I've actually though a lot about my Jupiter opposition to my Sun...especially times like now, around Full Moon.
I've wondered why the opposition was "bad". I've come to think of it in Full Moon terms... a reflection.
There's a lot more to it since Jupiter sits at 0° and is retro, but I don't want to write a novel. I'll just say that I don't have any negative associations with that opposition.
I call the astrological aspects 'nature's geometry'. Nature, being impersonal doesn't have good or bad facets, it simply 'is' -- I apply this same thesis to the chart, and try to impress this notion on my students to free them from the negative connotations of the hard aspects.
Jupiter retrograde gives the planet extra umph (as retrogrades and stationing planets are closer to the earth than while in direct motion). And then, zero degrees of the sign, that's like a megavitamin infusion for the planet; powerful and potent. Pow. Jupiter, as if the planet needs any more amplification will take that extra strength and run with it. With the Sun involved you have the jovial spirit married to the solar principle, through the link of the opposition.
With this surfeit of force you're a natural for teaching, instruction, inspiring others by the sheer example of your presence (Sun). This is how I'd read this -- though with the caveat that you may have the tendency to project (opposition) those qualities onto another person (probably a male--Sun/Jupiter).
(Cue Keanu) "Whoa!" I've been told many times, by many people that I'm so smart or so wise, so this, so that... all positive things, but never really felt I was anything other than average. I was encouraged to take a position as a trainer when I was still working, but I didn't want to travel since my kids were young.
And I absolutely tend to believe that friends are smarter, wiser, etc than me😂 Not necessarily men, but some.
I got giggling with your description of Ojai (and only because I know the place quite well).
About aspects in my chart, the hard ones! I'm always wondering how Saturn square Pluto can be optimized (if that's the right word). Curious to hear any ideas you might have.
As I mentioned to Angie: I call the astrological aspects 'nature's geometry'. Nature, being impersonal doesn't have good or bad facets, it simply 'is' -- I apply this same thesis to the chart, and try to impress this notion on my students to free them from the negative connotations of the hard aspects.
I can speak from experience with Saturn Pluto in an intense relationship with one another natally. Because Saturn requires that you manifest whatever qualities associated with the aspected planet, you've got a bit of puzzle to unravel regarding Plutonian themes becoming animated. And the square will bring qualities of compulsion into the picture as well. Compulsion and Pluto are a good fit, so that's the easy part of the equation.
Again, speaking from experience with this square, it was when transiting Saturn triggered my natal Saturn Pluto square this fall that I stopped work on novel I was on the verge of finishing and switched loyalties to a new writing project related to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
See if that example helps you clarify and see through the glass darkly that Sat/Plu conjures.
Thank you for offering a new way to consider this square. I think a lot of the counseling work I do with people dives into Pluto themes, so yes, this makes sense.
I think of my traditionally "bad" stuff as being part of "being human". I sometimes feel good, sometimes not so much. Sometimes I seem to be smart and then I don't have the right stuff. I have been rather "lucky" as thing go. It could have been (still might be) much worse.
I think of the story attributed to Buddhist teaching about the man whose horse ran off. So bad the neighbors say. Then the horse returns with another and the neighbors say, "so good". But the man's son breaks his leg ridding the new horse and they say that is misfortune. However, when the army comes through to take young men to war, the son is not fit to go. And so on.
I notice the supposed bad stuff and also the traditionally good aspects. I find it all interesting. I don't "believe", But I do contemplate.
A man I met who was interested in astrology and also an electrical engineer( who worked on the moon lander so some such). He opined that squares are transformative, not negative in themselves.
This is only a few immediate thought. It would take me a lot longer to specifically speak to my actual aspects.
I love this recounting and appraisal, Carolyn. And double plus YES!
The notion of squares being transformative is a good fit, as the planets involved in squares are forced or 'required' to bring new dimensions of their innate qualities to the fore.
And once in place, and as time moves forward, that nexus then shows up as a trine between the planets or lights. Trines seem easy, but we don't see the history of their trajectory -- and those transformative pressures related to the square that came before.
