Monday, January 15, 2018Peterson: 12 Rules for Life |
Jordan B Peterson is publishing a new book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, this month. He speaks at length about it with Dave Rubin here. It's hard for me, as a seasoned astrologer, to see 12 of anything without trying to mentally superimpose the zodiac and/or the astrological houses over them. So, of course, I paid attention as Peterson and Rubin went over each of the 12 chapters in the book and tried to see correspondences between the chapters of the book and the houses of the horoscope. In this case, not a lot of mental gymnastics are necessary to align the book's chapters, in chronological order, with the astrological houses... also in order. 1. "stand up straight" - face the world head-on. Fairly obvious First House connection. 2. "treat yourself as someone you are responsible for helping" - in other words, as if you have value... somewhat obvious, for the Second House. 3. "make friends with people who want the best for you" - which can translate easily into "choose your neighbors/siblings". So this is semi-obvious. 4. "compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to others today" - one could argue that this is about creating a proper "home" for how to view yourself. Or that this chapter doesn't really match the Fourth House of astrology... this is the weakest astrological connection of the 12. 5. "do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them" - obvious, as the Fifth House rules children. 6. "set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world" - obvious: both the Sixth House and Virgo (the sixth sign) are about both setting things in order and critical temperament. 7. "pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient" - not entirely obvious, but the Seventh House rules "other than self" which can translate into "that which is interacted with". Also, in horary, the Seventh House rules the intended destination for questions on relocation. 8. "tell the truth or at least don't lie" - lying, for Peterson, is an act of destruction. Fairly obvious. 9. "assume person you are listening to may know something you don't" - in other words, learning: a clear Ninth House connection. 10. "be precise in your speech" - for Peterson, speech creates structure and order. The connection is obvious if you're familiar with both Peterson and astrology. 11. "do not bother children when they are skateboarding" - not entirely obvious. In derived houses, the 11th House is the Fifth of the Seventh, meaning "other people's children"... or the Seventh of the Fifth, meaning "friends/destination of your own children". 12. "pet a cat when you encounter it" - The 12th House is the Sixth of the Seventh, meaning pets of others. Also, Peterson says the chapter is about dealing with the unknown/overwhelming. So, all in all, it's a near-perfect correspondence, in order, between the chapters of Peterson's book and the houses of the horoscope. This is not to say that Peterson is an astrologer or believes in astrology -- he is by his own admission not a believer. This is all merely part of an observation that the structures which underlie astrology seem in some way fundamental to the workings of the human mind. Other examples of human writing which, consciously or no, mirror the houses/signs:
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