When I look at a natal chart, I see the planets as if they’re dice thrown and landed in a certain way. It’s like DNA. One sibling gets one thing, the next sibling gets something else.
I used to think a person with a high IQ would outperform someone will a lessor intellect. Boy was I wrong about that!
I learned that a child with a a normal IQ was wholly capable of outperforming a peer with a higher IQ, simply by applying themselves. This not only happens, it happens frequently.
The super-smart child knows they’re smart. They may opt to glide on this alone. Meanwhile the other kids make an effort. They wind up not only catching up, they often surpass their brighter peers.
This idea can be applied to astrology. I see many charts with promise, that’s not been realized. It’s disturbing, isn’t it?
You’ve given certain tools; gifts, challenges, potentials. Aptitude is shown in your natal chart. Results are not.
Do you feel you make the most of what you have? Why or why not?
Also, if you’re a parent, do you push your children to perform? And if your parenting day are done, do you wish you would have pushed your children, more? Or less?
Hell, no! But I’m trying to ease a little more into all that potential…hopefully, before I check out of Saturn-land (nice, solid earth) and drift back into Neptune-land (whatever heralds beyond the earthen boundary), I’ll have a little more practice exercising the *productive* parts of my chart…
I am 100 % sure I don’t use what I have…because I am not to sure what it means and how to go about using it. I have had a few people that have read charts for my kids and I understood them better and am able to work to what they need…but when it comes to myself…I am completely in the dark. It makes no sense to me. except the times you have advised me…those I understood..you spoke to me in a way I could understand.
I got the idea this not only happened, it was usual and it’s not hard to imagine why.
Well, no; there are the dutiful and the brilliant, and often the two are not the same. (One point: schools tend to be geared to give the best rewards to the dutiful and often have negative effects on the brilliant.)
I see so many chart with promise that is not realized. This is disturbing, isn’t it?
I don’t tend to see a lot of charts with ‘easy payoffs’ on them. This may be due to want I tend to draw. But yes, if someone takes a positive chart and makes it negative, that’s pretty bad.
Do you feel you use what you have on hand?
I have a killer chart in both the sense of large quantities of power, and in the (literal) sense of sudden, painful death.
I honestly can’t say. I can say that I’m pretty sure many people would say I haven’t used my potential; I am also aware simultaneously that many of the people saying that would not have survived what I have survived and are probably used to a better run of luck then I get. (I have a moderately crappy Jupiter.) Which perception should control?
max
[‘{shrug}’]
Hmm, yeah, I relate to that last paragraph that max wrote. I also feel many people would think — through my chart and also knowing me a little bit — that I don’t fully use my potential. And it is hard for me to not take on that opinion internally. But then, I’ve been through so much ridiculously hard stuff that frankly I sometimes think that my just being still alive is an impressive accomplishment.
I even had a decently well-known astrologer sort of chide me on this, that my chart had so many gifts that I shouldn’t be having such a hard time in my life…leading me to believe both that many life circumstances don’t show in the chart, and also that astrologers should *really* not presume to know about someone’s life without asking about how all that symbolism has gone down in reality.
So I don’t agree that seeing supposed ‘promise’ in a chart going unused is disturbing. I really think most people are always doing the best they can at a given time.
Yes and No.
I’m so dominated by a need to run away when the going gets tough/boring/difficult, thanks to Sag ASC, Aries Mars opposed Pluto, Aries SN, Uranus on MC…lots of fire in general. I’m so dominated by this I ignore the factors that could really help me stay grounded (Taurus Sun, Cap Moon, etc).
Need. Balance. Please help me, Saturn in Virgo. I’m ready for you!
I hate what I have. My chart is full of red lines–oppositions and squares and bad conjunctions. But, as you say, the dice were thrown and I just need to learn to live with it.
The only thing I do think I use well is my sun conjunct Venus. I am very friendly and open to making others feel good. Talking cheerfully to cashiers, waitresses and random people I meet is my thing.
I recognize that. My boyfriend is smart, but I think I am smarter. He has applied himself, and he is a professor now at 34. I, on the other hand have used a lot of my energy and smartness against myself, and I have a severe burnout at this time. Now, I think my situation will change for the better and I will make sure, or at least try my very best to put my intelligence to use, instead of wasting it, but the truth is: I have alwyas been able to waste it and still have loads left until now. Now I know it is precious and I will look after it better.
Still working on it after all these years – to me, working out ones chart potential is not a card game, it´s more like chess. There´s a multitude of different possibilities for each moment. And there just might be no winner – or no judge- in the end. So let´s play for the joy and the beauty of playing, and not get hooked too much on what form “potential” has to take. Those definitions are part of (Saturn…) society, not necessarily part of the (ch)art.
By the way, from my experiences those people with friendly, harmonious charts have been the more troubled ones by far. I remember so many times I raved about their potential, and when they told me about what mess they were stuck in – it was obvious it had nothing TO DO with “potential” as one might see it from the outside. I really learned to keep my mouth shut and not go by the book anymore.
As far as the fulfillment of potential goes: according to that great book of Liz Greene, “Dark of the soul”, I am fully equipped to become a psychotic mass murderer (not that I didn´t know before…) So, anybody here wanting me to use what I have on hand? *evil grin*
My chart is all trines and I have taken it for granted. I have neptune in the third house and have incredible musical talent – wasted. I have a stellium in the 9th house and am supposed to be a guru, spiritual leader, world traveler or professor – wasted. I have sun opposition to jupiter – unrealistic optimism, overindulgence – fully realized 🙂
My ruling planet is Uranus. Whenever the consensus forms, I have to, just have to, remind everyone there is more than one way of looking at this, whatever it is, and soon you may very well have forgotten you ever looked at it the way you do now.
