Astrology of Joy

Author: David

  • 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.

  • Starlog 2020: March
    Coronavirus: Opportunity in Disguise?

    Several of you have been asking about the novel coronavirus in regard to astrology. Of course, to understand the specific energies at play for an individual, your birth chart needs to be examined in terms of past life karmas, current health status and what tendencies are active in your current life situation. Nevertheless, by looking at the current positions of the slow moving planets, ie, Saturn, Jupiter and the nodes of the Moon, we can gain clarity as to humanity as a whole.

    Those of you who have had readings with me know that the nodes of the moon are the most significant aspects of a chart. The South node reveals where we need awareness in our lives in order to become “unstuck” and experience more success and joy, while the North node reveals the conscious action that will bring that awareness.

    Currently, the South node is in Capricorn, the sign that is fundamentally about a human being’s capacity to listen to the higher self. Without awareness, the South node indicates delusion, where, through tradition, habitual thinking, or wrong understanding about our true nature, we perceive the world in a way that is false. This falsehood creates fear and the actions we undertake are predominantly those we think will avoid what it is we fear. Opposite the South node in Capricorn is the North node in Cancer which represents those actions. Without awareness, our actions become an emotional reaction to what we fear.

    In other words, current astrological indications are telling us that the tendency for human beings at this moment in time is to be deaf to the voice of their higher self, their voice of intuition and insight. This creates fear and shows up in the North node in Cancer as panic, hysteria, worry, etc.

    This is further exacerbated by two events currently underway: Saturn leaving Capricorn and entering Aquarius and Jupiter’s transit of Capricorn which began last December. Saturn in Capricorn indicates the capacity to be grounded, real, unemotional and practical. Though it does well in Aquarius, too, in Capricorn Saturn indicates human beings have at least some foothold in stability. Jupiter, a planet of optimism and expansion, is constricted in Capricorn and the association with the South node means pessimism and overreaction.

    By the end of April, the nodes leave their current signs. As astronomical points that move “backwards”, this means the South node will move into Sagittarius as the North node enters Gemini. This is significant for everyone on earth and will certainly indicate a change to the current situation. Sagittarius is the sign of purification and sacrifice indicating a need to let go of certain comforts and conveyances though most people will be resistant to sacrificing their comforts in order to bring about real change. Likewise, the North node in Gemini indicates a tendency to overuse logic and reasoning and to get lost in the details of a situation by losing sight of the whole picture. During this period, discriminating between what is real and unreal, between what is helpful and unhelpful, will be necessary to analyse available options in the most beneficial way.

    In a nutshell:

    Through April, our conditioned mind:

    • Makes it challenging to hear the voice of our higher self, the one Consciousness
    • This can lead to fear causing worry and panic
    • Which leads to over-reactions and actions based upon fear

    What needs to happen:

    • Stay grounded, centred, organised and practical.
    • The tendency will be to experience constricting emotions like fear, worry, panic.  To counter this tendency, use the energy of emotion but direct it toward love, joy, compassion and gratitude and service. This can most easily be achieved by embracing the fundamental aspects of Cancer that includes the feminine, home and family and our natural inclination to nurture and comfort.

    A word of caution: for those of you deeply attached to family, it can be challenging because you will tend to be in “survival mode” and make choices from feelings of limitation and fear. Everything you need to live a beautiful life is within you and for those of you that can experience a bit of space, you will more easily see what it is you need to do. The best path is to practice staying connected to your own sweetness… then serving your family and the world from that source within you.

    Building strength through May and at least the end of the year:

    • The conditioned mind tends to be unwilling to embrace sacrifice and disruption of conveyance and comfort
    • This creates a tendency to “over-think”,  losing the holistic perspective and getting lost in the bits and pieces of a situation

    What needs to happen:

    • Accept that life is asking you to let go of notions and attitudes that have been holding you back. This may happen through intensity but intensity embraced as an opportunity can lead to revelation and transformation rather than difficulty and suffering.
    • Blind belief is not your friend during this time. Use your logic, reasoning and common sense to make decisions but fight the urge to overreact and focus on only the details. The answer lies in the details but only as part of the bigger picture. Details can be examined but they must be evaluated holistically.

    This is very general but this is what all of humans are dealing with. Each individual will experience a certain “flavour” but the fundamental energies remain the same…

    The coronavirus is an opportunity to “wake up”, an opportunity to ask ourselves if we, as individuals, or us, as a nation of the global community, are prepared to face events perhaps more challenging in the future. Reports are that many of these recent outbreaks have been caused by human and animals interacting in ways that is not natural or healthy, eg, eating bats and other wild animals. On another front, several top scientists are telling us that the “5G Rollout” is causing virus mutations and a host of other problems.

    Are we willing to sacrifice money, power, and convenience for our health and the health of the world?

    In the future, we may not have a choice.