Category Archives: Saturday Extra!

Saturday Extra!Julian Assange Prepares for Court Ruling

Perhaps this post on Julian Assange, the Man behind WikiLeaks, should be subtitled “The Never-Ending Story.” But then, that might be a bit too forbearing.

Still, a lot of people are continuously providing new episodes for this ongoing saga.

There is Julian Assange’s former co-worker, who has published a book in which he describes Assange as a sex-obsessed, despotic megalomaniac. Interestingly, this man has also recently launched his own website called Openleaks.com, which might be a clue as to why he has such an interest in discrediting Assange.

Then there is the Swedish prime minister, who has openly called Assange “public enemy No.1,” thereby giving away that this is indeed more than an inquiry into rape allegations.

And, last but not least, the cyber underground organisation Anonymous has uncovered a US government plot, hitched on the Bank of America and to be carried out by various security firms, to hack into Wikileaks and prevent it from publishing sensitive material on banks and bankers – at a cost of $2 million for the American taxpayer. It is quite obvious that a lot more hinges on Assange’s current trial than the happiness of two jilted lovers.

So, what will happen on Thursday, February 24? The British judge who is supposed to determine Assange’s fate has adjourned the pronouncement of his verdict until that date. But will he have come to any final conclusions? And what will they be? Let’s have a look at the chart, shall we? (Click here to view chart.) It is set for opening of court in London.

With Gemini rising, we have a different significator for Mr. Assange than in previous charts. He is now shown by Mercury and the Moon as co-significator. The judge, however, is still signified by Saturn, as in all the other hearings. With ‘his’ planet in retrograde motion, the judge has already adjourned twice, so he might do it again.

But there is something strange going on with the judge’s planet: note that it appears in the sixth house without any connecting aspect lines. At first glance, that would indicate the judge is acting completely on his own– a bit of a wildcard, really, that could take off in any direction.

Looking a bit deeper, though, we find that Saturn actually is in league with Venus, since they are in each other’s signs, forming what is called “a mutual reception.” According to traditional rules, planets in mutual reception cooperate and can even exchange places. This would put Venus into Libra and the sixth house of mercenaries, while Saturn would then move to Capricorn and the ninth. The judge will most likely voice his opinion in the matter, and what he has to say will likely reflect the objectives of Assange’s secret enemies. With Taurus intercepted in the twelfth house, Venus is one of their significators and describes them as powerful political or financial forces (Capricorn), situated abroad (ninth house). What’s more, the judge is shown as possibly being in cahoots with them!

Let’s look at Assange’s position in all of this. His main significator is Mercury in Pisces in the eleventh house. Even though the eleventh house is that of the “good daimon,” indicating protection, Mercury is in a very weak position here. It’s flanked by Mars, main ruler of the twelfth house of secret enemies and self-undoing, and by the Sun, ruler of the fourth and fifth house (the end of the matter, and sexuality or glitz and glamour, respectively). I expect some more of Assange’s celebrity friends making a spectacle of themselves, but whether that is helpful or not remains to be seen. With roughly a degree between Mercury and the Sun, Assange may have to wait another week or month until the end of this particular matter, i.e. the court case in Britain.

Assange’s co-significator is the Moon. In Scorpio, it harkens back to Assange’s natal chart, where it conjoins his first-house Jupiter this morning, which is a positive sign. But within the court session chart, this Moon is unaspected and therefore rendered ineffective. Even if we count the outer planets in – which usually isn’t done in this kind of chart – the Moon is only approaching an aggressive connection with Neptune (confusion, deception) and an easy-flowing trine to Uranus, the unpredictable bolt of lightning. Interestingly, Assange’s significators are the only traditional planets in this chart that are not involved in any receptions, i.e. covert cooperation!

All in all, the chart reflects the muddle-up this case has been from the beginning. In order to cut through the chase, someone might use outright deception. With the Moon, i.e. Assange, being opposed by the Arabic Part of Treachery at 27°54’ Taurus, we know which direction this deception would be coming from. Once again, it might be a good thing for Assange, if the judge stuck with Saturn’s retrograde motion and adjourned yet another time.

Helene

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Helene Schnitzer is an astrologer living in Glastonbury, England. Her specialities include Traditional, Horary and Hellenistic Astrology, and Astro*Carto*Graphy. Click HERE to read her full bio. You can also find more information on her website, Trans-It! AstroLogistics.

