Challenge Corner

Zip Dobyns

We had two really good responses to last issue’s Challenge Corner, except that the good reasons they gave led them to the wrong twin. If we learn nothing else from these attempts, we should learn how flexible our symbol system is. At all times, it seems to me, there is some potential to manifest the implicated “part of life” in either effective or ineffective ways. The readers pointed out most of the items I had planned to use, but interpreted them in reverse of the actual case.

For example, both letters which we received noted that the 1st twin had the Capricorn dwad on the MC while the 2nd twin had the Aquarius dwad. They assumed that this meant either: 1) the executive husband vs. the technician husband (which would be a projection of the personal expression of the MC and certainly possible) or 2) the Capricorn one was anxious and the Aquarian one took things lightly (also possible). Actually, the Capricorn dwad marked the working twin; the Aquarian dwad is the twin who lets her husband “do it for her” as air is quite able to do—the spectator element.

There was another dwad change on the angles which was not noted; the Antivertex, which I read as another Ascendant, changed from the Cancer dwad to the Leo dwad. This could easily be read either way. We might guess that the Leo one had more self-confidence. Or we might think that the Cancer one could be more fertile, which is the case. As our readers pointed out, the Jupiter quincunx the Ascendant was closer in orb in the 1st twin, and they assumed that this was the denial of the ability to have children by natural birth. But Jupiter is actually just inside the 6th house for the first twin, and shows the value placed on work even though it is part-time, off-and-on-again, as is common with a quincunx with its tendency to drop things and move on. The 2nd twin has Jupiter inside the 5th house, so its separative aspect did actually relate to child-bearing, even though the aspect was not as close.

The respondents also noted the exact Saturn opposite the MC for the 2nd twin, and the closer East Point conjunction to Vesta and quincunx to Neptune, but assumed a greater urge toward work from both of the aspects, which is a reasonable guess. Unfortunately, the reaction of the individual was the opposite. The 2nd twin, with the exact aspects, including the exact square of Antivertex to Mars, is the self-blocker, with the headaches from staying home and feeling inadequate and helpless. Combinations of letters 4, 10, and 12 can indicate anxiety, depression, etc. if the person is not functioning successful1y in the world. Saturn exactly on the 4th cusp is next strongest to Saturn conjunct Moon. Neptune is a ruler of the 1st house Pisces, and Mars is a natural ruler, so the conflict aspects to the East Point and Antivertex are potential self-against-self aspects. The Vesta conjunction shows that the person needs to work, and indicates the danger of illness if the person is not fulfilled in their work. Other aspects which could legitimately have suggested the wrong twin include Pluto in a closer trine to the MC for twin 2; East Point in a closer square to Uranus for twin 1; Antivertex in a closer sextile to the Sun and Mercury more closely semi-sextile the East Point for twin 2. So there were aspects pointing in contradictory directions, and other aspects which could be read in contradictory ways, and I agree that it was not an easy challenge after all.

Perhaps in the end, it is a subjective judgment. One dwad change was on the 2nd house cusp, from Taurus to Gemini; again earth with its need to accomplish something with tangible results (in this case specifically to have some control over one’s own resources), vs. the air ability to let someone else do it and watch the show. But I think the heaviest weighting has to go to the exact Saturn-IC contact and the Jupiter house change, which by the way was also present with Koch house cusps but was not there with Campanus or Regiomontanus. Both the latter systems of houses put Jupiter in the 6th house for both twins.

As was pointed out by one correspondent, most astrologers would read the two charts identically. It is only hind sight, when we look at the lives that we can be sure which one is functioning in the world and which one is doing the self-blocking and ending up with headaches. With these charts, both twins need to work, to get a sense of power and personal worth. The days when women could be passive-dependent and still comfortable are fast disappearing; at least in women with any kind of earth emphasis in their makeup.

We have a very different challenge this issue, though it involves female twins again. Both women lost a child when the child was 18 years old, but the deaths occurred years apart. This challenge will let you try a variety of current patterns. One twin lost a son who was born in October 1943 and died December 27, 1961. The other twin lost a daughter who was born in 1961, was in an auto accident on June 10, 1979, and was pronounced clinically dead on June 15, 1979. The twin mothers wore born July 22, 1923 at 12:05 and 12:20 (P.M.) EST at 41 N 30 and 81 W 43. Please don’t get discouraged if your previous guesses were wrong. We’re finding out what we know and what we don’t know in astrology, so keep trying.

Copyright © 1979 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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