Skyscript Astrology Forum

Follow on from my train of thought of light permeating space, matter and distance. I'm wondering why I'm having quite a major transit with no effect whatsoever. Why do some transits work and others don't? Our historical predecessors were well aware of the ability of planets to transmit energies from one to another, even when no aspects existed between them. However, there is never an attempt to offer any explanations or even to make astrologers more aware of this important phenomena. Had they done so there may have been a greater understanding as to why transits and progressions work splendidly on occasions and miserably on others.

Hi Skippy,
Does this transit primarily a TRINE transit?

If so, it's normal to feel "nothing is happening." There are many reasons you haven't seen something materialize yet.

If not, please leave your birth info here if you feel comfortable doing so and I will see if I can shed light on this issue for you.
Lainie

Had they done so there may have been a greater understanding as to why transits and progressions work splendidly on occasions and miserably on others.

The first problem is that transits are overvalued.
The second is that almost any technique in astrology works sometimes, the problem is that we need things that work everytime. You can?t say "you will have a splendid year" and turn out to be the worst year of the person?s live.
The third is that no technique should be used in a "stand alone" technique... solar returns, for example, only work when combined with profections and firdaria.
The fourth problem is the short cut approach of saying, "oh, you are under a transit of saturn" without doing proper delineation of what saturn is actually meaning in the chart.

An example of these points you can see in vedic astrology, which yes they use transits, but only transits activated by dashas or other factors are important, and their meaning comes from proper delineation and not from reading the cookbooks.

Greetings
Yuzuru

For what it's worth, I think Skippy's raised a really good question here. Certainly I've seen plenty of transits, progressions etc that just seem to pass without anything relevant happening. I'd also venture to suggest that some people tend to show the classic signs of transits more than others. A couple of things which might be relevant here:

- In discussing his therapeutic work with LSD, Stanislav Grof reports that when people were approaching 'the experience of ego death' (just a stage in the process!) dangerous things might start happening to them in their daily lives. But, crucially,

It seemed as if these individuals had to face for some reason, the experience of annihilation, but they had the choice of doing so in a symbolic way in the inner world or facing it in reality." (Beyond the Brain p.46-7).

Grof also used transits to time when people would go through these stages btw (p.393). So here's one thing that may be in play: some of the time we externalise transits, some of the time we don't. Whether astrology can potentially tell us which it will be for any given occasion will doubtless be a moot point, though personally I doubt it.

- A slightly related theme. In my '01 interview with him, Robert Hand said:

... you can reasonably attempt to alter the impact of a transit or indication ? by consciously putting the symbolism into your life in a benign way. I used to call it astrological alchemy; where you give the symbolism all the room it needs but in some way that it is not harmful, difficult, or whatever. In fact, it might even be useful and expanding. The classic example of this, which I?ve mentioned several times, is the client of mine who, in 1998, had a particularly horrible-looking year from the point of view of general mental health and drug usage. I gritted my teeth and asked her what she had done that year. She looked at me, smiled, and said, "Oh, I was very happy and I made over $1 million." I asked, "What were you doing?" She said, "I was in a musical, playing Judy Garland." The role she played bore the symbolism, because the transits were a perfect description of Judy Garland. And since my client created the space (inadvertently, I might add, but she nevertheless did it very well), the symbols were able to manifest creatively, and she had no harm from it. Indeed, she benefited from it.

So if someone has learned the 'lesson' that a particular transit brings, they might be able to turn it to positive effect. But also, one might extrapolate that such a transit could just disappear without a trace.

So I think these are relevant, though I'd bet there are other factors in play as well.

Quantum field theory creates an image of a universe criss-crossed by a network of interactions that weave the cosmos into a unity.
Paul Davies and John Gribbin, The Matter Myth, Simon & Schuster, 1992, p. 235

Your conclusion Garry is one I came to some years ago and to which I came back to practising astrology. It became more than clear to me through the philosophy of Buddhism that one could transcend both mind and matter and thus the influence of the planets.

The concept is called 'Esho Funi' oneness of self and Environment:
the 13th century Japanese sage, Nichiren Daishonin, expressed it as follows in one of his writings: "Environment is like the shadow, and life, the body. Without the body there can be no shadow. Similarly, without life, environment cannot exist, even though life is supported by its environment".

We easily perceive our individual environments in their tangible aspects such as our home, our loved ones or our country. The principle of Esho Funi is that we are not simply conditioned by our environment and compelled to live our best within it but that, because there is no essential difference between our lives and our environment, our lives actually affect our environment and vice-versa.

