Absence of element/modality means strong?

[astrologer50]

Originally Posted by szanne

Hello Astrologer50,
Thank you so much for all the info and links. As you probably saw, I am new to the forum. When I read your comments on previous post I got too excited! It's ME.
I know "some" about astrology. I have studied it off and on for many years. This forum is extremely enlightening and I need to spend a lot more time on the basics - so thank you for reminding me. I can definitely go over to astro.com and use their chart. It does show a lot more complete information.
I especially enjoyed reading Susan Miller's "What Astrology can and can not do?".
Her comment about when you are going thru hard times....astrology can give you hope~ Thankyou again...smiles

Your chart ruler mercury is a singleton BUT having Asc and 5planets in air houses really helps to compensate for this. In Equal house your mercury would be 8th house. Remember planets are modified by signs, where they express are houses and how they express are *aspects*

Your lack of earth element however suggests you are not very practical or a 'doer' so what you like at gardening or changing plugs??

[waybread]

nuthatch et al.--

I just have one planet in a water sign--and not the strongest sign for this planet (Mars in Pisces) at that. My chart is mostly air and fire.

I do think people can train themselves to compensate, just as a person with poor sight can train themselves to hear or tactilely feel details the rest of us would miss. You never really get the element in question (except through progression) but you can develop a workable alternative.

Having planets in "air", "water", &c. houses helps. The sign-house correlation is vastly overdone, but I have seen cases where someone without much water in her chart seems more watery, for example, by virtue of strengths in the 4th house.

Similarly, someone might have no planets in mutable signs, but an emphasis on cadent houses.

But one always has to look at the whole chart. For example, a singleton planet in a sign, as the "handle" on a bucket formation or the tip of a yod, and dignified in its own sign, would be a big focal point in the horoscope.

One of the best books I know of on this topic is Stephen Arroyo, Astrology, Psychology, and the Four Elements. Basically the elements indicate what is very real to the individual:

air: ideas
earth: material things, practicality
fire: initiative
water: emotions, feelings.

As an academic, nuthatch, you are no doubt surrounded by people to whom the abstract world of ideas is very important. But a field like studio art seems well-suited to earth and water: earth because of the media (ceramics, sculpture, even paint and canvas) and water because of the ability to key into one's inner feelings.

[nuthatch]

waybread, that's quite helpful. I'm sure my Jupiter in Aquarius (the tip of my "kite" has a lot of energy focused on it. I've also got my Pallas in Gemini, for what that's worth, and I love wordgames.

Not sure if you were talking about me specifically, but I'm actually not in studio art--I was more speaking about art in general. I studied Renaissance literature for a time (which I loved, but I felt too cloistered), then switched to communications and composition pedagogy (which I'm trying to connect to fiction writing--have always been trying to bridge the gap between "creative" and "academic" writing), and I'm now feeling like I really need to make something of my own. I'm fine with theory as long as I can also feel like I'm being creative and solving practical problems.

I actually have a friend with a very similar chart pattern to mine, except that she's got almost all air and practically no fire. And she is actually a very expressive, passionate, outgoing personality with great ability to get others "fired up" about things. And, like you said, she says that she actually had to work to allow herself to express those feelings. I wonder if sometimes the elements that are missing in our charts are things that we have but don't feel comfortable expressing.

For me, my intellect and communication in particular was always a huge source of insecurity--I'd been told I was intelligent, but I always felt horribly inarticulate, and I believed that it didn't matter how smart you were if you couldn't properly express it. It's gotten better, but sometimes I still feel like I have the amazing ability to leave the one vital piece of information out of every sentence when I talk.

Chiron in Gemini didn't help that either, I'm sure. Nor did having natal Mercury in Retrograde. Jeez, I'm amazed sometimes that I can put two words together, much less speak three languages But somehow languages have always been a thing of mine, and I pick them up very quickly. Might be because I am overcompensating and am thus eager to study any rules.

[waybread]

nuthatch, your Jupiter as the tip of a kite in Aquarius sounds good for an academic. Jupiter rules higher education.

I had an academic career for many years, although I retired a few years ago. My Mercury is retrograde, as well, and I don't think it's always a bad thing. It confers the ability to look over and review--repeatedly--any facts or evidence that do not seem to fit, until you find the "key" that makes everything fall into place. Also, I don't expect events to run smoothly, with Mercury retrograde, so I tend to build a lot of redundancy into my plans, so that I have a back-up plan for anything important.

When I was lecturing, Mercury retrograde was a disadvantage, so I learned to keep a solid set of notes and then to work from slides in which the key points were itemized in a logical order, so that students had some visuals to follow.

Do you have a strong 3rd or 9th house?

I don't think compensation is a bad thing. With so little water in my chart, I couldn't guess how people would react on an emotional level to many things. I had to learn to really listen to people and to observe their behaviour in detail. Now that I have the time to indulge myself in hobbies like astrology, this mental habit is proving useful in horoscope readings. It does help to "connect the dots" in seeing how what people write is a manifestation of their horoscope placements.

[Love2Know]

I have no air planets, I feel it's important to get a degree even though school has always been hard for me. I am very good at understanding concepts especially philosophical ones. Some of my best marks have been in psychology and philosophy courses. Teachers trying to teach me geometry on the other hand, horrible experience. I was also told I would never be able to read or write........... I am now in university. Even the guidance counselors would tell me school isn't for me. I think my main issue is lack of focus and fleeting interest in things. I think my biggest challenge is critical thinking and coming to provable conclusions not just feeling them out without explanation. My main self critique is that I understand things very quickly but can not explain how or make solid points. Like if I meet someone and say ' I don't like them they have bad intentions', I can't give a real reason why. I am very sensitive to how my body reacts around people, though I always know when someone is staring at me lol. I also say some pretty crazy stuff and can ask some questions in school that make people crack up laughing. I remember I was learning about the Buddhist religion in an advanced religion course, which was my first religion course I ever took. I couldn't stop thinking about the Buddhist monks rules against sleeping with the Naga (serpent like creatures) people. People didn't get it but I realized these rules could also apply to dream realities. People laughed but the professor actually said I was right.. so I don't think I am dumb I just might have a weird way of going about figuring things out. Also, I can hand in assignments get A's on them and then the next week not want to do any work and not hand in my assignments, also I have to write my assignments in one shot without thinking. This even applies to 15 page assignments. If I stop I might get confused and I usually don't remember what I wrote until I reread it (Mercury 12th house???). I still pass but I could get better grades if I was more consistent.

[waybread]

You might switch to a really practical subject, where you can feel some material benefit from it. If you have a strong mix of earth and water in your chart, this might be something like massage therapy.

[Love2Know]

Moi? I have strong water fire or should I say fire water, like what Native Americans called Alcohol. Yeah hands on, I am comparable to a tornado.