Algol
by Sean Cook.
This is an article written out of the deepest despair into a potential for inspiration and transformation. It is for the entirety of the human experience, from all its beauty and bliss, to all its misery and horror. The purpose of this is to highlight the potential for human transformation, even in our darkest times.
Original Innocence
Remember when we were young and had our whole lives ahead of us? Remember the curiosity, the wonder, the expectation? And as we grew up, it got chiseled out of us one step at a time, shaping and homogenizing us like earthly sculptures to the will of the collective. Let’s reframe that, and acknowledge that we have been tempered in the trials of life to be more true to ourselves, and more aware of what we are here for.
If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is toxic hyper-positivity. If it’s another, it’s relentless, unyielding negativity. But of the two, the latter seems more authentic, as it points to a genuine problem. The former simply ignores the problem and masquerades as if nothing has happened. The two need to be integrated appropriately to yield correct results, and most people simply don’t want to face their own pain to do this properly—or they simply don’t know how to. Everything in this world is a spectrum of energy fused together between two binary poles. This is literally how the construct of form is held together. And yet we tend to polarize between the two, and are conditioned to prefer positivity over what we deem and judge as negative. This is the tragedy of our time. Nothing real can be accomplished without understanding these poles in juxtaposition—not opposition—to one another.
I tried “positivity” for almost two decades. It got me nowhere but increasingly suspect, nervous, fearful, powerless, and disenchanted. And I did not do it “wrong.” I simply realized after some time that when we do not properly embrace the discomforts or shadows of our existence, and we polarize against them or away from them, they constellate even more powerfully in the unconscious layers of our minds. And they do manifest. They can create illness, injury, or even death when ignored and not treated with the respect they deserve. Because they carry information crucial for our survival—either intrinsically, as unreconciled memories from our past, or as symbols of current disarray. Without them, how are we ever going to recognize the signs that our environments or relationships are out of alignment? Or that we are fooling ourselves into thinking they are?
It bothers me when we talk dismissively about the shadow aspects of Types. Projectors are “whiners,” and Manifestors are “anger monsters,” for example. We ignore the incredible value of these conditions and experiences. If I were a caged leopard, unable to run free and live life according to my natural instincts and impulses, I would be angry too—enraged and vicious, actually. Personally, I would be extremely concerned to see a docile leopard in a cage. It would mean to me that its precious spirit and vitality—its intrinsic life force—had been broken. And the bitterness and resentment that arises because of not being seen or valued—to make light of that in a Projector’s world is to add gasoline to the fire. They are designed to be seen and valued by others. Their function in the world as facilitators and guides depends on it. And they are not taught to do it for themselves—quite the opposite—so we might instead consider that they may simply need some lovingly kind validation for who they are. And we can all well relate to the loneliness and alienation in the relative isolation of a Reflector, and the endless frustration of a Generator being exploited in work that is counterproductive, destructive, or serving the financial interests of others. It can serve us to remember that compassion is as deserving as correction.
Spirituality
Remember when we became “spiritually” conscious? Aware there was something more? And again had all these wonderful expectations of what life had in store for us? I am literally wired for the oppressions, crises, conflicts, and confusions of life. My mind is abstract, individualistic, and impressionistic. It conveys through symbols, metaphors, and analogies—and titrates these into specific words in order to reach others through the lens of human experience. There is very little I cannot relate to, and yet my primary emotional experience of life has been shrouded in abject misery—due to personal lack of understanding and the absence of being understood—since I was very young. I have only made it this far by somehow constructively “making sense” of this, or reframing it in a way where it has true validity—or conversely, determining when it has no real validity at all.
So imagine my chagrin when, expectedly, hoping for my Pole Star to be something fabulous, fantastic, unheralded—just to give me some “spiritual” validation for my existence—it turned out to be as “bad” as it can get from the collective homogenized viewpoint: Algol, the Star of Death—the Winking Demon; the Gorgon’s Head. Remember, the intent of this article is to “complain” productively by pointing out what could be perceived as malefic in one’s Design, and thereby convey correctly through experience how a potential truly integrated reframe can be made. There is tremendous value in turning the shadow toward the light.