My ruling planet is in the 12th square to Pluto. So I can be a pedantic preaching asshole. And have been. Plus, they are in fixed signs, so there's that hardheaded crap. Then there is the issue of my sun in a T-square to Jupiter and Saturn. Let's discuss bi-polarity! Been that, done there. Moving on... Try a Moon conjunct Neptune and S. Node Square Uranus In the 5th. Pity my children! Two sons, both alcoholics. Functioning, but still drunk every evening.
A tale of woe, I know. But not really because it turns out that I love a challenge, I am strong like an ox, though allergic to most everything. In spite of the stresses and challenges, or because of them, I have led an interesting life. The Chinese curse "May you be born into interesting times" is actually not a curse at all, if one can learn how to count the blessings. This is not Pollyanna talking. This a pragmatic dogmatist leaping from one pedestal to the next.
Jupiter trine Uranus. I always seem to fall out of the shit and on to a flatbed truck full of roses traveling away from the shit. Sun trine the moon. Well, that's just fine by me. And back to the Moon Neptune S. Node. I can't seem to remember much of my past, which is a huge bonus with that insane track record.
Attitude matters. Instead of calling squares and oppositions "bad", I call them workouts and reflections. Squares require a narrow focus with applied stress. Squares are Pilates exercises. Oppositions are psychological reflections because they are like funhouse mirrors. If you spot it you got it. Rather than characterize these troubled aspects as bad, I prefer to view them as stove tops. When they are on, don't touch, cook dinner. When they are off, one can put the cutting board on top of the stove and use it as another work surface.
In closing, It seems to me that knowing where the shit lies is a good thing. Knowing where not to step is a good thing. My biggest problem seems to be remembering where the shit is located since I have an extreme case of CRS (can't remember shit) disease, indicative of Moon/Neptune conjunction.
SDAM stands for Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory and is often characterized by a lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events. I recently learned about this phenomenon. What a relief to stop trying do a thing that I am incapable of doing. Life continues to offer up morsels that delight and encourage.
Blessings Fredrick, and thank you for your intriguing intellectual offerings.
Uhm, "a tale of woe"? Your brill comment is more like a stand-up routine. Honestly I was laughing to myself in several spots.
I don't have a lot to add here as you have such a firm/slippery grip on the entire catalog of aspects. I will offer that when a person reaches this sort of pinnacle of comprehension re her chart there is usually a falling away process that kicks in.
Meaning, as nature abhors a vacuum, it will want to surprise you with new insights and facets related to your birth matrix. The greatest being that the entire 'chart memory' that you've carried with you for years begins to slough off, and then what?
Delighted to amuse! Myself's super power is to laugh hard at every step up and into the next level, whether it is sideways, upwards or a falling down. A preferred diversion of mine - laughing at seagulls as I drive slowly while dropping Fritos one by one from my open window. The unfoldments are miraculous. And seagulls are divine.
I welcome your surprising reveals! How about Venus in Aries in 11th quincunx Mars in Virgo in 4th. At 25 degrees being tickled by the persistent transiting Mars in Gemini in my 1st. Spitting nails, I must say. Yes. Spitting nails and laughing my ass off. That's the only cure for the mental cutting that could easily be a fatal intellectual bleed, but more likely just writing it all down. Dammit. Writing. And I wanted to be a painter.
In this context are the many horror stories about the con-woman Sylvia Brown, telling a devastated woman that her father's last words were that he was not her father, or that a missing child was already dead (the child was found alive, beating the odds, which was probably what Brown was counting on to fulfill her "prediction.")
This is the problem so many people have with mysticism. They think it's literal. They focus on the words at the expense of a more abstract meaning, often hiding in plain sight. I believe your school of astrology, Frederick Woodruff, is always a reading on the here and now. Often where a life is heading has a lot to do with where a life has been and where it is at present.
Thanks for pointing out that evil bitch for who she was! I have know people who may have grown up with a troll or a hungry badger for a female role model. By comparison, those types of people don't see how mean and egoistic she was.
