ASTROLOGY

 There was a time when the only thing I knew about astrology was what I read in the weekly sun sign column as I waited in the queue at the supermarket.  No wonder I didn’t take it seriously for many years.

I now believe that Astrology is a most amazing tool to self awareness.  It is the closest I have found to showing me my life path, potentials and challenges.
 
While the skeptic would ask “What have planets got to do with my life?” I would answer “Everything!”

I believe that what I am here for is captured at the moment of my first breath in the planetary configuration of the heavens.  When this configuration is unraveled and understood, I have a roadmap (as it were) for my soul’s life purpose. The fact that we are born at different times, in different places is the secret key to which planetary energy will flow freely and which will be difficult to access.  The distance which the planets are apart as they move around the heavens, in and through the sun signs, will also give us some clues to our possibilities.  I wouldn’t use the term destiny, as destiny may infer ‘set’.  I believe Astrology will show me my soul purpose of possibilities.  Whether I choose to use the negative or positive qualities will be what defines my destiny.

If the electromagnetic omissions of a mobile phone or a computer can affect me even though I cannot see them, then it is well within my field of possibility that the energy emitted from these giant planets will do the same.

Studying Astrology has been one of the most rewarding ventures of my life so far.

THE PLANETS
There are ten planets used in astrology.  Actually there are 8 planets plus the Sun and the Moon, but for this exercise they are all called planets.  All of us have these ten planets located in our birth chart.  The planets represent and define ten basic and distinct urges found in each of us.  During our lifetime we make choices to express and experience these energies in the negative or the positive.

Your Sun sign shows you the qualities that you need to build on and develop in a positive way.   It will tell you how you will form a sense of self.  Your Sun sign points your individual path to your highest potential where you will find fulfillment.  As you develop the qualities of your Sun, in a positive way, you will feel good about yourself and have a sense of being on the right track. Your Sun sign is where you will shine and become your unique and beautiful self.The Sun is your inner self, your ego and your life force, which begs expression. Your Sun may also tell you how you perceived your father.

Your Moon is your unconscious self; the opposite to the Sun which is your conscious self.  The Moon is about your feelings.  It tells you how you respond emotionally and instinctively to your environment.  It nurtures, gives comfort and security, support and a sense of belongingness. Your Moon sign shows you your emotional needs and how they are met.  The Moon may also conveys the relationship with the mother.

Mercury gathers information from many places, is curious, and moves from one thing to another constantly.
Mercury will tell you….
How you think and communicate
How you write and speak
How well you listen and absorb information
How well you communicate that information to others

Venus is about self reflection through others.
Venus is that part of yourself that will show you how you draw and attract things and people to yourself; what you give worth, value and love.  Venus urges harmony, negotiation and balance.  Venus is related to the women in your life and your feminine self.

Mars will show you how you approach life, assert yourself and your survival techniques. Mars initiates action, takes risks, is impulsive.  It begins but not necessarily finishes.
It is connected with anger and sexuality.

Jupiter’s function is to create more.  It wants to help you reach out and be abundant.  It symbolizes expansiveness, optimism, opportunity and generosity.  It is associated with ethics, morals, law and religion; and is associated with higher learning and extended travel. It wants to extend all your horizons through education, travel and philosophy.

Saturn is cautious, responsible and restrictive.  It is very structured and takes control.
It likes you to be organized, methodical and disciplined.
It keeps the rules, and demands respect.
This planet will show you what you must learn to evolve and grow.
It will test you until you learn the lesson.
It reminds you that you reap what you sow.
It is the planet of Father Time and holds many Karmic lessons.
Saturn will always remind you what you ‘should’ be doing; holding you back to ‘how it has always been’
It upholds the Status Quo.
Saturn never gives up.  It is happy to wait a long time for its rewards.
 
Uranus bring with it surprise, sudden or unexpected changes, independence, originality, spontaneity, unpredictability, love of the new, freedom and rebellion.  It asks unconventional individualistic self expression.  It prods us to break away from societies’ structures to look for other meanings of life.

Neptune urges us to go beyond our boundaries and limitations and merge into the oneness of the universe. It slowly dissolves the ego and old life patterns to bring a new and better pattern and sense of oneness with all of creation.   Neptune symbolizes idealism, spiritual wisdom, creativity, intuition, compassion, sacrifice, illusion, self deception, confusion, escapism, suffering and sacrifice.  In the search for oneness and escape from earthly realities it is associated with fantasy, drugs, addictions and delusion. 

Pluto is about self mastery, transformation, regeneration, death and rebirth, illumination, renewal, obsession and destruction.  Pluto provides the profound energy to break down our psychological, emotional and physical blocks that inhibit our growth.  Pluto would have us die to our lower natures so as to be reborn in our true spiritualised self.

