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Author Topic:   Hello!
AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 12, 2009 03:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
Hello Everyone!

This post is my first though I have visited the site many times. I have been interested in Astrology since my early teens but only recently began studying it in any depth. There is so much I still haven't pulled together yet! That's where I was hoping you guys could help me out with a little support and guidance. :-)

Hmm, what else? I'm a Sun Scorpio (also Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter---1st House stellium---yay!---not really ). Libra Rising and Virgo Moon. I read Tarot cards and am a fair hand at Dream Interpretation (anyone have any questions there, just holler at me!). I love to read (the Classics and Fantasy) and I enjoy creative writing.

Anything else, just ask. I'm an open book for the most part. Looking forward to talking to everyone, cheers!

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AcousticGod
Knowflake

Posts: 837
From: acousticgod@sbcglobal.net
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 12, 2009 07:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AcousticGod     Edit/Delete Message
Hi!

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Cardinal Arbiter
Knowflake

Posts: 101
From: let it be trivial and of no interest
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 12, 2009 09:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Cardinal Arbiter     Edit/Delete Message
Welcome!

I look forward to talking to you

------------------
Pisces Sun, Libra Moon, Scorpio Ascendant..
Cardinal Grand Cross

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 12, 2009 09:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
Hi, you two! Thanks so much for the welcome.

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Scorpionic Web
Knowflake

Posts: 49
From: Philadelphia
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 12, 2009 10:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scorpionic Web     Edit/Delete Message
Would you be a 1982 Scorpio Jupiter? If so, you were born a few days before me.

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 12, 2009 11:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
That I would. Nov. 10th 1982.

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 14, 2009 01:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

Hello.

Have you ever experimented with Whole Sign Houses? Rob Hand wrote a book on it, and this astrologer I know uses them, and ever since I learned about it I've had a lot of success with them, too. It would put your stellium in the 2nd house. I think its probably a good idea to work with two or three different house systems. I'm not entirely sure what the differences are, but both Placidus and Whole Sign give me insights. I think the Whole Sign interpretations are sometimes very obvious and spot-on, while Placidus can point to less overt, more internal, energy dynamics.

I also write creatively and like reading classics. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Proust, Nietzsche, Novalis, Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, Seneca... are some of my favorites. And I like Tarot, but I've never studied it seriously. I probably should. Have you ever seen this book, "Meditations On The Tarot: A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism". It's pretty impressive. I copied out most of a chapter: http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/003455.html

Who are some of your favorite writers?

And what kind of Fantasy do you read?

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 14, 2009 01:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

this is me:

http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/000005.html

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Peri
Moderator

Posts: 641
From: 49N35 34E34
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 14, 2009 04:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Peri     Edit/Delete Message
welcome to LL, Asphodel

quote:
am a fair hand at Dream Interpretation

ah that's cool, care to have a look at mine?
http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/002203.html

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 14, 2009 09:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
Valus, Peri, very nice to make your acquaintances!

Valus, I've glanced at both the Whole Signs and the Draconic, but haven't used either in depth. In fact, I'm just getting around to exploring Placidus in depth, so...but it is definitely something I will keep in mind.

I've seen the book, but haven't read it. I did, however, read the excerpt you posted. Interesting stuff! I'm putting the book on my "To-Buy" shortlist.

Ah, you like the philosophers and social commentators, very nice. Wow, some of my favorite authors...I'll try to keep this as brief as possible, else it will get out of hand quickly. Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Fielding, Sterne, Austen, Keats, Wordsworth, the Brownings, Dickens, the Brontes, Verne, Stevenson, Tennyson, Whitman, Yeats, Tolstoy, Henry James, Borges, Anne Sexton, and John Berryman. *Takes a breath*

Some of my favorite fantasy authors---Tolkien (of course!), George R. R. Martin, McCaffery, LeGuin, McKillip, Jim Butcher, McKinley, C. S. Lewis, L'Engle, and she's not really a fantasy author, but Anne Rice.

Those are the short lists anyway.

Do you read fantasy? And what sort of creative writing do you do, aside from poetry?