Have been having recurring meltdowns as my SATURN return (my phone has taken to auto-capitalizing Saturn if that’s any indication of the state of things 😂😅) transits some of my more challenging natal dynamics, namely: a fixed T-square with my sun/moon opposite
(Leo/Aquarius respectively) and squaring Pluto, with my moon/Saturn being conjunct on one end (would that make this a double T-square?).
Anyway, truly has felt like I am a sloth driving on sloth highway getting into a slow motion pile up of sloth drivers and, while it is happening soooo slowly any outside witness could be like “yeah they’re gonna wreck lol” I also feel like I am moving my lil sloth foot as fast as I can to stop the madness, but ooohhhmyyyygodddd it’s just ongoing and I cannot stop it.
So, yeah. I would say those aspects in my natal chart have been top of mind for the last two years or so. Which is not to say I have not also experienced enormous gifts or benefits from the dynamics they highlight within me - emotional richness, insane perseverance abilities, comfort with solitude to name a few.
But just when I am back UP and feel I’ve a handle on things - it turns out, friends, I do not. Like loving out Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumper” in reverse.
That's often the (seemingly) dominate narrative that hard aspects in fixed signs spin: that there's no stopping the momentum; the impending crash.
As the fixed signs radiate the four power sources that hold together and sustain stamina within the Zodiac it's often a good idea (or remedy) to play out their dynamics in a literal/somatic way, like doing weight training or committing to a difficult creative task that requires slow, simmering, steadily applied discipline to reach an outcome.
Put another way: As John Waters noted: "Life is nothing without obsession."
Hello Fredrick. I want to publish my text from this thread on my substack. I have credited the piece and linked to your substack. Is that ok? I am not well versed in these protocols. Please advise!
I've actually though a lot about my Jupiter opposition to my Sun...especially times like now, around Full Moon.
I've wondered why the opposition was "bad". I've come to think of it in Full Moon terms... a reflection.
There's a lot more to it since Jupiter sits at 0° and is retro, but I don't want to write a novel. I'll just say that I don't have any negative associations with that opposition.
Thanks as always for a great "thinker"💕
I call the astrological aspects 'nature's geometry'. Nature, being impersonal doesn't have good or bad facets, it simply 'is' -- I apply this same thesis to the chart, and try to impress this notion on my students to free them from the negative connotations of the hard aspects.
Jupiter retrograde gives the planet extra umph (as retrogrades and stationing planets are closer to the earth than while in direct motion). And then, zero degrees of the sign, that's like a megavitamin infusion for the planet; powerful and potent. Pow. Jupiter, as if the planet needs any more amplification will take that extra strength and run with it. With the Sun involved you have the jovial spirit married to the solar principle, through the link of the opposition.
With this surfeit of force you're a natural for teaching, instruction, inspiring others by the sheer example of your presence (Sun). This is how I'd read this -- though with the caveat that you may have the tendency to project (opposition) those qualities onto another person (probably a male--Sun/Jupiter).
See how that rides.
(Cue Keanu) "Whoa!" I've been told many times, by many people that I'm so smart or so wise, so this, so that... all positive things, but never really felt I was anything other than average. I was encouraged to take a position as a trainer when I was still working, but I didn't want to travel since my kids were young.
And I absolutely tend to believe that friends are smarter, wiser, etc than me😂 Not necessarily men, but some.
You nailed it! Am I surprised? No. No I am not.💕💕
I got giggling with your description of Ojai (and only because I know the place quite well).
About aspects in my chart, the hard ones! I'm always wondering how Saturn square Pluto can be optimized (if that's the right word). Curious to hear any ideas you might have.
Thank you, Frederick.
As I mentioned to Angie: I call the astrological aspects 'nature's geometry'. Nature, being impersonal doesn't have good or bad facets, it simply 'is' -- I apply this same thesis to the chart, and try to impress this notion on my students to free them from the negative connotations of the hard aspects.
