Skyscript Astrology Forum

this is a random example..

"A radical change in the nature/form of the government, which includes force or even a (multiple) assassination attempts helped-instigated-empowered by the enemies of the state who are driven by hidden behind 'religious' issues (the Sun comes from the 3rd). People are going to "fight" the king, resist and rebel against the authority. Hard-harsh times for the ruler(s)"

i got to thinking about this after reading about ''the 18th degree''...without saying which sign it is in, i am guessing it is scorpio.. in fact, i recall reading on star data about it many years ago.. it is almost like if you have a planet anywhere in the vicinity of caput algol, or etc. etc. - you are dealing with this really dark, potentially scary and dangerous placement if one of the planets, or heaven forbid - your sun, moon or ascendant land on any of these critical degrees that have a long association with everything bad!

so, bad things happen in life...here is the thrust of my post and it's central theme... --> how are we as astrologers able to look at a chart that transcends a negative outlook on it all?? this is especially so if you have all these astrological triggers for getting anxious based off symbology that might not work as often, or more often, then it does apparently work??'

why are people drawn to astrology? is the idea that knowing the future will make life easier a part of it?? are people who want to have a leg up on the future inherently anxious about the future? do they have a negative slant, or are they just more anxious in general??

these are some random thoughts for a sunday night from me.. it is purely philosophical in nature.. i think about these kinds of things and wonder what others think with regard to all this....

External locus of control and coping is a guess.

An extreme external locus is more unhealthy in general though.

thanks petosiris,

i think these are good thoughts on this.. part of me has made the post to raise the topic for others who are new to astrology that may go into the interpretive process with a type of bias that is hard to detect...

Hello James,

Hope everything is OK with you...

Yeah tough questions dealing with "tough" lives judging from "tough" readings"

First and foremost, let me just put out my (I think you know what) on the negative readings of some fixed stars. I must say I am very disheartened with the readings given to the combination of a fixed star and a planet (or horoscopal points) when technically speaking there is none. Of course this depends on individual's definitions. For example, saying that "when the sun conjoins the star Algol, CSJ$&&%()))#....". However, they are so far apart as Algol is about 22 deg off the sun (in terms of celestial latitude).

Some may argue for the validity of the "projected ecliptic degree" of all celestial bodies but somehow (at least for me) this is just simplification not based on sound "theory of correspondence". One may argue that the six wandering stars are all "off" most of the times from the ecliptic (path of the sun-king) but these wandering stars have maximum celestial latitudes. This is why the ecliptic is their ideal path (the form that they should have followed - and it IS the path that they follow in the Platonic Forms). We could say that the planets are followers of the "King" though a couple of them have erratic latitudinal motion (Mars) or doesn't want to move (slowest) or follow the sun given the choice (Saturn) - making them the malefics. The fact that they are not fixed means that they are negotiable unlike the fixed stars who are non-negotiable and hence, fatalistic (but not necessarily fatal!).

Ok. Technicalities aside, what about negative outlooks in charts and how to deal with them? Well, I would say there are evil spirits (including people) and there are good spirits (including people). Most are somewhere in between. There are good fortunes and there are bad fortunes. Most of the times, it is somewhere in between. Hence, we would expect (at least most of the times) astrology should be indicating periods of "somewhere in between".

Ok. The crux is "how do we transcend the negative outlook?". For me, we could also ask the equivalent question "how do we transcend the positive outlook?". How not to be too sad when sad things happen or how not to be too happy when happy things happen. The answer to both (well one of the answers!) is that be it negative or positive, they are both "fleeting". No matter what state we are in, everything passes away - momento mori. We shall rejoice and suffer in dignity - like a planet in its own dignity be it it in its own joy or gloom. He he

Many, if not most astrologers (especially ancient astrologers) are/were believers in the hereafter and the immortal life that comes after this temporal life (the Platonic life that we are heading into). Hence, in the grand scheme of things, this temporal life is but a blip in the boundless sea of the infinite and immortal life we are heading into. Transcending the temporal joy and suffering is easy if we remember this. In fact, the mature souls transcend even the need to do astrology! Why worry about the temporal joy and suffering we GET in this temporal life? Make the best of this temporal life and DO the best. Why then do the best? Because the state of the next life depends on what we DO in this life (but not what we GET in this life!).

In the event you are still interested in knowing what you will get in this life, then we can do astrology (amidst the inconsistencies, incompetencies, inaccuracies, ...). Ha ha ..

astrojin, you are such a wise soul... thank you for this.. i am not going to try adding anything, but i love your comments and the humour in the delivery.. life is indeed transitory.. there is that transit word that is embedded in our experience of life.. make of life the best we can.. thanks astrojin... i hope others benefit from your comments here at skyscript as much as i have.. thank you! james