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Astrology; Myth, Magic and Mystery
By Elizabeth Spring
When someone asks what work I do, I always have to summon up a little extra
courage before answering "I'm an astrologer." And the reaction is usually the same--"really?" they say, and then, after a pregnant pause and intense eye contact, they either
quickly change the subject, or ask--- with raised eyebrows—"So how long have you been
doing it?" When I say I started studying thirty-eight years ago, I often see a shy smile and
hear their confession: "Well, I always wanted to try that, although I don't know if I
believe."
That's my cue to say that I don't actually believe in newspaper or internet
horoscopes either…that I'm actually quite a skeptical person, and I don't believe in any
woo-woo vibrations from planets, and I don't care if Pluto is demoted by the scientists, and
so on….. But then I hear myself saying…. Have you heard of the concept of
synchronicity? Do you know of Carl Jung? Do you believe we live in a meaningful
universe? About then I know I'll need to have another cup of coffee because the
conversation isn't going to end quickly. People are curious; they want to know more.
In 1988 Time magazine reported that some fifty million Americans believe in
astrology and in 2003, according to the Harris Poll, 31% of Americans now believe in
astrology. That is roughly 100 million people; 1/3 of the almost 300 million people we are
in this country. And this year alone, Americans will buy approximately 20 million books
on astrology—which is 4 times the numbers of such books they bought two years ago. But
it's still the black sheep of the family in most circles. And that is because astrology, like
religion, is probably something that rational reasoning and scientific inquiry will never be
able to prove.
In fact, I can easily accept the hypothesis that astrology, may not be verifiably 'true'
at all, and that the planets in the heavens are simply the names we give to deep psychospiritual processes. But when astrology is dismissed glibly by people who have never
experienced it, I find it very annoying. For I have found, that it's a symbolic language of
the Soul that simply works, even if it defies reason.
I passionately believe in astrology. I see it as my spiritual practice, and I believe in
it in devoutly as one might believe in any religion—and mostly because it makes sense out
of the injustices in the world when viewed in the karmic re-incarnational light of multiple
lives. This kind of world view, this kind of astrology, continually reminds me that our
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Souls are on an evolutionary journey Home, and that we have chances, over and over
again to make things right.
The type of astrology I practice has elements of Vedantic Hinduism in its creation
myths, and elements of Christianity in its non-judgmental compassionate view of life. This
belief system holds that there is an evolutionary process moving the Soul from separation
from its Divine Nature towards a state of re-connection with a numinous benevolent
Source. It accepts the concept that we have so much free will that our Soul actually
chooses the time and place to be born into so that it brings over both the gifts and
challenges from previous lives. And so we see the genius of a Mozart and the violent
behavior of a serial killer such as Charles Bundy, at an unusually early age.
When the astrologer draws up a birth chart based on that very important birth time
and place, it will show tendencies, or probabilities, but it doesn't show fate. We still have
free will.
Each choice and every attitude in life builds character. When astrologers talk about
fate and free will, we say that character equals fate, and that these essential qualities of
character, or what the Theosophists call skandas, are brought over from each life as the
dance of karma is played out.
For me, I sense a plan of divine justice here, and a cosmic pattern that affirms a
meaningfulness, and a divine correspondence between the macrocosm and the microcosm;
between God and man; between the heavens and the earth. Astrology accepts the ancient
occult saying "as above, so below, as within, so without" and it presumes a relationship
between the planets above as archetypal symbols that reflect the inner psychology of our
minds.
So when an astrologer sees your chart, she sees a psycho-spiritual description of
you, that transcends one life alone. Just as you may be born a male with blue eyes and red
hair with perhaps an Irish background, it's also significant if the Sun in your birthchart is
conjunct Pluto. That conjunction tells an astrologer that your father, and your paternal
inheritance is very strong, and that you have a kind of intensity and charisma that other
people may find unusual.
It also suggests that this Soul is not going to shy away from the deep and sometimes
taboo areas of life, but rather will be drawn to deeply explore them. I would counsel this
person to seek to really understand both the talents and the problems that his father and
grand-father had, so that he would understand his family karmic inheritance and not act
out urges unconsciously. There are gifts and problems with this aspect. And the goal is for
compassionate understanding—and often forgiveness, so that we do not act out the
karmic-genetic tendencies blindly, but to recognize the gifts.
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Now, because the planets don't cause anything to happen, but merely reflect the climate of
a particular time, we have free will in determining how we will play out the symbolism of
the astrological weather….and we play these factors out many ways.
So my focus in a counseling session is not only to describe what I see, and the upcoming
climate for the year ahead, but to explore with my client their choices and how they might
play out their situation on what I call a 'higher octave' rather than a 'lower octave.'
