A lot of people need a villain in their life. They need a bad guy; someone to carry the shadow or the blame. Someone they can be above or feel better than. This is an awful handicap over time because it prevents a person from looking at their own character.
Who does this?
We all do this to an extent, but astrologically speaking, people with oppositions between personal and malefic planets are more prone. For example, I grew up with an Aquarius Sun opposite Pluto. She was light and airy, humanitarian, intellectual (Aquarius) and I was the scum (Pluto).
It very easy to spot something like this in a chart and/or in life, as these situations tend to be highly defined by their nature.
Why do people do this?
I don’t think people choose to do this, consciously. When you have an opposition in your chart, it’s impossible to simultaneously act both ends of it so we get others to fill in. If you don’t have an opposition in your chart, it’s the 7th house they gets projected and again, it is not necessarily deliberate. In fact, it probably is not done purposely. It’s just impossible to be a light as air, Aquarian, and simultaneously be the gunk that is clogging a sink under the house(Pluto), so this is what occurs.
What can be done to prevent this?
Nothing can be done, unless you become conscious of your tendency. Astrology is helpful here because it provided and x-ray. You see what’s going on, right there on paper. Once you realize you have this proclivity, you can work to integrate the parts of yourself that you put on others. For example, in the scenario with the Aquarian, she might really that projecting the shadow onto this person outside herself, but in her environment, is a very dark thing to do.
How can a person solve this all together?
Check your chart for oppositions, particularly oppositions between personal planets and Mars, Saturn and the outer planets. If you have an opposition like this in your chart, consider it suspect. Same thing if you have any of these planets conjunct the descendant or in the 7th house. Try to see how these less pleasant energies exist inside of you. Work to integrate the energy and find a healthy way to express it.
Psychology teaches that if you are meeting something over and over and have a strong reaction to it, you probably have the qualities yourself. This is the same principle.
What energy do you most often project? What is the astrology?
Are there some words missing, Elsa? From the “What Can Be Done to Prevent This?” answer: “For example, in the scenario with the Aquarian, she might really that projecting the shadow onto this person outside herself…”
Sorry, I was rolling right along until then, but I can’t figure out what goes there to connect it all up (in my head). *smiles*
I only have one opposition in my chart, the generational one between Uranus and Chiron. I’ve got a Cappy 7th, so I guess I’d be projecting my authority / sterness / ambition onto others? (I know drive is a Mars thing, but I’ve always associated ambition with the 10th house, so Cap/Saturn.) I had that in the back of my head for a while but I still haven’t seen it, which I suppose is the nature of the beast. *grins* Gonna peel my lids but good and see what I can observe!
Is projection of the shadow also connected to Neptune, Venus, and placements in Libra?
same as SaD with the generational Uranus Chiron.
But I’m a Libra with a Cancer 7th house. I’m not needy. 😛
@Josi, I was going to mention planets in Libra, but let it go. I do not think Venus and Neptune get projected. The most pronounced scenarios are mentioned.
I often play the villain. The part of me that cares about reputation is overshadowed by the part of me that cares about Truth. I slightly get off on the villain role. I have no oppositions, but Neptune is in the 7th, so I guess I project on others goodness/virtue/idealism and save the villain role for myself, lol.
Elsa, would mars be considered a personal planet. In other words, if someone has a mars opposition to a malefic planet, would they be prone? Thanks
Or would this be something that gets projected into the 7th house?
Example, Sun in Leo opp Mars in Aquarius.
“I am a sunny, creative person with heart and that person over there is COLD.”
Is there a general rule to follow as to where it is projected? Such as house ruler? or the house the opposition falls in? or worst yet, the weakest person in your enviroment? Thank you so much for all you teach(saturn). I am trying to transform through your insight/wisdom(pluto!
What don’t I project? 7th house Mars, Uranus, and Saturn sitting opposite my Moon. Venus quincunx Pluto. LOL What I do now is take turns going back and forth. And believe me, it’s not pretty to have all the malefics lined up for me or anyone interacting!
But yes, I know I’m the one with the bombastic side. Can’t change my chart, but I can learn to use it better.
There have been times in the past where I have had a designated “villain.” These days, I think I play my own villain, in that I blame myself for everything that’s gone wrong in my life.
