Astrology
Private Journal, August 26, 2010
It was only in 1920, on this day, that women got the right to vote in the United States! Ah~ how those women struggled ?to have a voice? and how we still struggle to find our true voice, our authentic Self and express it?every one of us.
This language of astrology has become a voice for me. But it?s strange how ambivalent I feel about it! I hate cocktail-talk astrology, and just don?t do it. And when I called Kendra after the last letter about her miscarriage, I certainly didn?t want to ?talk astrology? but the language of the heart.
But there?s more to my reluctance. When I told her that I feel like a ?reluctant astrologer? she asked me what I meant--and I couldn?t find the words! So now as I sit here writing in this journal I?m going to try to ?think it out? and find my voice that is so often reluctant and ambivalent about astrology?.
First there?s the good: this language has given me a voice so that I can speak and counsel others without pathologizing, blaming or shaming. It?s short term therapy?and all therapies?seem to me to me to be the same at the core. Different techniques, yes, and some better at different times, but doesn?t it all come down to: LOVE heals & INSIGHT heals. That?s the heart of it: understanding, catharsis/crying, and love. Love heals.
When astrology ?normalizes? experience, as in ?yes, that?s one of the ways that a Saturn Return will play out in your life? there?s comfort there, as one can feel connected to a larger sense of meaning and patterns?even a God?something that is not all about random chaos, and luck or the lack of it?or will power and the lack of it.
And when an astrologer listens well?there can be a sense of loving connection between them as well as this connection to a larger pattern of things?even if it?s only to sacred wounds we all carry.
There are times when astrology is ?eerily? on target?when what I say and the details of the story of their life synchronize strangely. How could I know those things if astrology wasn?t at least partially true? How could I know that the key to a Pluto transit is about letting go and surrender, whereas the key to a Jupiter transit is ?be careful what you wish for, as you may get it?? Hmm? Jupiter transits sound like a coaching session---?do you know what you really want?? whereas a Neptune focused session might be more like: ?No, you?re not losing your mind or getting Alzheimer?s, but you just need to let it be OK to ?not know? right now?and don?t sign on the dotted line either till this transit passes?!?
So?.what?s the problem then?.with astrology? With me? Bottom line: there is no way I or anyone else can say how a particular sign or aspect or transit will be played out. Too much variation; no tight foretelling or ?signatures? for events. So when a planet, like Saturn, crosses the 4th house cusp, I can say to a person-- you?re going to start thinking about moving, or at the least, about radical re-modeling your home?because you?re wanting your inner sense of home and your outer physical home to be aligned, and there?s a change coming. But I have no idea if this will be played with joy or despair or just how the person will "rework" this foundation area of their chart...their home.
I wonder if it doesn?t all come down to the fact that we have free will and we?re separate Souls making choices? And so astrology is more like a weather forecast than a fortune teller?s prediction. I think if a fortune teller or psychic is right, it?s more likely that a person is in their default habitual pattern of doing things, and not aware of all their possibilities. I guess that?s what astrology should do?.make us aware of these opportunities and challenges so that we make the best choices.
But still?I remain reluctant. What happens when we see multiple aspects that are challenging all at the same time? Like what I am facing in the next few years?I wonder if it plants a seed of anxiety? But maybe that?s not bad? I get to sense my mortality, so my decisions might be better. The Buddhists seem to think that meditating upon impermanence is a good idea. I?m not sure?.think I'll go up to the art studio and get out of my head for awhile and into my paints....
- From: "private Papers Of A Reluctant Astrologer"
?Why do you call these ?Private Papers?? Peter asked while clutching my manuscript to his chest. I had just left the sun room, leaving scattered chapters of my book splayed out on the coffee table. I took the papers out of his hand, and sat down with...
- Meeting Alistair. Reading A Chart For The First Time.
?The birth chart is like a conference table, and the planets circling around it are like the different parts of your Self sitting around the table. The Sun is the chairperson and represents your basic identity, the Moon reflects your emotional nature,...
- Mirroring: That Which Is Above To That Which Is Below
Dear Kendra~ I wish I could be like mythogical Merlin here, magically bestowing answers and comfort, but instead, you have me, your friend and mentor, who is more humbly "a reluctant astrologer." If I were him, I would be sharing with you how the Soul...
- Letter #9: Astro-jargon And The Language Of The Heart
Dear Kendra~ Last night I was sitting at dinner between two astrologers who were talking voraciously about their techniques--the rightness of the Placidus or Koch house systems, their views on declinations, mid-points, and orbs, and the disparity between...
- The Private Papers Of A Reluctant Astrologer
To Readers of North Node Astrology~ I've started a new astrological "book in a blog" set up as letters between an older astrologer, Isabelle, who is mentoring a younger women, Kendra. Isabelle has taken on Kendra as a student and she will be privately...
