Pro tip: If you feel hopeless that nothing is working out for you, see if you have a big red triangle aka a T-square in your chart.
T-squares are aspect patterns, made up of one opposition and two squares between planets, that bring stagnation and their apex planet (the one that forms the two squares) is the key to getting out of that stagnation and how you can find success.
I know best just how hard a T-square can hold you back, since I have two of them in my chart. I also know best how to work with them, since I've learned from experience, since very few people know what's the deal with this aspect pattern, both professional and non-professional astrologers.
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HI I LOVED the new chapter- can you talk about Serizawa a little bit? Is it that his anxiety is fending off the effects of the broccoli since he wanted to take Tsubomi’s request immediately or is it that Reigen’s behavior is reminding him of Suzuki and he doesn’t like that? He’s very interesting to me in this situation
(Also the way Reigen’s anger and panic is what finally tipped him over to Remembering because the brainwash is overcome by strong emotions- just So Good)
I'm so glad you liked the chapter!!
Serizawa's super interesting here because he's VERY susceptible to what Dimple calls "the passion of the masses;" I sometimes see speculation that he would have resisted the power of the broccoli because his psychic powers are so strong, but I think this is a bad read. Serizawa cares a lot about fitting into society, and he often doesn't feel like he has enough lived experience to trust his own judgment. Divine Tree takes place only a month or so after World Domination, so he's very much still adjusting to living on his own, and while he's starting to make his own decisions, he has a tendency to look to authority--Mob, Reigen, the business books his mom gave him--to provide structure and guidance. So when suddenly everyone in the city is exerting huge social pressure to care about the Divine Tree and the Psycho Helmet Religion, he's going to be swept along in that. His anxiety, rather than protecting him, just makes him more susceptible.
So why doesn't he speak up in defense of the Psycho Helmet Religion earlier in the chapter? Because of Reigen. I wanted to follow through with the way that Reigen's brainwashing manifests in canon; instead of becoming an outright devotee of the broccoli, the mind control just makes him complacent. He stops seeing the Divine Tree and its cultists as the threat that they are, and instead sees them as just a bunch of people having harmless fun. Nothing to worry about. And this is terrifying to me in its own way and makes him incapable of taking Tsubomi seriously when she shows up, but it also means that one of Serizawa's main authority figures has been advocating for complacency instead of devotion. That's why I included this bit:
Reigen grins. Gotcha. “But I don’t even like the Psycho Helmet Religion!” he says. “I’ve been complaining about how little business we’ve been getting now that everyone’s off having fun with the broccoli, haven’t I Serizawa?”
So basically before Tsubomi's visit, Serizawa's been sort of happily floating in a state where he just accepts what's going on in Seasoning City and doesn't really think about it. Both the societal pressure of everyone else in the city and the authorial pressure of Reigen are telling him that this is nothing to concern himself with. He's been made to forget Mob along with everyone else, and while he's probably aware on some level that something's missing, it's easy not to think about it. Not to worry about it. Not to worry about anything.
And then this girl shows up.
And Serizawa defers to Reigen during consultations. He's still learning. Reigen is so much more knowledgeable than him, so much more experienced.
But they're supposed to be helping people. He took this job because he wants to help people. He's not going to simply defer to authority if that authority is cruel; that's exactly what he was trying to get away from. And so when Reigen gets mean and sharp and dismissive, that, more than anything that Tsubomi is saying, is what gets Serizawa to push back. And once he refuses to blindly listen to Reigen, he also starts to break away from the influence of the Divine Tree.
The climax of this chapter is very deliberately evocative of both Separation Arc and World Domination. Reigen acts in a way that reminds Serizawa of Suzuki, and he refuses to accept that, and it makes him remember the first person who told him that he could have relationships that weren't just built on deference and fear. And Serizawa's refusal to back down reminds Reigen of Mob, and that makes him realize what he's doing, and instead of continuing down the path of control and denial he stops and decide that he isn't going to repeat his old mistakes.
