The Left Angle Cross of Defiance (Version 2)

Full breakdown

This is the archetypal individual left-angle cross, in the sense that it tolerates no outside interference whatsoever. It exists to demand non-interference fiercely, and to push back against anyone who tries to meddle. Individuality's core problem is that it's built to be deaf to what others say, in order to preserve its own uniqueness and dodge conditioning from the collective or the surrounding environment — individuality exists to cultivate mutation. This cross exists, first and foremost, to resist interference from others.

Picture gate 1 as the artist and gate 8 as the gallery owner. The only friction between them arises when the artist tries to act like the businessperson, and the businessperson wants to be the artist instead — exactly the kind of situation this cross has to navigate constantly. It will keep meeting people who try to control how it makes its contribution, its expression, constantly running into people who get in the way and say, 'no, you can't do it that way.' Being so different from everyone else, it will always act differently and break with convention.

This cross is at the root of the conditioning we call divorce, which unexpectedly traces back to exactly this energy: fighting the tradition that says you should stay with your partner for the sake of the kids, the dog, the job, whatever it is. The fight to live out a unique individuality against pressure to conform is, in the end, the whole direction of these people's lives.