Hi, Elsa,
What are your thoughts on mental illness vs astrology? A lot of astrological personal traits can be interpreted as mental illness or a psychological problem.
Cancers: anxious attachment
Uranus: avoidant attachment
Pluto: obsession
Virgo: OCD
Gemini: ADHD
So in your opinion which one is it? I personally found my self to deviate more towards astrology because it doesn’t give the sense of doom that psychology offers, what are your thoughts on this?
Sarah
Hi, Sarah. What an interesting way to frame this question.
I get your point here. From my view, the problem with your thesis is that you’re dealing in generalities and/or stereotypes.  This just won’t hold up to any level of scrutiny.
For example, not all Cancers, cling. I’m thinking about the double Cancer I knew once, was sued after stealing recipes from a large chain. She was some kind of operator. Scary.
“Uranus” attaches to causes, among other things. My friend, Ben is Aquarius rising with Uranus, strong, opposing his ascendant. While he swore off love relationships in his twenties, he’s maintained his commitment to teaching kids to play instruments, for forty years.
“Pluto” can be obsessed, but hey! It’s allowed! I had a very hard time learning astrology. Had I not focused, with all my might, I don’t think I’d have managed. Focused energy is just energy, neutral until directed.
“Virgo” – the idea all Virgo are OCD is ludicrous. Plenty of Virgos live in filthy houses and only wash their hands if someone is watching.
“Gemini” – all natives do not have ADHD. I have talked to Gemini and essentially have to ask them to turn their brain on. Mental dexterity is a gift. You have to take it out a long way, before the trait could be considered an illness.
I agree the associations on your list but in real life, people are not one thing. A person also has free-will and factors in their chart to mitigate or alter these “pure” expressions. Bottom line, I would never pick up the phone, to talk to a Virgo client, thinking, this person had to wipe their phone down, before they could use it! Matter of fact, I’ve seen a person do this before. Cancer with a Scorpio moon.
Here is an earlier post:
There’s also a discussion here: Mental Illness In A Natal Chart.
What do others think?
And I have a Cancer sun conjunct Uranus in my chart! Where does that leave me?
ha ha ha!
Personally, IMO, with a degree in Transpersonal Psych – I’d say mental illness only became a thing, once the chemicals were created. The discipline of psychiatry and psychology only became accepted last century – and as it rose, so to did all the mental illness. I attribute most to electricity in the home ( super sensitive ones) and then fluoride in the water (1961) – Medically Established New Diseases began 1971 – they didn’t bother to name them. Just give them alphabet letters. I’m not a brainy type who memorizes facts, but a feeling person, who learns for my own understanding – not to turn around an get others to see things ‘my way’. I believe firmly most DIS-ease was created by man for domination with chemicals creating 98% of it all. Mostly within 100 yrs. People were tortured or raped, or genetically , or raised inhumanely- were the ones with mental illness – which like animals you can STRENGTHEN that thru DNA by torturing the offspring of the tortured….do you see that perhaps there are UNNATURAL Causes for Mental Illness that may have been created just so there’s an industry? just like MEDICINE now? It’s a Business with more Super Sick People the longer we have it. I grew up never seeing the doctor, and no one was ever sick – and maybe Tommy way down the street was so special he had an allergy and he had to go see one…. We’ve grown in to this sick world and tracking how we’ve de-evolved takes energy and a widened perspective. and of course, everything I’ve believe is antithetical to mainstream thought and all the Mental people and all the people who bought their education from the People who giving us a One Degreed World Order.
I would think mental issues would be shown by too many oppositions or T squares in a chart without some compensating “soft” aspects. When you feel pulled between two poles it makes the mind restless and not at ease in making decisions. At least with the T square the stem shows the release point for this pressure. I have ASC in Pisces opp Pluto in Virgo with a square to the Sag Moon almost exact within a quarter of a degree! Feelings often rule in relationships where control issues come up.
Maybe I’m just seeing things through a Gemini lens but there’s more than one way each sign / house / aspect can go. I have strong Venus-Pluto and as you would expect, I am an extremely devoted and jealous lover by nature. Don’t talk to or about your exes with me, and you can bank on me never looking twice at anyone else. But live long enough and you’re likely to meet someone who has something like a Venus-Pluto square in a happy open marriage or polyamory or something. Their love is so deep and transcendental that we can’t even see or comprehend it.
Scorpio ascendants are famed for their piercing gaze and the insight it gives, but you occasionally meet one, like my rocket scientist friend, who is so deeply submerged in their own emotion, ambition and panophobia that they never know what the fuck is going on. Some Cancers are clingy for sure, but I’m a double Cancer with an avoidant attachment. If you get in our faces, some of us just pop into the shell or pinch you!
What I’m specifically trying to say here is that mental illness is more common than people think and it’s a spectrum, not an on/off switch or a moral failing, so I think anything could be a bit of a mental illness marker. But everything is also not, because there’s more than one way to use everything in your chart. Some placements and aspects give me more pause than others, such as Venus/Moon in Virgo, or a Mars-Saturn square. But some of my favorite people have these placements as well. You need to be able to read the person speaking to you.
Maybe it’s a case of differentiating between a mental illness, and a mental condition.
People can have conditions like ADHD, OCD, Autism, etc, even anxiety and depression, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are mentally ill, many people with these conditions (if mild to moderate level) can still maintain a normal, functioning, healthy life, hold a job, relationships, family, social life, etc. Albeit yes, with a bit more difficulty, and with practice, but as long as there are adjustments, workarounds, and coping strategies in place. Which many do.
It’s only if they have the more severe versions that is detrimental to their life, debilitating to the point they need additional care from others.
You can have NONE of these conditions and succumb to mental illness. This literally happened during the Pandemic/Lockdowns, where people who had no previous diagnosis of mental conditions, or no history of mental illness, were turning up to hospitals suffering from breakdowns, psychosis, bipolar type symptoms.
So in a lot of cases, mental illness can be temporary and circumstantial, and triggered by major life stressors. This is where we look at transiting planets and see where they are currently in the natal chart.
Transits: Uranus crops up for anxiety, manic, or erratic behaviour (try having that transit the 3rd! 😮), Saturn for withdrawing and depression, Neptune can be a very dangerous one, for heavy addictions or psychosis, Jupiter for mania and delusions of grandeur, Mars for impulsive and reckless risk taking, and Pluto for complete breakdowns and possibly suicidal tendencies.
I have a now well managed trifecta of ADHD, OCD and Asperger’s. There were times when l was nearly incapacitated, but those were rare.
I raised a family with this stuff. I made it my business to fix it the best I could so I could be there for them. I wasn’t going to let it get in the way of life.
Employment was far trickier. People don’t get this stuff in general, and mix that with office politics and expectations. It doesn’t go together. A lot needs to be done in terms of understanding and getting people to reach their potential.