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Astrology
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Excerpt from Donna's e-book:
An Astrological Guide to Self-Awareness: 2005 Edition
© Moon Maven Publications
Who are You, Really?
Weighing Inconsistencies
in the Natal Chart
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by Donna Cunningham, MSW |
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Many newcomers to astrology first go beyond Sun signs by ordering a computerized interpretation of their birth charts. They frequently complain that the write-up was unsatisfactory because over and over again, one part of the report would contradict another. My reply is that various pieces of report can’t help but be inconsistent with one another for the simple reason that human beings themselves are inconsistent. Our behavior in one area of life may be strikingly different from our behavior in another. We may be tyrants at work and pussycats at home. Or, we may spoil our children but be critical and demanding of our mates. People who think they know us in one context may be startled when they encounter us in another.
One psychological defense mechanism we may use to resolve inconsistencies in our nature is compartmentalization. Here, we contain unacceptable parts of ourselves by relegating them to certain narrow areas of life. Fortunately for diagnostic purposes, the astrological chart comes equipped with handy, dandy compartments called houses. When a difficult part of our chart—and our nature—is in a certain house, we may act out its qualities primarily in the context of matters related to that house.
Suppose a romantic prospect you meet at a business luncheon has Venus and Jupiter conjunct on one hand, but also has a conjunction of Mars and Saturn. If Venus and Jupiter were in the 10th, the individual might appear extremely cordial, open, and pleasant in work-related situations like the one where you met. If you started a romance with him or her, however, that Mars and Saturn in Scorpio in the 5th you ignored would kick in, because now you’ve shifted to a 5th house basis for the connection. Then you’d experience how closed, controlling, and perfectionistic the person can be in a relationship. (I am mostly using conjunctions, because they are the clearest examples, but the same principles are true of single planets.)
Let’s say we pride ourselves on being tolerant and accepting of others’ ideas (Sun and Venus in Pisces in the 3rd). Yet, when it comes to certain spiritual disciplines or politically correct viewpoints, we cannot abide lapses and so we become quite judgmental and preachy (Mars in Virgo in the 9th). Or, maybe we don’t usually mind other people’s business for them (Aquarius Rising), but when it comes to really close friends (Moon in Capricorn in the 11th), we can become downright managerial. By confining our less than wonderful qualities in neat compartments, we escape having to acknowledge our flaws. Planets in the 12th house, when not woven tightly into the rest of the chart, are especially prone to being disowned.
Note that some core qualities like those related to major aspects to the Sun and Moon will not limit themselves to the houses involved. An individual with Sun conjunct Saturn is likely to struggle with self-doubt and the need to succeed in many areas of life, not just the matters of the house where the conjunction is placed. A person with Moon conjunct Pluto, regardless of the house involved, is likely to have trust and security issues that reverberate to almost all of life’s most important dimensions.
However, other, less over-riding placements may be compartmentalized, especially if the planet involved has few aspects to planets in other segments of the chart. It may also find release through an aspect to the Ascendant—the outward expression of the personality—or to the Midheaven, where it may be channeled into career performance. Lacking aspects, the planet is effectively “boxed in,” and thus is most likely to act itself out primarily in the matters of that house.
Suppose that an otherwise peace-loving woman, maybe with Libra Rising, has Mars conjunct Uranus in the 5th house, forming no more than a sextile to any other planet and no aspects to the Ascendant or Midheaven. Neighbors who see her as easy-going and amenable may be in for a big surprise if they happen to do something that she views as a threat or a rebuke to her children. Given that 5th house set-up, injustices to offspring would be a hot button. That’s one land mine you don’t want to set off!
What if it’s your daughter’s chart we are talking about, and your out-of-control, preteen grandchildren are the ones depicted by her Mars-Uranus conjunction? She claims they are just adventuresome and high-spirited, but you’ve been needing to tell her that you don’t want the boys climbing the roof when they visit. It’s not safe, and there’s already been some damage to the shingles. Can you find a time when she might be more amenable to your request to rein in her kids, and, conversely, can you predict times when that conjunction might detonate? For sure, you wouldn’t want to try it when transiting Mars is setting off the conjunction. You’d also be prudent not to raise the issue when the monthly Moon is crossing that conjunction, nor when it is opposite or square it. A good bet might be when the transiting Moon is crossing her Libra Ascendant.
Inconsistent parts of our charts sometimes remain hidden for the most part, since we may hold certain emotions, needs, and responses at bay by sitting on ourselves. Then the monthly orbit of the moon crosses that part, and we have an “episode” where we release the emotions or needs we have been squelching all month. (“I don’t know what got into me.”) In the course of our lives, under a slow-moving transit or progression, a chart feature that has been boxed in comes to the forefront, and people see a new and unsuspected facet of your character. (This is also true of the desirable but undeveloped gifts and interests shown by boxed-in planets.) Such eras can be magnificent windows for integrating the energies of these planets more fully and upgrading our ways of expressing them to more constructive ones.
