Workin' The Chart

Astrology is not a religion and there is certainly nothing irreligious about it.

It is perhaps best thought of as a wisdom tool. An aid for spiritual progress.

Meditation on the Astrology chart can help frame spiritual progress. The chart is a template for identifying transformational energies hidden within the Ground Of Our Being.

My Sunday morning childhood ears, remember picking up these intriguing Scorpionic words and planting them somehwere deep like seeds.

"For there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known."

A buddhist friend of mine, from whom I have learned much, used to say to me:

"Deeply hidden things will still show their subtle outlines on the surface of the water."

I like to think of chart meditations in these sorts of terms.

If, as some wandering pilgrims would suggest, we are all just moving billboards advertising the presence of the Absolute?

Then I regard time spent in contemplation of the chart as >

< Engagements With The Mystery.

Can an Astrology chart serve as a scrying mirror for the Soul? I believe so, yes.

Answers are sharpened questions.

What sort of alchemical spiritual potion is bubbling up beneath the surface of my mundane experiences? What subconscious conundrums are seeking conscious awareness? Do some of these seek expression beyond that awareness?

What sort of Magic surrounds me and yet alludes me - that i am fundamentally trying to engage?

From the Evolutionary Astrology perspective, spiritual progress just means doing the inner work that supports soul growth, or personal evolution.

Geometrically speaking, Astrology begins and ends with a circle.

Funny thing is - circles have no real beginnings or endings.

This is our very first clue.

An Astrology chart is a circle. More specifically, an Astrology chart is a mandala.

The word mandala, is a beautiful word, that describes a powerful object.

A mandala is a sacred circle.

It is also a container of Essence.

Meditating on the various pressure points (Planets/Signs/Houses) in the chart mandala, can support the inner work required, to align ourselves with this pure Essence Of Being. It can help provide spiritual context as we learn to Settle Into Soul, while we make our way along the dusty trail of this incarnation.

If we break down the word meditation into its Latin roots - we get -

Meditari: "to think, reflect or contemplate."

Mederi: "to heal, or take care of."

Med: "measurement and balance."

This is how we get to the modern word - Medicine.

Spending time thinking about, reflecting on, or contemplating the Astrology Chart Mandala, opens up opportunities to heal and take care of our inner world.

Its just good medicine.

Take care of the inner world and it is astounding what the outer world reflects back.

This brings to mind phrases like:

As Above So Below.

The Outside Reflects The Inside.

And a phrase coined by the co-founder of Evolutionary Astrology, Jeffery Wolf Green:

Think It Out Or Live it Out.

Evolutionary Astrology leans heavily on Carl Jung and in particular, on his work around the concept of synchronicity. It has been observed that what is not addressed within our own subconscious framework, will appear outwardly in a synchronistic form, to trigger further examination.

These synchronistic phenomena are invitations to - Think It Out.

The natal chart is our symbolic framework for that subconscious activity.

Thinking It Out, always includes a letting go, of something we no longer need.

It can be difficult to let go, of what we don't fully understand and the Astrology chart can help us identify those energetics that have overstayed their welcome.

Living It Out is also an option. This often looks like a reactionary or defensive posture - in response to this call from the subconscious influences - and is often accompanied by the feeling of "what in the hell is going on here?"

All along the Soul Journey, there are waypoints or even crossroads, where concentrated subconscious energies call to us, signaling the need for radical shifts in consciousness. Calling us expand our consciousness around and through, the archetypal energies in play.

Answering that call is a choice.

Engaging the Mystery is always an option.

Those energies are gonna come along and grab our attention - one way or another.

We can meet them. We can greet them. But there ain't really no way to cheat them.

Sometimes it seems like we forget what magic really is and we lose our ability to see its contours all around us in the living world. We ignore the rich symbolism buried in our experience and let worry replace wonder.

The movements of the planets in the heavens are not causing things to happen down below but instead are moving in synchronicity with them.

Honestly, what could be more magical than that?

The planets are not angry gods. Unless, I guess, we need them to be......

They are, as they have always been to the conscious mind, our guiding stars.

And you know, maybe it makes some sense to listen to what they have to say?

Perpetually Pondering,

Joey