The Lunar North Node and Your Spiritual Journey

Following Ruth’s previous article on Living Soul Astrology, I asked her what would happen if the North Node was conjunct the Ascendant. Her reply was the gift of this wonderful article. I learned a lot from it and hope you do, too. ~Pat

Stars on the Move. Image courtesy NASA/ESA.

In a recent post, I explained how your Lunar North Node is like a prescription for changing your past-life conditioning. Your Ascendant is your Soul Vibration, while your North Node indicates a possible pathway that supports your Soul’s development by breaking the patterns of past-life conditioning (your South Node). Your North Node is not your Soul’s essence, but rather a spiritual path of choice.

Remember the Moon doesn’t actually possess any “nodes!” Meaning they aren’t actually physical things. They are points in space, on the ecliptic, where the Moon intersects the path of the Sun. This tells me two things: first, they can be regarded as “trailmarkers” pointing to a well-worn path, and second, they intersect the path of the Sun, meaning they want our attention. They are a “heads up” for our spiritual journey, because they are showing us where we have recurring patterns that limit us at the personality level.

So what happens when the North Node and Ascendant are in the same sign?

In this case, there is increased potential for the individual concerned to transcend the personality vibration of the sign and shift into alignment, spiritual awakening and fusion of the Soul and personality. For this to happen, the individual still has to choose the path that is presented to them, shift their attention inwards, and be open to developing their senses and perceptual capacity. Again, just like a prescription, in this case it might have a faster effect, but only if you take all the medicine!

Once you choose a spiritual path or practice, as indicated by your North Node, this maximizes the potential for you to not only hear your Soul’s calling, but to transcend the personality attachments of the sign and give full expression to the Soul vibration of the sign. The North node in this position indicates that of all the possible spiritual paths and teachers available, one that invites the individual to develop these qualities would be most effective. However, our focus must always be one of going within, if we are to make spiritual progress.

For example, let’s say the North Node and Ascendant are both in Gemini. The personality ruler of Gemini is Mercury, but the Soul ruler is Venus*. Both planets are said to have a lower and higher vibration. Well, to be more accurate, it’s the same energy but is perceived differently, depending upon the individual’s level of consciousness and perception. Depending upon your own degree of spiritual progress, you would be more influenced by the personality ruler or the Soul ruler of that sign.

So through undertaking typical Gemini activities of writing, speaking, and communicating, the spiritually (inwardly) inclined individual could gradually experience a spiritual opening. There is the potential to experience a shift in their perception from the purely rational mind, with its lower Mercurial qualities of merely “passing along information,” to a place where they integrate their higher, intuitive mind and the higher purpose of Mercury: opening themselves more fully to intuition and creating a bridge to higher mind**. As a result they will develop an ability to perceive, receive and convey the higher Venusian vibrations of transpersonal, unconditional, Love and right relations.

Our spiritual journey is one of exploring our inner world, opening our heart and mind to higher possibilities and recognizing Divinity, within ourselves. The very word “esoteric” derives from the Greek root “eso,” which means “within” (as compared with exoteric Astrology, derived from the Greek root “exo,” which means “inclined outwards”).

Soul Astrology and Esoteric Astrology are the Astrology of our inner world, our spiritual journey. Given that our personality is a mask we wear to interact with the outside world, when we begin to move deeply inwards on our Soul Journey, it stands to reason that our Natal Chart takes on a deeper significance.

[quote cite=”Lama Thubten Yeshe”]I hope that you understand what the word “spiritual” really means. It means to search for, to investigate, the true nature of the mind. There’s nothing spiritual outside. My rosary isn’t spiritual; my robes aren’t spiritual. Spiritual means the mind, and spiritual people are those who seek its nature.[/quote]

In Esoteric Astrology,* it is said that, in terms of our spiritual development, each of us is either on the “Mutable Cross,” the “Fixed Cross” or the “Cardinal Cross.” The Mutable Cross means we are wholly personality-driven, with no experience of our Soul. The Fixed Cross means we are awakening, and although we are still largely personality-driven, we’re beginning to awaken and have some Soul Awareness. Those on the Cardinal Cross are fully awakened, in the fact that they have completed the process of Soul Integration; the fusion of Soul and personality is complete, and they are Soul-Centred Beings.

Few people on the planet are on the Cardinal Cross, and those that are, are highly enlightened spiritual teachers. However, many of us are beginning the journey from the Mutable Cross to the Fixed Cross as we go deeper into our spiritual journey and seek to experience for ourselves the truth of our Soul.