Character, behavior, and fate intertwine in mysterious ways, and my focus is not to predict,
but to explore all the possibilities at a given moment of time, given the astrological
weather.
So the planets then can be seen as symbols of deep psycho-spiritual processes that
are part of a myth that seems to work-- not because of any woo-woo vibrations of the
planets--- but because of the grace of synchronicity. The philosopher Plato, and the
psychologist Carl Jung, developed this theory of synchronicity, which literally means
"united time"—'syn' means 'to unite', and 'chronos' means 'of time'.
Synchronicity is the theory of meaningful co-incidences in which there is no
rational causal connection between event A and event B. But instead there is a meaningful
relationship—and as Carl Jung noted one's birth time and place was a hugely meaningful
synchronistic event, and that astrology worked because of it.
He once said that "We are born at a given moment in a given place and like vintage
years of wine we have the qualities of the year and of the season in which we are born."
Jung didn't understand the mystery of this process, but found that by experience—that
astrology simply works. So he used it in his analysis with clients, even though he was
often reluctant to talk about it because he feared professional criticism.
But astrology works— and occasionally doesn't work—for many reasons. Like the
Judeo-Christian concept of prayer, we ask and hope to receive. When astrologers, like
other spiritual teachers or guides, move into the literal mode too much and attempt to read
the mind of God, we lose. When we live and speak in the symbolic mysterious mode
where spirituality echoes the mysteries of our lives, we find that astrological insight can be
profound. It can inspire courage and faith in the process of life and death. It can give hope.
So here's how it works---by knowing the date, time, and place of a birth we can
draw up a natal chart that shows the exact positions of the planets in the sky at the moment
of birth. Then as we age, and as the planets move, astrologers draw up a second transit
chart that shows the current positions of the planets, and place this chart around the birth
chart. By doing this one can see, for example, how the planet Saturn in the sky, in its orbit
around the Sun, shows up in your both birth and transit charts in a manner that can
"predict" Saturnian times in your life.
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So by measuring the degrees of the angles between the position of the birth planets
and the moving transiting planets, one can describe the kind of interaction, or the
psychological climate of a particular period of time. Besides measuring the angles (what
we call aspects) we also look at the signs of the zodiac, such as Aries, Virgo, Libra etc.
which tells us where in the sky the planet is, and this translates into descriptions of human
behavior. .
I imagine, if I were going to an astrologer for the first time, I'd feel a little nervous.
Even if I didn't believe what they said, I would know that it would be hard to forget what
was said. A good astrologer is never going to talk in terms of shame or blame or
pathology. There's a lot of moral responsibility here.
This kind of counseling is a unique form of short term counseling that is nonthreatening for many people because it doesn't base itself in medical pathologizing. And
the predictive element, or 'astrological weather forecast' helps one make better choices by
unraveling all the various inter-personal dramas that are going on. It doesn't allow for
excuses from responsibility but points instead to areas that need addressing.
And even though it is a slightly shocking and re-assuring thing to hear "news" of
one's own life from a stranger, it tends to validate one's experience and to make one feel
that there is a rhyme and reason to whatever is going on.
For example, if I mention to someone that because their Moon in Aries squares their
Mars in Cancer they may have irritation at their mother--- and if that Moon is conjunct
Pluto, I might say that they have a maternal karmic inheritance that merits exploration.
That is going to generate more openness than saying 'you have a mother complex.' And so
I'd suggest they delve into their psycho-spiritual family history—their maternal lineage
and ask why does your Mother irritate you? "What was her mother like?" I'd ask. Can you
see the gifts as well as the pain that was handed down the family line? It doesn't give them
permission to act out their irritation or obsession with the mother in negative ways, but it
does point to that area of life as one that their own Soul has chosen to take on as a
challenge in this life.
I like to encourage people to see their problems as challenges, and that a difficult
passage is often a metaphorical death and re-birth into another new beginning. I encourage
change—in fact, I often describe astrology as being 'the positive contemplation of change',
and I see my job as being a kind of a cosmic cheerleader.
So astrology is a fascinating blend of myth, ;synchronistic magic; and mystery.
Every planet is a symbolic archetype with a rich mythology attached to it, and every
astrological sign is a description of a psychological style of being in the world. It is a
language that attempts to describe what is not conscious and what is just outside of
awareness. It seeks to confirm and to comfort. And there is magic and mystery when
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synchronicity happens in a counseling session; when what the astrologer sees and the
client has experienced are united; synchronized. Yet always, astrology is not meant to
pigeon-hole but to open up insight so that we can—as the oracle at Delphi commanded—
"Know Thyself." And surrounding it all is the mystery of free will, character and fate, and
the magic of the heavens above us, and the stars within us.
Elizabeth Spring
www.elizabethspring.com
elizabethspring@aol
401-294-5863