I can speak from experience with Saturn Pluto in an intense relationship with one another natally. Because Saturn requires that you manifest whatever qualities associated with the aspected planet, you've got a bit of puzzle to unravel regarding Plutonian themes becoming animated. And the square will bring qualities of compulsion into the picture as well. Compulsion and Pluto are a good fit, so that's the easy part of the equation.
Again, speaking from experience with this square, it was when transiting Saturn triggered my natal Saturn Pluto square this fall that I stopped work on novel I was on the verge of finishing and switched loyalties to a new writing project related to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
See if that example helps you clarify and see through the glass darkly that Sat/Plu conjures.
Thank you for offering a new way to consider this square. I think a lot of the counseling work I do with people dives into Pluto themes, so yes, this makes sense.
I think of my traditionally "bad" stuff as being part of "being human". I sometimes feel good, sometimes not so much. Sometimes I seem to be smart and then I don't have the right stuff. I have been rather "lucky" as thing go. It could have been (still might be) much worse.
I think of the story attributed to Buddhist teaching about the man whose horse ran off. So bad the neighbors say. Then the horse returns with another and the neighbors say, "so good". But the man's son breaks his leg ridding the new horse and they say that is misfortune. However, when the army comes through to take young men to war, the son is not fit to go. And so on.
I notice the supposed bad stuff and also the traditionally good aspects. I find it all interesting. I don't "believe", But I do contemplate.
A man I met who was interested in astrology and also an electrical engineer( who worked on the moon lander so some such). He opined that squares are transformative, not negative in themselves.
This is only a few immediate thought. It would take me a lot longer to specifically speak to my actual aspects.
I love this recounting and appraisal, Carolyn. And double plus YES!
The notion of squares being transformative is a good fit, as the planets involved in squares are forced or 'required' to bring new dimensions of their innate qualities to the fore.
And once in place, and as time moves forward, that nexus then shows up as a trine between the planets or lights. Trines seem easy, but we don't see the history of their trajectory -- and those transformative pressures related to the square that came before.
I lay claim to shitty chart.
My ruling planet is in the 12th square to Pluto. So I can be a pedantic preaching asshole. And have been. Plus, they are in fixed signs, so there's that hardheaded crap. Then there is the issue of my sun in a T-square to Jupiter and Saturn. Let's discuss bi-polarity! Been that, done there. Moving on... Try a Moon conjunct Neptune and S. Node Square Uranus In the 5th. Pity my children! Two sons, both alcoholics. Functioning, but still drunk every evening.
A tale of woe, I know. But not really because it turns out that I love a challenge, I am strong like an ox, though allergic to most everything. In spite of the stresses and challenges, or because of them, I have led an interesting life. The Chinese curse "May you be born into interesting times" is actually not a curse at all, if one can learn how to count the blessings. This is not Pollyanna talking. This a pragmatic dogmatist leaping from one pedestal to the next.
Jupiter trine Uranus. I always seem to fall out of the shit and on to a flatbed truck full of roses traveling away from the shit. Sun trine the moon. Well, that's just fine by me. And back to the Moon Neptune S. Node. I can't seem to remember much of my past, which is a huge bonus with that insane track record.
Attitude matters. Instead of calling squares and oppositions "bad", I call them workouts and reflections. Squares require a narrow focus with applied stress. Squares are Pilates exercises. Oppositions are psychological reflections because they are like funhouse mirrors. If you spot it you got it. Rather than characterize these troubled aspects as bad, I prefer to view them as stove tops. When they are on, don't touch, cook dinner. When they are off, one can put the cutting board on top of the stove and use it as another work surface.
In closing, It seems to me that knowing where the shit lies is a good thing. Knowing where not to step is a good thing. My biggest problem seems to be remembering where the shit is located since I have an extreme case of CRS (can't remember shit) disease, indicative of Moon/Neptune conjunction.
SDAM stands for Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory and is often characterized by a lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events. I recently learned about this phenomenon. What a relief to stop trying do a thing that I am incapable of doing. Life continues to offer up morsels that delight and encourage.
Blessings Fredrick, and thank you for your intriguing intellectual offerings.