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 14, 2009 09:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
Oh, and Poe. How could I forget Poe!

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 15, 2009 01:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

Wow, your Virgo Moon isn't playing around, lol. Poe is great. Have you read Flannery O'Connor? She's great, too, and a big Poe fan. I love "Resurrection", and most of Tolstoy's later stuff. These souls.. their lives are as intriguing as their books. Whitman is a brother. Tennyson, I weep for. Anne Sexton.. I have been her kind. Shakespeare gave me Hamlet, and unpacked my heart with words. I don't read fantasy, but I've felt drawn to it lately. Where should I begin? Poetry, for me, is barely a hobby. More like a bad habit. I don't know. My opinion of my "work" fluxuates madly. But I will cop to being an aphorist. My best is in my aphorisms and fragments. If you scroll down to the third post: http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/000005-9.html

This is one of my poems i like:


love waits with me

a child

a ghost

a friend of a friend

someone I barely seem to know

we wait for you

you are supposed to introduce us
familiarize us, in your way

we are awkward without you

i offer declined substitutes to my guest
only your presence will do

we are a funny pair without you

people look at us strangely
they seem to know something is wrong

where are you


What do you like to write?

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 16, 2009 06:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
I like O'Connor a great deal, as well. "A Good Man in Hard to Find" is one of my favorites by her. Hmm, what can I say? I'm fascinated by the tortured artist. My preoccupation with Keats would probably be considered borderline unhealthy.

Try Robin McKinley's _Rose Daughter_. It is a re-telling of "Beauty and the Beast," though, I prefer McKinley's ending. Her prose isn't to be missed and if you're interested in fantasy, its good to start with something that may already be familiar, ease yourself into the genre.

Poetry can't ever become a bad habit. I don't believe you have anything to worry about. Agree with most of your aphorisms. A few caught my eye and reminded me of a recent thought I'd had. The happiest people in the world are the cruelest. That in turn reminded me of a line from "Ode to a Nightingale," "'Tis not in envy of thy happy lot, but being too happy in thy happiness."

Maybe there is something to be said for misery? Forgive me, I'm tired and rambling.

Your poem is lovely. For what its worth, I enjoyed it and understood it. There's a difference sometimes, I think.

I write some poetry, it comes in like the tide, though. Most of my time is dedicated to short stories and my 3 never-ending novels.

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GypseeWind
Knowflake

Posts: 787
From: Dayton,Ohio USA
Registered: May 2009

posted June 16, 2009 12:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for GypseeWind     Edit/Delete Message
Hello!
I was going to say hi yesterday, but I was having trouble remembering your name right.
Can I just call you "Aspho?"

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 16, 2009 04:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

I'd hate to think that I'm cornering you in your personal thread here and extorting a conversation out of you, but its nice to have someone to chat with about these things once in a while. Your quote, "the happiest people in the world are the cruelest" led me to a thought from Swift, though only indirectly related, "a nice man is a man of nasty ideas". Perhaps some men are cruel, in part, because they see so little injustice in life; they are optimistic to the point of thinking that every wretch is deserving of his misery, or else he would unmake it. The belief in "free will", inasmuch as it seeks to justify God or the universe at the expense of man, has always struck me as particularly insensitive. I think a nice man would be likely to hold a few very nasty ideas of "God".

I confess to a fascination and preoccupation -- heck, lets just say it, an obsession, -- with the tortured artist myself. This is an archetype which has thoroughly overwhelmed and inundated my consciousness. If I were another Keats, there might be some sense in it, but, alas! I don't know if you are familiar with the manic-depressive, occassionally schizophrenic, singer-songwriter, Daniel Johnston, but I wrote this poem about him (and myself):

'the artist'

he stares off into space
he's full of grace

his eyes are full of moon
but he'll say something soon
you'll understand

sometimes he forgets
all the things he knows
he's kind of old

but every now and then
he's really very zen
or getting close

you might think he's deaf
that he's got nothing left
but you'd be wrong

he hears between the lines
and answers every crime
it won't be long

he'll sing a song
so strong


I find Keats very difficult. Moreso than Shakespeare. I always felt closer to Shelley (I guess the comparison is inevitable). But someone I care for left me with a volume of Keats, and she was very fond of him. I should give him another chance.. or, rather, give myself another chance to appreciate him. I remember enjoying and understanding his preface to Endymion.

