If you’re up for astrology takes, I was wondering why Jongin is so soft-hearted when so much of his chart seems to have more ‘restrictive’/‘controlled’ aspects? He’s a cap stellium (a sign of competence, an earth sign, grounded energy—recall him flat out denying crying at the 2013 mama) with aqua placements in moon & merc (image-controlfocused, independent, sometimes distant). I guess if his asc was a water sign, it’d make some sense...I’d love to hear your thoughts! Cheers~
Hi anon!!! Thank you for asking <333 you ask great questions-- i’m happy to share my many thoughts on this! So, first off-- i can absolutely see what you mean about his chart seeming more restrictive and controlled. I reviewed his chart for bigger patterns, prominent aspects etc. but i’m not seeing much conflict or nuance there! His chart feels just-- straight forward. What you see is what you get-- but (spoiler alert) as someone who Knows Capricorns, his tenderheartedness doesn’t actually feel all that incongruent to me! To that end, i want to talk about a couple process-based things on his stelliums, give a PSA on caps, and some further interp:
Jongin has got stelliums in capricorn AND aquarius, both signs that have a reputation for being.... hm.. a little repressed. This reputation is well deserved, but it’s not the entire picture. When there isn’t reason to temper a pattern like a stellium, it can be effective shorthand to say-- ‘okay, 3x the capricorn energy means 3x the workaholic’. It’s important to remember that it /is/ shorthand though, and so-- necessarily reductionist, even when it’s useful. When it’s not, it can be confusing (perhaps in this case?) because it’s rooted in comparison. We are all whole people, no matter what. When i get into a groove of comparative thinking when looking at charts, it’s easy to miss things or overgeneralize. For example: when i’m looking at a single cap placement in a chart, it’s being interpreted in the context of ALL the other placements. It’s only one note in the melody- we wouldn’t expect to be able to hear it perfectly clearly the whole time. When interpreting a stellium though, it’s easier to slip into over-generalizations. Instead of just one note, it’s making up half the entire melody, so of course we’re expecting to hear it loud and clear!
So let’s dig into jongin’s cap and aqua stelliums. It’s worth noting right off the bat that there are actually two different types stelliums and jongin has both. His cap stellium (sun- 23° venus- 23° and mars- 19°) is a true, tight stellium with each planet in conjunction with the next. You can see his sun and venus actually share the same /DEGREE/. This means that these three planets are acting in concert, as a tight, single unit. With sun, venus and mars involved in conjunction in capricorn, we might expect to see some possessiveness, an unwillingness to hide away relationships, an impulse to openly /act on/ or show off social connections, a sense of the identity being forged from those connections and relationships. Sound familiar? This really brings how family and relationship oriented jongin is in his /personal life/ to the very surface. His aqua stellium (moon-19° merc- 0° saturn- 28°) is a whole-sign stellium without conjunction. This means that these three planets are working independently, but with the same aqua approach and motivation for how he feels, communicates, and thinks about boundaries and authority. To my eye, his aqua stellium is really throwing weight in regards to his public persona, what he chooses to share with us, and his professional boundaries. He is a very analytical, observant and focused performer. His work is highly emotional, intended even to be shockingly intense, but it’s not /raw/ emotion, or it wouldn’t be the same performance twice. He’s not interested in communicating his messy, personal feelings, but a purified, idealized and /universal/ message that he extracts from them. This is part of what makes him such a powerful performer.
SO-- where does this leave us. Firstly, with a good reminder of limitations: Birth charts are a starting point, and without a birth time we are missing key information. Secondly, i want to give a small PSA about caps-- they are a sign that get’s a pretty one dimensional treatment. Now, that’s entirely reasonable, because it’s encouraged by their own ‘competent & stoic’ propaganda, and they would be /SO/ pleased to hear it’s working!! Capricorns in general are working towards social expression-- We’ve talked before about the cap inner-circle. Caps are extremely choosy with who they associate, spend social energy on, and ultimately-- are vulnerable with. In my experience, folks who understand caps to be cold, boring, emotionless, etc... generally just haven’t been folded in to the inner circle. Which is to say-- when caps /do/ care, they are extremely loyal, attentive and care-taking. This requires a core of sensitivity and tenderness that they really don’t get credit for, largely because they like to talk like Feelings don’t hold sway in their decision making processes. It’s true that caps are generally very rational and logical, but ime it’s only the most stunted caps that would flat reject emotional input as useful data. They may approach it with a cool head, they may not be the one to wade in to the mess, mirror and empathize with you, but they /are/ paying attention, adjusting, and doing what they do best— quietly taking care of people.
Now, to your ACTUAL question-- It certainly grabs our attention when something seems to present differently than we expect, like jongin and his public expressions of tender-heartedness. In my opinion, this tenderness doesn’t feel wildly out of place. Jongin is startlingly quick to defend and demand justice for those he feels are wronged— these flashes of his true, inner sensitivity are absolutely classic aqua moon. If we take a look at the context of some of his actually /tearful/ moments, we can see some useful patterns and contexts as well. To take your example of 2013 MAMA-- it’s critical to remember he is crying /for/ and /with/ taemin. It’s obvious that he’s a bit uncomfortable with his own reaction, but there is also a sense of righteousness in how he clings and cries and talks rapid-fire with taemin once he gets the chance! There’s no embarrassment expressed with taemin, because he feels justified in his response, he understands it rationally, even if he doesn’t /enjoy/ having it. Why? Because taemin is the bullseye on his inner circle. Even if his aqua moon has him denying losing control after the fact, at the end of the day taemin is his heart-home and the place jongin feels comfortable enough to be vulnerable in, even out in public. What we probably won’t see much of from jongin, are tears on his own behalf, for his own successes and hurts… he’s a cap, after all.
