Be Your Own Astrologer - Do It Yourself
The Random Jottings of a Stargazer
Stargazer’s Astro Files
Section XII
Section5
Be Your Own Astrologer – D.I.Y.
First Steps Towards Becoming Your Own Astrologer
The astrology I practise has nothing to do with horoscopes and fortune telling. It’s applied psychology and that, to my mind, is the best instrument for getting to know ourselves and especially our inner motivations. Like all truly great ideas, astrology’s principles are very simple. Everything is wheels within wheels and cycles within cycles constantly repeating themselves. In my view there is no better instrument than the Divine science for getting to know our true self and loving it, and doing the same for the people who are accompanying our pathway through life. As for my taste too much gobble-de-gook surrounds this subject, from the beginning of my writings I have aimed at demystifying it. Besides, instead of feeding people by catching one fish for them, I believe in showing them where they can find and land the tastiest morsels for themselves.
I believe that astrology’s extraordinary beauty and usefulness as well as its basic simplicity can only reveal itself when one strips away all confusing non-essentials elements. As soon as this has been done, the subject transforms itself from something that is best avoided, because for ordinary mortals without specialist knowledge it is far too complicated, something mysterious which some find downright scary. When astrology is placed in the right hands it quickly reveals itself as something to be enjoyed, relished and treasured as the precious gift to humankind which in truth it always has been.
Knowing that simplicity is the greatest thing the Universe can bestow upon any of its children of the Earth, I always keep things as simple as possible and use language that hopefully can be followed easily by anyone. In my view the best approach to astrology is the D.I.Y. one. For this purpose I have added some easy to follow instructions on how to find and interpret your Moon signs, as well as a few brief general notes about the role of the Sun and the Moon in our birthcharts. If you would like to find out more about the houses, please follow this link: https://astrolibrary.org/houses/ . I don’t think anyone could explain them better.
All my writings are dedicated to doing my share of dispersing the prejudices against astrology that to this day exist in our world. By showing how the Divine science can be used to find a better understanding not only of ourselves, each other and our world, but also of God and the processes of Creation and life, I would like to assist people to overcome their fear of this truly amazing subject. The kind of astrology I practise has nothing to do with fortunetelling. It is applied psychology and an instrument for getting to know ourselves, weaknesses and strengths alike, and for finding out about our innermost motivations and highest potentialities.
Should you be interested in a spot of fortunetelling only, forget about the D.I.Y. method. You would be wasting your time and be better off by far if you gazed into a crystal ball or some tealeaves, to see what might come to you. You could be lucky and will never know unless you try. But if you wish to become more familiar with yourself and your predestined pathway through life, you have come to the right place. You are sure to find what you are looking for here.
My advice for anyone who stands with trepidation before the vastness of astrology is: do not be discouraged. Not everybody is destined to become a professional astrologer. For many it is quite sufficient to learn more about the Sun signs and what they can disclose about their own and everyone else’s predestined pathway and destiny. My own life has taught me how, through a better appreciation of one’s own and other people’s little foibles and peccadilloes, one imperceptibly and almost automatically grows into a kinder and more loving and tolerant person. Astrology has helped me in so many ways, but especially with this and I am convinced that it can do the same for you.
Of particular interest is the discovery of our inner, i.e. unconscious world of motivations, feelings and emotions, our soul. This does not require any great astrological knowledge or scientific approach. All you need to know is the position of the Moon in your birthchart. Ideally this should be by sign and house, but to keep things simple, let’s forget about the house position of both Sun and Moon. For what we have in mind here they are not really necessary. To give you a better idea of the role of the Moon and the Sun in your birthchart, here are a few general notes about them. In the normal course of events, the Sun would come first, but as we are focusing here mainly on the Moon, I have taken the liberty to tell you about it first.
The Moon
The Moon is a symbolism for the earthly personality, its experiences and functions. It represents the psyche, the soul, which is the storehouse of the memories of the experiences of all our lifetimes, including this one. The Moon’s sign and house position in our birthchart indicate how we appear to other people and how we experience them and take them into account. The Moon is a reflection of the deepest, innermost essence of our personality; it is the mask through which our soul communicates and relates to the world around us. Because the soul cannot express itself in words, it communicates with us through the cells of our body and reveals its presence through our intuitive interactions with those around us.
The Moon’s position can tell us a great deal about the behaviour patterns we developed during other lifetimes, which during this one decisively influence our instinctual reactions. The Moon shows how we subconsciously react to our environment. It is also the symbol for the rich world of our innermost feelings, of sensitivity and unconscious motivations. It can be a pointer to how we make use of our imagination. I share the belief that the Moon can give us clues to which cycles of experiences we went through, during our most recent lifetime on Earth.
