Every chart is chock full of information. It tells you exactly what energies are present in the person’s life. The sticky part comes when you try to pin down exactly how that energy is going to manifest. You can’t, not exactly. We are all dastardly little snowflakes, playing out our personal dramas in our own unique free-fall to earth.
If we were all good little automatons, chart reading would be a snap and all anyone would need is a good cookbook explanation of each and every aspect. Free will is a bitch. All a person can say with any certainty is that such and such energy is present and a person will tend to be or act in such a way that energy allows. Free will is one complicating factor, interacting with one’s environment – nurture – is another.
Take, for example, a Plutonian chart with an emphasis in creativity and spirituality matched with a deep drive to perform. This could be seen in the chart in many ways, many combinations, 8th house, 5th house, 10th house, 12th house, Pluto, Neptune, Mars, the Sun… but much as we would wish otherwise, with only the chart for reference, there is no concrete way to predict with certainty whether the individual will be creating the equivalent of the Sistine Chapel or painting themselves with poo in the confessional.
Past behavior is the best predictor for future behavior. Put past behavior together with elements of the chart that help explain motivation (what do they seek? how do they seek it?) and the picture becomes clearer. What you have right there is a model for narrowing down the possibilities of future behavior.
Life is uncertain. People are complicated. Astrology is fantastic for narrowing down what is possible and pinpointing the energies available to any given individual. Look for what is possible in a chart, what is probable. Rather than painting oneself into a corner, start in the corner and paint out.
Satori, you have crafted a beautiful and rather illuminating piece worth rereading over and over. As a Plutonian person with a lot of 10th,12th and 1st house energy much of what you shared struck a chord. I look forward to seeing more of your writing on Elsa’s site.
Very nicely said!
thank you!
satori, this is wonderful!!! you are the awesome.
I love “free will is a bitch” and the part about modeling future behavior. I know you are right, but sometimes get sad because my Venus-Neptune always wants to believe people won’t do the bad things they did before.
“Astrology is fantastic for narrowing down what is possible”
soooooooo true…
very good piece, satori–thanks!
“…whether the individual will be creating the equivalent of the Sistine Chapel or painting themselves with poo in the confessional.”
LMAO! Love your post Satori, I hope you do more!
Perspective is everything! I hate painting myself into a corner (literally and figuratively).
“dastardly little snowflakes”
hehehe, I like.
Oh yes. People can screw up even the most promising chart.
dastardly little snowflakes stood out to me too! Fantastic line! Fantastic piece as well!
thanks Snowflakes! 😀
I always enjoy your pieces so much, Satori. From one Dastardly Lil’ Snowflake to another.
SO glad you’re writing again, satori! 🙂 *falls into a drift with the rest*
Nice!
very helpful !
Great post, Satori….I like your style of writing. This made perfect sense to me with my pluto intensity towards creativity…..I always thought of myself more as a pinball in a pinball machine darting to and fro, but dastardly snowflake?, poetic, my dear……truly poetic!
thank you! these comments made my day. 🙂
I’m curious, what elements in the chart help explain motivation?
to begin, I would look to venus, what you want, in concert with mars, how you go about getting it.
Loved this. Astro philosophy!
Hail Satori!!to me it is a “master piece”.
@Patrice it is indeed worth reading again and again. I am feeling happy after reading this Thanks Satori 🙂
thank you so much!
excellent indeed! love reading your take on free will, always one very juicy topic.
Just read this for the first time, what an extraordinary post! Satori, you are such a gifted writer! Made me think, from that simple Venus/Mars explanation, that perhaps I can finally learn to work with my inner conflicts (Taurus Venus in 4th, Cap Mars in 12th). Thank you!!!
thank you! I’m having a glass of wine and looking at Audrey Hepburn photos from Sabrina. I’ll have to re-read!
and have I told you how much I enjoy your username? I love the Bronte sisters and I have a commemorative copy of Wuthering Heights (brand new but made to look like a first edition) of which I am particularly fond.
Thank you! One of my favorite actresses, and one of my favorite films with two of my favorite actors (Holden and Bogart), timeless and perfect.
I grew up in a fantasy-land of books and movies, hence my screen name, which was given to me long ago by a dear unavailable man I was hopelessly obsessed with — it does describe me well.
I’ve studied the Brontes at length — there’s an obscure book (The Brontes in Ireland) written by a man who actually interviewed their housekeeper in which he explains that Wuthering Heights had roots in events in their grandfather’s childhood. You can read it all on Open Library with this link: https://archive.org/stream/brontsinirelan00wriguoft#page/54/mode/2up
I also recently stumbled upon a new novel by Lin Haire-Sargeant, “H: The Story of Heathcliff’s Journey Back to Wuthering Heights” — quite riveting!