Astrology Forum, Astro Astrology Chart Discussions

Brentus » Astro-Seek.com Thanks so much, Fool! I´ll look into both Dani Mae1 and those books. It´s inspiring to have people encourage the art!

Brentus » nikkia I agree! You would think in today’s age there would be a lot more interest and research into the topic. I’m excited to see anything you can share with us! It’s interesting to see what combinations people attribute towards the topic. I guess there’s also a rather philosophical and spiritual air to the question, in how we frame and define mental illness, how or why it affects people, and its cause. I mean just like therapy there are different ways to interpret cause and remedy. I’m curious to see through what lens people come to their conclusions in astrology in terms of identifying potential mental illness. There’s a lot to explore there!

Brentus » fishscales That’s an interesting take as well. Just to expand on what you said, I would assume Leo’s natural house being entertainment and creativity would give a place for thoughts, emotions, and ideas to be expressed. Things can get negative when things get pent up.

You mention the birth chart being a poor indicator of mental health. I see that kind of reflected in psychology. You may be predispositioned towards more negative aspects and therefore more prone to mental illness, but it’s not a guarantee and not the only way. Many people come from great homes, strong constitutions and wills, and fall into mental health issues.

Especially when we get into behavioral/mood disorders – there are people who have a single bout of depression in their life, and live happily after. Other who have recurrent ups and downs and those who never seem to get over the hump. Life circumstances, traumas etc all play a role in that, but you really can’t assume mental illness is not going to be a major factor in someone’s life simply because the setup looks generally good. I guess the same would be for a natal chart.

Schizophrenia, OCD, Autism – things that are more apparent from early childhood and birth that have less environmental factors involved in its manifestation are interesting to look at. It all goes a little bit beyond my comfort zone, because I am not an expert in any of this, but I definitely raise many questions along the way. Thanks for your input!

Brentus » JayJayAstrology Very true! You summed it up well -- there are so many factors to consider! I often forget to bear in mind the increase in population in general, and as an extension of that, longevity of life. Both of which will skew things a bit, and also bring about new issues. Living longer and quality of life, they have waxed and waned over the centuries (especially quality) and I wonder if there is some pattern to that madness? Harmonization sure does good right about now, given the state of affairs.

I hope you´re right about a new vision. You can look in my chart and see if my innate disillusionment with the world and the way it works is prevalent or not, but boy it´s easy to become a hermit and live through the lens of yourself so you don´t have to watch the social and humanitarian crises day to day. I mean despite my over-sensitivity to the issue, it´s worth taking a look at.

Let me try to refocus here (because I´m pretty bad about spiraling into another topic. Aside: You should see me use Wikipedia. I´ll start reading about something, and end up somewhere totally irrelevant by the end of it by interests in aspects I read in the article and clicked the link. I´ve literally went from cheese making and cryogenics. lol). In your experience, could you recommend a textbook or blog, website, anything that you’ve found particularly useful in your learning and development of astrology? Feel free to PM me if you wish. Also, what are your thoughts on “Psychological astrology”?

Brentus » JayJayAstrology That’s a good counter-point, there is a lot of truth in our attitudes and openness and labeling has changed dramatically in terms of mental illness. I’m not so sure I would chalk it all up to that, however. Is it the increase in identification and awareness or the effects of our cultural and social lifestyle? I think, to be frank, it’s a bit of both. If studies have found a correlation between youth and suicide at rates much higher than decades prior – there has to be some reason for that, and I just can’t seem to think awareness is the only factor here. Anyway – I don’t mean to sound argumentative on the topic, just kinda where I see the subject.

As far as the Pluto/Scorpio and AIDS conversations goes – I’m in the exact same boat with you there. I’m asking myself – how is it we are correlating the two? Like I said, I think we’d need a few cycles of the planets to see trends or associations of such magnitude and even then, directly attributing it I think would be a bit presumptuous. As you said – what are our validation methods? To be fair though, I do believe people associate the AIDS pandemic with the Pluto in Scorpio position more based on overtones of the position, rather than AIDS itself. The reason it became such a pandemic But, again, we can go back to our conversation before – Is it really a change in sexual mores or practices we are seeing or just people talking about it? If it is the later – AIDS could have manifested at any time at the proportions, it did. Anyway, I am not a expert in any of these subjects. (I got a degree in language and education , so psychology and astrology while both very interesting, are not exactly my fields of expertise!)

Actually, I wanted to take a moment and actually say thank you for just taking the time to respond to me. I’m new here ( signed up yesterday) and this is the first time I’ve been able to express my interest in the field and talk with others who have experience. I love to learn and I’ve done lots of reading and understand concepts, but the interplay and the art of “interpreting the chart” is something I have 0 experience with, and even to a lesser degree, an ability to really bring together what is there. I’m learning slowly but surely, hopefully. But you give me inspiration to keep looking, keep probing 😉 Thanks!

Brentus » Astro-Seek.com I see, that’s an interesting way to look it. Essentially it’s the idea that where we lack coping skills or ways to express emotion, or communication, or what have you – you’ll find problems. That’s basically the premise of western abnormal psychology. There are both genetic and environmental factors of course that go into it and it is not so simplistic as I just described, but you get the idea. I never thought of it like that. Thanks for your input! Very neat!

Brentus » Astro-Seek.com Very interesting! I’ll definitely look into it and let you know what I learn! Thanks for taking the time to dig up some resources! I guess I probably could have done my own research before asking the question. lol

Brentus » JayJayAstrology Thanks for your very insightful response! I was thinking along the same lines as to what you described and put in words far better than I could articulate. I really like the way you described it, because it shifts the focus from trying to find a “root cause” (which I feel there is no universal due to, as you very well put, how everyone can express the same energy in a different way). It on a very basic level made me think of this – lots of astrology textbooks tend to emphasize a “positive” and a “negative” trait based on placements, aspects, what have you… What is the difference between self-confidence and arrogance? Meticulous and fastidious? They’re opposite in terms of value but they are very much expressions of the same energy, overlayed with other refinements due to other aspects of the chart, and throw in life experiences to boot.
Trying to find a signature or specific combination may not prove very practical on a personal level, but I guess I also wonder if we look at manifestations of energy on a generational level (particularly with the outer planets). Lots of texts will coincide major issues or advancements to placements within signs. The one that comes to mind is Pluto in Scorpio and the AIDS epidemic. I’m just curious and spitballing here – I know this stuff gets complex, but for example, in the US the risk of suicide and mental health issue in the younger generations have grown significantly. There are tons of contributing factors and without a doubt no one root cause. However, considering the slow progression of the outer planets and all, I wonder if maybe they will be able to see some type of “manifestation of energy” that lead to a whole generation being prone to mental health issues – or was it just due to advancements elsewhere (such as with technology and communication skills). I guess looking at the chart for the country would hold some clues. Anyway, I’m getting a bit off track here. Besides, I think it would need a “few cycles” before we could really link in a meaningful way the outer planets and the social events of the time.

Again, thank you for your thoughtful response. I enjoyed reading it!