Let us look at Astrology as a symbolic language or system mirroring the totality of consciousness achievable in human form (J.W. Green). The twelve archetypes of the astrological wheel can be understood as six pairs of opposites complementing each other. When their highest expression and integration is reached, they reflect noble virtues of consciousness (energy) capable of masterfully balancing duality without falling a victim to its extremes. The four elements (fire, earth, air, and water) represent qualities of consciousness. The particular order of the astrological archetypes (various representations of these elements) in the zodiacal wheel is not random. It mirrors the natural path of progression and expansion of consciousness as the four types of energies with their three ways of expressions (cardinal=initiating; fixed = consolidating; mutable = changing) interact together, moving in and out of the center of creation, assisting and challenging each other in the pursuit of higher awareness.
Several principles are calling our attention here: centrifugal and centipedal movement of energy (in other words: projection and its withdrawal); duality, trinity, quaternity, cycles, evolution/involution. Believe it or not, these are the main abstract Natural Law principles governing our lives as we are integral part of the cosmos. There is no stillness, no restrictions or confinement of energy in the Universe, but constant flow. In much the same way the astrological chart is not a constant. The point of all creation is expansion and growth. No matter what life circumstances we find ourselves in, they have the capacity to initiate change within ourselves (in the ways we feel, perceive, believe, act, etc.), which in turn generates changes in our environment. As our awareness about our personal role and participation in the co-creation of our life circumstances increases, we are able to assume more active initiatory role in that process as opposed to passively witnessing what happens to us. Each life gives us the opportunity to expand our consciousness and eventually, bring that precious gift to the totality of creation after leaving the material realms. The consciousness is not lost. It re-appears again seeded in our cellular memory as we initiate our new materialization.
Since there is no natural stagnation existing in the Universe, except caused by free will, the very idea of astrology defining who we are for the entirety of a life span cannot be further from the truth. Astrology cannot and it has never been deterministic in its nature. During the periods of history when this fact was allowed to be, astronomy and astrology were one logos; as well as chemistry and alchemy; physics and metaphysics. When the church establishment came about, it separated the two; announced astrology, alchemy, metaphysics to be “of the devil”; punished “in the name of God” millions of people who did not agree; omitted the principle of reincarnation from its “Holly books”, praised one side of the logos and ridiculed the other, leaving deep scars in the cellular memory of the collective, nowadays known as “collective trauma”. Later on, the almighty power of the consensus culture started referring to astrology as divination system based on causative principle, defining who we are. According to that view, large groups of people with similar planetary placements in their charts would be and act in the similar ways. Forget the nobility and uniqueness of every human life. This attitude ruined astrology’s reputation and allowed very limited understanding of it from a consensus and thus, religious-tainted point of view. Astrology, in its deterministic state, was not assisting the expansion of consciousness anymore but contributing to its gradual diminishment.
This gross misunderstanding of astrology has dominated the collective consciousness for centuries. How did this happen? Did people project onto astrology their own imposed understanding of God as a judgmental yet perfect male figure who is outside of them and sentences them to hell or heaven for eternity depending on their deeds(?!); or it was just an innocent conceptual mistake at its onset which avalanched over the centuries?
Our general misunderstanding of the principle of karma as a punishing/rewarding system had a negative influence on the take on astrology either. The karma misunderstanding was projected onto the “divination system”. Who needed another reminder through astrology of how bad they may have done in the past and a confirmation that certain things will never happen in this life as a result?! People projected their limited awareness of God and the creation onto the concept of karma as well. A perfect Domino effect!
Why is expansion of consciousness so important? And let me use the words “consciousness”, “awareness” and “energy” interchangeably here. The reason why expansion of consciousness is crucial is because when our awareness grows, we can acquire broader understanding of interconnectedness, see more facets to the creation and the creation process, which we can apply in our own life’s creation. That awareness allows us to detach from the immediacy of the environment which usually we perceive as the only reality possible. The heightened energy allows us to tune into other channels of perception and witness our worlds expanding with richness and ample opportunities. Evolution entails consciousness growth or as perceived from the non-physical realm – acquiring of more and refined energy.
Evolutionary Astrology (EA) emphasizes the process of evolution in its potentiality as initiated by our soul and reflected in the astrological chart (life span). It validates the uniqueness of everyone’s life story; the significance and worth of every aspect of our lives with the periods of evolution or occasional involution, which ultimately serves the evolution in a long run. EA’s core point of reference are the Natural Law principles. The twelve astrological archetypes are not static characteristics, but ever flowing and interacting in particular way energies, finding expression in our inner and outer life experience, where constant adjustment takes place.
