This article is intended as an outline of the interpretive possibilities of certain aspects and midpoints in the natal chart in relation to personal development and neuropsychological factors.
A comprehensive book on such interpretations of aspects and midpoints is planned for publication, but at this juncture, I would like to present an excerpt here and would welcome a discussion of the material outlined; in particular, I have chosen aspects formed by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto with the other elements of the natal chart.
Part One: Saturn
This first part will show how Saturn aspects can be observed from the standpoint of developmental and neuropsychology, and I would be grateful for any and all comments the reader may wish to make.
In talks given at the various “Work Congresses for Cosmobiological Research” and in articles published in the “Cosmo biological Yearbook” I have pointed out that aspects in the natal chart which are exact to 3 or 5 degrees are triggered as transits and solar arc directions during early childhood. For instance: Saturn is located at 8* Cancer, Sun at 11* Libra. Within one to three months after birth the transit of Saturn square Sun and after approximately three to four years of life the solar arc direction Saturn square Sun are triggered.
This can mean a retardation in development during the first months and years of life and is expressed, for example, as a nutritional disorder with the infant, and with the three year old at the stubborn age as a repressed development of his ego and will-power, perhaps even as an illness.
Consequences for the child’s reaction later to kindergarten, to school, the individual’s vocation and partnership arise from certain incidents and experiences under such constellations.
If, as psychologists, psychotherapists, physicians or other counsellors, we observe such aspects from the static and dynamic viewpoint, we are better able to ask the patient or client well-aimed questions in order to illuminate his personal history and to understand what the “individual value”, as it were, of a particular aspect or midpoint is in one individual life. All in all this provides a more solid groundwork for the elaboration of a prognosis and of the developmental potentials of the individual. The following is a compilation of interpretive guidelines:
Saturn – Sun
Retarded development, susceptibility to illnesses which tend to check development, dependence on authority in childhood and youth, and as adult, striving to develop authority in one’s own self. Authoritative father, extreme Oedipus situation; to compensate for restrictions in development suffered earlier the individual acts severe and unfeeling.
Saturn – Moon
Failures in emotional sphere, frequent rejection, frustration, hardening of feeling.
Feelings of inferiority, inclination for hospitalism, emotionally cold mother, maternal conflicts, severe Oedipus situation; physical unease due to stress, inclination for states of depression.
Saturn – Mercury
Retarded development mentally and intellectually, slow thought-processes, fear of lingual communication, mutism.
Austere childhood, early training in the sense of duty and responsibility.
Saturn – Venus
Lack of show of affection, rejection, restricted sexual and erotic development with many tabus. Partnership between two persons with great difference in age. Super-personal love relationships as compensation for own short comings: priesthood, monastic order, renunciation of personal paternity or maternity, philanthropic activities.
With women: weak menstruation, tendency for atrophying abdominal organs, premature menopause.
Saturn – Mars
Early discouragement, resignation, intense inhibition (Schultz-Henke), suppressed will, repressed stubborn age, feelings of guilt because of subliminal aggression toward persons who are hinderances.
Competitive drive can easily lead to the destruction of the work of others. Opposition to official and individual authorities.
Saturn – Jupiter
Lack of success experience, hence advance in life made more difficult; easily annoyed and dissatisfied with oneself and others. Dichotomy of expansion and constriction.
Saturn – Moon’s Node
Contact with others made difficult, reservedness, silence in the community, isolation of self. Feeling of only being understood by older and more mature persons and feeling attached to these persons for this reason.
Saturn – Ascendant
Content to be in the background of things, earnest and reserved in appearance.
Desire to be recognized as an earnest, dutiful, upright person. Dislike of mixing with the “lower classes”. Priggishness.
Saturn – Midheaven
Retarded ego development, repressed individuality, striving for security, preferring to do with little, and fear of risks, restrictions are accepted and not rebelled against; general inhibition of personal development.
Please regard these interpretive principals as a stimulation for questions you may ask yourself or those you advise. At any rate, it is very interesting in psychological terms to write down your own personal history. The format should be such that one 8~ x 11″ sheet will cover five years of life. This biography should be thoroughly frank, honest and intimate, and all the events and experiences one can recall in the process of writing, or even weeks after beginning the biography, should be included. What results is a kind of novel of your own life; after some study of it, you will be able to trace the consequences of certain inner or outward occurrences in the course of time.
