I have an intersex condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia; I was raised female, and I transitioned over to a male social role and somatic physiology because it suits me better and my body loves testosterone and hates estrogen. I look and pass as a normal guy, at least with my pants on....what's between the legs is a little of both.

In looking at my chart from a medical standpoint, first there's Mars (adrenals) conjunct Uranus (unconventional action) and Pluto (intensely) in Virgo (health). My adrenals put out a lot of testosterone, because my misprogrammed hypothalamus tells them they have to (what rules the hypothalamus? I don't know offhand) but they rob my immune system to do it, so I have to supplement with high doses of external testosterone to satisfy them and make them stop. Needle in my arm every two weeks for the rest of my life. Yick.

Also, Saturn is in the 8th, house of death and the internal reproductive organs. Mine were more or less malfunctioning throughout my early life; during my Saturn return they began to hemorrhage until I almost died, and I had them removed. A sacrifice to Saturn. And Chiron is up there (wounding) with Saturn also in the 8th.

Chiron is known as the "Wounded Healer" and one of the ways Raven has sought spiritual healing is through writing a book on figures in mythology associated with gender and/or sexual variance. Based on years of thorough research (Virgo stellium with Chiron in 8th), Raven's book discusses such figures including

Obatala [who] is the creator deity of the Afro-caribbean Yoruba faiths, and s/he is shown as able to change back and forth from male to female, ...thus bypassing the question of whether creation was borne by a male or female deity," and Coyote [who] was a shapeshifting trickster, usually male, but often he took his penis off and transformed into a woman for the day.

The 12th House is associated with mythology, and the ruler of Raven's 12th is his Moon in Gemini. Gemini is a sign associated with transgenderism and androgyny. The Gemini Moon, in turn, is squared by a conjunction of Chiron (symbolic figures) and Saturn (hard work) in Pisces (the sign associated with mythology) in the 8th House (of in-depth research), thus doubling Raven's interest in the subject of trany mythological figures. Moreover, the conjunction forms the handle of his bucket pattern. Neptune, the planet associated with mythology, disposits the Chiron/Saturn bucket handle and is conjunct Mercury (a planet indicating transgenderism) thus further increasing Raven's interest in mythological transsexual and transgender figures. And to complete this arrangement, his Mercury quincunxes and disposits his Gemini Moon, ruler of his 12th House of Mythologia.

Jupiter/Sagittarius rules pantheons, and Raven's Jupiter is prominently placed on his Ascendant in Leo, in mutual reception and trine with his Sagittarian Sun. Importantly, his Sun is placed on the cusp between the 4th and 5th houses, which respectively represent feminine and masculine spaces. With Sun on this inter-gender cusp -- disposited and trined by Jupiter on Ascendant -- we can see his exploration of the worlds of trans-gender and inter-sexual pantheons.

Jupiter is also the sign of publishing, and Raven's wonderful book on transgender mythological figures, Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook was published by ExLibris in 2002 (as progressed Mars -- the ruler of his Ninth House of publishing -- crossed the base of his chart). Order your copy now!

Raven can be emailed @ cauldronfarm@hotmail.com.

Kaldera, Raven. Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook USA: Ex Libris, 2002.

---. "Just A Little Thing." Real Intersexed People. c. 1997 < http://www.sonic.net/~cisae/just_a.html > now defunct.

---. "Mythical Beast." Real Intersexed People. 1997 < http://www.sonic.net/~cisae/raven.html > now defunct.