A blog for my professional Tarot and Astrology practice. Here you will find Astrological Chart and Tarot Card interpretations as well as book recommendations and spiritual musings. I began my professional Tarot career in 1992 and my professional astrology career in 2008.
Hello once again. I am definitely finding the audio recording process very much to my liking, so here is a new recording for my latest blog entry.
A little background for this recording should be helpful. I do have a Facebook account and through that account I found an Astrology Bloggers group. This group is an excellent resource for professional astrologers who want a "teacher's lounge" and for serious students of Astrology. Novice visitors would likely find the discussions difficult to follow without a very solid foundation in Astrology jargon and theory. A member of the group, actually the founder, Jeffrey Kishner, recently posed this question: What do you think is "behind" astrology?
My written answer to the group was: Astrology, for me, is a very useful explanatory model, depending, of course, on which model you take up (Tropical, Sidereal, Cosmobiological, and so on). What's "behind it" ... all of the above and anything that is added next? I see the actual practice as a comparison of narratives. Clients come to me filled with narratives and ask me to read their chart, which is another narrative. We compare the narratives and see where that "takes" the client. How does the narrative of the chart reading fit against/with the narrative of the client (especially around common narratives like romance, work, health, and spirituality). Does the reading reinforce/support the existing narrative and leave the client feeling, "I'm on the right track" or does it challenge the client, "wow, I've got a bit more work to do, don't I?" Astrology trumps psychology for me because the language is, honestly, more beautiful, romantic, engaging, heroic, humanistic, juicy, and any other adjectives that describe, or are used, to describe/write a great story. Intuitively, I believe people are drawn to Astrology because its all about the outlier and the individual, its all about them and not statistical groupings.
I have decided to try a new process. I am finding I cannot type fast enough for my thinking, so I want to begin recording my blog entries. This morning I decided to talk about a recent book purchase, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and how it relates to Astrology in general and my practice in particular.
Recently I have met a number of accomplished astrologers who have been more than willing to share knowledge and recommend great astrology books. One such person I met through Facebook and he recommended three volumes from Helene and Willem Koppejan entitled The Zodiac Image Handbook: The Cardinal Signs, The Fixed Signs, and The Mutable Signs. These books assign meanings to each degree of the Zodiac similar to the Sabian Symbols communicated by Marc Edmund Jones. Today I have been reading each of the degrees associated with energy points from my Birth Chart. The title quote comes from the 12th Degree of Taurus, where my Mars sits (in my 7th House). At the beginning of the description is, perhaps, the best, ideal description of community, that I wish to share in this blog entry.
"A human found another human. The two-in-one -- the 'one-two' --do what every couple loves to do: walking and talking among shops (Gemini) after joyful work. They have saved some money and want that to be circulated back into the community (Aquarius), and they would buy something of beauty made by another human's life energy. Wise accumulation of goods is a proof of one's inner wisdom and discernment, and one's being well-placed in the 'recycling process' of the community where one earns a living (Taurus)."
When I went to do a search on Astrology on Youtube, one of the most popular posts comes from James Randi (260,000 plus views), well known for his million dollar offer to any psychic who can prove, under scientific restrictions set up by Randi himself, that the psychic phenomenon is valid. Astrology is often one of Randi's whipping targets and his favorite test is one of the weakest and mostly discarded forms of astrological reading, the physical characteristics by sign (Aries have prominent foreheads, Virgo keep their appearance neat and groomed). Some novice astrologer will be brought on to identify 10 random people by sign by looking at them. As expected, they do no better than guessing (statistically speaking). And Astrology, once again is debunked. The video below is another technique for proving that astrology is smoke and mirrors; however, the "scientific method" applied is deeply flawed and I will explain why after you watch the video.
There are a number problems in the design of this experiment. First, there is no control group. A control group would include individuals who received actual astrology reports based on their actual information. This way you could have members of the audience who could disagree with a chart and raise a much more profound problem for astrology than a vague chart that could be broadly applied into a particular life so that the reader could make the chart fit his or her circumstances. This simplistic experiment does proves something, but nothing profound; it proves ignorant people are easily deceived. Another way to strengthen this experiment would be to have 20 or so professional astrologers in the room and try to hand them the horoscope Randi handed this audience. Again, this attempt would likely fail miserably because the astrologers would begin to ask what technical information was used to come up with the interpretations. And, again, if he could pass the chart off on a professional astrologer successfully, then he would have a much stronger experiment and result.
