Astrological Aspects and Mental Conflicts

It is probably known to many that the study of specific planetary aspects is possible to give hints for the existence of unresolved internal conflicts which lead to mental illnesses. This has been especially noticed for the Moon aspects and secondly for the aspects of the other personal planets. Some hints of that type that are very far from being characterized as certainties could be these:

The Moon aspects, especially with the outer planets, can, if the rest of the horoscope allows it, possibly give:

- A tendency towards hysteria (lack of sexual satisfaction according to Freud) when there are hard aspects and are aspects to Uranus. That is expressed in a somehow distant emotional behavior inside relationships and an unwillingness to come close. In attempts of others to come close emotional outbreaks might take place and the person leaving.

- A tendency towards over idealization or paranoia when the aspects are hard and are aspects to Neptune. Furthermore a tendency for the person to allow itself to become a victim in relationships, to tolerate what should not be tolerated and to be fooled.

- A tendency towards depression when the aspects are hard and are in aspects to Saturn. The person might work too hard, which is one form of depression, or quit his goals due to believing he will never succeed. An overachieving mother might have put the stakes too high, or neglecting parents who were too busy with their success. The person feels he can only get loved if his a winner but sometimes the effort is too hard for him and he gives up trying.

- A tendency towards hurting oneself or being attracted by death or abuse when the aspects are hard and are aspects to Pluto. The person then might confuse violence and molestation for love and stay with an abusive partner mistaking his mistreating for love. He also might become abusive himself treating or even committing suicide or hurting himself to manipulate others' feelings.

- Simultaneous aspects to Jupiter and Saturn (i.e. T-square) are possible to give a behavior similar to a bipolar disorder (manic depression). Namely, the person is sometimes extremely optimistic and some other times extremely pessimistic. T-Squares are more serious than single aspects and the astrologer should be able to indicate to the client that he might need professional psychological help when he has one in his chart. The life of those persons is a constant series of ups and downs, successes and failures both in professional and emotional life and many times the native believes this is just how life is not realizing this is a life pattern caused by his natal chart. If however the Moon forms a trine with another planet - along with the T-Square - the trine might work as a more creative way out for the person and stabilize him emotionally to a certain degree. This trine could indicate a therapeutic hobby, a friend or even a doctor who puts the person's emotions to some kind of perspective.

- The orb between the degrees of the planets could also indicate the repeated circle of manifestation of such a disorder. One such example, we will examine below, on Marilyn Monroe’s natal chart. If for example, Jupiter and Saturn have a 3 degree orb, then a timing factor for example a transiting planet or a progressive Moon can stimulate the angles of the T-Square sequentially. In the case of the progressive Moon it can form an exact aspect with the first planet and after three months an exact aspect with the second planet. If this sequence in stimulation is repeated we could assume the creation of a pattern where manic and depressive behavior follow one another in specific and predictable time intervals. This could help forecast the next episode in the manic depressive behavior of the client with some considerable accuracy.

- All these, of course, are indications and by no means certainties. It's far from correct to assume a person’s behavior by singling out an isolated aspect or aspect pattern no matter how important it is. Furthermore behavior could be modified according to Egos defense mechanisms expressed astrologically as we have seen in another section. And last but not least a positive aspect of the Moon can always give a way out to handle the situation and ease up the steam of an internal emotional conflict.

Apart from Moon aspects, some other aspects of other planets - mainly personal planets forming aspects to outer planets - are possible to give some, if not mental illnesses, at least traumatic experiences. So for example:

- Hard aspects of the Sun or Mars to Saturn and Pluto can suggest a sense of lower self esteem or some kind of emotional emasculation or a forced integration of violence and domination as a form of survival.

- Hard aspects of Venus to outer planets could indicate some kind of perversion of libido or the instinct of pleasure.

Traumatic experiences though could also be caused by Moon aspects in the progressive chart, the first years of life of a person. An aspect of the Moon to Saturn in the progressive chart could indicate that the child felt restricted. An aspect of the Moon to Uranus could mean that the child felt exposed or that the child’s parents left it alone. An aspect of the Moon to Pluto could mean that it had fears possibly from the dark. These feelings might seem temporary to us as we would normally consider most progressive Moon aspects. However, because they happen in the first years of the life of the child, they could create important mental recordings that might require a lot of effort for the person to overcome in the future.

Therefore, it is of great value to study such aspects and mainly those of the Moon in the natal as well as in the progressive chart. Let us take a look at two examples to elaborate on that a bit further.
As a first example, let’s see the aspects of the Moon on Marilyn Monroe’s natal chart.

