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Similar to the blooming of the delicate petals of the
Lotus
flower, the unfoldment of a personality is a fragile process.
Yet, it holds the promise of revealing an inner radiant beauty unique to
each individual. It is a gift bestowed to each one of us to become
all that we are capable of becoming although very few of us ever really
achieve this.
The zodiac, which symbolizes in its
division of twelve signs the entire spectrum of potential of human
experience, portrays the different facets of the archetype of positive
male and negative female energies - positive meaning outgoing, mind,
light, activity, ideas, the objective world and the future - feminine
associated with introversion, darkness, feeling, sensuality, stability,
the subjective world and the past.
Each individual contains within him/her
the seeds of wholeness, symbolized by the horoscope. However, this
is inheritance and potential and he is likely to only manifest a part of
it and specialize to his inherent disposition.
We know that a man
can never be anything at once,
never complete - he always develops certain qualities
at the expense of others, and wholeness is never attained.
'Modern Man in Search of a Soul' - C. G. Jung
This disposition is mirrored in the
totality of the zodiac which are selected, highlighted, and made available
to consciousness on the birth chart either by a planet being placed in a
certain sign or that sign appearing on one of the four angles of the
chart. The interplay of ten planets and four angles gives the broad
outline of what areas of experience and what facets of consciousness are
most likely to be developed by the individual. As stated, most
people never even get close to expressing the psychic potential of which
the chart is a symbol, let alone surpass it.
We all possess those functions of
consciousness which Jung calls thinking, feeling,
sensation, and intuition. In the course of a lifetime, we
will develop first one function, then another. Perhaps we may even
partially develop a third, but never really come to terms with the fourth,
which remains largely unconscious. We then seek in relationships a
person who will embody, or enact for us, those aspects of the totality
which we are unable, or unwilling, to express ourselves.
Astrological or psychological typology
can be used as a wonderful catch-all for other people's shortcomings
as everyone is secretly convinced that those things
he values - according to his type - are in reality the best of all, and
everything else is actually a little inferior.
The human psyche strives towards
wholeness. However, wholeness does not mean perfection. A
person who has spent many years cultivating his intellectual perception
and expression, yet who can neither express nor understand his feeling
nature, is not whole. Neither is the person who has developed a rich
and full feeling life and many meaningful relationships, but cannot
understand how to reason or be objective. Nor is the practical
realist who cannot see the meaning and purpose behind his world of matter
and facts or the visionary artist who lives in a world of endless
possibilities but who cannot cope with the simple mechanics of earthy life
and actualize his dreams.
How many of us can claim to function
freely and happily with all the possibilities inherent within the
psyche? Why are we so compellingly attracted to, or repelled by,
those who seem to embody lifestyles and values that somehow elude us?
With regard to the functions of
consciousness, every astrological chart contains 'superior' and 'inferior'
functions as does every human being. Those functions that are well
developed are termed 'superior' and are reliable and under the control of
the individual. However, 'superior' functions have 'opposite'
functions, which are termed 'inferior" and which are often
unmanageable, erratic, unpredictable, excessive, childish or
primitive. Opposite functions are labeled so because they
cannot work well together. For example - feeling (subjective) and
thinking (objective), are two totally distinct modes of evaluating or
recognizing experience. While we possess both these functions in
potential, we will use primarily one and not the other; and they cannot
both be used at once. Many people base their values wholly on one
and pretend the other does not exist. Similarly, intuition and
sensation are opposite functions. Intuition is often called
perception via the unconscious, and it involves a disregard for the
physical reality of an experience or object so that the meaning, the
connections, the past and the future possibilities of the object may be
seen in one unified vision. Sensation is precisely what the word
implies; its meaning is perceived through the senses and the senses
will register only that which is tangible and possesses form.
Whatever the function of
consciousness with which we identify, we must acknowledge the existence of
its opposite within us. This can be extremely difficult because the
awkwardness of the inferior functions is a genuine source of pain and
inadequacy even if it is partially conscious.
Recognition of one's identification with a single
aspect of consciousness doesn't mean that one is doomed for a lifetime to
only express this one facet of himself. People are not static, and
the psyche always works towards a balance. One grows towards one's
opposite.
This page is an attempt to bring
an awareness of the different functions and temperaments of the
astrological signs. It is as they say "only scratching the tip
of the iceberg" as Ms. Greene and Jung have a great deal more to
offer concerning the inherent gifts and problems with all four
temperaments. Each of them sees, and values, a different aspect of
reality, and each of them tends to assume that his reality is the only
one.
It must be noted that each of us possess
all four functions; but there will be an overbalance and an underbalance,
and one function will much more highly developed while one will remain
relatively unreliable. It must also be remembered that by the age
'30' most of us have a least two of these functions of consciousness
developed to a reasonable degree - one 'superior' function and one
'auxiliary' function. The auxiliary function will never be the
opposite to the dominant one. And the more dominated we are by our
biological and historical heritage, the less we are able to use the
individual blueprint of the birth chart which results in painful feelings
of inadequacy.
We are always unconsciously drawn to
that which we lack in relationships because they will provide an
opportunity to develop greater inner integration.
Many other factors will affect the
balance of elements on the birth chart. One cannot evolve a formula
to extract the psychological type of the individual from the
horoscope. One must first experience it in the individual, and this
knowledge should then be applied to the chart. Otherwise Jung's
typology becomes an inanimate structure. A horoscope interpreted
only by post based on birth data but with no direct knowledge of the
individual will be a dismal failure from the point of view of
psychological exploration. Astrology used in this way can do little
as a tool to help the individual on his journey towards self-unfoldment.
