Astrological Extroverts and Introverts
Not too long ago, I read a fabulous book by Susan Cain, Quiet, which is all about the importance of introverts and how extrovert energy dominates our society. I've considered myself an introvert for a long time now, simply because I find being with people, even the people I'm closest too, to be draining after a while, and I need time on my own to replenish my energies. The book is full of all sorts of juicy information about how the introvert brain works differently to the extrovert and of course how both are necessary for a well-balanced society.
It got me thinking about the various dualities we use to describe people and how dualities are generally false anyway. I prefer the idea of a dynamic scale rather than a black and white contrast. Apparent contrasts like male and female are not nearly as straightforward as our social conditioning would have us believe and thankfully more people are becoming aware of that these days. Astrology uses dualities, assigning the signs of the zodiac as masculine or feminine, or if we're lucky active and receptive. I'm not comfortable with this, it's one of the many things astrology has inherited as a system born from western patriarchal thinking (at least the western astrology that I work with) and it's past time it was brought up to date.
One of the anecdotes in the book talked about the Wall Street crash of 2008 and how extroverts, who are more likely to take risks and act without planning ahead, had reached more positions of power in the financial world, leading to too many risks being taken, exacerbating the crash when it came. Apparently, at the time there was commentary in the media suggesting that more women were needed in these positions of influence, as they would be less likely to take risks with other people's money. The author pointed out that maybe it was actually more introverts who were needed, as introverts tend to research more carefully and look at the bigger picture before making risky decisions. All of which made me think that we tend to associate extrovert qualities with the masculine - proactive, externally focused and so on - and introvert qualities with the feminine - sensitive, internally focused, more aware of the needs of others. And this, in turn, reinforces my suspicion that so-called masculine and feminine qualities are at least partly a product of nurture as well as nature, something culturally conditioned rather than ingrained within us. All of these dualities are social constructs, or at least are strongly reinforced by social expectations.
So I wonder, instead of allowing astrology to reinforce these social constructs, with its masculine and feminine signs and planets, would it be more useful to look at astrological symbolism in the context of introverted or extroverted? It's still a false duality but at least there is neuroscience behind it (read the book, its fascinating stuff!) and perhaps these terms are less culturally loaded?
For example, if we look at the current astrological weather, we have Jupiter in Sagittarius. I've already written about not feeling comfortable with how lots of people only seem to be seeing this energy in a positive light. Jupiter in Sagittarius is full on extrovert - risk-taking, adventure seeking, experience hungry, reward motivated. Which is all good, if that's who you are, but there's an imbalance here. As the book points out repeatedly, people who exhibit these behaviours are more likely to get ahead, at least in modern western society. We are culturally trained to see these as good things, and so we see Jupiter in Sagittarius as all positive.
An example of how extrovert is seen as "good" and introvert as "bad" - when I searched for images of people "alone", the following keywords were suggested as similar: sad, lonely, depressed. Some of the "receptive" or "feminine" signs attract similar keywords. It's a subtle process of social expectations and conventions colouring the way we see the world. An example from current astrological weather is Capricorn, currently occupied by Saturn and Pluto, which also carry heavy energy and very different symbolism to Jupiter in Sagittarius. Perhaps we can use these more "introverted" placements to redress the balance a little, by making the most of our ability to be cautious, to verify the facts, to take life seriously. To make being alone something that doesn't automatically translate to sad, lonely, depressed. Our world needs this re-balancing, needs the balance of inward and outward focused energies that all astrological charts have. One of the things a natal chart shows us is that all forms of experience are equally valid and by letting go of these social constructs and finding ways to express our true selves, we can all make a difference in the world.
It got me thinking about the various dualities we use to describe people and how dualities are generally false anyway. I prefer the idea of a dynamic scale rather than a black and white contrast. Apparent contrasts like male and female are not nearly as straightforward as our social conditioning would have us believe and thankfully more people are becoming aware of that these days. Astrology uses dualities, assigning the signs of the zodiac as masculine or feminine, or if we're lucky active and receptive. I'm not comfortable with this, it's one of the many things astrology has inherited as a system born from western patriarchal thinking (at least the western astrology that I work with) and it's past time it was brought up to date.
One of the anecdotes in the book talked about the Wall Street crash of 2008 and how extroverts, who are more likely to take risks and act without planning ahead, had reached more positions of power in the financial world, leading to too many risks being taken, exacerbating the crash when it came. Apparently, at the time there was commentary in the media suggesting that more women were needed in these positions of influence, as they would be less likely to take risks with other people's money. The author pointed out that maybe it was actually more introverts who were needed, as introverts tend to research more carefully and look at the bigger picture before making risky decisions. All of which made me think that we tend to associate extrovert qualities with the masculine - proactive, externally focused and so on - and introvert qualities with the feminine - sensitive, internally focused, more aware of the needs of others. And this, in turn, reinforces my suspicion that so-called masculine and feminine qualities are at least partly a product of nurture as well as nature, something culturally conditioned rather than ingrained within us. All of these dualities are social constructs, or at least are strongly reinforced by social expectations.
For example, if we look at the current astrological weather, we have Jupiter in Sagittarius. I've already written about not feeling comfortable with how lots of people only seem to be seeing this energy in a positive light. Jupiter in Sagittarius is full on extrovert - risk-taking, adventure seeking, experience hungry, reward motivated. Which is all good, if that's who you are, but there's an imbalance here. As the book points out repeatedly, people who exhibit these behaviours are more likely to get ahead, at least in modern western society. We are culturally trained to see these as good things, and so we see Jupiter in Sagittarius as all positive.
An example of how extrovert is seen as "good" and introvert as "bad" - when I searched for images of people "alone", the following keywords were suggested as similar: sad, lonely, depressed. Some of the "receptive" or "feminine" signs attract similar keywords. It's a subtle process of social expectations and conventions colouring the way we see the world. An example from current astrological weather is Capricorn, currently occupied by Saturn and Pluto, which also carry heavy energy and very different symbolism to Jupiter in Sagittarius. Perhaps we can use these more "introverted" placements to redress the balance a little, by making the most of our ability to be cautious, to verify the facts, to take life seriously. To make being alone something that doesn't automatically translate to sad, lonely, depressed. Our world needs this re-balancing, needs the balance of inward and outward focused energies that all astrological charts have. One of the things a natal chart shows us is that all forms of experience are equally valid and by letting go of these social constructs and finding ways to express our true selves, we can all make a difference in the world.