Astrology of Joy

Author: David

  • Be Prepared for 2022

    Writing about the future is always a delicate task, one that requires a deft pen and discerning mind. On the one hand, the future has yet to happen which implies that we have something to say about how it unfolds. On the other hand, human beings have rarely been able to manage the world in any respectable sense, so any talk of the future is necessarily influenced by the current list of unresolved conflicts and challenges and a leadership which lacks the clarity to make a difference. Still, to go into the future without a plan is like living on a flood plain and surrendering to chance what we have worked hard to accomplish. Though seasons may pass uneventfully, likely will come the day when we are faced with a life-altering tsunami of circumstance. Being prepared helps even the odds against an outright catastrophe.

    But what does being prepared mean?

    In 1907, an English soldier named Baden-Powell first conceived the Scout motto: Be Prepared. A year later it was published in Scouting for Boys where he wrote that to be prepared means “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.” And what of duty? Duty is an inner call to do the right thing at the right time, that is, to do what is needed when it is needed. Being prepared, then, is to be in a state of readiness in body and mind such that when the moment calls for us to act, we are able to do so in decisive fashion. As the old proverb implores, we should dig the well before the house is on fire. 

    Being prepared refers to taking ownership of what is within our control. Regarding body, this means that it is our duty to maintain the body in such a condition that doing what is needed is never compromised due to our own negligence. Life happens and at times our physical health is simply at the mercy of what is to be; however, to a large extent, good health is determined by the food we eat, the stress we take on, the environment within which we choose to live, and the amount of movement and exercise with which we engage our physical self — all things with which we have at least some control. Going back to the metaphor of the well, it does no good to know what needs to be done if we are physically unable to do it.

    Mental preparedness in part refers to our level of skill. Obviously, we cannot be experts in every field, but we can be an expert in our own life. This means knowing our talents and abilities and taking steps to make sure they are fully realised. Whether this means going back to school, enrolling in adult education, or becoming our own teacher, being in a state of preparedness means that our innate talents and abilities are honed such that a lack of skill is never an impediment to step up and do what is needed. We may see the necessity of digging the well before the fire and have the necessary physical attributes, but if we are unsure how a proper well is dug, our insight and good health are wasted.

    Mental preparedness also refers to our willingness to do what is needed. No matter our skill or physical ability, if we are unwilling to dig the well, the well will never be dug. The greatest enemy of willingness is our attachment to the laundry list of likes and dislikes we carry with us like a King’s treasure. As with morals, our list of likes and dislikes is in large part an aspect of our personality created from childhood associations to family, culture, and environment. Through astrology, we discover that these “compulsions” arise from lifetimes of experiencing pain and pleasure. Of no particular significance other than social, likes and dislikes are closely related to our desire for comfort and convenience.

    Remember the story of the Little Red Hen? In the end, the other barnyard animals do not get to share in the prosperity of the hen because of their unwillingness to do what was needed when it was needed. Their attachment to what was pleasant and convenient, e.g. the cat’s attachment to napping and the pig’s dinner-time overindulgence, stamped out any willingness to help. In the same way, when we are unwilling to put aside our thirst for comfort and pleasure even for a few moments, what needs to be done and should be done will be sacrificed at the alter of compulsion and our life unfolds unconsciously. 

    A compelling example of the consequences of becoming distracted can be found in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 war epic Apocalypse Now. After leading an effective charge of helicopter gunships against a Vietcong village, Robert Duvall’s iconic figure Lt. Col. “I-love-the-smell-of-napalm-in-the-morning” Kilgore admonishes a group of South Vietnamese soldiers for refusing water to a gravely wounded Vietcong. Declaring how he gives a drink to anyone brave enough to give their all, Kilgore offers water from his own canteen. Right at that moment, however, a soldier tells Kilgore that one of the infantry soldiers present is an accomplished surfer. His attention now diverted by one of his passions, the water from Kilgore’s canteen falls aimlessly onto the ground inches from the wounded man’s mouth who desperately struggles to catch even one drop. Though this scene lasts but a few seconds, the message is clear: if we live life unconsciously, our compulsions will always rise to the surface, no matter how demonstrative we proclaim otherwise.

