Interceptions
In this post I’m not going to go over in detail what interceptions are or how to spot them in the natal chart but I would like to share how they show up in my own life experience.
(Only relevant if you use the placidus/quadrant system of house division)
I have a Gemini-Sagittarius interception in my 11th and 5th houses. Simply put, this means, according to the psychological explanation behind interceptions, that the environment or climate that I grew up in didn’t allow these signs to rule over any domain of my life. Instead, these signs ended up being swallowed and lost within a house ruled by another sign. In my case, Scorpio is the ruler of my 5th house. I’ve always dreaded “having fun” and going to birthday parties growing up because I felt emotionally threatened and isolated. It was not pleasant, yet I forced myself to go because I felt pressured to. My parents didn’t help with this either… they felt that it was necessary for me to go because otherwise I would “miss out” or risk being “alone”. Of course, the fear permeated the whole situation in typical Scorpio 5th house fashion and I felt more alone than ever. I have never felt comfortable going to parties because it makes me extremely drained and I actually end up hating everyone for having a good time. Long story short, I was told that “this is supposed to be fun” when it never was for me – and I felt like there was something wrong, that I had to explain myself. I can, sometimes, get glimpses of the Sagittarian freedom in some situations that are not as pressured and planned. This particular house has a little bit of a lose-lose energy to it – I can’t have fun because I’m too aware of the dominance game and need for survival.
Having Sagittarius intercepted in the 5th means that my way of exploring and intuiting meaning was not able to have a legitimate place, for whatever reason. I’ve always been searching for “the truth”, but it’s something that doesn’t have its own “natural place” in my life. I have to justify it because the environment doesn’t support it. It’s crammed in awkwardly and people don’t understand it. They almost feel sorry for me, which I hate. Pluto is intercepted here as well. I pursue knowledge on my own with intense stubbornness, yet it’s somehow lost… as if I’m doing it despite my surroundings. With Pluto here, I don’t give up, I don’t bend to other people’s wills in this sphere of life, but sadly, this power seems to be “misplaced” because it “doesn’t matter”.
As for Gemini intercepted in the 11th, it would seem that I’ve not really had the easiest time expressing my thoughts and opinions on collective matters. It was never really received well by my parents because they’ve always seemed to think that it was too unreasonable or odd. I have Taurus ruling my 11th house, which makes me a bit lazy in keeping up with world events – I don’t really “care that much” unless people get to know me better and uncovers my Gemini side that has a lot of opinions and thoughts on what is taking place on a larger scale. It takes someone special to be able to listen because people generally think that I have not thought about anything concerning collective issues – that I don’t know what I’m “supposed to know”. I know a lot of things, but it’s not the kind of information that people deem relevant. It seems like intercepted signs has a way of not coming through because they're working outside the box of what the environment allows for.
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My sister has an Aquarius-Leo interception in the 2nd and 8th houses. Capricorn consequently rules her 2nd house and Cancer rules her 8th house. She has always wanted to earn her own money and to have her own money to spend. She’s very aware of the amount she has and aims to be strategic about resources. However, Neptune and Uranus are intercepted in Aquarius. Although it might not seem like it to people who don’t know her well enough, she is quite generous with her resources – she spends her money freely – which isn’t always the best thing to do. She gives in order to get back in equal amount. Possessions are important to her but she doesn’t really appreciate them in the physical sense. Growing up, she always wanted more things - she was never satisfied, which is quite typical of Neptune in this house. She can help people out financially because she sympathize with them. She considers other people's lack/abundance of money as her own, although it might not be in her own best interest to do so. While Capricorn makes her calculating in this sphere at first, she’s very carefree with money when it comes down to it, which our parents never liked. She’s not opposed to lending people things and giving freely because “I will just make more money” as she says – and she’s right. Capricorn on the cusp of the 2nd actually makes her capable of this.
With Cancer ruling her 8th, her approach to other people’s resources and value seems to be through expressing and noticing a need for care. She really is the needy baby that becomes sad when people don’t live up to her expectations and give her what she needs. She becomes whiny and moody with things that she can’t control. If the food that was cooked by someone else isn’t to her liking she’s genuinely distressed or when someone of our immediate family didn’t tell her about something she would throw a typical Cancer temper tantrum (she’s a Libra Moon after all with very sensitive taste). She still does this. When asking for money, she would always become very sweet and caring, trying to connect to the other person through a mutual feeling or emotion. Of course, it would seem a little bit manipulative. It’s only in later years that I’ve seen the intercepted Leo coming out a bit more. She’s able to take another person’s value as her own which is a beautiful thing. There’s no competition or one-upmanship going on. She has the capacity to genuinely gain a stronger sense of self through validating and confirming someone else’s value. “The better things are for you, the better they are for me” is the statement. This attitude, however, was not really encouraged growing up, there had to be a mutual feeling component – a “closeness” and emotional neediness in order to get anything from our parents or anyone else for that matter. Having Leo and Aquarius intercepted in this way generally means that value based on her own unique contribution to society and her own sense of self importance wasn’t easily accessed. It wasn’t possible to simply confirm one's own rights and other people's rights in her pursuit of value (material and emotional) because it wasn’t deemed appropriate or wasn’t easy to express.