Something interesting, but not intended, does emerge; two things actually. One, I think it is interesting that you can provide 20 plus people with the same narrative and they all think it applies to them. Does this say something useful about the human condition; maybe we are all more alike than different. Would it have mattered if, among the people in the group, some were from different countries, especially ones that have a strong astrological tradition ... Middle Eastern or Indian. Again, the group shown here is too homogeneous (in terms of culture) to really provide a good test result. Second, is a question of the narrative provided and its level of generalization. It's one thing to say, astrologically, "that this is a time of financial struggle" knowing that even in good times most people feel they struggle in some way financially. It is another thing to say, astrologically, "that you will experience financial challenges in matters of personal concern and the formation of your identity; you may, at this time have to devote extra effort to the work that matters most to you and that helps you find your career path (Saturn transiting your 1st House)". If you are retired or a homemaker or a teenager receiving the second reading you might have reason to raise your hand and say, "um, this doesn't really apply to me."
I think it would be possible with a certain kind of generalization to make the experiment about debunking the medical community by saying things like, "do you have trouble concentrating, finding you start projects you do not finish, perhaps trouble sleeping through the night." If the group gave mostly 4 and 5's to this reading, they would all be diagnosed as ADD. I'm sure I could find general language to make everyone in the group depressed too. It's obvious that one thing the horoscope did NOT include was the most basic starting piece of information in any chart reading, Your Sun Sign is in X; therefore, you life path is guided by Y. Had that information been prominent, several of the participants would have immediately sniffed out the ruse. You could not make everyone the same Sun Sign and get away with it. No professional astrologer of any note would leave this information out of a professional reading; it is the very way we put our selves on the line as practitioners. We allow our clients to know the information we are using so they can verify it for themselves.
Additionally, I read through the comments of the people very much enamored of Randi and this particular experiment. Among the comments was a personal favorite of mine that again shows misguided thinking, though it does sound rather damning.
@camij79 - astrology has not cured any diseases, or provided any means of improving sanitation or water supplies, has not assisted in exploration of our world or the cosmos, has not improved living conditions for anyone, has not provided any improvement to infrastructure anywhere, the list goes on.
Astrology has lined the pockets of astrologers and astrological pretenders, and preyed on the gullible.
Well, in point of fact, I would not hire an Astrologer to build a rocket ship, I would hire a rocket scientist; and I would not hire an Astrologer to operate on my appendix, I would hire a surgeon. But it also follows that I would not hire a surgeon to provide me with spiritual guidance or psychological help. Astrology does help people, individually, not collectively. Science great contribution is its collective application. Astrology's great contribution is its individual application. Astrology, really, is all about you. This point does lead me to a final topic that I am sure will challenge some Astrologers. I do not consider Astrology a science, not even a "Cosmic Science". I know it sounds good to throw "Science" in there because science has really made tremendous inroads into human life, almost as if Astrology can co-opt the word and get the benefits of "acceptance" or "success" or "reliability" that science offers (water boils as 100 degrees Celsius, a bridge designed with these materials and supports can handle a specified amount of weight). I do accept that we use science, specifically Astronomy, as an underpinning, but once we enter the realm of interpretation, we enter the realm of imagination and narrative. Astrology is a narrative psychology, a psychological art form, a creative dialogue between a client and astrologer. It is humanistic, not scientific. And I know its quite fun to talk about Astrology and Quantum Physics or theoretical science as the place the two merge, but let's be honest, when we throw Science into a title for an astrological text we can expect that it is being done (maybe by the editor and bookseller) to ride the coat tails of mechanical science and its "provability" and "repeatability", both of which are doggedly effective and, well, reliable.
