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Sometimes it takes years - sometimes a
lifetime - to finally understand the psychic energies operating within
ourselves that are motivating our behavior and the type of people and
experiences we are attracting into our lives. These energies can and
will compel us to enact the same life circumstances and situations with
others over and over again, often leaving us feeling as though we are trapped
victims of our fates, like a bird in a cage, until we finally become
aware of the dynamics which are operating within that are responsible.
As a practicing astrologer, I believe that an accurate chart or horoscope constructed for an
individual will indicate his/her propensity for healthy, happy relationships or problematic ones
depending on the planetary energies. These energies (often
unconscious and/or repressed) symbolize the inherent archetypal patterns in
the individual's psyche at the time of birth. In
particular, those energies reflected by the Sun, Moon, Venus, and Mars in
aspect to Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are
very significant. Hard to believe - but
it's true.
Because astrology is a symbolic system,
it attempts to express through its imagery and its structure, the energy
patterns which underlie life and the human psyche as an aspect of
life. This is done with projection.
The Shadow
Ask someone to give a
description of the personality type which he finds most impossible to get
along with and he will produce a description of his own repressed
characteristics - a self-description which is utterly unconscious and
which therefore always and everywhere tortures him as he receives its
effect from the other person.
Edmund Whitmont
The Symbolic Quest
Usually the projection of the shadow
falls on one's own sex. A woman who states that she dislikes the dull,
instinctual sort of housewife whose focus is only on diapers and recipes
and hasn't any independence or mind of her own may remain comfortably
unaware that these qualities belong to her. And then there is her
polar opposite who projects her inner shadow onto another woman whom she
thinks is a dreadful, unfeminine person who only thinks of herself
and her own pleasures and doesn't understand the meaning of
sacrifice.
If these two extremes could see whom
they were truly describing by their remarks, they would probably shrivel
up with embarrassment!
Similarly, the man who abhors other men
who are weak, effeminate and dominated by their women will himself suffer
from these suppressed personality traits. His polar
opposite is a man who condemns those brutal, aggressive and ruthless types who love
war and aggression for the thrill and glory of it and who have nothing
better to do but hang out together in bars to discuss their sexual
conquests while he unknowingly identifies with them.
The pacifist contains within him a
bully, and the hero a coward.
Sometimes the shadow projection falls on
an institution, religion, or group rather than an individual. Mostly,
it will be projected onto the people in our lives -
(parents, spouses, lovers, children and friends), who will oblige our
expectations and outwardly express
our unconscious inner images and energies.
Suspect is whenever we find ourselves
the victim of an emotional reaction that is out of proportion to a
situation that is really none of our business. If the reaction seems
to come out of left base - it is a clue that we are unconsciously biased
to whatever we are rebelling against.
Children instinctively know about the
autonomy of the shadow and many imaginary playmates are personifications of it which are made responsible for a child's mischievous behavior.
If accused of lying, the child becomes defensive. Adults react in a
similar way when accused of behavior which is a manifestation of their own
dark side or shadow. To tell someone he is expressing his most hated
unconscious qualities is to threaten his entire self-image.
Where one is most is most defensive and
critical of others is where one is most liable to attract the hostility
and opposition of the environment.
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For many people, the shadow is a
shameful secret. However, like all unconscious contents, it seeks
consciousness and it would be helpful to take an objective look at it to
find out what it has to offer. Secretly, behind its clumsiness and
darkness, the shadow conceals many qualities which are necessary for the
ego to become an integrated whole. The more balanced a person is in
permitting some inferiority to express itself in his personality, the more
balanced his shadow will be. The more strenuously righteous he is,
the blacker and more destructive the shadow.
Anima - Animus
The anima and animus are two of the most mysterious
figures explored by analytical psychology. They have been known by
other names throughout the history of man portrayed in myths, fairy tales,
religious themes, and arts of all cultures. It is around their
symbolism that the entire world of male and female interaction hinges in all
its complexity.
Every man contains a woman within him, and every woman
a man. Jung defined these trans- sexual unconscious images as animus and
anima. Astrology infers the same inter-
relationship of male and female
within the individual from the presence of both masculine and feminine signs
and planets in the birth chart.
The woman who is able to recognize the attributes of
the animus in her psyche can begin to understand her own transsexual side
and will no longer project these qualities onto the men in her life.
The man who realizes how he unconsciously
projects his inner image of the perfect woman onto the women in his
life will no longer suffer disappointment when the projection wears thin.
However, the anima and animus remain wholly unconscious
and are projected for many individuals.
It does not much
signify whom one marries, as one is sure to find next morning that it is
someone else.
- Samuel Rogers
Case in point:
Suppose you
are a female and your experiences with the men in your life seem to have a
common thread. Maybe all of them seem to be very self-centered,
detached, critical, unreliable, etc. The truth be known, there are
energies at work (suggested by the planets in your chart) that indicate you
possess a male animus with these characteristics. Yet, it is difficult
to know that you will project these energies onto the men in your
life.
Fly - fly away little bird.
Embrace your freedom and never allow yourself to be trapped - even if you
are imprisoned in a gilded cage.
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Your father,
(symbolized by the Sun and its aspects on your chart), will no doubt
be experienced as the first outward projection
and expression of the male
aspect of your animus even if he was not physically present. The
projection may exist in your mind. "No" - you protest.
"We are complete opposites." Yes, outwardly but what
is he really like inwardly? For example: Does he have a passive/ aggressive personality?
Is his quiet demeanor and emotional detachment really a silent protest of
a more inhibited rebellious nature? The aspects on your chart will
reveal the truth and much more about your male animus.
Case point two:
It is easier for a man to project the darker and more savage side of the
archetypal anima seeing women as devouring and destructive rather than
acceptance of her lighter side - creative, inspiring, and magical.
Light cannot exist without darkness. The anima as a collective
embodiment is also highly colored by the individual man's experience of
women, particularly the mother. While the essence of the feminine
remains the same, the inner image is different for different
men. The anima continually
seduces a man into the dark world of feeling and emotional entanglement,
which can be quite uncomfortable for him, while a woman will be driven by
the animus into isolation, independence and self-realization antithetical
to her instinctual propensity to live life through personal relationships
and unconscious identification with others.
Case point three: If your father
rejected or abandoned you when you were a child, you will constantly
attract other male figures either in business or personal
relationships who will betray or reject you - or offer you conditional
approval and love - intensifying
and reinforcing your childhood trauma. In essence, you are
attempting to enact and
substitute a present day scenario with the one you remember
experiencing as a child but you will not be successful. You will not
attain the love and acceptance you desire from this person/s or undo the
hurt and pain you experienced as a child - it will only reinforce
it! With men - it will be played out with his employers
and/or authority figures. With women - men in general -
either in a relationship or with authority figures. Neither
sex are successful until the real motivation is evident and conscious and
you are aware of your projection.
You are your own saboteur.
An astrological
consultation is available astdome@aol.com
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