Category Archives: Spirituality

In posts to date, I’ve investigated many different way to astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats led by July Hall many years ago as well as a very special technique, the Draconic chart, which I learned about from Christeen Skinner, a clever and articulate financial astrologer here in the UK.

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To demonstrate how this all fits together, Ms KS, has volunteered to have her chart, as well as that of her husband, used as a case study. 

SUMMARY

In prior lifetimes, Ms KS gave up her personal power in service to groups whose agendas were of a political and social nature. The position that she played in those groups (of which her now husband might well have been a member) was not 100% above board and involved conning or otherwise using clever communication skills to ensure that what people saw was not what they got.

This might have operated in the healing arts or other positions ‘of service’ – perhaps as a courtier.

During this incarnation, Ms KS is asked to take back her sense of self and personal power but that won’t be easy. In those prior lifetimes, she developed (or adopted) an inflated – or haughty – sense of self that will all too easily slip back into play during this lifetime if she’s not careful. Likewise, she will struggle with ‘learned helpless’ during this lifetime – take the easy way out – and shuffle-off sideways without confrontation. Holding her personal ground in a practical yet pleasant way is key to success.

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DETAILS

Natal Chart (Ms KS) – (inside ring)

• Ms KS has Gemini rising and Mercury, the ruler of her chart, in Leo in the karmic 4^th house.  
  • Clustered at her Gemini ascendant, we find Venus (12^th house) and Mars (1^st house) in Gemini, although they are too far apart to be considered in conjunction.
  • Ms KS was not so pleased when I reminded her that Gemini can be quite indiscriminate when it comes to telling the truth – this does not mean that Gemini is immoral but rather more amoral – if in doubt, revisit the Greek/Roman mythological surrounding Mercury/Hermes – who is known as the ‘trickster’ god for good reason. 
  • Also consider that Boris Johnson, current prime minister of the UK, has an unusually high dose of Gemini (Sun, Venus, Mercury and Mars) ­­­in his natal chart: Boris spends a good deal of time defending himself of claims that he’s a liar. 
  • This is not to suggest that Gemini tells untruths (I myself have two personal planets in Gemini and believe that energy to be truly charming). But it is to suggest that the relationship that Gemini has with the truth can often be perceived by others as, how shall we put this, ‘challenged.’
  • Mercury in this chart is in Leo in the 4^th house – this suggests communication during past lives (4^thhouse) was ‘self-aggrandizing’ and ‘boastful’ and ‘self-serving’ (with a casual nod to truthfulness) and being in the 4^th house, is quite possible something that ran in Ms KS’s birth family. 
• Next, we have a Sun/Jupiter conjunction in Cancer in the 2^nd house. 
  • On the plus side, this is the signature of an upbeat person who has a knack for finding the silver lining in the darkest of clouds. Ms KS is a very caring and considerate person, perhaps , however, sometimes to a fault. Although her chart is reasonably well-balanced elementally (i.e. there is a nice distribution of planets in the fire, water, air, and earth zodiac signs), Ms KS does have an imbalance of mutable planets, leaving her more than capable of ‘slip-sliding’ away from trouble, which of course is also the nature of Cancer the crab. 
  • The karmic question asked by the Sun in any chart is ‘who am I’ – both in this incarnation but also in respect to prior incarnations – this is not as easy a question to answer as you might think – remember that inscribed over the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi is the ancient Greek aphorism ‘know thyself ‘. Good advice for certain but before you can follow it you need to dig deeper into the very nature of the self that you wish to know. To learn more about this, you may wish to consult an informative book: Selfie: How we became so self-obsessed and what it doing to us by Will Storr. 
  • The karmic lesson of Sun in Cancer is to develop a healthy vulnerability in her relationships, especially with those whom she considers to be part of her ‘family’ or ‘tribe’. 
  • Add Jupiter to the mix, and this suggests past lives where MS KS had in ‘inflated’ sense of self-worth – haughty – and above her station. With the Sun/Jupiter conjunction in the 2^nd house, there’s a suggestion that this is something with which Ms KS has grappled over many lifetimes and has for the most part come to grips with this and hence that knack for finding the silver lining in the darkest clouds is considered a karmic resource – none the less, there are suggestions (see below, for example, Moon in Capricorn) that this comes at quite a price. 
• The Moon in Capricorn is in the karmic 8^th house, although again a bit too wide of the mark to be considered in opposition to the Sun/Jupiter. 
  • Nonetheless, in this chart, the Sun and Moon are linked. The price for keeping a tendency for an inflated sense of self-worth in check comes with some deeply engrained – and highly unconscious – emotional patterns of thought and haviour of being cold and judgemental, a fortress of stone and an impenetrable heart. 
  • In the 8^th house, this plays out in the way that Ms KS shares both herself and her personal resources with others – think Ebenezer Scrooge before his reformation. 
  • The 8^th house is a highly karmic house suggesting many lifetimes of perfecting this way of relating to others. I figure that there is no such thing as good or bad in karma, but instead it’s about finding balance and so I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that Ms KS developed this fortress of stone/impenetrable heart in order to compensate for being too open to the judgement of others.
• Mars in Gemini is square to Saturn/Chiron in Pisces across the 1^st and 11^th houses.
  • Mars in contact (in this case, by square, suggests a constant tension one tends to ignore until it blows up in his/her face) with Saturn suggests present life feelings of powerlessness/helplessness in the face of knowing that one needs to take action.
  • The suggestion is that in prior lives, Ms KS abused her personal will (through communication) and because the 1^st /11^th houses are involved, this was carried out as part of a group, in which she shared radical ideas/ideals.
  • There is also a suggestion that Ms KS may have given away her personal power for the ‘greater good’ of the group and as the result, fears (or is blocked) taking it back to use for herself.
  • In karmic astrology, Chiron symbolises the wound of the soul, and because he is found is the 11^th house of Ms KS, the suggestion is that this occurred as being considered an ‘outsider’ or ‘outcast’. With Pisces involved, there is also a suggestion that the wound as to do with loss of one’s own contact with the divinity. When we chatted about this, Ms KS did say that as a young child, she resisted her parents attempts to make her attend Sunday School because it made her feel that she as if she were being ‘controlled’ by religious dogma. Healing with Chiron in the 11^th house comes from the realisation that one size doesn’t fit all and what’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. It seems that Ms KS is well on her way to healing her Chiron wound, which only makes sense as she ‘enjoyed’ her Chiron return back in 2018. 
• In the 6^th house, we have a Neptune conjunction with the South Node in Scorpio (the North Node being in the karmic 12^th house in Taurus). 
  • Although that Neptune/South Node conjunction does not make an aspect with any of Ms KS’s personal planets, and hence is purely a generational marker, I consider it important because the nodal axis is involved and as we will see, it provides good clues as to what the types of karmic patterns that Ms KS has developed during past lives. 
  • Neptune is the planet of seduction and glamour as well as illusion and disillusion. The suggestion here is that in regard to healing (6^th house), Ms KS may have been a charlatan, perhaps a courtier, who masted the art of indiscretion through flattery pretending to yield to his or her superiors in order to assert power over others in a most oblique and graceful way. 
  • As the South Node is involved, the suggestion here is that MS KS has honed this art – these skills – this craft of subtle, yet fascinating power games to achieve her own ends over many lives. This comes easily to her. she also has to work extra hard to be more truthful more direct and more grounded (North node and tourists). 
• The generational signature of a close Pluto/Uranus conjunction in Virgo shows up in the 5^th house of Ms KS. 
  • This symbolises a political vision which combines an urgent need to destroy old forms and attitudes in regard to ideologies quite possibly having to do with unjust wars (as was the case during this time at least in the United states with the Vietnam War). 
  • Although this generational signature does not tie to any of the personal planets of Ms KS (thus suggesting that this is not her personal karmic responsibility during this incarnation), it does raise the important question of why do we reincarnate in a particular time and place? I’m guessing that the answer to this has to do with that Neptune in Scorpio (in the six house , the House of Virgo closed parentheses the only other generational marker that strongly resonates in the chart of mis KS. Yet looking at her Draconic chart (which comes up next) this  urgent need to destroy old forms and attitudes was not really ever part of Ms KS’s karmic game.

