A Taste for Existential Astrology~why try it?
Why does anyone do astrology or go to an astrologer? Is it an unconscious need for greater control in our lives? Is it based on fear of chaos, of uncertainty, of all that is unknown? I think it is. Predictive or 'fortune telling' astrology appears to know the fearful future before it arrives, and attempts to make the uncertain, certain, and the unknowable, knowable. It is partly an illusion, and partly true. It can be as powerful as magic.
Astrology gives us insight and it may give us a greater acceptance of what is happening by showing us that we are in the natural flow of a very human life cycle, or the cosmic Tao of things, and it certainly gives us the choice to take a different attiitude towards our life. It tends to reassure us that life is going in predictable patterns, and that "this too shall pass." So the astrological "weather forecast" of prediction helps us to reach for the opportunities when they come, and wait and work during the challenging cycles.
But predictive astrology is not existential astrology, which is concerned with meaning, acting on free will, self-actualization, and daring to face the reality of our death even in light of the essential unknowingness and mystery that lies at the heart of life and of the astrological chart. This astrological world view looks at the paradoxes of our lives, and challenges us to act even in the face of uncertainty. It has been said that "Character equals fate" and so what an experienced existential astrologer does is to encourage you to make the choices that create "good character."
Of course, if we take this to a different level, we have to bring in what the existentialists didn't factor in---that genetic predisposition, and the family karmic inheritance, and the possibility of past lives will all predispose our character in certain directions. Understanding what we came in with---through whatever jargon you like--DNA, genetics, family or racial karmic inheritance---or even past life karma---all predispose us to act out our free will choices in unique and biased ways.
So astrology helps by looking at those factors so that we become even more free to choose our attitude and our actions based on deep self knowledge. We become Ourselves, we take risks, and we live authentically, when we act from that place of self-knowledge. This knowledge can lead us out of superficiality, or living a life of "bad faith" because we no longer identify with just our social mask, or our neurosis, or our family, religion, sex, age, or race. Pretty freeing, isn't it????
In my next entry I'll talk about Chiron, the mythical "wounded healer" and how this astrological point in our chart can give us insight into our gifts that derive from our woundedness, and how Chiron---the asteroid between the bounded limitations and fear of Saturn creates a rainbow bridge to Uranus--to the possibilities of greater freedom, and to the instinct of rebellion and boldness, and creates the courage of "self-reinvention".
Astrology gives us insight and it may give us a greater acceptance of what is happening by showing us that we are in the natural flow of a very human life cycle, or the cosmic Tao of things, and it certainly gives us the choice to take a different attiitude towards our life. It tends to reassure us that life is going in predictable patterns, and that "this too shall pass." So the astrological "weather forecast" of prediction helps us to reach for the opportunities when they come, and wait and work during the challenging cycles.
But predictive astrology is not existential astrology, which is concerned with meaning, acting on free will, self-actualization, and daring to face the reality of our death even in light of the essential unknowingness and mystery that lies at the heart of life and of the astrological chart. This astrological world view looks at the paradoxes of our lives, and challenges us to act even in the face of uncertainty. It has been said that "Character equals fate" and so what an experienced existential astrologer does is to encourage you to make the choices that create "good character."
Of course, if we take this to a different level, we have to bring in what the existentialists didn't factor in---that genetic predisposition, and the family karmic inheritance, and the possibility of past lives will all predispose our character in certain directions. Understanding what we came in with---through whatever jargon you like--DNA, genetics, family or racial karmic inheritance---or even past life karma---all predispose us to act out our free will choices in unique and biased ways.
So astrology helps by looking at those factors so that we become even more free to choose our attitude and our actions based on deep self knowledge. We become Ourselves, we take risks, and we live authentically, when we act from that place of self-knowledge. This knowledge can lead us out of superficiality, or living a life of "bad faith" because we no longer identify with just our social mask, or our neurosis, or our family, religion, sex, age, or race. Pretty freeing, isn't it????
In my next entry I'll talk about Chiron, the mythical "wounded healer" and how this astrological point in our chart can give us insight into our gifts that derive from our woundedness, and how Chiron---the asteroid between the bounded limitations and fear of Saturn creates a rainbow bridge to Uranus--to the possibilities of greater freedom, and to the instinct of rebellion and boldness, and creates the courage of "self-reinvention".
Comments