#emotional support zettelkasten

[ante--meridiem]

I assume these are called that because they are indeed notes that are in a box but I did not expect to see the word in the wild

[zenithabovemarshland]

Astrology of Zettelkasten

An example of adapting to oppositions in the birth chart

What is Zettelkasten?

I went into a deep dive about zettelkasten yesterday. If you havent heard of it, it's a system of knowledge-keeping. It contains one idea on an index card that links to other cards (like a wiki). It's an information collection system with the primary aim of connecting ideas into knowledge (1).

A famous user of the zettelkasten was the sociologist Niklas Luhmann.

Luhmann's Astrology

In his essay "Communications with Zettelkastens", Luhmann personifies his zettelkasten and calls it his "communication partner" (2), which is interesting to me because it implies an emotional relationship to... information. And sure enough, Luhmann has Moon in Gemini (3) (sense of security and goodness in the collection of many ideas).

His Moon opposes a Sun-Saturn conjunction in Sagittarius (instinct to establish structure in meaning, one that can adapt to changeability).

On this point, I like this quote from his Wikipedia page: "Luhmann himself described his theory as "labyrinthine" or "non-linear", and claimed he was deliberately keeping his prose enigmatic to prevent it from being understood "too quickly", which would only produce simplistic misunderstandings." (4) A great example of the control and imposition of Saturn, and how the Sun contradicted the Moon in his work. But it's also an expression of his Mercury-Neptune square--obfuscation in communication.

Luhmann's Moon is conjunct the North Node, and the Sun is conjunct the South Node. This is really interesting because the comfort point (South Node) opposes his comfort planet (Moon). Suggests a dominance of the Sun, frequent shedding of meaning-making strategies (he was a sociologist who developed social theories; checks out), and learning to value intellectual dabbling (which perhaps he does in the zettelkasten). (Subordination of the Moon is also supported by the Mercury-Neptune square, which could also indicate a relinquishing of thought, or a cutting-off from one's own thoughts for some period of time. Because Mercury rules his Moon, the same detachment applies to the Moon.)

A few other interesting, first-glance configurations to think about: Jupiter conjuncts Uranus Rx--big innovation. The Mercury-Mars conjunction suggests a more physical expression of thinking. It also suggests his knowledge should be actionable. Both of these are principles of the traditional zettelkasten system. And the Mercury-Mars trines the Jupiter-Uranus--one facilitates the other, and vice versa. These configurations, in my opinion, lend to his staggering production of literature--Luhmann wrote 70+ books and 400 articles (according to Wikipedia (4); other sources cite 50 books and 600 articles (1)) in his career, which he credited to his use of the zettelkasten.

I'll digress to discuss my favourite thing in Luhmann's chart: Pluto Rx in Cancer. Since my interest is in generational and ancestral astrology, this is so interesting to me because the Pluto in Cancer generation had the imperative to redefine "home"--family and nationality; things "within bounds"--particularly the how secure they were as social structures. The ruler of his Pluto, the Moon, is in Gemini, so he did this by collecting and thinking through ideas. He was a social scientist who worked (among other fields) in systems theory, a theory that studies social groupings!

(He was also conscripted as a child soldier in WWII and taken as a prisoner of war at 17 (4), which is a very sad but apt manifestation of Pluto Rx in Cancer inconjunct his Sun. I wish we had a birth time for him so we could see the houses, but alas.)

Luhmann's Story Exemplifies Adapting to Oppositions

Balancing "Neuropathways"

What I find so fascinating about Luhmann's chart is how the zettelkasten system seemed to have resolved the opposition in his chart. And we can see how the zettelkasten system not only suited his Gemini-Sagittarius opposition, but that it also suited the other configurations in his chart.

I like to think of the birth chart a bit like a map of neuropathways, the ones that are easy and immediate for us and others that are less preferred. In this case, the Mercury-Mars and Jupiter-Uranus configurations are only loosely associated with the Moon-Sun opposition--so loosely that I personally wouldn't bother to bring it up in a consult. But even so, it helped resolve the conflict between the Moon and Sun.

One way to relieve a grand cross in a birth chart is by getting in the middle of the chart--balancing the influences by finding the common ground between the planets. T-squares are the same, but because they're missing a planet to oppose the apex planet, sometimes they need to look outside of themselves to resolve the tension. And this brings me to the other thing I find so interesting about this example: the synastry between Luhmann and the guy who invented zettelkasten.

