Why do certain individuals thrive undeservedly while others get landed with an unfair lifetime of setbacks? Why do others overcome monumentally horrible problems to thrive?
Not much astrology here in terms of examples, more random and varied thoughts.
What astrologers need to keep in mind is that not everyone lives out the full potential of their charts. Gauquelin (I think) found the most successful were the ones who did. Gifts lie unused. Regrets fester about opportunities ducked. Is it about risk-taking? Being too timid, too tied to what is familiar? Sliding back into the South Node. A life not lived.
Life is unfair – a strong Jupiter gives luck even to those who did little earn it. A really difficult Saturn or Pluto can set up a mountain of difficulties which not everyone has the tenacity, self-discipline or determination to overcome. Trump and George W Bush (whose wreckage of Iraq/the Middle East has never brought any comeuppance) both have strongly aspected Jupiters. There may be less pressure on the Jupiterian ones to learn self-awareness and indeed learn from mistakes.
Carl Jung thought the mid-life crisis of 38 to 42 years old – tr Uranus opposition Uranus, tr Pluto square Pluto, tr Neptune square Neptune, was the critical turning point for most. Those who opened up to themselves, dug deeper for answers inside and – Uranus (= took a risk) – had a revitalised second half of life while those who buried their heads in the sand, start to stagnate and deteriorate towards old age prematurely. I am not sure that is all of the story but it may be part.
The Saturn Return at 29 is another staging post which offers a choice about getting real, growing up and taking responsibility for your life – which not everyone does.
Why not? The ‘old soul’ argument is tempting though I tend to shy away from what sound like elitist justifications. But it is true that some are – more curious? Need to know what life is about and where they fit in; and perhaps most significantly are willing to take risks and try the less familiar. While others don’t ask those questions and bumble along blind and deaf to anything other than doing what is expected of them.
Which brings up another thought. Social cohesion is dependent on (if I may show my Uranian contempt for normality) doing what others do, not rocking the boat, suppressing a chunk of personal identity to fit in. If there were too many rebels and non-conformists around it would threaten social stability.
In the natural world there needs to be a balance between structure and creativity, between establishing a strong foundation for a species/plant and when circumstances change for the ability to adapt (Darwin). The rebels and status-quo upsetters are the ones to spearhead necessary changes – but equally can be damaging during periods when when a society needs to settle down to consolidation in the new phase.
It may therefore be that people fall broadly into one or other category – and most will be of the security/stability takes-priority mindset even if it means burying a large chunk of their personal identity.
On that argument individuals not living out their full potential in terms of unique abilities may be a social imperative.
Those who do live out more of themselves may well be more successful because they are the ones who instigate change when it becomes necessary – or even just take the lead as part of the normal process of gradual evolution.
One story which always sticks in mind is John Addey, who was/is one of the leading lights in astrology. Born 15 June 1920 8.15 am Barnsley, England, he was an active sportsman at school until struck down by severe Ankylosing Spondylitis around the age of 20, which left him unable to walk without the aid of a stick for the rest of his life. During his initial enforced period of immobility he turned his life towards philosophy and astrology. Life handed him a major setback which he turned to a great advantage.
He was a Sun Venus in Gemini with a Gemini Moon square a Saturn opposition Uranus, so he would be a thinker and communicator and flexible. Around the time when he was struck down his Solar Arc Moon in a Mutable T square (square Saturn opposition Uranus) was conjunct his Sun for a game-changing phase in his life. And he took up the baton and ran with it, making the best of a difficult situation.
What strikes me as almost more relevant was tr Pluto then about to move across his Ascendant into his 1st house for almost fifteen years thereafter, which I think is one of the most useful transits – and not everyone gets it since Pluto takes 250 years to move round the zodiac. It deepens self-awareness and begins a search for self-knowledge which is invaluable. He also had his Solar Arc Mars conjunct his 4th house North Node in Scorpio – which was another hint to go deep and develop inner depths even if it meant abandoning what had once been a hope for a different life.
Another thought is to find a lifestyle that suits the chart which sounds self-evident but often is not. Being pushed into becoming an accountant or nurse or truck driver when your inclinations lie elsewhere is all too common. When tr Saturn moves across the Ascendant into the First quadrant for around 7 years is a time to take a step back and explore where the real potential is and how to develop it. In younger years, living out the parents’ ambitions is common. But the old psychology trope that apple seeds grow into apple trees and orange seeds grow into orange trees needs to be kept in mind. If the parents are overly dominating (or the culture) then an apple seed may never have a chance to grow in the direction for which it was designed.
Context is all – find a lifestyle that suits who you are. Sandy Gall is a prime example of how to utilise difficult chart aspects. He was a TV reporter and foreign correspondent who had several brushes with death in the Congo and then in Idi Amin’s Uganda, was later reported lost in Saudi Arabia, bombed in Afghanistan and was the first reporter into Kuwait with the Allied forces in the Gulf War of 1991. He has died aged 97 and an obituary said: ‘He survived on wit, charm, courage and no small amount of good luck.”