When I first saw my Design, I was appalled. I immediately thought, “What the hell is that good for? Who’s going to like that? How am I going to make money or be successful with that?” What an incredible disservice of mind. What an abomination—not in Design, but in the mind’s determination of the “value” of that Design.
I grew up very painfully as an unseen, unvalidated Projector—strongly conditioned to be a Manifestor—in a family of Generator Types. My Channel of Abstraction is so full of deeply Plutonic and Uranian oppression and futility that I honestly do not know how I have made it this far. People think the 3/60 can lead to core depression. I assure you, the 64/47 never leaves it. It is there as an undercurrent the entire time, as long as I can remember, and I cannot “solve” or “fix” it. I can only utilize it to serve others through the most painful processes in their lives, to know they are not at fault, and that they are not in their essence determined by these difficult experiences. And yet, at the same time, the secret to transcending this negativity is right there within the structure itself: to refuse to allow my mind’s oppression to rule my life, and to realize that I am okay in spite of it. And this actually works—in fact, it is the only thing that works besides freeing others to do the same in their own way. Knowledge may not be power, but awareness certainly is; and awareness can come out of the knowledge we learn and retain.
All of us getting into Human Design at some level may be struggling to love ourselves, even simply to accept ourselves as we are—in order to identify with how we are designed and what our lives can become. Many of us enter Design with a deep disappointment or frustration with life—a feeling of failure, and anger or impatience at things not turning out the way they were “supposed” to. Ah, the vagaries of the human experiential condition. The lessons learned, or not, from simply going through what life throws at us, or what we enter into either correctly or incorrectly. The point is, do we learn? And what do we learn? And how does this add to our greater awareness in support of our overall well-being—as well as our capacity to serve as a potential Outer Authority for others to find their own way?
Pole Star
When I first discovered in December that my North Design Node Pole Star was Caput Algol—The Medusa’s head—that was it for me. No more redemption. I realized my life was genetically destined to be immersed in the substrate of futility and oppression, but that this also serves a greater purpose in reminding me of who I am not, and helping others to do the same. The human experiential path is full of difficulty and discomfort, as well as elation, and we are here to embrace it all, to accept and learn from it as only humans can, in order to expand our consciousness toward progressive evolution, and share with others what we have learned.
Algol reminded me of the Death Star, or better yet, the home of the Sith Lords. I immediately began to wonder if I was fooling myself this whole time, thinking I was bringing light when I actually emerge from the shadow of the Darkness itself. And yet, all my life experience has proven to me that the shadow is essential. It is vitally important to our function and proper integration as human beings. Without it, we are simply running around like polarized, pseudo-positive rabbits, with no true assimilation possible. What we call negative carries tremendous possibility—not to adhere to or act on, but to meet directly with curiosity, as an explorer. The shadow houses all the information of what we unconsciously think ourselves to be—where and how our minds identify with areas or aspects that are not us, and where it denies our greatest and truest potential. To know our authenticity, therefore, requires an equal knowing and experiential knowledge of our mind’s inauthenticity, which is hidden in the shadow aspects of our psyche. The challenge is: these aspects need to be met, faced, and recovered gently and slowly, one small step at a time, to keep from getting overwhelmed from what we might find. We have all been hurt, deceived, and betrayed, and every unmanageable experience has been stored for when we are finally ready to meet it with loving awareness and understanding, so that it can heal and become a congruent, productive part of the integrated whole of who we are.
The other fascinating discrepancy with Algol is the myth of the Head of the Gorgon, or Medusa. It has to do with the twisting of the feminine Yin energy by the envy or jealousy of the masculine, active, Yang mind in Athena—punishing an innocent woman, one of her own priestesses, by turning her into a monster, resulting in her physical slaying by a “heroic” man. What a farce. We often forget in our shadow patriarchal culture that the shadow of the matriarchy is just as formidable in its own way. The jealousy of the corrupt feminine transforms beauty and innocence into hideousness, only to be finalized in death at the hands of the “pure” masculine. Ouch. On the other hand, metaphorically, through vanquishing this error, the winged steed Pegasus was born, perhaps signifying the transformation of both masculine and feminine unalignment into the freedom of spirit.
