It is possible, with the tool of hindsight, to assess this grey area of adoption and to heed pre birth indicators, keeping it simple, and applying astrological skill and common sense. Surrendering a baby for adoption is not a frivolous decision. It is normally one which is taken soon into the gestation period and after much pre meditated thought; with this in mind I believe that the propensity for the native to be adopted at birth has to be located somewhere in the charts.

The issue of adoption is of interest to me and I wanted to assess charts of people who were adopted at birth, with the aim of establishing whether or not there were any indications of separation of baby from the birth mother, or if this would (possibly) be provided by other factors, or maybe not at all. The nativities of eight people were assessed as well as their pre natal eclipses: I have adhered only to the salient points within my research topic.

The Birth Charts

It is important to note that statistics cannot be applied to individual people, we are individuals and our birth charts are a reflection of that individuality; statistics can only be applied to the masses or large groups of people who share a common denominator, over a long period of time and after extensive research. I have not conducted extensive research into this topic for two reasons: one is that many people who were adopted at birth do not have their birth times, so these charts are hard to come by, and two, all I wished to assess was whether or not the charts would convey any seed potential for the adoption - this effort is exploratory and in the research is in its infantile stages. I never expected to find too much of value in the nativities as it would be rare to find Lord 1 separating from Lord 10 in all 8 nativities, charts simply do not behave that way. We cannot use the actual event of the adoption as the directed charts would be identical to the nativity. We are therefore looking for potential, not an event per se, and we need to assess this from the radix.

In all eight natal charts assessed, what is interesting is that there are no close applying aspects between native and birth mother, and where we do have an applying aspect, there is a prohibition – I simply cannot get baby to mother. I did not use L4 the father or even (as) the collective parents. Many children are born out of wedlock or to single parents for various reasons. The native is Lord 1 (or the Sun or the Moon if L1 is unavailable), and the mother Lord 10 or the ruling planet of mothers based on whether the chart is nocturnal or diurnal – so Venus or the Moon. This is not to say that this finding is of significant interest as in many birth charts, even of those not adopted, a connection by aspect cannot be found between the native and mother. However in light of the topic and my current focus, this is of interest and quite notable in each of the eight charts – there isn't one exception.

The Pre Natal Eclipse Charts

It is possible to assess pre natal eclipse charts which occurred long before the birth, these charts will not be the last eclipse that occurred prior to the birth itself, but I tend to keep things simple as there are too many areas within our craft that require attention, and therefore an investment of time. All the eclipse charts on the displayed table were the most recent eclipses that occurred prior to the birth, and it is here that I found information which I find most interesting. An eclipse chart, if contacted by the radix, can be significant in the life of the native; a pre natal eclipse can show seed potential that will possibly be of relevance in the forthcoming life. It is most likely that the data will apply to other areas of the life as well, but again, in light of the topic in hand, it is most relevant here.

The person who would adopt the native is Lord 7 – until the adoption papers are signed and that person legally becomes the parent, that person, in relation to the native, is simply a Lord 7 person. In all of the eight charts, the native makes an aspect to Lord 7 either in mundo or as a celestial aspect. The spreadsheet is self explanatory so I will not repeat the data here, but this is of significant interest. We can connect the native, pre birth, to the person who will be adopting them, in one significant way or another. The seed potential for adoption is clearly depicted between the eclipse chart and the radix of each person – but we may not notice this unless we are specifically looking at adoption issues.

Ancient Texts

I scoured many ancient texts to see how the ancient authorities viewed this subject, but the information is, as always in the ancient texts, scattered and contradictory. Adoption was rife in ancient civilisations, especially in countries such as Greece and Rome where having more than 3 children was deemed political suicide in the upper classes. Children, especially male in large families were “sold” or exchanged for favours to those who were childless and required a male heir. Obviously each age had its adoption policy, but it is no more common today than it was in yesteryear. Ptolemy states “if malefics should cast their rays to parts preceding the luminaries, and benefics to parts following them, the child will be abandoned at its birth but will afterwards meet with adoption, and will live”. My question is which parts must one set in the radix to ascertain this? We have the Part of Parents, Death of Parents, Ancestors and Relations, etc. I decided to set the Part of Death of Parents to see whether or not there were any points of interest – these I discuss below. Planetary signatures and aphorisms do not a judgement make as each chart needs to be assessed according to its own factual merit, and there are many of these aphorisms and signatures to be found in ancient texts which can be misleading.