He was a Sun Libra opposition Uranus – so would have been hopeless in an assembly-line or even civil service job. More significantly his Sun was conjunct Mars square Pluto – he would be attracted to high-adrenaline, high-jeopardy situation and have courage. In a different lifestyle Mars square Pluto can be exceptionally problematic since it tends to attract disasters. He volunteered for them.
He also had Jupiter on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Mercury, giving him confidence, luck and I would imagine an insane amount of optimism about getting out alive.
If his chart had been born into run-of-the-mill circumstances and been stuck in a normal life, it would have created all manner of problems.
Know thyself and live accordingly. Carl Jung: “Freewill is the ability to choose that which I must do.”
Queen Elizabeth 11 is a prime example with an incredibly Fixed and overly conscientious chart. She settled into ploughing the same furrow (fixed) for her entire adult life – in the process living out who she was and holding the country together. Hers was a life of self-sacrifice but she was also living out her identity.
Actor Greg Wise, husband of Emma Thompson, also has extracted the best out of his Sun, Algol, North Node, Mars conjunction in Taurus, as he campaigns with Marie Curie Hospices for open discussions about end of life. His close friend drowned when he was in his 20s; he spent time with both of his parents in their final months and was the carer for is sister when she died of cancer. (See previous post in Search). That Taurus collection could have been truly difficult bringing him more first hand experience of death than most but he has embraced who he is and turned it to good use.
Will a chart say who has choices and who doesn’t? I am not sure. There is an ‘unknown’ which the chart won’t articulate which I sometimes refer to as an element of grace but that does not explain much.
Some individuals can turn difficulties into character-building strengths, others become destroyed by similar setbacks. Some lack self-awareness and I see this the older I get which is exceptionally sad, even tragic. Some never seem to learn from their mistakes and go regretfully or resentfully into that dark night without ever realising they had choices.
Chapter I
“I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost… I am hopeless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in this same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there.
I still fall in… it’s a habit… but,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter V
I walk down another street.”
Portia Nelson
Thank you Marjorie. Always good to think about these questions with no definitive answers, for ourselves and for others. I have sometimes thought that those ‘easy’ charts are often the hardest ones to live with – trines etc can seem ‘lucky’, but like Jupiter are not always what they seem on the surface. Luck in fairy tales is frequently viewed warily, or again brings something difficult or unpleasant. King Midas? The Fisherman’s Wife and the wish-granting golden fish? As we know, our choices are shaped by our family background, place in history, place where we live, and so on. Somewhere in some quantum manner we connect with the collective unconscious, or perhaps the Anima Mundi itself. Seeking self knowledge and awareness seems vital if we are to thrive, otherwise we simply congeal…..
“If we hope to live not just from moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find meaning in our lives.”
― Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
We are all born in a time and place. A person with radical ideas and instincts may be frustrated by a rigid conservative society and a more conservative type might be oppressed by living in a time of great change. Artists living in Florence in the 15th century or Paris in the late 19th century found themselves in the perfect time and place. Artists in 1930s Germany were in a difficult place. It is not only the individual’s chart that indicates destiny, it is their chart interacting with millions of other individual charts and the charts of nations and organisations.
A thought crossed my mind whilst reading the above. Karma and our Charts. Perhaps we have one chart and several lives? Working through various scenarios and aspects, gradually living the best aspect when we have completed all the cycles ? Harmonic vibrations? Solar Arc days in our chart?
I have come to believe that Jupiter is a pilgrim and like a pilgrim he is on a journey where he has most likely saved karma to pay for his needs in advance. His luck is the karma he has put aside in advance or his credit is good.
In the context of past lives, what if Queen Elizabeth II is the reincarnation of Queen Elizabeth I? You might read her chart in the following way her north node in Cancer points to a Leo Moon 7h suggesting a past need to be a married princess. While her past Capricorn south node points to her rx Scorpio Saturn on the Midheaven. Past Master of England. The King-Queen that was the consort of England.
Possible, but then the past life would have a lot too say about the life she led. ‘Assuredly, if my successor were known to the world, I would never esteem my state to be safe.’-Elizabeth I. That might cause a soul to not only want stability but be stability.
Thanks so much for this! These themes are what brought me to astrology decades ago, in search of answers that actually aren’t there. The “unknown” in a birth chart is precisely what I feel too, although at least an “old soul” has meaning if you ascribe to reincarnation ( very attractive to me, but also problematical)
A profound post. The more spiritual one becomes, the more significant the element of grace. In Tibetan Buddhism, the corresponding idea, boddhicitta, is itself a startng point, the product of making good moral choices for countless lives no matter their outcome. Death provides an opportunity to go further. At some point, these repeated acts of relative truth turn into an overpowering search for absolute good, which then becomes an experience, no longer a concept.