    Our moments of distraction are probably not as dramatic as Lt. Col. Kilgore’s, but they just as easily separate us from doing our duty. They have become an intimate part of our life whether through comfort and convenience or living in such a rush that even our morning shower becomes an obstacle to our ambitions. And to what end? Modern society enjoys technological convenience like no other society before and yet finding time to quietly reflect on life with a warm cup of tea is akin to finding a ruby on our doorstep. We have sacrificed peace of mind for what?

    Being prepared means that we are willing to put our distractions aside for the greater good. It means we are able to respond in each moment to the capacity with which we can. This means we are responsible to each other, no matter creed, colour, or family history. For a responsible person, there is no prejudice; we do what is needed because the duty of the moment requires us to act. Moreover, such responsibility extends to the entire world and all of life becomes our responsibility. In such a state of willingness, there is no need for “right action” legislation; instead, our awareness of what is beneficial for all makes us guardians of the world.

    Being prepared also recognises our responsibility towards not only our generation, but to all future generations. Though some things are simply beyond our control, we can do well if we remember the popular poem attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr (1892-1971):

    God grant me the serenity

    To accept the things I cannot change; 

    Courage to change the things I can;

    And wisdom to know the difference.

    What can we change and what must we learn to accept? Knowing this difference allows resources to be concentrated towards real solutions. More importantly, it suggests there are things we should not change. Too often, however, leadership initiates change without any real clarity of the consequences of doing so. Confidence without clarity tramples the rights of others and ends up being abusive towards at least some — even if initiated with altruistic intent. The road to hell, it is said, is paved with good intentions.

    Being prepared is inherently tolerant. With nothing written in stone but the willingness to do what is needed, each moment of life is lived responsibly and out of the box. Having no prescribed formula or prejudice, we simply offer what is needed when it is needed according to our capacity and abilities. By focusing on the greatest need of each moment, we automatically have a hand in making the world a better place.

    As we begin this auspicious new year, approach each moment as a moment tailor made for your talents and abilities. In this way, you offer what you can, just as you are. Doing so, you will have done your part to create a better future not only for yourself but for all life on this planet. Like a pebble dropped into a clear lake, your conscious actions will reverberate outward and contribute to a better world. 

    References

    https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2017/05/08/be-prepared-scout-motto-origin/

    https://www.lords-prayer-words.com/famous_prayers/god_grant_me_the_serenity.html

    https://www.bookologymagazine.com/resources/authors-emeritus/dodge-mary-mapes/

    https://groovyhistory.com/i-love-the-smell-of-napalm-in-the-morning-apocalypse-now

    https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions.html

  • MAYDAY 2020: How to Take Advantage of the Coming Change

    This coming week, a major change is taking place in the astrological heavens: the nodes of the Moon will change signs, something that only happens every one and a half years. On May 6, the South node moves into Sagittarius while the North node enters Gemini. As you will recall from last month’s newsletter, the South Node has been in Capricorn since November 2018. The South node represents our past and its location in astrology signifies where constriction from the subconscious pain and pleasure of previous lives keeps us knotted up and confused about how to move forward. Capricorn is our capacity to listen to our higher self, the truth that is rooted firmly in the present and never the past. This capacity to listen, however, has tended to be “bound up” with the past, making it difficult to know what direction to take.

    Nothing represents this confusion more than the current Covid-19 pandemic. Even now, scientists are not completely sure with what they are dealing and false information has been rampant. Capricorn represents governments, the establishment, right action and jobs. Delays and confusion has been the norm for many governments and even experienced medical experts. Those countries with the highest fatalities and cases were some of the slowest to act and to make it worse, people around the world are suffering from loss of livelihoods.

