u/No-Golf1177

Based on a recent discussion with a peer of astrology, whose interpretations landed outside my wheel considering many historical benchmarks, I'm interested in hearing where you look for endurance / longevity in any chart you're studying.

Based on a recent discussion with a peer of astrology, whose interpretations landed outside the wheel of many historical benchmarks, I'm interested in hearing where you look for endurance / longevity in any chart you're studying.

"To feel with another." Sounds easy right? Not so much when we consider how difficult it is to experience our own feelings while swimming through a pool of conditions or consequence.

Responding to others with empathy in situations we can't imagine finding ourselves in proves to be especially tricky. How do we offer understanding with no personal context to draw from? How do we reign in judgement of another's poor choice when what they need is fully present compassion? Placing yourself in another's shoes can feel impossible when they're navigating the outcome of a path you wouldn't have taken or can't fathom being susceptible to.

Empathy can only be accessed when we are willing to stay connected with our own vulnerabilities and offer validation instead of solutions. When we operate compassionately through our pain instead of holding it at arm’s length, we are open to share burdens instead of bypassing them. Empathy begins with our consent to access our own experiences of isolation, heartbreak, embarrassment, anger, disappointment, guilt, grief, traumatic stress and low spiritual energy.

Consent to unbearable feelings? Who in their right mind gives consent to feeling wounded? Healthy emotional processing does exactly that, it consists of the courage and the consent to feel, withholding all judgement of the right to do so. Working trauma is similar to working dough with the intention of making it dry and smooth before turning it into a product of sustenance. Suffering that is not rendered remains sticky, lumpy and yields inconsistent products that fall flat with heaviness.

Processing pain is, well.. a process that succeeds in increments and often it is the length of recovery that initiates the most resistance. Avoidance is quicker, easier and takes people on some really cool vacations but the truth is, the longer we put off lighting our way through what we feel, the longer we have to stumble over it in the dark. When we drop the authority we lord over our trauma with tough-love thoughts like "Suck it up buttercup" or "I did this to myself, I'm so stupid” we agree to withhold self-sentencing or crises management while actively feeling. Rehabilitation will progress more readily and more gracefully when sitting with your emotions happens separately from holding yourself accountable or projecting a way forward.

When we successfully complete the journey through discomfort, anxiety, anguish or angst, we have trained our empathy in a way that gives our emotions agency.  When we commit to our wounds in this manner we become fortified in the same way exercise conditions the body and increases capability. Once our own survival takes on a form of nourishment, we can carry our vulnerability free of judgement into all future offenses. Only then can we respond with adequate empathy and create space for others to experience the origin of healing.

Let him who would move the world first move himself. - Socrates

For the most in-depth reading of synastry, include each person's natal chart.

How two people interact with one another has mostly to do with how each expresses their individual natal chart placements. How does each person approach the components of partnership, i.e. emotional and physical intimacy, friendship, problem-solving and commitment to maintain relationships?

Example: If person A has natal Moon square Pluto and person B has a natal Mars sextile Moon, and if each has evolved well individually, then a Mars opposite Pluto in synastry (which could be likened to a helicopter propeller) would be more of an indicator of their combined power regarding themes of the natal houses where those planets reside and less of a warning of anger or control issues in those areas.

Of course, helicopters do crash but only because they are subject to healthy working parts, routine maintenance, cognitive flexibility and emotional stability of the pilot and outside environment. (All things which relationships require)
Alternatively, if each person has NOT evolved well, the negative connotations of natal placements would be more apt to cause disruption in the relationship.

It's important to remember also when looking at both natal and synastry, that squares and oppositions are not inherently fearful aspects. Squares represent Cardinal energy which correlates to the initiation and high energy that happens to be present in both beginnings AND endings as well as the ambition to see one through the "seasons" of life.
Oppositions represent equal parts of the energy on either end and whichever side operates with higher vibrations requests nothing more than to be met at its own level to achieve balance.

A contribution of medical astrology resources, something I've been hard pressed to find here on Reddit. Links for other resources welcome.

Socrates said, "Man, know thyself."  The natal horoscope depicts one's individual constitutional nature and temperament, which is the key to all diagnosis and treatment in Greek Medicine, with incredible depth and sophistication. 
Medical Astrology also elucidates the psychosomatic relationship between mind and body with unparalleled sophistication and depth.  The deeper psychological and karmic reasons behind the individual's illness or condition are also revealed.
Each person, according to their own individual psychosomatic makeup, will respond differently to different therapies and treatments.  Individual affinities for various therapeutic modalities are also shown in the natal horoscope.  Truly, each individual's life is a personalized healing journey.
Through planetary transits and progressions to the natal horoscope, the Medical Astrologer can also tell what kinds of health challenges the individual will face, and when they are likely to manifest.  Through astrological forecasting, preventive medicine is taken to a whole new level, and the client can take specific preventive measures beforehand.

from the Introduction to Greek Medicine
https://www.greekmedicine.net/medical_astrology/Introduction.html

Astrology has always been studied with a view of penetrating into the futurity of the human race, and the length of life, the diseases which one will be subject to, and the time of sickness has undoubtedly been studied more and is better understood at the present time that any other branch of the science, but so little has been written and handed down to the present generation that we are greatly in need of a more modern work of reference upon the subject. The rules laid down by Lilly and Ptolemy have been copied by all later writers and we may say with a good degree of accuracy that about all that is generally known of Astrology can be found in the works of these two men.

In the present treatise the authors do not claim every paragraph to be original with themselves, but they do claim that such as has been gleaned from ancient authors and all original ideas has been placed in such language that the merest tyro may read and understand.https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A\_Treatise\_on\_Medical\_Astrology

from A Treatise on Medical Astrology
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Medical_Astrology