Light side of the Ninth: An astrological perspective

Well, here's part two for those who missed the first bit. The lighter or 'good' side of me.

It's funny, but I think I've actually been putting off writing this post. Had no problem going on about my evil-ness, but my good side is... I dunno, a bit embarrassing to speak of.

Still, better get on with it, for the sake of balance - something that might even bring a smile to sourpuss Saturn, currently in dignified Libra.

Firstly, I guess, there's that Sun-Jupiter conjunction in Pisces. It's a wide conjunction, but whenever I've had readings, the astrologer has considered me a Sol-Jupe kinda fella, and I think it fits well.

Essentially, I'm expansive when it comes to both beliefs and the magnanimity of the universe, and also in terms of my own desire to love all. (Do I succeed? Meh. It's varied, but the impetus is there).

In terms of being intoxicated with the broadest of idealistic horizons and a spiritual, all-encompassing love, I'm there.

And I have a big heart. On my good days. On the less good days, I feel as if I've swallowed the ocean and am totally lost in the supernova of spirit. To thoroughly mix my simile-metaphors.

Then there's that Venus-Neptune trine in fire (respectively Aries and Sagittarius). Can we say romantic? We can. Hopelessly, utterly, fatally romantic. If you want more of an elaboration, you can find it here in an earlier post.

Which basically means I adore beauty in all its forms - music, sculpture, poetry, painting, architecture, the human figure, all of the performing arts etc. - as long as it is inspiring (fire).

And I believe my exes, whatever else they may think of me now (and I'm grateful to say, these ladies are still friends) would attest to my love of the romantic gesture.

In short, I'm not the kind of guy who'll forget your birthday or neglect any of the niceties of courtship, tenderness and long-term devotion.

Also I have deep-rooted yen for courtesy and fairness.

Meanwhile, lurking in my sixth house are both Mars and Mercury in maverick Aquarius. Hence, I am both left-brained and right-brained: I've been cultivating an integration between the skills of the cerebral hemispheres for a long time now, and I believe I'm making progress.

So-called 'paranormal' abilities and energy healing are a few of my passions.

I'm the kind of person who'll entertain the zaniest (read: provocative) ideas, which sound, on the face of it, rather crazy. But I tend to be good at articulating the (il)logic behind 'em. And with Mercury in the sign of the humanitarian rebel, public speaking at any time, before any scale of audience, with or without prep, is like breathing to me.

As are writing, and speedily learning and integrating the latest spiritual, healing and technological advances. And I'm good with my hands, too (Mercury in the sixth).

Meanwhile, Virgo-rising, for all its anal nitpicking (that sounds rather unfortunate, but you catch my drift), makes me a fairly adept problem-solver. And good at sorting through the details.

Most of the time I even succeed in over-compensating for that lack of patience, too (Aquarius Mars in the sixth, square Scorpio Uranus in the third), by logically and methodically tackling needful (if boring) tasks.

Did I mention I like to be active all the time? Well, I do. I respect and take care of my health (though I wish I were more disciplined about cooking for myself) and to me that means fitness is key. I need to be in motion and tend to thrive if I can exercise intensely almost every day.

Hence, I'm a good person to have around if you need sustained, ignoring-the-pain-and-doing-it-anyway sort of energy. As long as there's a clear goal and the process isn't too mind-numbingly boring. I have a low boredom threshold.

Which also means I enjoy hard work (Aquarius Mars and Mercury in the sixth - as well as Capricorn Moon by its proximity to the sixth house cusp). In fact, I have workaholic tendencies. I sleep very poorly if I feel I'm not working hard enough. Though I am trying to break the pattern of deriving self-worth from the level of work I accomplish.

If you are my friend or a family member/loved one, I will be loyal and steadfast (Saturn in the 11th, Cappie Moon, Saturn square Venus) and take my responsibilities to you very seriously. I will strive always to do the right thing by you. Most of the time I will put your needs (and those of others generally) ahead of mine.

Again, with the current Saturn-Pluto square from my respective second to fifth houses, I am trying to find the balance between caring for my needs as well as others' in my significant personal and professional relationships.

And I'm creative (Moon in the fifth, Venus trine Neptune, Neptune square Sun, quintiles between Sun and MC, Mars and Venus) and, dare I say it, charismatic (Pluto opposition Venus, Uranus sextile Ascendant).

Acting, dancing, drawing, writing, directing, playing instruments come fairly easily to me.

To end on a Sun-Jupiter accent: I would describe myself as a servant king (Leo 12H, Virgo-rising), endowed with a rigorous creative, spiritual, intellectual and humanitarian drive, to put at the service of the collective.

And I strive to do just that, every day.



The image above was taken from this site.

Saturn in Libra: Courtesy, or else...

Is it me? Or is the gentle art of bullying getting a lot of (negative) press lately?

Why, yes. Yes it is.

Unsurprising, giving Saturn's ingress into the genteel and harmony-lovin' sign of the Scales.

This morning, while I was joyously perusing a promising-sounding job ad in the pages of the very newspaper I currently proofread for, my eyes fell on a syndicated article from the London Evening Standard, titled: "Does your office have bad manners?"

The choicest paragraphs include the following:

Pearson and Porath began their research looking at incidents of employees killing their colleagues. From this extreme, they worked back to examine every kind of workplace slight to understand why some forms of incivility are taken seriously, such as sexual harassment, while others are not.

Common examples of incivility, they found, included taking credit for other people's work, passing blame, checking emails during meetings, talking down to or not listening to others, making derogatory remarks and avoiding people.

What may seem trivial examples of bad office manners, they found, had a serious effect on morale and staff retention. Serious enough to get the attention of the companies with whom they shared their findings.

Before becoming an academic, Porath worked for a sports management and marketing company and had observed first-hand how people were affected by the constant belittlements, insults and verbal digs that were considered part of the firm's culture. Her research confirmed her fears.

After a single incident of incivility, not including anything sexual or physical, 48 per cent of the hundreds surveyed decreased their effort at work, 38 per cent intentionally decreased the quality of their work, 80 per cent wasted time worrying about the incident, 66 per cent said their performance declined and 78 per cent said their commitment to the firm declined.

Twelve per cent said they had left a company because of uncivil treatment. For firms already struggling with motivating and retaining staff, the figures were staggering. Behaviour which was regarded as everyday was actually deeply damaging.

“A lot of people don't realise what they're doing at the time,” says Porath. “And as people move up in an organisation, they are treated less and less honestly by their staff, so they have no idea how bad they are.”

You'd think this kind of observation would not warrant a formal study. And yet. The ingress of Saturn into a sign seems, invariably, to bring to light that which has always been obvious, but barely observed.

Rude people suck. They are uncool. They hurt others.

Those who know me well, know one of my pet hates - and I do mean HATES - is incivility.

Politeness, courtesy, graciousness... in a word, CIVILITY, costs absolutely nothing. Yet with the frequency with which it's so often tossed to the side, you'd think it was the rarest, most ridiculously dear and arduous skill to acquire or cultivate.

Personally, my money's on Saturn in Libra making it very, very important to practice social graces, including gentility, over the next two-and-a-half years.

Or else.

Especially with that long-term square to ambitious Pluto in Capricorn. Want to harm your chances of getting ahead? Then continue to be an uncouth, ill-mannered boor.

The choice is yours.





The image above was taken from this site.