In astrology, Algol is one of the most unfortunate, violent, and dangerous stars, associated with death by decapitation. It is considered the most evil and malefic star in the heavens, associated with pain, suffering, violence, and difficult and emotionally intense experiences. Wonderful, yes? You can imagine my dismay. I thought I was doomed. But at the same time, these explanations are to be taken metaphorically, as indicative of experiences in life associated with Algol—transcending the darkness into the light. As with everything, we have to be true to ourselves and what actually resonates for us, and as I began to feel into this more deeply, an understanding came of how intrinsically connected with the shadow I have always been—not as a matter of identifying with it and acting it out, but as understanding its true nature and how deadly it can be when not appropriately, non-judgmentally dealt with in corresponding awareness. I know how seriously we tend to take things that do not deserve such attention, and how little regard we pay to things that do. When I was younger, and I ignored or denied my shadow, it almost destroyed me. As I now take it seriously and seek to befriend and integrate it, it has become a powerful ally in helping others to recognize and take charge of their own. Ironically, Algol and its associations are designed to guide us toward confidence, bravery, and self-protection. It is all about facing the deepest shadow and becoming aware and resilient, as opposed to losing our minds. Then, like Perseus, we can utilize its power on behalf of more consciously directed goals.
Algol is an eclipsing binary star, composed of two stars revolving around each other. Yin and Yang? Shadow and Light? This and That? Interesting. It embodies the following traits:
Having a traitor in one’s midst—someone in authority who demands loyalty and respect and refuses to give it in return;- Generously giving to someone and being desecrated in return, held in bondage to a toxic situation and missing out on a bountiful life;
- Perseverance and self-preservation at all costs;
- The clarity for hidden truths to be released, particularly those involving greed and selfish gain;
- Allowing for the integration of traumatization without resistance.
Algology is the medical term for the study of pain. Planetary themes have to do with the acceptance of the harsh realities of human experience. Algol is representative of the betrayal of the feminine, which is the deepest difficulty on this plane, and which I have experienced consistently. It is a theme running through my life, challenging me constantly on all fronts—a theme essentially dictating my life itself. I have been standing up for the purity of form and feminine energy in all of creation since I was born; but the proper utilization of masculine energy in protection of the pure feminine seems to be a lifelong task. Accordingly, the mythology of this particular star is as much about inspiring healing and transmutation of deeply challenging, malefic experiences—in order to retain our inner dignity, mental sanity, and personal health and well-being.
Transmutation
This recognition of what is hidden in our shadows is also one of the key gifts in the upcoming Solar Plexus mutation process, which is highly dependent on emotionally defined beings. Those of us with open Emotional Centers have the capacity to magnify—and thereby make awareness to those who are defined—of what they are actually “feeling” that they may not even be aware of so they can meet it directly. Unfortunately, unless this communication is clearly agreed-upon, we usually get branded as hypocrites or lunatics projecting our “own” emotions on others, which is one of the reasons we avoid conflict, because it can tend to get even worse if we’re not careful.
And what about personal karma? My Cross is Juxtapositional, so I evidently have certain people to clear specific circumstances with. But I have never related to this. There are definitely key pieces of work to do with others. But at the same time, with Innocent Motivation, I have always related more as a free spirit incarnated into a soup of ancestral genetic activity that needs a lot of help to resolve—and in so doing, being able to help others do the same. Incarnation in this way has been more of a challenge to work through Design in order to learn to love myself than a karmic workout of what individually hasn’t been mastered or overcome. And again, these are juxtapositional. This is the apparent “choice” in choicelessness. What’s going to happen is destined to happen—it’s laid out; the universe will have its way with us—but how we navigate this (or not) is entirely up to us.