By supplementing this life history with the observations of the transits, solar arc directions, and progressions, the “individual value” of each of the configurations can be clearly ascertained and conclusions regarding the future be drawn.
Part Two: Uranus
In a detailed reply to the first part of the present discussion Mr. Erich Modersohn (to whom I express my thanks for his opinion) pointed out the positive sides of the Saturn aspects, which, as a rule, become manifest as inward growth, maturity, and introversion, and which give the individual a respite, during which he can find the time to collect himself. This is without a doubt correct; however, in a consideration of aspects in the natal chart with specific regard to
their psychoanalytical sense, more negative than positive interpretations will perforce be derived. In the summation following the fourth part we will be considering what compensative possibilities there are for the presence of strongly negative aspects and midpoint relationships. For the present, however, our point of discussion will be the psychoanalytical significance of the Uranus aspects.
In general, we may say that Uranus aspects represent an enlivening element in the cosmogram, i.e. their interpretation will be along the lines of excitement, stimulation, upset, forceful energy, action and reaction.
In terms of psychoanalysis, there is the danger of becoming overly excited, of reacting too quickly and therefore impulsively, of going too far, of not wanting to put up with anything, etc. The chief characteristic we most often meet up with is therefore that of “too much”.
The following is a summary of Uranus relationships with other heavenly bodies, with the Ascendant, Midheaven and Moon’s Node.
Uranus – Sun
Acceleration in development, hastiness and impulsivity, physical overexertion and strain.
Frequent palpitations of the heart as an expression of stress or anxiety – “with your heart in your throat” – susceptibility to situations of stress.
The father, initiative and individualistic, but also overly demanding.
Uranus – Moon
Absence of a consistent mother-figure in early childhood, lack of instinctive trust and the anxieties ensuing from this, great emotional excitability.
Fear of separation or loss of love, tendency of frequent breaking-down of interpersonal relationships.
Organically, proneness to bladder irritation. With women, irregular period and proneness to increased nervous tension during menstruation.
The initiative, individualistic, nervous, overly demanding mother.
Uranus – Mercury
Frequently changing maturative impulses, danger of a child not being able to “play to satisfaction”, of thought processes being interrupted, and of developing into a “bundle of nerves”.
Inability to sit still, difficulties in concentration, inability or disinclination to finish something, disposed to distraction, hastiness, precipitance, restlessness.
Fleeing from relection and deliberations, running away from the necessity to make decisions.
Uranus – Venus
Frequent but cursory and unsatisfying demonstrations of affection and love. Superficial tenderness, no time for “spooning”, “flightiness” in love relationships. Don Juan type? Quick erotic and sexual contacts without permanence and depth. Constant search for change and variety, bestowal of affection which quickly evaporates, sudden cessation of orgasm.
Uranus – Mars
Disorders in the processes of work and play, impulsive reactions; accident-prone.
Inclination to impatience, aggressivity, destructiveness in the first and second stubborn ages (3-4 and 11-12 years of age).
As the individual gets older, an extreme desire for high achievement may develop, bringing with it the danger of overexertion and overstrain of self.
Uranus – Jupiter
Standing up for one’s rights, freedom and independence. Tensions fluctuating between contentment and stress.
Freedom movements, revolts, strikes undertaken by students and the vocational world are gladly supported.
Uranus – Moon’s Node
Being an enlivening, stimulating, upsetting and destructive element in interpersonal relationships. There is the inclination towards uneasiness and unrest in the company of others, constant search for new contacts, the inability to maintain permanent contacts. Tendency towards fault-finding and complaining.
Uranus – Ascendant
Desire to influence the environment. Frequent changes; desire to bring about by all means changes in residence and profession. Difficulties in becoming rooted in one place and establishing a solid basis for living. Constant striving for initiative, innovation, pioneer efforts, inclination towards becoming an intruder and mischief-maker.
Uranus – Midheaven
Desire to lead life one’s own very personal and individualistic way, inclination towards sudden changes in profession or jobs, love of risk.
Strong drive to leave one’s original milieu.
I would like to point out again that it is extremely important and informative to know the individual’s life history in order to estimate the “personal value” of any aspect, midpoint or any other interpretive element in the cosmogram. The personal life history gives us information as to the individual’s development, events in his life, particular experiences. Beyond that we are also able to determine in what form the cosmic disposition along with the transits, solar arc directions, progressions, etc. have manifested in the past.
