Fear Itself
I've been reading articles and essays on fear and anxiety from an astrological viewpoint. Funny that most of the aspects they stress (strong Pluto, Pluto conj. Saturn, Saturn in 12th, etc) are all present in my birth chart. I relate a lot to the Neptunian anxieties as well, which might make sense since my Saturn/Pluto/ascendant conjunction is in aspect with Neptune.
"Psychic openness simply works that way: every new impression leaves a mark, every new human being is felt too strongly - but when you meet same impressions or people long enough you stop reacting to them. Your protective aura has begun to develop, but it doesn't still work well in case of new relationships, only with people you know well. It's just the same as in psychic experiments: in new experiments people are more psychically sensitive, when it all becomes habitual, their psychic sensitivity gets weaker. This people with a 'psychic gene' are protected with familiar people but unprotected with new ones.
Some people with such a psychic sensitivity 'gene' have to avoid public places because they get panic attacks in almost anywhere if there are too many people around, some become panicky even before the event: the mere thought of being soon among too many people creates a panic attack. This isn't always just a psychological problem, there are psychically sensitive people who are even physically so over-sensitive that they feel the pain of others in their own body, or actually fall ill in the company with sick people. They can't visit hospitals or sit on the bedside of sick people because that would mean 'catching' the disease: "As I observe a disease, so I catch it and give it lodging in myself", wrote Montaigne (Sun conjunct Neptune)"
"In crowds, panic reactions and attacks often seem to happen without any apparent reason. But such strong instinctual reactions have deep inner roots we just may not be aware of. Somewhere deep within we may sense that in the invisible something is going on that is not good for us. In a large crowd, a psychically unprotected person may be like a playground for all kinds of psychic energy currents depending not only on the general emotional atmosphere and the feeling tone of the crowd, but also and especially on the people that happen to sit or stand in physical proximity. Some sensitives can feel what people next to them feel, even physical pain, and in crowds this feeling is often magnified thousandfold. Then there is simply too much to feel and panic sets in...
This kind of terror is often reflected in a very strong twelfth house and strong aspects from the twelfth. A good example is Virginia Woolf (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto in XII equal house, with Placidus also the Moon) who got "drunk on crowds as you and I do on champagne" (Vita Sackville-West). This kind of getting drunk can create a hangover in the form of panic attack or very strong anxiety. But not all twelfth house types react like this, the opposite type, often with an unaspected Sun, just loves to merge into collective atmosphere as a way of getting rid of its feelings of separateness.
...This happens especially with those who have very little water in their charts (and thus are unfamiliar with the psychic element). "
"...many people adapt to anxiety as an existing state of consciousness, they get used to it as a personality characteristic they can do nothing about, at least not without a radical change of environment and relationships, which of course, may not always be possible. Yet, sometimes a change would be the best remedy, at least if you live among people who have a destructive habit of subtly making you anxious. In such cases the only way to relieve anxiousness is to find other relationships. In fact, human relationships are always essential in handling anxiety. A feeling of belonging and being deeply connected to others is the best antidote for anxiety."
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"Psychic openness simply works that way: every new impression leaves a mark, every new human being is felt too strongly - but when you meet same impressions or people long enough you stop reacting to them. Your protective aura has begun to develop, but it doesn't still work well in case of new relationships, only with people you know well. It's just the same as in psychic experiments: in new experiments people are more psychically sensitive, when it all becomes habitual, their psychic sensitivity gets weaker. This people with a 'psychic gene' are protected with familiar people but unprotected with new ones.
Some people with such a psychic sensitivity 'gene' have to avoid public places because they get panic attacks in almost anywhere if there are too many people around, some become panicky even before the event: the mere thought of being soon among too many people creates a panic attack. This isn't always just a psychological problem, there are psychically sensitive people who are even physically so over-sensitive that they feel the pain of others in their own body, or actually fall ill in the company with sick people. They can't visit hospitals or sit on the bedside of sick people because that would mean 'catching' the disease: "As I observe a disease, so I catch it and give it lodging in myself", wrote Montaigne (Sun conjunct Neptune)"
"In crowds, panic reactions and attacks often seem to happen without any apparent reason. But such strong instinctual reactions have deep inner roots we just may not be aware of. Somewhere deep within we may sense that in the invisible something is going on that is not good for us. In a large crowd, a psychically unprotected person may be like a playground for all kinds of psychic energy currents depending not only on the general emotional atmosphere and the feeling tone of the crowd, but also and especially on the people that happen to sit or stand in physical proximity. Some sensitives can feel what people next to them feel, even physical pain, and in crowds this feeling is often magnified thousandfold. Then there is simply too much to feel and panic sets in...
This kind of terror is often reflected in a very strong twelfth house and strong aspects from the twelfth. A good example is Virginia Woolf (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto in XII equal house, with Placidus also the Moon) who got "drunk on crowds as you and I do on champagne" (Vita Sackville-West). This kind of getting drunk can create a hangover in the form of panic attack or very strong anxiety. But not all twelfth house types react like this, the opposite type, often with an unaspected Sun, just loves to merge into collective atmosphere as a way of getting rid of its feelings of separateness.
...This happens especially with those who have very little water in their charts (and thus are unfamiliar with the psychic element). "
"...many people adapt to anxiety as an existing state of consciousness, they get used to it as a personality characteristic they can do nothing about, at least not without a radical change of environment and relationships, which of course, may not always be possible. Yet, sometimes a change would be the best remedy, at least if you live among people who have a destructive habit of subtly making you anxious. In such cases the only way to relieve anxiousness is to find other relationships. In fact, human relationships are always essential in handling anxiety. A feeling of belonging and being deeply connected to others is the best antidote for anxiety."
More...