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Draconic Chart (Ms KS) – (outside ring)

• Along with that natal Neptune/South Node conjunction, we now have the draconic Moon in Scorpio in the 6^thhouse. 
  • Again, the Moon represents deeply engrained and largely unconscious behaviour and emotional patterns and karmically, functions very much like the South Node. This puts extra emphasis on Scorpio in prior lives and again in the 6^th house.
  • Again the image of a con-man, a charlatan, perhaps even a courtier, who used subtle manipulation(Neptune) to take advantage over others. However tempting it is to suggest something along the lines of a psychic vampire or even a black magician, if that were the case, I’d expect to find Pluto (‘power over’ others) lurking around in a prominent position – and he’s just not there – in neither the natal nor in the draconic charts. With Neptune is involved, the power plays are accomplished not with guns but with smoke and mirrors – sleight of hand, fascination, and glamour. 
• Interestingly, the Natal North Node in Taurus (where Ms KS is heading in this lifetime) is still right on top of that Sun/Jupiter conjunction – in the draconic chart, now in Taurus in in the natal 12^th house, the most karmic house of them all. 
  • This suggests that in prior lives, Ms KS had plenty of Taurus energy but somehow lost touch with it and so in this lifetime, her goal is to gain it back. 
  • This might be going out a bit on a limb, but I have a feeling that because Saturn/Chiron in the draconic chart is now in Aquarius at the MC, or the top of the natal chart, this is all connected with that natal Saturn/Chiron in the 11^th house – see above – re: in prior lives Ms KS abused her personal will (through communication) as a member of a group, in which she shared radical ideas/ideals.
  • If that were the case, then Ms KS did not do that alone. Her social status/career were tied up in a partnership, likely with a spouse (draconic MC sits on the cusp of the natal 7^th house).
• Finally, both the natal and draconic charts continue to point to communication in past lives as being the source of present life challenges. 
  • Again, the emphasis on amoral, gossipy, loose affiliation with the ‘truth’ Gemini is highlighted. In the draconic chart, Mercury now in Gemini is sitting right on the natal ASC – Ms KS’s window on the world in this incarnation. 
  • Again, the notion of a courtier who had to bow to the will of others and sing the party line – and bow to the will of others – in order to survive comes to mind. Yet with the draconic Venus in Aries, when it comes to love relationships, in prior lives Ms KS most certain got around – yet again, this fits in with the idea of a courtier, one whose challenge is both to be noticed as well as to be seen as a source of pleasure to others without getting too attached to anyone or anything except her next ‘challenge’.

