Pluto in the 4th House/ Cancer
Returning to our image of the Zodiacal cycle mirroring the phases of childhood development, we arrive at the 4th archetype: Cancer/4th house. In the 3rd house/Gemini phase of development we see the desire to learn about the environment and with it the capacity for intellectual classification and language. We may conceptualize this process as the initializing of the physical-etheric body (Aries), the instinctive and emotional body (Taurus) and the mental body (Gemini), all of which coalesce in the formation of the ego, understood here to mean the conscious emotional body, symbolized by Cancer and the 4th house. It is with the development of the ego in Cancer that the personality becomes conscious of its surroundings in a more integrative fashion: my family, my society and my formative experiences. This is the central lens from which the individual then focuses on the world.
Pluto in the 3rd House/Gemini (5)
Pluto in the 3rd House/Gemini
As we move to the third archetype in the Zodiac, we can explore the context from which it arises in the cycle. If we view the twelve archetypes of the Zodiac as a symbolic story of human life and evolution, then on a psychological level the 1st house/Aries can represent birth and the nascent identity instinctually striving to meet its needs within the early environment. The 2nd house/Taurus represents the phase of object constancy that follows the initial purely instinctual phase of life. In early infant-family relations the parental figure is internalized to a sufficient degree that the child is able to be left alone or play by themselves to a certain extent. The child has an inner knowingness that the parent is still there even when not actually physically present. Traumatic events or serious neglect at either of these key stages can be enormously detrimental to the development of a healthy personality. Both the Aries phase and the Taurus phase consist of a critical pre-verbal or partially verbal stage of the development of the self.
As we move to the third archetype in the Zodiac, we can explore the context from which it arises in the cycle. If we view the twelve archetypes of the Zodiac as a symbolic story of human life and evolution, then on a psychological level the 1st house/Aries can represent birth and the nascent identity instinctually striving to meet its needs within the early environment. The 2nd house/Taurus represents the phase of object constancy that follows the initial purely instinctual phase of life. In early infant-family relations the parental figure is internalized to a sufficient degree that the child is able to be left alone or play by themselves to a certain extent. The child has an inner knowingness that the parent is still there even when not actually physically present. Traumatic events or serious neglect at either of these key stages can be enormously detrimental to the development of a healthy personality. Both the Aries phase and the Taurus phase consist of a critical pre-verbal or partially verbal stage of the development of the self.
Pluto in the 2nd House/ Taurus (4)
Pluto in the 2nd House/ Taurus
Following the yang archetype of Aries is the yin Archetype of Taurus. In contrast to being driven by the outgoing need for instinctual fulfillment, the person with this placement withdraws somewhat in order to experience the nature of their own values and needs from within. Over lifetimes, people with Pluto in the 2nd house and Taurus have had an on-going need to develop self-reliance and internal security. Taurus correlates with biological survival and these people are often harboring memories of prior-lives in which their survival was threatened or they had to develop simple coping mechanisms in order to survive intense and difficult experiences. They enter this life with a highly internalized energy structure, a strong physical/sexual energy and a strongly developed sense of self-sufficiency.
Following the yang archetype of Aries is the yin Archetype of Taurus. In contrast to being driven by the outgoing need for instinctual fulfillment, the person with this placement withdraws somewhat in order to experience the nature of their own values and needs from within. Over lifetimes, people with Pluto in the 2nd house and Taurus have had an on-going need to develop self-reliance and internal security. Taurus correlates with biological survival and these people are often harboring memories of prior-lives in which their survival was threatened or they had to develop simple coping mechanisms in order to survive intense and difficult experiences. They enter this life with a highly internalized energy structure, a strong physical/sexual energy and a strongly developed sense of self-sufficiency.
Pluto in the 1st House/Aries (3)
Pluto in the 1st House/Aries
Pluto in the 1st house or Aries symbolizes the beginning of a whole new cycle. Fresh from the ocean of Pisces, the potential for new being emerges through Aries, and as such there is a natural sense of possibility, an instinctual sense of purpose or destiny. With Pluto symbolizing the evolutionary desire of the soul we can see that in the 1st house or Aries the deepest impulse is towards independent experience, the freedom to perpetually grow and express one’s will. This desire will be felt primarily on an instinctual level, as an inner pulse driving the person forward. Consequently there may be little or no conscious understanding of these dynamics.
Pluto in the 1st house or Aries symbolizes the beginning of a whole new cycle. Fresh from the ocean of Pisces, the potential for new being emerges through Aries, and as such there is a natural sense of possibility, an instinctual sense of purpose or destiny. With Pluto symbolizing the evolutionary desire of the soul we can see that in the 1st house or Aries the deepest impulse is towards independent experience, the freedom to perpetually grow and express one’s will. This desire will be felt primarily on an instinctual level, as an inner pulse driving the person forward. Consequently there may be little or no conscious understanding of these dynamics.
