This blog started with small daily paintings then changed to a more personal sharing of projects, events and photos. Enjoy!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Magnetic Astrology Wheel

I made a few of these magnetic astrology wheels years ago. I was trying to make sense of how to read a birth chart. There were layers of overlapping components all with meanings that changed depending on their placement...the houses, the constellations, the planets, the aspects...

This wheel comes apart. I screwed a dowel into the center of a pizza pan and painted the pan the night sky. Next comes the natural placement of the houses--I drew a design on the houses to show what each represents. The clear acetate comes next with the band of constellations of the zodiac. This can be turned to line up your ascendant. The planets which include the sun and moon are glued onto magnets--these of course are movable so the whole thing can become any one's birth chart or natal wheel.

After making this, I was just as confused as ever. There was too much info--too many symbols. Also this couldn't be accurate as in some charts have bigger houses depending on where the person was born, so after aligning the ascendant, the other signs were often off in their house placements. I wanted to show the aspects too, (the angular relationships between the planets), but that would have been too cluttered! I like this wheel though and had fun designing it.
I'll be posting about the painted natal wheels I've been working on soon.
Today's revisited painting is, 'Hollister Peak with Venus Rising'

3 comments:

martha miller said...

I LOVE THIS!!!!! xox

Susan Beauchemin said...

Oh thanks Martha, hadn't you seen this before?

jason said...

pretty cool!