Sign cusps are valid. Change my mind.
I dare you.
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First of all, watch this video:
Now look into my eyes and tell me I’m a Sagittarius rising because I was born 1 min late or something. Yes I used to get a result in the middle of Sagittarius but in fact I forgot to account for daylight saving time because I’m a southern hemisphere baby, and January is summer over there, so there’s that. It turns out I’m on the cusp. Oh, sorry, that’s a forbidden word in astrology today aye? Well guess what, I don’t give a flying feck.
I’m not feeling necessarily aggressive today but I won’t blame you if you see it in my words. I’m feeling sassy, frustrated, sick of people’s shite and just generally bitter because my whole life people have been reading my chart wrong. And no, it wasn’t just the rising sign. Half of my important objects are in cusps. I’m the biggest victim of astrologers’ arrogance and blind prescriptivism you’ll ever see. And now I’m having NONE of it. I’m learning Astrology myself now and calling BS on certain people’s lazy interpretations.
If you want beginner-friendly Astrology articles by me with a more professional, calm and collected tone, I’ve got you. Check them out:
Astrology 101: the very basics
Is the zodiac linear or cyclical and why?
Oppositions, squares and trines
Now back to my rant coz my day was long and I deserve it.
For astrologers out there: sometimes you’re dealing with a complex case, okay? Sometimes you gotta forget this “by-the-book”, “one-size-fits-all” BS, and just dive deep into intuitive analysis. So what if manuals teach you to draw very harsh lines between zodiac signs and disregard the concept of cusp altogether? Are you HONESTLY willing to risk misinterpreting someone’s energies just in order to protect your pride and save face and keep feeling like a know-it-all? Bitch, that’s petty. Shame on you.
Anti-cusp astrologers are just lazy and shallow.
Change my mind if you must, but I’m not apologising for what I said. I know that deep down, those astrologers who try to invalidate the idea of cusp are just unwilling to double their workload — hence lazy. Because if you consider that cusps might be valid, you must also be willing to give someone two interpretations for each cusp (one on each sign), since invariably this person will have both energies to some extent. And that takes hard work. But people are just lazy and want easy things and comfort in life at all costs, aye? Pathetic.
I know time is money, blah blah, and honestly I’d be willing to pay extra just to — ya know — NOT be left feeling like someone is PRESCRIBING who I am instead of describing it accurately. I’m okay with being a difficult case, I recognise I don’t fit basic textbook descriptions, so the least I can do is pay extra for the extra work people will have figuring me out. That’s fair. But they aren’t even willing to take that, no, they just pretend I’m the wrong one for having extra needs at all. Make it make sense! Like, excuse me sis, I didn’t realise someone changed the rules of the world out of a sudden, and now we’re force-fitting square pegs into round holes. My bad. #sarcasm
Oh but wait, maybe it’s personal, aye? Maybe it’s just with me. People just look at me and decide they don’t wanna deal with me beyond the shallow. What’s the matter, boo? Are you afraid? That probably further confirms I’m very Scorpio rising, lol. I’m being honest anyway, it does happen, even beyond occultist circles — it comes from psychologists, family, etc. Everyone who’s supposed to deal with me, don’t wanna, they just give me some standard solution before even getting to know me and shoo me away like I was some scary insect or something. It’s hilarious. I’m left to fend for myself, but, grand. I’m used to it. “Emotionally abandoned” is my middle name. Water off a duck’s back.