The Sun
The Sun in our birthcharts shows in which direction our spirit and soul’s Highest Self and inner Spirit will be pulling us throughout the whole course of our present lifetime. The Sun’s sign and house position provide pointers to our main life lessons, as well as the qualities that are waiting to be integrated into our character on our soul’s slow and gradual way back into the wholeness and perfection that is in God. As a spark and an integral part of the Great Light, the spiritual Sun beyond the Sun in the sky above us, each one is a soul dedicated to a pathway of evolution. At all times, the Great Spirit inexorably draws each one of us forwards and upwards, inviting and calling us to come home and be at one with it again, the way all human souls once were.
While all this is happening, the Moon is trying to do its best to hold us back in the past. To avoid remaining trapped in matter overlong, it is essential that we learn to respond as much as possible to the guidance we constantly receive from within our own hearts, where our inner Sun and teacher dwells. The ongoing struggle, friction and disharmony of past ages between the two parts, represented by the Sun and the Moon, were painful for the individual and the collective soul of our world. This has resulted in great soul growth, so that at long last humankind has reached the evolutionary level when harmony between within and without, conscious and subconscious is meant to be worked on and established by us.
It is up to us to each one of us personally to make every effort to look back as little as possible, so that we may move forward, the way the living spirit within tells us to do. As one becomes more aware of oneself and one’s inner motivations, it is important to always bear in mind that everything we find within that is not to our liking can be and indeed is meant to be changed, by us. That is our task if we wish to make the spiritual progress that is potentially ours, for this lifetime. We are here to learn to rise above all inner obstacles and to overcome the problems we ourselves have created during this lifetime and many before. Because this is extremely difficult, it is every soul’s birthright to call for the help of God and the Angels. This, however, will and cannot come on its own, but has to be asked for. Whichever way one turns, can you see how the greatest tool any soul can wish for on its journey through life is awareness. Truly, it is the key to unlock all doors – especially the inner ones.
The human spirit, as part of the Great Spirit, is enterprising and inquisitive, forward looking and thirsting for new learning, fresh experiences and wider horizons. As in contrast to this, the earthly personality is afraid of the unknown and the future, it tends to dislike changes and cling to the past. To help the spirit to grow and expand in consciousness, it must first become aware of itself. This it does through experiencing itself and the world around it, by learning about both of them. The spirit is a small spark of the Great Father of all life; its nature therefore is masculine.
The duty of every spark of the Divine is to evolve and grow, but it cannot do this on its own. Every spirit requires a feminine counterpart, a soul. In women and men alike the soul is the sensitive feeling side through which we experience and learn about ourselves and life, and in which all the memories of all our lifetimes are stored. Thus is comes about that slowly, in the course of many lifetimes, the human spirit begins to grow itself a world of feelings and becomes ensouled. The soul’s first impressions go back to the moment of spirit’s release from the Source, its true home and the oneness with God.
This state is known to humankind as Paradise and it is the true reason why human souls prefer to gaze back rather than forward. It looks at its present home and cannot help weeping and mourning for the one it lost. I know from first hand experience that when the poor earthly personality feels homesick, it may take an exceedingly long time until it can recognise that such feelings come from its soul and that in truth they are pointers in the direction of its real home.
Thus, for a long time the different parts struggle against each other. And when the going gets tough, as it frequently does in Earth life, the personality – the ego, the small self – may feel a great longing to return to its parents. For as long as it lacks the awareness that its true needs are those of its soul, the two parts will continue to pull in opposite directions, busily creating ever more stress and suffering for each other. Meanwhile, the spirit stands by and rejoices, because it knows that this is the only way all parts together can find their way back home again. Although this may seem cruel, it is not; it is merely wise.
The greatest paradox of each one of our earthly sojourns always has been that our spirit and soul can only hope to get back into our true home by re-discovering and acting upon our true nature. Human progress, individually and as a race, has only ever been possible through steadfastly going forwards, without too much looking back. Responding to the pull of the Moon and the past is sure to get us nowhere. It may take our earthly self a very long time until we finally understand that the Moon’s pull has to be counteracted by following the Sun and by looking forward and moving towards the future. No matter what befalls us, in truth there is but one option for everybody and that is feet firmly planted on the Earth, whilst keeping heart, mind and inner gaze firmly fixed upon the Highest Star and Its aspirations.
By the way, there’s a great deal more to the Sun sign than meets the eye, the same as always with astrology. If for example we were born on the cusp of Sagittarius/Capricorn, we shall not remain the same person throughout the rest of our present lifetime. Let me explain why this should be so. By progression our Sun moves forward one degree per year. Each sign has 30 degrees. This means that although you may have been born – say – into the 1st degree of Capricorn, by the time you reach age 29 your energies and outlook would be changing very profoundly, namely from cardinal Earth into fixed Air, Aquarius. The next 30 years you would be mostly under the influence of the energies of this sign, then you would be going through the changes from fixed Air into mutable Water, Pisces. And so on and so forth. Each time these changes happen, they do not occur like the flicking on of a switch, but gradually and imperceptibly in the course of several years. If you pay attention to these changes in your own life, you will be able to watch how it changes and the way it will continue to do so in the future.