Marilyn Monroe 

Birth: 1 June 1926, 9:30, Los Angeles, California, USA

Source of birth data: AstrologyWeekly

Let's examine the square of the Moon to Saturn; we realize that it is a difficult aspect that indicates a repeating issue. A repeating issue is a relationship between two planets which appears repeatedly in a natal chart directly or indirectly. In our case the Moon and Saturn are not only linked via their mutual aspect, but because Saturn is also located in the 4th house, an indirect reference to the Moon or whatever it is symbolizing. The Moon-Saturn issue was very difficult for Marilyn, as it was related to the fact that she was abandoned by her mother when she was younger, - a mother who was unable to take care of her - and was going to family after family living with foster parents ever since.

Marilyn, herself having her Moon in Aquarius, had every intention of being a simple person, amiable and easy to get along with but also helpful towards others and mainly towards her partners. The rejection she experienced, though, from her family environment or the lack of good intention from it (Saturn in Scorpio), made her not to begin her relationships with good intentions, but from a position of suspicion. So, we could assume she overcompensated her hurt Moon by moving it to the opposing house, in which case she very likely expressed this Moon as a Moon in Leo. She became a diva, a star, a bossy woman who didn’t give a damn about others and wanted only her needs to be taken care of. This was an attribute she could easily display because of her ascendant sign in Leo as well as Neptune in Leo in her first house which was Hollywood’s glamour impersonated influencing her personality as well.

The Moon, though, does not only form a square to Saturn, but also a conjunction to Jupiter. In case we have strong aspects of the Moon to Jupiter as well as to Saturn, then, as we mentioned above, we might also have a manifestation of a manic depression. A theorem that can be easily confirmed by Marilyn Monroe’s life.

Of course, the chart has more indications which suggest difficulties. The concentration of malefic planets inside or near houses of the subconscious for example (Saturn in the 4th, Mars and Uranus in the 8th and Pluto near the cusp of the 12th) could indicate recordings of painful emotional experiences, while Mars with Uranus in the 8th could be an indication of a tendency to suicide. The lack of difficult aspects to these two planets could mean that there was no counter force to stop this tendency. And not only that, but the trines of  Pluto and Saturn to these two, could mean that with their help this tendency was prolonged, took strength and became something permanent in her, in a way that it was hiding and waiting for a long time until the right moment to manifest.

A more general statement we could make  here is that sometimes, it is preferable to have a square to Saturn because this way, tendencies that could be self destructive, like the presence of Mars and Uranus in the 8th house, can be avoided. Otherwise, there is a tendency that nothing stops it in the environment but is reinforced or tolerated by everything surrounding it. Realizations like “everyone around me comes from destroyed families”, parents who emphasize on how worthless I am, friends who introduce me to the life of artists, who also have suicide tendencies… So, if i am worthless and nobody loves me and my friends find it ok to commit suicide using drugs, why not me?

Another example of deciphering Moon’s aspects is the chart of Princess Diana. In that chart we also have a Moon in Aquarius, this time though, it forms a square to Uranus and Venus. Here we have a different defense mechanism, the mechanism of projection which when combining the Moon and Uranus could indicate a hysteric behavior towards an indifferent and arrogant person.

Here the Moon does not have the room to overcompensate in the opposing house, because Uranus is already there. However the thing that could be done is the consciousness of the person to be shifted to the other side of the opposition, adopt that type of behavior and become what I hates. Indeed, Diana from a gracious person and amiable Princess gradually became a distant Queen with scandalous romantic relationships, moving towards Uranus rather than the Moon. At the same time, the square to Venus gave an even more unstable dimension to her emotions and a difficulty to understand herself and know her preferences. It is my opinion that hard aspects between the Moon and Venus generally create a situation where a person wants to do one thing but actually does the other, giving an impression of a person who doesn't know what she wants.

Princess Diana

Birth: 1 July 1961, 7:45 pm, Sadrigam, England.

Source: Astroweekly

Indeed Diana constantly changed her attitude towards things and she did generally give the impression of a person who does not know what she wants in order to feel better and feel safe.

This behavior, obviously lead her to a state of constant stress and a way of life she constantly felt as if she was being chased. She risked daringly (she was walking as an ambassador of goodwill on narc fields) and was being provocative to danger in ways that maybe are not known by many, until today.  

Her mental state under constant stress, at the edge of hysteria was a very important dimension of her character, which lead her to the separation but also to the occasional relationships and fickle state her life resulted to after the divorce. When taking to account that the Moon is also the ruler of the 8th house and that Uranus is positioned inside of it, it might ever relate to the fact of her death. Sudden as well, manifesting Uranian energy, coming from an accident.