I don’t even want it anymore, I learned to fend for myself, but I’m very against injustice and perhaps by chance others are going through the same, so I’ll speak out against it. When astrologers focus on just one sign of the cusp they’re just going half way towards finding the answer someone needs, and that’s neglectful. Disrespectful, even. Imagine a doctor saying “oh, your symptoms aren’t in my book so I’ll just diagnose something approximate, and that’s final, and anything else you feel is invalid ‘cause I said so”. Ever heard that? If so, prosecute that arsehole. In medicine you can do that, ’cause medicine is a regulated profession. Astrology isn’t — and quite honestly, it isn’t even a science because it goes beyond materialism. That’s not up for debate, that’s a fact. I’ve written on it already and cited sources. But here’s what you should be focusing on: if you’re charging for the work, WHATEVER IT IS, REGARDLESS OF HOW SOCIALLY “VALIDATED” IT IS, that means you take your work seriously. And if you take it seriously, you’ll find others who do too. You MUST be willing to go beyond the surface, and treat your customer with some basic dignity and consideration. Call me Karen, I’ll take it.
Love it or hate it, curse and stomp your feet all you want, here’s the uncomfortable truth: it isn’t about you, astrologer. It’s about the person you’re trying to help. In the end, your “being right” doesn’t matter if it doesn’t help the person. Your image before society doesn’t matter if it gets in the way of you doing your goddamn job — and I’m not saying half-arse it and call it a day, I’m saying do your goddamn job. Fully. That’s not a request. And don’t you dare telling me to ask it nicely, a lifetime of asking things nicely landed me where I am. Don’t blame me for defending myself, it isn’t a sin in my religion, even violently. I’ll be the drill sergeant ye all probably need anyway. Move.
So let’s get into the theory of it:
What are sign cusps?
This question is important — it’s the main justification a lot of astrologers find for invalidating cusps, because apparently “it can’t be answered” or some shite. I’ll show you, astrologers, there is a plausible answer, and I’ll make you all swallow it along with this pride of yours.
A sign cusp is, essentially, the point of intersection between two neighbouring signs. An example: Leo comes after Cancer and before Virgo, so we’re considering two cusps there — one between Cancer and Leo, and another between Leo and Virgo.
At first glance, the perceived problem is that if you’re saying a cusp is “between two signs”, that automatically generates a new question: okay but how thick is this line exactly? Surely the lines between signs are imaginary, they aren’t really on the sky, we just draw them for reference. So if they’re man-made, how thick are they? Do they go from 1 degree to like 5 degrees? Can someone clarify if a planet at 6 degrees Taurus is fully Taurus or Aries cusp? Do you really know for sure if a planet at 24 degrees Capricorn is fully Capricorn or Aquarius cusp?
The above questions are fair, they make practical sense. What I’m gonna do next is attempt to answer them. Bear in mind I don’t give a flying feck about being right, I’m just mad at other people who assume they ARE right before even diving deeper into things because that’s irresponsible and inconsequential. But if I turn out to be objectively wrong (and maybe we’ll never know that anyway), that’s ok.
How thicc are these cusp lines exactly? Are they paper-thin? Are they stone walls? What’s the craic?
I keep saying this, and I think it fits here too: western 👏 people 👏 are 👏 addicted 👏 to black-and-white thinking. And that’s not edgy, that’s bad. Work on it.
I find it very unamusing — whenever people here see a line, a border, a division of any kind, they automatically think of “segregation”, “differences”, “conflict”. Och! The drama!
It doesn’t have to be that way. Look, there are two kinds of person (maybe even more, but I’m emphasising two here) — there are people like Donald Trump who believe walls are for separation and conflict, and there are people like most (sane) neighbours around the globe who use walls for privacy but don’t mind, ya know, having neighbours who can sometimes try and access this person’s house if they need something. Ya know? When you separate things, you aren’t necessarily *insert drums and aggressive horn playing here* waging war on them. Sometimes you’re just categorising but you came in peace. That’s an important thing to acknowledge. Not shaming the warrior types who might be reading: I’m a warrior too but I pick my battles, I’m not like a dizzy pigeon on a chessboard. Don’t be that either.
Cusps are like when you walk beyond the wall that separates you from your neighbour. It’s doable — not everyone does it, and not everyone who does it is doing it all the time, but it’s doable. If you imagine that scenario for a sec, what comes to mind? Let’s brainstorm.