Synastry

Wikipedia says the commonplace book is the predecessor of the zettelkasten method, but a guy by the name of Conrad Gessner came along in the 16th century and started using cards instead of a bound notebook (5). Looking at Gessner's birth chart (6), it doesn't surprise me that he brought his ideas into a form that he could touch, reposition, and map out--he is very likely a Virgo Moon (comfort in material tidbits, organizing, and fiddling).

I wonder about being able to use one's birth chart to describe one's works' influence (to an extent) (because 'to know the artist, look to their art' and all), and so we'll experiment with that now in a synastry chart.

Luhmann's Moon-Sun opposition is suddenly given an out from its tension: Gessner's Aries Mercury is sextile Luhmann's Moon and trine his Sun and Saturn (7). With this, instead of grappling with the subordination of the Moon in the opposition, he can rely on the externalized Mercury to bridge the discord.

We know in Luhmann's chart how his Mercury-Mars conjunction is afflicted by Neptune. But in this synastry chart, Luhmann's Moon is (likely) trine to Gessner's Aquarius Mars. This does a few things: first, it brings in a reliable fixed quality to Luhmann's very mutable chart (and zettelkasten is a singular system of knowledge that is meant to last a lifetime; Luhmann had 90,000 cards in his system when he passed (1)); and second, it creates a stronger pathway to his natal Mercury-Mars aspects, because Gessner's Mars sextiles Luhmann's Mercury-Mars conjunction.

Discussion

In this synastry, Luhmann acquires relief from ambiguity, too-muchness, and the tendency to undermine his own thoughts. Zettelkasten is a tool that gives him access to a way of thinking and doing that he normally has to struggle through Neptune to get to. It does all that, but then still connects him back to himself with more clarity.

I've picked out some of his points about (his experience with) zettelkasten from his essay (2).

First, he stresses the importance of imposing a structure on the system, which makes it capable of "communication" (meaning: understanding your own thinking process). This is Gessner's Mercury connecting Luhmann's Moon and Saturn: the trine between Saturn and Mercury is an imposition of structure, and the Mercury in sextile with the Moon is an easy flow of communication.

He talks about the zettelkasten mimicking the processes of our own cognition, which is signified by the Moon, Mercury, and Saturn, all. Second, a few points he makes suggest to me that with this system he's able to experience his Moon. He argues that when trying to make connections between ideas, there is an element of something like chance. There is a kind of "right timing" in the epiphanies, which is very Moon-ish He also calls his zettelkasten "a second memory", and memory is a signification of the Moon. In the synastry chart, Luhmann suddenly has access to his Moon through Gessner's Mercury.

Last, he talks about the importance of keeping a "permanent address" for each index card, like a little ID code, so that it can be referred to forever. When you try to create a hierarchical order to your cards, you trap yourself into a singular system of thinking for life. You want your zettelkasten to be fixed, but still adaptable and responsive to the ways your thinking changes through a lifetime. Which is a perfect explanation of Gessner's Moon in Virgo, Mars in Aquarius. But it's also hinting that Luhmann relies on the fixed Mars sign he acquires in their synastry.

Discussion of Issues and Implications

So I don't think the whole synastry part of this write-up is a very reliable argument. It's an experiment on my part; I'm just playing "what if". But it makes me wonder about our systems and methods of doing things. We know that we're attracted to people and things that light up our birth charts in interesting ways. And looking at both Luhmann's and Gessner's charts against my own, I can see how the zettelkasten method could be really helpful to me. So maybe I'm not so far out in left field as I think I am.

What I find really compelling about all this is the resolution of Luhmann's natal opposition. Remediation can be complicated, but this is a great example of how external guardrails can facilitate the remediation, and maybe help us find ways to anticipate what a successful technique is more likely to be for us.

I was talking to a friend about remediation options for her own chart and she seemed disappointed to hear that manipulating our environment is a strong option, maybe because she didn't feel like external changes are good enough, permanent enough or authentic enough. (I'm speculating; I don't know why she seemed disappointed.) But the zettelkasten method to Luhmann was something that was very much a part of him. In this essay it sounds like it was his best friend. It was a huge part of his career. And it was something that came from outside of him. So this could be an example of how remediation techniques are lasting and authentic.

