Do You Have Phantom Deficit Syndrome?

Cognitive Dissonance is an unavoidable side-effect of Outer Planets changing sign. Take now, for example. It’s the biggest epochal shift since 2008/2009 (Pluto into Capricorn) and 2011/2012 (Uranus into Aries and Neptune into Pisces).  It is becoming apparent to even the most cantankerous Muggle that certain elements of the old paradigm are not coming back. The new era of Uranus in Taurus will properly foundation over 2019, from now. We’re in the twilight void between eras.

It feels intensely personal and collective. The personal? Well, who among you can say that your relationship-creative-image-financial-family “policies” are legit the same as pre-May 2018? In some cases, you would not even want to hang out with the person you were then. Collectively, whether we’re calling it late-stage capitalism, the end of neo-Liberalism or a Globalist versus Nationalist scenario, it’s clear that something is up.

Optimally, Uranus in Taurus + Saturn/Pluto in Capricorn – the new Earth Era – will manifest as inspired leadership (we’ll settle for sane and contemporary leadership, in some cases) and substantial action toward ecological rebalancing aka preserving life on Earth. Despite the unpleasant and scary resurgence of whacko dictators all over the place (like a particularly negative Hexheimer reaction to the end of Uranus in Aries), the future has fantastic potential.

What has this got to do with Phantom Deficit Syndrome? And for that matter, what is P.D.S? It’s when you feel bad or inadequate about not having something you don’t even want to have. And it’s rife at the moment because there are a bunch of people really trying to ramp up interest in the dying era and its values. They’re evangelical about it, doubling down on their perceived security. Whether the Phantom Deficit is that of a partner, children, a ‘normal’ job – whatever that is -an interest in Saurian politics, real estate, the ‘right’ wardrobe  – the common factor is that the part of your brain still stuck in the ending era, picks up on the cues and voila: Phantom Deficit Syndrome.

You don’t need fancy cures for Phantom Deficit Syndrome – just logic and to avoid the sort of company that tends to bring it on. Simple Affirmation: I have it all. And if there is any particular aspect of “all” that you want more of, as opposed to people assuming that you want it, well then, you have a plan in place.

It’s better to have the occasional attack of PDS than to not realize what time it is.

Thoughts?

Image: John Cowan

69 thoughts on “Do You Have Phantom Deficit Syndrome?”

  1. Thank you Mystic, this PDS explanation couldn’t be more timely … sitting her looking at job postings, as I’ve been doing for 3 years now, knowing that chances are slim to none that any of them would make me happy if I could get hired at all in our ageist world … and wondering, should I even keep bothering to apply? Or get serious about a different strategy? This helps so much to put it in perspective!

  2. Interesting. It can be hard to fight the niggling anxiety that you are not chasing the old era ideals more than you need to.

    Seven of Swords came up in a reading recently and I read an interpretation of it describing it as ‘chasing what you already have’ ie a perceived sense of lack or inability to relax and truly feel nourished by what you already have. I love your affirmation of “I have it all”. Thank you, Mystic x

  3. Just love this Mystic xx
    and the sign off line is just a classic. You are always so timely…..
    of course I am having regular dreams at the mo of a very long term relationship that I ended in 2009. Not pleasant ones, so it’s just a relentless encouragement to understand that I DID do right for me all that time ago and no I could NOT have done any more. ( Typical Cancerian). In myself I am a million miles away from there now, but in those certain moon sign days Pluto does it’s work.. 🙂

  4. I couldn’t be more changed if I tried. Its been traumatic at times but I feel the New Wave like a breath of fresh air. Bring out your dead (ideals) and lets crack on with 2019 shall we?

    because I know us July babies have some shit hot action coming *clasps hands

    So grateful I have this tribe, which is also a new (since June/july) to me change-over of acceptance re inner values *universe salute

  5. Mercury retrograde is transiting my 6th house, so I have been channeling the energy towards revising my diet and exercise routine – running maybe 3km per day in the mornings. Mercury retrograde always makes me quite anxious – I don’t know why. I have a 45-page research proposal on econometrics coming up in two weeks and there are two weekly check-ins this week – one on a summary of my results and secondly on my evaluation framework… feeling very overwhelmed, especially with my new job and because I realized my life-long goal is not research.. this is just a stepping stone.

