When I say "smarter" I am not referring to one's ability to properly draw an electron dot structure, however emotional this process may be. I am talking about the kind of emotional knowledge that astrology exists to catalogue; to know ourselves, to know others, to know or knowledgeably not know how we will each approach the world and what lies outside of it.
This intelligence is obviously of greater importance to living than the intelligence of dot structures, and everyone I like tends to agree. I therefore will avoid waxing poetic about what quantifies intelligence and instead assume that I like you, that you agree, and that we can have a normal (and completely one-sided) discussion about why learning astrology is sad.
Astrology is a large and mysterious thing that dodges most definition acrobatically. For the purpose of this blog, I am going to call it an intricate equation of fate. Or, for those of you who like your important points bolded and underlined: A Fate Equation. No, a natal, synastric, composite, or progressed chart does not cement exact happenings, but it 9/10 times gestures in the direction of reality. (If it didn't, none of us would study astrology, obviously.)
The interesting thing about astrology is that it proposes fate to be something existing inside of us that is reflected outward, as opposed to something outward that is inflicted inward. Liz Greene argues that the world reacts to us the way it does due to our individual natal astrology, and that our natal astrology is karmically inherited from our family line. Basically the way in which our natal planets touch the natal planets of others may inspire them to either abuse us or shower us with love.
This is, of course, not a way to blame or excuse anyone for the suffering they may have experienced in their life or the suffering they may have caused others. The time of our birth is just as much out of our control as the family we are born into or the people we encounter as we age. But whether this astrological way of thinking blames or excuses or not, it just kind of sucks to think about.
Even though I think the word "happiness" has been used weirdly in the Western world, (and is in general a vaguely flawed concept,) the core of having an enduring "happiness" is largely related to how much control any given person may feel they have over their life. If you're a kind of mopey, negative person who is infatuated with learning about emotion and people (despite having a conflicted relationship with both,) it is incredibly easy to research astrology and come away thinking:
"i am a slave 2 the time of my birth.... there is no escape from this starry, starry hell..."
And, like, isn't that kind of true? And not? And true? And not?
Unfortunately the kinds of philosophizing one might do to escape from this tunnel of thought, the kinds which seem more humanistic and positive, are the kinds which violently reject astrology altogether. It is awfully appealing to throw oneself into the arms of Kierkegaard and weep, but to believe that our lives are essentially within our control, we must decide that our natal charts are meaningless and arcane. Which I think we can agree they are not.
So how do we deal with the crushing knowledge that fate is real, cruel, and inescapable while also feeling autonomy over our lives? How do we influence (not change) fate in our favor?
Lol, I don't know. I don't believe that anyone else "knows" either, but I do think that finding the primary shittinesses in one's chart and confronting them with intention is apart of the solution to this paradox. This confrontation depends on the shittiness in question, as well as one's personal perspective of how dealing with this shittiness may be done. The problem with intentional healing is that one never knows if they have done it correctly until they have already acted upon what they thought was the "right" thing to do. And even then it may be unclear.
I have no conclusion to this entry. I just think that reconciling fate with freedom is majorly important for the wellbeing of anyone involved in deeper astrology. Although philosophy is truly awful, is something that even philosophers themselves despise, ya gotta go all the way in if you've sacrificed your soul to astrology. Ya gotta think like a philosopher to deal with this new, terrifying self awareness. Sorry! That's the way it is, dudes.
This intelligence is obviously of greater importance to living than the intelligence of dot structures, and everyone I like tends to agree. I therefore will avoid waxing poetic about what quantifies intelligence and instead assume that I like you, that you agree, and that we can have a normal (and completely one-sided) discussion about why learning astrology is sad.
Astrology is a large and mysterious thing that dodges most definition acrobatically. For the purpose of this blog, I am going to call it an intricate equation of fate. Or, for those of you who like your important points bolded and underlined: A Fate Equation. No, a natal, synastric, composite, or progressed chart does not cement exact happenings, but it 9/10 times gestures in the direction of reality. (If it didn't, none of us would study astrology, obviously.)
The interesting thing about astrology is that it proposes fate to be something existing inside of us that is reflected outward, as opposed to something outward that is inflicted inward. Liz Greene argues that the world reacts to us the way it does due to our individual natal astrology, and that our natal astrology is karmically inherited from our family line. Basically the way in which our natal planets touch the natal planets of others may inspire them to either abuse us or shower us with love.
This is, of course, not a way to blame or excuse anyone for the suffering they may have experienced in their life or the suffering they may have caused others. The time of our birth is just as much out of our control as the family we are born into or the people we encounter as we age. But whether this astrological way of thinking blames or excuses or not, it just kind of sucks to think about.
Even though I think the word "happiness" has been used weirdly in the Western world, (and is in general a vaguely flawed concept,) the core of having an enduring "happiness" is largely related to how much control any given person may feel they have over their life. If you're a kind of mopey, negative person who is infatuated with learning about emotion and people (despite having a conflicted relationship with both,) it is incredibly easy to research astrology and come away thinking:
"i am a slave 2 the time of my birth.... there is no escape from this starry, starry hell..."
And, like, isn't that kind of true? And not? And true? And not?
Unfortunately the kinds of philosophizing one might do to escape from this tunnel of thought, the kinds which seem more humanistic and positive, are the kinds which violently reject astrology altogether. It is awfully appealing to throw oneself into the arms of Kierkegaard and weep, but to believe that our lives are essentially within our control, we must decide that our natal charts are meaningless and arcane. Which I think we can agree they are not.
So how do we deal with the crushing knowledge that fate is real, cruel, and inescapable while also feeling autonomy over our lives? How do we influence (not change) fate in our favor?
Lol, I don't know. I don't believe that anyone else "knows" either, but I do think that finding the primary shittinesses in one's chart and confronting them with intention is apart of the solution to this paradox. This confrontation depends on the shittiness in question, as well as one's personal perspective of how dealing with this shittiness may be done. The problem with intentional healing is that one never knows if they have done it correctly until they have already acted upon what they thought was the "right" thing to do. And even then it may be unclear.
I have no conclusion to this entry. I just think that reconciling fate with freedom is majorly important for the wellbeing of anyone involved in deeper astrology. Although philosophy is truly awful, is something that even philosophers themselves despise, ya gotta go all the way in if you've sacrificed your soul to astrology. Ya gotta think like a philosopher to deal with this new, terrifying self awareness. Sorry! That's the way it is, dudes.
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