Anyone who knows me would tell you I'm quite the shopaholic when it comes to books and crystals. That one-click option on Amazon is my downfall. Sometimes I will buy a book long before I have time to read it (or before I have any chance of understanding it).
That was the case with Jan Spiller's Spiritual Astrology: A Path to Divine Awakening, which turned out to be a fantastic read and I'm now kicking myself for not reading earlier. I bought the book in 2009, re-gifted it, and got it again last month. It opened my eyes to a new way of working with astrology. But first, let’s look at some of the more traditional ways that a Natal Astrology reading can help us.
Studying our natal charts can help in several ways:
1) Getting To Know Yourself
What does it mean if a person's Sun is in the fiery sign of Aries, their Moon is in Libra. The Sun rules our core, our essence, what our soul is here to accomplish. The Moon is about how we feel, our inner world and emotions. Other planets such as Mercury, Venus, and Mars and might indicate what our thought processes are like, what we value in life and how we go about attaining what we want. On a psychological level, we can use astrology to understand ourselves and what makes us tick.
We can also look at the balance of elements in our natal charts, for example, how many planets are in Water, Earth, Air or Fire signs and how does this make-up influence our personality. A person with lots of Air might have great ideas, but if they don't have enough planets in Fire (drive) or Earth (logic) they may never get traction. We can work with crystals and other healing tools to balance out the mix.
2) Goal-Setting With Astrology
We can also work with astrological transits to set goals when we are more likely to meet them. By transit, we mean the movement of the planets through the signs (the moon was in Leo on Monday, its in Virgo today). The energy that the planets send our way take on a different shape as they move through the signs. They also influence different areas of our lives as they make their way around the sun. We can study these transits to see where we are more likely to gain momentum in our lives. For example, the past year or so I have had the goal of 'getting back in shape' on the back-burner. I went to the gym and ate healthy more often than not, but I wasn't interested in putting in the effort to shed the last few pounds.
Then came the Mars - the planet that rules ambition, drive and our ability to get what we want. It takes Mars about two years to make its way through all the signs in the Zodiac. A month and a half ago it entered the zodiac sign that (in my natal chart) rules health, habits, fitness and work ethic. I suddenly found myself with plenty of energy at the gym as well as the motivation to lay off the chocolate bars and crisps. Those kilos came off quickly despite the fact that I went on holiday for two weeks and ate lots of pizza, pasta and Italian ice cream (but I did hike a lot, too).
Of course, when it comes to weight loss there may be other issues at play, whether it is emotional or stress related. And we all come in different shapes and sizes so it's more about finding the size and shape where we are comfortable, happy and healthy rather than trying to fit into an ideal. For more on sustainable weight loss and healing from the inside out, please read this article of mine with Tiny Buddha...
3) Predicting Events With Astrology
This area I am not as familiar with, but we can study the movement of the planets through a person's natal chart to predict when certain events are more likely to happen. For example, when are you likely to get a promotion, to get married, to meet your soul mate, etc? These transits tell us when something is more likely but we still need to put in the work to take advantage of the opportunity (though some may fall into your lap - it depends on the transit).
So for example, if you knew that your big chance to meet a soul mate is coming in 2017, you would work on healing and releasing past relationships before then so that you would be ready for the new one. we can also take it one step further by combining our knowledge of planetary transits with magick to bring the planet's energy into our lives in a more focused and conscious way.
4) Finding Happiness With Astrology
In Spiritual Astrology, Jan Spiller talks about falling in love and how the feeling has less to do with the person we are "in love with" than our state of mind. That bliss can be found when we plug into our Heart and stop caring about the trials of daily life. So the bus was late, who cares, we're in love! Eventually, our consciousness exits the heart and goes back to our mind/ego. That warm fuzzy feeling may fade - if we want to stay in that place of love it's an inside job. Jan tells us that we can fall in love with life and with ourselves by turning to our stars for guidance.
The book is amazing; the empowering bit comes from studying the placement of each of the planets in a natal chart, and how their placement in the signs influences our feelings. We can manifest a planet's energy constructively, or destructively - within the confines of its sign in our natal chart.
To give you an example, when I was born, Venus was in Aries. Venus rules love, relationships, social activities, what we value in our lives, and where we find our self-worth. Aries is an independent sign that leads impatiently and can leave people behind. Nothing moves fast enough for Aries. The sign is ruled by Mars, a very competitive planet (and one that I'm not entirely comfortable with).
If I were to plug into the impatient, competitive or self-absorbed attributes of Aries, my social life and my relationships would suffer. Instead, Spiller suggests that I work Venus to my advantage by leaning into the sign that sits opposite Aries on the Zodiac. Libra is a team player (unlike Aries), it values every human and wants to make sure everyone is OK. According to Spiller, a healthy expression of Venus in Aries involves empowering others so that they can lead, achieve their own goals (with Aries as a kick starter). The book shines a light on where we might be sabotaging ourselves.
5) Discovering Your Soul's Gifts
The other big theme in Spiritual Astrology are prenatal eclipses (the eclipses that happen when we are in the womb). Most of us will have experienced two eclipses in the womb, one rules the gift that we have to share with the world in this life. The other one rules the gift or opportunity that we are given as a reward or a treat. I was surprised to learn that my "treat" eclipse is in Pisces (the sign that rules intuition) and that in exchange for me agreeing to come down to earth, I was given the chance to develop my intuition. It is what I am here to enjoy, and I have the most of it! I did however, realize that I haven’t been channeling the gift that I am meant to be sharing with the world (not so directly); that is something for me to work on in the future …
There are also several websites that generate free natal astrology charts. AstrologyClub.org was my favorite early on because I could relate to the interpretations. Of course, I also offer astrology and tarot readings through this blog; I'd be happy to explore your natal chart with you. Readings last an hour and we might not have time to go through everything on this list, but if you let me know what you are interested in, we can zoom in on a specific aspect and take it from there.
If you would like to learn more about Astrology, let me know and I can include a reading list in my next email. There is a sweet little book by Amanda Starr that I would recommend: The Joy of the Zodiac. The author does a great job explaining the qualities associated with the various zodiac signs. She also goes into subdivisions for each sign (career, relationships, family life); those descriptions will be relevant when we have a specific sign on the cusp of the house that rules that sphere of life.
So for example, if you were looking into a new job, you might look at the sign of the 2nd House Cusp (income), 6th House Cusp (work) and the 10th House Cusp (public success and achievement). If you have never seen a natal chart and would like to know more, Click here for an introduction and a case study. Hope it helps! =)