Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Astrology In The Blender

The following is adapted from a 5-year old post from the early days of Learning Curve. I was still wet behind the astrological ears then, but my views remain much the same. ~~~
Although I love astrology dearly, I often struggle to agree with some of the stuff professional astrologers write, or imply, in textbooks:

We all have the same planets and luminaries in our natal charts. What makes us different from each other is the way in which they were configured at the time of our birth, the varying proportions of emphasis on signs, elements and modalities. We understand that a planet is the symbolic "energy", a zodiac sign defines the "flavour" of that "energy", and the house shows us where that "energy" will be most used or felt.

This is where I start to wonder.....mainly about the astrological "houses". The first problem is, that to correctly calculate house positions, an accurate exact time of birth is needed. The second problem is that there are several different methods of calculating astrological houses. Does it matter much though?

It seems reasonable to me that when a person has a particular personality trait (as indicated by planet in sign) it is going to influence the whole of that person's personality generally, not only in the area dictated by rules of astrology and astrological houses. A Venus in Sagittarius in 10th house for example is likely to influence many areas other than career and public standing. Some level of Sagittarian "flavour" will be apt to permeate the personality in general.

The cosmic trio of Sun, Moon and Ascendant are said to be a quick and easy way of summing up a personality. That's true, I think, but only if they are allowed to blend into each other's astrological territories. It's not logical to say that the Moon influences ONLY prescribed areas of the personality, or the ascendant is ONLY the way we present ourselves to the world. I've found that these three factors (and others) blend and influence each other strongly. It's not sensible to separate them and differentiate their influence. How the "flavours" blend is described, in part, by aspects the planets in a chart make to each other, but the conflicts or harmonies thus indicated are not, as I see it, likely to be confined to any specific areas.

Divisions of all kinds irk me. They are not natural.

Take Mercury's energy, for example. Our mode of thinking and expressing ourselves, the way our minds work and how we communicate intertwines with, and influences, every other part of our existence. Mercury ought to be added to the cosmic trio - it should be a cosmic quartet. Venus too....quintet!

An analogy to illustrate the point I'm trying to make: Pixels? Jigsaw? No. Cooking? Nearer. Ingredients blend into one another. When we add sugar, salt, butter in varying proportion, the effect spreads throughout the finished product. A measure of sugar sweetens all, butter adds pervading richness, etc. It's possible to identify the flavours, but not to separate them into compartments within the whole - those ingredients have now amalgamated to become something else. Environment has to form a part of the recipe too - hot oven or cool oven, for instance will make a world of difference to the finished product.

For an astrologer to be 100% accurate in describing or predicting a blended product, they'd need exceptional (almost inhuman) skills, because there is no precedent. A very near miss is what can be produced by an expert, using astrology. Each personality as described by a natal chart is unique in itself, not to mention the myriad factors outside of the chart which affect the way potentialities of personality develop, factors which often remain unknown to the astrologer.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

GP: One should not underestimate the "intuitive" part of astrology (and not just in astrology):

While interpreting a map it happened repeatedly to me that some mysterious "blending process" took control of the rational mind and led to superior results.

Your analogy with cooking may give a further explanation: Who eats a given savorous dish does usually not imagine the number of chemical and physical factors involved in delivering the final result/synthesis to and of it all. Try a Moroccan dish (some of the most rich food in flavour that there can be), or some well prepared Gefilte Fisch. Etc, etc.

Twilight said...

Anonymous/Gian Paul ~~
Intuition - yes, that's true enough GP, in astrology as in other spheres. It's a mysterious and magical element and it can make the difference between a pedestrian astrologer and a brilliant one. :-)

The cooking analogy could get complex if we were to analyse each chemical ingredient of each of the ingredients used. Yes! But we simply notice the flavours and textures obtained from each unique mix and method. The difficulty would arise if we were to try to work backwards to identify each from the finished product.

Mokihana Calizar said...

I love the use of cooking as an analogy of creating a finished product. What occurs to my intuitive brain and the connections with my astrology is the affect of all the parts of the chart given the influence of enviornment/culture at birth. The signature of the South Node scents and flavors for example, the type of coconut used to make a pudding.For one born where coconuts are = to mother's milk, a particularly intuitive astrologer will find the linkages in other parts of the astral chart recipe. How for example is the 8th House occupied and aspected with values of the Home (4th) and the 9th World View.

I find your thinking tasty and broadly applicable, and this one seems an older that remains good. Dissected recipes have never been my personal favorite, but, I admit Julia Child did the whole a huge favor with all her diligent dissections. What's Julia's chart recipe?

Thanks for this, a fun think on.

Twilight said...

Mokihana and Pete~ Hi!

You've added some nice insightful, points there- many thanks!

I have a post on Julia Childs in my archives - here's a link -
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2009/08/monday-marinade-julia-child-paul.html


It can also be accessed (along with posts on other chefs) via the Label Cloud - sidebar, by licking on "chefs".

:-)

Twilight said...

LOL not "licking" on chefs, tasty as that might prove! Should read "clicking"....of course.
;-)