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|| HC- Diviner's Fate ||
In reference to the Glimpses into the Beyond manuscript penned by Fuxuan herself, she spares little effort in reminding/warning other diviners that any actions that imply attempts to predict Yaoshi's fate will be treated as an unforgivable felony.
Despite the considerable leniency that is offered to those who attempt to predict the fates of other Aeons (still illegal), the Ten-Lords Commission equates acts of trying to predict Yaoshi's as a crime equal to the Ten Unpardonable Sins. Diviners found guilty of said transgression will be punished strictly- provided they are still alive after committing said crime as those who have tried have all met tragic fates of their own.
Given these factors, there are two possible outcomes that befall Diviners who attempt to predict Yaoshi's fate:
Mental Collapse (Subsequent development of Acute Megalophobia)
Divination is by no means true omniscience. It is a practise of making calculations based on recorded instances of data and the Diviner's ability to map out multiple possibilities based on the movements, logic as well as thought processes from it.
As witnessed in March's story quest, the Matrix of Prescience is used by diviners to draw information from the past to predict the future by literally placing the observing person in said variable scenarios to derive accurate outcomes, albeit heightened by Fuxuan's third eye.
The Matrix actively draws the future it observes from Chaos.
So how does one even begin to calculate and predict the fate of Aeons who fill the skies like celestial bodies? A being that is incomparably huge, move according to their own Path with a transcendent mind? How does one even define chaos of such magnitude?
Both devices as well as the living mind has their limits. To withstand, hold and interpret something of this magnitude is realistically impossible to accomplish without breaking something in the process either by fragmenting of memory or mental collapse in efforts to preserve one's well being ie: amnesia, memory repressing etc.
In such a scenario, it is likely that diviners may experience a similar phenomenon. Their added ability to literally "visualise" observations may also cause the Matrix of Prescience to backfire and create a massive toll mentally. And they could thus develop an accute fear of vastness when bombarded with everything at once (fear of outer space, bodies of water, atmosphere so on so forth).
TLDR: A living hellscape they cannot avoid. Resuming divination duties would be impossible with the emotional association, PTSD and trauma. ON TOP of having to be punished for committing what is essentially a crime.
Victim of Parasitism (Eventual Brain Death)
To essentially divine an Aeon's fate is to quite literally observe and visualise oneself walking down their path. While it might seem achievable at first, this places the human psyche in a very tenuous position.
They have to possess a certain level of emotional understanding in order to navigate the accurate steps. When tied with their own cultural complicated feelings towards Yaoshi, it can all form a level of cognitive dissonance and dissociation in order to process things.
With reference to how the "Aeons" in Herta's simulated universe could capture notice of the Trailblazer from his actions, why would this then be a stretch? Especially when the Luofu is a place already filled with Yaoshi's blessings, along with those who actively pay homage to their practises, it is all too easy for the Aeon to take notice of repeated engagement from a certain device.
Diviners who try to place themselves in the mindset of an all too generous Aeon will likely be further poisoning themselves with not only knowledge but also a stronger unfiltered emotional connection with Yaoshi.
With parasitic comparisons of my Yaoshi portrayal, I like to think that the diviners may suffer a similar fate to the ants who have the unfortunate displeasure of crossing the path of the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.
Once infected by the fungi, ants would often alter their behavioural patterns by searching for areas best suited for fungal growth. They then attach themselves to leaves, remaining there to their deaths from which the fungi spores grow and release from the spores in their head. This is something that has devastated multiple ant colonies.
Similarly for diviners, they will remain unawares to the facts that mara symptoms have begun to develop at an erratic rate within them. In the ensuing days to come, they may experience a radical change in ideology, compelling them to follow down Yaoshi's path or join up with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.
Those who fight to retain their own lucidity may experience the soul crushing endeavor of losing their mental faculties periodically, feeling their bodies and mind revolt against them. It is a slow, terrifying and debilitating experience that may cause them to take the only means out rather than give in to Yaoshi. Thus, also succeeding temporarily in accomplishing the Aeon's goal of relieving them from 'suffering'. They cannot escape not even in the end.
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