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Relationships

• More often than not, we get an ever more detailed picture of someone’s karma through looking at the connections he/she makes with important others in the present incarnation. 
• Often people come and go into our lives without making a huge impact. But we all know that some persons – regardless of the amount of time we’ve actually spent with them – make a huge and lasting impact on us and our lives. Especially when we choose to strengthen the bond either by marriage, partnership, or other close family relationship. 
• Ms KS was especially interested to discover what she might have to learn from her relationship with her husband. The results actually were not so surprising:
  • The husband of Ms KS has a grand earth trine (Mars/Saturn/Venus)– and karmically these are gifts to be reclaimed during the current lifetime. Yet more often than not, trines can be the ‘slippery slope to hell’. The incarnating soul often responds to further development of these gifts with an attitude of ‘why bother’. The attitude suggested here (and confirmed by Ms KS) was one of a strong-willed person who demanded everything to be ‘his’ way whilst at the same time playing an unconscious script in his head of ‘I don’t deserve to be loved’.
  • The ‘why bother’ response is suggested by his Moon in Pisces in close conjunction with the North Node, which suggests that for him, the goal of this incarnation was to do with developing behaviours that would allow the sharing unconditional love with takin on the burdens of others/or paying the martyr. 
  • At the same time, he has a stellium of planets in Libra (Sun/Uranus/Mercury/Jupiter) which put the emphasis on finding balance in the essential dance of give/take in relationships. 
  • His draconic chart suggested he’d lived similar lives dealing with similar issues multiple times. 
• Enter Ms KS – who because in synastry (comparison of his and her charts on a grid to see where they interact) her natal Saturn in Pisces is closely conjunct his Moon/North Node in Pisces has some karmic debt to repay to her husband from prior lifetimes. The composite chart (putting the two charts together to make one that symbolises the relationship a whole). Here we find the classic signature of the teacher/student karmic aspect and the sense that they both had something difficult to teach each other in his lifetime. 

This is the final post in this series on Karmic Astrology, so thank you for reading!

If you’re interested in learning more about how your prior lives (psychological and otherwise) impact your life now, book for an astrological coaching session now.

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In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats lead by Judy Hall many years ago. We’ve looked at the Sun, Moon, nodal axis, and karmic relationships (through synastry). Now it’s time to look at a completely different significator of astrological karma, the Draconic chart.

A Different Kettle of Fish 

Like the Tropical zodiac (developed in ancient Greece) used by western astrologers and the Sidereal zodiac (older than the hills) used by eastern astrologers, the Draconic zodiac is a method of assigning the planets (and other important points) to one of the twelve zodiac signs.

• The Sidereal zodiac lines the planets up against the fixed stars or constellations. 
• The Tropical zodiac (now 28 degrees out of sync with the Sidereal) is a moving target. It lines 0 degrees Aries up with the vernal equinox which, because of the earth’s wobble on its axis, shifts ever so slightly each year.
• The Draconic (Dragon) zodiac is a completely different kettle of fish. Although based on the tropical zodiac, it realigns all planetary placements in keeping with the north lunar node (the dragon’s head). It is the cosmic dance of the two lunar nodes which plots the predictable point at which the moon will cross and crisscross the ecliptic (or the apparent path of the sun through the sky). 

Traditionally, the lunar nodes are more spiritually inclined than the rest of the planets/points; the north lunar node heralds your future, your destiny, whilst the south lunar node symbolises your past, as well as what’s holding you back.

The upside of this is that whilst both the Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs rely completely on the Sun’s movements, the Draconic captures the cyclical waltz between the Moon and the Sun. It is for this reason that the Draconic zodiac is believed to capture the essence of a soul (or higher self) incarnating into the earth plan as well as documenting the karmic strengths and weaknesses carrying on through multiple incarnations (rather like the Akashic Records).

Destiny Calling

Where the tropical natal chart and the draconic charts intersect, there’s much information to gain; in essence, this is destiny calling.

As you can see, the structure of the chart (natal chart on the inside and draconic, the outer wheel) remains the same but the planets and angles will have changed sign. In my Draconic chart, my Tropical Sun has shifted from Libra to Sagittarius. Indeed, although using the traditional western Tropical zodiac, my chart is primarily air (6 planets), using the Draconic zodiac, it is primarily fire (6 planets)- Leo and Sagittarius.

This suggests that once upon a time, I was spirited and full of trust in myself and my intuition but at some point in my karmic journey, I lost faith in myself and my direction, my connection with divinity (Draconic Chiron, the wound of the soul in the 9th house). As the result, I developed an obsequious tendency to give over to the needs and wants of others. In essence, this became ‘who I am’ (Draconic South Node in Libra conjunct my natal Sun in Libra). You might say that I sacrificed myself – my solar essence – to keep the peace. That probably isn’t far from wrong, from what I’ve experienced in this, my present, incarnation.

Nevertheless, a firm Leonine appreciation of ‘self’ and my personal creative spark is a unique karmic gift during this lifetime. This is shown by my natal Pluto in Leo close contact to my Draconic Jupiter in Leo – both in my natal 2nd house.

I might well have gotten carried away with a desire for power as the result of my learning and wisdom (all those draconic planets in Sagittarius in my natal 6th house of service and healing) and preserving my reputation as grounded and practical wise woman/healer (draconic MC in Taurus), but I have the opportunity in this lifetime to reclaim that gift.

Often these opportunities comes as the result of transits to the natal chart and I can only hope that when transmitting Pluto conjuncts my natal North Node at 29 Capricorn (mean node) in 2023, I’ll make serious progress on achieving the authority and respect that I’m meant to achieve during this lifetime.

As my draconic Pluto at 23 Libra is intimately connected with what I consider to be my communication karma (Mercury/Neptune/Saturn in Libra), I am hopeful that the Pluto transit to my natal North Node in 2023-2024 will finally see one of the novels that I’ve written published (i.e., I will be heard!).