Somehow we must all find the delicate
balance between our physical sex, with its accompanying
psychological bias, and the inherent disposition suggested by the
horoscope at birth.
the
Self is in a constant state of flux and growth -
ever changing - ever
evolving.
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AIR ELEMENT - Thinking
Function
Gemini - Libra - Aquarius
These signs are usually described as
being detached, communicative, interested in the world of ideas and
favoring rationality. All three signs share the need to relate life
experiences to a preconceived framework of ideas that may come from
outside, culled from books, teachings and conversations of others, or
from within, created by one's own laborious mental processes. The
existence of the framework is very important and there is a tendency to
take all experiences and seek in them the underlying pattern of logic
which will make them conform to this preconceived structure. Air
people have a highly developed mind, a sense of fairness and capacity for impersonal
assessment of situations, the love of culture, the appreciation of
structure and system, the courageous adherence to principles, and the
refinement.
The airy type - and this is not limited to a
person born under an air sign - as it does to one whose chart as a whole
contains a predominance of airy factors (other planets in air especially
Mercury and/or Moon) will have a problem with feelings.
WATER ELEMENT - Feeling Function
Cancer - Scorpio - Pisces
The true water type (and this is not
necessarily an individual born in a water sign, but someone whose chart
suggests as a whole a preponderance of this element) will value personal
relationships and human values. Anything will be sacrificed in order
to preserve relationships, and it is typical of water to create any kind
of crisis necessary even at his own expense to evoke a feeling response
from his/her partner. The symbolism of the water signs contains
three cold-blooded creatures: the crab, the scorpion, and the
fish. In dreams these images are usually connected with the
instinctual, unconscious energies which are close to the archaic natural
roots of man and very remote from the world of rational, differentiated
human thought. Most of the water's evaluation of life is done at an
unconscious level. Water simply responds and his responses to any
personal situation are almost unerringly accurate and appropriate. In
contrast, air's responses are contrived, based on principles, usually
appropriate in theory, but completely wrong for the particular human
situation in which the individual finds himself.
Water has the inherent capacity to feel
what another feels, and to assess things in what appears to be a totally
irrational way which can be infuriating to the airy type, who must reason
everything out. When put on the spot, water will show his own
inferior thinking. He can be prone to gossip, backbiting, and a kind
of ideological fanaticism.
EARTH ELEMENT - Sensation Function
Taurus - Virgo - Capricorn
We relate to the world of objects
through the senses, and it is difficult to discount or repress thoughts,
feelings or intuitions - particularly in an age when most of the
empiric sciences have given their stamp of approval only to that which has
concrete form.
The three earth types are described as
practical, efficient, full of common sense, sensual, realistic,
well-organized and fond of money, security, and status. The function
of sensation is the "reality function", and in this sphere the earthy type
excels, managing to make order out of the random array of stimuli which
assault the senses by relating to each one individually, savoring it,
learning its nature and moving on to the next. He is at home with
his body, frequently identifying himself with it and he is usually healthy
because he can express his physical desires directly. He manages
money and responsibilities effortlessly which mystifies those who are more
intuitive. He has a gift for actualizing his desires and this
capacity for "earthing" shows at its best when combined with
thinking to produce the careful empiric thinker, the impeccable researcher
and statistician, or with feeling, to produce the happy sensualist,
the affectionate lover and father, the patron of nature and of all
beautiful things.
However, his inferior function is
intuition and he misses the significance of the connections between the
facts, the relationships that link them with common meaning; and while he
manages with ease the complexities of the world of objects, he is liable
to miss the inner significance of his own life.
FIRE ELEMENT - Intuitive
Function
Aries - Leo - Sagittarius
The element fire is probably the most
confusing element when an attempt is made to correlate its traditional
attributes with those of Jung's 'intuitive' type. This is partially
because many astrological texts seem to accept at face value the
traditional statements that fire is warm, outgoing, self-centered and
lucky without questioning why he is like this and what truly motivates
their curious temperament. There is also a considerable amount of
confusion about what Jung means by intuition. It is commonly
associated with mediums, séance parlors, and other assorted oddities
which belong more to the realm of feeling.
Because intuition is in the main an
unconscious process, its nature is very difficult to grasp. The
intuitive function is represented in consciousness by an attitude of
expectancy, by vision and penetration . . . intuition is not mere
perception or vision, but an active, creative process that puts into the
object just as much as it takes out.
'Psychological Types' - C. G. Jung
Intuition tries to encompass the
greatest possibilities. If this is confusing to the reader, it is
often more so to many intuitive types, who because they are not given any
insight into their own psychic constitutions by science and orthodox
education - who generally claim that such a function does not exist - are
often unsure and mistrustful of the very aspect of themselves which is
most highly developed.
Intuition is generally permitted to
women with a certain patronizing attitude.
Fire people are children at heart and
inclined to live in a world of fantasy and romance. They have a
strong need to mythologize their experiences and relate them to an inner
world which belongs more to the world of fairy tales than to
'reality'. He possesses an inferior sensation function and tends to
repress his awareness of objects in order to draw closer to the essence of
a situation, its possibilities and its meaning in a larger context.
He is often known to say "I have a hunch".
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