Seeds in a birtchart

Today I’m looking at the birth chart of a person who has an artificial leg because of an accident. In her chart, there is an aspect between Mars and Pluto. Reinhold Ebertin in his "The combination of Stellar Influences", in the part about biological correspondence, wrote about Mars-Pluto aspect:

Replacement of natural organs and functions with artificial substitutes, such as artificial limbs (leg, arm, prosthesis, skull).

She also has a few suspicious, active midpoints, Pluto = Mars/Saturn for example:

Brutality, the rage or fury of destruction. Intervening of a higher power, bodily injury or harm (murder, death of many people).

Ebertin added a very important note under this interpretation:

These statements relate also to world events, natural catastrophes, road accidents, etc. In some charts it has been found that a combination such as Pluto = Mars/Saturn has only related to accidents or some kind of suffering if the native was in a position and an environment and conditions which made such serious consequences possible.

Of course, many people have a Mars-Pluto aspect and Pluto = Mars/Saturn midpoint, but not everyone has an accident or loses a part of their body. So I start to think that a birth chart shows seeds of potential - what could happen in life, but not what must happen.

For something to appear in real life, there have to be conditions: the aspect needs to be activated by transits, progressions, or directions, and the person must also be in a situation and environement where such an event is possible. Even a strong aspect cannot work in a vacuum.

In this person’s case, she was in a place where an accident could easily happen.

It is the same with positive aspects. They are not a promise, as some people may think. Sorry to say that.

They also need “rain” and “sun” to grow. The seeds in the chart can stay asleep if nothing activates them. But if the ground is ready, they start to grow and become part of our real experience.