We start to see how every human being projects their awareness (energy) in different ways, or through different lenses. Regardless of how similar or partially similar the chart placements of different people could be, and even if the people live in one culture and timeline, they will have different life circumstances depending on their focus of awareness defined by cellular memory, prior life experiences, soul’s intention, etc. This phenomenon is observed in cases of monozygotic twins.
“Evolution” implies change towards expansion and growth, as opposed to involution. We typically perceive change as a motion, which has the quality of movement – magnitude and direction. Every physicist or mathematician will confirm that a direction of a movement is geometrically presented as vector. These vectors we usually refer to as “time”. Motion without a specified direction is a scalar quantity. We can also think of time as a dimension/reality, just for a stretch of the imagination.
That is all to say: lives cannot be determined by planets. Determination implies stagnation, confinement, lack of movement. Yet, we are in constant state of development. From EA perspective the planets and the stars do not define us. When we are experiencing a daring situation in life this is not because a challenging aspect (angular relation) between planets in the Solar system is causing it. The aspect and our experience are happening simultaneously. Remember the principle “as above so bellow”? Yet, we can also ponder the opposite – “as below so above” because we cannot necessarily swear on who is the projector and the projectee. Do planets project their consciousness onto us, or our state of consciousness is projected onto the planets. M. Jones says that “the planetary bodies are symbolic correspondences to the inner struggle we already are experiencing as played out into the cosmos of which we are a living part”. This notion is not new. Apparently, Plotinus – a philosopher in the Hellenistic tradition knew about it way back in the 200s BC. It was his understanding that “the stars are not causes of our experience [but] correspond to our nature as the potential that we contain as we are born into this field, or into life”. (M. Jones, “Healing the Soul”)
The astrological chart instead is an expression of our karmic potentiality, which is based on our prior experiences (point of focus), defining who we are (how we relate to ourselves). It reveals our “unalterable past and probable future result” (Sri Yukteswar Giri). “Karma in that sense is the creation of reality from the core of our being” (M. Jones, “Healing the Soul”). Yet quite often we are unaware of our creative faculties, even less aware of our core. In EA that core/the bottom line is reflected by the placement of Pluto in the astrological chart. It establishes the starting point for the current life. The evolutionary goal is the Pluto Polarity point. The vehicle (the Ego) through which the soul experiences life and relates to itself on a day-to-day basis experiencing the tension between the draw of the habitual past and the promising light of the new (future) is expressed through the Moon’s placement in the chart and its South Node and North Node.
The areas in the chart containing our bottom-line orientation as deep-seated sense of security (Pluto) and the life scenarios from the past/childhood (South Node) are the major point of focus, our identity in the current life is preoccupied with. These areas are holding significant part of our energy with various degrees of stuckness due to the fixation of consciousness on their manifested dynamics. The fixation could be so intense that it can be referred to a blind spot of awareness, interfering with the full exploration of our evolutionary potential (the areas in the chart described by Pluto Polarity Point and the North Node). When we find ourselves running in circles (loops) in certain areas of life, this is a sure indicator that there is some “unfinished business” there and a piece of us is stuck (in some time vector) on trying to figure out the conundrum. These are areas of life where it feels like we cannot fully embrace and express our creative potential. It’s just blocked. Such “loops” could translate in physical reality experiences like: “No one notices me”, “I cannot express myself”, I can never have money”, “That would always happen to me”, etc. with a general feeling of helplessness when it comes to figuring a way out. Something is simply missing.
We can call the missing part a lack of discernment. Our awareness around the issue has suffered for variety of reasons, but mainly because of certain ways we had gotten entangled with the polarity principle, which has resulted in fragmentation of our consciousness/congruency. Through very meticulous scientific approach to chart analysis, EA pinpoints these areas with precision and provides guidance through a specific for each individual strategy of how they can be addressed, worked with, and transmuted so that we get out of the loop, the energy flow gets restored, and we start moving freely with confidence and joy where the congruency of our pursuits fills our lives with meaning.
Through EA we can recover the deep knowledge of our inner connectedness with the cosmos, the relativity of time, the multidimensionality of the soul, the deep understanding of the sacredness of life.
It is the noble role of astrology in its healing capacity to assist in gathering the scattered pieces of our consciousness and bring them back together, restoring our wholeness and thus, our connection with the source of creation – the true allegiance without re[a]legion. It’s what Isis did, gathering the pieces of Osiris’ body from the waters of the Nile River.