May I introduce handsome, kind, mystical seagoat; Capricorn Sun Orlando Bloom.

Orli’s adept on stage and screen – a modern day Romeo, crusading knight, musketeer, swashbuckling pirate and lithe Elvish Prince of the Woodland Realm to name a few.  This last April, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, you can see it here (near 11:00 mark). He absolutely rocked in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and soon can be seen next in, Digging for Fire with Sam Rockwell.

Orli is a life path 2 with a 12th house Capricorn Sun, Scorpio Moon; an Aquarius rising, he is ruled by Uranus.  How apt.  Uranus rules astrology and doing Orli’s chart  delivered a need to address house systems.  Ah cha cha – the dreaded subject which sends many astrologers into fits of “I’m right and you’re wrong”, and yes, I’m going there.

Up to now I have done a slew of solar charts, aka using Noon as birth time and interpreting with planets in signs and aspects only without addressing houses specifically.  I can still form a solid interp, but knowing the houses means I can hone in on where each planetary expression is working.  Eg: Saturn in 3rd: thinking, learning, speaking, communicating vs. Saturn in 6: health, daily routines, personal responsibilities etc… To quote Steven Forrest, “We are our signs, and we do our houses.”

Signs divide the Heavens and Houses divide the Earth

Sean (Astin) and Orli are the only members of The Fellowship who have exact birth times listed at Astrodienst.  Orli’s chart here.  Using Placidus for Sean was less problematic because at lower latitudes Placidus doesn’t present a problem.  Using Placidus system, higher latitudes means higher likelihood of (wide) intercepted houses.  Orli was born in Canterbury, England at 51 North.  (Anywhere above 66 N gets tricky using this system.)  Orli’s signs (see his chart in link above) Pisces/Virgo are intercepted or contained entirely within houses 1/7 respectively. Interceptions are akin to operating in stealth mode.  Eg. Pisces Venus uses Aquarius and Aries as intermediaries in order to fully express Piscean Venusian energy.

How the houses are divided after ascertaining the Cross* is the Crux of the house systems cuss & discuss issue.
Short list of popular house divisions: (yes there are more)
Time-based: Placidus, Koch
Space-based: Equal, Meridian, Morinus, Topocentric
Quadrant-based: Campanus, Porphyry, Regiomontanus, Topological

I will go into house systems more, later – for now I will just delineate regardless of house system the Ascendant/Descendant (Sunrise/set) Midheaven/Nadir (Noon/midnight)* remain the same – they are physical points.  Eg. Orli is Aquarius rising at 21 degrees with his Midheaven at 13 Sagittarius. (Nadir and Descendant oppose exact) The End.

Many astrologers use one system for natal and another for horary, some prefer ancient to modern – it’s up to the individual.  What are the differences, how are they calculated and what is tried, tested and true in your experience…? That is what you should explore and figure out on your own.  I have provided several links below, knock yourself out !

Resources for diving into house systems:
Urania Trust House Systems and Charts are Not Flat
The Astrology Podcast: Reconciling Modern and Traditional Astrology w/ Robert Hand
Skyscript: Problems of House Division
AquariusPapers: Astrology House Systems

Ok, now back to Orlando…!
Orli is a 12th house* Capricorn Sun (stealth in the 12th), Scorpio Moon; Aquarius rising, ruled by Uranus.  Which btw, I did not know when I wrote this – I was alluding to Mars moving into my 12th solar house – seems it was cosmic kismet.  So now we both know.  As an aside: I have Mars in Sagittarius, my 12th house sign…I am also stealth.

I am reading Orli’s chart in Placidus rather than Whole sign.  He is the posterboy for why I am happily still in camp Placidus.  Why ?  Saturn rules bones.

Whole sign places his Saturn in the 7th of relationships, alliances and contracts
Placidus places his Saturn in the 6th house of health, daily work and routine

‘I’ve broken my back, my ribs, my nose, both my legs, my arm, my wrist, a finger and a toe and I’ve cracked my skull three times. Youthful carelessness,’ he shrugs. ‘This is a battered body, all right. But, each time, it made me stronger and more determined to do things.’  – Orlando Bloom source

He jokes about it in a recent BOTFA 60 secs interview w/ Lee & Evangeline
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Notice he says he is accident prone in the interview above.
Interesting…Mars rules accidents and Orlando’s Mars is out of bounds at 23°50’45” S.  Out of bounds means the planet is out of bounds of the sun’s kingdom, outside the rays of the king aka outside the sun’s maximum latitudinal declination of 23°28′.  An out of bounds planet acts as its own ruler and king.  It’s a wildcard, a freebird.

