One of the extraordinary gifts of the birth chart and Astrology, is that it shows us clearly those parts of our psyche that we tend to “project” outside, or see in others.
That connection between planets we call aspects, whether it be by angles of 180 °, 90 °, 150 ° particularly, show us clearly that part of ourselves we find hard to assimilate as ours and we tend to live it through other people
The planets called malefic in traditional Astrology like: Mars, Saturn and Pluto, to name a few, are those we find hardest to recognize within ourselves and we tend to see them in the eyes and actions of others. Yet, any planet can be projected to the outside or rather to someone else, which is the same as saying, that any planet can become our “shadow”.
We may find Mars, the Warrior, as those who always seem to compete with us, those who always seem to feel the need to argue with us. Saturn, the great critic is the most common of the projections, since our intense insecurity, low self-esteem and internal criticism, makes us feel criticized by others. A simple gesture, a word on the lips of another, can unleash a series of emotions and send us to that place in our psyche, where we are most vulnerable and most inadequate. Pluto, the Lord of darkness, is seen in the other as the one that who wants to dominate us, the one that doesn’t let us be who we really are, in the disguise of a parent, a boss or a lover.
As you might imagine, the ‘other’, usually those people closest to ourselves and with whom we share some sort of emotional relationship, becomes the monster that condemns us, who doesn’t values us, the parent, boss or friend who criticizes us, the one who envy us, who haunts us and judges us and doesn’t let us be happy. They are those people we wish would disappear from the face of the Earth, in order to be happy. If only they didn’t exist!!
It is clear that none of this takes place in the ‘other’, hardly so, but deeply within our psyche. All of this becomes even more interesting when comparing the astrological charts of two people,in what we call Synastry, and there that we can see, as if by magic, that planets in the chart of people who somehow become the recipient of our projections, those we call evil people, seem to be intertwined with ours in the most interesting fashion. Is this what attracted us to them? And if so, what is that quality that at first seems to join us in “something special”, to end so differently?
How many times have we said: “How is it possible that this person would do this?”, or “how could I have fallen in love with this person?” It is precisely at this point that we should take back our projections and look within ourselves. The right question then, would be: “What is it in the attitude of this person that has such an effect inside me?” What is he/she touching in me?
These apparent enemies are at the end our great masters and teachers, if we take advantage of the opportunity. If we stay victimized, blaming the other, then we are losing the lesson and it is a matter of time until ‘another person’ with a different face and even background, presses in us the same button. Part of the process of growing-up, is to learn these lessons and little by little, let go of the victimization process, to become the masters of our own development and our own experiences.
If you feel a victim of another, then you’re not learning the lesson and are stuck in a pattern that is crying loudly that you attend to it and shed some light on it. Through the chart, we can see clearly, which are those qualities we find difficult to assimilate and see in the eyes of others. Without awareness there is no happiness, although on the road towards it, we may go through the pain. Without pain there is no birth or transformation. Without transformation there is no life.
The drawing used in this article belongs to John Cleese’s wonderful book “FAMILIES, and how to survive them”
Cristina Laird's Astrology 