Another issue with this whole thing is of course that I used a lot of Wikipedia. It's also too bad that we don't have birth times for Luhmann and Gessner and can't do more to see how the charts moved over time.

Anyway, if you read this whole thing I am sending you twenty-five spiritual dollars :p Thanks, and let me know what you think! Do you have any examples from your own life of stuff like this?

Lazy References

(1) Extensive blog on the zettelkasten system (2) "Improved Translation of "Communications with Zettelkastens"" (3) Niklas Luhmann's birth chart (4) Niklas Luhmann's Wikipedia page, retrieved December 28, 2023 (5) Zettelkasten Wikipedia page, retrieved December 28, 2023 (6) Conrad Gessner birth chart (7) Synastry chart between Niklas Luhmann and Conrad Gessner

[ante--meridiem]

Took too long to code my own graph and zettlr has now implemented an official one before I got there.

Mildly useless due to the obvious issues such as "the formatting cuts off parts of it" and "there's too many tightly packed vertices I can't zoom in on" but at least I can now say Look At My Boy

[ante--meridiem]

it's my first few days of using the zettelkasten and oh my gods. it is a gamechanger. the connections lead me to deeper understanding and making sure i have all the concepts i am learning about clear. and because i am learning computer science (sic...) there are so many connections? like i am reading on sth new and making a zettel and i am like "oh and that was also covered in [[another topic]] and its the same concept actually" and idk! excitng. it's really a good way to take notes when learning!

I guess one question about your previous post and the usage itself - can you elaborate more about how you use tags? I think what you described in your post differs from what the person from the "official" website mentioned?

!!!! yesss I have successfully spread the good word of zettelkasten (genuinely, very glad that it's helping you)

So on a basic level I'd say my tagging system isn't actually that complicated, I just tag things with topics they're relevant to in the same way I would on tumblr, but to elaborate on some of the things I said about tags in my previous answer -

The main thing is that tags have different levels of usefulness depending on their level of specificity. On one end of the specificity scale I have zettels tagged with a code for a specific article I've been using a lot for my thesis, which is useful for finding exactly what I need from that article reasonably quickly. On the other end of the scale, I have tags like "mathematics" which... are basically functionally folders once I decided to follow the website's advice that everything should be thrown in together and you shouldn't have actual folders because that's too rigid. (edit: thought to add, if you're wondering why not just stick to actual folders then if it's the same function: the difference is that with tags you can have overlaps in categories without one strictly fitting inside another). These are useless for searching because of how many results they'd bring up, but sometimes I want to keep track of how much of my zettelkasten is dedicated to a specific topic.

The other thing I mentioned using tags for is when there's a common theme emerging but I don't have enough to say about it to justify making it its own zettel and linking to that, so having zettels share the tag functions as its own form of "linking" since I can click on the tag to find other relevant zettels. In practice this type of tagging works the same as any other high-specificity tags, except the topic they all fit under is less obvious. I don't have that many of these because usually I do end up just making an actual zettel for the common theme but an example I could give is, I have a "structural-symmetry" tag where I don't feel the need to make a note defining what structural symmetry means but I do feel like collecting examples of it; if I get enough examples to have something to say on the topic beyond a basic definition I could end up making a zettel for it though.

I generally try to give each zettel tags of multiple levels of specificity because high specificity tags help me find it and group it with other worthwhile concepts, and making sure every zettel gets a low specificity tag helps me keep track of how the info I have in my zettelkasten divvies up. And medium specificity tags do a little of both.

[ante--meridiem]

Approximately how much time do you spend updating/maintaining your Zettelkasten? Do you find that the time you spend on it effectively replaces other time spent studying using more traditional methods, or is it an additional time commitment that you've added into your schedule?

There's definitely at least enough time competition that when I have something big that I need to do reasonably quickly (e.g. problem set, write something in my thesis draft in time to send it to my supervisor to discuss) the zettelkasten gets neglected/used more as a source to dip into than something to be updated with what I'm learning. But when it comes to reading/reviewing material I think it does replace traditional study methods; reading say a maths article tends to go much quicker when I make a note about any new term/concept in it and then refer back to that note as needed rather than reread the part of the article it came from, so in that sense "reading and making notes in zk as I go" integrates into my general reading time (though the downside of this is sometimes I misunderstood things the first time I read them and if that misunderstanding gets carried into the zettelkasten it can take a long time to untangle where I went wrong). When I have courses the ideal is to transfer notes from each lecture into the zettelkasten after the lecture with the same time I'd have spent just re-reading them otherwise though I don't always stick to this so well.

