Selling The Willows

Cases from The-H-Files

Over the past five years, my client Lucy has often spoken of selling her two properties: The Cottage (a holiday rental that provides an income), and her home, The Willows, a substantial property with a garden where she has been very happy, but which also holds painful memories. With covid restrictions lifting and spring approaching, Lucy felt ready for something new, and a few months before her 60th birthday, she asked: “Is this the right time to sell?”

Judgement

The horary chart seems austere, dominated by an angular and dignified Saturn, which disposits all the traditional planets except Jupiter. The Saturnian emphasis did not worry me unduly, as it is concurrent with Lucy being in the midst of her second Saturn return, so I was happy to proceed with judgement.

Lucy is an outgoing, sociable woman and therapist by profession, aptly described by the ascendant in Leo and its ruler, the Sun, which is setting in Aquarius. The Sun’s application to the conjunction of Saturn, which rules the debilitating 6th house, alludes to the frustrations she has experienced through the social, professional, and intellectual restraints of the last few years, which, in her opinion, show no sign of abating.

The querent and the matter asked about are co-signified by the Moon in Aquarius, which suggests promise in property matters by its closely applying trine to the 4th house cusp. The Moon’s separation from the conjunction of Saturn describes events that have already happened — a portrait described by Bethem’s aphorism: “If she [the Moon] be separating from Saturn in any question, she shows sorrow, discord, trouble.” This reflects the loneliness Lucy experienced after the end of her last relationship, and the heartbreaking community divisions she encountered throughout the pandemic and its subsequent political fallout.

Her property is represented by the 4th house, the cusp of which falls in Libra, and its ruler, Venus, which has dignity by triplicity in Capricorn. Lucy was considering putting The Cottage up for sale as a first move, and the placement of Venus on the cusp of the 6th house supports this, referencing its use as a rental property, with tenants already booked for the forthcoming holiday season.

The price that can be realised from the sale of the property is shown by the 10th house and its ruler, Mars: direct and fast in motion, exalted in Capricorn, and placed in the 5th house of good fortune. I noted that Lucy’s natal Mars in Aries rules her 4th house and falls close to the degree of the horary MC, confirming Mars’s general role in signifying her personal home and property. Located in a desirable and sought-after area in the south of England, both her properties have strong market potential, with prices continuing to rise with the trend in relocation away from urban living.

The 7th house represents the buyer, shown here by Aquarius on its cusp and its ruler, Saturn: strongly dignified, emplaced, and angular, but suggesting some kind of weakness or problem by the Sun’s approaching combustion. Saturn also rules the 8th house, signifying the buyer’s funds, which appear to be enhanced by dignified Jupiter’s presence there, indicating that the buyer of the property should have the means to pay a good price.

Although two of the main significators are infortunes (Mars for the price and Saturn for the buyer), Lilly reminds us that even naturally malefic planets are capable of favourable effect when dignified: “And yet generally if Saturn or Mars be in House, Exaltation, Triplicity and Angles, and then have signification in a Question, they perform the thing desired.”

I noted that both Mars (the price) and Jupiter (co-significator of the buyer’s funds) were travelling faster than Venus, representing the property: Mars applies to Venus by conjunction and Jupiter by sextile, while Jupiter applies to Venus by sextile. Writing of the strong creative energy of sextiles, Ibn Ezra says “The stars in a sextile aspect are like two individuals who seek each other’s love,” so I felt Lucy would have no problem finding a buyer who would meet her price, and that the matter would be concluded to her satisfaction.

The imminent combustion of Saturn did warn of problems affecting the buyer, but my fears on this were allayed by the realisation that the conjunction was received, and that five of the visible planets were each applying to the 4th house cusp. I felt sure there would be a great deal of interest from several parties, to offset any initial complications from the first prospective buyer, and enough positive indications to tip the balance in Lucy’s favour overall. With the horary emerging from the background drives of her Saturn return (and also her fifth natal Jupiter return, which she was also experiencing at that time), it seemed this was indeed her long-awaited opportunity to “move on.”

The desire was to sell by her 60th birthday, giving just sixteen weeks from the date of the question. The angularity of the main significators denotes speed, but their fixed nature argues for slowness, so Saturn’s application to the cusp of the 10th house, with an orb of 4½°, suggests a sale could be completed in approximately four and a half months.

What Happened?

On the 4th of February, as Mars (7° Capricorn) perfected a sextile to the horary Jupiter, and the Sun conjoined Saturn at 15° Aquarius, The Cottage went on the market. Concurrent with the Moon’s close application to the MC, a good offer was accepted within the week.

On 14th February, as Mars and Venus conjoined at 15° Capricorn, Lucy received the memorandum of sale from the agent — but this was followed by a long period of silence from the buyer. Finally, on the 5th of March, as the Moon conjoined the horary MC in Aries, the agent contacted Lucy with the news that the buyers had pulled out.

I reassured my client that, despite this setback, the chart was working and matters were likely to progress in a favourable manner. Shortly afterwards, she accepted a second offer on The Cottage. With a firm sale in sight and a new Moon at 10° Taurus conjoining the horary Uranus, she went one step further: on March 30th, at 3pm (as Venus conjoined Jupiter in the exalted 27th degree of Pisces, and Mars perfected a sextile to radical Venus), Lucy also put her second, larger property, The Willows, on the market.

On June 22nd, Lucy contacted me to confirm that not only had she completed the sale of The Cottage on the 20th, but that she had, a few hours earlier that day, completed both the sale of The Willows and the purchase of her new house, The Fennels.

The final completion chart is set for 1:05pm on June 22nd, with the Moon and Mars both conjunct the MC, confirming that the whole matter completed in the 4½ units of time (in this case, months) as suggested by the application of Saturn to the MC/IC angles in the original horary.

A Tale of Two Houses

I found it fascinating to compare the name symbolism of the house that was sold, The Willows, with the house that was purchased, The Fennels.

Willow is a plant associated with both the Moon and Saturn, reflecting the challenging times that Lucy has spent in that house. In her own words: “It protects me, like a full-on mother, but I don’t feel I can be myself when I step outside of its boundaries.”

Fennel, by contrast, is associated with Mercury and the sign of Virgo. Culpeper writes that fennel consumes phlegmatic humour, calling it an herb of Mercury under Virgo, good for those bitten by serpents or who have eaten poisonous herbs or mushrooms. Lucy described the prospective move by saying: “Moving away from here feels easier, lighter, there’s a lot to love here, but I’m ready to let go.”

In the sale chart, Mercury in Gemini rules both the Virgo ascendant and the Gemini mid-heaven, referencing themes from Lucy’s nativity, where Mercury in Gemini rules her Virgo ascendant. It seems fitting that she is moving towards associations of healing, airiness, and the purging of poison, and although moving house will have its own challenges, I feel confident that she is on the new road that she has been waiting for.

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Footnotes: 1. Bethem. 2. Lilly. 3. Ibn Ezra. 4–5. Plant/planet associations per traditional sources. 6. Culpeper.