Polarity
A basic explanatory model behind many esoteric teachings which also plays an important role in astrology. The concept of polarity teaches us that opposites are mutually dependent rather than canceling each other out. A primary experience of this principle is the act of breathing which necessarily involves both inhaling and exhaling. Further basic polarities are day and night, summer and winter, warm and cold, male and female etc. In Chinese tradition there is the polarity of Yin (feminine, passive, night) and Yang (masculine, active, day). The well-known symbol (Yin/Yang) clearly indicates that this principle is dynamic and that each pole contains its polar opposite - thus making it utterly senseless to favour one pole over the other. On the contrary, neither pole can survive without the other. There can be no light without shadow, and no night without day. The challenge is always to integrate both poles.
If our attention is only directed towards the seemingly good pole, we inadvertently strengthen the other one which then often grows rampant. Thorwald Dethlefsen uses this idea to explain the practical consequences of Christianity which, almost more than any other religion, propagated universal and infinite love, and in the name of these noble concepts set up the inquisition, instigated witch hunts and supported the process of colonisation - which together led to the barbaric and cruel deaths of millions of people - possibly more than any other ideology in the history of humankind.
In astrology the twelve signs of the zodiac can be divided into six complementary polar pairs of opposing signs:
- Gemini/Sagittarius = Communication and insight
More specifically, the polarity in astrology is a polarity between extroverted and introverted signs. The former are also masculine, electric, active or positive, while the latter are feminine, magnetic, passiv or negative. The fire and air signs (Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius) are extroverted while the earth and water signs (Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces) are introverted.
