Pleiades often provide lessons in vision (blindness) or higher vision (seeing beyond the illusion of life in the material world).

Alcyone, located near Orion at 30 degrees Taurus, represents lessons in non-judgment and higher vision. Upon learning about this placement in her chart, the research participant went into a highly judgmental diatribe about the uselessness of fixed stars. Her excessively judgmental attitude regarding this star placement was demonstrating the negative side of the very trait that Alcyone was trying to instill in her.

Although it would be nice to end this example with a positive result, the truth is that learning about this star placement was just the initial catalyst to begin the lesson in non-judgment. The lesson is that each person must relate to the vibration of the stars in their own way, and at their own place and time.

A personal example relates to a “pot of gold” job I accepted in Alaska. I was under the influence of the star Procyon (Orion’s second dog), which also was near my natal Uranus (sudden and unexpected changes). Procyon represents opportunities that do not last long. Six months after moving to Alaska, the financial pot of gold disappeared. The beauty of this is that after Procyon, comes Sirius (Isis). She transforms the mundane into the sacred – not always a pleasant process. Alaska became my first full time experience as an astrologer and metaphysician. Although the process quickly changed my perception of reality, it helped me to release a corporate reality to seek a higher level of soul expression. It led me to know all of you!

Bernadette Brady’s “Book of Fixed Stars” is the primary book used for the information on the fixed stars here, but also check out books by Alice Bailey for esoteric interpretations. If you would like a full consultation on your fixed stars, I would suggest checking out the links page off the Bio tab-for Diana Rosenberg who is very good at understanding the stars.

Eris, Sedna, and more

New bodies at the outer edge of our solar system.

Although the following bodies are not fixed stars, this seemed like a good place to give you information on them. We are not sure what to call these new discoveries. They have been called new planets, dwarf planets, scattered disk objects, trans-neptunian objects, Kuiper Belt objects, planetoids, and plutoids.

Whatever you call them, they are newly discovered. Although it will be a long time before we understand the meanings of these bodies in astrology, it is important to recognize that new bodies being discovered means that our consciousness is opening to new levels of understanding. Until the research can be done, astrologers often use the myth associated with the naming of the body to better understand the nature of the energy- subject to change, of course! Although myth is a good starting point to research new planetary energies, you need to be careful in making broad statements about these new energies. But here is something to get your started:

Eris used to be called UB313 and was under the temporary name of Xena (like the Warrior Princess television show). Eris has a lot to do with jealousy and envy. In mythology, she was not invited to a wedding, so she crashed it. One story goes that she threw a beautiful apple into a circle of goddesses with the phrase 'the fairest' written into it. The beautiful women goddesses got into a battle because each wanted the apple to claim that they were the fairest. This ruined the wedding.

The moon that orbits Eris is called Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris. She represents the spirit of lawlessness. Note: this shows the humor of astronomers. The temporary name of Eris was Xena (the warrior princess TV show) who was played by actress Lucy Lawless, so the humor is that they named the moon of Eris as the goddess of lawlessness (no one claims that astronomers have a good sense of humor- after all, they stay up all night in the solitude of only having their telescopes and incoming radio waves to talk to).

According to author Zane Stein, there were two Eris myths. One is the disruptive story about how she was always stimulating humans to war. In a more positive myth, she stimulated healthy competition.

Because the orbital period of Eris is almost 557 years, she spends a long time in a zodiac sign. For people born after 1930, she is in Aries in your natal chart. Prior to 1930, she was in Pisces.

