Balam the Cat listened to the sun as it slowly rose in the sky. It was a beautiful sight, and Balam felt a sense of warmth and happiness in its light. The sun was the heart of the solar system and the gravitational center of the travels of the earth and the other planets, and it was worshipped by humans for its role in creating life. Balam felt connected to the sun in a way that few other things in the world could. It symbolized the absolute power kings and despots yearn for and emulate, and its luminous aspects were usually associated with knowledge and consciousness. As a creator of life, the sun was related to the image of the mother and the influence of motherhood on an individual’s consciousness and ideals. Balam’s chart was strongly “solar” which meant that he identified very positively with motherhood. His personality was friendly, energetic, and creative with high ideals and a firm determination to accomplish them. He took his own superiority and authority over others for granted, and he had a natural ability to command the attention and admiration of an audience. He was a born leader who enjoyed being in the limelight and may behave somewhat theatrically or with dramatic exaggeration. He had definite artistic leanings, and the sense of his ideals was evident to him. If ill-directed, his deep aspirations may lead to such faults as egotism, selfishness, or greediness for power.

As one of the planets historically thought to be on the outer limits of the solar system (until the “modern” planets were discovered), Saturn has always been associated with the moon, itself a peripheral heavenly body because it belongs to Earth and not to the solar system. Consequently, both Saturn and the moon are aspects of a protection principle (the moon encompasses the earth in the same way as Saturn and its rings encompasses the solar system). Like the moon, Saturn rules a security/insecurity dialectic, but where the moon’s concerns the private, intimate aspects of the individual, Saturn influences social and collective security. Saturn can be thought of as the polar opposite of the moon (the archetype of the mother, but also of the child, and therefore related to orality). The god Saturn ate his children in order to reign and thus, represents the archetype of the mother (motherhood), the grandmother, and the sage (wisdom). The domination of Saturn thus indicates a maternal complex or, at least, an issue related either to the biological mother or to the symbolism of motherhood. This influence may result in a problem of identity and difficulties in aging which will make themselves evident in personal crises at every passage of this planet, every seven years—thus at the age of 7, at 14 or 15, and 21, 28, etc. Depending on the psychological context in which you are developing, you may overcome or overcompensate your identity complex and gradually acquire a strongly structured personality, or, conversely, remain in a state of immaturity which would probably be detrimental to your destiny.

As the moon orbits around the earth, it reflects the light of the sun. The moon is associated with the mother because it is a symbol of the female principle. This figure is a primordial element in the psyche of each individual. Depending on your nature, the mother figure may correspond to your biological mother, a grandmother, or a woman who cared for you in infancy and childhood. When you reach adulthood, this mother-figure and all the emotions and bonds associated with you may be transferred to something else: a spouse, a companion, an institution, a church, corporation, or political movement, a cult, etc. In short, any individual or structure likely to take on the mother’s duty of caring for and nurturing the vulnerable aspects of an individual. To be more down-to-earth, the mother figure corresponds to the habits which were learned and then definitively incorporated into the individual’s identity as you gradually became acculturated and progressed toward social independence. As a result, a strongly “lunar” personality often finds it difficult to adapt and is uncomfortable outside the secure setting of familiar routines. Closely tied to your past, you may be unwilling to detach yourself from it and embark on your life as an individual in the here and now. You still identify somewhat with your inner child and may display a child’s capricious behavior, indulging in moodiness and indecision. Your passivity may make you easily influenced, your sensitivity makes you subjective, and you hesitate to open up and lay your soul bare. In your daily life, psychic activity will rule. Your imagination, memory, sensitivity, sensation, and sentiment nearly overwhelm your psyche.

Balam the Cat looks up at the tenth house and sees the planet which rules your sign there.

Balam the Cat gazed up at the North Node, the gateway into the tenth house. The North Node could be opposed to its partner, the South Node, the lowest point on the map of the sky. As the highest point, it symbolized Balam’s elevation, his social position. Though he was sure to derive some power from his social eminence, he also had duties to fulfill. When this area was the site of significant activity, it did not mean that he would automatically have a high social eminence. It meant that he would invest a great deal of energy in acquiring a form of social power. Because the energy was somewhat vague, he would have to become aware of the various desires, needs, and ideals which were motivating and inspiring him. As a result, he would probably become conscious of how closely his social destiny was linked to his family’s reputation. Indeed, all he could give society was what he had managed to make of himself from the raw material he received from his background.

Balam the Cat understands the general meaning of this fact.