    As I mentioned last week, to offset our incapacity to take a firm step forward, we needed to look toward the North Node. In Cancer, it represents home, family, the feminine and sweet emotions like love, joy, compassion and gratitude. Embracing these aspects of our lives consciously and not as a knee-jerk response to fear, we actually loosen the hold of the past, allowing us to see our better options. As horrible as this period has been for many people, it is still an opportunity to become better humans.

    So what of Sagittarius and Gemini, the signs of the zodiac the nodes will soon occupy? What tendencies will be energised for the next year and one half? Where could we stumble and where could we find an answer?

    Sagittarius is the sign of purification. It is a fire sign and it is Sagittarius that represents the need to experience the “fire” of life in order to be willing enough to grow beyond our limited perspectives. Ultimately, this fire frees us from our limited view of ourself but the process can be challenging. Like gold in the fire of the goldsmith, we need to embrace the fire in order to be transformed into our highest potential. Old concepts must go in order for a new life to emerge.

    The challenge comes not so much in having to go through transformation as it is our resistance to the process. The South node in Sagittarius indicates that we will tend to resist this change, that we will not want to let go of what has been the status quo in order to embrace a brighter future. Many in the media are speaking of a “new normal” as if it is something to fear and dread. This cannot be further from reality. The “normal” ways we have lived life has got to change. Our education systems are a shambles, the gap between rich and poor widens and the planet is nearing a point of collapse. A new normal is absolutely needed.

    Sagittarius is also related to wealth and abundance. What this indicates, then, is that for the next year and a half, we will experience challenges related to wealth stemming from our desire to hold onto it at any cost. For some, there may be great fluctuations in their wealth–up and down, up and down– as this desire to “hang on” stems from a tumultuous past and needs to be understood as a compulsion based upon fear from previous lives and not indicative of what we should do, now, in the present. In many ways, people will be asked to take a profound look at their lives and reevaluate the consumer oriented economy. How much does one really need in order to live a good life for themselves and their family?

    How does one gain more awareness into this process? The past holds us prisoner in our subconscious, a place that is very difficult to illuminate. The answer is found in the North node and its location in Gemini. On the one hand, the North node represents the compulsive actions arising as a “knee-jerk” response to the past. In this way, the North node indicates challenge through unconscious action. However, the North node always represents a doorway through which we can imbibe our higher aspirations. These aspirations are a reflection of our higher self, our authentic self free from our past. Unconscious action digs the hole deeper; conscious action brings illumination and a better life.

    What does this doorway look like over these coming months?

    Gemini is the sign of discernment, of discrimination and analysis. These qualities lie in the conscious part of the mind and evolution has made it available to us as a tool for our survival. Without this aspect of our intellect, we would not be able to survive in the world; a mind without discrimination would endanger the body. The reason you don’t intentionally lay your hand on a hot stove is because you have been burned before and you you don’t need to be told again. However, in the course of living many lifetimes, we have gained impressions from countless situations and circumstances. These impressions keep us from making conscious choices. Instead, our tendency is to go blindly down the road of life acting upon any desire that rears its head never realising these compulsions our simply holdovers from a painful past. In this way, we create a difficult life for ourselves.

    Our challenge during this period is to use our powers of discernment and discrimination as a tool to lead us to a better life. When a desire arises in the mind, hit the pause button. Never take action when you are “excited” by either fear or expectation for excitement is not wisdom; excitement is simply anticipating a reward. The stronger the desire, the stronger the excitement. Instead, look for qualities like enthusiasm, joy, aliveness, compassion; these are more “true” and are much more likely to lead you down the best path for you. These emotions need no “reward” for the reward is the experience, itself.

