We are born looking through a prism. Each culture shades our perception so completely we see with different eyes. As a westerner, eastern culture seems hivish. A swarm of people that organize themselves around a single point like the queen bee and her court. A billion people all seemingly working together as a single organism organized around a single individual who serves as the focal point. It boggles the mind that anyone would be able to tolerate the monotony, poverty and biological sterility of that life. From the outside, the Virgo zodiac sign seems gray and dull but inside the Pisces kaleidoscope is there. Virgo is mutable earth and is primarily about creating heaven on earth. You have to keep that in mind to understand Virgo and the people who choose to undertake its gifts and challenges.
The Inauguration horoscope of the Forbidden City tells a tale of China. It was the home of 24 emperors and only ceased enclosing an emperor in 1924. Underneath the modern horoscopes of Communist China, there is this 600 year old horoscope based on Virgo. Although I could not find a time source, the horoscope is for the moment of the new moon, 7:37 pm. Conversely, a secondary time would be Polaris conjunct the Midheaven at 7:54 pm. For an important event inaugurating a palace for an earthly emperor designed to mimic the palace of the celestial emperor, it is highly likely both events would have featured in the ceremonies. Christopher Columbus seventy years later would correct for the circle the pole star made at that time. A star representing a celestial emperor who circles a small space around the polar point. The Forbidden City may well represent that small circle that for generations had drawn ever closer to the polar point. We have only 200 years until the north pole begins to shift away from Polaris. In 3000, another star will be closer to the pole than Polaris and there won’t be a north pole star.
The cosmology had its limits. There is an emperor enclosed much like a queen bee in a hive and then there was everyone else. The women of the imperial court have one overarching role and that is to provide the missing fertility that the emperor lacks. Unlike a queen bee, who controls all fertility in the hive until she is battled to death by a virgin queen, the Chinese have ordered the imperial society around a natural organization that is not supported by human biology. Men can’t produce children and are ill equipped to be the queen bee. With the entire horoscope represented by a Virgo Ascendant and a stellium including the Sun, Moon and south node in Virgo’s natural home the 6th house, China has a strong Virgoan prism.
The Cancer Jupiter in the 10th house represents The Emperor. The 10th house, Capricorn’s natural home, is a place of status, the title and the position. It would be seen best in the throne room. He is The Emperor who is ruled by his mother represented by Cancer. As an individual man, he is also the 22° Sun. As emperor his partner is the 5° Capricorn Venus. The Sabian symbol is “indians on a warpath, while some men row a well-filled canoe, others in it perform a war dance.” Young ladies being aggressive and showy in an attempt to gain the emperor’s notice. Be he ever so humble, this was it, there only chance to make good on their ambitions. The Capricorn zodiac sign is mastery, status and experience. Venus represents attractive women. These women were high status and ambitious for further advancement. For some emperors, the palace women were in a status system that had more than fifteen ranks. If you ever watch The Tudors, there is a scene where Henry VIII is surrounded by women who are sitting on a throne and they begin pushing each other off until more than one is sitting there. It is a visual of status seeking with an edge. It is also Libran passive aggression. Venus wants to conquer the emperor but how to do this and remain attractive. There beside the Capricorn Venus is the 1° Capricorn Ceres. These were the women who were successful and gave birth to a child. The Sabian symbol is “an indian chief claims power from the assembled tribe.” Ceres is a single mother raising her child without a husband but she claim’s power and prestige by producing an heir. The emperor was not her husband. Ceres was not married or supported by Jupiter although they had a child.
The mother of the emperor and mother of the future emperor are both shown by the 22° Aquarius Moon. She is allied with the Sun embarking on a new journey. The women as the vessel that produced an heir gives way to the image of the powerful mother and grandmother. The symbol is “a rug is placed on the floor of a nursery to allow children to play in comfort and warmth”. There in the 8th house of inheritance is the male heir, the Taurus Mars. He is the son of Ceres taken into Pluto’s palace recesses to undergo his transformation into the next emperor. His grandmother emerges as Pluto in the 10th near her son, the Jupiterian emperor. The Sun and Moon are connected to the Aries Juno. This is the empress.
The archetypal image of Virgo is Persephone and she may not have even had a child. The zodiac sign Virgo has an element of sterility by mischance. The entire Chinese imperial system is an eastern interpretation of the archetype of Virgo. The western version is monasteries and convents another place where celibacy and sterility are hallmarks. The imperial court is a mix of the two. Thousands of people were required to feed the monastic life within the walls. There were children but they were very few compared to the number of adults. Women were called on to sublimate their natural biology to form a family and instead cultivate the emperor and produce a society that resembled the spinning of a far away star whose best earthly analogy was a beehive. This was literally Virgo modeling mutable earth in the shape of heaven.