Finding Meaning: Coping with the Malefics

[Lance]

I know this site is more about the practical side of astrology, but since there are so many practitioners here, I really would like to ask this.

What do you tell yourself when you see the really difficult transits and progressions coming? - or when you find yourself in the middle of one?

How do you cope in psychological healthy ways with the sense of helplessness and fatefulness?

For those of you who work with other people, what do you communicate to them about purpose or meaning (if anything) in the face of challenging malefics? How do you present the idea that something probably quite unpleasant is going to occur over the period of perhaps years?

I know what I used to think. I'm kind of in a different place these days.

Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Lance, formerly Iaomai.

[Jim Eshelman]

Welcome, Lance!

The issue, of course, is not with the astrological factors per se, but with actual life difficulties, yes?

If the issue is really with pending conditions, because you see difficulties approaching, then there are some honest palliatives you can use. For one, understand that the outcome is rarely as bad as it looks or as good as it looks - life is far more moderate than our imagination, and excessive anxiety rarely does us any good.

The other point is not to paint things too broadly, like <"bad stuff comin." Get more specific. Understand the psychological workings. Neptune transiting your Moon? Saturn crossing an angle? Look up what these specifically mean. Look at the reality (especially if you have Neptune behind it al <g>).

A lot of the rest is life management. Psychological tactics for enduring true hardship or dramatic change aren't unique to astrology. Once we're in them, where astrology gives us an advantage, I think, is in two or three ways:

1. We know the time period - how long we have to endure it or transmute it.
2. We have something to anchor it to - a cause, if you prefer to see it that way - so the "What's happening to me?" question has an answer.
3. Because each astrological factor has many potential meanings, with parallel symbolism, we have a sort of menu of alternative expressions, or at least alternative perspectives. "Times of hardship and lack" is also "heightened awareness of survival needs" and "time to reassess life and see where to trim, how to make life more efficient," etc.

'That's what comes to my mind off the cuff.