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 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.
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.
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.
Dec 10, 2022·edited Dec 10, 2022Liked by Frederick Woodruff
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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!