Center

Center is, well, central. It seems rather irreducible to me. Center is a fundamental category of our perception and conception - it is an archetype. It is a quality or characteristic that the astrological archetypes partake of. Each astrological archetype offers itself as a center of experience, as a way of organizing expeience into wholes of meaning.

At the same time, certain astrological archetypes seem to be especially center-oriented. When we experience these archetypes, and as we experience reality through these archetypes, we are particularly aware of center and the relationhip of everything else to that center. As we express the astrological archetype, as it manifests through us, there is the creating of a reality with a center. All the multiplicity of phenomena are related to that center. These archetypes are special and unique to the extent that they emphasize and focus on the center or in relation to the center. Further, they differ in where they place the center.

The 4th archetype, composed of Cancer, the Moon, and the 4th house - experiences center personally. It identifies with the center, with a personal center. This archetype is the center, is a part of the center, and is that which is the center. It experiences and relates to everything from its personal center. It moves out from this center, and returns to this center. It prefers, however, to stay as close as possible to this personal center.

In more concrete terms, this archetype experiences and manifests center as family and as home. For this 4th archetype, the center must hold. The family must be supported and nourished, as it is the source of all support and nourishment. Personal need, both emotional and physical, is the focus. Hunger and its satisfaction is the center of experience and the driving motivation. The individual has personal relationships - center to center. These relationships emphasize mtual care-giving; the fundamental value is taking care of one another.

The 10th archetype, composed of Capricorn, Saturn, and the 10 house, experiences center more impersonally and abstractly. Center is outside the personal self. The individual is a part of a collective entity - an external structure within which each person finds his place and role. The center is the career - the role taken by the individual to both contribute to and benefit from the social collective. Here society is the source of security and stability for all of us. In return we take responsibility for maintaining the health and vigor of that society. We think it only right and proper that those whose social contributions we value be rewarded handsomely.

Each of these archetypes - the 4th and the 10th - are followed by an archetype that is still close to but is also moving away from center. The 5th and the 11th are one step removed from their respective centers - the 5th the active and outward manifestaion of the personal center, the 11th a distancing from the collective center.

The 5th archetype, composed of Leo, the Sun, and the 5th house, experiences itself as the center of its world, and experiences everyone and everything else in relation to itself. It is a dynamic center out of which radiates love and will. It uses its personal power to impress itself upon the world around it, creatively making it over in its own image. When this archetype looks outwards, it sees it own reflection in its creations and in its loved ones. At its best, the archetype centers in its heart, using its power to make people happy and feel loved.

The 11th archetype, composed of Aquarius, Uranus, and the 11th house, is a reaction to and a moving away from the collective center. This archetype needs freedom, and must distance itself from the highly structured social center of the 10th archetype in order to find it. It rejects the roles and responsibilities that are defined by its society, seeking to be true to its individual identity. It thus finds itself at the periphery, on the fringe, unusual and unique, but always in relation to the social center of normality.