Further, the reason that I started this series of blog posts on karmic astrology was because I was having some serious troubles with my karma (psychic attack – yes, WOW – look, I’d never have believed it either before this – but it actually did happen – even my husband and cat got the message something weird has been going ‘bump in the night’ for me for the last couple months – although the two dogs seem oblivious). I am trusting that karmic blockages holding back ‘being heard’ are now being cleared both by my own efforts and especially those of two very gift healers.

I’d hoped to be able to see this clearing of the blockage (as well as the reason/source of the attack) either my natal or draconic chart or both, but I haven’t.

Or, rather, let’s rephrase that – although years ago I had transiting Neptune square my natal Neptune (i.e. the life is one big soppy mess), I’m currently getting transiting Neptune square my draconic Neptune (in Sagittarius). OK, well, I did say that Neptune is the lynchpin in my communication karma – so who knows right? Life is again on big soppy – – psychic – mess – but on a completely different level – fingers crossed, handled correctly, Neptune can be immensely healing.

Time will tell.

(to be continued)

In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats lead by Judy Hall many years ago. We’ve looked at the Sun, Moon, nodal axis, and karmic relationships (through synastry). Now it’s time to take a look at some of the most common karmic dilemmas and how they are most likely to play out for you if they show up in your natal chart.

Do you have a Complex?

Most karmic dilemmas are comprised of two planets coming together to form some close aspect.

They tend to play out rather like what psychologists refer to as a complex, which itself is a complicated concept as follows:

Aspects Matter

The way in which these complexes or karmic dilemmas are most likely play out in your life depend on the aspect the two (or more) planets make with each other, as follows:

The Usual Suspects

Some examples of planetary combinations representing karmic dilemmas – how you choose to sort them, remains up to you. But guaranteed if you fail to address them, they’ll come back to haunt you over and over and over until you do.

The above is just a selection of some of the most typical karmic dilemmas found in peoples charts but any planetary combination can take on a feeling of being ‘fated’ and hence, probably is. When that happens, break down each of the elements involved.

Example

I have a close Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Libra – this is in part generational – as the conjunct was in play for several months before and after my birth. Also in play at that time was Uranus in Cancer which formed a square aspect to the Saturn/Neptune aspect in Libra. At the same time, Jupiter in Gemini was making a trine to this conjunction. This narrows the timing somewhat – but still this placement shows up in the birth charts of many born at the same time as me.

You might consider this generational karma and indeed in large part it is. Souls incarnate at a certain place and time for a reason and often, especially after a global event like WWII, they do so together.

To figure out what these four planets mean in combination, let’s consider each as follows:

• Saturn is is almost always teaching us a difficult lesson about where we are vulnerable and can’t afford to let down our guard and/or where we need to pay special attention to making some in particular happen in the material world.
• Karmically, Neptune brings an element of withdrawing from people, places, and situation in for self-protection – dealing with the pain and suffering of others is overwhelming and so we retreat into a fantasy wold of our own making.
• Uranus adds a certain rebellious, revolutionary, and fractious element to this mix. There’s a hint of deja vu – i.e. that which has already happened will (or already is) happen again. Societal upheavals are a fact of history and with Uranus in Cancer, the suggestion is that my entire generation were part of one that quite literally destroyed our homes and families. Yet even in the darkest times, there is a silver lining and with Uranus, comes a certain freedom of experiment with new ways of being and in Cancer, that experiment most likely would manifest in relation to a new definitions of ‘tribe’ or ‘family’ in contrast with the traditional patriarchal (Capricorn) model in play for so many centuries.
• Jupiter adds a sense that in prior lives we’ve honed our spiritual skills and wisdom, perhaps through temple work especially in ancient Egypt (quite possibly because the Egyptian temple age went on much longer than that of the Christian era, and of course the focus was much different as well). This suggests a real need to find a way to use these highly developed skills and wisdom in the here and now to help alleviate the karmic suffering of all mankind.

As I mentioned, there many were born under this particular planetary grouping but what makes it special for me is that Mercury, one of my personal planets, is tied in with this energy as well.

The job of Mercury is to communicate in a way that makes connections/build bridges. I’ve noted earlier that I believe that my karma in the forefront during this lifetime is communicational – and this fits also with signifiant 3rd house placements (Venus and Mars in Virgo). the suggestion us I need to find a way to bring the spiritual wisdom/skills honed in past lives to today’s world in a way that is revolutionary and rebellious.

Well, certainly astrology fits this bill and as you might tell by looking carefully at this blog as a whole, astrology is my overwhelming. Yet at the same time I need to bring Saturn into this and I believe this has to do with becoming an authority figure in a traditional and well-respected profession (in my case, international tax law) in order to gain credibility. When I tell people I’m an astrologer, many roll their eyes. But when I also tell them I had a successful 30-year career in law (in large global firms), many of those eye-rolling folks sit up and listen.

(to be continued)

In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats lead by Judy Hall many years ago. We’ve looked at the Sun, Moon, nodal axis, and karmic relationships (through synastry). Now, it’s time to look at overall chart with regards to its composition re: elements and modalities.

Squaring the circle was a problem that greatly exercised medieval minds. It breaks down the original chaotic unity into the four elements and then combines them again in a higher unity.

– CARL JUNG

The circle is the sign of infinity; as with the universe itself, it has no beginning and no end. At birth, you step into this circle, aligning with the four directions of the material plane, which in turn correspond with the four angles of the chart  (AC, MC, DC, and IC). With this, the circle is squared and the map for your current incarnation has been drawn. All that remains is how it is read.

Elements

Each of the twelve zodiac signs belongs to one of four essential elements – fire, earth, air, and water – the elements that have been considered to be at the base of our Western word since the ancient Greeks. One of the first considerations in karmic astrology is whether there is an elemental imbalance in the chart. If you have no planets in one of the elements or more than four, you’re on to something as follows:

Modality

Likewise, we need to consider whether or not there is an modality imbalance in you chart.

