I met up with a client this week who was really smart and well educated and she was just beginning to learn astrology. She came to me because she wanted to talk about the difficult aspects in her chart and she was feeling bummed out about them. She helped me remember what it was like when I first started learning astrology Astrology is so good at pointing out what’s been difficult and hard in your life. Your natal chart can accurately point at the most painful wounds in your life. Ouch!
When you first start learning astrology, the birthchart looks deceptively fixed or static, like it’s just never going to change because it’s written in stone for the rest of Eternity. On one level, that’s true because the natal chart is a snapshot of the sky when you were born. While it’s true that you have that same chart for your whole life, it’s not true that your birth chart never changes because you always change. For example, you’re a much different person now than who were were when you were 5 years old or 15 years old or even 25 years old. The chart is actually excellent at reflecting the changes that happen when you change.The symbolism of astrology is so metaphorically dense and multivalent that every placement is actually a spectrum of possibilities with a higher side, a lower side and a lot of stuff in between.
So if you have some squares or oppositions in your chart, or if you’ve got some placements that are difficult, like planet in the Sixth, Eighth or Twelfth Houses, it doesn’t mean that you’re doomed or unlucky. What it actually means is that these areas of your life may take more work than the easier placements in your chart. It also means that these challenging placements are also going to describe what you need to feel satisfied or self-actualized in whatever area of life that they signify.
So let’s say you’ve got a square from Uranus to Venus in your natal chart. That doesn’t mean that you’re destined to get a divorce or always have unstable relationships. What it does mean is that it might take some time and experience to find a relationship that is individualized and independent enough for you. For example, this aspect could signify someone who wants to live in a separate place than their partner or, for someone else, they may prefer to have a separate bedroom than their partner in the same house. This aspect may also express a relationship where there is some long distance such as one person who travels on business for a week every month. But generally speaking, the Uranus square Venus aspect requires that a little bit of space is built into the relationship somehow so that each person feels independent and free. The rest of society may be baffled by how weird a Uranus square Venus relationship may be. While this relationship may be more individualistic and offbeat compared to everyone else, it’s going to be like breathing a a breath of fresh air to the Uranus square Venus person.
Difficult aspects and placements do take some time to figure out because they tend to go against the mainstream standard of how most people prefer to live their life. They take more time to assimilate and integrate in your life than the easier placements in your chart. But within every difficult aspect and placement in your chart, there is an enigma that contains a solution to self-actualization. They even describe the unique situation which gives you lasting satisfaction in some area of your life. So don’t be bummed out about the difficult placements in your chart! But definitely take some time to really understand their highest expression, and then make that central to who you are.