There is no way for an Astrologer to tell just by looking at a chart whether a Soul is on the Mutable, Fixed or Cardinal Cross. This can only be deduced by learning about the character of the person and through the use of intuition. For example we might deduce that someone like the Dalai Lama would be on the Cardinal Cross, because of his highly developed spiritual realizations, but in reality only he would know.

The purpose of our spiritual journey is to progress from the externally-focused Mutable Cross, with its emphasis solely on personality, to the internally-focused Cardinal Cross, in which we have full fusion of personality and Soul. It is a very gradual, inner journey, and the lunar North Node is acting as a pointer to steer us away from repeating habits that could keep us attached to personality and stuck on the Mutable Cross for longer than we need to be.

It is time to wake up and evolve. It is a challenge, and there are no guarantees. We can still get it wrong if we undertake North Node activity in a very externally-focused and personality driven way, with our attention “inclined outwards!” Your North Node is pointing the way to avoid repeating past habits, and this will be most effective if you also shift your focus and “incline inwards.” To benefit fully, you need to keep turning your attention inwards and familiarise yourself with your inner world.

Ruth

* Esoteric Astrology (1951) by Alice Bailey. Lucis Press, London. The work of The Tibetan (Master DK) as channeled through Alice Bailey.

** In Esoteric Astrology, Mercury is said to play an important part in the development of the inner “antahkarana” or Rainbow Bridge, which (once fully developed) will connect us to our own higher consciousness or Higher Self.

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Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Follow Ruth:

Living Soul Astrology, Part II: Your Personality Signs

In this fascinating article, Ruth explains how your Sun, Moon and Rising signs fit together and how the lunar North Node supports your Soul’s development. ~Pat

Stars on the Move. Image courtesy NASA/ESA.

In Part One, we looked at your Soul Sign and what that could tell you in terms of the current stage of your Soul’s Development. However, your Soul’s development is not something you usually have conscious awareness of in your everyday experience.

Your everyday experience is shaped, received and perceived through the filters of your personality. The simplest definition of “ego-personality” is when your mind is thinking about itself. It is how we experience ourselves and who we believe ourselves to be: our tendencies, pre-dispositions, habits, gifts, talents, urges, reactions, beliefs and opinions. It is our overall feeling of “there’s a ME in here” (usually swiftly followed up by an ongoing story of what that ME is all about!).

It is the sum of all our learned behaviour, from this and past lives, our self-image and our self-concept. It is both the mask we show to the world and the window through which we see and experience the world. All of this might feel very real to us now, yet it has all been picked up along the way and added to our underlying true nature.

Our Soul is our underlying true nature, our Divine “pure” essence (in the sense that it cannot be tainted by anything we have collected). To understand this, let’s use water as an example. It is, by nature, wet. We can add things to it: it can be cold water, hot water, coloured water, salty water, etc. However, nothing we add to it will ever change its essential wetness.

Similarly, our Soul is, by nature, goodness and love. Everything else we believe ourselves to be (our ego-personality) has been added to it and, although we experience it as ourselves, it is not our true Self. Our Soul vibration is our purest nature, and this is indicated by our Ascendant.

[headline h=”5″]The Personality Signs: Your Sun and Your Moon[/headline]

In Soul Astrology this collection of habits and reactions is symbolised by your Sun and Moon signs. They represent your habitual (learned) ways of thinking and acting. The Sun is that aspect of our personality which we are aware of, conscious of; it is in the light. The Moon is that which we are unaware of. It is in the dark, our shadow personality.

Our Moon Sign is at least of equal importance to our Sun Sign, if not more so. Because it is our shadow, it is more difficult for us to see, and therefore has a quality of sneaking up on us and sabotaging our efforts. When we have reacted to somebody unconsciously and then later regretted it, we have probably been overwhelmed by an emotional reaction that is in alignment with the qualities of our Moon Sign.

The learned behaviour of our Sun and Moon signs is so powerful that we identify with it. We feel as though it is “who we are.” Our spiritual path involves dis-identifying from these personality traits and reactions by changing our behaviour patterns and by recognizing that while we might have those tendencies and abilities, we are so much more than that. In the case of our Sun Sign, while it is never easy to challenge habits – especially ones reinforced by strong ego-identification – it is made somewhat easier by the fact that these qualities are “out in the open.” It makes it easy to see what we are working with.