That is definitely an attitude. Not necessarily one that satisfies anyone, even me.
Intellect alone is nada-mucho
Look to Einstein: ‘creativity is more important than knowledge’
There can be those who are ‘creative’ & excel
Those with high iq’s who excel
But the true genius is the fusion of the two – witness: Einstein
It’s not pure intellect nor creativity alone
Also: studies have shown there is a ‘sour spot’ in high iq’s – they’re smart,but not smart enough: & they know it, plus generally these people have a total lack of imagination/creativity
After having studied astrology – and intensely for the past 6 years especially – I feel I have an extensive knowledge about myself, of my chart’s strenghts and weaknesses. And possible shadow sides of the good aspects.
But you can always learn more, about the world and yourself, and how these things interchange and interact. I’d say it comes down to how open for applying insights and learning to yourself and others.
The strongest surviver is not measured in muscles – it’s in adaptiveness to new conditions, which requires application of new knowledge basically. So yeah, I def. think the average person can outsmart a person with – per se – high IQ.
My Mercury is in Scorpio, so I have had some troubles getting fixed ideas and not being very adaptive in my approach. (He’s in the 8th house). But in an opposite manner, when I DO learn… oh boy, is this knowledge being put to good use, transforming everything I touch. So, slow to learn, but with big effect when the knowledge finally touches the right synapses LOL.
People can be more than one thing.
It was a hot summer night in Texas. After our junior league baseball games were over my brother and I and one of our team mates, Billy Womack, were on the adjacent field screwing around waiting for our parents to quit socializing so we could go home. We were running around which, under Billy’s direction, became a foot race. My brother was a book guy. He hated sports and only played baseball to placate our father who thought it was a kid’s job to play baseball. So, we lined up and off we go. I wasn’t much of a threat as I was always accused of running too long in the same place, but my brother took off like a rocket easily beating Billy in an all out foot race. Billy seemed so shocked that he decided just the two of them should try it again (I was still incapacitated from the first run). Again, my brother beat him easily. Billy seemed really upset, but my brother, being a book guy, couldn’t have cared less. He didn’t gloat and, indeed, had no reaction to this accomplishment at all. Billy, on the other hand, was upset for reasons I wouldn’t understand until a couple of years later in High School.
This all took place two decades before I did my first astrological chart, but it was all in there. My brother, the book guy, is a slight built Gemini, so of course he would be fleet of foot, but this in no way out-weighed his intellectual pursuits which propelled him to multiple collegiate accomplishments.
And Billy, the loser in this match, went on to become a star athlete and accomplished high school football star having a well-placed Mars, as athletes often do. I witnessed him, personally, receive the football on the goal line and run it back 100 yards for a touchdown,…TWICE! He became known as the fastest kid in our school, but I knew better. I knew there was a guy who could outrun him easily, but couldn’t have cared less, because he was a book guy. There were probably a lot of them, kids driven to do other things, leaving undiscovered abilities untapped.
People can be more than one thing.
What a great story, Franklin. Also shows that it takes all kinds 🙂
One of the best things about becoming familiar with my chart is that it has revealed to me strengths I didn’t think I had and encouraged me to develop them. I was very shy as a child but always had one very good friendship at any time (continued into adulthood). I thought no one liked me, though, other than my friend. I have some wacky stuff in my chart — a lot Aquarius (Asc) / Uranus (Dsc) emphasis, electricity, “uniqueness,” but I am also an 11th house Sun — once I discovered that I realized the importance of friendships & groups and that whether I knew it or not, people counted on my friendship. I became friendlier, as a result! Maybe I would have anyway, but KNOWING it was there, helped me to be conscious of it. I also have found greater compassion for others, when I see difficulties in their chart. I have 3 squares in my chart; my sister, who drives everyone nuts and has all kinds of bizarre occurrences in her life, has 11 squares! I developed a completely different attitude to her once I realized the battles she is constantly fighting, through no desire of her own.
“Do you feel you make the most of what you have? Why or why not?”
If you ask a 12th house Virgo, it will always be a resounding YES
With a stellium I feel stifled. Desperate to come out and get noticed. With a north node in leo in the 11th house, my soul drags me onward on the path from being hidden and one of the crowd to being a star of a sort. Its always a battle because my Virgo soul rolls her eyes at this. Why cant we just stop wanting attention? Why do we have to be the one who stands out in a crowd?? Lol? Theres always a push pull.
Also, I pushed my children to achieve but explained why the push was necessary.
The greatest give a parent could give a child is self sufficiency. Tje ability to take care of himself.
With his ascendant in Leo, there wasnt too much of a battle. I was always mindful of not pushing too much. I know the dangers that can bring. I always let my son argue with me and even push back. His willfullness was his nature.And I felt a certain duty not to destroy it. He knew I would love and be proud of him no matter what path he chose.
i
I don’t interest me as much as I once did. My kids hold my fascination. I remember when their father and I divorced people would talk about my marriage “failing.” Our marriage didn’t fail! It was wildly successful in the biological sense of the offspring it produced–three kids who are passionate about their own interests (one math, one computers, one acting) and living their lives full-tilt. So, I have lived up to my potential as a parent, and even my own accomplishments (PhD) were mostly to blaze the path and model the correct behavior for them. So, I really only see my chart in relation to those I have affected positively–my kids, my partner (past partners) my students, and anyone in my path. I guess my potential lies in helping others maximize theirs 🙂
What a great story, Franklin. Also shows that it takes all kinds 🙂