colrana. (´｡• ω •｡`) ♡ ♡ (´｡• ω •｡`)

On Astrology

There are people out there that do not place much meaning on astrology, and I do not blame them. Considering its widespread popularity, and especially with some content created surrounding the topic, the word astrology has become this convoluted, confusing and frankly a bit annoying topic to research about.

This section isn't to prove that astrology is real to anyone. Rather, I want to use this space in order to ramble on about one of my biggest fixations. Astrology has been a strong grounding medium for me, and has also been one of my worst disorienting fixations I've had, doing more harm than good sometimes. However, that is mostly because of my own brain, and I am not here to ramble about that.

The core reason why I enjoy astrology is not because of how everything can be seemingly be explained with one chart. Rather, I enjoy the arbitrary and flexible categories it offers. Yes, you heard that right, I call them flexible. They are flexible and true, to a degree, and it is there were I enjoy metaphorically swimming in the pool called astrology. It also helps that I refuse to do transit astrology, that is, comparing one's own birth chart, which is calculated at birth, against the current chart of the current date and time. That isn't to say that I don't pay attention to solar, moon and planet events, rather I refuse to draw connections between the transit chart and the natal chart aside from the occassional Sun natal sign to the current Sun sign.

I do not think too much about the current transiting planets though. Yes, even Mercury Retrograde, though that one specifically I chalk up to my Natal Mercury being in retrograde anyways. I only observe the current Sun and the Moon phase, and that's about it. And I do not believe it makes me any less of an astrologer to believe so. There is being absorbed by knowledge, and then there is being absorbed. And I've been in both positions before. It's not fun.

Lastly, if you see me criticize my own chart, and believe that this criticism is me not fully understanding the meaning of a planet or its placement, please save your thoughts. My chart is my chart, and the way I relate my own chart to my current life and my current standing is my own business. It is also the way I relate to my chart more! I use humor not as a coping mechanism, but as a memory aide. To be fair, it's not hard for me to forget my chart, but I feel as if it's self explanatory if you've seen it in the Personality section.

Why Astrology?

I'm of the belief that everyone on this entire planet has, at one point in time, tried to make meaning out of something. I think it is basic nature to question, to categorize and to make sense of the world around you, and I think that astrology is just one result of that, though on a larger scale. Astrology was the act of making meaning of the world in relation to the sky above us, and through many many years we have constantly refined and redefined the meaning of each planet and sign. Funny too, because way back when humans could only see the planets above, planets such as Pluto (yes, I am calling it a planet in the context of astrology) didn't even exist. And when it finally "existed" to the world, astrology had to accomodate for that. It's the reason why Saturn, Jupiter and Mars often times have 2 rulers, because Neptune, Pluto and Uranus was a more "modern" discovery.

This is to say that astrology as a whole is able to be manipulated. You could throw out every single association and stereotype that astrology has claimed and make up your own new and improved Astrology 2.0 where everything is opposite day. But I feel like that is just a bit too extreme! The way I see it, I choose what interpretations of the signs appeal to me, and I turn away from those that I do not like. This may sound like it'd lead to bias, to me only searching for the good for myself and the bad for others. But this comes from a place of exhaustion. I am exhausted of reading about the motherly nature of Cancers, the hypersexualized libidos of Scorpios, the two-faced (what does that even mean?) nature of Gemini, the hot-headed Aries and etc. You get the point. It's not that I completely reject these stereotypes, because I do believe there is a basis in it. But let me put it this way: it's as if saying a dandelion only grows. That's it, without any more inspection on how it grows, why it grows, where it grows and most importantly, how does it interact with the world around it? A dandelion beside a clover patch, what does that look like? Clovers are hardy and take up lots of space, but dandelions are fast spreaders and multiply like crazy. What is their interaction?

This is where I find a lot of astrology websites and information lacking. It is very easy to take a slice out of your birth chart and claim that it affects your entire life by itself. But I find this very reduntant and also unfair to everyone who has the slightest curiosity of astrology. I find an immense joy in mapping out relationships between signs, trying to compare them and ask questions like why is a Libra and Virgo different? Why is a Cancer and Pisces different? And this gets even more complex when planets get involved. What does a Cancer Sun and a Cancer Moon do? Are they exactly the same? Why are we differentiating these planets? What are these planets purposes? And lastly, there is the final inner circle that most people don't delve into: Houses. Houses are the last hurdle that I had to jump to fully believe that astrology isn't completely reductive. Because everyone's chart has 12 houses, that means every single sign is represented. And with that implication, it means that everyone's chart has every single sign represented. Full circle. Instead of astrology being seen as taking out pieces of a pie, it is instead how your whole pie is composed with the same 12 ingredients.

As a personal example, my chart is nearly all water signs. But I don't see it completely that way. My Mercury (ruled by Gemini) is in Cancer. It is also in my 1st House, also considered the Ascendant, which for me is also in Cancer. My Ascendant being in Cancer means that the House ruler would be my Moon sign, which is in Pisces. Pisces also rules Neptune and etc. You can see how this becomes a complex web of a ruler calling another ruler? It's like playing a game of telephone, and whoever speaks the loudest (in this case, I have a lot of water signs in "important", outward facing roles) will be whatever shows up most in my day to day life.

Of course, this level of web making is not necessary to fully appreciate and start studying and analyzing astrology. I only share this because it is what I find compelling and interesting about it! I am always happy to deal with the most simplest aspects of astrology, such as comparing Sun signs with another person, but there is always an undercurrent for me that I am deeply enthralled with.

How to Research

As I explained before, astrology is notorious to do research for. There is no single site that can give you the most concise answers on how a Sign relates to a Planet. And I also believe that a site like that couldn't ever exist. Instead, research should be done with the mindset of scavenging. Scavenging for information, and relating them back to your own life or your own experiences is key to becoming more confident in your chart. I always tell my own friends that whenever I do research for one of their own charts, I am doing so with nearly 0 context. The only edge I gain from being their friend is that I at least know them more personally than someone random off the street. But I believe that to become more confident in reading charts for others, you must do extreme research on your own chart. Only you know your own life, and only you know if something rings true, so using this method requires you to listen to your own intuition, or at the very least to critically read what is being put out there in the world. I have read way too many Cancer descriptions in my life, and occassionally I refresh myself by googling Cancer in X Planet to see what people have been putting out there.

There has been a massive influx of what I call Website Clones. Website Clones are those very odd sites that seem to have copypasted the same sentence over and over and are very oddly formatted. It is very popular to find these especially in search engines, and they have most likely scrapped their content from some other site. The top websites for astrology always changes, because websites relating to astrology always seem to get deleted. In fact, some resources that I am posting below are from sites that have been deleted! Whenever you find a passage that resonates with you, I highly recomend saving the quote in your own respository for safe keeping, because I have on numerous occassions lost access to a webpage because it got deleted. The world of Astrology online is very precarious, and sites just keep dropping like flies. Please also be an Internet Citizen and save the webpage as well on something like the WayBack Machine. It keeps sites like these from completely disappearing off the face of the earth every 5 months.

Finally, always be web weaving (ABWW). As I described earlier, charts are complex relationships between Signs and Planets and that should not be forgotten! It is more common now to find how a X Sun-Y Asc person would be like, as well as X Sun-Y Moon descriptions. But rarely do you ever see what a X Sun-Y Asc-Z Moon would look like, or even what a X Moon-Y Mars would be like, to be even more specific! It is your job as a researcher and chart interpreter to interpret how each sign would interact with one another. It is how a Taurus Sun person with a Aries Mars would feel more conflicted compared to a Taurus Sun - Capricorn Mars.

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