Management of Measurement Constructs

Things to Teach Yourself

So many astrologers -hobbyists, serious students, emergent practitioners, young professionals-need to discover how all that they know works together. Astrology is not a never-ending memorization challenge of bromides, rules, and technicalities. Rather -as a song is so much more than a series of notes-astrology integrates cosmic measurements with life behavior in meaningful harmony. There is life-development reason within astrology ; it is not dull grocery-store description.

There are major considerations that you can teach yourself to break up the log-jam in your development. Three in particular are as follows:

Psychodynamic House Networks If a Tibetan monk comes to see you with his horoscope showing 17 planets(!) in the 2nd House, are you going to talk about money? If a businessman from down the street comes to see you and his horoscope shows the ruler of the 11th to be under strong developmental tension (hard aspect), what do you know?

With the monk, you are alerted to the psychodynamic focus of the 2nd House, which relates to the many concepts of self-worth, so important in our life development. With tensions related to that House through tenancy or rulership, one needs to understand the self-worth concerns in development. In the extreme perhaps, the man became a monk!

With the businessman, tension for the 11th House suggests strongly anxiety about being loveable. -And isn’t it interesting that the 2nd House is always square to the 11th House (as fields of experience), that Self-worth anxiety and the anxiety about being loveable go together?!

And of course, it is decidedly natural that our ability to give love easily (the 5th House) can be similarly jarred by high tension with the ruler there, and that this House also is square to the 2nd! Isn’t it amazingly clear that to give love to others, to expect it in return, all depends upon the grounding of our self-worth concept within ourselves!?

And how is all this caught up with our concerns of intimacy, sexual sharing, and relationship?

Hmmmmmmmmm. -Are you able to address this in the light of similar tensions seen with the Angles, referring to developmental anxieties within/from the parents? ..See how that works? Everything you are measuring inter-relates in terms of growth, “getting it together.”

Is it any wonder then that tensions within the Fixed and/or Angular Crosses of Houses, lead us to see a dramatic echo in considerations of the 7th, a strong (parental) echo in adult relationships?

Think of THAT conversation as you work to help someone with astrology!

–This is just the beginning, and I respectfully refer you to Synthesis & Counseling in Astrology, first to pages 225-270 … The text will then take you further with much excitement.

The ‘Why’ behind measurements I sure hope that you can provide a three-sentence statement of significance or even a half-hour talk about measurement phenomena like conspicuous Hemisphere Emphasis, Saturn-rx, the Grand Trine, the Nodal axis, Peregrination, and more giant concerns. -If not, check out S&C pages 5-102; Archives of “Analytical Techniques on this website, [Especially July 15, 1999; November 30, 1999; February 29, 2000; February 1, 2002; May 1, 2003.]

For example, astrologers of old -without really thinking-equated the “trine” with excellence, and a grand trine was lots of a good thing. Over some 25 years, I’ve proved how inaccurate this was/is: instead, see the Grand Trine as a system of behaviors linked together in a network, a massive not easily penetrated defense system of motivational (Fire), emotional (Water), intellectual (Air), or practical (Earth) self-sufficiency. See the Ego like a castle on an island surrounded by a three-sided moat for protection. –And realize that this keeps people (relationships) out and keeps the Ego in!

So, we ask “Why” one might one need so much defensiveness. Maybe the defensiveness was necessary early on in life (neglect, no support, criticisms) but is simply not necessary anymore! Think of the energies that can be freed up by behavioral modification!! The early reasons for defensive development (undoubtedly related to parental interactions and self-worth and love anxieties) are surely not as prominent anymore, or have indeed vanished altogether . but the defensive behavioral habits remain..

Learn to ask WHY with any measurement. -If Mercury is tightly linked with the Nodal Axis: the mother’s influence on how one needs to think will be a dominant developmental consideration. And if that Mercury rules the 7th, it will probably be in terms of whom one should marry, etc. -Ask why is all that so? Why must it continue?

See how it works?

Through deep understanding, you the astrologer are doing your best!

Angles, Sun & Moon, and Change It is almost a sure thing that nothing major in life takes place without a corresponding activation of the Angles (or their rulers) or the Sun or Moon in the horoscope. These locations suggest our orientation within the world (initially through our parents, later through our work etc.); and our individualized life energy and the reigning need that motivates growth. [Please see S&C for all 144 Sun-Moon blends and so much more . pages 65-102]

A man comes to see you. Your horoscope preparation reveals right away a western hemisphere orientation (extraversion, giving the Self away to others), the Sun in Leo (leadership, extraversion, and self-dramatization energies); the reigning need of the Moon is in Gemini (to be informed, articulate, entertaining); all driven by a powerful Node-MH measurement (maternal input) and Saturn-Rx (difficult father relationship); and Uranus (Ascendant ruler; humanitarian bent) square Midheaven (driving humanistic innovation home). -Just twenty-seven guideline words, before you to prepare your discussion with Barack Obama. . and we haven’t yet mentioned House rulerships!!

As Arcs and transits begin as life goes forward, these major considerations are going to be accentuated or suppressed by new astrological interaction, transits to natal positions. Activity in life will change directions and levels.

–We need to pay so much more attention to using astrology, making it meaningful, rather than just accumulating it! The magic measurements we all too easily seek are not ‘out there’; they are within, within understanding of how our astrological signals work together in harmony, within development of a portrait that is individualistically meaningful and memorable. -It is a privilege to be part of that process.