It felt like I spent years poring over the ephemeris and reading astrology books to determine when my children would arrive into my life. They did arrive, and I learned a great deal about predicting fertility in the process.
Ultimately a baby is a true gift from the universe and not something you can control. There is almost nothing more difficult than waiting to get pregnant while those around you conceive and reproduce with ease.
For those who are in this situation, do not worry about what the astrology books tell you about what planets are in what houses and what signs are barren and what signs are fertile. The focus of this article is to assure you that despite impediments in your chart or angst producing delays, astrology offers insight and hope by highlighting progressions and transits commonly active at the time of conception and birth.
The first place I look when assessing the timing of a likely pregnancy is the progressed moon in the chart of either parent. One often sees, especially in the woman’s chart, aspects between progressed moon and the planet Mars. Another indicator would be progressed moon to Venus or Uranus, or to the 5th house cusp, or to a planet in the 5th house. Also, progressed moon to the angles of the natal chart, and even progressed moon to the progressed angles of the chart, can be very strong indicators of fertility.
Next, look to the two benefic planets, Venus and Jupiter. Jupiter, the greater benefic, is often prominent in a parent’s chart at birth. For the birth of my first born, a 10 pound baby boy, I had Jupiter on my 5th house cusp. For the birth of my second child, a daughter, Jupiter was exactly sextile my Sun. One often sees Sun Jupiter aspects between charts of parent and child, or Jupiter Moon aspects. And don’t discount Saturn. There are often strong Saturn ties in charts of those with long term relationships.
Venus, the lesser benefic, is also usually present at birth and marriage. Look for progressed Sun Venus aspects. They tend to bring you your heart’s desire.
A couple of my best predictions regarding birth or conception involved Mars Jupiter conjunctions. Some time ago, I told someone that she should waste no time after marriage in trying to conceive. She listened to me, but after two uterine surgeries and multiple attempts at IVF and more than five years of angst, the doctors told her she would never have a child. The stars thought otherwise. About three years before the occurrence, I had seen that there would be a Mars Jupiter conjunction in her 5th house in a particular month and had told her about that month, which at the time seemed so far in the future to her. The month finally arrived, and she and her husband conceived a beautiful baby boy without any medical intervention.
My most recent invocation of Mars Jupiter as to a likely future birth was last September. My daughter mentioned she had heard Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, was pregnant. I told her no, I don’t think she is pregnant yet, but you will hear in December that she will have a baby in July. My daughter Natalie was excited when my prediction came true. How did I know? It was the Mars Jupiter conjunction in Cancer in July 2013. Both Kate and Will have Moon in Cancer, and the conjunction is on Prince William’s Moon in Cancer.
If you really want to learn more about the fine art of prediction, whether it be birth, marriage or you career, the best book around is *The combination of Stellar Influences* by Reinhold Ebertin. This involves looking at transits to the midpoints in your chart. A midpoint is the point in between two planets. For example, the midpoint between my Jupiter at 25 Gemini and Uranus at 23 Cancer is 9 degrees Cancer. I should have not been surprised when my daughter was born with her Sun at 9 degrees Cancer. If you read the Ebertin book, this is what is says for the activation of the Jupiter Uranus midpoint by the transiting Sun: “Sudden physical happiness, birth”.
Midpoints being activated can identify an event with amazing accuracy. Other key midpoints triggering conception or birth are Mars/Jupiter, Venus/Uranus, and the Moon/Venus midpoint.
The Midheaven of the parent is often the sun sign of the child. My Midheaven is Cancer, and both my children are Cancers. So look to the angles to get clues as to the Sun sign of your future progeny. Solar returns for the year can also be indicators of fertility in the coming year. Since nodes are often present in key relationships, there will likely be a tie between the nodes in your chart with the planet or angles of the baby’s chart, and vice versa. Finally, the asteroids Juno and Ceres are often prominent at conception and birth.