However maintenance as well as ideas that aren't just "things needed to understand what I just read/listened to" do require extra time put aside; I try at least a couple times per month (more would be ideal but, y'know, time management is hard) to spend a few hours doing things like tidying up repeat notes, seeing how things are linked and adding more links where needed, seeing if there's any general ideas emerging that could use a new note of their own, making notes for thoughts I had that weren't directly part of the reading/studying process, etc.

[ante--meridiem]

Actually, I do have one concrete question about your Zettelkasten - do you limit yourself to write only in one language there? There are for and against.. From what I've read Zettelkasten are supposed to be a reflection of your brain/thinking, and i do indeed think in both my native language and English and this is the most natural for me. But, wouldn't it mess up the linking and later searching when I have notes in both languages...? I suppose it's not that big of a deal since I can just search by both translations, I am just wondering if you have any experience on that

Funnily enough I got this ask when I was in the middle of answering your previous one

I only write in English because to me Romanian is for communicating with family and I'm not that comfortable using it for anything else but if you switch languages regularly I see no reason not to reflect that in the zk. Linking shouldn't be an issue and issues with searching could probably be reduced by making sure you stick to one language in your tagging system.

[ante--meridiem]

I thought to share that after asking you what are Zettelkasten I finally do have the real usecase now in my uni life... the concepts from different courses are starting to connect and I am struggling in my currect structure-based note taking. So idk, I just... wanted to thank you for introducing the method to me, I really like how the structure and principle itself is simple and I am excited to finally try it out in practice! (you can use this ask to say anything you want about Zettelkasten, I will be obsessed with them for the foreseeable future so any rant you write I will love)

Hey!! Very happy to hear the method might help someone else! Good luck with it and I'd love to hear how it goes, hope it ends up helping you as much as it helped me. For my part right now what I have to say is that building it has slowed down a lot since the beginning since I'm no longer working from a large backlog of things I need to store there (I mean a large backlog of knowledge I haven't put into the Zettelkasten still very much exists but getting through it isn't a current priority and I have most concepts I'm currently actively using already in there) but what is coming up is how useful being able to look things up in it is to keep me from having to retread all my steps whenever I look at something I haven't used in a while (or rather very much speed up the retreading my steps process, since the idea is that rather than having to go "where did this come from?? Let me try to find some other notes that explain it" there will be a link to exactly where it came from!).

I will warn you that Zettlr has recently gotten increasingly buggy with its implementation of LaTeX though (and most frustratingly no longer parses the environment I used to use to make commutative diagrams) so if you haven't picked an app yet I might recommend a different one if you'll be using LaTeX a lot. (Maybe Obsidian? Never tried it myself but I heard good things about it, though it isn't open source like Zettlr is). On a more positive note though the app now does its own graphs to let you see how your notes are connected now! (I don't remember if you were there when I made my "look at my boy" post about this).

Since you wanted to hear me rant, I think I'm just going to copy the text from some meta notes I have in my Zettelkasten on using the Zettelkasten! This will get probably extremely long (and not be reflective of the actual structure of said notes since I'm removing the links and putting multiple notes together into an essay) so only read past here if you really really want to. To imagine the structure this would have in the actual zk, the big headings correspond to organisatorial pages and then each bullet point with a number next to it links to an individual note containing the text I will put under the bullet point; other numbers formatted like this [[insertnumbershere]] are links to other notes outside the scope of this essay but I'm not editing them out so you can see how/when I link things. On that note some of this may be difficult to follow because I use my own vocabulary that I've built up in linked notes; if you (or anyone else who for some godforsaken reason decides to read this) actually read enough to want explanations please shoot another ask!

Also obviously these rules are rules for me adjusted by me, the whole point of the system is flexibility to adjust to your thinking style so don't feel tied to them or anything. Also disclaimer again that this was written for me to be read/understood solely by me and may be very hard to follow for anyone else, so take what you can from it if you feel like it.

