Home > Astrology > The Deep > Uninvited Guest

The Uninvited Guest
(Ode to the memory of Richard Idemon)

Have you ever noticed... how in many of the old fairy tales, legends, and/or myths - it's most normally someone who failed to get an invitation to a party who ends up stirring up all sorts of trouble?

The Wicked Witch And Her Nasty Curse
The uninvited guest fairy tales is most normally a wicked witch, a gnome, a troll, or something along those lines... the witch has failed to receive an invitation to the party - and, man, is she ever ticked off! Face it... have you ever been snubbed like that, and how did it make you feel? Did it turn you into a troll?

Gate Crasher
The uninvited guest predictably enough shows up, anyway... and then, like any self-respecting gate crasher, they place a horrible curse on the king and/or on the entire kingdom (sounds like a few of my college parties). Then the rest of the story is centered around freeing and redeeming the king and/or kingdom from the horrible curse of the uninvited guest (still sounds a wee bit like a few of my college parties).

"The Uninvited Element"
In the birth chart - look for the curse of the uninvited element. The uninvited Element wasn't invited to the birth chart party - and, man, is it ever ticked off! Quite often you'll discover the person's life "story" is based on the freeing and redemption of their inner kingdom from "the curse of the uninvited element."

Similar phenomenon
"The Only Child Syndrome"
When a person has only one planet in a particular element - the planet then often acts like the proverbial, precocious, spoiled "only child." The planet acts like a spoiled child that the rest of the chart has to cater to and meet it's every passing whim and fancy.

The good news is that the "only child" planet also quite often has a special genius connected to it. (Remember, I did say it was "precocious"....) So - look for "only child" planets in the birth chart. They can be quite interesting and tell you quite a bit.  

(My sincerest apologies to any "only children" reading this. It's only a example of what might happen with an "only child." I'm sure you're quite wonderful and not spoiled at all. If it helps to mitigate your wounded feelings - I'm the proverbial "youngest child" in my family. And yep, I'm a spoiled brat! And, to make matters worse, I also have two "only child" planets...)

(Here's the Richard Idemon method of counting the elements that I still generally recommend for most folks when determining the "uninvited guest" and "only child")

Inferior Function
According to Richard Idemon, the "uninvited guests" and "only children" in the birth chart are what's called (in Jungian, archetypal terms) the "inferior" function. Nope, that doesn't mean they're inferior in the sense of "worse than" or "less than." It does mean that those elements (could be more than one using Richard Idemon's method) are the elements that are the least developed or the least under your "conscious" control. They're the uninvited guests - that you thoughtlessly forgot and snubbed by not inviting them to your birth chart party...

Superior Function
Look, for a second, at the element that your birth chart is the strongest in... This is your "superior" function...

Over the course of time... you've likely learned how to be more "comfortable" when dealing with this element. You tend have more conscious ability to control and effectively express this element in your everyday life. This element received a written, engraved invitation to your birth chart party! This element is the beloved guest of honor!

Inferior?
Now, look back one more time at your "inferior" element... let's say for instance that it's Water...

• This doesn't mean you don't have "feelings" or "sensitivity."
• It doesn't mean you have "worse than" feelings.  
• And it certainly doesn't mean that you're "unemotional" (despite what more traditional interpretations might have to say about it). Being a "feeling" person does not necessarily equate with being "emotional."

Lacking Water might mean that you feel less comfortable or adept at handling/dealing the areas of your life related to feelings and emotions. They are less under your "conscious" control.

Strong in Water? A person whose main (or superior) function is feeling (water) tends to make non-rational, subjective decisions based on their sense of values and sensitivities, what is right and what is wrong. How will the decision effect them? How will the decision effect other people? Jung: "They merely ask themselves whether a thing feels pleasant or unpleasant, and orient themselves by their feeling impressions."

It's quite likely that your "inferior" element (your uninvited guest) will end up becoming the focal point of your journey. Your uninvited guest element may end up becoming an over exaggerated and distorted part of your personality and character that (if you're honest with yourself) can embarrass the heck out you whenever it decides to crash the party.

For example: The number of people who don't have a lick of Air in their chart - and who eventually went on to become great "writers" and "thinkers" is way too long to list here... So - I repeat - that inferior (in the "Jungian function sense") does not mean "worse than" or "less than." The "uninvited guest" can ultimately become your redeemer - but it will always remain a renegade and a "wild card" that will never quite feel like it's under your control...

"You do not have an inferior function, it has you." C.G. Jung

The Magic Thread
If all this "uninvited guest" and/or element stuff is foreign to you - then there's a killer book floating around out there by Richard Idemon called The Magic Thread. (Buy it now at Amazon.com)

The book is based on a seminar Richard Idemon and Liz Greene did together many years ago. The book only covers the part of the seminar that Idemon did. There's a tape series of the actual seminar that's been out for a long time. The tapes series is now unfortunately rather impossible to locate (due to the closure of Pegasus Tapes), but just be aware that if you do find it, it will cost you some pretty serious bucks. (If anyone happens to know how to currently get a hold of any Richard Idemon tapes, then please contact me.)

I'm just glad that some of Richard Idemon's ideas were finally published. (Richard died back in the late 1980s.) So, now his unique ideas and concepts are becoming somewhat more affordable and within the reach of the general public (and not just us nutty astrologers). The bad news is that his books are currently out of print, and when you can find them, the sellers (shame on them) are often asking exorbitant prices.

Haven't had enough?
Here's how to use the elements in chart comparisons and "Looking for love in all the wrong places..."

(back to The Deep Menu)