Mars being more Martian will be even more gung-ho, hot to trot, impatient, restless and eager to get moving and shaking.  Out of bounds Mars is a scrappy adrenaline junkie, a fighter and a hero.  Note also Orli has Mars exalted in Capricorn – that means operating well, purring like an engine, the energies support one another.  Mars in Capricorn is capable of superhuman intense focus which helps alleviate the Mars OOB tendency to be overly reckless.  If you want to check your chart for declinations, go to astro.com, click on upper left where it says additional tables, voila – declinations !

The lovely balance to all this driving Mars…?  Venus in Pisces, exalted.  Oh yeah baby, a lover and a fighter.  Very nice.  Venus in Pisces is in his first house (natural house of Aries/Mars) bestowing harmony upon self-expression of all kinds – he is sweet and kind, easy-going.  Also the abundant handsome graceful elvish thang he exudes flawlessly, is enhanced by Neptune at Midheaven.
Elves are Pisces/Neptune energy, as are Pirates on the high seas – particularly in Sagittarius.  Just sayin’.

Orli has Moon at 0 degrees Scorp conjunct (out of sign) North Node at 29 Libra.  North Node in Libra denotes a future of finding balance, harmony via shifting of personal and partnership alliances.  Mars-ruled South Node (past we carry) in Aries is conjunct Chiron the wounded healer, herbalist/philosopher/teacher (which in addition to other aspects) signifies a past incarnation of teaching, mentoring and the healing arts.   Master of bartering with the commoners, a drives a hard bargain kind of trader, fair but a stickler.  This time around the hard bargain lies within.

Orli’s Chiron is conjunct a Black Hole at 27 Aries…how apt.  Black holes signify physical alchemy, rites of passage and molecular metamorphosis from the quantum level, matter formed from pure energy.  (Alex Miller)

In 1998, (at the age of 21) Orlando fell three stories and fractured his spine.  His doctor told him he might never walk again – he seriously considered it while he laid in hospital paralyzed for 4 days.  He went through a six hour surgery, having bolts and plates inserted into his back, then miraculously walked out on crutches 12 days later (wore a brace for a year) and eventually finished drama school.  Two days later, he received word he got the part of Legolas in Lord of the Rings.  Mystical Seagoat !

Being curious, I did my best to suss out a ballpark time for this transit. Orli was nearing the end of his second year at drama school 1998, so going with March/April and the outers will be slow-moving enough to talk about.
1 Uranus opposite natal Leo Saturn in the 6th
That’s a break, a separation from health and ego.  Major polarity/intellectual shift and in his second solar house of values.
2 Transiting Aries Saturn square his natal Sun (internal turmoil over impulsive behavior vs. possible immobility) from his 4th solar house (feelings/family/nurturing) trine his descendant (balance/bonds/allies) and conjunct natal Chiron (wounded/healer).
3 Transiting Chiron in Scorpio (metamorphosis/healing) conjunct Uranus opposite natal Taurus Jupiter in his 11th solar house (friends/wishes/eccentric luck)

From GQ:  When the time came to remove the titanium pins from his spine, to the doctors’ alarm, they were all fractured. They came out in shards. One of the pins had been driven too deep to remove, by dint of Orlando’s physical overexertion. “I’d been doing stuff right away,” he recalls, shaking his head. “I went straight back into it, man.”

Orlando talks about his back in Men’s Health (video in that link) more about how it changed his outlook on life here.  How did he do it ?  Here.

Orli & his friend, Sidi (How I love the name you chose – you are such a sweetie !)

Orli is filled with unusual, interesting tidbits (hello Uranus !).  I’m not even diving into the meat & potatoes astrology but having a blast doing this interp !  Here’s another oddball cool thing…the Great Attractor is conjunct his Sagittarius Midheaven/Neptune.

Orli’s MC is 13′, Great Attractor is at 14′ and natal Neptune is at 15′.  Note: Neptune is exactly trine his Leo (back) Saturn (bones) in the 6th (health).  Great Attractor signifies a point of extremes: curiosity/knowing, invitation/fixation, polarity/immersion. source
Fascinating.
Neptune is inspired (bone) healing being known in the public for it, subconscious depths, spiritual intelligence.  Great Attractor conjunct MC is revealing transcendence, cleansing, shifting perspectives involving highly attuned beliefs of what is possible via the higher mind – despite traditional roles of distance/timespace on the material plane.

Now for some meat on these astrobones….