    I just need to channel my north node in Virgo and break up my small tasks, bit by bit so I can finally close this chapter!

  6. “It’s when you feel bad or inadequate about not having something you don’t even want to have.”
    SO much gratitude for you Mystic! Best most grounding and descriptive sentence today.

  7. My affirmation of late has been ‘I have everything i need’.
    It has been a huge change not to do retail weekly/monthly, mostly for the enjoyment of exchange with sweet young things who’s eyes light up when i walk into the store knowing they have a sale. My mind lately is about where i can save instead of spend…a life now of staying on a strict budget when i don’t do strict at all well. Replacement Therapy is a challenge but when has any challenge ever fazed a Sagittarius who believes imagination is all one needs? She says hopefully.
    Realising many of my beliefs don’t have legs anymore, they are non-applicable to radically changing times. A belief in myself rather than god aka higher powers, a huge turnaround from someone who has studied theosophy for decades.
    (If you don’t hear from me again, you will know god has dissolved me for hubris.)
    Natal Sun Mercury Jupiter in Sag tempered in by Cap rising.

  8. I am so feeling the zeitgeist change. I am taurean and i guess what i feel the most is the opposit. I get so puzzeled and surprised each time i am reminded of the old era. Like a strange portal just opened up to a parallell reality, and the i remember that i used to live there. And i am so surprised that some people are not getting it, trying to grasp something that has allready slipped. Arkaic gender roles is actually no longer ok. They look SO wrong now, and everybody gets it. ( exept some old farts that everybody are embarrassed for)
    I just came home from the cinema where i saw My Fair Lady. I have seen it twice before and used to love it for her charm. Now i was comletely disgusted by the male lead. I remember that i found him a bit annoying before, but now my mouth was open the intire film in shock and horror, waiting for him to realize what an ass he was and become a better person which never happened. The good thing was that everybody around me were reacting more or less the same way, women and men. It was plain for everyone to see that it was dated. Horribly dated.
    Most films tha are older than 6-7 years back feel dated. And most men over a certain age are so strange to me. I am so happy Uranus is leading the way!

    1. Thanks for your comments Hel. I am a Taurus Moon and I live in a beautiful, small seaside town that is stuck in the 50s.

      So when I check into Mystic I am in the new world and when I walk around town I see the old and the new generations contrasting and blending.

      But the thorn in my side is my controlling, abusive neighbour still clinging to the old.

      Back in May I was traumatised by him but now I am a different person. I think I must have allot of Pluto in my chart because I hit rock bottom with this guy but then I rose from the ashes. Most people would have moved but I’m too stubborn.

      I saw it as a lesson as it is a reoccurring theme in my life.

      The penny dropped the other day when I found out when he doesn’t take his medication he acts weird. As soon as I found out my mindset chznged. He can’t help himself.

      So I’m glad I didn’t move, I just worked it out.

      1. Spoke to friends today and the police and they said they would have moved if they were in my predicament.

        I am not going to be hard on myself for appearing like a bull dog. I simply didnt have the where for all or energy to move. If I did move in a negative state I would have found the wrong place anyway.

        So I just have to accept the reality of the situation. And move on. It was painful but I learnt a lot about myself and my limitations and strengths.

        No one else can answer my questions but myself.

        But those compassionate, thoughtful suggestions that I get on this forum warm my heart and give me a different perspective. Thank you.

        I am nearing the end of a big 4 year Neptune Transit, it has been beautiful and painful.

        I know infinite love is the only answer.
        For yourself first then others.

      2. I’m so glad to be able to hear your strengthen voice. Thank you for sharing as I know it’s been difficult to move from the emotions of fear and terror with this neighbour.