- Asking for sugar, flour, other cooking supplies? Aye, that’s plausible, a neighbour would do that.
- Complaining about noise? That’s plausible too, very good.
- Inquiring about smoke? Maybe there’s a fire next door, maybe the neighbour is away and unaware, maybe someone needs to call the firemen.
- Inviting a neighbour to a party? Less likely, but sure, why not, some people do that.
- Simply knocking on the door see what’s up, have a cup of tea together, etc? Even less likely but hey, who knows, maybe the neighbours are family.
You’re probably brainstorming with me already, because I enticed you above. Perhaps you thought of things that aren’t on the list, if so, very good. Now, let me tell you one thing that’s very UNLIKELY to have crossed your mind: how thick is the wall, or what it’s made of. That was on purpose, you probably forgot this question even though it’s in the title of this blog section.
Seriously, it’s a non-issue. We sometimes even forget how long the wall is or where it starts and ends, unless we’re cleaning or repairing it. I was buying living fence the other day to tidy up the existing one and I ended up having to return to the garden centre coz I didn’t buy enough — I forgot how long the wall was. I’ve lived here for ages and pay it no mind. It happens.
And living fence is a fun metaphor, especially for this whole discussion about cusps, coz let me tell you: it grows; you trim it; it grows again. You can give it the shape you want at any given moment in time. Even if it’s a stone wall or some other material, it gets old enough and sometimes you’ll notice fern growing on it, across it, towards the neighbour side, and you know what? That’s natural. You can control it, but the natural tendency is for the environments that were separated to “leak” into one another. Harsh lines are a man-made thing, we insist on them but we need to keep maintaining them.
Don’t get me wrong, we need “walls”, we need to categorise things, it serves us a purpose — but don’t be extremist about it, and especially not as a knee-jerk reaction, what are you, a baby? Have some composure for goodness’ sake. That’s not rocket science. Sure categories with harsh lines make things appear simpler, but simple is an illusion. The world is complex and escapes your control. Deal with it. Or at least ADMIT you’re taking it easy and being beginner-friendly and take the goddamn responsibility for any consequences that can come out of it.
In the end:
Sometimes your own house is vacant because you live at the neighbour’s. And that’s a valid choice.
I worked on the census once, it was super interesting. We were trained and instructed on a lot of things, but you know what we were NOT told to do? Force people to stay home for the research.
“No, you HAVE to stay in the house you own because god forbid you go elsewhere during census. Obey what I’m dictating” — said no-one ever. Instead, we created a ton of extra work for ourselves counting and tracking the “away” people just in order to allow them to avail of their freedoms and be described as is, instead of bossed around because “the category said so” and “that makes my work easier”.
Take a hint, astrologers.
LISTEN to your customer, BELIEVE what they’re saying about themselves because they have walked on their own shoes their entire lives, and you have no right whatsoever to dictate what they should or shouldn’t be just ’cause your manual for stargazing is saying so.
Manuals are stale, impersonal, lifeless. Often times, they’re a work in progress. Prioritise the human being before you, not a robotic and lifeless thing.
Sometimes you live at your neighbour’s and leave your own house empty, and you’re 100% entitled to do it, and the reason why is nobody’s business. That’s as long as you have this neighbour’s consent, of course, or else there’s a problem. If we compare that to sign cusps, sometimes you have a neighbour sign’s “consent” to be that sign instead of the prescribed one, because you feel that and naturally fit into it, because you’re very near the “border” between them — and who cares what degree that is? Astrology theory should serve to describe reality. We shouldn’t try to bend reality to the man-made theory. That should be common sense, but here I am stating the obvious.
Now, another point worth considering, although briefly: often times, people who are “cusps” in the Greek system are indeed the neighbouring sign in the Vedic system. And who is to say one system is more valid than the other? They’re complimentary. They give us different pieces of the puzzle and we must put them together ourselves.
And with that, bitches, I rest my case. Take care, I’ll see you next time.