Rules for Zettelkasten

Atomicity [[20220807142537]]

"Concept" is loosely defined [[20220125144819]]; when dealing with a packed concept, atomicity requires that zettel deals only with how to bring the strands together, and not the details of each individual strands. Where the details are relevant they can be brought in through links to a zettel dealing solely with that strand. Allowed exception: "organizatorial" zettels that exist to list multiple examples/manifestations of concept. Maths zettels may require proof with many components. If component can be separated neatly as lemma, make new zettel for it. If component does not make sense independently, split proof into steps and make each step a sub-section of zettel.

Connectivity [[20220807142751]]

Links

Links must be meaningful. A basic topic can be linked if it has significant relevance to the concept of the current zettel. Significant relevance means the structure of the current concept mirrors [[20220524234710]] or is induced [[20220531114751]] from the structure of the linked concept. Mechanistically important details can be elaborated on in footnote. This implies linked zettels should be similar in complexity; significantly less complex concepts are likely to play only a mechanistic role in more complex concepts. "Similar" does not mean equal; natural tendency for links to go from high complexity to low complexity is inevitable and shouldn't be eliminated. Probably best to keep those steps reasonably small. Good if a zettel can link to similar complexity concepts. Practical strategy to ensure it: if simpler concept can be reached following chain of links, do not link directly. Sometimes there is no direct link between concepts, but there is a parallel; in these cases create extra zettel in which to note parallel. (Think of like coproduct [[20220523141540]] in category theory.)

Tags

Tags offer indirect connection of grouping many zettels under same concept. If too many zettels are grouped this way, no longer useful as connection. Need broad range of specificity in tags, from tags that are direct enough to offer a similar degree of connection to actual links, to tags so broad they serve primarily to count how many zettels there are under a particular topic.

Emergence [[20220807143006]]

Structures should emerge naturally from connectivity. For this to occur it's necessary for a lot of connections to be formed; amount of links should be maximised up to constraints given by other rules. Structures should not be forced, but you should know how to note and make record of what appears. Example of structure emerging is zettels being linked to zettels close in level of complexity Organizatorial zettels add some level of structure Concept sinks [[20220223141256]] are another form of structure that may emerge. While some concept sinks may be important, best to avoid allowing basic/trivial concepts to become concept sinks; this can be done by strictly enforcing need for meaningfulness in links.

(note for tumblr users reading this: a "concept sink" is what I call a note that gets notably much much more links than the average note, presumable because a lot of concepts lead back there)

Top-down [[20220807143415]]

Emergence [[20220807143006]] often referred to as "bottom up" construction; however, exists also use for top down construction. Easier to assure connectivity [[20220807142751]] by starting with a "bigger" concept (in "packed concept" [[20220125144819]] terms) and filtering into smaller sub-concepts; sub-concepts guaranteed at least connection to bigger concept, so there is somewhere clear to go. Could refer to this as top-down construction.

Interest/Relevance [[20220807144743]]

Zettels should not be dictionary entries. If there is nothing interesting/new to say about an idea, there is no need for a zettel just to state its definition. If an idea is not interesting but offers a useful link, use a tag. Exception to rule 1 made in mathematics and other areas where definitions are essential Amendment: Definitions may play same role in zettelkasten as primary data

Modes of Use Zettelkasten

Extracting knowledge from memory [[20220322161655]]

Introspection is the process of bringing information already internalised [[20220316215442]] back to consciousness to be re-assessed or recontextualised. (Usually the word is used to refer to information about self that was originally processed subconsciously). Requires ability to block out external stimuli to avoid distraction [[20220124155258]], but cannot occur well under overwhelment [[20220204212805]] as by the time that occurs all processing powers have been exhausted. Re-contextualisation allows building new connections, either between things previously seen as disparate, or between the concept being brought to the surface and things that have been discovered after it was first internalised. [[20220127164837]] Zettelkasten can aid introspection by using links to bring things back to the surface that would not otherwise have been remembered.

Establishing new knowledge from external source [[20220316215442]]

Information is integrated when it is allowed to pass from "out" state to "in" state of membrane [[20220124155258]]. Once in "in" state, it should be easily accessed and incorporated into mental processes. Bringing information into "in" state requires:

Binding [[20220125144819]] - concepts of a certain complexity require ability to be seen as units to be integrated; otherwise, they will contain too many parts for brain to hold at once, and attempting to may lead to overwhelment [[20220204212805]].