        Thank you for being the inspirational Saggy that beats to the drum of individuality and can voice this new perspective. Blessings and success and thank you for being an inspiration to me.

      3. Thanks for the encouragement S. It means allot to me.

        Thanks for your blessings, I’m overjoyed that I can be an inspiration!

  9. This explains why I couldn’t get what I needed at the time. People are strange and exhausting at times. Then you add retail, the festive mode and triggering symptoms and behaviours….empathetic overload please back away.

    Thank you MM for this perfectly articulated voice it’s a greater understanding of self expression and compassion of time served bound by circumstances. No blame just resonates with truth and respect the boundaries. Difficult and necessary terrain too.

  10. Mystic you just put into words so much of what I’ve sensed for the past year.

    I’m also going through my first Saturn return and surely my internal changes are part of it.

    I feel it when I look at my consumption of resources. I feel it when I flick mindlessly through social media (selfies seem so passé all of a sudden). I feel it when my family asks when my Scorpio partner is going to “put a ring on it” — of which there was no lack during this US holiday weekend.

    The me of a few years ago pined for the ring, the engagement photos plastered on Instagram, the expensive party. Spending my money on expensive clothes, a new car, bougie restaurants.

    And now? I want to scream and run far, far away from all of it. It’s an almost primal rejection of all I valued just a few years ago. And my social circle? They think I’m crazy for opting out of the madness.

  11. I love that you have given this a name because it’s affecting me so badly at the moment (I am multiple Cap and horrible susceptible to insidious messaging about money/power/status/materialism). But then last night I could barely sleep because all I wanted to do was paint and write and have a house full of plants. Like my brain was desperately trying to remind me of what I actually want to do, instead of what I’m being told I want.

  12. Yes to all of it.
    Totally different human
    And yes I want what(a man) I can’t have that I don’t even want because it wouldn’t meet my new up graded versions needs and wants
    And feeling this full moon / rebirthing breath work upgrade has expanded my awareness enough to let it all merge and move on to the new era where I let myself dream of what I want and believe it is possible and it will be so – aho

  13. Hey, Mystic, i just want to thank you for everything you have given. I love the new offerings of Astral DNA, updated Oracle, Tarot with fresh readings in progress, your Dailies, your horoscopes. Since i first found this site, in some way all here has held me or held my hand as i took my pace to the underground, with its layers of hell and buried treasures. I am Al – Addin. This would have been a lonely and incomplete journey without the blog, the bloggers, the artwork, the humour and the little slaps of practical wisdom for modern witches. All with gentle compassion. And i met one of my IRL friends here, too. (Looking at you, Centaurus xxx)

    1. Was just checking the daily for tomorrow and saw you here 🙂

      Working my way from bottom to top and looking at you too – with a big grin and maybe a few more laugh lines and Is probably a good year not to be north right. The weather is .. well too bloody hot already and I say that with snap winter temps and genuinely missing sol. I’m grateful Milleunanotte and you’re awesome on blog and IRL 🙂

      I have to echo sentiment with all you’ve said – though I think I was above ground when I found the site even with Pluto/Saggo transit and have since gone under lol – maybe I never left? It’s Pluto Moon Venus tr Pluto and Asc. Who says growing pains are for the young?

      Anyway – back to your eloquence. I agree and thank you from me too Mystic.

      Ps – how good is Jupiter conj Sol for a return + Merc retro Saggo just like moi. I am thanking both those planets as they’ve given me the wherewithal to get out of the cave and go hunting through the stones at the door for my moxy (which of course is stripped from you when you descend and you only hope nobody nicks it or substitutes it with a b-grade version hoping you’ll be grateful for any moxy as opposed to none and maybe they’re betting you won’t emerge). Pluto operating rather like the airport security guard that says, no you won’t be taking that on board only he’s saying “no dearie, you won’t be needing that where you’re going”. Hahahaha!

      Muchos <3 xxx

  14. Oh my goodness, I can definitely say relationship-creative-image-financial-family ALL underwent some really radical changes. It was all uncomfortable and frustrating because half the time I had no idea what the HECK is going ON with everything.

