Descending Into The Unconscious.

Descending into the unconscious.

The danger of the unconscious underworld is that it is pretty difficult to come to the shore by sheer will. Then to make progress upon the land demands directedness and stability of thoughts and emotions. One cannot make any progress in the land if he keeps hopping back into the unconscious.

Learning to explore the unconscious is a voluntary and conscious activity. It is not a mere jump into the ocean but a step by step walk along the waves, from the feet to the knees to the neck deep and then a final dive into the world of the unknown.

Exploring the 8th house of the unknown should not be a jump from the platform. Because then you fall straight into the deep ocean and struggle to swim afloat. A lot of activities in daily life can become this platform which connect the conscious to the unconscious. Music, myth, movies, stories etc are such doors to the unconscious - the thin veil where the order of sanity is distinguished from the chaos of the disorder. This is why, many people report escaping into another world when listening to music or reading a novel.

Lifestyle changes to accommodate this venture can help. A strong ego acts as an anchor in times of flood or unprecedented danger in the ocean. A helping hand or a companion can help as well, for when you lose the sight of the shore or forget that you need to breath, the rescue can come from a psychoanalyst or a friend.

Solitary diving, nevertheless, into the occult is an adventure one must partake. If the unconscious does not drown you at all, at least you will learn to swim. Just remember, going from one extreme to the other will not help in the occult. It will not help in the conscious world either. You cannot be a doctor one day and an engineer the other day. You cannot be a mystique one day and a psychotic the next day.

Self development series: It is almost impossible to know how others perceive you.

For a trauma survivor, social circle can be a tough nut to crack. Whether they are in classroom or with family or on a date or on social media, they are always worrying what others think about them. They would not consciously know but their behaviour shows they are trying to impress others/mould their opinion/desperate for likes dislikes views. What happened in offline world before is now visible on social media clearly. When their self esteem is terribly low, no achievement or external validation is ever enough. They are always unsure of themselves. Even for a non trauma survivor, people's perception is impossible to find out. Some might think that this post and blog are thoughtful or deep, while others might think that I am a complete dumbass and a noise. Even my choice of words, language, tone of writing and your own life stage, experience, perception will affect your judgment - it is that multidimensional how mind works.

While it is important to trust your own perception about the world, it is, at the same time, very hard, or even impossible, to know how others perceive you. You might think in your mind that others look down upon you/think you are boring/think you are ugly/think you are lazy, but do you actually know what they really think of you? A tyrannical parent is someone who controls their children, tells them lies about the world, tells them lies about themselves. "You are not that good", "You could have done better, there is nothing to celebrate", "Yeah, I see you got that degree, you must be too proud now". The parent does not even know they are downright invalidating their child, they just think that they are normal. A low self esteem girl is hungry for male approval. She will put down other women, compete with other women, but live in complete denial of her deep seated insecurity.

I have read through many resources but could not find one legitimate answer for "how to know others' perception of me?" The only answer was "ask them". Well, how would you ask others what they think about you? They might lie. And how many people in the world will you approach? You are barely around 100 people in daily life. You are only left with assumptions about YOURSELF.

Different people have different priority. Scorpios want deep intimate partner so they might think fwb situation is risky and stupid. Gemini want fast intellectual stimulation so they might think that quiet people are boring and uninteresting. Aries are leaderly and dominating so they might think that spiritual ones are lazy and unambitious. How many people will you "prove" yourself to? If your self esteem is low enough, you might as well overcompensate for it by really getting out of your way to flaunt, show off, sneakily post that shiny car in your story.

When we act out of low self esteem, we think that we have actually done something - while we may have just made a fool of ourselves in reality. For example, when I was in school and was the queen of gutter-land-self-esteem, I would be class clown, sarcastic, quick, witty (I am gemini moon). I made others laugh and that gave me massive validation... for 2 minutes. Then I would again wait for the next opportunity to tell jokes and feed on laughter for validation. So on, everyday. Validation seeking at school took so much of my energy that when I came back home I would be exhausted, tired and had mood swings.

If scientists invent a mirror in future that somehow answers "tell me, mirror on the wall, what does xyz think of me?" I think this gadget will break the market. Until then, we just have to live with self development and inner work. Recent example is Andrew Tate. All of us who are self aware would know how insecure this man was. His self improvement talks were just not enough when his complete philosophy was so self destructive. He might appear rich, give confident facial expressions, do podcast by citing biological instincts of men, but we can see how hard he was trying to manipulate other people's opinions about him. This is a case of unevolved person, someone who is unaware and in complete denial.

I can see insecurities in Andrew Tate because I have been there, done that. Same for any other celebrity who appear wise on social front - but are terribly insecure on personal front, when they are alone by themselves.

