Astrologicality..

by with One Comment Astrology and meInner lifeTrip

I’ve been gardening a lot in the last few days and having insights.

So much seems to have happened inside me during the month of June. The whole mutable grand cross and Mars retrograde as well reflecting some kind of inner turmoil.

The funny thing that got me thinking is the fact that since Mars stationed and went direct a few people got in touch with me requesting some astrological work.

During the last two months, while Mars was retrograde, I did worry quite a bit about having to make a decision regarding how I’m gonna be making my income. I also had many moments thinking that perhaps I would have to borrow money from someone else for the first time.

Self doubt.

This whole thing made me think about my approach to astrology.

If I was writing a forecast to someone else I would have noticed the retrograde Mars more clearly, especially if it was natally the ruler of the 6th house and Ascendant, and speak about the need to rethink actions or strategies.

Why did I forget that myself?!

One thing that somehow disturbs me is how, many times, (we) astrologers try too hard to fit the symbolism into reality.

Is the other way around of what it should be in my view.

The capacity to interpret and understand symbols should enhance our ability to make choices. It should be used to deepen our understanding of life and other people, it should somehow add complexity and not be used to oversimplify and to put people in boxes.

One of the greatest risks with the astrology of disempowerment is using it to justify some kind of behaviour or circumstance without having to take much responsibility for it.

“I’m like this because of my Mars conjunction Pluto” “I can’t do this because I’m too fiery” “I do that because I lack fire” and so on.

Is also a little like going back to the medieval mentality of praying to a “father figure” God that will punish or reward you depending on your behaviour.

Is not being able to be responsible and thoughtful about your actions and life situation.

Blame on the planets. “This is happening because Saturn is on my Ascendant”…

In my view is becoming clearer that the astrological position of the planets are reflecting your inner life.

There is no out there causing you something. We are one and the same. Perhaps we are still the result of an explosion expanding together.

It’s a dance.

I think that by trying to avoid the more passive kind of astrological interpretation I end up sometimes ignoring things like the retrograde Mars on my Ascendant.

I really feel that I need to find a good balance here..

Astrology of individuation.

by with 8 Comments Astrology and me

I have to confess that I’m not so much into the astrology of general forecasting.

My virgoan mind finds very difficult to make or take in general affirmations about planetary positions without considering the individual that experiences it.

Yeah, right, Saturn is making a square to Neptune in the sky and that could be about a reality check of some kind, but to who? And in what format or in which dimension of life? And what if that Saturn-Neptune square activates my natal angular T-square or is sitting exactly on my Ascendant-Descendant axis?

Same with the lunar cycles. Yes we can be collectively more emotionally charged under the full moon but there is always gonna be a very unique level of experience. That’s what I find most fascinating.

Yes there are many archetypal traits in the Gemini-Sagittarius axis that I could think of, but to me is only when I place that full Moon into someone’s chart that things start to make more sense. Is it about the flourishing of new ideas or opportunities to heal your difficulty in communicating with your partner?

How can you set your intentions with more self-awareness?

To me Astrology is a bit like detective work, you go on following leads. You bring down to the most personal level of experience in order to empower.

Yes, Saturn is about walls and restrictions, limitations or mastery, but how do I relate to that principle?  How do I tend to experience this archetype in my psyche? Which house Saturn falls in and which house does it rule in my horoscope? What aspects does it make?

All of these are symbolically representing a complex that gets activated every now and then (reflected) by transits or progressions. Under a Saturn transit I might get a promotion at work instead of feeling lonely and miserable, or something else.

Every month the full Moon will be casting it’s light into a personal area of your horoscope that, even though archetypal, is unique to you.

 

 

Layers of meaningfulness

by with No Comment Astrology and meInner lifeSearch for home

One of my greatest discoveries about astrology happened when transiting Neptune was opposing my natal Mercury couple of years ago. It happened when I could not concentrate to read one single sentence in a book but was having astrological lectures through my dreams instead. Obviously, as expected with Neptune’s symbolism, it took me sometime to clarify and understand this new way of interpreting the symbols.

I was listening to some samba just now, a traditional kind of music from Brazil that I rarely listen to. To be honest with you, and that’s how I started to wonder, I rarely listen to any brazilian music at all. Not that I don’t like it. Brazilian music is pretty good. But there is something about the national identity that has always bugged me and since I’ve left Brazil eight years ago I’ve been somehow avoiding it altogether.