The Moon Sign indicates our innate emotional state and who we become in relating with others. It is often others who recognise our Moon-Sign traits, before we do, because it is when others push our buttons that we get to see our shadow-nature. It is revealed to us in our reactions to them. We then have the opportunity to heal these patterns, which is why relationships are such good “Soul-training” grounds!

[headline h=”5″]The Moon’s Nodes[/headline]

I read an excellent article recently on the Moon’s nodes – however the author kept referring to me as a Virgo Soul, because I have a Virgo North Node. I am a Cancer Ascendant, so the reality is, I am a Cancer Soul, but with a Virgo option. Being more Virgo-like and developing Virgoan qualities will support my development as a Cancer Soul.

Your North Node is like a prescription for changing your past-life conditioning. Your Ascendant is your Soul Vibration, while your North Node indicates a possible pathway that supports your Soul’s development by breaking the patterns of past-life conditioning (your South Node). Your North Node is not your Soul’s essence, but rather a spiritual path of choice.

In describing and defining yourself I invite you to consider using your Ascendant first, so it sounds something like this: “I’m a Cancer Soul with a Gemini/Leo personality” (Cancer Ascendant, Gemini Sun, Leo Moon.) This description sums up our individual spiritual path: the challenge to release identification with our personality traits, and lead with our Soul qualities.

Living Soul Astrology means using our horoscope as a living tool to support our spiritual journey. By thoroughly understanding all the energies at play in our natal chart, understanding what stage of development our Soul is at, and the challenges that our personality signs create, our Astrological profile becomes a valuable tool that supports our process of integrating personality and Soul.

Once we are fully conscious of our Sun and Moon sign behaviours, and are no longer identified with them, our Soul begins to use the qualities of those signs, in the expression of its purpose in this lifetime.

Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Follow Ruth:

Saturday Extra!Looking Back, Looking Forward

Bust of Janus, the Roman god of gates, doors, and beginnings. Vatican Museum, Rome.

January is named for Janus, the Roman god with two faces, one peering back into the past and the other looking toward into the future.

There’s sure a lot to look back on. Astrologers knew years before 2010 arrived that it would be an eventful year. Among other things, we predicted there would be earth events, environmental disasters, political upheaval, police crackdowns, and economic collapse. All of that happened and more. We also predicted personal challenges and sweeping changes, depending on where the year’s powerful planetary configurations fell in individual charts.

Humans are wired to stay with familiar patterns, even when they don’t work – which is why the “shock and awe” of the cardinal T-square wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Many of my clients have complained over the years that they were stuck, and more and more people have come to understand that it’s possible for circumstances to change in their lives, but the underlying patterns remain stubbornly ingrained.

All of that has changed since the T-square. At the very least, the worn-out and decaying structures – in society, in our individual lives, in our thought patterns, perhaps within the planet itself – began falling apart so that something new could take their place. The process began slowing down after September, when the planets moved out of the tight cardinal T-square formation. Not coincidentally, we experienced flashbacks in December, after Mercury and Mars conjoined Pluto, and Mercury went retrograde.

As 2011 begins, we’re still in a state of shock. Even those of us who experienced wonderful breakthroughs are reeling, mostly because circumstances changed so quickly. Everything is still in a state of flux and likely will remain that way this year. We’re riding a fast-moving current, and it’s all we can do just to hang on.

The good news is that 2011 won’t be another 2010. Rather, it will bring an unfolding and ripening of whatever was initiated last year. Whatever was broken down entirely – including economies – will begin building up again, but in new and different ways. What still needs to break down further before it can be reassembled will continue to fall apart.

And here is where we come in. We will indeed have choices, and our thoughts and actions will be critically important. Banish from your thoughts any notions of going back to how things used to be. Focus instead on how you as an individual and we as a collective can do things differently – radically differently – to achieve a different outcome.

I’m reminded of a quote from R. Buckminster Fuller:

[callout]You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.[/callout]

That is our mission in 2011. It will be accomplished through continuing spiritual awakening. In our personal lives, we can bring new worlds into being by giving less energy to the old way of doing things that doesn’t work and doesn’t allow us to live to our fullest potential.