Each of the four astrological elements (earth, air, water, and fire) presents itself in the zodiac in one of three modalities or ways of being – cardinal, fixed, and mutable.

The modalities work as follows: in cardinal mode, the energy first forms and presents itself – usually with a forthright bang.  In fixed, the energy holds steady.  It’s just what the package says – fixed – stable – unmoving as a brick wall.  In mutable the energy disintegrates and disperses – getting ready for cycle to repeat again and again.

For example, the element of fire in Aries is cardinal – bright and strong with intent, energy, and little or no control (have you ever known an Aries to stand still for long?).  In Leo (fixed fire) the energy is controlled and steady like the hearth fire, which warms us and cooks our food.  In Sagittarius (mutual fire) the energy is scattered as sparks from the fire, spiralling outwards and upwards until it melts away in the great beyond.

Karmically, we consider the modalities as follows:

Example

For example, I have no fire (planets in fire signs) in my chart. Yet at the same time, this missing element holds both my greatest potential as well as the seeds for my downfall. ]

Until I can become conscious of this and find a constructive outlet for the f things fire governs, it will function unconsciously through the collective most likely to my detriment.

Fire represents both trust in one’s intuition as well as faith in oneself. Those with too much fire often demonstrated an easy passion in life, until someone or something causes them to loose their connection with their destiny.

With no fire, I have had to work hard to develop my intuition yet its erratic expression has led to such unpredictability in the past, that I’d learned not to trust it. What’s worse, with all the air in my chart, it was too easy for me to rationalise away my intuition, even when it was right on point.

One instance springs dramatically to mind: years ago I was walking home from the metro late one night after work and heard someone running up behind me. Turning, I saw a young man in jogging clothes and so ‘decided’ (rationally) that he posed no threat to me – after all wasn’t he as entitled to use the sidewalk as I was? Of course he was, end of story. It may come as no surprise to you, but it did to me, that as he jogged away ahead of me, he was holding my purse. Although I’d had my purse carefully strung over my shoulder (a no-no – but then, hey), he’d so carefully used a knife to cut the purse strings that I’d not even felt it. I was so angry with both him and myself that I actually chased after him. Later the police told me I was lucky he’d disappeared into the bushes because quite honestly, if I’d been successful in confronting him, he probably would have used that knife on me.

This is also a lesson in modalities: I have four planets in Libra – and that qualifies as an overload of cardinal energy. Knee-jerk reaction instead of carefully consider action that very well might have gotten me killed.

(to be continued)

In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats lead by Judy Hall many years ago.

We’ve looked at the Sun, Moon, nodal axis, and karmic relationships (through synastry). Now, it’s time to look at the placement of Chiron in our charts, for this more than anything points directly at what Judy Hall calls ‘the wound of the soul’.

Chiron / the wound of the soul

Chiron is oft considered a minor astrological player, hiding away in the constellation of Sagittarius located between Saturn, his mythical father, and Uranus, his mythical grandfather. 

Product of one an illicit union between Saturn and Philyra, daughter of Oceanus, the primeval deep, Chiron was half-mortal and half-immortal. He was raised by the god, Apollo, and as the result possessed amazing healing skills. But when accidently wounded in his leg, his mortal half, with the poison of the Hydra, he was unable to heal himself. Although the wound refused to heal, being half-immortal, Chiron could not die. 

In karmic work, Chiron shows not only where the incarnating soul has been wounded but also suggests what must be done to find release from that pain. Like Chiron, who eventually found release in voluntarily taking up the burden of Prometheus, who having stolen fire from the god had been condemned to endlessly have his liver pecked out. The key here is voluntarily. To find release from his ‘wound of the soul’, the incarnated souls must freely release its hold on the world it has always and through ‘death’ (of sorts), hope that something greater may emerge. 

In this sense, Chiron is a shaman that helps us move between levels of consciousness in order to embrace our pain before letting it go. Both house and sign placement give important clues to how this process is meant to play out:

Times of healing

Chiron transits (i.e. current position of Chiron making a key aspect to your natal Chiron), are often immensely healing turning points. But because of the eccentric orbit of Chiron, these periods often prove hard to predict.

Your first Chiron square, which separates you from that which gives comfort from your pain, can occur anytime between 5 ½ years – 23 ½ years of age. Clearly there is a huge disparity here as to how emotionally capable you will be with dealing with this.

Next, comes your Chiron opposition, which intensifies your wound.

Finally, sometime usually sometime between age 49-51 years of age, you will have your Chiron return, which if you get it right and have been successful into integrating all the phases you’ve experienced to this point, can be an enormously healing time. So much depends on how you’ve dealt with your earlier Uranus opposition Uranus transit. However if, like too many, you fail to get this right, serious health issues are the usual result: men often have heart attacks and women, throat problems.

Example

My own Chiron is in Capricorn straddles my 6th and 7th houses.

This suggests that the wound in my soul not only has something to do with worldly affairs and becoming my own authority, but also regarding relationships gone wrong as well as the damage done by constant self-criticism. Healing should come through using my healing powers in service to others in such a way as to establish my person sense of authority, which in turn should also benefit my personal relationships with close others.

As my own Chiron return was due in the early spring of 2003, a visualization done during my summer 2002 retreat in Glastonbury should have proven useful: during that visualization, I saw the planes of war over the skies of England. My home and family were gone – now what? Churchill and important other world leaders of the time were the ‘new authority’ of the ‘new world order’ and I knew that I must join them; together we’d win the respect of the people lead them forwards to release themselves from the damage of war into a new and better future. 

