Personology & The Grand Cycle of Life by Gary Goldschneider

Описание: Personology & The Grand Cycle of Life by Gary Goldschneider.
All of life can be conceived symbolically as one grand cycle. By analogy, three important areas can be studied and compared within a circular framework: human life, nature, astrology. For humans, the circle may represent a lifetime from birth to death; for nature, the inexorable succession of the seasons through a year; in astrology, the zodiac, depicting the signs and their positions. The circle on which these three worlds are based is divided by two axes: one horizontal, one vertical. To travel through a cycle, one need only begin at the left end-point of the horizontal axis and proceed in a counter-clockwise direction until one arrives back at the beginning. The four most important points on the circumference of the circle are where the two axes touch it.
UPPER AND LOWER HALVES OF THE CIRCLE
The horizontal axis splits the circle into two halves. The lower half of the circle, or first half of the life cycle, represents objective, outward growth in human and natural terms (birth to age forty-two, spring to fall). During this period, dramatic physical growth takes place that transforms both individuals and the landscape. These objective changes in humans are paralleled by a deeply personal way of viewing the world. Thus, in astrological or psychological terms the lower half may be seen as subjective (more unconscious) and the first six signs, ruled by the “inner" planets (Mercury, Venus Mars) and two luminaries (Sun, Moon) in our solar system, can be classified as ‘'personal'’ signs. These five heavenly bodies are almost always viewed in terms of everyday feelings and emotions, familial and romantic relationships with others, and matters of the here and now, rather than more complex philosophical matters or universal concerns. The dominant faculties here are themselves more subjective—intuition and feeling. We may say, then, that the first half of life manifests objectively but is unconscious in its psychological orientation.
The upper half of the circle, or second half of the life cycle, represents subjective, inward growth in human and natural terms (age 42-84, fall to spring). During this period, both in nature and the human psyche, a deepening and maturation takes place beneath the surface of life. This “underground” activity is accompanied by an ever-increasing objectivity in the way human beings are able to view events around them, resulting in a wiser outlook and perhaps a more pragmatic view of things. Thus, in astrological and psychological terms the upper half can be viewed as being objective (more conscious): signs 7-9 can be classified as “social" and signs 10-12 "universal." Except for Libra, these six signs are all ruled by the "outer." impersonal planets in our solar system (Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus, Neptune. Pluto). These massive and distant bodies carry more universal and philosophical associations. They symbolize larger social questions: fate, destiny, and the inexorable and eternal aspects of life. The dominant faculties here are more objective ones—sensation and thought. Thus, the second half of life is the reverse of the first, i.e... it manifests subjectively (inside, beneath the surface) but is more conscious in its psychological orientation.
LEFT AND RIGHT HALVES OF THE CIRCLE
By contrast, the vertical axis divides the circle into a right half and a left half. The left-hand side of the zodiac wheel (from Capricorn to Cancer) represents waxing—during the seasons winter and spring the days get progressively longer. The right-hand side (from Cancer to Capricorn) represents waning—as we pass through the seasons summer and fall the days get ever shorter. Since the points of summer and winter solstices are at the ends of this vertical axis, they show the maximum polarity: long day-short night (June 21) and short day-long night (December 21). In the I Ching (The Book of Changes) these extremes or poles represent the most yang and yin points of the year, respectively. The equinoxes, on the other hand, mark points of maximum movement either toward (March 21) or away from (September 23) the sun, and demonstrate a perfect day-night balance.
THE QUADRANTS
The two sets of hemispheres just presented (upper-lower, left right) may be combined simply by superimposing them on each other. In this way, the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle of life is divided into four quadrants. In the human lifetime of eighty-four years, each of these quadrants represents a period of twenty-one years: in the yearly cycle of nature, a season: in
astrology', a group of three signs (the order of which is invariably cardinal, fixed and mutable). In addition, each of these quadrants may be associated with a mode of apprehending the world:
I Intuition
II Feeling
III Sensation
IV Thought
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The Grand Cycle of Life is the eternal cyclical progression of the seasons and life periods, the rhythms of existence which we experience year after year on our home planet.