And finally, the debate only really matters, or can matter if the scientists in question are spiritual and the spiritualists appreciate science. Randi strikes me as the Atheist of the highest degree. There is only this lifetime, consciousness is a product of chemical/electrical evolution, and death is nothingness. People do not have a destiny, spiritual path, calling, or any other "woo woo" way through the world. In that case, there's really nothing to prove to this man. If he wants to take to task charlatans in our profession, I'm all for it. But if he thinks the charlatans are the profession, then I feel compelled to write a blog entry like this one. I think he would certainly think I am somehow a sophisticated delusional person, if he would be willing to grant that I am intelligent, having earned a PhD and all. And it does not help that some astrologer is willing to take on his badly designed "Astrological Test". Maybe if Randi were to use a better methodology, I would be more inclined to think his conclusions worth considering. In the end, I do want to respond because his video has 260,000 hits and Steven Forrest's excellent video on the current T-square has less than 3,000. And here, I would say we have a case where the volume of hits does not necessarily reflect the quality of content.
I am opening this post with two videos, one from Steven Forrest and one from Northwatuppa, both professional astrologers of good standing, who talk about the current Cardinal T-Square that is in play until March of 2011. I will follow the videos with my own thoughts about this important configuration.
Steven Forrest on Cardinal T-Square
Northwatuppa on the T-Square, Stellium, and Lilith
I doubt that even Barack Obama is prepared for the change unfolding, and it will be change we can believe in because, as Forrest suggests, we will finally feel enough pain to choose to react to many of the realities we have ignored: overpopulation, energy shortages, food shortages, environmental damage, and so on. The financial crisis is a precursor and wake up call to help us begin the process of averting the very negative human responses to these global and human problems. We can choose a lower or higher vibration, which is why I believe our next President will either need to be in the mold of Lincoln/FDR or open the door for a Mussolini/Hitler. The times are that profound. The most recent Tea Party Victory in the Republican Primary race for the Governor of New York is a prime example. A very focused, Lilith group of people have chosen someone of negative social character because he is vocally expressing this group's anger and frustration over the financial crisis.
Sarah Palin's sustained presence in the media is another example of the Lilith energy Northwatuppa talks about. It will only increase throughout 2011. The question of the fall elections will be how much of this kind of energy enters the political landscape of this country. As John Mauldin, an outstanding economist points out, there are not good choices at this time, only less bad or painful ones. Currently we are following the same policy decisions that created the first Great Depression and we may need a Second one to get us to the level of pain that opened the door for FDR/Churchill, who coincidentally "ruled" at the same time as Hitler/Stalin/Mussolini. The current stock market gains and sustaining numbers are as much of a mirage as the 8.5 million jobs created on the foundation of debt. Now that the debt is unwinding, that illusion is reaching the basic levels of society.
In small pockets throughout the world, ideas like relocalization, sustainability, conservation, and even shrinkage are emerging. These ideas are humanity's future. We actually need consumption to decrease; we need new ideas about how to build neighborhoods, and slow life back down. We need to do it consciously with the knowledge that it is going to happen in the form of a dead stop over a cliff if we don't start making changes during this very exciting and challenging time. I am a "guarded optimist". By that I mean, I believe all the Steven Forrest believes about the deep, transformative nature of this T-Square, but if I bet the odds, I'm inclined to expect that we will have a real chance of electing Sarah Palin or her equivalent in 2012 if unemployment continues to make its way to 20% based on the more accurate and inclusive U6 measure.
On the more personal level, the T-Square will exert its change influence in the areas of your life where Saturn, Pluto, and Uranus appear in your chart. I'm getting my work in my Spirituality/12th House (Saturn), my Communication/Learning/ 3rd House (Pluto) and my Service to Others/Health/6th House (Uranus). And boy am I feeling it. Additionally, Pluto is squaring the stellium (6 energy points) in Aries/6th and Uranus will soon be conjunct all of them as it works its way through Aries. No wonder I got a Spiritual Wake Up call last year that is and will be ongoing for at least 10 years (whoopie!). If there was ever a good time to get your astrology chart read, now would be that time.