It means a lot to me when someone who really appreciates literature takes their time and energy to read my aphorisms, so, thank you very much for that. I'm glad you agreed with most of them. I do, too, most of the time. But, then, I suspect, even the greatest truths are only partly true, and only most of the time.

I'm also glad you liked the poem.
I'll check out Robin's book, thanks.
What are your novels about,
if you don't mind sharing?


I wanted to leave you with
the first few "chapters" from
a favorite little book of mine:

I

I stopped to listen, but he did not come. I began again with a sense of loss. As this sense deepened I heard him again. I stopped stopping and I stopped starting, and I allowed myself to be crushed by ignorance. This was a strategy, and didnt work at all. Much time, years were wasted in such a minor mode. I bargain now. I offer buttons for his love. I beg for mercy. Slowly he yields. Haltingly he moves toward his throne. Reluctantly the angels grant to one another permission to sing. In a transition so delicate it cannot be marked, the court is established on beams of golden symmetry, and once again I am a singer in the lower choirs, born fifty years ago to raise my voice this high, and no higher.

2

When I left the king I began to rehearse what I would say to the world: long rehearsals full of revisions, imaginary applause, humiliations, edicts of revenge. I grew swollen as I conspired with my ambition, I struggled, I expanded, and when the term was up, I gave birth to an ape. After some small inevitable misunderstanding, the ape turned on me. Limping, stumbling, I fled back to the swept courtyards of the king. 'Where is your ape?' the king demanded. 'Bring me your ape.' The work is slow. The ape is old. He clowns behind his bars, imitating our hands in the dream. He winks at my official sense of urgency. What king, he wants to know. What courtyard? What highway?

3

I heard my soul singing behind a leaf, plucked the leaf, but then I heard it singing behind a veil. I tore the veil, but then I heard it singing behind a wall. I broke the wall, and I heard my soul singing against me. I built up the wall, mended the curtain, but I could not put back the leaf. I held it in my hand and I heard my soul singing mightily against me. This is what its like to study without a friend.


~ from "Book of Mercy", by Leonard Cohen

He has some Virgo 12th house energy, too.

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 16, 2009 04:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

There is a lot to be said for misery:


If any man come to me, and hate not his own life, he cannot be my disciple. - Jesus of Nazareth

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. - Solomon

There is no coming to consciousness without pain. - Carl Jung

Yes, I have an ulcer! Of course, I have an ulcer! This is Kali Yuga, buddy. The Iron Age. Anybody without an ulcer by the age of sixteen is a g*ddamn spy! - Zooey Glass (J.D. Salinger)

In the psychopathic temperament we have the emotionality which is the sine qua non of moral perception; we have the intensity and tendency to emphasis which are the essence of practical moral vigor; and we have the love of metaphysics and mysticism which carry one's interests beyond the surface of the sensible world. What, then, is more natural than that this temperament should introduce one to regions of religious truth, to corners of the universe, which your robust Philistine type of nervous system, forever offering its biceps to be felt, thumping its breast, and thanking Heaven that it hasn't a single morbid fibre in its composition, would be sure to hide forever from its self-satisfied possessors? If there were such a thing as inspiration from a higher realm, it might well be that the neurotic temperament would furnish the chief condition of the requisite receptivity. - William James

As long as your desire is pleasure, and you cherish your desire, carry on playing like a child; you are not man enough for this. - Hakim Sanai

Here the ways of men part: If your desire is for happiness and peace of mind, believe; if you wish to know the truth, inquire. - Friedrich Nietzsche

The majority of men do not think in order to know the truth, but, rather, to assure themselves that the life which they are living, and which is both habitual and agreeable to them, is the one that coincides with the truth. - Leo Tolstoy

Ignorance is bliss. - Source Unknown

Consciousness is unrest. - Arthur Schopenhauer

He who increaseth wisdom increaseth sorrow. - Ecclesiastes

Sorrow is knowledge, those that know the most must mourn the deepest; the tree of knowledge is not the tree of life. - Lord Byron

