THE HIDDEN OPPORTUNITY IN OPPOSITIONS

If the main purpose of psychological astrology is to reveal our individuation path to wholeness, it's vital to understand that the opposition is fundamental to the astrological system. As an opposition, Sun opposite Moon, the FULL MOON becomes an extremely important phenomenon. Consider: Houses, signs and polarities (masculine/feminine signs) are all designed as oppositional. The First House of Self/ Identity is opposite to the Seventh House of Partnership/The Other etc. Taurus, the sign of One's Own Values is opposite Scorpio, Others' Values etc. Any planetary opposition (planets which are 180 degrees apart) is likely to reflect behavior that is exactly as the aspect suggests: oppositional, challenging, divisive points of views etc. Sun/Moon oppositions carry qualities like Father vs. Mother, Light vs. Dark, Consciousness vs. Unconsciousness, Creative vs. Receptive, Outward vs. Inward, Rational vs. Emotional - in general, the masculine principle opposing the feminine principle.  We think of them as 'either/or', 'never the 'twain shall meet.' But if we consider the unifying principle of the coin theory - two sides of the same - then we begin to understand the hidden opportunity in oppositional circumstances. The coin only has currency by carrying both sides, when it's whole.
 
Most all things are driven to resolution: Consider the alchemical concept of The Marriage of Opposites - called Conjunctio - when the alchemical project is successfully culminated...the traditional take is that Gold is manifested. In human social terms, we negotiate, compromise, we literally marry or mate, so that we find our way to the win-win-scenario - the classic third act resolution of any dramatic story. Then there's Hegel's philosophical concept of the Dialectic, where you have the Thesis (initial premise), the Antithesis (its opposite) and the ultimate Synthesis (the intended successful resolution of the dialectic process). In film, montage editing, developed by Soviet film theorists, was based the psychological experiments of Lev Kuleshov, who realized you could juxtapose totally disconnected (or what you might consider opposite) images and the mind would make the connection between them. We instinctively move towards synthesis and resolution of tension. (Of course Eisenstein's Battleship Potempkin utilized this tension between disconnected shots not so much to resolve, but to rouse his audience to revolution!) Again, the opposition is fundamental to the astrological system. Learning to compromise, synthesize or marry the opposites acknowledges both sides of the coin and is akin to becoming whole.

In astrology, we imagine the planets as the ancients did - with their primal intelligence or intuition. We endow planets and other light bodies with divine mythology. The ancients knew that if these divine forces/mythologies/archetypes - the gods - were not honored, there would be hell to pay. The astrological opposition makes it crystal clear that by honoring both sides of the coin, or both divine archetypal stories, to create a third entity - the marriage -  the psyche becomes synthesized, fully operational in that particular situation. For example: If you have a 10th House Sun Opposite a 4th House Moon in your chart, both the masculine principle of your ego identity as you see yourself engaged in the outer world (Sun) - and the feminine principle of your inner emotions (Moon) demand to be acknowledged. You also have your public professional life (10th House) opposed your home/family life (4th House). Again, there are a myriad possible ways to accomplish this synthesis. The most obvious is to make time in your life, on a regular basis, for both your career and your home life; honor both your sense of self which acts in the world and your inner emotional world. It becomes a priority; instead of the 'either/or' option, honoring one and disavowing the other - which relegates the disavowed 'planetary god' to the unconscious where it will come back to bite you in the ass later - you pay your merely human dues to both, and live well to 'marry' another day.  

SCENE: BATTLESHIP POTEMPKIN, 1925, SERGEI EISENSTEIN: THE ODESSA STEPS SCENE
This clip is the film school classic example of Soviet Montage editing. Notice how separate many of the close-ups appear from the long or wider shots with which they are juxtaposed. This serves well as an example of Aries/Sun - Libra/Moon opposition with a Last Aspect opposite Uranus from the previous post. Consider the separate shots as the oppositions and the connection your brain makes to give meaning to the joined shots as the synthesis. (I included the whole sequence because it's beautifully shot, but long for a blog. If you want the 'shorter' Odessa Steps section, start at 3:50.)