Moon/Saturn is the most prominent opposition in my chart.
@SaD “the generational one between Uranus and Chiron.” Didn’t know that was generational – thanks for the info!
if projection is the dynamic of the oppositions… what is then the dynamic of squares in the chart?
Anybody else catch Sherlock Holmes episode on PBS, Reichenbach Fall. OMG!!!!! Sherlock and Moriarty. Powerful episode.
sometimes i project my aries. more often i project my libra.
same with my scorpio and taurus. i should really stop projecting my scorpio. that’s uranus there and it’s a gift.
Thank you Elsa. I needed this post. I have an opposition of my moon, mars & jupiter to Uranus, involving my 1st/7th houses, AND I have Libra rising. You are on a roll with these articles.
Like Saturn conjunct ASC from 12th opposite scorp moon conj Neptune on 6/7 cusp? I’m in control I’m light and up right hard working Abd honest and them over there well they live in a dream land, deceiving others with the dark hidden stuff?
Except wait that’s my chart. Shoot do I own that energy and hate it so much that I chose to partner with someone who takes the dark on for me, or at least the appearance of it so I can appear upright, honest martyter that.
Oh god what’s the upside to that?
This is what I’ve been digging out of myself lately. It’s ugly it stinks and I hope I’m wrong
Hmmmm lots to ponder. I have the generational Uranus chiron, but also have pluto opposite Chiron. And, Aq moon opposite Jupiter with Jupiter in the 7th (Leo). Im actually annoyed sometimes by those who really know how to have fun! LOL
Ivana, I think squares are about role playing. It’s like Elsa said: to handle the oppositions one must first be aware of the energy. From what I saw people with squares are very aware of the sort of energies involved in the mix, they smell the differences between them and they either follow one energy at a time or they find a middle way – which is hard. They’re good guys one minute and bad guys in the next.
I have Sun square Pluto…it’s a tough gig.
tnx, elisei, for the insight 🙂
If Uranus is a malefic then yes because my sun is in aspect to it. Or Mars. I guess I definitely didn’t see myself as a piss ass.
I’ve definitely seen myself as the villain even when I didn’t work on it.
I identify with Lou Barlow who always talks in his songs about being an insecure callow child. He’s always willing to identify his vulnerability and faults. He is a super Cancerian
Probably I project stuff on people. I think it’s common to hate people for traits you have. I hate egotism in people so… Yeah.
This is related…
https://elsaelsa.com/astrology/who-or-what-do-people-project-upon/
I find it’s more things in myself I can’t accept, I run into others with this again and again. Learning to integrate and sense of humor seems the ticket to ride.
My tightest chart aspect is 3rd house Virgo Pluto opposed 9th house Pisces Moon, zero degree orb. Actually Moon opposes my Uranus/Mercury/Pluto stellium. Sun opposed 8th house Saturn as well. I actually am the scapegoat for others, as I find myself labeled by others around me ( neighborhood and sibling) as the enemy and the problem.
In childhood, this took the form of my family and neighbors either hating my mom or dad. So I was always yelled at about what my mom or dad did that was so awful (and they were). Then when my half sister grew up, she projected that onto me.
Now I see it with a neighbor who lives across the street from me. A retired man who has stood on his porch for 18 years and stared at my house while he smokes like a chimney every day. Knows exactly who comes and goes, anything he can see outside my windows that I keep the blinds shut tight on. If I decide to go out and sit on my porch and stare at his house, of course he feels uncomfortable and goes inside. I got wind from another neighbor that he and his wife will blatantly state how much they hate me, while I continue to greet them pleasantly outside and have never said anything rude or disrespectful. Even when they called the fire dept. insisting they smelled a natural gas leak from my home. I was not home and firemen had to enter my house to make sure I was okay. The gas company determined no gas leak whatsoever. If I would have pulled a stunt like that upon them, I would have heard about it and the homeowner’s association would be knocking on my door to investigate me.
I found this man’s Facebook page, it revealed so much. I see that he is most definitely a shadow projector, placing the finger of blame upon anyone or anything that renders him to feel helpless. He is retired law enforcement, now law enforcing is whatever is under his nose outside his front porch which is unfortunately my house. So annoying, I try to appease him by asking him for his opinion and advice on neighborhood matters such as leaf burning and tree trimming. He is going to hate me, no matter what. I am going to play the shadow over and over again in my life. I have Libra Mars closely conjunct my IC at the end of the 3rd house. It is so damned frustrating.