On a larger scale, corrupt and dysfunctional systems continue to exist as long as people feel powerless to do anything about them. As more and more people awaken, we’ll understand what our options are and work to bring them into reality. I am not naïve enough to think we’ll have a bloodless coup – indeed, violent public protest over the next several years is virtually guaranteed, with rebellious Uranus creeping toward an exact square to Pluto in authoritarian Capricorn. In addition to the general predictions I made in Part II of an article I wrote last year on the cardinal T-square, we may be headed for a class war, too.

The Romans honored Janus as the god of endings and beginnings and the guardian of gates and doorways. Here’s a nice summary from Wikipedia:

Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.

Never was this symbolism more meaningful. We aren’t just standing on the threshold of a new year, but of a new universe.

Happy New Year!
Pat

Living Soul Astrology, Part I: Your Soul Sign

In today’s post, Ruth Hadikin takes us deeper into the exploration of Soul Astrology by explaining the concept of the “Soul Sign.” ~Pat

Stars on the Move. Image courtesy NASA/ESA.

The purpose of any spiritual path or practice is to support us in integrating our Soul and personality by developing Soul-awareness, recognition and identification.

Soul Astrology supports us in this process and our spiritual path by helping us to discern which of our personal qualities, traits, and tendencies are expressions of our Soul-light, and which is learned behaviour (personality-based).

When we begin to look at our natal chart from a spiritual perspective, it is important to remember that we are talking about energy. If you could see your natal chart in 3D (or better still multi-dimensionally), you would see a glorious rainbow-coloured mandala – indicating all the dynamic energies that combine to make up your energetic field. If you could see that visually, you would be able to detect a core vibration, a pure essence, almost like a fabric into which all the other energies are woven. This “fabric” would be your Soul Sign. A beautiful sight to behold!

[headline h=”5″]Your Soul Sign[/headline]

Your Ascendant (Rising Sign) is the essence of your Soul, because it comes in first. It is because your Soul is already resonating at that vibration that it can incarnate at that time and place. Your Ascendant creates a window of opportunity for your Soul to incarnate at that precise moment, in that precise location, because it is the same frequency. So for example, it is because you are a Cancer Soul that you incarnate when Cancer is rising on the horizon. It is your “wavelength,” and so you are able to “beam in” on this frequency!

It is important to be clear that it is not because Cancer is on the Ascendant that this makes you a Cancer Soul. You are a Cancer Soul already. Your Ascendant heralds the “dawn of your life” and, as such, is therefore the most important sign in Soul Astrology and can be considered your Soul Sign.

One of my mentors, Soul Astrologer Errol Weiner, explains in his book Transpersonal Astrology how your Soul stays in the same sign for seven incarnations, and it is possible, by measuring the degree of the Ascendant, to estimate how many lifetimes your Soul has been in this sign. So, in our example, if you have 14º Cancer on the Ascendant, you may have been a Cancer Soul for three or four lifetimes.

So have you always been a Cancer Soul? No. Your Soul is growing, changing, and passing through stages of development, just like your physical body does. When you were an infant, you went through the developmental stages of eating solid food, teething, sitting, standing, walking, and talking. Similarly, according to The Tibetan in Esoteric Astrology by Alice Bailey (AB), your Soul also passes through developmental stages.

[headline h=”5″]The Stages of Soul Development[/headline]

For the purpose of understanding Soul development, we can think of the twelve zodiac signs in three categories. The first four signs are the signs of “preparation.” This is where your “infant” Soul is growing, developing qualities, and taking shape. The next four signs are the signs of “crisis” or “challenge” where your “teenager” Soul has to begin functioning and applying these qualities. The latter four signs are the signs of service, where your mature Soul recognises its purpose, is skilled, and knows what to do in order to serve for the highest good of humanity.

The Signs of Preparation: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer
In Esoteric Astrology, the Tibetan (AB) explains how your Soul begins in Aries as a “point of light in the mind of God.” In Taurus, this point becomes a beam of light, and in Gemini, the beam splits into multiple beams of light. In Cancer, the light becomes the diffuse light in form.

The Signs of Crisis or Challenge: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
If you have one of these signs on the Ascendant, you will recognise that struggle and/or challenge, have been major themes throughout your life.

In Leo comes the first “battle.” Your personality has to “fight” to individuate and separate from the mass consciousness of Cancer. The light form has to individuate and become a “Self.” In Virgo, this Self turns to Service by flowing love and light into physical matter.

