Tuesday, July 17, 2012

more wooo for Wooo

I've mentioned astrology in earlier posts -- how i think it's a valid art, though not in the sense of what most people are familiar with:  "sun signs" for descriptions of personality and predictions of events.  What astrology IS good for, is choosing the best time for any at-all-important activity.

My great-aunt (we called her Ant) had a spectacular garden, renowned in the family and the small town in which she lived.  She and her husband planted acres of flowers and vegetables, had fruit trees and gooseberry bushes (probably had currants and grapes, too, though i don't remember them specifically), and they dried, canned and preserved vast quantities of food.  Needed it, too -- not that the family they supported was large, but they were very hospitable, social people -- even railroad tramps wouldn't be turned away hungry, back in the old days.

Ant and Uncle Ranse cultivated, planted, weeded, harvested -- did everything one does in a garden and in dealing with its products, by the moon's sign.

The moon as well as the sun and all the other planets each have their own signs and aspects as they move about in relation to one other.  Each moment has its own "natal chart," so that whatever happens (like a birth, for instance), it has an astrological signature all its own.  That's why all Cancerians, as an example, don't fit the timid, mommy-dependent, home-worshiping stereotype.  (I should know, being a Cancerian with my moon in Sagittarius, and my Mercury AND Venus in Gemini....)

But although interesting (and useful in dealing with one's children or a prospective partner), knowing these things about oneself is MOST valuable as a guide to action, in relation to the planets in the passing moment.  "The value of utilizing astrology in your life is to increase your conscious awareness of valuable timing and trends to be aware of in order to optimize opportunities for growth" wrote Kristen Fontana (who has a good free weekly horoscope online).

Speaking of growth, astrology is not only valuable in gardening, but in hair care.  Most of the beauticians i've asked about it heartily endorse the notion of cutting one's hair by the moon sign.  There are days which are more auspicious for "cutting for thickness," "cutting for growth," and "cutting to grow slowly"....  I used to have a great website to link to here, but it doesn't work anymore.  :-(

When i was first delving into the deeper aspects of astrology, i wasn't entirely convinced that there was anything in it.  I had borrowed a book which teaches how to draw up a chart, and i "did" myself, my husband and kids, my closest friends, and a few of the people i worked with, back then.  I was even inclined to doubt MORE when i did Tammy's chart; it described her as being flighty and unreliable -- and she was the most dependable of my co-workers!  ...Then one day, she didn't come in to work, because (we learned) she had just run away with her lover, from her husband and two little girls.

I'm a believer.  ;-)

10 comments:

  1. oops! I fertigated yesterday. Does it helped that I laid down another layer of green manure today?

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  2. ah, if i had Ant's genius, i could tell you that! ;-) i'm the one that has two-year-old rhubarb that isn't edible yet! (though that spot in the yard is proving poor for other things, too -- i'm gonna "compost it up good" at the end of the season.)

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  3. My thoughts on this subject are that astrology represents a system of symbols representing common types of people and personality traits. There is no scientific or rational reason for it to work, and it really doesn't work...it only seems to work because there are so many subjective interpretations that we can pick and choose which elements to emphasize in any horoscope reading. For people who are otherwise less solidly rational and more abstract (e.g. people driven to creative professions like hair) astrology can be a convenient sort of short hand to describe and define types of people.

    But all the same I think astrology helps people gain insight into circumstances and motivations. I think that is because it forces one to think about relationships of individuals and why personality traits exist, and what other personality traits are likely to exist if those exist.

    OTOH, I have observed that I can predict people's primary signs with accuracy. I can observe people, and then PREDICT what astrological influence is likely present; but I tend to think this is merely related to the fact I seem to be able to predict lots of things astrology wise or not. Probably because I am psychic from my moon in pisces <---lol.

    I've noted most artists and writers and musicians people driven to communicate thoughts and feelings tend to have a combination of earth and water signs. Even on the internet you'll observe many bloggers or vlogers are air and water people... people with that combination of sun/moon/asc in air and water signs.
    On the other hand, prolific people driven to lead and take center stage and command attention in some way are fire signs. These people care less about thinking and speaking and feeling, and more about being seen or just action for the sake of it. So hollywood and the music business (who are not otherwise genuine artists/musicians) are dominated by fire signs.