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven inspired by the smell of carrion? - Friedrich Nietzsche

Realists do not fear the results of their study. - Fyodor Dostoievsky

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. - Andre Gide

One cannot reach the dawn except by the path of night. - Kahlil Gibran

The sage awakes to light in the night of all creatures. That which the world calls day is the night of ignorance to the wise. - The Bhagavad-Gita

Where there is suffering there is holy ground. - Oscar Wilde

Have pity on me; for the hand of God hath touched me. - Job

Suffering is the ancient law of love; there is no quest without pain; there is no lover who is not also a martyr. - Heinrich Suso

I found it hard. It's hard to find. Oh well, whatever, nevermind. - Kurt Cobain

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius. - Benjamin Disraeli

What keeps most people from suffering very much is lack of imagination.... Everything great that we know has come from neurotics. It is they and only they who have founded religions and created great works of art. Never will the world be aware of how much it owes to them, nor, above all, how much they have sufferred in order to bestow their gifts upon it. - Marcel Proust

It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others. - Virginia Woolf

Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood - Friedrich Nietzsche

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point. - Arthur Schopenhauer

Stupidity often saves a man from going mad. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

I wish I was like you; easily amused. - Kurt Cobain

I want to love first, and live incidentally. - Zelda Fitzgerald

Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad. - Aldous Huxley

Much madness is divinest sense, to a discerning eye; much sense, the starkest madness. 'Tis the majority in this, as in all, prevails - assent and you are sane; demur, you're straightway dangerous and handled with a chain. - Emily Dickenson

The way it is now, the asylums can hold the sane people but if we tried to shut up the insane we would run out of building materials. - Mark Twain

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. - Edgar Allen Poe

We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly. - Michel de Montaigne

What good is a philosopher who offends no one? - Diogenes of Sinope

They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth. - Plato

Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. - Lao Tzu

Be good and you will be lonely. - Mark Twain

[Despair] is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a sin the corrupt or evil man never practices. He always has hope. He never reaches the freezing-point of knowing absolute failure. Only the man of goodwill carries always in his heart this capacity for damnation. - Graham Greene

One may smile, and smile, and be a villain. - Shakespeare (Hamlet)

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. - Samuel Johnson

We come into the world laden with the weight of an infinite necessity. - Albert Camus

Some amount of suffering is always necessary. A ship without ballast cannot go straight. - Arthur Schopenhauer

A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them; they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world. - Sigmund Freud

Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better. - The Holy Bible

Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts; not amid joy. - Felicia D. Hemens

Great men have always been of a nature originally melancholy. - Aristotle

Affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. - John Donne

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 16, 2009 09:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
Hello to you too, GypseeWind! You can call me AE, if you prefer. Its what my name is inevitably shortened to anyway.

Valus,

Then don't think it, because it isn't true. This conversation is quite alright. In any case, do you see hordes of people clamoring to reply? No, I didn't think so. Its not like we're being unfair to other readers. Let us continue. It is nice.

Yes, I agree, using free will (God's gift/curse) as an excuse to get out of being compassionate is abhorrent. I was thinking too, of people in the momentary flush of happiness (they should realize its only momentary), completely lack empathy. Or they try to maintain the momentary flush, usually with pharmaceuticals, and sell their empathy for a drug-induced half-life.

It boils down to, no one wants to hear anything remotely "negative" when they're happy, and modern society supports that we should be happy all the time, so those that are suffering are cruelly shoved to the side or have their voices drown out in everyone else's laughter. Happiness could also be equated with extreme selfishness.

Love, love, love the quotes. Particularly, Jung and James (have to give props to Henry's brother). I used that exact Dr. Johnson quote just last week.

Have a passing familiarity with Johnston and Cohen. I do believe Cohen will go on my short list too. You write very well. It is no hardship to enjoy intelligent thought and finely worded phrases. You're welcome, but I should be thanking you.

