Deon Mitchell

@astrobydeon
astrobydeon.com
AGENDA

Gender in Western Highlighting the Gaps

Astrology Shortcomings with the gender binary
A brief look at some well-known and their patriarchal implications
astrology texts and their use of gender

The Future is Agender Final Considerations

Why an agender approach to If no gender, then what?
astrology is the future of the tradition
 01
GENDER IN
WESTERN
ASTROLOGY
The Hellenistic View

The two luminaries being in male signs while

Venus, being female, and the ascendant are
opposite, compel women to delight in male deeds–
a great marvel; for, being mad for women, they
marry with difficulty with regard to painful sexual
intercourse.

The Moon entering into female places, being

opposite the Sun and the Ascendant, will produce a
man in name only, but a female in all respects,
having all the shameful acts and intercourse of a
woman.

The ‘Apotelesmatika’ of Manetho, Robert Lopilato, 1998

The Medieval View

We may not call [Mercury] either

masculine or feminine, for he is either the
one or the other as joined to any planet;
for if in conjunction with a masculine
planet, he becomes masculine; if with a
feminine, then feminine…

Christian Astrology, Volume I, 1647

The Traditional View

This division [of sexes] is useful mainly for

determining the sex of babies or thieves.
It can be helpful when we need to
distinguish between various options, as
in “Which of these candidates should I
employ?” In such questions, we must find
a way to distinguish the various
candidates, so a division by sex may help.

The Horary Textbook, 2005

The Modern View

For years, we’ve contended that men and women of the same astrological
sign are actually different signs. Most astrology books lump males and
females together, while those that do have never fully explored the
distinctions between the so-called sex signs or even so much as ventured
to explain why it is they are, as is so often the case, markedly unlike each
other. We maintain that astrology must factor in the great divide between
the sexes, that the energies that comprise the signs filter through the
opposite sexes as through prisms, separate and unique from one another.

STELLA STARSKY & QUINN COX

Sextrology: The Astrology of Sex and the Sexes, 2003
 02

HIGHLIGHTING
THE GAPS
 The Problem with the Hellenistic View

THE PROBLEM
✘ Unabashed
homophobia
✘ Misogynistic
connotations
✘ Gender non-conforming
behavior as negative
 The Problem with the Medieval View

THE PROBLEM

✘ Gender
normalizing
of Mercury
 THE PROBLEM
The Problem with the Traditional View

✘ Inability to account
for the sex spectrum
✘ Potential for
“clocking”
✘ Sex as a contribution
to a value judgment
 The Problem with the Modern View

THE PROBLEM
✘ Assumptions are
inherent to gender-
based distinctions
✘ “great divide
between the sexes”
✘ Enforced rigidity
regarding gender
stereotypes
✘ Prisms analogy*

* we’ll return to this later

 03

THE FUTURE
IS AGENDER
 Agender identity doesn’t exist yet in
astrology.
“But what about Mercury?”

“But I acknowledge non-binary

folks in my work!”

“But there are plenty of

astrologers who don’t use
gender in their interpretations!”
The masculine/feminine
polarity is no longer helpful

Gender identity ≠
gender expression

Gender in astrology is
dependent on culture
 ✧ Element
✧ Modality
✧ Sect*
✧ Planetary ruler
✧ Temperature
✧
MASC/FEM?
Humidity
✧ Role in essential dignity
scheme
WHO NEEDS IT? ✧ Significations
✧ Sect*
✧ Domiciles
✧ Distance from Earth
✧ Speed
✧ Angularity
* we’ll talk about this next
LET’S TALK ABOUT SECT, BABY

! Sect still maintains a

binary and it’s more
practical to use
! Associations and
discrepancies between
sect and gender
 IF HE WAS A IF SHE WAS “LIKE
“CHAD” OTHER GIRLS”

♀ I haven’t read a
book since high
♃ Being a king is school
my birthright ♀ Not pregnant
♃ Men are just eating good
supposed to ♀ Libraries
take what’s wouldn’t match
“theirs” my Insta layout
♃ Communes are
for women
LET’S TALK ABOUT SECT, BABY
! Sect still maintains a
binary and it’s more
practical to use
! Associations and
discrepancies between
sect and gender
! Gender assignments of
the malefics
BINARY SUBSTITUTES
FOR GENDER
Anna Joy quote

“What people traditionally define as feminine in

astrology is a receptive energy,” they explain. “And what
people traditionally define as masculine is an outward-
going energy.” Traditional conceptions of “masculine”
and “feminine” can be alienating, they say, “not only to people
on the queer spectrum, gender identity-wise, but also to people who
don’t experience womanhood as something receptive. Maybe they
experience their womanhood as something that’s direct and action-
taking — and why should that be a masculine concept?”

