Conflict Aspects?
Maritha Pottenger
This article continues the concept begun with fire (in the Virgo 1986 issue) and earth (in the Sagittarius 1986 issue). My suggestion is that conflict aspects can be interpreted as a challenge to one’s capacity to integrate. The goal is to make room for competing drives in life. However, conflict aspects point not JUST to needs which tend to conflict with one another; they also identify drives which NEED each other. That is, for a whole life, we need all the principles represented in conflict aspects. Choosing one side over another is a mistake. Repressing one side or projecting one side onto other people sets us up for difficulties. If life is a school, then conflict aspects represent exams. They challenge our ingenuity, our inventiveness, our capacity to synthesize. We pass the quiz when we can express all the drives involved in challenging aspects in a fulfilling, helpful manner within our lives.
Here we turn to conflicts with the air letters (3, 7, 11) of the astrological alphabet. Conflict aspects (square, quincunx and opposition) show us fundamental human drives that, despite the conflicts, do NEED one another. Too much of one can often be solved by doing a bit more of another. A full life includes them all. Examples here will be of both mundane (outer world) potentials and inner, psychological principles. The outer reflects the inner. Conflicts with various individuals in our life, or involving certain things, point to inner dilemmas to be resolved. Once we reach a better balance within, we also achieve a better balance outside.
LETTER THREE
Conflict aspects to Letter 3 show other sides of our psyche which must be balanced with our need to learn, to communicate, to use information, and to relate to the people near at hand. Balance requires enough communication—without overdoing it. It requires sensible use of our objectivity and the light touch—without succumbing to excessive flippancy or aloofness. It includes the capacity to deal with casual, everyday matters, but not to the point of becoming banal or superficial.
Immediate interests and curiosity about everything (Letter 3) must be balanced with long-range goals and values (opposition to Letter 9), the desire to do some things really WELL, to be efficient and productive (the square to Letter 6). The delight in comparisons, contrasts and dualities of Letter 3 must be integrated with the infinite Oneness of Letter 12 (a square). The casual, lighthearted, undisciplined flightiness of Letter 3 is complemented by the intense, emotional, absorbing focus of Letter 8 (natural quincunx) and the thorough, exacting, responsible, hardworking intent of Letter 10 (another quincunx).
In the following table, think of each line as a sentence, such as “The short-term focus of Letter 3 must be balanced with the long-term focus of Letter 9.”
LETTER CONFLICT ASPECT LETTER
3 opposes 9
present |
future |
early schooling |
higher education |
collateral relatives |
in-laws |
casual curiosity |
philosophical questioning |
bits & pieces |
overview |
dilettante |
sage/truth-seeker |
detached |
intellectually excited |
consensual reality |
Ultimate Truth |
3 squares 6
quantity |
quality |
casual |
disciplined |
speaking |
writing |
pure curiosity |
applied curiosity |
lighthearted |
serious/dedicated |
relatives/neighbors |
co-workers |
sociable |
production-oriented |
versatile |
one-pointed focus |
3 squares 12
rational |
intuitive |
sociable |
needs inner retreat |
contrasts/compares |
unifies/blends |
conscious |
unconscious |
linear |
wholistic |
casual/flippant |
heartfelt/sensitive |
questioning |
faith |
relatives/neighbors |
Higher Power |
3 quincunxes 8
detached |
intense |
breadth |
depth |
relatives/neighbors |
mates |
mental needs |
emotional needs |
sociable |
hermit |
glib, talkative |
secretive |
scattered |
focused |
lighthearted/flippant |
heavy/serious |
3 quincunxes 10
mental |
physical |
pure curiosity |
need for results |
restless/scattered |
focused/disciplined |
collateral relatives |
authority figures |
dilettante |
career ambitions |
flexible |
concerned with limits |
process-oriented |
content-oriented |
lighthearted/flippant |
serious |
LETTER SEVEN
Conflict aspects identify parts of life which must be balanced with Letter 7 for fuller, human experiences. The desire for a partnership or equalitarian, committed relationship (Letter 7) competes with time and energy for a home and dependent-nurturing relationships in a family (square to Letter 4), a career (square to Letter 10) and personal development and interests (opposition to Letter 1). Both human, peer relationships (Letter 7) and a sense of a Higher Power or connection to the Infinite (quincunx to Letter 12) are essential for a complete life. People needs (Letter 7) must be integrated with sensual desires and physical pleasures (quincunx to Letter 2).