I confess that when I was first made aware of Keats, probably my freshmen year of college, he was my least favorite Romantic. In fact, I don't think I liked him at all. It wasn't until my senior year, moving into my graduate studies, that I finally developed an appreciation and then I devoured everything of his I could find. Give yourself that chance. Check out "Ode to a Nightingale." That was the turning point for me.

I have a fantasy, fantasy/horror, and a journal style novel going on right now. The journal should be done by the end of the year, the other two, who knows? Fantasy is such a bastardized genre. Its bothersome to me that academics don't recognize the timeless themes and often very human characterizations. They are just shooting themselves in the foot though, the artist is so maligned and neglected in society, that there should be more of an effort to ban together rather than draw lines to separate. *Jumps off soapbox* I hope you enjoy McKinley's novel.

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 17, 2009 12:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

Thank you.

I really enjoyed reading this.

I'll get back to you soon.

You should post your chart.


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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 17, 2009 01:50 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
It 'tis posted. On this forum, different thread. The picture/chart thread. Can't remember the exact name, but I can post it again.

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 17, 2009 02:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message
why did i think your moon was in the 12th? no wonder i had so much trouble figuring it out. thanks.

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 17, 2009 03:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
You're welcome, but what were you trying to figure out? Just the moon placement?

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 17, 2009 07:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message
The Ascendant degree..

so that the sun would be in the 1st,
and the moon in the 12th.

but your moon is in the 11th.

nless you go by Whole Signs.

anyway...

Saturn/Pluto/ASC

was it a difficult birth?

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 17, 2009 11:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
No, not in the least. My mother didn't scream or have painkillers with either my birth or that of my brother. She's a Scorp too, so I attribute it to her stubbornness.

I was a disgustingly healthy infant. Semi-difficult childhood, but all-in-all could've been worse.

Anything particular catch your eye with the Asc/Pluto/Saturn? I know they came super close to being in Scorpio. Makes me wonder what kind of monster I'd be then, lol.

I've been studying Chiron in my chart. Its where almost all my oppositions are, I have a bunch of Moon semisquares, and 2 Midheaven squares. My astrologer always glosses over those things, so I felt compelled to explore them more thoroughly.

Anything I should keep in mind with Chiron?

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Valus
Knowflake

Posts: 756
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted June 18, 2009 12:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Valus     Edit/Delete Message

I personally think Chiron is very important, but maybe that has something to do with Chiron being the only "planet" (not counting my South Node) in one half of my chart; squaring my moon and opposing my sun. This guy Zane Stein appears to be an authority on Chiron and he places particular importance on Chiron-Jupiter links, since Jupiter figures prominently in the Chiron myths. Besides woundedness, I think Chiron relates to plant-wisdom, energy work (and all forms of alternative healing, including shamanism), and societal imbalances which affect the individual (and which often appear to be personal wounds, but are in fact culturally inflicted wounds; suffered by individuals who are disenfranchised by the culture, and whose gifts cannot find expression within their native culture). As a bridge between Saturn and the outer planets, Chiron invites us to explore these social issues, and to see things within the context of larger systems. Chiron appears to be related to holisticism in general. The definition of "holistic" reads: a. Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.
b.
Concerned with wholes rather than analysis or separation into parts. The action of Chiron seems to be multidimensional; it provokes us to consider things from multiple angles, and to treat illnesses in a variety of ways symultaneously. For highly Chironic individuals, life itself is about healing, and every day one is either healing or getting sick. On the 7th/8th house cusp, it would suggest wounds around partnership and intimacy, as well as a profound capacity to heal in these areas. For instance, one wonders whether or not Marvin Gaye had a transit of Chiron through his 8th house when he wrote "sexual healing". You may experience healing through intimacy, or you may heal someone else through intimacy. You may be drawn to wounded people. Chiron, in addition to a wounded person, suggests someone whose accomplishments or abilities are not recognized on account of his or her woundedness. This is the surly zen master, who enlightens others but cant calm his own temper. Or the counsellor who inspires others to live life more fully, then goes home and practices how to tie a noose. Its also the saint who leads others to God, but whose own heart is full of doubt (Mother Teresa had Sun opposition Chiron).