Although all the pieces of the puzzle as suggested by my natal chart were in that visualisation, I do not know if it accurately reflects a prior life. Neither or since have I had any suggestion that was a reality. But I do know that because my North node is in Capricorn (in the 7^th house), that becoming an authority such as this is a goal for me in this lifetime. Although at the time of that visualization I didn’t know that a few months later I’d be made redundant after many years of working for Ernst & Young as an international tax lawyer, I’d have a new job in the same field with a smaller firm, where I’d have the opportunity to establish myself as that authority.

In hindsight, I cannot say that was all a huge success because it wasn’t. It’s true that I gained some ground in becoming an authority in my field of expertise, in this regard whilst at the same time developing some significant thyroid (i.e. throat) problems. 

The lesson, I suppose, is never to underestimate the karmic challenges with which we find ourselves presented. As the result, we ought not to become too critical of ourselves when we fail to meet them full on in complete triumph. Another lesson is that there are so many threads of our karmic past to follow up during any lifetime, that sometimes they get hopelessly tangled. For example, it was pointed out to me by a fellow student during that retreat that with Uranus in Cancer in my 1^st natal house close to my ascendant, that I’ve come into this life with an expectation of my home/family (Cancer) would come to an end by something like a war (Uranus) and who knows, but that this expectation coloured my visualisation as much as did past life karma. 

(to be continued)

In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats led by Judy Hall many years ago.

Sometimes these indicators fit together nicely and, for the most part, point in the same direction. Sometimes, however, they do not.

Karma with personal relationships

It’s been my personal experience that souls incarnate at a particular place and time to deal with multiple of issues usually to deal with unfinished business with particular persons.

It’s also been my personal experience that although sometimes you have no idea that someone is pushing one of your ‘karmic buttons’, in other cases you know that someone is ‘special’ for you in some way from the moment that you meet.

Finally, it’s been my experience that the nature of that unfinished business always shows up in the synastry (comparison grid) between two individual’s natal charts. This identifies the essential energies in play between the pair as well as showcasing what has brought them together in the first place.^[1]

When looking a synastry aspects, the closer the contact (within 0-5 degrees of orb) the more you’ll feel it. The conjunction is the most powerful of all the karmic contacts and if it’s close (within 1-2 degrees) it’s guaranteed whether or not admitted, you will BOTH feel it.

Also when looking for signs of karmic connections, the contacts of most interest are between (1) the personal planets of one person (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, and Saturn) and (2) the karmic planets of the other (Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Chiron).

Soul Mates

Perhaps the most problematic of all the karmic connections is that commonly known as the soul mate. These are carefully programmed old patterns of emotions and behaviours that run very, very deep. The aim of the soul mate game is to step off the karmic treadmill (habits) and find a new way to handle the relationship.

Unfortunately, more often than not, this proves impossible and it all ends in tears. This is not only because it really does take ‘two to tango’, but also because when it comes to ‘soul mates’, Neptune, planet of illusion, delusion, and downright deception is always involved. Often this points to prior patterns of collusion – i.e., you each played into the other’s distorted understanding of reality.

Example

When I moved to the Netherlands back in 1994, I met a glamorous red-haired Dutch woman who stole my heart and more. I started having spontaneous past life regressions (walking through Dam Square and finding myself dressed in clothing from the 1920’s) and other mystical experiences (I knew what she was thinking without it being spoken aloud and vice versa).  Back then, I didn’t know anything about astrology, but I was prompted to explore it – I needed answers to what was happening to me – after all I was a logical international tax lawyer (and she was too) – what could this ‘fairyland’ dream adventure be about?

Her Neptune fell smack on my Sun in synastry.^[2 I painfully experienced the pursuit of glamour that comes with connecting up with a soul mate. She didn’t look very happy either. In our present incarnation, we were face-to-face with each other every day (she was my boss) yet we never dealt with our ‘reality’ in a realistic way.

From the start, I knew in my heart, she was ‘mine’ but that I’d ‘lose her. It had happened before to ‘us’. In a meditation during my retreat in Glastonbury, I was walking up steps to a big house in the icy, dark, cold of mid-winter and my glamorous red-haired Dutch woman (in that prior life, my husband), was following me, his/her head bowed. We were in mourning. Twice, I went back down the steps and tried to take his/her hand but he/she refused. Knowing what I did about about that which we’d be faced in the ‘future’, I thought that if only we could be closer in the past, that things would be different. They were not.

In our separate natal charts, our nodes were reversed (which will always be the case with those born 9 years apart). Karmically, the reversed nodes suggests that we are meant to learn from each other in this incarnation but are heading in opposite directions: she is meant to accomplish that which I’ve already accomplished and vice versa. In a North Node meditation directed by Judy Hall, the glamorous red-haired Dutch woman and I (both dressed in fabulously beautiful furs) were stuck alone in a face-off on a ‘ice island’.

The last time I saw that glamorous red-haired Dutch woman in real life was back in the summer of 2002 in Amsterdam at her retirement party. I’ve never seen or heard from her again except that, every once and awhile, she erupts unbidden, illusive as ever, in my dreams.

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^[1] Whilst synastry examines the impact one person has the other, a second technique – a composite chart – uses the individual natal charts to create a whole new third chart. This represents the relationship as a whole and provides insight into the dynamics upon which it, as a relationship, functions. By comparing the two techniques, we often find repeating themes, which of are of special interest because they will have a significant, longer-term impact on the relationship. For purposes of this blog post, I’ll only consider the synastry but the combinations of the two planets in a composite chart will, symbolically, tell the same story.