Membrane must be open to letting information pass through.

Easier to integrate if it builds on [[20220127164837]] already existing structure - e.g. answers question prompted by pre-integrated information.

Creating new ideas/conclusions [[20220322161655]] Reviewing external source Editing Finding specific note Reading/exploring [[20230124150130]]

Ways of exploring:

Begin in register. Refresh main concepts of a topic and wander down link paths to smaller details. Good for quick refresher but likely to re-tread well known paths. [[20220223141256]]

Look up particular zettel you remember, follow link path to places you don't remember. Risk of leading to dead end quicker than desired.

Pick interesting tag and browse it. More likely to bring up interesting things you don't remember but less focused than previous strategies. Requires good variety & specificity in tag use.

Adding internal structure

[ante--meridiem]

Large chunks of my Zettelkasten are suddenly unreadable because the newest update no longer parses the LaTeX environment I used to make commutative diagrams.

[ante--meridiem]

An algebra (as in module with multiplication) having the same name as the field of maths in which you work with them is incredibly frustrating because searching "algebra" in the zettelkasten will just yield every note I've category-tagged as abstract algebra and every place I used the word "algebraic".

[ante--meridiem]

Very minor annoyance but the zettlr app no longer counts stuff written in Latex in its word count, which makes sense since that did kind of artificially inflate the count but now it's the opposite effect where I can write pages of equations and it tells me I've done barely anything.

[ante--meridiem]

"Connectivity" is what I've been calling the zettelkasten principle of making sure to exhaustively link my zettels to each other but ever since woe.begone has taken over my brain the word has different associations.

Just need to start calling the merging of notes that are about basically the same thing "consolidation" & we can start doing time travel in here.

[ante--meridiem]

Obviously being into the time travel podcast has made me think about what I'd want to tell my younger self and I used to have other answers but now the only thing I'd have to say is start a zettelkasten. Look up what that is and get on it immediately. The longer you're at it the greater it will grow. Everything else you can figure out in your own time just do this.

Oh and back it up thoroughly, your electronics are very much not immortal.

[ante--meridiem]

You know a formula is bad when you're writing a note on it and have to choose between stopping after every term to link to an explanation or having an entire line full of links right after it.

[ante--meridiem]

I've mentioned before that I'm calling the process of merging notes in my zettelkasten consolidation, for time travel podcast reasons.

Anyway one step in this process is picking one of the original notes to delete and searching its ID so I can replace all links to it with links to the new note before I delete it, so I don't get dead links.

Call that a connectivity strike.

[ante--meridiem]

hey there! after following you for a while, the concept of zettelkasten has been brewing in my brain, & I'm starting a new job that requires me to learn a LOT very quickly so i'm looking into it. I assume that you also once googled 'zettelkasten app' and saw Obsidian and Zettlr are the 2 main options, and I know you use Zettlr. I hope you don't mind me asking, why did you choose what you did? Thanks!

Delighted to spread the good word of zettelkasten!

I chose Zettlr because it's free and open source, and I'm sticking by it now because I've gotten used to it, however from what I've heard Obsidian might be better actually functionality wise; main perk of it over Zettlr that I've heard is it can give you a graph of how your notes are linked, which I could really use and had started trying to write a program for myself since Zettlr doesn't have it before I got busy with other things.

Beyond that, I unfortunately can't give an in depth comparison because I haven't used Obsidian so I don't know exactly how it works; they both use markdown so formatting your notes should work about the same in both, and I'm pretty sure they both make referencing, internal hyperlinking, and tagging convenient; Zettlr lets you colour-code tags so it's easier to see them just scrolling through a list of your documents on the side, and has a decently good internal search system. (It also has a good system for tracking productivity over time if that matters to you; it's not really helpful to the actual structure of a zettelkasten but I do get some use out of it).

Whichever you choose, good luck with the job and I hope you get a lot of use out of it & the zettelkasten technique!

[ante--meridiem]

Putting the literal "emotional support" in "emotional support zettelkasten" because I was feeling a specific kind of bad that I couldn't make go away so I went "hm let me check the zettelkasten for notes on what this emotion might be and what can cause it". And it worked!