In Libra, there is an apparent “resting phase” where your Soul exercises ethical choice to harmonise opposite polarities. It is a time of synthesis. (Similarly, in childbirth there is also sometimes a brief resting phase after contractions and before pushing begins). This is important, because there is a kind of birth in Scorpio. As the final sign of “crisis,” Scorpio enters the battlefield, where the lower desires of your personality battle the higher calling of your Soul. Crucifixion of your personality and integration with your Soul happens in Scorpio.

The Signs of Service: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
In Sagittarius, the true goal is recognised, and there is the potential for true liberation of your mind. Capricorn is the sign of the disciple – the goal is known and your Soul at this point begins the inner journey, walking the spiritual path that leads to the ultimate goal.

According to Esoteric Astrology, in Aquarius your Soul becomes the “World Server,” and in Pisces, the “World Saviour.” These latter signs are the most mysterious and esoteric of all, because humanity has not yet reached an evolved stage of consciousness whereby we can fully understand the true spiritual meaning of these signs and their Divine energies.

At the level of Soul vibration, it is probably best to think of the twelve zodiac signs as twelve Divine Intelligences, or Beings that are working with us, at each stage of our Soul’s development. It takes us around 84 lifetimes to complete a “Soul cycle” through all twelve signs. What happens once our Soul completes a full cycle? No one knows for sure, but my guess is that we start all over again, only from a higher position on the spiral, and so we evolve.

In Part II we will look at the personality signs, why they form an important part of your spiritual journey, and what it means to be living Soul Astrology, as part of your spiritual practice.

Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Follow Ruth:

Aquarius-Leo: Why Your Ego Matters in the New Age (II)

As promised, here is the second installment of Ruth’s excellent article on Soul Astrology. ~Pat

In part one, we discussed Nietzches’ three stages of consciousness: the Camel, the Lion and the Child.

If we look around at our world today there may be a significant number of individuals who are indeed waking up and walking their own individualised spiritual path, but there are an even greater number of “Camels,” who still follow the herd, follow the group, want to belong, be in a gang, go along with the family, “toe the Corporate line,” want to “fit in,” not “make waves,” follow the latest fashion, drop out and use drugs, alcohol, TV and many forms of Piscean-type escapism.

The polarity of Aquarius’ opposite sign, Leo, is needed, for Leo brings with it the path of Self-Realization. It takes a Lion’s heart and courage to begin our inner journey to Self-realization. If we polarize too far to the Aquarian extreme, we run the risk of making “humanity” – a utopian ideal of the collective – more important than the individuals within it. This is when ecological idealism becomes imposed on people rather than structures which support individuals in developing their self-awareness. Indeed this is where communism went wrong.

Our present-day experience of Communism is an example of when the ideal Aquarian group utopia is implemented before people are ready. Camels cannot do it, and the result is a faceless collective in which individualism is suppressed. Individuality is squashed and people are not allowed to make waves. This is where our lovely Leo will stand up and roar: What about ME? There is a real Self and a false Self, and it is Leo’s job to figure out which is which, by exploring the Self.

The Aquarian Age is the “new age” that we are entering. We are on the cusp of that age now as we leave the Piscean age that began in AD 1. Each age lasts approximately 2,160 years*. Esoteric Astrology tells us that during this new age we will each experience our own Soul. This will be a gradual process and not a sudden, blinding revelation. It is important to note that we are not in the Aquarian Age yet; we are still in the Piscean Age, but on the cusp. So our minds are still fogged by the illusion, fear, and confusion of lower Piscean consciousness.

Every individual matters. Every Lion who has the courage to stand up and choose an individualised path, who breaks free from the old patterns of “tribal thinking,” will make a difference – especially when those individuals have begun to walk the path of their own inner truth. Look at some of the most “radical” people of our age: Nelson Mandela, and most recently Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi. People who stood alone and stood out were persecuted for it, and yet on a personal level radiate such warmth, love and peace. It is through such heart-centred and courageous individuals that the Aquarian dream of equality and humanitarianism will be realized in the Aquarian Age.

Our collective spiritual awakening will be a gradual process that will take place over the next 2,200 years. The Age of Aquarius will bring “mystic revelations and the mind’s true liberation” (just as the song said!). But we aren’t there yet. We need a bridge, and Soul Astrology can be just such a bridge for those who resonate with it.

Soul Astrology is the Astrology of our inner journey. It supports individuals in waking up and embarking upon their own unique spiritual path. It is a bridge between the old world and the new age. It allows us to read a natal chart from a conventional perspective and from a spiritual perspective. It is a vehicle which can ferry us across the river on our journey to higher consciousness.