You can place Eris in your natal chart by finding the approximate degrees of Eris below. Just find the segment (house) of your chart containing the sign Aries and plug it in. For example, Monica Lewinsky had Eris placed on her 7th house cusp of marriage. So the energy of jealousy and envy on her place of partnership was almost aligned with her natal placement of Mars (men) and opposite her natal Uranus (unexpected disruptions). At the time the oral sex affair was made public, Eris was aligned with Monica's Mars-Uranus planetary pattern. Bill Clinton was born with Eris in his 7th house of marriage and on the opposite side of the sky of his natal Neptune (illusion, deception) and Venus (women, marriage). At the time the affair was made public, Eris was exactly opposite Chiron (wounded healer). Whether Bill Clinton's already existing wounds came to the surface, or if he was wounded through the affair, I shall leave for you to decide. In Hillary's chart, Eris falls opposite Neptune (deception).

Degrees of Eris in Aries: Born 1930-1941: 1-5 degrees; Born 1941-1952: 5-8; Born 1952-1962: 8-11; Born 1962-1974: 11-14; Born 1974-1987: 14-17; Born 1987-1999: 17-19; Born: 1999-2008: 19-21; Born 2008-2017: 21-23 degrees.

Sedna is an Inuit sea goddess. It is slightly smaller than Pluto at a diameter of 1800 km and was discovered on March 15, 2004 by Cal tech and Yale's astronomers. She has a highly elliptical orbit and an extremely long orbital period of 10,500-12,000 years (Pluto's orbit is approximately 248 years). She is the first arctic name to find its way into the stars. (The first Native American myth to make it into the stars is Quaoar).

Although it is difficult to discern the meaning of an orbiting body with such a long orbit, the mythology surrounds father issues and Creation. It is a long story, but a much shortened one is that beautiful Sedna lived with her widowed father who wanted to marry her to an eligible suitor. Sedna was stubborn and argumentative, and jumping ahead, she woke up the next morning pregnant by a dog. There are lots of animals in Sedna stories. Banished to an island with her dog husband, the dog died on the sea journey due to a bag of heavy rocks he was required to carry by Sedna's enraged father. She also hid her dog-human children in a boot and sent them out to sea to protect them from her father, and these children became the ancestors of Native American and white people. The father has remorse, brings her home, only to have her seduced again and taken to another island by a handsome man- who is soon found to be a trickster raven. When she gets to the island and finds that the warm furs and other lush promises turned out to be a barren island, she cries and screams her unhappiness. The father hears her lament and rescues her in his kayak. The raven realizes that she is missing and flies out to them now in deep water. His wings rip up such a furry in the water, that the father throws Sedna out of the boat to save himself. She holds onto the boat while in the water, so he cuts off her finger tips which become whales and seals. She then became a mermaid-like figure to watch out over the water creatures of the arctic.

So somewhere in this abbreviated story is a possible hint as to the meaning of Sedna. Certainly, she had a St. Francis-like protector of animals, as well as creating them with her finger tips. There is also the battle of wills between father and daughter (father can also perhaps be seen as god, and daughter as the feminine).

The placement of Sedna for actor Jon Voight lands near the wounded healer Chiron, philosophical Jupiter, and mother-oriented moon in the chart of daughter Angelina Jolie. She is estranged from him and was quoted as no longer wanting a relationship with her father. In singer Madonna's birth chart, Sedna lands on her karmic south node in her 8th house of sex. Just what is true is hard to say with her, but she has certainly made some rude jokes, or true comments, about her relationship with her father.

Sedna was in Pisces in the 1920's until 1934. In 1934, she moved into Aries. On May 13/14, 1966, she moved into Taurus. In 2023, she moves into Gemini.

Following are approximate degree placements for Sedna: 1934 - 18 Aries; 1945 - 22 Aries; 1953 - 24 Aries; 1960 - 27 Aries; 1965 - 29 Aries. May 1966- Sedna enters Taurus at 0 degrees; 1970 = 1 Taurus; 1974 - 3 Taurus; 1980 - 5 Taurus; 1985 - 8 Taurus; 1990 - 11 Taurus; 1995 - 13 Taurus; 2000 - 16 Taurus; 2007 - 20 Taurus; 2009 - 21 Taurus; 2012 - 23 Taurus; 2014 - 24 Taurus. Sedna enters Gemini in 2023.