In my opinion, the personal life history and the personal natal chart should be taken together, if the present situation of the individual as well as future eventualities are to be grasped.
The processes of maturity are for the most part painful and prolonged. The familiar is outgrown and displaced; the new and unfamiliar one is confronted with is full of unknown factors and risks and is often productive of anxieties.
The more self-assured and confident the individual is when facing a new situation, the more likely he is to master it.
Uranus aspects indicate that important maturation impulses can be set. However, they also signalize the danger of the native becoming confused by the “offers of maturity” and being put under duress. Let us consider the following differentiation:
Stimulation – inner turmoil – excitement – overexcitement
Challenge – demand – constraint/stress.
Uranus constellations point to possibilities for change and chances for development. Those who do not or cannot make use of those chances will be run over. Those who are overcome or run over by events will find their ability to react likewise diminished. A limited ability to react leads to states of anxiety.
In the psychotherapeutic regard, Uranus transits or solar arc directions of Uranus towards other elements in the cosmogram are desirable, since they contribute greatly to the stimulation and development of a patient’s personality. This may involve severely critical phases, but which are the conditions for psychotherapeutic guidance and help.
Part Three: Neptune
It is of fundamental importance in any interpretation to try to see both positive and negative sides of a configuration. However, in the psychoanalytical regard the negative points will perforce predominate, although some compensation or sublimation is possible.
Seen in the positive light, Neptune aspects can be associated with such interpretations as refinement, increased sensibility, instinctive feeling, fantasy, imagination (Lat. imageo = image), yearning for the invisible and transcendental, for contemplation.
The negative tendencies of this, however, show fantasy developing to the sheer fantastic,contemp1ation becoming an escape from reality, daydreaming becoming delusion, refinement turning into personal disintegration, impressionability progressing to gullibility. Certainly the proneness to drug indulgence and intoxication is mirrored in many aspects of Neptune.
The following are a number of interpretive guide lines I would like to put up to discussion:
Neptune – Sun
Refined physical sense, high degree of sensibility. Weak constitution, poor physical resistance.
There are possible indications of a father lacking in potential and initiative.
Generally speaking, we find here the difficulty to find some sort of outer framework or basis which would give physical and emotional support.
Neptune – Moon
With regard to bodily constitution, there is the tendency to oedema, kidney and bladder disorders.
High degree of emotional impressionability deriving from personal experiences relating to the environment. These strong impressions can lead ,to the person’s being overly subject to outer influences, greatly affecting his moods and emotions.
Tendency to idealize the female sex, resulting in disappointment due to women. Desire for motherly affection and care often remains unsatisfied. Tendency to maintain an attitude of resignation and a “Wallflower” existence.
Neptune – Mercury
Vivid powers of imagination coupled with a tendency to self-delusion.
There is a tendency to lose track and to loss of concentration. Poor pronunciation and speech can be the case. Today, we might find a connection here with so-called 1egasthenia (poor reading and writing capabilities) which can be indicated by a high number of mistakes in spelling (i.e. omitting and mixing up of letters, confusing slow and fast, hard and soft spoken sounds,’fa1se capitalization). General indication of difficulties in learning and at school.
Neptune – Venus
Biologically, such aspects are manifested in a weakened glandular and hormonal system, and with women in a slight or insufficient menstrual flow. In addition, it is likely to be difficult to achieve orgasm.
Love care and affection are much sought after, with the result that, frequently, relationships based on fascination come about but whose realization remains unattained. The well-known “rose-coloured glasses” with regard to partnerships most assuredly do have some connection with this Neptune-Venus aspect.
It is more than likely that early childhood was lacking in heartfelt affection, warmth and a sense of security on the side of the immediate surroundings.
Neptune – Mars
Poor muscle and tissue tonicity, general flaccidity, lax reflexes and reactions, Slumped posture.
Grand projects, “castles in the air”, lack of sense of reality.
Neptune – Jupiter
Poor and insufficient secretion, resulting in poor digestion and a tendency to obesity and an unbalanced metabolism.
Optimistic outlook on life, “head in the clouds”, conflict between dream and reality, looking to and believing in the future.
Neptune – Moon’s Node
Feeling at ease in the company of and drawn to imaginative persons, dreamers, artists, actors. Interest in groups and associations having to do with the transcendental and with religious matters. Drug abuse in the group?