Another way we tend to resolve the inconsistencies in our own nature is by assigning them to other people in the defense mechanism known as projection. We’ve spoken about oppositions and how the planet at one end of the opposition is often projected onto other people, whom we draft for the role and then blame when they live out the qualities of that planet for us. The same can be true of the qualities of a boxed-in planet, in terms of people who fill the roles of a particular house for us. The houses, again, show whom we may draft to do that. In the 3rd, it may be our siblings, in the 4th, one of our parents, and in the 11th, we pick friends who will live it out for us.
Suppose we are generally accommodating and willing to help others (Sun and Jupiter in Pisces in the 12th), yet there are some situations where we just don’t want to be understanding or helpful. In fact, we might even be feeling downright mean-spirited about it. (Maybe the person who is asking the favor has Mars on one of our tougher planets—like Saturn in Aries in the 7th.) We need an out, and so we use another person as an excuse. “Oh, I’d love to watch the kids for you while you apply for food stamps, but my husband is SUCH a bear, and kids get on his nerves.” Likewise, that woman with the Moon-Uranus conjunction in the 5th may subconsciously egg her children on in their rebellious behavior, living out her own Inner Rebel through them.
In fact, some people who have planetary contacts with our worst chart placements typically bring out the worst in us. Beware of friends, for example, with something on your shopaholic Neptune in the 2nd, for they are not the folks to go shopping with—they’d happily enable you in maxing out your credit cards. Other friends and associates, however, support the very parts of our chart that we want to strengthen and develop but that have been under-emphasized. That’s part of why we value them. For example, suppose you have Mercury and Neptune in the 3rd, but you’ve never had the courage to try your hand at writing, and now transiting Neptune is trining those planets. You might want to join a creative writing group whose leader had the Moon conjunct either of those planets.
In analyzing a chart, if what you see in one part contradicts what you see in another, how do you synthesize them? Accept that both parts of the chart are true, though they may operate in separate areas of life. House placements can give you clues about areas where they are shown. Or, they may operate at different times—watching the monthly orbit of the Moon can help identify when you’ll be meeting Dr. Jekyll and when Mr. Hyde might appear.
Lastly, there are times when motives and emotions are so mixed that two extremely contradictory parts of one human being may be operating at one and the same moment. That’s when you begin to fathom how very complex each person—and each chart—can be!! At that point, you’ve passed out of the realm of astrology and into the realm of psychology. I am reminded of what Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:
“Contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
“Self-Reliance,” in Essays: First Series, 1847. (http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm )
This section appeared in the Feb-March, 2006 issue of The Mountain Astrologer and is reprinted here with permission.
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Donna Cunningham,
Astrologer
& Healer |
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Donna Cunningham is an internationally respected astrologer and the author of 13 books on metaphysical topics.
Donna Cunningham has a dual background in astrology and psychotherapy, with a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University and over 30 years experience as a professional astrologer. She considers doing the astrology charts of children to be a sacred trust. It is a way of knowing who these Indigo children are on their own terms rather than as their families, teachers, and society expect them to be.
In these sessions, she focuses on typical childhood concerns such as family and peer relationships, the best educational approaches, and the child's special gifts and abilities. She can be reached for consultations at (503)291-7891, by email, or at her web page. Ask about her special rate for children's charts.
Donna is also co-editor of Vibration and a frequent contributor. She has written fourteen books on astrology and other metaphysical topics, including her Flower Remedies Handbook. Astrologers who want to know the special considerations involved in doing children's charts can read the chapter on this topic in Donna's text, The Consulting Astrologer's Guidebook.
Listed in several Who’s Who volumes, she has given seminars on astrology around the world and won the prestigious Regulus Award at the 1998 UAC.
She teaches astrology classes online at: astrocollege.com
You may reach her for long-distance astrology consultations at her web site:
DonnaCunningham
MSW.com
by email:
moonmaven @spiritone.com
or by calling:
(503)291-7891.
For the past 20 years, she has worked with the flower remedies, and she is co-editor of Vibration Magazine, a free online educational quarterly at:
essences.com/
vibration/
For information on Donna's online classes about flower essences, visit her website:
DonnaCunningham
MSW.com
"Donna's first astrology ebook will be available in March.
For more
information go to her web page:
http://www.donna
cunninghammsw.com
This series is reprinted with gracious permission from Donna Cunningham.
©2002 Vibration Magazine/The World Wide Essence Society
PO Box 285
Concord, MA 01742
978 369-8454
If you are interested in ordering a copy of Donna's new ebook:
"Flower Remedies--How Plant's Energies Can Heal Us,"
It is $15, available at Moon Maven Publications:
www.moonmaven
publications.com
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