Jack – Part I

Jack

Introduction:

Let’s begin by introducing Jack. Right now, Jack is in the process of getting his MFT license so that he can become a practicing therapist. Not surprisingly Jack is very interested in learning more about himself and others. In his interviews with me, Jack was very open and immediately began to talk about the biggest issues in his life. One of the first things he emphasized is his love for writing and singing. But although the creative arts are his passion, he is also frustrated in his ability to be able to express his talents more fully. As he has gotten older, this has begun to improve as he is now singing more publicly. He said to me, ‘I am not willing to do the work” and when I asked why, he said that he hasn’t been able to stick with anything long enough. He then added that “I have many interests but have a hard time choosing one thing, to master it.” 

Early Childhood: Jack was adopted and felt accepted by his family. He developed a strong connection with his mother, but as he got older, that relationship began to become much more complicated. His father was a more ‘blue-collar’ type of person, worked hard to provide for his family, but Jack did not feel close to him. He felt his father didn’t understand him and his sensitivity. For example, when Jack was young he loved to play with dolls and his father, while letting him do so, didn’t like it and seemed to hope he would grow out of it. The most significant thing to Jack was that he had problems learning in school. He felt he needed guidance and assistance, but it was not provided by his parents so he was left to his own devices to try to figure out how to bet by in school. He was diagnosed as ADHD at some point, but was not given the help he needed to work with that. (This is where I have to point out to my readers that as a therapist/social worker/astrologer I have been frustrated for years watching the school system’s attempt to handle problems such as Jack’s. His chart explains a great deal about what is really going on and to simply give him a label and then expect him to conform to the system’s structures is a recipe for disaster.)

Jack’s Birth Chart: I need to describe a few key things about Jack’s chart to begin to put certain things into perspective. He has what is called a T-square between his Sun in Taurus, Moon in Leo and Neptune in Scorpio and they are very close to his Mid-heaven and nadir (often also called the parental axis). On one hand this gives him a tremendous imagination and sensitivity, while also making it difficult to function in our society’s linear, rational and logical way. Were he to be educated in a way that took his nature into account, his early childhood frustrations would not have existed and he might have had a much easier time of it. He also might have never been diagnosed in the way he was, which itself planted seeds of doubt, fear and weakness which, in turn, created a whole host of new problems that affected his self-esteem. Jack is the type of person who can benefit from a very different educational approach. Jack also has a second T-square between Venus, Mars and Saturn. In our discussions, Jack used the word ‘social phobia’ to describe some of his deepest frustrations and it seems to be coming from this complex set of aspects.

An Aside: It is important to stop for a moment to add something about the classic discussion about fate and free will. While astrology does postulate that we are fated in many ways, something our culture strongly invalidates, it remains important to remember that the moment we become conscious of a particular attribute in our chart, that we become freer to explore and deal with it consciously. This can change things for us significatly. Also, it is true that every so-called disability is also something that can be turned to a positive through a variety of means. This is in fact, what Jack is doing. He is working to fulfill his dreams each and every day of his life and has not let his frustrations stop him from making the effort. This is why astrologers often look at a chart such as his and comment that often success comes later in life for this person and is the result of efforts made over a long period of time. There is something positive to be said about this. The Soul can learn a lot from this kind of effort.

Family Life: Whenever a person has stressful planetary configurations connected to what’s referred to as the ‘parental; axis’, difficulties with parents/family become highly likely. This is true in Jack’s case as well. Not only was he adopted, but his connections with each of his adoptive parents have also been a struggle and a mystery. This is a classic Neptune phenomenon. His parents were divorced, but what he was told as to the reason, has recently turned out not to be true. He believed for many years that the divorce was caused by his father’s alcoholism, but that was not true. As Jack has matured, he began to see that his mother was not who he thought she was. While he was her defender, she was suffering from what he called ‘the grass is greener’ syndrome. She lived in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction. It is only now that Jack is discovering that the reason for the divorce is that his mother cheated on his father. This was hidden from him. It is with the transit of Mars slowing down and approaching its change to retrograde motion that the truth is emerging. This disappointment is often ascribed to Neptune and is active now for all of us as it moves toward its last conjunction with Jupiter. For Jack, this transiting conjunction has activated the first T-square I mentioned earlier between his Sun, Moon and Neptune.

More Changes Coming

 There is a lot more to happening to Jack as a result of the coming Mars retrograde and the effects of the Jupiter/Neptune conjunction, so look for the next installment of our series.

I want to thank Jack for his openness and willingness to speak about such sensitive topics for him. The next newsletter will be Jill – Part II.