^[2 In our composite chart, Uranus/Venus (freedom in the relationship/breaking the ‘old’ contract/bond), Mars/Pluto (this could be the power struggle with the sibling – that showed up with Mars in own 3^rd house), and Moon/Saturn (mother/child ‘duty’ and ‘debts’ that now need to be repaid) were closely highlighted.

In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats lead by Judy Hall many years ago. 

As you might expect, the placement of both your Sun and Moon are key to your karmic journey, as are the nodes (covered in a prior post ) which map the interaction between the Sun and the Moon as they cross each other’s orbital path (or apparent path) around the Earth. As also noted in an earlier post, the Moon acts almost like the South Node in that it symbolises deeply engrained and almost always unconscious patterns of thoughts and behaviours. 

The Sun – Who are you?

By contrast, the placement of your natal Sun (by sign and house) suggests not only what you are meant to develop during this incarnation but also answers the all-important question of ‘who am I’.^[1]

Personally, I believe that the messages of both the Sun and Moon are easier to grasp than those of our nodal placement because more often than not, the Sun and Moon plays out in our incarnational families – i.e. our mother and father or other important mother/father figures in our lives.^[2]

Example

On that week-long retreat in Glastonbury in the summer of 2002, we did karmic readings for each other and one morning I was paired with a woman named Rosie, who was much more experienced with this than me. So you can imagine how proud I was when she told me afterwards that I’d given her a healing in a way that she’d not anticipated.

Equally, she gave me an unanticipated healing in helping me to understand how much my father (represented by my Libra Sun in my 4th house) had really helped me in this life, giving me everything that he’d have given to a son, and, perhaps, much more.

It was also helpful to learn that I’d had previous lives where I was the ‘bringer of order and wisdom’ – past lives during the ‘dark ages’ when concepts, such as ‘justice’, were just starting to emerge. All good Libra stuff – apparently coming to me from a much longer tradition (4th house – family karma) than I’d imagined.

All those years ago, I was quite pleased with this revelation because I wasn’t yet familiar with the concept of the Gateways of the Soul, or the Seven Seals of Planets. What I’d failed to appreciate then was that multiple lifetimes as a lawyer probably actually wasn’t a good thing. It’s common for those (like me) who are so pleased with their mastery of the law, to get stuck in the Jupiter chakra rather than levelling up to our Mars chakra. ARGGH!

There’s always something new to learn!

(to be continued)

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^[1] The idea is that before birth, we are each given a daemon that selects the pattern we are meant to live on earth. Our daemon, or soul, accompanies us into life as the carrier of our true destiny. As the mediating consciousness between body and spirit, soul picks up an emotional charge from our parents at birth such that their hopes, fears, and fantasies become our own. 

This is not us, however. It is through desire, attachment, crisis, and struggle that soul transmutes the ‘false self’ and reconnects with our ‘true self – i.e., who am I – so that soul can return ‘home’. 

You know that you have lost connection with your soul and ‘true self’ when you feel alienated and lose purpose in life. Reconnection with soul requires more than intellectual understand and gaining control of your emotions. It is through imagination and fantasy (symbolized by Neptune in your chart) that you open your awareness to the sacredness and significance of soul. We nourish soul when our psychological lives reflect the heavens – i.e., our birth charts. For more information see the Soul’s Code by James Hillman (Random House, NY, 1996).

^[2] If your Sun and Moon are in harmonious elements and aspects, then your journey during this incarnation will be easier than if they are not. For example, my Moon is in Gemini and my Sun is in Libra – both air – and so harmonious and so able to find common ground. Not surprisingly, my father was a Sun Gemini and my mother, Sun Libra. I could see first hand how these energies played out with my parents.

However someone with Sun in Taurus and Moon in Scorpio will struggle because these signs are in opposition to each other – difficult to find the balance of common ground – think of a see-saw that infrequently is balanced. The rest of the time one is either up or down.

Someone with Sun in Taurus and Moon in Leo will have an even more difficult time – as these signs are in square aspect – think of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Nonetheless, with the Sun and Moon  in both square and the opposition with each other, at least there is a connection between the energies with which you can work. But if your Sun is in Taurus and you Moon in Sagittarius or Aries, there is a total disconnect – not only do they form no aspect together, but they share no common ground.

In prior posts, I’ve investigated several different ways of astrologically identifying your past and future karma using invaluable information gained by attending workshops/retreats lead by Judy Hall many years ago. 

According to Judy, the karmic purpose of your present incarnation is often most easily seen in the zodiac sign and house placement of your lunar nodes with the South Node representing what you’ve accomplished in past lives (both good and bad) and the North Node representing what you are meant to accomplish in your present incarnation.

When working with the nodes, it’s important to keep in mind that they are not planets and thus do not represent actives source of energy as do planets. Instead, the nodes (always considered in pairs) map out the cosmic, cyclical waltz of the Sun and the Moon – plotting the predictable point at which the moon will cross and crisscross the ecliptic (or the apparent path of the sun through the sky). 

Reading the Map

As with reading any map, the first challenge is to identify where you are now and where you want, or are meant, to go as follows:

Energies represented in your chart by planets forming a conjunction with the South Node need to be reworked and released so that they can be used more constructively during your current incarnation. So if, for instance, if your Mars in conjunct your South Node, you might find yourself easily angered when things fail to go your way. Worse, you might unconsciously disown your anger and ‘project’ it out on others and in doing so discover that others are always angry with you rather than the other way around. Once you can accept that anger as you own, you can reclaim in and rework it to make changes more aligned with your more your spiritual Will. This may require outside help.