In Human Design terms, I am at least partially unconsciously defined, which means my conscious mind has no consistent definition to relate to. Thus, my Personality can still amplify and distort the themes of defined Centers as if they are undefined. All of the Centers are thereby conditioning forces in my BodyGraph, pursuing not-self strategy even in the advent of synthetic Personality/Design definition, with the additional dilemma of being a Projector designed to be deeply conditioned and to overidentify with others. From the mind’s perspective, nothing seems to operate consistently, which makes it exceedingly difficult to make decisions without conscious access. All openness and perceived openness is a receptor field, and therefore also a conditioning field.
Design is a physical, genetic imprinting. Personality is designed to witness, and does not “accept” the quantum, because it doesn’t recognize it. Luckily, the intensity of this has adjusted somewhat over time through deconditioning, whereby my body becomes more determinatively the focal point of life as a result of the mechanical efficacy of Strategy and Authority. Somatic inference plays a key role here, with the conscious Personality beginning to pay attention to what is sensed and felt in its expanding perceptual process. Still, what the mind does not know is there, it cannot “see,” and what it cannot “see” becomes an area of potential conditioned not-self strategy. If we do not perceive correctly, we can get into big trouble. And it is only when we finally begin to apperceive, or reflectively understand within the workings of our own inner perception, that we begin to realize all of this.
Manifestation
Life provides all of our needs if we allow it, and enter the inner and outer circumstances necessary for it to be able to do so. Having lived my Authority for 30 years without “knowing” it, I know this to be true. I know that when we are in alignment with ourselves and with our lives, that life manifests directly what we need, with or without money. The biggest lie is that we “need” what we actually want, and get frustrated, bitter, angry, and disappointed when it’s not delivered. Money is great, but it is not the end-all of material life. What it brings as far as a quality needed in our lives is what is actually needed—freedom, prosperity, happiness, or even despair—it is a symbol of value, a resource; but it is not value itself. It is a representation of it. If money is needed, it is there through correct focus, alignment, and attunement with our own emotional spirit. If it’s not needed, something else physical, relational, or experiential may manifest instead. And again, to return full circuit to my original theme, this is why it is so important to acknowledge our shadow and the gifts it holds for us in disidentifying from who we are not, in order to identify with what we are. In this way, manifestation—money or otherwise—is congruent with our true authentic nature and being in this world.
Post-Script: Rana
Upon exploring, analyzing, and integrating this information in detail, I came upon an ironic twist: my Pole Star, though closer in proximity to Algol in Gate 8, is actually better topically defined by Rana, which, though not quite as close, more directly corresponds with the actual value and theme of my North Node, Gate 23. According to sentientmetaphysics.com, Rana is three times the size of our sun and “pulsates with strong waves of energy that seek release in movement, travel, and change.” I have been traveling around half the world and living out of a suitcase or on a sofa for most of the last 30 years. It is a star that “inspires our thirst for knowledge and wisdom,” “backing science all the way.” I can’t seem to get enough knowledge and study of systems that fascinate me; it is never-ending. Rana also has to do with breakthroughs, which corresponds to Gate 43 in an inseparable Nodal channel with the 23. “Rana is a catalyst for major change both in our personal lives and our working lives.” I am preparing to uproot myself and to travel again, not knowing where or with whom I will end up, but knowing that I must pursue a major change in the coming weeks and months. My health and well-being, and success as a Projector, depend on it.
Rana speaks to moments of truth and honesty within partnerships; changes in leadership and promotional opportunities; relaxation, calmness, and maintaining balance in times of highly tense or emotional situations. It signifies a subtle change that a new path or direction is being ushered in by destiny. And I know from experience that it is time to follow this next new path, wherever it may lead me.
May your Strategy and Authority always be your North Star.
Sean Cook, Living Your Design Guide
Santa Barbara, CA·
Energy Projector· BG5/IHDS Professional Student
4/1 Energy Projector (JX Intuition): Psychotherapist and mentor working with people to facilitate their own individuation processes.
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