Ruth

* The earth makes a 25,625-year orbit through the 12 constellations of the Zodiac – the precession of the equinoxes. This is known as a “Great Year.” During this time it spends about 2,160 years in each sign. In addition, the Great Year can also be divided into five “World Ages,” which last approx 5,125 years. These are the World Ages of the Mayan calendar; however sometimes a World Age is referred to as the 2,160-year period. There are also other systems which refer to World Ages, such as the Yugas in Hindu cosmology. Although this seems potentially confusing, all becomes relevant in terms of Soul Astrology. While the dates vary, the conditions they describe do not. So if we are speaking less in terms of a physical tangible time period and more in terms of a “developmental stage in consciousness,” they become meaningful and make more sense.

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This article is an extract from “Evolving Consciousness, Soul Astrology and the Aquarian Age,” an ongoing series in the “Living Soul Astrology” section of Life Coaching Magazine.

(You can read more about Ruth on my new Associates page. ~pq)

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Aquarius-Leo: Why Your Ego Matters in the New Age

I am very pleased to introduce you to Ruth Hadikin, my colleague in the UK who specializes in Soul Astrology. In the first part of this two-part article, Ruth introduces us to the origins and fundamentals of this esoteric branch of astrology. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (You can read more about Ruth on my new Associates page.) ~Pat

Soul Astrology draws upon Psychological Astrology, Transpersonal Astrology and Esoteric Astrology. Soul Astrology is a bridge to get us from ‘here’ to ‘there’. Where is here? Our current psychological state in which our sense of identity stems from our egoic mind, and self-concepts based on personality traits. Where is ‘there’? An evolved post-egoic state in which our sense of identity comes from a true ‘realization’ of ourselves as spiritual beings: based on our own inner experience.

With Alice Bailey as his ‘channel’*, the Tibetan wrote the work known as ‘Esoteric Astrology’. It was said at the time of publishing that we really wouldn’t have the consciousness to understand most of it, and that it would take Astrologers of the future to interpret it. Esoteric Astrology concerns itself largely with ray energies, the destiny of humankind, and nations. It is a science of energies and triangles, that are used to create energetic fields which, in turn, support creation and sacred geometry. In comparison with the personality-based Astrology of the day, the role of personality was minimised.

The Astrology of Rays and the Science of Triangles will become increasingly relevant, once we have collectively transcended ego, but we are a long way from that Aquarian utopia. If we try to run before we can walk there is a danger here of great delusion. We can believe ourselves to have surpassed (transcended) ego when indeed we are still in the pre-egoic state. In order to transcend our ego, we must first pass through this important stage in our spiritual development.

The challenge for the Aquarian age is to separate beliefs, man-made ideas and delusion from spiritual truth. The German philosopher Friedrich Neitzche spoke of three stages of consciousness: the Camel, the Lion and the Child. The Camel represents tribal consciousness, where we follow the herd, follow the masses, and go along with the collective consciousness. The Camels are sleeping – no great awakening here! This is the pre-egoic state.

The Lion represents individualisation – the ability and the willingness to stand alone. Separate. Apart from the herd. In terms of our personal spiritual development this is the development of, and identification with, our ego. The Lions (represented by Leo) are waking up. This is our currently emerging egoic state.

The Child represents the ‘free spirit’ once we are liberated from our egoic challenges and delusions. This is the post-egoic state. Our spirit is ‘free’. The Child is our fully awakened, or enlightened, Self.

[headline h=”5″]Why Your Ego Matters![/headline]

What is our ego? The word ego is misused so much in so-called ‘new age’ and spiritual circles, and often in a derogatory way. (Indeed it is often used in such a way as to try and suppress the newly-emerging ego). A simple definition of ego is ‘when the mind is thinking about itself’. If you are thinking you are (or are not) something, that is ego. Who you really are cannot be thought about.

We spend a lot of time and money trying to get rid of our ego, thinking we have transcended it, only to trip over it and realize – oops! There ‘it’ is again! Yet our ‘ego’ is very important, and without it we could not experience our own, personal, individualised, Soul.

Without individuals experiencing their own inner spiritual journey, there would be no ‘new age’. There would be no spiritual age of awakening for who would be awakening? It is individuals who awaken, not ‘collectives’.

To be continued …

Ruth

* I use the word channel, but it is often thought that the Tibetan (who later became known as the Master DK) was alive and well and the Abbot of a monastery in Tibet at the time. So this could have been an example of telepathic transmission between their two minds.