Astrology
Private Journal, August 26
Private Journal, August 26, 2010
It was only in 1920, on this day, that women got the right to vote in the United States! Ah~ how those women struggled ?to have a voice? and how we still struggle to find our true voice, our authentic Self and express it?every one of us.
This language of astrology has become a voice for me. But it?s strange how ambivalent I feel about it! I hate cocktail-talk astrology, and just don?t do it. And when I called Kendra after the last letter about her miscarriage, I certainly didn?t want to ?talk astrology? but the language of the heart.
But there?s more to my reluctance. When I told her that I feel like a ?reluctant astrologer? she asked me what I meant--and I couldn?t find the words! So now as I sit here writing in this journal I?m going to try to ?think it out? and find my voice that is so often reluctant and ambivalent about astrology?.
First there?s the good: this language has given me a voice so that I can speak and counsel others without pathologizing, blaming or shaming. It?s short term therapy?and all therapies?seem to me to me to be the same at the core. Different techniques, yes, and some better at different times, but doesn?t it all come down to: LOVE heals & INSIGHT heals. That?s the heart of it: understanding, catharsis/crying, and love. Love heals.
When astrology ?normalizes? experience, as in ?yes, that?s one of the ways that a Saturn Return will play out in your life? there?s comfort there, as one can feel connected to a larger sense of meaning and patterns?even a God?something that is not all about random chaos, and luck or the lack of it?or will power and the lack of it.
And when an astrologer listens well?there can be a sense of loving connection between them as well as this connection to a larger pattern of things?even if it?s only to sacred wounds we all carry.
There are times when astrology is ?eerily? on target?when what I say and the details of the story of their life synchronize strangely. How could I know those things if astrology wasn?t at least partially true? How could I know that the key to a Pluto transit is about letting go and surrender, whereas the key to a Jupiter transit is ?be careful what you wish for, as you may get it?? Hmm? Jupiter transits sound like a coaching session---?do you know what you really want?? whereas a Neptune focused session might be more like: ?No, you?re not losing your mind or getting Alzheimer?s, but you just need to let it be OK to ?not know? right now?and don?t sign on the dotted line either till this transit passes?!?
So?.what?s the problem then?.with astrology? With me? Bottom line: there is no way I or anyone else can say how a particular sign or aspect or transit will be played out. Too much variation; no tight foretelling or ?signatures? for events. So when a planet, like Saturn, crosses the 4th house cusp, I can say to a person-- you?re going to start thinking about moving, or at the least, about radical re-modeling your home?because you?re wanting your inner sense of home and your outer physical home to be aligned, and there?s a change coming. But I have no idea if this will be played with joy or despair or just how the person will "rework" this foundation area of their chart...their home.
I wonder if it doesn?t all come down to the fact that we have free will and we?re separate Souls making choices? And so astrology is more like a weather forecast than a fortune teller?s prediction. I think if a fortune teller or psychic is right, it?s more likely that a person is in their default habitual pattern of doing things, and not aware of all their possibilities. I guess that?s what astrology should do?.make us aware of these opportunities and challenges so that we make the best choices.
But still?I remain reluctant. What happens when we see multiple aspects that are challenging all at the same time? Like what I am facing in the next few years?I wonder if it plants a seed of anxiety? But maybe that?s not bad? I get to sense my mortality, so my decisions might be better. The Buddhists seem to think that meditating upon impermanence is a good idea. I?m not sure?.think I'll go up to the art studio and get out of my head for awhile and into my paints....
- From: "private Papers Of A Reluctant Astrologer"
?Why do you call these ?Private Papers?? Peter asked while clutching my manuscript to his chest. I had just left the sun room, leaving scattered chapters of my book splayed out on the coffee table. I took the papers out of his hand, and sat down with...
- Meeting Alistair. Reading A Chart For The First Time.
?The birth chart is like a conference table, and the planets circling around it are like the different parts of your Self sitting around the table. The Sun is the chairperson and represents your basic identity, the Moon reflects your emotional nature,...
- Mirroring: That Which Is Above To That Which Is Below
Dear Kendra~ I wish I could be like mythogical Merlin here, magically bestowing answers and comfort, but instead, you have me, your friend and mentor, who is more humbly "a reluctant astrologer." If I were him, I would be sharing with you how the Soul...
- Letter #9: Astro-jargon And The Language Of The Heart
Dear Kendra~ Last night I was sitting at dinner between two astrologers who were talking voraciously about their techniques--the rightness of the Placidus or Koch house systems, their views on declinations, mid-points, and orbs, and the disparity between...
- The Private Papers Of A Reluctant Astrologer
To Readers of North Node Astrology~ I've started a new astrological "book in a blog" set up as letters between an older astrologer, Isabelle, who is mentoring a younger women, Kendra. Isabelle has taken on Kendra as a student and she will be privately...