Lately I have been fortunate to run across a number of excellent books on Astrology. Currently, at the top of my list, is Spiritual Astrology: A Path to Divine Awakening by Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy. I picked this book up just before my visit to see my grandfather two weekends ago. Up front, this book focuses on the past life/karma aspect of Evolutionary Astrology and talks about the placement of each energy point by sign and house in terms of past and present contracts with the universe. Especially enlightening is the last part of the book on prenatal Solar and Luna Eclipses, which Spiller writes, "I found that for the vast majority of people (4000 charts studied), their solar eclipse sign indicated lessons they had come to teach their fellow beings, while their lunar eclipse sign guided them to the lessons they needed to learn in order to continue on their own soul growth." (p. 205). A very simple table in the back will show you which sign the Solar and Lunar Eclipse occurred in before after your conception and before your birth. In some cases people (like myself) have double Solar and/or Lunar Eclipses. I happen to have double both - Scorpio & Aries for Solar and Aries & Libra for Lunar; I was born during the Libra Lunar Eclipse.
You can imagine the conundrum I face with both a Solar Aries prenatal eclipse and a Lunar Aries prenatal eclipse. I am, apparently, in this lifetime, learning to teach independence and figure out how to be independent in one and the same life time! Besides this excellent section on eclipses, the first part of the book covers all the primary energy points beginning with the Sun and ending with Pluto. Since Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are all generational energy points, the house placement of each one in your chart is immensely important. My generation, with Neptune in Scorpio is concerned with, "realizing the higher levels of shared material ownership on a planetary level." (p. 120) We are certainly the generation to come into ownership of the "Global Economy". Personally, with Neptune in my 1st House (using the Whole Sign system), my potential "unconscious expression" is self-deception and delusion. On the "conscious level" I learn to speak my truth openly and honestly. Throughout the book the authors make sure to deal with the positive and shadow expressions of all the energies as well as a host of other layers of interpretation, including:
Your Window to the World,
Your Achilles Heel,
Your Past Life Gifts, and
Self-Actualization
Additionally, this book is very accessible to novice astrologers. You just need a casting of your chart, which you can get done for free at Astrodienst online. Once you have your chart in hand, you can go through the book and learn a great deal about your contract with the universe and what you should be doing and how you should be doing it. A must have for your astrology library.
Astrology and Tarot are interesting practices, not only in and of themselves, but because of the way they are perceived and used in the world. There is a constant round of narratives attempting to prove and disprove the validity or truth or science or effectiveness or accuracy (pick any word that equates to "its real") of these two and many other esoteric fields. Some pieces of the narrative that are on the side of Astrology cause more trouble than help (daily Horoscope, Sun Sign only Astrology) and some skeptics prove invaluable to sharpening the thinking of the brightest Astrologers. Ultimately, I believe and experience Astrology as a personal journey that enriches my life and, apparently, the life of my clients, who are very impressed with the usefulness and accuracy of their astrological readings. Other narratives abound within the conglomeration of professional astrologers; namely, how each of us comes to accept and wear the mantle of "Professional Astrologer." A very common and compelling narrative is the skeptic turned astrologer. I am a mild version of that narrative. The hard version is the person who set out to disprove Astrology, actively and aggressively "going after" Astrology with the starting hypothesis that "Astrology is bullsh*t." I never had that as goal or my inroad to Astrology. I approached it more from the view that I would like to see if Astrology could prove itself. And, for me it has, many times over. And yesterday was a shining example that I want to share with everyone.
Let me first provide a little more of a setting by way of the skeptics. I have tried to track down the study I read in graduate school (way back in the early 1990's) that debunked astrology by giving a study group the same chart and interpreting the chart as the study member's chart. In the study they were able to get all participants to believe the chart being "read" and interpreted for them was their own chart. They did not change the interpretation of the chart, so each individual was essentially told the same thing about the chart and they all "believed" the chart to be "accurate." The final coup-de-grace of the study came when the writers announced that they had used Adolph Hitler's chart for all the participants. I have done my best to track down this essay, which I believe was published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences. As an former academic, I generally don't like to make references I cannot track down, but I think the spirit of the essay is pretty clear. I also think the conclusion is off; the study did prove something, but not about astrology. It clearly proved that people can be deceived when they are kept ignorant.
