Individualism, Wealth, and the Second House
I was watching writer Evan Osnos on one of the news shows at the gym on Sunday discuss the rise of individualism in China, tying it to that country’s growing wealth, and it struck me with a bit of surprise that individuality lives in the astrological Second House along with wealth and the accumulation of assets.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise, because in the Second House we develop a relationship to our environment – a stage which corresponds to the developmental phase of a child’s claiming that things are now mine. Me and Mine live in the Second House along with money, our self-esteem, and our talents and personal resources.
The less personal resources a person or nation has, the less they can afford individualistic behavior. Wealth brings with it an enhanced freedom that expands individual rights and self-concern – all factors that live in the Second House.
As an aside, this review of Mr. Osnos’s book on China is very interesting in light of the current square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn: “Two potent, antagonistic forces—a swelling individualism [Uranus in Aries] and a political structure intent on controlling it [Pluto in Capricorn] —shape a rising superpower in this revealing journalistic portrait.”
I think we are seeing conflict between these two antagonistic forces everywhere on the globe right now, but perhaps the conflict can be seen more clearly in those nations which are seeing the biggest transformation and the most intense conflict.
Last week I heard a show on NPR that highlighted a woman who had always been unattractive because of her big nose until she had an accident and the doctor suggested that while she was having surgery that she have her nose fixed. After the surgery, according to her own account she was “a babe.” As a result, she had a unique perspective on what it’s like to be pretty vs. “ugly.”
and learn what belongs to us and where we fit into the world. The strength of this sense of belonging to the world and having a secure place is what helps to determine our financial success and our ability to accumulate wealth and prosperity.
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