Astrology as a Tool for Self Gnosis

The temple at Delphi counsels the seeker to “Know Thyself”, a teaching that was later adopted by Greek sages like Socrates and Pindar, who wrote-

“Learn what you are and be such.”

But what if we are does not comfortably fit into society. What if the archetypal forces influencing our life are not easily reckoned with in the modern world? This potentially creates conflict in our soul as we struggle to reconcile the inner and outer forces that hold sway over us. It takes a rare individual to be strong and self-assured enough to follow his or her own path even while it is at odds with friends and family- we are after all tribal beings and acceptance by the community has left an indelible mark on our psyche from a time when being an outcast meant certain death or cruel rejection. There is something in human nature that senses difference and is afraid of it.

Still, the gods will have their way with us even while we try to banish them or reduce them to two-dimensional superhero characters. If the psyche, as Jung says, is a self-regulating system, like the human body, we will need to find a way to grapple with the problem of opposites and make space for the full array of human experience. If we do not life will create situations to express these powers in one way or another.

Say for example the archetype of the sacred sexual priestess is embedded in your DNA, but you have been raised in a culture that not only rejects the full expression of female sexuality but punishes it. You will likely experience a spilt in your psyche from a young age, learning adaptation skills so that your essence and authenticity are slowly eroded. Left with the choice of following your inner truth or aligning to the social demands, most of us, especially when younger, will choose the latter and develop a false but acceptable persona. This results in cognitive dissonance causing multiple ruptures in the psyche. To compensate we develop coping mechanisms such as promiscuity, sexual addiction, sexual frigidity, sexual neurosis, or self-destruction. We know too well the hatred that can be heaped upon a woman whose sexuality deviates from the societal norm. Men too, especially in recent years, have been targeted for sexual expression that is deemed to be inappropriate by mainstream culture. Under these conditions our sexuality becomes hidden, aberrant, wounded, or cut off entirely… ripe in fact for a populace addicted to pornography or a culture of abuse.

Maybe you have the energy or vibration of Vesta imprinted in your soul, but your sacred service or sacred vocation is not required or even understood by those around you. It may be that you have a strong but unintegrated Mars and express this energy in angry outbursts or subtle (and not so subtle) acts of violence. How is Venus operating in your life, or Pluto?

What if you are strongly Uranian and rather than finding healthy ways to accommodate this  erratic power you spend your life feeling like a fish out-of-water- too weird, too eccentric. Or maybe you are a lightning rod triggering others but not understanding why. This is potentially a lonely path (it gets a little easier after the Uranus half-return at age 42). Knowledge of the transits is extremely beneficial when riding the waves of life.

This is where astrology comes into its own. Once we understand how the archetypes move in our life, we can begin to create a conscious relationship with them so that we no longer need to blame, shame, repress, judge or otherwise thwart the powers that influence us. This knowledge can help cultivate kindness and compassion for others too as we realise that they, like us, are in the process of soul-making and that it’s not an easy task.

Working with astrology is a bit like peeling a giant onion, it is an endless process but as with many things in the symbolic and imaginal worlds, once we develop a relationship and start to pay attention, we find there is something on the other side that starts to pay attention back.

The ‘Flip’ is the moment of realisation that the entire universe comprises a single vast mind (Jeffrey Kripal).