For those of us who work with Astrology and clients regularly, we know immediately that the entire study group would need to be born under the sign of Taurus to even get this deception to fly at the rudimentary level of sun signs since Hitler's sun sign is Taurus. You could have mixed signs among the group and press forward so long as your interpretation didn't begin with, "Ok, with your Sun in Taurus, your Life Path is guided by the energy of fixed earth ..." The first non-Taurus participant would go, "Now wait a minute, my sun sign is Aquarius," even if you hand them a chart with their correct birth information and the incorrect output. The interpretation instead began with, "You like to ..." It's easy to debunk bad Astrological practice; there's plenty of it out there. And its not much of a "win" for the skeptics when the research is so poorly designed. Too much of the skeptical narrative goes after "low hanging fruit" or what I used to teach in my critical thinking classes as "the weak form of the argument." Arguments and ideas have weak and strong forms, going after the weak forms is like plain old bullying, which is why debunking the daily horoscope is not really much of a challenge to the Astrological work of Robert Powell, Dane Rhudyar, Robert Hand, Demetra George, Richard Tarnas, Robert Blaschke, Jeff Green, Steven Forrest, and on and on. When you have informed participants and Astrologers who are willing to give clients a solid foundation in the basics of the Astrological reading, the Hitler study does not even happen.
And so, here's my very rich experience with Astrology from yesterday. Two of my regular clients (I see them yearly when they come into town to visit each other) came to see me for my Hot Spots Astrological reading. Both of them are nearing their 2nd Saturn return and are past their Chiron return (so they are between 50 and 60). They are highly intelligent, professional women. Not easily deceived and not going into a reading doe eyed. These are the clients you want because they can see through BS, so you'd better not be slinging any. We started bright and early at 9AM and were cruising through the reading for about 20 minutes when we discovered that I had cast the chart wrong. Instead of putting in her birth year as 1953, I had entered it as 1963. What make the mistake embarrassing immediately was the fact that I had used the hardcopy of the chart I cast for her 2 years ago to get her birth information to reenter the data into Astrodienst, a great free online service. I never even looked at the two charts side by side, which would have alerted me to the error before the reading began. And, I skipped a step in my reading that I never skip with new clients, I didn't read the chart information at the very start of the reading (these are the kinds of errors that happen when you have an Aries Sun conjunct Saturn and a North Node ... I'm trying to learn how to be more precise in this life time; it does not come naturally for me, so its easy to have a slip from time to time).
So, how did we get so far into the reading before the error was discovered and how was it discovered since everything I had said up to the point of discovery was "dead on accurate." Well, the only thing wrong was the birth year. I had the date and time correct, which meant that the house placements and the Sun sign would be and were the same sign and house in the 1953 and 1963 charts. And the first part of the reading dealt with the Ingress of all the outer planets we are experiencing right now, which meant I was talking about their movement along the line between the houses and signs (using the whole sign system, which I do, means they are the same line). Once we moved away from the Ingress discussion the reading started to "fail." When my client finally asked about relationships and children, the chart in front of us did not bear any resemblance to the chart used 2 years ago and then we started to struggle. In part the struggle occurred because I kept reading what was in front of me and the chart in front of me had no energy points in the 5th and 7th houses (children and partnerships). My client was doing her best to make sense of her previous experience and the current one and that's when she spotted the error on the chart (I always present my client with a copy of the chart and take them around it).
Two important factors helped us ferret out the error. She asked about information that was dominant from her previous reading, which at that time we did verify all her information before we began. And I did not try to read something into the chart in front of me about relationships that was not there. If I didn't trust the chart and I wanted to "keep my client on the hook" I would have done some fancy mind work to make the chart work on the relationship issues. That didn't happen. Like a pilot who has to trust the instruments more than his "feelings," because certain kinds of spiral dives will not feel like the plane is out of control, I have to trust the tool. In doing so, the reading created the situation where the error became obvious. This experience was ... profound. Fortunately, my clients were able to return later in the day after I recast the chart and redid the prep work. We did the other client's reading before they left and when they came back we read the corrected chart, which now had Jupiter in the 5th house, and 8 energy points in the 7th and 8th houses. Now were were on track.
I wanted to share this "mistake" with you because it shows the "strong form of the argument" of Astrology. The best Astrology will have involved clients who are self-aware and the tool has to be trusted. You have to read what is there. If the 7th House is empty, then partnerships are not emphasized in this lifetime. I give all my clients their chart, walk them through my process, and give them a couple of excellent beginning books as references in case they want to follow up behind me on their own or spend more time studying some part of the chart that I talked about (or did not talk about). Most are happy to leave all the work up to me, but I want them to know that I'm using data they can verify on their own and not just riffing my way through a made up story. An Astrology reading is a narrative journey, your narrative journey. Its all about you. And if you trust yourself and know yourself, you can even figure out when the Astrology is wrong. Pretty amazing if you ask me.