    To summarise, these are the primary “push and pulls” over the next year and one half:

    • The South node indicates an unwillingness to sacrifice our comforts and pleasures for a higher state of consciousness. This unwillingness will actually create an attempt to avoid what is best for us, think, instead, that it will do us harm.
    • Unwillingness causes us to become constricted and overly sensitive in whatever specific areas of life Sagittarius represents for us (as per our astrological chart)
    • This, in turn, causes a knee-jerk response such that may tend to “overthink” everything, choosing actions based upon warped logic and not truth, that is, not what is really best for ourselves and others. Without awareness, the primary motive to act becomes one of safety and security.

    To live harmoniously, we need to:

    • First, reflect. Not every desire that arises is harmful. How to determine which are beneficial and which are not? Only act upon those desires that reflect where you really want to go; most desires are wolves in sheep’s clothing and only reveal themselves to be a compulsion after you have engaged them and suffered. Discrimination brought about by thoughtful contemplation and self-reflection will go a long way toward getting you through this period in the best way possible.
    • As you do this, you will naturally see the areas of your life, represented by Sagittarius, open up and take on a greater harmony with life. Areas, especially finances, will become more clear so that you can better navigate through this challenging period.

    This next year and one half is really asking you to contemplate very deeply what it is you want and where it is you want to go. As I have said repeatedly, the pandemic is an opportunity, a call to live a better, more harmonious life. Most will not understand the potential of this time and will simply bounce between the karmas of their past. You, on the other hand, can unequivocally come out of this a better person living a better life.

    Be vigilant… then go for it!

  • From My Files: A Case Study

    A 21 year old female asked for an astrological reading. During the consultation, I discovered that she was resigned to a life without a partner creating a festering despondency within her. I asked her why she felt this way as her chart did not reveal a life devoid of marriage; only that she needed to learn to be emotionally open in relationships and that, eventually, she would attract the right partner to her.

    Her response shocked me: she had previously received a reading from a well known astrologer, author of several books on astrology, who told her that a relationship was not in her destiny. I told her I saw otherwise, that while hers was not an overnight process, if she applied herself by embracing certain practices and life directions, she would eventually rise above her self-imposed limitations, for that is always what our limitations are, self-imposed. I told her to have patience and that within three years, the opportunity to find her man would be heightened, increasing her chances of success, because she, herself, would be more emotionally available to relationship and, in fact, this is what transpired.

    Whether or not this famous astrologer actually told her to forget about relationships is not the point; the fact is, this is what she came away with from the reading and that responsibility falls squarely on the astrologer. Astrology is not a system of ironclad predictions but a system of personal enrichment, a process of unfoldment like a blossom opening its petals. Predictions are only as accurate as the unwillingness for a person to stay the same and become less valid the more a person sincerely embraces their own possibility of transformation.

    What we find from this case is that, although the willingness to change is the responsibility of the person, revealing the direction of that change is the astrologer’s. Letting go of the past by embracing one’s deepest urges is the way to beneficial change and should always be at the core of what an astrologer offers. If you find yourself sitting before an astrologer who speaks only in predictions about the future, do yourself a favor and excuse yourself. You are a free being and no one should ever limit your possibilities.

  • Blame the astrologer, not astrology…

    To get the most out of an astrological reading, you have to have the courage to put into action the recommendations of the astrologer. This requires trust and at least a modicum of willingness to explore the possibilities. Still, astrology is only as good as the astrologer. Schedule an appointment with a half-baked astrologer and, provided you are sincere, you will get half-baked results.

    Astrologers are the problem with modern astrology. And there is one simple reason: astrologers are not embracing the process of unfolding their own understanding with the same enthusiasm as they approach learning the rules and techniques of astrology. This is not at all saying all modern astrologers are half-baked but in over 27 years of practicing astrology as a professional, this astrologer has found few astrologers intensely engaged in their own spiritual unfoldment.