  15. Oh. My. Goodness.
    Thank you. This resonates so much. I’ve just clinched why Ive been feeling what I have been experiencing and all at the same time as saying to myself… but do I really want that??!!! No, I don’t. I actually want this paradigm shift that you mentioned earlier in your post.
    That is where I’m really at and I’m ready to embrace it.
    Thank you for helping to clarify.

  16. “It’s the biggest epochal shift since 2008/2009 (Pluto into Capricorn) and 2011/2012 (Uranus into Aries and Neptune into Pisces).”

    My life changed significantly in 2008/2009 & 2011/2012.

    The shift into the new era feels more inspiring and logical, I’ve given up on what’s ‘normal’, it doesn’t work for me.

  17. This post really resonated with me. More than ever I’m questioning my consumption of resources and what constitutes “enough.”

    Also, this is so true: “Despite the unpleasant and scary resurgence of whacko dictators all over the place (like a particularly negative Hexheimer reaction to the end of Uranus in Aries)“

  18. This is so insightful Mystic, PDS is such a thing…it can actually keep me up nights thinking: “Where did I go wrong? I haven’t got the life I didn’t want”… it’s shifting though, as you say, I can feel it in me tectonic plates…

  19. At least ten times a day I “want” clarity, or a plan, or like some stability

    Then I find myself on the floor with crayons or just staring at the skin on my arm for fifteen minutes and remember

    I’m not in charge. Ahhhh, float in the boat right.

    Why would I want to be in charge right now.

  20. I am not liking this jump back into Uranus in Aries one bit. It’s like rewatching a movie alone and one that I didn’t even like the first time, so reruns were not exactly something I’d want to exeperience again. Glad we have also Chiron going back: it’ very much in tune with undergoing EMDR, but I was truly loving the Uranus in Taurus vibe. I hope that next Spring, with Uranus and Chiron going forward, Saturn pinging oppositions to my Mars and a Trine to my Moon and Jupiter opposing all my Gemini planets will be a lot more eventful. Oh and of course I do have a plan for 2019. You cannot face the new earth era without a Plan.

  21. Yes! This. So on the button. The joy of a PDS stew?That feeling of relief that rushes in after days, hours, weeks of obsessing about PDS XYZ and expands every cell when you slap your forehead and fully recognize “wait…. I don’t want that! WTF!” And you’re so glad that you are not actually embeshed in that whatever and can move ever forward.

    That feeling? Pretty sure it’s called freedom.

  22. How are you so on to everything Mystic? This illuminates and sums up the entire pre full moon melt down I just had. Thank you, I thought I was going bonkers.

  23. Phantom deficit syndrome in a city where being glued to a mortgage and a slightly meh life partner and young children was never what you wanted but it seems to be the only route to actually have a life(?) or be acknowledged as valid or even existing, what the fuq. No thanks.

    1. Good to accept. Because the paradigm is already shifted and the rhetoric of others must now catch up. With you! Let them catch up to YOU, sweet and strong Pi xx

      1. It’s ironic though mille because I have a strongly aspected Libra north node in the 4th house and half the time I am wondering, is that actually my “destiny”? Picket fences, and whatever? My soul challenge? This?? Like it’s ok i get it we literally wouldn’t exist if our mothers hadn’t realised the situation, sighed and agreed to a certain life path.. Im just not sure why my higher self want to sell me something that I find so … Repellent?
        Anyway, other directions that might align include art collector (dealer?), home decorator, chef or something at a diplomatic residence, work at home artiste, home based creative business, etc etc so it’s not all nappies, Weetbix cement and and 4am nightmares..

      2. Odd huh. I was brought up with that ideal and it got me nowhere ! And I realise now it’s simply not me. I flit too quick, I get bored and I have a habit of saying yes to things. But I still have no home or house even, that worries me a bit. I’m a stellium cancer for goodness sake. And I don’t have a home. Maybe I’m supposed to be happy with packing boxes and sitting on the floor. I have to admit that is my deficit area. I’d like a home. Never had one as a kid and still don’t. I’m trying to be ok about it. But honesty dictates I say out loud. I’d like a home now that no one can remove !!!!

