Management of Measurement Constructs
Some Humanistic Measurements for the Thinking Astrologer
Astrology presents us with a great many measurements. With some people unsure of their ability to synthesize, to analyze, the more measurements to occupy the brain the better! They hope that somewhere, somehow some measurement will tell the story, so, without much thought, they measure the pants off Creation and exhaust themselves and the art. –While this is part of the learning process, it should give way with study to the way of meaningful synthesis and consultation dialogue.
[After a week of evening workshops in Hamburg, Germany last year, teaching and dramatizing the way of synthesizing measurements, I repeatedly showed the class how the thinking astrologer, understanding certain socio-behavioral principles, can progressively cut away mounds of measurements and come up shining with analytical incisiveness. I must have done a good job because, at the end of the week, the class presented me with a T-shirt emblazoned with the question (in English), “How many Measurements do We REALLY Need?” —The answer is, “Many fewer than we think … in order to think better!” ]
Basically, the thinking astrologer must realize that the orientation of the measurements within particular emphases of Hemispheres and within modifications of the core-important Sun-Moon blend is essential. It is the primal tone that sounds throughout the developing organism. –As soon as the keys defining this orientation are clear, so much flows throughout life development to resonate in harmony.
Then, we can see major aspects as big bells, with their sound stimulating sympathetic vibrations from smaller bells, behavioral modifications, elsewhere within the aspect spectrum. We can assume that a major aspect is going to have repercussions elsewhere, everywhere; that’s how life is! –If we see Saturn-retrograde, for example, the chances are extremely high that this big bell is going to set up a shock pattern in life development that rarely will be denied. Think of the repercussion from it … and be content with that orientation to lead illuminating discussion further. It will color everything.
The same goes for aspects relating Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, or Saturn to the Sun or Moon, or to the Angles. –How much more do we need to make us feel confident of what the big bells are saying? Do we expect some grand accusatorial measurement significance from some bi-quintile somewhere; will a Yod (a simple midpoint picture with a fancy name) really bring home the sheep? What do we get out of a cluttered aspect grid?
Why should first-impression appreciation of the individual take longer astrologically than the assessment we make when someone walks into a room and chats with us a bit?
There is more to all this, of course, and my works are filled with dramatic evidence of how sound the big-bell theory is. –But there are also humanistic observations not necessarily in the form of measurements that put life into horoscopes and bring horoscopes to life.
For example: think of the people you know well or have met casually, or clients you have served, who strongly and ever so frequently criticize themselves. We can hear out-and-out self-deprecation so frequently all around us. What does it tell us? THAT’s a good humanistic question … for which there is no astrological measurement answer!
Sure, we can infer that there is high self-worth anxiety, low self-esteem, feelings of being out-group, etc. But the situation is rarely so cut-and-dried. Maybe, instead of “high or low” the adjective is “unsure.” –Think about this for a moment. When we are unsure of our significance, value, performance, we put ourselves down before others can, before others will, do!
Did the person develop this habit of self-deprecation in relation to a parent authority force long ago? Why? Is this why a dog cringes when you pick up a newspaper? Does expecting devaluation mold the habitual response?
–I remember a brilliant, extremely well-known Opera director for whom no one, of course, wanted to appear less than perfect. If you made a mistake in rehearsal with all the thousand things to think of, you would impulsively say, “I’m sorry!” The room was filled with “I’m sorrys!”
Mr. G was famous for a therapeutic teaching on this point: “Instead of saying ‘I’m sorry’, please say, ‘I’ve made a mistake and now I have the opportunity to do whatever it is over again!’” –Of course, laughter eased the tension, but a major point was made: we all make mistakes, underachieve, and it’s by understanding the process that we can emerge from it, closer to excellence.
Mr. G’s words smile with freedom.
—What about helping someone to get at a difficult truth? Perhaps a person long out of a job is grossly overweight or diffident in mannerisms or visibly anxious about personal competence. It is not necessarily optimally graceful to point all this out. But what if you asked, “Alright, I’m curious, what do you (did you) see in the eyes of the person interviewing you?” Notice how we get to the subjective truth obliquely.
Hmmm.
–Or what about discovering behaviors within a family setting that sooo clearly echo the behaviors of the parent of the same gender some 20 or 30 years earlier? “How closely do you think you’re doing this with your child as your mother (father) did this with you?”
There are no astrological measurements for concerns like this. And there are so many more…. But the productivity of the humanistic measurement, if you will, is like a thousand-watt bulb going on in dark theatre! The show immediately begins to look different.