The Ascendant
God’s creative processes are constantly at work and life on all levels is at all times evolving, moving forwards and upwards in vast spirals onto ever higher ones. Nothing in the whole of Creation ever stands still, not even for the briefest moment. The Sun in the sky above us reflects this down to us on the Earth; it too never stops moving in its orbit. The same is true for all parts of God’s Creation where everything is wheels within wheels, and cycles within cycles. Bearing this in mind, the concepts behind astrology are basically very simple and can easily be understood by anyone. Astrology allows us glimpses into how everything is moving and why things and conditions on the Earth plane too must always change.
The cusp that marks the end of the twelfth house and the beginning of the first is called the Ascendant. Neither planet nor house, this part nonetheless is a vital one of every birthchart. Every two hours a new sign rises over the horizon and the sign that appears at the moment we draw our first breath is known as the rising sign or the Ascendant. The study of this sign reveals the colouring of our outer personality and gives valuable insights into the temperament, disposition, physical appearance and personality of us as an individual. The ascendant is one of the main reasons why several people, who could all have been born on the same day but at different times and places, show marked variations in their character and behaviour patterns. Knowing the time of our birth, as exactly as possible, is important. Without this it is impossible to tell in which houses the planets are operating and which aspect of our lives the transiting planets are influencing at any given time.
It could be said that in some way the Ascendant is the most important part of the birth chart, because it represents our outer personality and the mask we show to the world. One might think of it as a window through which we view the outside world and the way this world sees us. It is the filter through which all learning experiences of our present lifetime have to pass, to enable the inner self to assimilate and digest them. Through the daily experiences of the earthly self the psyche restlessly searches for enlightenment that can only be found in a better understanding of its own nature through the people and situations that are coming its way.
The Ascendant is the part of our being where the earthly self meets life head-on and sometimes collides with it. When this happens, it is helpful to bear in mind that this part of our being is but a mask and as such should at all times be worn lightly. The earthly self that identifies too much with its mask, i.e. its outer personality, runs the risk of forgetting who they truly are and what, one fine day are sure to be again. This true spirit and higher self, however, cannot be found by any earthlings who are as yet unaware of the existence of such a part. As ever, awareness is the key for unlocking this particular door to another aspect of human consciousness.
We are in this life to integrate the higher evolved aspects of all the signs that are accentuated in our birthchart, especially our Sun sign. However, the Ascendant is almost of equal importance, because if we insist on wearing the mask it represents too heavily – or worse still –act out too many of its negative aspects, the outer self can be in danger of suffocating the inner spirit and soul, and that makes any kind of spiritual progress almost impossible.
Finding Your Moon Sign
This is easy because there are sites on the web where you can do this free of charge; http://www.astro.com/ is one of them. Although I know of it, I am in no way connected with it. Because a friend recommended it some time ago, I tried it and was surprised how good the information was that came forth. But see for yourself. And as soon as you have found out from one of these free sites where your Moon is, a pathway opens for you to discover more about yourself and especially about your subconscious motivations. I promise you that you will find the study of the Sun sign that corresponds to the one your Moon is positioned in highly revealing. The negative expressions of your Moon sign are of particular interest, as the Moon tends to bring them out more than the Sun in the same sign.
As the Great spiritual Sun, whose spark each one of us is, always tries to guide and move us in a forward and upward spiral, it is much easier to integrate the positive aspects of our Sun sign than those of our Moon sign. When you find this difficult, do not despair. Becoming familiar with the negative expressions can be very beneficial, because our knowledge can help us get in touch with the unconscious destructive thought and behaviour patterns we have brought with us from previous lifetimes. If there are any subconscious character flaws somewhere within us, it is necessary to become aware of them before we can consciously start to work on changing them.
As an astrologer, for me the progressions of the planets have a special magic of their own, and especially those of the Moon. The orderly and precise fashion in which they proceed – not only in the skies, but also in the way they show up as affecting everybody’s life never ceases to amaze me. When one observes how strongly the energies of the planets influence all human experiences, as each lifetime unfolds, one cannot help marvelling at God’s great foresight and wisdom. Witnessing how we all respond to the Cosmic influences, mostly without having a clue why we are being drawn to certain lessons at different times as we move through our lives, gives me a warm and secure inner feeling.
This is the kind of thing that constantly renews and builds up my trust in the goodness of the life our Father/Mother Creator has provided for us. It serves as a constant reminder of how we and our world and everything in it rest safely in the hands of God and the Angels. It is very difficult and almost impossible to share such feelings, but I am trying nonetheless because that more than anything else is the message I would like to convey with all my writings, the Stargazer’s Astro Files and ‘Be Your Own Astrologer’ in particular.