      3. Have to admit, with Pluto on my Libra ic, home ownership would probably be an epic power-move, but not in this city (one of the officially most expensive in the entire world)

  24. Languishing in the twilight void. Am generally resistant to PDS, don’t have most of the things/circumstances/”achievements” society tries to tell me I should have at this point, but I prioritised my freedom and am glad. It’s my work where I’m unsure. Heard dream job becoming available, got excited about possibilities, then suddenly the position is halfway to filled and I never even saw it advertised. So maybe I’ll just stay in the shadows, but it’s in my consciousness now that I have a lot more to offer, and I seem to want some sort of recognition for it.

  25. It’s cool that we get to write what the new “stability” is, intuitively. Promoted by the tarot a while back I’m thinking about what my 14 yr old self wanted. Baseline happiness, to play the guitar, friends, soccer, love. It can be simple

    1. I am there too with my 14yo self! Although unprompted by tarot, she’s just – I dunno, around somehow, talking to me and directing my choices in some respects. I think there is a major transit at 14, to do with Uranus – must be the square I think.

      1. First Saturn opposition is around then. I’ve just had my second, so Saturn cycles have been on my mind.

      1. What have you learnt about astrology via the sports world, jm? E.g. the libran cricket captains, what else ? So many sports example are American baseball stars for some wierd reason. And of course the entertainment industry. It would be cool to get your take on the motorsports drivers (senna! Schumacher!) And the tennis, cricket, etc

  26. Had a hit of this last night. Then self slap to the face – wtf am I wasting energy on THIS for moment.
    Because I don’t actually care but it had ingrained itself so deeply into my psyche through repetition over last few years that I felt compelled to repeat it. It was a kind of conditioned negative adrenaline/emotional hit. Mouse in a maze missing the electric zap instead of chasing the real reward.

  27. This is such a phenomenal post Mystic!! I have been having Phantom Deficit Syndrome (PDS) without having the suitable vocabulary to express it as eloquently as you have.

    “Feeling bad about not having things you don’t even want.” THIS!

    Society really sets us up and brainwashes us. I hope the Taurus/Capricorn energy gives us all the power to see through the BS, and value what is real, sacred, authentic.

    Astounded by your way with words and absolutely nailing the zeitgeist again and again. You have such a gift.

    Thank you, the insights keep coming through xx

  28. So a man shoved his tongue into my mouth last week, hoping to initiate s*x. I felt nothing but he’s been trying to contact me every day and then I thought … maybe I’d go out with him for a drink because maybe I should have a boyfriend, even one who annoyed me when I met him. But then this. Phew

  29. Oh thank you for this. It’s been an irksome feeling this last day or so. It feels grotty and unpleasant and I was also feeling a bit blindsided and annoyed with myself for even allowing these feelings in. Been difficult to tune out. I feel better having read this.

  30. A vibe I am picking up on a lot lately is that everyone in my area feels the regional housing market has started to go downwards, and whereas even as recently as this past summer people were thinking about stretching and saving to make an exorbitant mortgage work, now people are waiting for the market to fall. When I think a bit deeper on how I feel the actual Uranus in Taurus effects will play out I think there may be a long sustained deflation in asset prices.. so a lot of people may get burned if they buy early in the process, as if it were a ‘normal crash’.

    I have been daydreaming about buying a big plot of land in the far north before the climate change stampede begins! That is probably a variant on the above desire to try to stay ahead of the changes we all sense coming. I have Taurus in the 4th, so Uranus will be going over my IC late in the transit… excited to find the perfect home!

  31. Depleted and desolate best describes my (previously verdant) inner landscape… PDS central. Good to know it’s not me(!) but the outer planets… Can’t utter “I have it all” without a chuckle, but say it I will! Love to deploy a good mantra now and then and see what happens.

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