    What is the result? The result is that modern astrology has become overly focused on a person’s predicted outcomes and not on their unfoldment as a spiritual being. Predictions are based upon a person’s conditioned mind and ignore their higher possibilities.  After all, astrology is a map of one’s karma at the moment they are born, leaving open the possibility that in their current incarnation, one can make choices that changes the momentum and direction of the karma they were born with.

    Astrology is a tool for enlightenment and enlightenment is living without conditioning of any kind. In this state, a person acts from the pure creative impulse of Consciousness and not because some story from their past is dictating how they should act and react. It is when the astrologer loses sight of the reason for astrology’s existence, that he then reduces astrology to nothing more than a crystal ball. Predictions have their place and can help people avoid suffering or embrace opportunity but astrology is more than that; it is a means by which one can let go of the need for predictions, instead, every act they do is in perfect harmony with who they really are and that is in perfect harmony with Consciousness.

    Astrologers must do their own homework and continue to gain understanding into the mysteries of existence and their own human nature. Only then will astrology be legitimized in the world as an authentic means to unleashing human potential.

  • You Don’t Need Astrology…

    …to live the life you dream. You have all the necessary ingredients within you; after all, you were made in the image of the Creator, right? Just as a child has all the ingredients to be a perfect human being, so, too, you have everything within you to create and manifest the life you want: unlimited success, unbounded love, perfect health. In short, you have unlimited potential.

    Why, then, do you struggle?

    Because you don’t know how to access and maintain your greatness. Instead, it lies buried under lifetimes of pain and unbridled passion. Both have tricked you into believing you are small. Seriously? Is the cosmos small? Is Consciousness limited? Then how can you feel so powerless as one born from the stars, from the very hand of God?

    In truth, astrology is a system to help you gain mastery over your life through clarity. Though it is not the only system that accomplishes this, it is one of the original “limbs of yoga” that has stood the test of time, in fact, over thousands of years. And the reason being is because it works and because, in truth, it is a tool for enlightenment.

    Let us bring the word enlightenment down from the clouds. Being “enlightened” is simply you without any “conditioning“. Each moment, each experience, whether in body or mind, is lodged in your psychic body as an impression, pleasant or unpleasant. These impressions must be expressed sooner or later through the law of karma or dissolved through understanding. How much karma does one have? The world renown spiritual master Swami Muktananda once said we have as much karma as every grain of sand on every beach throughout the world. That is a lot of karma!

    What’s more is that these impressions serve as subconscious forces acting upon your faculty of discrimination, that part of your intellect from where we choose the beneficial over the temporarily pleasurable. Because of these impressions, this past life conditioning, you are subconsciously making choices “to keep safe” and to experience pleasure where you think it resides. In the end, you feel drained and frustrated, success and joy eluding you once again.

    What to do? In my experience, the first and most important step is to find an authentic spiritual teacher who has “been there and done that” and who can guide you through your karma, helping you dissolve a good chunk of it through spiritual understanding and experience. After this, embracing esoteric and holistic systems can be very beneficial by serving as tools to help deepen your spiritual understanding. Astrology is one such tool.

    Astrology arose from the great seers of India who wanted to help humankind live to their highest potential, as children of God and not slaves to ignorance. Astrology is a means to bring you more awareness of your conditioned past so that you can choose a better direction for your life. Right now, your past is a ball and chain that keeps you from making the best choices for yourself and others. What you think is a noble want or desire is, most often, simply a voice from the past telling you to go in a certain direction lest you suffer.

    But you know better…

    You know those deep urges you have, the ones that speak to you when you lie awake at night or when you walk in solitude along a rocky coast, the sea pulling at another you? These are the urges of your infinite self, urges that if you learn to embrace purely, that is, without condition, will take you on an unbelievable journey within your own self, a journey of Love and joy, peace and gratitude. When that happens, there is no way your outer life remains stagnant and dry. Instead, it becomes a reflection of the greatness within you, a greatness that has always been yours and always will be.

    Astrology is not the end of all ends but it is a tool to help set your soul free.