This underatanding will set you free and give you more time and energy to focus on your inner life. You might as well break the intergenerational cycle. Knowing the limitations of your brain will set you free. I believe that active imagination might help one to see how their character appears to others. You are, after all, collective unconscious, but that would require years of inner work.

Self development series: "I am so bad at judging people".

For 7th, 8th, 12th housers, scorpio, cancer, pisces risings and placements. Also for airy signs placements.

You were born, you had family friends neighbours, you watched TV movies, you find a boyfriend/girlfriend, graduate get a job get married, have kids and life goes on. But who are you? And how do you know who the people in your life are? How do you identify others, how do you judge who is who? There is something called "projection" that happens when two people meet, or even watch a celebrity on TV, or even read something in a letter or on a website. How would you know what I am like from my posts? You will project, assume, judge.

Projection is a psychic process, it happens automatically and spontaneously, it is not under our will power to control our projection. Just like you breath to survive, you have to project to live in the society. No, you cannot be a hermit for too long. You have to go out, work, date, marry, buy grocery - projection is a necessity.

Everybody is not the same. People are different from each other - some qualities are dominant in them and some are sleeping. You project your own dominant (good or bad) qualities on others. For example, if you have jealousy in you, you will easily spot it in others too.

It is especially for those who are more irrational and impulse driven. They would think that just because they are honest, somebody else is honest too because both are just the same, especially if that somebody says the right things like "yeah I want to connect deeply with you". How we judge others, react to them depends on our projections. But how exactly do I judge someone else? In archetypes. Archetypes are images, emotions, factors and motifs that arrange the psychic elements into certain images. Carl Jung observed in his practice that similar patterns repeated in every patient assisted by similar meanings - he called these patterns motifs and proposed that the archetypes are universal in nature, reside in the collective unconsious and are inherited by each generation. How a person reacts to a situation in 2023 is how a person reacted in 1723 - patterns are the same.

Archetypes are not singular but a combination of many elements. For example, have you watched any typical romance movie? You see a silly lover boy and a next door girl, falling in love, going through made up scenarios and end up together. These kind of characters are simplified and basic levels of archetype. Reality is 10× more complicated than fairytales.

So when a scorpio girl falls in "love" with the boy she met last week, she is actually projecting and seeing archetypes in him that may not be there. She falls for the inner image of the ideal boy, her own masculine part animus and is driven by her feelings. I see a handsome/rich/funny/intelligent/top college graduate boy? "He must be a good man, he must be what I think he is". Did he just say he loves me even though we met in a chatroom 2 days back? "Of course, I know this is love". I swear if water placements dont tell the funniest "love stories", I will eat my hat. Madam/sir, this is projection, not love. Though I would not advice against making mistakes. You learn from your mistakes. Make 100 mistakes but in the end you will learn to judge people's character the right way.

I read something interesting about projection so i will share. We are all energy. The way we project is believed to be godly or divine process. Projection happens from the background of the psyche, that is the autonomous inner inages that come and go on their own happen from the very bottom of our psyche. Therefore, those who are gifted in astrology are the ones who project very consciously. In fact, the most accurate astrologers are those who are the most watery/most in touch with their unconscious life. This is why 8th house is called the house of occult and also signifies the unconscious.

Joseph Campbell has said, "The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight". An evolved native is a good judge of character because he/she knows his/her own inner life, corners of personality, sleeping qualities, spends a lot of time exploring their own inner world and self reflection. This is why water people make detective type because they can really read the energy, tone of voice, pattern of behaviour, body language, expressions and intentions of people. Though, do not be too caught up in assumptions - projection is after all a means to understand yourself, your own individuation and identity.

Self development series: learning to handle life.

For 8th housers, scorpio placements - stretch to cancer, pisces placements and risings.

*knocks* Hello, astro world, it's me.. look at my birth chart please and tell me what's wrong with me? Why is my life a mess..? Why do I attract such narcissistic, controlling, manipulative people in my life? Why do i feel like I dont exist and am constantly transforming..? I have a weird relationship with my family.. I have so much trauma... I just want answers...

Just a regular day in the life of natives with vulnerable placements. Until they heal their trauma (which can take years), they would not know how to handle their life. How to not fuck up their relationships, mood, reactions, career, body, mind. The hidden gift of these natives is to be in touch with their insticts and emotional life. They do not just exist but are in tune with their emotional states. When unevolved, they act on their impulses, feelings, imagination, thoughts mindlessly.

When evolved, they have a conscious control over their impulses, feelings, imagination and fantasies. This is a gradual process, not overnight, and one filled with many trials, challenges and fallings. Contrary to the stereotypes, these natives are not doomed to be crybabies/crazy all their lives. They certainly can handle their life, depending upon the whole chart, timing of planets and the luck.

