Remembrance of Things Past

Remember that trying time you experiencedrecently. Analyze why it jarred you, hurt you so. Let’s say, your self-imagewas threatened in the eyes of your spouse; you felt that, whatever thecircumstance was, you were made to appear less of a person than you aresupposed to be. -Astrologically, this suggests that your flow of life energyreflected through your Moon (the reigning need symbol that drives personaldevelopment; see “Analytical Techniques”) was thwarted, blocked, challenged,overlooked, frustrated.

The value of that event is not in the eventitself but in the evaluation you make of it. We give things value.Wedetermine the significance of that which happens around and tous. 

In that process of evaluation, giving meaningto something, we work through filters, through a storehouse of reactionspatterned and routined over time.

Now, let’s study our reaction to this recentcircumstance, the value we have given to it and THEN let’s look back intothe past for similar occurrences, attracting the same evaluation. Eventhough the earlier occurrences may be simpler, the core significances arethere for sure. When we go back as far as we can easily, we find some event,circumstance, situation that gave birth to the evaluation focus andreaction routine we possess today. A swirl of emotional significancesgathered storm at that early time and was then called into play time aftertime after time during later development, when those same “buttons werepushed.” -These are the concerns over time that articulate the guidelinesof key aspects in the horoscope, strong aspects to the Sun or the Moon,with rulerships very significant, especially in relation to the parentalaxis (4th-10th), self-worth (2nd), Ascendant, and Descendant (relationships),etc.

How we take in all of this and then howwe react through it all are what, to a great extent, build our personality.We may have a filter of idealism (Sun-Mercury, Sun-Venus, Venus-Mercury;integration with Jupiter and/or Neptune) that is wounded continuously oris built to levels of stringency that all but prohibit normal development(fanaticism?). We may build defenses that are extreme (the Grand Trine,especially without the Sun or Moon; Eastern orientation of the horoscope(See Archives, “Analytical Techniques”), etc.). We may suppress the frustrationin anger hidden down deep (often suggested by Mars natally in the 12th,the nearer the Ascendant the surer).

There are many reactions that are programmedover time to define how we react in different situations. This is who weare. -But do we STILL need so many defenses? Do we still want to clutchthe impracticality of a vaunted idealism? Do we still want to be angry,displacing our frustration upon anyone near and dear to us?

This is what analysis is all about, ofcourse. And this is how the creative astrologer can think best about demandingaspects, i.e., developmental tension in life, in order to conduct a deepmeaningful discussion with the client.