Mine is one of those natal charts with planets well-spread over the whole area of the circle. Astrologers call this a "splash" configuration, and it's said to bestow versatility, but lack of concentrated focus. The splash chart can bestow its owner with a "butterfly mind", a mind that skips around continually, never settling for long. Considering that my natal Mercury is in strict and structured Capricorn, and in a pretty strong position near an angle, I'm quite surprised to be reporting that I possess a "butterfly mind".
I'm fairly versatile and interested in just about anything - except sport. I enjoy variety, and have lived in big cities, small towns, country and coast. I turned my hand to many different occupations before settling down in a department of the UK's civil service for a long career, where my particular job often required the ability to control several things at the same time - my fluttery mind came in very handy there! Earlier in life I'd worked for an archivist, then I was a hotel receptionist in several locations, I did stints as barmaid in some fairly low dives, secretarial work in a computer accessories firm, accounts clerk at a 'bus company, assisted my parents in a variety of businesses, and for a time, during my first short-lived marriage, ran our own cafe with my ex-husband. I did the cooking !
Husband gazes disbelievingly over my shoulder as I type.
"You.....cooking?!"
"It's all down to my splashy chart, I've moved on now from that particular area."
"Yes - I'd noticed."
"But it's worked out well. In the last few years you've moved into the cooking area of your own splashy chart", I respond, with some satisfaction.
Whenever it's called for, I can focus on a specific subject as well as the rest of 'em. I don't, it appears, have the kind of focus required to drive me on to notable success and fame.
So many individuals who have been particularly successful in a chosen career or calling have natal charts where planets form a bundle or bowl configuration (planets all lying within half, or less, of the full circle). There are famous people with splashy natal charts, of course, but I've noticed the bowl and bundle come up more frequently among charts I've looked at during research for these blog posts.
Of the other chart patterns commonly considered by astrologers, the "funnel" or "bucket"(a bunch of planets with one rogue lying opposite the cluster) and the "see-saw" (two planet clusters opposite one another) seem to manifest most clearly.
Astrologer John Townley's article "Planetary Order III: Islands in the Sky" is one of the best and clearest articles I've seen on the topic of chart shapes or "Jones Patterns", as they are known. They are named for Mark Edmund Jones, an American astrologer who studied chart shapes, defined and introduced names for them.
I long ago accepted that I'm a scattered individual with a butterfly mind.
I'm fairly versatile and interested in just about anything - except sport. I enjoy variety, and have lived in big cities, small towns, country and coast. I turned my hand to many different occupations before settling down in a department of the UK's civil service for a long career, where my particular job often required the ability to control several things at the same time - my fluttery mind came in very handy there! Earlier in life I'd worked for an archivist, then I was a hotel receptionist in several locations, I did stints as barmaid in some fairly low dives, secretarial work in a computer accessories firm, accounts clerk at a 'bus company, assisted my parents in a variety of businesses, and for a time, during my first short-lived marriage, ran our own cafe with my ex-husband. I did the cooking !
Husband gazes disbelievingly over my shoulder as I type.
"You.....cooking?!"
"It's all down to my splashy chart, I've moved on now from that particular area."
"Yes - I'd noticed."
"But it's worked out well. In the last few years you've moved into the cooking area of your own splashy chart", I respond, with some satisfaction.
Whenever it's called for, I can focus on a specific subject as well as the rest of 'em. I don't, it appears, have the kind of focus required to drive me on to notable success and fame.
So many individuals who have been particularly successful in a chosen career or calling have natal charts where planets form a bundle or bowl configuration (planets all lying within half, or less, of the full circle). There are famous people with splashy natal charts, of course, but I've noticed the bowl and bundle come up more frequently among charts I've looked at during research for these blog posts.
Of the other chart patterns commonly considered by astrologers, the "funnel" or "bucket"(a bunch of planets with one rogue lying opposite the cluster) and the "see-saw" (two planet clusters opposite one another) seem to manifest most clearly.
Astrologer John Townley's article "Planetary Order III: Islands in the Sky" is one of the best and clearest articles I've seen on the topic of chart shapes or "Jones Patterns", as they are known. They are named for Mark Edmund Jones, an American astrologer who studied chart shapes, defined and introduced names for them.
I long ago accepted that I'm a scattered individual with a butterfly mind.
The butterfly, a cabbage-white,
(His honest idiocy of flight)
Will never now, it is too late,
Master the art of flying straight.
~Robert Graves, "Flying Crooked".
Good you are a splashed butterfly and operating mostly in the twilight, your blog would otherwise not exist!
ReplyDeleteImagine you were cooking during the time you brouse around? Too many calories...
Gian Paul ~~ True enough - blogging is leaner and meaner than cooking. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHad a look at your configuration - it's a "Bowl" - covering one half of the circle is it not. You are a more focused individual then.
:-)
I think I am quite focused, and as you say it's probably the "bowl". However with Neptune on Midheaven I am getting often "other orientations" than I expected myself, occasionally even from talking to my horse...
ReplyDeleteGian Paul ~~~ I laughed out loud at the vision of you having a good chat to Cognac. I expect he enjoys it too!
ReplyDeleteYes you do have an important Neptune there - you have something in common with Mr Obama then!
Master of Illusion! ;-)
Very good article from John Townley.Personally, Solar Fire tells me my chart is a splay, but you could also argue for a see saw. Reading Townley's description I see myself in both. The see-saw part would come from having many homes, many passports and working at jobs where I was mostly left alone. The splay part is more recognizable in choice of self-expression outlet which brings me to the cooking part. Blogging is NOT leaner than cooking. I mean you HAVE to munch on something while you are writing, right? The two of them go together (winks)
ReplyDeleteI consider myself a butterfly too, T. My mind is always buzzing around. I can focus, but only under pressure whether self-induced or client induced.
ReplyDeleteLike your good self, I've lived in a variety of locations but prefer the ocean. And I've tasted a lot of careers or near-careers, on stage, folk singing, even catering. Accounting is the bread and butter though not by choice.
XO
WWW
Astrology Unboxed (Fabienne) ~~
ReplyDeleteThe see-saw must be an interesting one to live with. :-)
Well, yes, there's the munchie danger and there's the constantly sitting on your ass danger to blogging - agreed!
Wisewebwoman ~~~ I can't access your chart easily because it was on my old computer which crashed. Think I have it backed up on a disc somewhere, but not easily found.....But I recall it was a splash type - I think.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a bucket (funnel) for me. 9 planets in a bowl, though a well filled bowl as it encompasses over half the wheel, with Mars stuck out on its own in Taurus.
ReplyDeleteWell I've always been a half full rather than half empty sort of person. Actually I'm more likely to say "where's the bottle and give me a top up". :-)
Rossa ~~~~ LOL! Mars as the "funnel" is supposed to be the planet through which the rest of your traits are expressed - so Mars being a source of great energy, dynamism etc. (and occasional aggressive tendencies) that makes you something of a force to be reckoned with, I'd say.
ReplyDelete:-)
That may be why I am often described as larger than life though it is sometimes meant in a derogatory way i.e. too loud
ReplyDeleteBig woman with a big personality. The redhead with the temperament to match. Not the type to hide in the corner and couldn't anyway even if I tried as my physical presence is considerable too. I'm told I'm not easily forgotten....LOL!
So yes I do have considerable energy and "life force". If only I could bottle it I'd make a mint :-)