THE SIGNS
There are 12 signs in astrology.  As the planets travel around the Sun, they move through the constellation or the sign of the zodiac.
In your Natal Chart, the sign containing each of your planets denotes the specific potential or challenge through which you experience the energy of that planet.  We make conscious or unconscious choices to express and experience the qualities of the sign in the negative or the positive.

The Signs show us how we express and experience a certain energy.. .. just a few examples
Aires: Independent, courageous, enthusiastic, assertive, aggressive, risktaking, competitive
Taurus: Persistent, loyal, practical, reliable, determined, cautious, stubborn, stuck in a rut, stingy, hoarder
Gemini:  Flexible, communicative, good networker, versatile, easily bored, superficial, easily distracted
Cancer: Sensitive, loving, emotional, affectionate, possessive, tenacious, insecure, worrier, needy, smothering, clinging
Leo: Generous, warm hearted, extravagant, creative, dramatic, proud, egotistical, self centered, attention seeking
Virgo: service oriented, helpful, attention to detail, precise, perfection, analytical, critical of self and others
Libra: Charming, cooperative, fair, diplomatic, peacemakers, indecisive, procrastinating, self sacrificing,
Scorpio: Intense, strong willed, powerful, committed, deep, passionate, secretive, suspicious, possessive, manipulative, violet, extreme
Sagittarius: Optimistic, expansive, loves to travel and study, bold, blunt, outspoken, moralist, self indulgent, withdrawn
Capricorn: disciplined, hardworking, structured, responsible, guilty, serious, rigid, restrictive, controlling, negative
Aquarius: visionary, humanitarian, individualistic, inventive, detached, aloof, different, rebellious, impersonal, eccentric, unreliable
Pisces:Compassionate, spiritual, intuitive, psychic, idealistic, victim, disillusioned, escaping, addicted, sacrificial

THE HOUSES
There are 12 houses in the astrology chart.  Each of your planets is located in one of the 12 houses.  Each of the houses show the physical area of your life in which you will most noticeably experience the energy indicated by the planet located there.  The houses are the areas in the material world where you will experience the consequences of the choices you made, regarding how you want to experience your specific planetary energies.

The Houses show us where (in what specific area of our life) we will experience the impact of a certain energy (planet) in a specific (sign).

First: Appearance, personality, approach to life
Second: Money, self-worth, possessions, what you value
Third: Local community, siblings, how you think and communicate
Fourth: Emotional security, belonging, family, childhood nurturing figure
Fifth: Children, your own inner child, creativity, romance, fun, gambling
Sixth: Health, job, daily work, servants, pets, problem solve
Seventh: Business partner, committed relationships, partners, open enemies, marriage and divorce
Eight: Combined resources, money, sex, power, inheritance, other people's money, vulnerability, trust, intimacy
Ninth: Travel higher, education, philosophies and religions, publishing
Tenth: Career, reputation, position, ambition, status, public image, childhood authority figure
Eleventh: Like minded friends, future, visions,unexpected, reform, humanitarian,
Twelfth: Spirituality, Oneness, psychic ability, addictions and dependencies, meditations, prisons, hospitals, deception and idealism
 

As you could well figure out for yourself, some planets are much stronger than others, simply by placement in a particular sign.  Take for example the Sun which is about self and self expression. Its natural placement is in Leo who is very subjective, creative, likes to shine and be noticed and acknowledged.  But put the Sun in Libra who is busy keeping everybody else happy, being the peacemaker and diplomatic, you may find the Sun being challenged to shine in its own right as it is too concerned with what others want.  So the Sun in Libra isn’t the most comfortable or powerful place to be.  Also the Sun in Aquarius can be objective rather than subjective, and aloof rather than warm hearted.  By no means does this mean one placement is good and the other is bad.  It means that if you understand why you are here on the earth plane, you might cease to judge your actions and reactions by how others live their lives.
 

Knowing the potentials and challenges of the planets, signs and houses helps you understand yourself much better.  This is where an Astrology Chart can be of help.  If you would like me to prepare one for you, click on the PayPal Purchase tab and see what I am offering.

The Planets are the Actors.
The Signs are the Costumes.
The Houses are the Stage and Scene.

“All the world's a stage,
 And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages”
                                      William Shakespeare

I took all the photos: 1. Sunset in Ushuaia Argentinia. 2. Sunset in Darwin NT.  3. Buffalo doubling for Taurus the Bull. Remember Crocodile Dundee? That is Charlie.  4. Ice Cave at Grey Glacier Chile.