I guess that my Uranic nature never felt like truly belonging anywhere, but specially to a culture that has strongly been based, between other frivolous things like carnaval and football, in the sexual objectification of women.

That macho culture, perhaps present in most Latin countries, has always annoyed me tremendously. I didn’t want to be part of that and leaving the country seemed like a great relief. I could finally be myself. I could finally be free to interact in any way that I felt like with people from everywhere else in the world.

That was grand, but at the same time, when I look back, I think that with the urge of freeing myself from the caveman’s culture I sort of lost a precious connection with my roots.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not a big fan of nationalism. But there is something important connected with where we come from that perhaps can also give us a hand in the search for ourselves. I am not my country or plainly my nationality, but there are certain things that I grew up on that still speaks to my soul.

Im only mentioning it, now we get to the astrological point, because I totally see this as part of the Pluto transit to my Moon. There are so many different layers to it.

It’s amazing how astrological symbolism works with layers and layers of meanings.

Pluto is transiting my second house, it has a lot to do with changing completely the way that I make my money and, on a deeper level, transforming my sense of self worth. Pluto is making a square to my Moon in Libra, yes, it also has a lot to do with leaving compulsive, childish and less desirable traits that would come out in relationships. I am developing yet another level of self reliability and independency, maybe after that I can truly hope for partnerships based in equality. The Moon is also connected with mother and I’ve been dealing with my mother complex big time. My Moon is also in the eleventh house, one of the strong themes with this transit has been the search for a community of like minded people that can give me a sense of belonging. Then my Moon rules the ninth house and I have been traveling quite a bit in search for home.

Perhaps the second half of this year will have something to do with me going to Brazil for a little. Maybe I need to revisit and reconnect with my roots. Find that part of myself, the brazilian part.

I don’t know about that. What I really know, and wanted to make a point in this post, is that astrological symbolism has many levels and we should always keep that in mind I think. If we are too ready to interpret a transit or aspect or whatever for ourselves or clients we are bound to miss a lot of potential important information.

I see the astrologer’s work as translation but also as detective work. We need to do our best to stretch out the symbolism as much as we can in order to see the bigger picture. In order to help people finding their bigger picture.

Symbolifed

by with No Comment Astrology and meTrip

Excuse me the weird tittle for this post, but yesterday I’ve had one of the most interesting synchronicity here in Istanbul regarding how astrological symbols pervades real life. This is actually one of the themes that truly fascinates me about astrology, how the symbols come out, how the archetypal energy gets manifested.

Since I’ve had a phase of exploring one night stands searching for myself I started to get curious about what astrology could speak in terms of attraction in each specific case. For instance we know that interaspects between Mars and Venus usually light up a spark between two people. But I wanted more than that, I wanted to see and understand how I feel the different nuances between each attraction and connection I would have with someone. It has been quite a fascinating journey and I definitely should write some more stuff about that.

But anyways, yesterday I decided to go out on a date with myself. It was one of these days that I just crave my own company. And so I went in search of a bookshop that would sell books in English.

As I was walking in the street I saw this guy sitting on a step listening to a turkish old man playing the flute. I don’t really know how to explain, but I just felt this urge to sit down beside him and have a chat. I didn’t really know exactly why as I didn’t really fancy him or anything like that. But because I’m making sure that I connect more and more with my instincts and wild self I simply turned around and sat beside him asking if he speaks English. He was surprised and asked me if I was from Turkey and was even more surprised to find out that I’m from Brazil because so was he. We went for coffee and shared many stories and feelings. After couple of hours we said good bye and when I got back I was curious to see the synastry or anything that could enlighten me about that sudden attraction. I was searching for meanings, like I usually do. Didn’t find anything in the synastry, so decided to check his progressions and found out that his progressed chart at the moment is exactly the day of my birthday. So most of the planets of his progressed chart is in the same degree and configuration of my birth chart. I don’t know what my conclusions are about this happening, but that made me think a lot about vibration and resonating yet from another perspective. Were we just meant to be some kind of mirror, but very literally at this point in time, to each other for couple of hours in such apparently random situation?