Energies represented in your chart by planets in square aspect with the nodal axis also have the tendency to pull you back into repeating patterns from prior lives. Such planets are considered to be ‘at the bending’ and as such become a point of release for internal experience to become outwardly expressed. If you fail to adequately deal with the planets at the ‘bending’ by learning to more appropriate integrate them into your current life, you might literally be torn apart from them. Even with taking a new approach, the energies represented by planets at the ‘bending’ will likely always be a source of tension – the trick is to use this tension proactively to your benefit rather than your detriment. 

Example

With my North Node in Capricorn, my current life task is to build a separate life, business, and/or career that is mine, and mine alone. I am meant to toughen up – become an elder – a ‘wise’ one – develop a savvy attitude vis a vis the outside world. I must move out of my comfort zone (South Node) and go for the adventure North Node). ^[1]

This nodal map of developing a successful career (that will allow me to pay my own way) is overlaid (by square) on my 4^th house mystical/pragmatist karmic dilemma represented by my Mercury/Neptune/Saturn conjunction in Libra – i.e. pursue my religious/mystical inclinations or fill up my bank account. This karmic dilemma is ‘at the bending‘ so will become a point of outer release of inner tensions. I can assure you that for at least 25 years, I have been wavering on dumping my career/life as international tax lawyer for a large international accounting firm and doing the spiritual thing – at one point I was going to pack it all in and become a Jungian analysis (Jung was heavily into astrology and spiritual pursuit as well as a successful ‘heavy’ in the field of psychology.

What I’d not really appreciated is that this karmic dilemma is not all mine – but is in fact inherited – if not from my actual psychical parental line (no one except my mother showed the least interest in spirituality) then perhaps from my ‘soul group’. 

I’ll be honest. At this point, I still don’t fully understand what that means or what I’m meant to be doing about it – but I am now retired from law and pursuing such avenues for my own pleasure. At one point I tried to do this to start a new business (astrological coaching) but somehow that never seemed to get off the ground. Finally, I accepted it wasn’t meant to do and so I’ve pretty much put it off to one side.

During a higher self-meditation in Glastonbury in 2002, I received the message that it was my job to allow beauty and proportion to pervade my life and to enjoy it without guilt from others. I had the gift of a natural healing energy (Cancer rising). But it would be hard for me to heal others if I were perpetually unbalanced myself  (i.e. a Libra thing). Nonetheless teaching and communication (writing) was still good for me and I should purse that because still, I had so much to share with others. It is in this spirit that I write blog posts and novels and I hope – no, I trust – this is now what I’m meant to do to allow my mystical/pragmatist karmic dilemma an outlet that works to my benefit .

What next to consider?  

Well, if it’s one thing about the nodal axis and the challenges it represents, there’s always someone waiting in the wings to activate them. When one meets people that seem to do that (and I have met several), comparing their charts with my own (synastry) is instructive as well as looking at my natal Sun in Libra in that very karmic 4^th house. 

(to be continued)

^[1] Note that for these purposes, I am using the mean node, or the average motion of nodes. The nodes actually move forwards and backwards (retrograde) so fast that the true node might be going either way at any moment in time but the average motions of the nodes over time is always retrograde. As the difference between the true and average nodes is never more than 3 degrees, the difference between them rarely is important. However in some cases, such as mine, the true nodal axis is in a different zodiac sign (in my case, the South Node in Gemini and the North in Sagittarius) than the mean nodes and so for karmic purposes, both should be considered. I am not doing that in this post however I have considered this difference in great detail in my own diaries. 

In yesterday’s post, I discussed the karmic importance of one’s natal Moon not only by sign but also by house placement. 

Whilst the 4^th, 8^th, and 12^th houses (the water houses) are considered to be the most karmic, planets in any of the 12 zodiacal houses offer important clues as to current karmic challenges. But if there are no planets in the house in question, do not despair. Instead look to the ruler of the sign on the cusp of that house – (using Placidus house system):

Example

My Jupiter in Gemini is in my 12^th house. Often this placement suggests a close connection with ancient Egypt and as well as with other temple priests and priestesses in ancient times. Because my Jupiter is in comfortable connection (sextiles and trines) with the other karmic heavy-hitter planets (Pluto, Saturn, and Neptune), it’s likely these past lives I have accumulated significant wisdom and skills through temple work in order to help alleviate the karmic suffering of mankind as a whole. 

During that retreat at Glastonbury Abbey back in the summer of 2002, one of my fellow classmates channelled a past life for me. In that life, I was a wise-woman (witch) dressed in black against the rugged terrain of what looked to be Scotland. Although I was a healer, I lived away from the community, perhaps on an island with a tenuous connexion to the mainland. This isolation was for my own safety although there was no obvious danger presented during the exercise. 

In that life, people sought me out for my knowledge of herbs and plants and also for my ability to look to the sky for divination. I seemed happy, or at least satisfied, with my isolation. I definitely resonated with feeling proud to have been sought out for my learning and experience and to be considered an authority receiving appropriate recognition my accomplishments.

Not surprising this had long been an issue in my 30-year career as an international tax lawyer. Everyone seemed to have wanted me to be other than I was, a competent – lateral thinking – techie. Interestingly, it was at this particular time in my legal career, that I had just started to be recognised and appreciated for my expertise and learning. 

So how might all this contribute to my overall challenges regarding communication karma and in particular myMercury/Neptune/Saturn conjunction in my 4^th house – (i.e. mystical/pragmatist dilemma)?

Next up, will be an investigation of arguably the most important karmic indicator in anyone’s chart – the nodal axis (which is square or ‘at the bends‘) with my Mercury/Neptune/Saturn conjunction.