Lesson Four: Polarity and the Angles

This evening I want to spend some time looking at the six pairs of polarities present
in every chart. We will then go on to look at the meaning of the angles. The birth
chart tells us that, from the moment of our birth, we are confronted with a series of
polarities. It is these polarities which cause us to become strangers to ourselves,
divided, split, separated and fragmented, with the result that we keep meeting the
split-off parts of ourselves in other people or in the world 'out there', not realising
that they belong to us.
For the individual, the struggle to deal with irreconcilable opposites generates the
development of psyche. Individuation, in other words, is made possible through the
tensions caused by the neurotic aspects of the personality. [1]
I want to spend some time considering the signs and the houses as six pairs of
complementary opposites because, as Dane Rudhyar wrote, 'It simply does not
make any sense to try and define the meaning of one end of an axis without
including in the definition the meaning of the other end'. [2]This approach helps us
to work with the mechanism of projection, which is one of the most important ideas
in psychology and in psychological astrology. It is also much easier to understand
what something actually is, if we study at the same time what it is not. So we are
going to spend this evening caught up in the drama of opposites, which is, of
course, what makes life so interesting.
Like a pendulum, the more extreme one pole becomes, the more extreme the
opposite pole becomes. Whenever we identify consciously with one end of a
polarity, the opposite end is constellated in the unconscious, compensating for and
balancing the consciously held position. Have a look at this table of opposites. In
the last column are words describing the extreme opposites of the same spectrum.
We already know from last term that opposites are inseparable; they repel and
attract each other in equal measure. The interesting question, which is not
necessarily clear from the birth chart itself, is where do we stand on each of these
axes - where are we consciously identified?






Natural zodiac and house axes

Houses Signs
(natural
zodiac)
Planets
(natural rulers)
Axis Psychological dynamic
1st/7th Aries/Libra
Fire/Air
CARDINAL
Mars/Venus Axis of
relationship
Self/not-self
Me/you
Autonomy/compromise
Self-assertion/cooperation
Desire/acceptance
Personal goal/context
2nd/8th Taurus/Scorpio
Earth/Water
FIXED
Venus/Mars
(Pluto)
Axis of
exchange
Mine/yours
Valuing self/other
Dependency on self/other
Retention/release
Incorporation/elimination
3rd/9th Gemini/
Sagittarius
Air/Fire
MUTABLE
Mercury/
Jupiter
Axis of
exploration
Learning/teaching
Information/meaning
Intellect/beliefs
Student/teacher
Near/far
4th/10th Cancer/
Capricorn
Water/Earth
CARDINAL
Moon/Saturn Axis of
structure
Child/parent
Home/world
Private life/public life
Belonging/self-sufficiency
The clan/the hermit
5th/11th Leo/Aquarius
Fire/Air
FIXED
Sun/Saturn
(Uranus)
Axis of
identity
Self/society
Individual/collective
The heart/the head
Personal good/ common
good
Autocracy/democracy
Egocentric/altruistic
6th/12th Virgo/Pisces
Earth/Water
MUTABLE
Mercury/Jupiter
(Neptune)
Axis of
devotion
Order/chaos
Control/trust
Duty/compassion
Form/content


In fact, it is not uncommon for people to consult an astrologer precisely
because a situation in their lives, or a relationship, has become polarised.
In such cases, they may find themselves veering dramatically from one
extreme end of a polarity to the other, not realising that the two poles are
fundamentally connected. One of our major tasks as astrologers is to 'hold
the opposites' for both ourselves and our clients. This is always an
uncomfortable and difficult thing to do, but it can protect us from
colluding with our clients, on the one hand, or from taking an unhelpful
'problem-solving' approach on the other hand.

1.) Guggenbuhl-Craig, Adolf, From the Wrong Side: A Paradoxical Approach to Psychology (Dallas, TX: Spring
Publications, 1995), p. 143.
2.) Dane Rudhyar, The Astrological Houses, p.15