Parto wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2021 3:44 pm
Regarding polarity in dignities and debilities, I've always found interesting how rich the mix is, making the constellations more distinct and complex than any single planet involved, even if one were to set aside their quadruplicity and archetype.
Yes. Planets are fundamental forces (perhaps best described in human condition as fundamental needs). Signs, on the other hands, are archetypes,
i.e., pools of potential symbols which fixate our psyches. They're immeasurable in that sense.
I see the "building up" of sign meanings pretty similarly to aspects. The strongest aspect is the conjunction and, nearly as strongly (with barely a perceptible difference) the opposition. The next-strongest aspect influence is the square. Next strongest (and more passive, less dynamic) is the trine and then (perhaps the same, perhaps a little less) the sextile.
Similarly, what are easily the strongest keys to a sign are itself (conjunction) and (nearly as strongly, with barely a perceptible difference) its opposite sign. These two co-define each other. The easiest way to see this is to think about the dignified and debilited planets: Virgo and Pisces are
both defined by Mercury, Venus, and Neptune, but in reciprocal ways. Virgo as as easy to describe as being un-Venus and un-Neptune as to describe it as mercurial - it's almost hard to decide on which side of the equation to start! These along make up about 80% of a sign's nature (and we haven't even gotten to the
commonalities of polarities such as the Eros of Taurus-Scorpio, the individual within society of Leo-Aquarius, the spiraling polar inequities into equilibrium of Libra-Aries, the nearly matched but oh-so-difference security containment of Cancer-Capricorn - and more.
After this, the next strongest influence (and the only remaining dynamic one) is by the square - quadruplicities. Virgo and Pisces have qualities that are more like those of Gemini and Sagittarius than any of them is like any other sign.
Next come the triplicities. But the trine is not just weaker than the square, it is also less dynamic, so there is a passive commonality of psychological characteristic that Virgo shares with Capricorn and Taurus, etc. The sextets then somewhat consolidate the triplicities, though by now it is so subtle that there is rarely a reason to notice that six of them are more perceiving and the other six more appraising.
Finally, Ptolemy's final category of "aspect," the inconjuncts, or anti-aspects - the semi-sextile and quincunx relationships. This appears in sign characterization by the observations that adjacent signs, in most respects, are thoroughly disjunct: They are usually fundamentally unfitting with each other.
...Mercury-Jupiter took some thought to remember that Mercury's reality patterning and possible rigidity can be too constraining to Jupiter's need for expansion and optimism ("never tell me the odds" sort of thing).
Mercury is fact-based. Jupiter has a fundamentally religious type of thinking. Mercury by itself likes to have hands-on, to be putting the picture puzzle together with his or her own hands, whereas Jupiter prefers to be abstracted to a great height and contemplate from a distance. It's the ideal difference between elementary school and grad school.
What sort of polarity one places one's attention on depends on the chart and what is being assessed there at the moment, i suppose.
Yes. In Donald Trump's chart, the singularly angular Mars is sharply contrasted to Venus being background and afflicted - and these speak to his Taurus-Scorpio luminaries opposed, his chart redundantly putting Venus and Mars at odds to each other and Mars prevailing. In Joe Biden's chart, the rising Venus isn't as at odds with the background Mars because his fundamental character is Scorpio-Aries - no real conflict. The polar cue in his chart is likely Sun vs. Moon, his Sun being foreground and Moon background, his Moon being in the exaltation of Sun and his Sun in the fall of Moon. Kamala Harris has only Saturn foreground (and aspecting both luminaries, one of which is in Saturn's exaltation) and her Jupiter background and afflicted. It's contextual.