Uhm, "a tale of woe"? Your brill comment is more like a stand-up routine. Honestly I was laughing to myself in several spots.
I don't have a lot to add here as you have such a firm/slippery grip on the entire catalog of aspects. I will offer that when a person reaches this sort of pinnacle of comprehension re her chart there is usually a falling away process that kicks in.
Meaning, as nature abhors a vacuum, it will want to surprise you with new insights and facets related to your birth matrix. The greatest being that the entire 'chart memory' that you've carried with you for years begins to slough off, and then what?
Keep us posted.
Delighted to amuse! Myself's super power is to laugh hard at every step up and into the next level, whether it is sideways, upwards or a falling down. A preferred diversion of mine - laughing at seagulls as I drive slowly while dropping Fritos one by one from my open window. The unfoldments are miraculous. And seagulls are divine.
I welcome your surprising reveals! How about Venus in Aries in 11th quincunx Mars in Virgo in 4th. At 25 degrees being tickled by the persistent transiting Mars in Gemini in my 1st. Spitting nails, I must say. Yes. Spitting nails and laughing my ass off. That's the only cure for the mental cutting that could easily be a fatal intellectual bleed, but more likely just writing it all down. Dammit. Writing. And I wanted to be a painter.
In this context are the many horror stories about the con-woman Sylvia Brown, telling a devastated woman that her father's last words were that he was not her father, or that a missing child was already dead (the child was found alive, beating the odds, which was probably what Brown was counting on to fulfill her "prediction.")
This is the problem so many people have with mysticism. They think it's literal. They focus on the words at the expense of a more abstract meaning, often hiding in plain sight. I believe your school of astrology, Frederick Woodruff, is always a reading on the here and now. Often where a life is heading has a lot to do with where a life has been and where it is at present.
Thanks for pointing out that evil bitch for who she was! I have know people who may have grown up with a troll or a hungry badger for a female role model. By comparison, those types of people don't see how mean and egoistic she was.
Have been having recurring meltdowns as my SATURN return (my phone has taken to auto-capitalizing Saturn if that’s any indication of the state of things 😂😅) transits some of my more challenging natal dynamics, namely: a fixed T-square with my sun/moon opposite
(Leo/Aquarius respectively) and squaring Pluto, with my moon/Saturn being conjunct on one end (would that make this a double T-square?).
Anyway, truly has felt like I am a sloth driving on sloth highway getting into a slow motion pile up of sloth drivers and, while it is happening soooo slowly any outside witness could be like “yeah they’re gonna wreck lol” I also feel like I am moving my lil sloth foot as fast as I can to stop the madness, but ooohhhmyyyygodddd it’s just ongoing and I cannot stop it.
So, yeah. I would say those aspects in my natal chart have been top of mind for the last two years or so. Which is not to say I have not also experienced enormous gifts or benefits from the dynamics they highlight within me - emotional richness, insane perseverance abilities, comfort with solitude to name a few.
But just when I am back UP and feel I’ve a handle on things - it turns out, friends, I do not. Like loving out Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumper” in reverse.
Oh also, at least in Placidus, this would mean my moon/Saturn are in 12th, sun in 6th, Pluto in 8th 😅😅😅
That's often the (seemingly) dominate narrative that hard aspects in fixed signs spin: that there's no stopping the momentum; the impending crash.
As the fixed signs radiate the four power sources that hold together and sustain stamina within the Zodiac it's often a good idea (or remedy) to play out their dynamics in a literal/somatic way, like doing weight training or committing to a difficult creative task that requires slow, simmering, steadily applied discipline to reach an outcome.
Put another way: As John Waters noted: "Life is nothing without obsession."
Oh my god, how perfect, I am seeing him speak tonight - that’s Universal timing, baby!
Oh that is bitchin'. I love the kismet. Have fun Aubrey.
Hello Fredrick. I want to publish my text from this thread on my substack. I have credited the piece and linked to your substack. Is that ok? I am not well versed in these protocols. Please advise!
Thank you!
Of course. And thanks for inquiring.