Creative Connections & Client CommunicationsIt Berras Consideration!
Books have been written about Yogi Berra’s extraordinary mis-speaks. The Hall of Fame Yankee catcher is widely on record speaking strangely understandable wisdoms; almost all of them begin with a smile and end with a serious nod of the head (born May 12, 1925, Saturn quindecile Mercury). He did say “If you look around, you see a lot; he did say “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future’; he did say, “If you get confused going somewhere, chances are you’ll end up somewhere else!”
And he also said: When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” It bears considering the wisdom here: the responsibility for choice; to choose, to make a decision. The alternative is to go nowhere, to repeat and repeat the status-quo.
Our clients seek change, improvement, excitement, but, at the same time, they fear all of that! They fear the transient insecurity (especially dominant Moons in Taurus) en route to a new level. Security is the sine qua non of existence for most people, and the developmental tensions for change ushered into their environment are often stifled. Those stifled energies easily back up within the system; there’s anger with one’s own ineffectiveness -not defining who one is-that pushes itself for release; most often there’s displacement of upset, blaming the person nearest by … there is projection, scapegoatism, a breakdown of togetherness, etc.
As we’ve seen in the past few essays [see Archives at the end of the essay], there is much room in counseling for instructive metaphors. There’s also room for wisdom through humor. Scores of times, I’ve said to clients, “We know we’ve got an opportunity here, and we’ve weighed all the considerations attached to the decision. Whatever it is, a decision must be made, or you’ll probably be sorry for a long, long time … simply treading water, perhaps not stepping up to the plate. …To sum it up, ‘When you come to a fork in the road … take it … one way or another.’ -Now, let’s review what we’ve discussed.” –That strange, intriguing remark will stay with you client for a long time!
“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” This wisdom is very helpful to illustrate the point that one easily lives within the busy clutter of past, usually defensive, behavioral patterns. These behaviors often work against even a little bit of freedom. “Who wants to go back into the past always, to blame, to relive those negative ties? We’re old enough now to get away from clustered difficulties before we actually become those debilitating images! It’s too crowded back there; your forty years out from that time … it’s too crowded to go back. Let’s go forward.”
I have a friend who constantly demeans himself, puts himself down, practices self-deprecation into an art form. His horoscope is a maze of early difficulties and inviting victimization by others: Pluto opposed Sun (“a blanket over his hand grenade”) Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces at the Ascendant squaring the Moon (indecision; frequent stalemating). He has Neptune camouflaging who he is projected to others exactly on the seventh cusp, and that Neptune is quincunx his Mercury in the 12th.
It goes on and on, and it all focuses on Pluto quindecile Node, the man’s “Jewish mama” from way back; then, his wife who was in her image [“She took me for everything I had.”]. He has chosen inactivity in retirement and a strange affable loneliness among others as his way now. We around him befriend him, but every day we hear of how nasty things about himself (not being educated, not being polished, not being informed, not being this or that … all the “not’s” you can imagine) keep him from sleeping (because caffeine has taken over his life!). …all the cliches. -Yet through it all, one sees the good soul trying to peek out for love and respect.
My goodness! It’s so crowded where he’s been; nobody should go there anymore; it really is too crowded. “Let’s modify behavior by not putting yourself down for, say, one entire week! That week may seem pretty long, but if you think about what you’re doing to enjoy yourself, your life, the people who care for you, it won’t be!”
“You can observe a lot by watching.” And this is really what it’s all about: seeing ourselves objectively;seeing our development scenario objectively. Through the astrological consultation, the client is helped to see patterns of behavior objectively, to understand their origin and what has kept them going. The object is to modify those patterned behaviors to be more efficient in taking advantage of time and developmental change. -I like to paraphrase this Yogi-ism this way: “You know? When you look around, you see a lot!” –This encourages self-inspection in a non-threatening way.
There’s always a pause built in with these kinds of sayings. Much needs to register in the client’s mind. Much is valuable. Then there always is the smile; and there always is the affirmative nod of the head. -This humor technique is extremely helpful to the astrologer in communicating with the client, and its easily remembered and quoted by the client beyond the consultation.