The trick is to know when to be rational and when to let loose. The trick is to change your lifestyle in such a way as accommodates things you can control. For eg, do not buy tubs of ice cream if you know you binge eat in maniac state. The trick is to live in the flow, be in the flow of life, mindfulness comes naturally to you when you are not giving in to every self destructive impulse. The trick is to set values for yourself. For eg, do not do casual hookup if you know you will get attached and obsessive. The trick is to hold yourself to higher standards of behaviour. The trick is to find fellow similar/compatible placement natives who will make your life a little easier. The trick is to become aware of your own inner narcissist and stop feeding him/her what they crave, instead choose the opposite action.

There is a thin line between chaos and order, that these natives know very well of. Sometimes they feel like they do not belong to this world, they are misfits, as if they want to go back to home. As if they daily life is very harsh and tiresome to them. Beware not to fall into the grips of substance abuse and/or criminal gangs. At the end of the day, you are responsible for your life. You have to live anyway, so why not make it worthwhile?

"Everything of which I know, but of which I am not at the moment thinking; everything of which I was once conscious but have now forgotten; every thing perceived by my senses, but not noted by my conscious mind; and everything which, involuntarily and without paying attention to it, I feel, think, remember, want, and do; all the future things that are taking shape in me and will sometime come to consciousness: all this is the content of the unconscious." - On the Nature of the Psyche, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, CW 8, par. 382.

Hello! I hope this is understood, and I apologize in advance for my English (I am a Spanish speaker) I read all your publications related to Venus in the 8th house, I have that position in my natal chart, as well as the moon in Scorpio and Venus square Pluto. I agree with many things you said, from the intensity to the constant transformation, I stop by to ask how you have been feeling lately since your last transformation? Thanks for Tumblr, I felt accompanied

Hi there, this is a good question, especially for 8th housers to figure out "who am I" at any given moment.

I constantly think about my inner life these days. I feel like I am losing connection with the default external idea of people and the world, while peeling layers after layers into the inner idea of people and the world. I think about the connections between people, patterns of personalities and try to connect my feelings with them.

The transformations are constant and never quite reach the end. I do shed my skin but it does not completely leave me, as if I am still attached to the old skin in some ways. Every conversation, event, experience in my life is like a fishing hook, as though I find something new about the psyche with every passing day.

While before my transformation (my major transformation before rock bottom) I was extremely chaotic and disorganized, now I feel stable and in control of myself usually. I have read about psychology and being a feeler + 8th house intuition, I know a lot of things which are beneath the surface. I feel like I have learned how to ride the waves, but I still have my days when I am thrown into the complicated emotional confusion and have to pick myself out of there. This is why I journal a lot and write down most of the things that come to my mind.

Especially my desire to be in a relationship has been deeper and mature. Earlier I did not know what I wanted in a man, I would just chase relationship, play mind games, get obsessed and daydreamed a lot. But now I feel different, as if my ideal date would be to sit near a pond at evening with a partner who just understands what I understand. I want to accomplish a kind of wholeness and salvation from life.

Also, my life is quite secretive. My social personality is distant from my occult personality. I dont like to reveal my occult side to people because I just feel like I want to be solitary in my inner work.

Finally, I try to feel less and think more, or translate my feelings into words more. Dr. Carl Jung once advised Robert Johnson "to spend most of his time alone, have a separate room in the house to be used for nothing but inner work, never to join any organization or collectivity." It feels like Dr. Jung is saying these words to me too.

What happens when what you see is not what you get?

This video is primarily about betrayal in romantic relationship, but I think that it applies to betrayal in all other relationships too like parent-child, siblings, extended family, professional relationships, friends. It is because the mechanism of brain is similar and the betrayal affects similarly in all human relationships. Romantic relationship is much more intimate than others, that is why the severity of hurt varies depending upon who betrayed you - your spouse or your sibling or your senior at work or a stranger in the street?

Betrayal means to violate the trust; cheating means to deceive, to trick, to fool someone.

I think that these videos will give you something to think about the human relations. This is the chronology of events, what happens when what you see is not what you get=

The present depends on the past.

I thought I knew this person = wrong.

I thought I knew this person so I knew something about relationships = wrong.

I thought I knew about the person and relationship so I knew something about myself = wrong.

I dont know trust.

I am too gullible.

This causes chaos.

Chaos is the descent into the lake beneath the thin ice you were skating on, in the underground, in the unconscious or the sphere of 8th and 12th houses.

In the underground, you do self introspection and trying to make sense of the reality. Turning chaos into order.

After transformation, you rise from the dead, come back from the unconscious, look at the world in a different way.

Your brain makes an alternative map of the world for you to rely on and to infer the patterns.

This is what we call the transformation of the 8th house, shedding the skin and rebirth. Psychological rebirth.