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This article is an extract from “Evolving Consciousness, Soul Astrology and the Aquarian Age,” an ongoing series in the “Living Soul Astrology” section of Life Coaching Magazine.

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Saturday Extra!The Fogs of Neptune

Neptune returns direct today, and it’s fitting that I’m literally surrounded by fog. It sure feels that way internally, with all the late nights catching up on my backlog of consultations.

We’d love to love Neptune, who at his best symbolizes love unlimited by space or time. He (some call him “she”) is said to be a higher vibration of Venus, whose love can be selfish and demanding. However, there is no denying the other side of Neptune, the one that can trick us into seeing something that’s not there … or, as is more often the case, not seeing something that is.

As he’s at a standstill today, we may see both sides, especially with Venus retrograde and about to go from Scorpio, the sign of her detriment, back into Libra, one of the two signs she rules. It’s not so easy to love someone with all their flaws, idiosyncrasies and ways they differ from us. When we do, magic happens, and that’s the beautiful side of Neptune.

The alternative is to put them on a pedestal – the infamous “rose colored glasses” aspect of Neptune – but of course they inevitably come tumbling down, and we feel deceived.

Neptune also is the planet of dreams and visions, but we need to take great care here, too. As I’ve said before, channeling is a tricky business. You can’t believe everything you hear on the astral plane.

Time for another cup of coffee…

Pat

Retro look created by Indian designer Shantanu Goenka. Photo by Manan Vatsyayana for Agence France-Presse.

Venus went retrograde yesterday, and everyone is waiting to see what it will mean.

When Venus is retrograde, relationships can suffer, and that includes international relations, since Venus is, among other things, the planet of diplomacy. In terms of our personal relationships, though, I think this Venus retrograde period is going to give us a big chance to work through some serious issues and come out better in the end.

Scorpio is often seen as the sign of obsession, and Venus retrograde in Scorpio certainly could bring about a lot of that, especially if she’s hitting a sensitive part of your chart. Obsessions can be extremely uncomfortable and cause us to doubt our sanity.

As I noted in my weekly forecast, Venus is in an interesting three-way reception with Pluto, ruler of Scorpio, and Saturn, ruler of Capricorn. Pluto in Capricorn is about destroying underlying structures that are rotten and outdated, while Saturn in Libra brings balance, fairness, and equity. That obsession that’s driving you crazy could well be a sign that something is out of balance in your life and needs to be addressed.

Rather than try to ignore those obsessions or control them (how Plutonian is it to try to control our Plutonian urges?), I usually advise throwing yourself into those thoughts in order to understand what’s beneath them. They’re there for a reason, and if you try to ignore them, the obsessions will just get worse. This retrograde Venus period could be a great time to go into counseling to get to the bottom of what’s eating at you.

Another possibility to consider is that more of us may connect with relationships from past lives, or what I prefer to call “other lives,” since time isn’t linear. Several of my recent clients have asked me about past lives and karmic relationships. I’m definitely seeing a trend, and it makes sense that we might start to remember loves from previous incarnations with Venus retrograde in Scorpio, in a three-way reception with Pluto and Saturn.

Today (Saturday), the Moon in Scorpio conjoins Venus and Mars, and this connection could provide us with some early hints of what the next six weeks will bring. Keep your antennae up for those messages from beyond, and if you’re obsessing about someone or something, you may be able to detach – perhaps the true message of Venus retrograde in Scorpio – through a willingness to confront yourself and stay open to whatever that message is trying to tell you.

I can almost guarantee you that it won’t be as bad as you fear.

Pat

Related article: Pluto and Obsession in Relationships

RealAstrologers

The astrology of world affairs, human evolution, the future, and the state of the universe.

Category Archives: Saturday Extra!

Saturday Extra!Julian Assange Prepares for Court Ruling

The Lunar North Node and Your Spiritual Journey

Living Soul Astrology, Part II: Your Personality Signs

Saturday Extra!Looking Back, Looking Forward

Living Soul Astrology, Part I: Your Soul Sign

Aquarius-Leo: Why Your Ego Matters in the New Age (II)

Aquarius-Leo: Why Your Ego Matters in the New Age

Saturday Extra!The Fogs of Neptune

Recommended Reading: The Future in the Stars

Saturday Extra! Reflecting on Venus Retrograde