I do not believe that these feelings can only grow inside those who are willing to study not just one or two but every single one of my interpretations of the Sun signs, as well as many as possible of the other Astro Files. I recommend that you take your time and imbibe them sign by sign, maybe over the course of one whole year, as the Sun moves through the zodiac. By the way, I believe that you are likely to gain most if you take a printout and sit with it somewhere quietly, rather than in front of your computer screen. To benefit as much as possible from your studies, before you start reading, try to tune into the energies of the Sun sign in front of you. Maybe you will be able to feel and sense them while you are reading. When you put your sheets down, take a moment to reflect on how the energies are affecting you and your life.
You alone can tell where you are on your pathway through life at present. And you are the only one who can tell which of the negative characteristics of the various signs still have to be shed by you and which of the positive ones are waiting to be integrated and developed by you, so that they can becomes permanent feature of your character. The next step is the application of any knowledge you are finding, as much as possible, first to yourself and then to those around you. Given time and if you persevere, the same warm inner feelings are likely to slowly develop within you. And you too will gradually get to know that sense of security and the knowledge that you are safe in the loving hands of the Great Spirit, Father/Mother.
Take it from me, observing humankind through the eyes of an astrologer is delightful! And as your knowledge of the subject increases, you quite likely will come to the same conclusion. In fact, the more you find out, the more you will appreciate how and why humankind simply had to be kept sheltered and safe on our small and beautiful planet. It seems to me that, in Cosmic terms, we have been isolated in this way to stop us – in our ignorance – from doing too much harm to the rest of Creation. I believe that until we are spiritually sufficiently evolved, we shall not be allowed to become ‘fully subscribed’ members of the family of all life in the Universe.
Recommended Reading:
• Astrology for the New Age – An Intuitive Approach’ by Marcus Allen.
In my view the best astrology book that has ever been around.
• ‘The Basics Of Astrology Explained’
The Pathway Of The Soul Through The Zodiac
My spirit and soul fought a long and bitter battle with my earthly self,
Who for aeons believed that it was a lost and fallen Angel
From a misty, half forgotten galaxy of Stars.
Now we both know that in truth our spirit once descended
From the Highest levels of life and that we are a child of the Sun,
The spiritual Sun behind the Sun of Earth life,
Come to Earth to each learn and grow through our own experiences.
In the course of many lifetimes,
We have been wounded cruelly by the painful thrust of Mars;
Caught in Neptune’s tangled web;
Shocked and torn asunder by the sudden violence of Uranus;
Tortured by the clever lies of Mercury;
Crushed beneath the icy weight of stern and unyielding Saturn,
Hours often felt like days, days like years,
And years like eternities of frustration and waiting.
There was a time when my soul and I believed we were the Sun,
So that our own exploding bursts of arrogance and pride
Scorched and nearly blinded us.
In the ignorance of our true self,
Eve and Adam deep within us cried helplessly.
Yet, we fought on in unrelenting fury and struck blow for blow;
Driven on by the pounding drums of Jupiter’s throbbing passions;
Stumbling at the precipice of the Moon’s enticing madness;
To fall – at last – in trembling fear before the threat
Of Pluto’s ominous tomb-like silence;
Consumed by inconsolable sadness and the bleakness of despair …
Bearing the wounds and scars of furious battle,
My spirit and soul are now coming home.
Once again, we are walking hand in hand with God and the Angels,
Serenely and in quiet peace.
Having gathered together the scattered pieces of our being,
We are whole and healed, once more.
The evolutionary circle closes and the twin serpents of the dual forces
Of Creation, Highest and lowest, masculine and feminine,
Who once were opposed to each other are now working together harmoniously.
Winding round the Caduceus, they are the serpents of wisdom and healing.
Willingly we now follow the pull of the Sun and yield to the
Attracting power of Venus,
Leaving the enslavement of the earthly self behind.
Under the protection of a rainbow of light that surrounds the Earth,
Humankind is coming home into its true nature and
Is finding that the long promised land of plenty lies within every heart and soul.
Our highest ideals, hopes and dreams
Are finding fulfilment in us and our world at last.
Crowned by gentle Venus and the victory of a love that never left us,
We and our world have survived the might of selfish seeking
And the downward pull of the earthly self.
Equipped with the gift of a renewed understanding of
God’s true nature and our own,
A new morning’s soft forgiveness is dawning
For us and our world.
Anon.
Edited by Aquarius
* * *
The above is a chapter from ‘The Astro Files – Technical Aspects’.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘The Astro Files – Technical Aspects’
‘The Purpose Of My Life’s Work – Reaping The Bountiful Harvest’
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