I’m usually the one that’s the victim. I must subconsciously hated myself back then.
*victim of projections, and being branded the villain.
Yes, I have noticed this in someone I know. Mars in Sag opposite Saturn in Gemini. She complains a lot about what others are doing wrong and even tries to point out their faults openly causing them to feel embarrassed and confused. I think she is a nice person but most people don’t really like being nagged.
I knew a person who had Sun opposed Pluto. They had an early life that was continuously controlled, directed and dominated from the cradle by a self-centered controlling (Pluto) parent-figure, snuffing out any expression of personal ego (Sun) belonging to this sad pawn-child who was in awe, admired but also feared this parent. The s-mothered ego gap was substituted with a super-ego (Saturn) filled with the beliefs and ways of the controlling parent. Time went on, teen rebellion for freedom took place and later the pawn-child had a child born with the Sun conjunct Pluto, a natural born control freak.
The nature of their relationship was extreme, dramatic and the parent suffered the constant controlled passive-agressive hate directed towards them by this control-freak child who hated the childhood provided them by this parent who was not prepared to function as such by the wounds of their childhood.
Now the control-freak has children of their own and is right up there in control of it all and those around them, but their children no longer have a grandparent because the sad pawn-child committed suicide several years ago. Depression they say, but no one really knows why, they seemed so happy with all these grandchildren. This is a story of the lives of 4 generations of behavior carried down through time, parent to parent. None had an interest in astrology as far is known, the pawn-child was an Aquarius. Sad.
They all seem to be “pawn children”, and the hate that was directed to the seemingly innocent aquarius sun was merely a reflection. Until there is real forgiveness, everyone involved is a victim *and* everyone involved is or will become an abuser.
That is precicely how it works. Pluto/8th house stuff is the familial psych complexes that sort of just morph into different shapes of fucked-up-ness on doen the line until someone finally becomes conscious enough to transform it somehow.
I have 1st house Libra Mars conjunct Saturn oppose 7th house Aries Jupiter. I never thought of the word villian to explain how I seem to operate but it seems as good as any. When I doubt myself (which is often) I set up challenges that I either win or lose that will prove I have worth or am worthless. The challenge invariably includes anothr person who I win over in some way. And truly, since I am never sure of myself. Ugh.
Additionally, my 7th house Pisces moon opposes my Virgo ascendant by less than a degree. With all my self doubt I do find that I let people lean on me, even though I am unsure I can handle the responsibility. So 3 oppositions – and they do play off of each other.
Awesome write up! :-))) So true, so true!
In fact, you definitely want oppositions in your synastry between two people, and unless you are living a boring or highly conservative lifestyle, which ain’t any fun at all, then you WILL vibrationally attract such partners, friends and acquaintances into your life guaranteed! Opposites attract for the reason of sparking things up, for lessons in life we all need to learn.
Bring it on I say, otherwise life would be just plain dull….
Cheers – Shane
The only opposition in my chart involves Saturn (@9 Pisces) and has a wide orb to Sun (@2 Vir), Chiron (@12 Vir) and Mercury (@14 Vir). How would these play out?
Other than that, my 7th house cusp and the majority of it is in Scorpio, I have Pluto & Jupiter in there, and the Moon inconjunct Pluto (I read here that it is similar to an opposition). On top of that, my North Node is in Scorpio so not only do I project Plutonian/Scorpionic qualities, I also feel them to be entirely outside of my comfort zone. But also drawn to it.
I think I do project some Piscean qualities but I don’t understand the role of Saturn in this projection.
My two cents worth would be…
You definitely facing soul lessons dealing directly with yourself, also lessons with others, lessons in situations that challenge you with themes of compassion, forgiveness, higher love and/or suffering in dealing with money and more importantly your self worth and being too judgmental, too critical or too precise or particularly in your thinking and what you say.
Learning to go with the flow and forgive, taking the positive lesson for yourself and being free. Not getting bound up!