The composure and fortitude your mother showed during labor may be what is indicated by those conjunctions. Uranus would show something shocking or unusual, Neptune might show drug-induced births, but Pluto could very well indicate a mother with tremendous willpower. "Disgustingly healthy infant", lol. Makes me think of Anjelica Huston in "The Witches". Saturn and Pluto move very slowly, so they aren't too close to Scorpio, time-wise. I do think there is something significant about having the Ascendant in the last degrees of a sign, but I'm not sure what it is. Your Ascendant and 1st house indicate uncommon resources of willpower and determination. You are not likely to be the type of person to whom life happens; you are far more likely to be the type of person who happens to life, so to speak. Saturn there gives a very serious mind, and may be largely responsible for your exceptional literary taste.

I think a belief in free will almost inevitably leads to intolerance. For me, it is irrational, and doesnt tally with the nature of things. The very action of understanding presupposes a history of reinforcing antecedents. That is, we can only understand why anything comes into being by looking at the phenomena preceding and surrounding it. The thing itself tells us nothing; it just is. But, dissolved into its constituent elements, the thing is understood to be nothing if not that which is effected by the collaboration of surrounding phenomena. As I see it, everything is interdependent, and there is really only one thing happening, albeit in the form of myriad appearances. In order for anything to arise, the conditions of the entire cosmos must conspire to that end. How the existential reality of choice corresponds to this underlying matrix is a fascinating and mind-blowing process. It is a constant negotiating and reconciling of ideal truth with practical fact. The ideal truth is that we are innocent and not responsible, but the practical fact is that we are answerable, nonetheless. This paradox has fascinated me ever since I began to think philosophically.

Happiness is indeed the opiate of the masses, and, for many, it has attained to the height of being the sole criteria of truth. "Does it make you happy? Well, then, it must be true." As if the truth of a thing could be intuited to the extent that it corresponds with our personal sympathies. It's remarkable how denial works. But then, it is also a survival mechanism, whether for the organism, or just the ego. Some truths may be too much for some people to bear. Astrologically, it is interesting to note here that the same principles which promote empathy and compassion (Pisces, Neptune, and the 12th house), also promote denial and avoidance. It is strange but it is true, that the people who feel the pain of the world most acutely also tend to be among the least willing to confront it. A certain degree of detachment, in addition to empathy, is needed, in order not to succumb to the griefs one wishes to assuage. And, as you have rightly observed, a certain amount of gravity is also necessary. "I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride." ~ Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo) It would appear that any emotion, in extremis, would prevent the sober and compassionate response to suffering; whether it is an excess of happiness, sadness, or even empathy itself.

Dr. Johnson is a character. Have you read Boswell? I found myself eager to offer my rebuttals to Johnson's wit, and disappointed at being several centuries too late. I cannot recall what the instances were, but I do recall a parallel instance while reading Thoreau. He writes, "The squirrel you kill in jest, dies in earnest." Now that is truly lovely. But, without its corollary, every lovely aphorism is incomplete. Had I been present with the man, I might have offered up, "The squirrel you mourn in earnest, lives in jest." And, if I do say so myself, the sentiment is no less beautiful, though it is, admittedly, a bit insensitively optimistic, or flippant. But now I am reminded of Nietzsche, and that deserves a paragraph break.

"In the mountains the shortest way is from peak to peak, but for that route you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks, and those spoken to should be tall and lofty. The atmosphere rare and pure, danger near and the spirit full of a joyful wickedness: these things go well together. I want to have goblins about me, for I am courageous. Courage which scares away ghosts, creates goblins for itself- it wants to laugh... He who climbs high mountains, laughs at all tragic plays and tragic realities. Brave, unconcerned, mocking, violent- thus wisdom wants us; wisdom is a woman, and always loves only a warrior... And to me also, who appreciates life, the butterflies, and soap-bubbles, and whatever is like them, seem to know most about happiness. To see these light, foolish, pretty, lively little sprites flit about- that moves Zarathustra to tears and songs. I would only believe in a God who could dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we kill. Come, let us kill the spirit of gravity! I learned to walk; since then have I let myself run. I learned to fly; since then I do not need to be pushed to move from a spot. Now I am light, now I fly, now I see myself beneath myself, now a god dances through me.- Thus spoke Zarathustra."

