Introduction to Astrocartography: Part 7

Leading Planets

While the bulk of my initial study largely concerns itself with the Transcendental Planet, especially concerning its appearance over birthplaces of notable personalities and over relocations of obvious significance in their well-documented biographies, additional research has been devoted to the role of the most aspected planet.
        The most aspected or Leading Planet often plays a pernicious role in relocation. In the natal chart, it signifies a psychological function or complex that will, in some manner, be overcharged and that will express itself in either a hypo- or a hyperactive manner. In astrocartography, the line of the Leading Planet is often found above geographic regions where we feel “scattered” or where we lack an ability to bring things into proper focus.
        The Leading Planet is rarely expressed in proper measure. Here, we find the key symbols of how we psychologically overestimate or underestimate ourselves: our hubris or “inflation” or, conversely, our feelings of deflation or defeat. The Leader signifies psychological points where “too much” or “too little” is occurring for anything to be accomplished effectively. It symbolizes an energy that exerts itself inappropriately; therefore, it becomes scattered and diffused. In the case of Adolf Hitler, the line of his Secondary Leader, Saturn, was found in the geographic region where he most overreached: the Russian front.
        As we shall see, the proper role of the most aspected or Leading Planet is to serve the least aspected or Transcendental Planet in a fundamental manner: to serve rather than to lead. If the Leader can be yoked to the Transcendental–if it can follow instead of splitting off and going its own way–the native will come that much closer to experiencing the “inner round” of psychic wholeness.

Leading Planet Intersections

When the line of the most aspected or Leading Planet intersects the line of the Secondary or Tertiary Leader (the second- and third most aspected planets) a Leading Planet Intersection is formed. Unlike Transcendental Intersections, a Leading Planet Intersection indicates regions that are often best to avoid (unless we can develop a keen awareness of the symbolism involved in such regions and deal with it in an insightful manner).
An example of a Leading Planet Intersection is found in the biography of Amelia Earhart, whose plane disappeared near of her Leading Moon / Secondary Leading Pluto Intersection. While approaching Howland Island, Earhart passed directly under these lines, which intersect in the center of the Pacific Rim: south of Japan, near the former Japanese headquarters in Saipan. She was conjectured to have either crashed or landed under this Leading Planet Intersection; biographers have also theorized that she was held captive in Saipan, where a “white woman flier” was reportedly imprisoned. Indeed, the presence of such Leaders, particularly in forming a Leading Planet Intersection, suggests that, here, she may have “overreached” or in some way “overestimated” her ability, resulting in “emotional turmoil / and death” (Leading Moon / Pluto).