Art of Living Magazine

or to put it another way

"If the minds of the people are impure, their land is also impure, but if their minds are pure, so is their land. There are not two lands, pure and impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our minds". ND Major Writings Vol 1 pg 271

I remember though many moons ago when I was learning astrology we had a similar discussion in class and I remember someone saying 'yes but if you just stay in the house and don't contact anyone' surely you can avoid the effects of adverse transits and the teacher saying 'but you do have to come out and exist don't you'. I have to be frank I'm not really doing the latter and where I have come into the conflicts of my applying Saturn opposition going conjunct my Mars/MC. I've just walked away from the situation something I don't ever do.

I'm experiencing a Uranus opp venus, Pluto, uranus, Stellium. Come to think of it I'm spending far too much time on the internet! Saturn conjunct MC applying to Mars. Transiting Saturn is currently semi sextile my venus and sextile the progressed Venus . Really can't see anything at all there. I'm not into minor calculations either traditionally or modern. I just don't see any evidence that firdaria/profections or minor aspects work every time. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't . I've seen other people's interpretations where they are attempting to prove something that may have been. However, this has been largely because they can't find the clues in the rest of the chart, and in my view, go wheel within wheel to find some meaning that more than likely just isn't there. I note Lilly didn't care much for them either.

I know light is a prism and can refract everwhere but really it's finding the physics of the source where the true answers lay surely?[/quote]

I?ve learned that what I?m looking for by way of prediction, and specifically transits, is often very different from what others are looking for. It took me a while to realize that I?m often not on the same page as other astrologers (The fact is, I may be in a different book altogether). Garry?s selection from his interview with Rob Hand made a whole lot of sense to me.

I?m happy not looking for concrete events to occur through transits. Granted, I?m not a professional astrologer and don?t have clients expecting succinct predictions from me; I have the leisure to just look around. What I aim for, and what makes it all worthwhile for me, is looking for planetary themes and how they may appear in life. Sure, a particular Saturn transit could possibly indicate personal monetary shortages and restrictions, but what becomes interesting is how, during the transit, I may find that issues of wealth and social power or perhaps even fiction and films about rich old men seem to frequently pop into my life during that period. For me the seemingly vague prediction ?Issues of money and power will be dominant this winter? is perfectly valid. It?s up to me to see the various levels on which it can play out.

This enlarges transits for me: They aren?t only about what happens to me; they?re also about the environment around me and how I perceive that environment and take meaning from it. If a person doesn?t allow that second function to take place, and only looks for the concrete personal events, then, yes, the transit would seem to be a failed indicator if no serious financial shortage occurred. That person may grumble about the know-nothing astrologer as he finishes reading a third novel about rich old men.

This enlarges transits for me: They aren?t only about what happens to me; they?re also about the environment around me and how I perceive that environment and take meaning from it.

Yes, I like that very much. Transits as invitations to become aware of what?s going on around us. Transits as passages from a small world to a larger one.

Transits are "overvalued??????"
I can't believe you made that blanket statement.
Are you a practising astrologer?
Lainie

The rather observant Garry said "So if someone has learned the 'lesson' that a particular transit brings, they might be able to turn it to positive effect. But also, one might extrapolate that such a transit could just disappear without a trace. "

A second thing to consider is that while you are expecting one thing from a transit, it may well be attempting to deliver something else altogether!

For instance the average astrologer looks at my Neptune placement and begins to go on about drug and alcohol abuse... I'm one of those people who having seen so much of it growing up, I pretty much stay away from both, HOWEVER, neptune is still about Illusion and I will find myself escaping into my head when things get nasty, THAT is a more accurate example of the Neptune placement in my chart. So a suggestion might be that perhaps you are trying to fit the transit to the prediction you want it to fit in, rather than seeing the lesson it wants to give you?

Uranus Opposition Uranus, Pluto and Venus

Chaos opposing Chaos
Chaos opposing change at a fundamental level (refusing to change?)
Chaos opposing natal concepts of beauty, love?

with a stellium of Pluto, Uranus and Venus in natal I'd think the native wants excitement and trasacendent experiences from love relationships, uranus opposition may be an indicator in a change in philosophy about this very basic desire, and since it is doing the rollover bit you might not get that fully until the last rollover...

well just some thoughts, Also I find that sometimes another transit takes prescidence and I dont realize the effect until much later.

Granny

Just curious about if any of you relate your transits to other people, and other peoples transits to you?

For example; If a husbands chart is off the wall lucky, but there is nothing in the wife's chart. Couldn't his luck affect the whole family?

I have personally never seen 'death' in a chart but I have seen loss of a parent or partner on a number of occassions.