Below are the two charts (without the name of the individual). The first chart is the INCORRECT chart and the second cart is the CORRECT chart.
While the news media and the politicians are desperately trying to tell us we are returning to normal or will return to normal, most people, I think, feel a fundamental shift has taken place and even more dramatic change is in our not so distance future. In astrology, individuals will feel significant change when an energy point ingresses from one sign to another. The first ingress we felt was Pluto leaving Sagittarius at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 and entering Capricorn. Not surprisingly the financial meltdown occurred during that ingress. When an ingress occurs it is not a one and done cross over; the ingressing energy point will pass over the ingress point at least 3 times thanks to retrograde motion. Pluto in Sagittarius was all about the transformation of religions, higher learning, and authority mainly through expansion, which, when the bill came due and Pluto entered Capricorn we learned that the entire world (except for China) overextended and expanded not through savings, but debt. The 8.5 million jobs lost in America and the deflation (instead of inflation) of wages and property values reflect false or fake employment and expansion. The jobs and homes were built on the debt supercycle and Pluto entering Capricorn forced the pendulum swing back and will continue to do so for the next 15 years!
It is not that we're "not out of the woods yet," it's that we're not fully into the woods yet. Now this one ingress is enough to gut punch us, but right now, today, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, and Neptune are ingressing; all of the outer planets! Saturn is dancing over Virgo/Libra. Chiron and Neptune, which are conjunct, are crossing back and forth over Aquarius/Pisces, and Uranus is dancing over Pisces/Aries. Saturn is currently opposing Uranus and squaring Pluto (by orb ... or "allowed range"; the square between Uranus and Pluto will be exact for the first time June 2012). This configuration of Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto creates what is known as a T-Square (or 90 degree triangle), with the "missing" point over in Cancer (the family). With Saturn entering Libra there will be a desire to hold onto the rules and use the same judgments (old ways of thinking will persist). Think of Einstein's comment: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Which is what Saturn in Libra will encourage, hence weak Health Care and Financial Reform legislation in this country and Financial Reform worldwide. Uranus is leaving the dreamy innovation for pioneering Aries, where getting it done will be part of the drive. But Aries is also warlike, so revolution is part and parcel of its energy. Small snippets have appeared in the form of one man bulldozing his house before the bank could repossess it and another man flying a plane into and IRS building.
At the personal level, you need to have your chart in front of you to know where this ingress energy is affecting you. Neptune and Chiron are moving from idealistic Aquarius into dreamy Pisces (and the ruling sign for Neptune). Demetra George has suggested on Find an Astrologer .com that we can expect scarcity around liquids (read oil and fresh water). Couple that with Chiron's role as our energetic wound and we will likely see more disillusionment and safety recalls (Toyota, Johnson and Johnson, Kelloggs). This energy will likely play out in beliefs, especially spiritual ones (Catholic church scandal). Wherever Aquarius/Pisces is in your chart, you can expect illusion/wounding to energize you to see more clearly. We're in a hell of a cosmic storm and the full impacts of these ingresses will not be felt until we are well into 2011.
This blog has been set up as an extension of my Astrology and Tarot practice. I hope to use this tool to post information about current energetic trends in Astrology and best practices for Tarot reading. I plan to present reading techniques and reviews of current events based on Astrological relationships. Appropriately I am starting this blog while Uranus is dancing around the cusp of Pisces and Aries. Once in Aries permanently the world is going to need all the pioneering (Aries) innovative (Uranus) energy it can get. We face numerous relationships of energy points that in times past have been in play during massive upheavals in human civilization (most recently the American and French Revolutions, WWW I and the Great Depression, the creation and dropping of the atomic bomb, the counterculture of the 1960's, and the first peak oil crisis of the mid 1970's). Each of the events had a single key astrological relationship and now we are living in a time when each of those key relationships are happening together. I will do my best to highlight the hot spots and what they will mean for humanity energetically while we go through them living in the culture of our times.