Orli has 12th house Sun trine Jupiter Rx (rules his MC) in Taurus, nice & earthy – sensible, structured, diligent, no nonsense.  Dependable though keen to explore, eager to indulge in pleasures (Venus rules Taurus) supported by Venus square Neptune at MC.  I have written about my own trials with Venus square Neptune here and here.  Sensitives need to disengage go high qi hermit at times.  Get your sport on, go outside and get out of the suffering headspace that follows the Venus square Neptune with Saturn strong.

Mercury Rx tightly conjunct Mars in Capricorn 11 square Pluto in Libra determines intellectual safety (Mercury rules Nadir/Midnight) must be circumvented somewhat through (self) patience and understanding that spiritual transformations are more easily achieved than intellectual attainments until Mercury retrograde hits its stride.  (Neptune at MC trine Saturn conjunct DC – both strong)

Natal retrogrades: Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.  (Communication/learning; higher learning/study; work/building, respectively)
Retrogrades serve to slow the planetary energy (we express inwardly) in order to perfect it – which usually means around 30 yrs+ we finally figure out how to best operate it (outwardly) in a way that serves us.  Eg.  Orli mentions in the interview above that he now tones down the overly exuberant play (Leo) because he is now a Dad (Saturn rules fathers).

Mercury Rx conjunct Mars square Pluto in Libra (air/intellect) forces (Pluto) different modes of communication.  Intuition, instincts, sensitivities to vibrations, wild animals, totems, energies, feelings, weather, dreams are all likely top notch especially with Venus in the first (strong/angular) trine Uranus and NNode/Moon.

Venus exalted in Pisces (water) trine Moon in Scorpio (water) supports intuition and instinct though Moon is in its fall in Scorpio.  Moon is a planet of fluctuation – Scorpio likes it fixed and Scorpio likes more control than Moon allows.  Feelings (Moon) take on a metamorphic quality of caterpillar to butterfly infinity.

In (out of sign) square to Sun (ego/spirit), Moon desires lots of transformation via work, building, all while being in the flow of idealism and innate spirituality and inspired art.  This is an aspect of feeling on your feet – if that makes sense.  Any 8th house planet has swamp stuff (trust me, I know) Moon needs to process and your best route is creativity (moon rules 5th, trines Venus) and expressing yourself via music, film, art, playing with kids.

Leo Saturn is focal point of a T-Square (not surprising considering back and bone  issues) with Uranus in Scorpio (break/metamorphosis, respectively) which opposes Jupiter in Taurus indicating polarity shifts that induce reconfigurations of values in the realms of personal resources/esteem and ultimate shared/renewal.  Saturn holds down the fort in house health trine Neptune at MC indicating healing and an innate idealism despite material or health setbacks or restrictions.

Odd, I just remembered this: my boss reminded me of this ironically 10th house/Saturn thing. (Saturn is bosses/10th) He hardly ever watches pop culture movies but recently reminded me of the fact that years ago Orli had watches stolen by the Bling Ring.  Astrologically, spot on with Neptune at MC – timepiece theft made into a movie (Neptune).  Taurus tends to collections, so the T-square is apt with the break-in, time and fame.  Sad but true, it’s all right there in the natal.

Quintiles or spiritual gifts and places of divine grace via unusual talents: Sun quintile Uranus exact – gotta say right place right time with this one as well as quirky and yes unusual bone healing.  The Wolverine gene haa.
Venus quintile Jupiter – Loving, kind, lucky (healing well again) an abundance of creativity and optimism.  These two benefics in quintile underneath the radar (horizon) bestows grace and peace of mind in an otherwise interactive, public chart.

New tat (new to me anyway)
You, my eagle with blue black wings, where have you been flying for so long
I was flying there over the mountains where it all was silence.
From a movie, ‘Dersu Uzala from 1975.

This is a monster post, but Orli is a sweetie and he deserves the best.  Oh and by the way my former husband and I were in a flurry of texting after BOTFA and he agrees, you are the most awesome gravity-defying elf evah.
We love ya babes ! mwahs xo

I will close with one last thing before midnight because I just read this today, thought it was very, very cool.  Orli took a break after LOTR/Pirates/Elizabethtown to do this…

‘My cousin (Sebastian Copeland) is an environmental campaigner and photographer and he was doing a book called Antarctica – A Global Warning. He joined the (two-month) research ship and I went along and assisted him. There was no phone, no email, no knowing…’  After existing in the eye of a media storm, Bloom became nothing more than a cog in a crew of 47 manning a converted Norwegian icebreaker sailing out of Patagonia. The ship was bound for one of the most remote regions, an icy wilderness where the effects of global warming are, he says, ‘frighteningly apparent’. source
Ps. Capricorn rules Antarctica

Namárië mellonamin
Gneiss Moon