    I've never ventured into astrology as a form of predicting future events; mainly because I think decisions should be made with a sound of a mind as possible and something like astrology can cloud judgment. I like astrology and think it's fun but I wouldn't want it to significantly influence anything meaningful in my life, how I expect people to behave or what choices I make.

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  4. no, i don't use astrology for predictions, exactly; there are too many variables in the world to make that at all reasonable! i use it as a sort of warning system -- being aware of what MIGHT go wrong. a full natal chart of a person gives indications of weaknesses, too.

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  5. I am a scorpio and I am told by everyone who believes in astrology that it "shows". Accompanied by a subtle shudder. ;)

    I'm VERY interested in personality typologies although I keep it to myself because this stuff is frowned upon these days by our betters who write boring and uninsightful textbooks of personality psychology. Personally, I don't think astrology has any validity in the sense that I don't think sidereal factors influence personality. But as Woo said, it does get us to think about types. And types definitely do exist and I'm pissed off that psychology has long moved away from them and now even psychiatry is doing so with DSM-5's elimination of the Axis II and "dimensional" view of personality. Ugh. Blah. In general I have observed that psychiatrists write much more insightfully about personality than psychologists perhaps because psychologists are trained to think in terms of statistical distributions and dimensions whereas medics are trained to think in terms of disease = prototype and how closely the patient's symptoms match the prototype.

    The closest I've seen any esoteric / unscientific theory hit on the common types of people you clinically encounter is the Enneagram. If there's one book on personality pathology worth reading, it's Claudio Naranjo's Character and Neurosis. According to this system, there are nine basic types and I challenge anyone to not go OMG THIS IS ME!!! when going through them and stumbling on yours.

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  6. that's very interesting -- i'm going to have to look into the Enneagram and Naranjo's book....

    my favorite writer on esoteric subjects was an Englishwoman who studied and worked in psychology in the early 20th century; she has some nonfiction on the subject written under her real name, Violet M Firth, and well as her other things as Dion Fortune.

    my son and my dearest friend are Scorpios, and my husband's moon is there -- Scorpios don't scare ME! ;-) interesting thing about this sign is, it has not one symbol but three; everyone knows about the scorpion, but the dragon and the eagle are also "types" of Scorpio. my son is a dragon and my friend an eagle ... but i've known a scorpion (that bitch...).

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    1. Tess, just be aware that Naranjo is very much a psychiatrist looking at psychopathology and hence his descriptions of each type are very negative, very "worst case scenario", which is interesting to those of us who deal with this sort of thing but may not be to everyone's liking. There's a lot of free stuff written online about the enneagram.

      I did not know that stuff about scorpios - interesting!

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  7. @Sidereal Of course, a scorpio... always interested in the hidden, alterior motivations, and naturally drawn to psychology. Your keen ability to read people /situations is another scorpio trait.


    More practically/ in reality, I wonder if there is a link between being born in the fall, and glucose tolerance/mood disorder because our histories are almost identical, our mood problems are almost identical, and if I am a libra and you are a scorpio we must be born a few days apart. There is evidence that timing of birth can predict health problems...for example, schizophrenics are born in the winter, and anorexics are born in the spring (spring peak of anorexia births probably relates to subclinical disorders in mothers who are only fertile in the summer from light suppression of melatonin which inhibits fertility in starvation).

    Born in fall means conceived in winter; winter is a very unfavorable time with excessive cortisol, neurotransmitters and hormones oriented to a thrifty state for the mother. It is possible excessive levels of cortisol and enhanced insulin resistance may be one reason after birth we struggle with weight and mood disorder.

    It's interesting that anorexics (a polar opposite condition in a way) are born in spring, and conceived in summer.


    In enneagram I am probably a 5/6 ha.

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    1. how interesting about seasonal births -- makes very good sense!

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    2. Woo, you are TOTALLY a 5. :D

      Yep, pretty much identical histories, uncannily so, down to apparently being born within a few days of each other only a few years apart. I remember stumbling on your blog like a year ago and going OMFG A DOPPELGANGER!!! and then diving into the archives. Fall birth sucks - don't forget the issue of maternal infections also.

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