Cheers – Shane
My Sun-Venus and Jupiter is opposite Chiron in the 3rd house.
More or less, this Chiron is connected to my Pluto/Saturn conjunction in 8th house.
I am super sensitive if other people don’t or won’t listen to what I have to say. In dating I am put off if my dates doesn’t ask me any questions about me or my life, who I am as a person. But if they’re great at spotting my personality and tell it to me in “You seem to me as a person with so and so personality” or the like, I am deeply attracted to them from then on. The “heal” some of my wounds from a mother and father who didn’t pay who I was or what I said a lot of attention or respect.
On the other end of the spectrum I have a tendency to “forget” to show interest in others and ask them about their life. It has taken me a long time to integrate some of this pain and to become aware and to actually become interested (enought) to ask them about their life and stuff with REAL interest and not just being polite (Libra Moon).
Also realizing that *I* might be too flirty/flaky to others as well (Aquarius Asc) and that I am not fond of heavy commitments. The only serious commitment I’ve made early in my life was to astrology. I guess – The Scorpio Stellium in 9th house, eh?!
So yeah, this opposition heavily influences my life I would say. But astrology (and life events in general) has slowly forced me to transform in this aspect if I don’t want to end up alone in my life. So yeah – pretty annoying, but it all starts by taking ownership of your own sh*t 😉
I don’t feel that I *need* a villain, but realize that in effect I do have a black beast. This bothers me because I don’t like the idea! (i.e. “I should be above this”… but not always so)
As one of Elsa’s suggested explanations, I DO have oppositions to persoanl planets: Sun, Saturn & Pluto opp my Moon. I’m thinking that my mother (Moon) had a somewhat negative effect on my sense of self-worth. (She herself had Pluto opposite Moon, and a tough mother) I always felt like I wasn’t good, in nearly every way. Consequently I have low self-esteem and am rather sensitive to criticism, whether direct or just suggested. Too touchy!
My Bête Noire is a friend who likes to tell people what’s wrong with them. (She thinks this is her duty – isn’t that cute?) She really pisses me off. I try to cope and stay calm. I tell myself I shouldn’t take it personally because she does this with everyone!
So, do I need a villain? I dunno. What am I projecting onto her, aside from my anger? I wish I just didn’t give a shit about her comments.
But, gotta say that being aware of this dynamic via astrology helps to try to integrate it. Good post!
P.S.
I really like the image of shadow on the wall!
This is a fascinating subject Elsa. Personally, since my Sun and Rising are both in Scorpio and Pluto in my 10th, my guess is I not so much project as people see me as my shadow. Does that make sense?
And to answer, I don’t need a Villan now, but I guess I did when my mom was a live and I got as much younger. I picked guys who disliked her immediately and would not engage with her but rebuffed her at her own games, which I could not do. She would be psychologically cruel to me when in the mood ( I have Moon Pluto conj)
Keyboard glitches- “when I was much younger”
For me I bite my tongue and after enough bites when I let it fly
I can damage,not my intention
But I think I do myself a disservice
To shrink so easily then
Morph into the Biter, can I adopt a planet that trains me to swallow my tongue with ego?
I’m not sure but I think I probably do need a villain. I’ll have to watch for this. I have Venus opp. Neptune but I’m not sure how that one would work. Uranus in the 7th. Hopefully I’ll notice it now that I’m tossing this idea around!
Darn it, I did it again. Someone in my work group was being villianized. I almost bought into it because of her snappishness. Now, in that group long enough, I realize what the villianizing did to her. So I stopped allowing the villianization of her. It wasn’t fair. So here’s the thing, now the villianizer has turned on me. Did it before and now I did it again. I think I am in a better place to deal with it this time. It’s not easy but I am determined one way or the other to get beyond all this.
Case in point if awakening the hero and get beyond. I think we all know on some level this PC niceness we do is missing the the mark. To naive at best downright stupid at worst.
Moon in Gemini,3rd cusp, girls just want to have fun. Opposing Saturn in Sag,8th cusp, religious responsibility for everyone. Aside from Mars all planets held by this on the western side. Yes I need the villain to break up polarizing, debilitating guilt. Somehow villains serve to loosen the grip of this psychological deadlock and arouse my inner hero, Aries rising. Gillian’s are highly underrated.