ANNA JOY, Host of The Queer Witch Podcast

 Gender identity
GENDER
One's innermost concept of self as male,
female, a blend of both or neither – how
individuals perceive themselves and what

IDENTITY they call themselves.

ISN’T GENDER Gender expression

EXPRESSION
External appearance of one's gender
identity, usually expressed through behavior,
clothing, haircut or voice, and which may or
may not conform to socially defined behaviors
and characteristics typically associated with
being either masculine or feminine.
Gender expression GENDER AS PRISMS
◭ All genders are prisms by
which we control our
expression of human nature
◭ Diversity of gender identities
stem from this concept of a
filter, as they all differ from
person to person
◭ The natal chart describes the
LIGHT, not the prism
◭ The light is not the gender,
the prism is

Gender identity
Are astrologers able to
in
the natal chart?
Astrologers have repeatedly claimed to be Therefore, do we make assumptions
unable to predict the gender of a person about a client’s gender identity from
from their natal chart. how the chart presents their gender
expression?
Natal Chart of a Famous Parent

Sect Light - ☾
Midheaven Ruler
In detriment, aversion to ruler
Angular

Benefic of Sect - ♀
Ascendant Ruler
Rejoices in the 5th House

Malefic of Sect - ♂
Descendant Ruler
Aversion to Ascendant
In detriment
 THOMAS BEATIE
Author, public speaker, LGBTQ+ and
reproductive rights activist
THOMAS BEATIE
⚧ Legally transitioned in 2002
⚧ Married Nancy Gillespie in a
legally valid heterosexual
marriage in 2003
⚧ Delivered his first child in
2008, entered the public eye
as “The Pregnant Man”
⚧ Filed for divorce in 2012
⚧ Judge denies divorce,
calling marriage “invalid” in
2013
 GENDER IN
ASTROLOGY The gender binary influences our
cultural associations in a way

IS CULTURE that is inseparable from our

astrological delineations.

DEPENDENT
 CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES OF WOMEN
In the times and places of the Western astrological tradition

Seen as frivolous, Bakers, weavers, Encouraged More educated than

capricious, and apothecarists, (though not men. Responsible for
untrustworthy. Kept midwives. Sole required) to dress being homemakers,
in the home (unless caretakers of the and act “like a even when
CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES OF WOMEN
related to male
royalty).
entire family. lady”. Expected to
work harder for less
contributing to the
household’s income.
money.
CULTURAL GENDER BIAS IN
ASTROLOGY
☿ Rationale of the
CULTURAL GENDER
BIAS IN ASTROLOGY

elemental hierarchy
☿ Greater/Lesser as a sect
distinction
☿ Numerological
preference towards odd
numbers in the aspect
doctrine
The Bijago People

“So since the beginning of time for the Bijagos, women have
THE BIJAGO PEOPLE been entrusted with powers of decision making, throughout
Bijagós Peninsula, Guinea-Bissau the land and even when it comes to matrimony.”
CULTURALLY DEPENDENT GENDER ROLES
What are the interpretive
consequences of using our
cultural perspective of
gender in our delineations?
Are people who defy gender
roles the exception, or do
they have a different cultural
perspective of their gender
identity?
What, to the astrologer, are
gender roles?
 04

FINAL
CONSIDERATIONS
ARCHETYPES All the planetary archetypes can manifest in any
kind of person, regardless of gender identity.

RELEVANCE Gender isn’t always relevant to a delineation, nor

may it be important as a quality of a sign or planet.

EFFICACY The gender of a planet or sign isn’t an

indication of its efficacy in the chart.
ARCHETYPES All the planetary archetypes can manifest in any
kind of person, regardless of gender identity.

RELEVANCE Gender isn’t always relevant to a delineation, nor

may it be important as a quality of a sign or planet.

EFFICACY The gender of a planet or sign isn’t an

indication of its efficacy in the chart.
ARCHETYPES All the planetary archetypes can manifest in any
kind of person, regardless of gender identity.

RELEVANCE Gender isn’t always relevant to a delineation, nor

may it be important as a quality of a sign or planet.

EFFICACY The gender of a planet or sign isn’t an

indication of its efficacy in the chart.
Takeaway Questions
What do the gender

?
assignments of the signs
and planets to
my practice?

Do they supplement my
delineations or just
increase the chance that
 Erin
Sullivan
quote

The question of genderism in the

horoscope is relatively modern, and as
we morph and change, evolve and alter,
astrology too will want to incorporate
open thinking in these areas. But right
now, I think we are at the very beginning,
if it is going to shift at all.

CONSULTING ASTROLOGER
 THANK YOU!

Website: astrobydeon.com
Twitter: @astrobydeon
Instagram: @astrobydeon
Email: astrobydeon@gmail.com

DEON MITCHELL
astrologer, student, chatterbox