Neptune – Ascendant
Appearances more important than the true person underneath, difficulties in relating to one’s own self and to others. Difficulty in forming one’s own view of the world and in keeping “both feet on the ground”.
Neptune – Midheaven
One can find quite a few persons who have frequently changed jobs or vocation or who have at least been subject to uncertainty for some length of time. regarding their aims in life and their realization. There is danger of every dream and hope being pursued willynilly, of impossible aims being sought, after a time resulting in resignation and the relinquence of any kind of goal in life.
Frequently I have pointed out that in psychoanalysis the Neptune transits have been manifested in such a way that the patients will come for consultation during or shortly following a series of Neptune transits. A feeling of personal insecurity and the need for help seem to become more pronounced under transits of Neptune, and there is the possibility, in therapeutic terms, that this increased sensibility can contribute in part to prying open the unconscious realm and making it expressible in the form of pictures through the medium of dreams, conversations, and drawings.
Part Four: Pluto
Basically, we may say that Pluto aspects represent quite a considerable energy potential, coupled however with a tendency toward “too much”, “more than enough”, and an “excess of power”. Individuals with strong and personally accented Pluto aspects need an outlet for their overwhelming exuberance and if repeatedly confronted by strong obstacles, there is the danger of uncontrolled outbursts.
Below is a presentation for discussion of a number of interpretive guidelines applying to Pluto aspects.
Pluto – Sun
Exuberant vitality, supernormal reserves of vital
energy, tendency toward overactivity, aggression, brutality.
In psychoanalytical terms, there are indications present here of an overbearing father. It depends on the child’s bringing up and further development of personality whether this father image will provoke independent impulses in the individual – in the sense of rivalry – or whether the individual will suffer under this forcefulness in the form of feelings of inferiority and their accompanying compensation. We might recall at this juncture that Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology maintains that the attempt is made to compensate for experienced inferiority through increased performance (“Small, but oh boy!”).
Pluto – Moon
Striking expression of liveliness of feeling, i.e. exaggerated gestures, intense emotional excitement, jealous reactions.
Persons with Pluto – Moon aspects are easily jolted out of their roles, they frequently “lose their hands”, are easily insulted or themselves give insult. They experience extreme highs and lows in their emotional life. Seen psychoanalytically, one may speak here of an overwhelming mother, whom one revolts against or opposes through jealousy and rivalry.
Pluto – Mercury
Overemphasis of the intellect, an extreme effort is made to persuade and to influence others suggestively. Saying such as “to talk like a book” are applicable here.
Personal feelings of insecurity may be compensated by constant talking – talking someone to death. An inclination for fanaticism is likely.
Pluto – Venus
The need to possess and dominate another person, over-protectiveness, an overflowing of love, to demand love and affection.
Over-intensified sexuality, sexual potence, occasionally prostitution of self in one’s behavior.
Pluto – Mars
The ability to work to the point of collapse, to place high demands on one’s own self and on others, propensity for over-working. There is the tendency to impose one’s own will on others.
The hindrance of achievement brings with it the danger of repressed aggression being released destructively.
Pluto – Jupiter.
Striving for recognition and prestige, leadership qualities, the pursuit of outstanding success.
In psychoanalytical terms there is the inclination to assert one’s rights forcefully.
Pluto – Moon’s Node
The desire to stand out from all others, to dominate others. There is the tendency either to pressure others or to be under pressure oneself. Contact is sought with groups ,societies ,associations, clubs.
Pluto – Ascendant
Energetic persons who desire to assert themselves and keep their ground. Inclination to put others under pressure. It can develop into a kind of sport to win ahead of others and become their leader, dominating over them.
Pluto – Midheaven
One’s occupation is seen as a mission in life. This can entail various kinds of training before one’s final vocation is chosen. Individuals with this configuration in their charts often have very severe obstacles to fight against and are capable of asserting themselves. It is for them of vital interest to develop the power to realize their outstanding life goals. They are prepared to apply themselves to great objectives and to fight to achieve them.
It is vitally important to fight for one’s individuality and to make it manifest to the environment. The conditions of the times may have a great influence on the shaping of goals.
This concludes the psychoanalytical interpretations applying to Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and I would welcome further comment on these interpretations.
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The above article has been reprinted with permission, from “Cosmobiology International“, NR’s 14,17,18,& 20.
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