The initial stepping stone into the world of Astrology is to learn our Sun, Moon, and Rising signs. Then we move onto angles, nodes, aspects, and so forth according to how much we would like to deepen our knowledge. Regardless of our inclinations, there is something that many if not most miss out on as fundamental understanding when peering upon the squiggles and symbols of the chart.
Whichever points or placements you have in any sign, is in direct and active relationship with its opposing sign. This means learning about and paying attention to the energies of both signs in equal measure. There is no Taurus without Scorpio, no Pisces without Virgo, no Aquarius without Leo, and vice versa. This is simply an expression of the nature of our dualistic reality, with the purpose of creating a balanced state no longer divided into this or that, but unified into harmonious flow. We are always looking for and refining that sweet spot in the middle, where the flavour is just right.
This does not mean for example that having your Sun sign in Gemini is the same as having it in Sagittarius. It means that in order to flutter those Gemini wings in the direction that most serves you and whatever/whomever else that the Gemini House and its placements involves, inclusive of scintillating flips and spins, you need the greater meaning, purpose, and drive to move into more, which Sagittarius provides for whatever the endeavour.
Gemini is then no longer understood as simply childlike, superficial, and temporarily curious, but as the one and only collector and dispenser of breath-giving stardust. It need not dwell on the how and why for very long, because that is neither its aspiration nor necessity, but now there is more presence and less confusion, and whatever has been experienced or undertaken has greater impact. There is growth through play, not just ascent followed by descent, or forward followed by backward.
- I could go onto describing each axis thoroughly and perhaps I will later, but for now I would just like to emphasise how important it is to familiarise oneself with the opposite sign of all your most significant placements.
- It is not at all uncommon to feel like the given signs especially for Sun, Moon, or Rising do not resonate, many in fact are simply thrown off by astrology for that very reason. When something is unrecognisable, it means it still resides in the unconscious, it has not made its presence known consciously. This is where it gets interesting, because if you are not actively expressing an energy which absolutely is in your chart, it does not mean it has disappeared or does not exist. Energy cannot disappear, and always wants to enter your awareness. It is the nature of your nature to want to engage your faculties. It is however now forced to take a more mischievous approach, and the following scenarios are examples of how it may unfold.
- You see the traits of that sign in people and events around you instead of yourself or you take on the lower frequency of the sign, or to simplify, the shittier form of it, or a combination of both. Which is fine because shittiness gets your attention! That is the point, to be awakened to all that you are, not just what you think you would like to be or should be. Each sign has its loveliest form, its nastiest form, and everything in between. There is no lovely without nasty so pretending only one side exists or even wanting just the one to exist only ensures sustenance of the nasty. Sometimes I don’t want to write smart. In any case, we of course choose to move towards loveliness once we know we can.
- You may for example have one or more important points in Taurus, but you do not at all see yourself as indulging in simple pleasures, gentle, stable, and self reliant. Literally “what nonsense, I am the crisis of passion, what is simple is irrelevant, I will dig for the truth till my nails bleed, vengeance is mine!” Got to love me some Scorpio, the opposite of Taurus. But this version of Scorpio is amplified into its more painful and turbulent expression because Taurus in its natural form has not been given opportunity to balance it out. Yet. At some point you get tired of any sign in overdrive and naturally seek its precise opposite. The task is already underway, and you are now reaching for wholeness.
- Or else you have lovers, friends, siblings, and colleagues who have the Taurean pleasure seeking and steady life building capacities, and you admire them but their approach to life feels undoable for you or they irritate you for the same reason. (Very often the latter.) Once again, this discomfort is here to awaken you to You.
- The Jungian creed will recognise this as projection and the shadow. Whatever energetic frequency you are tapped into of any sign, will express itself through the other proportionately. Expressing the lower vibration of any sign will trigger the lower vibration of the opposite sign, either in yourself, or in circumstances around you.
- So we work towards the luscious vibration of every sign whilst acknowledging their darker vibrational content needs the healing of the opposite sign’s lusciousness.
- This is how astrology helps us give meaning even to our confusion, obsessions, discontent, rage, grief, and desperation. There is always a reason for why we operate in certain ways, and through that understanding a pathway to peaceful and creative connection with all that we need.
P.S. The spectrum of behavior and characteristics of each zodiac sign is much broader and more nuanced than the examples I have used here for the sake of clarity.