"A joyful wickedness,". How perfectly Nietzsche articulates for us this schizm between happiness and concern. The man's entire life and thought testify to the same. He deemed himself the ultimate "YES-sayer", the ultimate affirmer of life... and how did he affirm life? By denying the sick, the weak, "the bungled and the botched"; "the human, all-too-human". His was the ideal of perfect strength. Which brings us to Novalis; truly a man after my own heart.

"The ideal of Morality has no more dangerous rival than the ideal of highest Strength, of most powerful life; which also has been named (very falsely as it was there meant) the ideal of poetic greatness. It is the maximum of the savage; and has, in these times, gained, precisely among the greatest weaklings, very many proselytes. By this ideal, man becomes a Beast-Spirit, a Mixture; whose brutal wit has, for weaklings, a brutal power of attraction.--"

The man called "The Prophet of Romanticism" evidently prophesied "the over-man", as well. And thought very little of him.

No need to descend from your soapbox. Take a moment to bask in my applause. Fantasy is definitely underappreciated, and the artist is a hunted animal in our society. I've been drawn more and more toward the fantastic, as it seems a far more maleable medium, capable of conveying things symbolically which more ordinary forms make very difficult. Moreover, it exemplifies the world of dreams -- making concessions to reality only where there is a special (often tragic) point to be made. And this is what our world needs more than anything now. Maybe more than love. Thank you again for the compliments and recommendations.


Stephen

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AsphodelElysium
Knowflake

Posts: 35
From: Virginia
Registered: Jun 2009

posted June 19, 2009 01:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AsphodelElysium     Edit/Delete Message
Thank you, very much, for the information on Chiron. It too,is the only thing, aside from my True Node, on one side of my chart. I do believe I'll have Chris (my astrologer) spend more time on it when we talk again. He likes to say I don't have any squares or oppositions, which isn't true. I have five oppositions (four to Chiron, one to the True Node) and two squares (both to my Midheaven). Not to fixate on anything that might be "negative," I would just like the whole, detailed, picture.

Advanced degrees imply mastery in the areas they show up in. In Libra, I suppose I've mastered the art of indecision, lol. Not really. I am however happy for the slight buffer between my Asc. and Sun. Yes, willpower and determination I have in abundance. I'll own that. I'd also rather not give Saturn credit for something it doesn't deserve. My literary tastes are hardly Saturnine, in spite of, a serious turn of mind.

I have a feeling we're talking about two different things. When I say free will, I mean the ability to choose, no more, no less. I also don't mean to imply that another person's choices don't interfere with one's own, thus, causing conflict. Cause and effect, as it were. Intolerance is also a choice, albeit, one that is generally made in fear and ignorance. But I wouldn't call holding someone responsible for their actions, intolerance. It would be nice to say, the cosmos made me do it, but I don't really believe that.

The empathy/avoidance conflict is one I've noticed often. Still, the root of it appears to be nothing other than plain selfishness. One is capable of understanding, of comfort, yet chooses not to act on it. Detachment and empathy together? That is rare indeed, but I see the necessity for it also.

Of course, I've read Boswell. _The Life of Johnson_ is not to be missed. Its not too late. You could still publish a book of your own refutations. It would be a revival for Johnson and a new beginning for you.

I'm teaching a class this fall on fantasy literature and how it has its roots in "canon" works. No one would dispute the greatness of Ovid or Shakespeare (think _Metamorphoses_ and _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ in this case---works that have fantastic imagery) but C.S. Lewis is "children's literature." The implication being it can't have meaning for adults and isn't, therefore, serious literature. I use Lewis as an example. You could just as easily substitute Tolkien, Martin, McCaffery, LeGuin, etc.

The Arts are the heart and soul of human society, and yet, they are cast aside for the more anti-intellectual activities. But then again, a dumbed down society is easier to control. The artist is a fugitive, a criminal, to the "powers that be," because the artist encourages freedom of thought.

You're more than welcome. Let me know how you enjoy the novel.

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