In the ancient texts you also find reference to assessing whether or not a child came before the native, but died at birth or is “missing”. You would then need to assess the nativity of a child who shared the same mother (at least) as the adopted child, and approach it from that angle. My chart would be an example as I was born after my brother was adopted – and in my chart Saturn is in the first house. Ptolemy states that Saturn in the first denotes an older sibling who is absent. Ptolemy also states “[ ] if, on the contrary, the benefics should be in elevation, then whoever may adopt the deserted child will supply the place of its parents”. In five of the eight charts we have an elevated benefic, so possibly the lack thereof in the other three could denote the life of misery and servitude that Ptolemy refers to in this section as well. I know nothing about the lives of these eight natives, so am unable to comment.

The Part of Death of the Parent

This Part is derived from the Ascendant, Jupiter and Saturn, with the two planets reversed in a nocturnal nativity. Although the Parts can denote actual events, so the physical death of the parents, when a child is adopted his parents literally become dead to him in the sense that in today's society they lose all claim to him and exit his life. Parts don't do, they are done to and as they are mathematical points in space they have aspects cast to them. For events the planet needs to conjunct or oppose the Part itself as other aspects are unlikely to herald the event in question. This does not mean we cannot use the remaining 3 Ptolemaic aspects for investigation of circumstances. In all 8 charts the significator of the native, whether L1, the Sun or the Moon, was in close aspect to the Part through one of the 5 aspects. This is most definitely of interest as it denotes the death of the parents in contact with the native. The Parts and the relevant aspects for each of the charts are displayed on the table.

Summary

It is possible with the tool of hindsight, to assess this grey area of adoption and to heed pre birth indicators, keeping it simple, and using your own astrological skill and common sense. Although this methodology is at this stage rudimentary and possibly crude, it is not technically inaccurate but does require further investigation. I am confident there are many other angles one could approach this from, provided adherence to the technical side of our craft is maintained. Surrendering a baby for adoption is not a frivolous decision, it is normally one which is taken soon into the gestation period and after much pre meditated thought; with this in mind I believe that the possibility for the native to be adopted has to be located somewhere. Where better to locate it than in the pre natal eclipse, as the decision to have the baby adopted is made during the gestation period, while the baby is in the womb, and unborn. This finding also opens a can of worms regarding the issue of abortion – when is life actually given to a foetus if potential for its life can be shown pre birth? But that is another subject entirely which Ptolemy addresses quite extensively in The Tetrabiblos. There were no other indicators in these charts, natal or pre natal eclipse, which pointed to adoption, except that in seven of the eight charts, the eclipses were angular, denoting the importance of this specific eclipse for the native.

The Conclusion

When selecting a tool from our bottomless astrological tool box, it is imperative that we understand for what purpose it will be used. While this investigation was of interest to me, and research and application of my own knowledge are imperative to my growth as an astrologer, I do have to ask myself how and when this knowledge will be used to assist others. It is highly unlikely that a pregnant woman considering adoption will require this information, and you cannot provide it anyway as you will not have the birth data of the unborn baby. Should she contact an astrologer to determine whether or not she should surrender the baby for adoption, that is a horary question, or you would need to assess her nativity to address the ramifications of this decision on her and on the baby. This information could possibly become relevant if a client is unsure whether or not he was adopted, and you could (possibly and cautiously) assess his pre natal eclipse and other factors addressed in this article to obtain adoption indicators. As always though, we should remember that the stars are infallible, we are not.