LETTER CONFLICT ASPECT LETTER
7 opposes 1
other-directed |
self-assertive |
“we” |
“me” |
closeness |
freedom |
together |
alone |
weighing alternatives |
impulsive action |
appease |
confront |
sociable |
solitary |
polarities |
one of a kind |
7 squares 4
equality |
dependency/nurturance |
peers |
mother figure |
partner |
children |
conscious |
unconscious |
justice/fairness |
compassion |
relationships with space between |
relationships with absorbing focus |
competitive |
protective |
objective |
emotional |
7 squares 10
peers |
authority figures |
equality |
control |
people-oriented |
work-oriented |
partner |
boss |
sees both sides |
firm rules & regs |
sharing equally |
hierarchy of power |
relationships |
worldly success |
easygoing |
hardworking |
7 quincunxes 2
visual beauty |
sensual beauty |
people-pleasure |
pleasure from things |
relationships |
material goods |
plays with polarities |
set in own way |
fence-sitter |
stubborn |
abstract |
concrete |
other-directed |
self-contained |
social needs |
material desires |
7 quincunxes 12
people |
God |
logical |
intuitive |
equality |
rescuing/being rescued |
balance |
“swept away” by Whole |
consensual reality |
mystical insight |
linear |
global |
verbal exchanges |
nonverbal knowing |
polarities/opposites |
unification |
LETTER ELEVEN
Our conflict aspects again point to areas which we must somehow combine (or alternate, taking turns) in order to live more fulfilling lives. Our individualistic, independent, rebellious side (Letter 11) must be balanced with our desire for stability, safety and comfort (square to Letter 2) as well as our yearning for emotional intimacy and shared pleasures (square to Letter 8). Along with humanitarian principles and equal opportunity (Letter 11), we need room in life to be special, admired and applauded (opposition to Letter 5). Groups, new-age knowledge, causes and humanitarian involvements (Letter 11) have their place—but so does the home, nurturing and close emotional attachments (quincunx to Letter 4). Free-wheeling inventiveness and breaking of the rules (Letter 11) may be just what the doctor ordered sometimes, while painstaking attention to details and a finely-focused mind (quincunx to Letter 6) can be equally essential at other times.
LETTER CONFLICT ASPECT LETTER
11 opposes 5
equalitarian |
wants to be star |
intellectual (head) |
emotional (heart) |
friends |
lovers/children |
detached/objective |
dramatic/exaggerative |
mind |
sex |
self-proportion |
self-esteem |
seeks mental risks |
seeks emotional thrills |
humanity |
loved ones |
11 squares 2
risk-taker |
security-seeker |
theoretical |
practical |
friends/principle |
possessions |
hooked on change |
stuck-in-a-rut |
self-proportion |
self-indulgence |
seeks excitement |
likes comfort/ease |
unpredictability |
predictability |
intellectual |
sensual |
11 squares 8
intellectual |
passionate |
friends |
mates |
hooked on change |
goes to the end |
breadth of focus |
depth |
rebellious |
disciplined |
political power |
personal power |
free-wheeling |
self-controlled |
sudden insights |
deep transformations |
11 quincunxes 4
humanity at large |
home & family |
seeks change |
seeks security |
intellectual |
emotional |
independent |
dependent/nurturing |
fair/objective |
compassionate |
experimental |
prefers familiar |
friends |
family |
equality |
taking or taken care of |
11 quincunxes 6
sudden insights |
step-by-step thinking |
theoretical |
practical |
friends |
co-workers |
rebellious |
pragmatic |
wants new options |
wants physical results |
accepting/tolerant |
flaw-finding |
wild/experimental |
studied/disciplined |
ideas |
results |