Pluto in astrology - The Pluto Complex (2)
The Pluto Complex
In the practice of Evolutionary Astrology an analysis of the Pluto placement of any given chart provides the baseline understanding – the context – for the entire birth chart. From its Greek association to Hades and the underworld, Pluto represents the idea of hidden riches and treasure (Hades being the brother of Zeus and ruler of the depths as his brother ruled the sky). With Evolutionary Astrology, we can identify the source of these riches in each chart, as Pluto relates to each soul’s unconscious security needs and the issues held within.
By deepening our understanding of this complex in each person’s chart, we can not only see the chart as a whole from a rich foundation, we can become aware of the specific content of the subterranean wealth guarded by the Lord of the underworld. Pluto adds the capacity for depth and compulsion to the range of expression signified by its sign and house placement. To identify the Pluto complex is to establish a foundation from which we can understand the entire birth chart. Through Pluto, we become aware of the central evolutionary concerns stemming from deep within the soul. When we register these potentials and underlying motivations, we can experience the rest of the chart in its naturally profound complexity.
Pluto relates to our deepest unconscious security needs and as a result, those behaviors that we (primarily unconsciously) default to under stress. We build a feeling of security on the foundation of what is most familiar, those experiences which have occurred before. Our deepest unconscious security needs are linked with repeating clusters of prior life and early childhood feelings and experiences. For instance, if a person is raised by cold and distant parents, their adult relationships might take on that same (familiar) form. If this pattern repeats, the unconscious gets used to the pattern and will require great energy to change. Pluto symbolizes the gravitational pull of the past. Green writes:
From a purely psychological point of view, Pluto correlates to the deepest emotional security patterns in all of us. These security patterns are unconscious. Most of us automatically gravitate to the path of least resistance. The patterns in identity association that are carried over from the evolutionary past are directly linked to the path of least resistance and, therefore to our security needs at an unconscious level.
It is this deep source of unconscious security that forms the essence of what I call the “Pluto complex.” To the extent that we form our deepest security on what we already know or have been, we rest on the past. To the extent that we feel comfortable evolving into new forms, we leave the past behind and grow towards the future. From this paradox arises the Plutonian problem of attraction and repulsion. We are attracted to people, places, and ideas that symbolize our evolutionary intentions just as we are repulsed by them if they threaten our pre-existing security, which is formed through identification with the past and what we already are. This conflict, or process, is symbolically portrayed in the birth chart by the natal position of Pluto and the point opposite to that (whether a planet is there or not). The polarity point of Pluto (the point opposite) represents the promise of the Pluto level of identification to evolve towards the future.
Pluto represents the core psychological realizations of what occurred in the past: the events of highest intensity that have marked the development of the self. Pluto represents the behaviors and orientations in consciousness that allowed the self to manage or cope with what occurred before. If a person is too attached to a prior orientation because it provided a feeling of security, then compulsion or obsession can arise as one possible expression of the Pluto complex. In this way, the compulsion to repeat old patterns is born out of resistance to the evolutionary impetus to grow or transform. Such resistance can become a source of major stress, illness or dysfunction. The way this might manifest can be explored through the birth chart.
The Pluto complex also relates to the deepest level of attraction within the soul. To the extent that the needs symbolized by the Pluto complex are understood and approached by the individual, there are consequent attractions to people, places and ideas that symbolize the soul’s desires. However a conflict can arise between ego and soul as the awareness of the Pluto complex comes into consciousness, because the ego can become afraid of its own non-existence in the face of the awareness of the greater depth of the deeper self. If this conflict arises, there is subsequent resistance, and a person may experience a corresponding repulsion towards the very thing that they had been drawn or attracted to. This attraction/repulsion dynamic is a core part of how the Pluto complex expresses itself in an individual’s life.
The Pluto complex revolves around the tension between ego and soul. The nature of the soul is freedom, infinite love and gratitude to the divine. The nature of the ego (an aspect of soul unaware of its origins) is that it is in love with its own bondage. In The Republic, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” provides an excellent image of the ego’s self-imposed imprisonment, symbolized by shadows on a cave wall. In the allegory, which is an imagined conversation between Plato’s brother and his teacher Socrates, Socrates tells the story of a group of people who have lived all of their lives chained to the wall of a cave, in which their only view is the blank wall before them. The people watch the shadows that are projected on the wall by the changing light and begin to ascribe forms to the shadows. The shadows account for the entirety of the prisoners’ limited experience of reality. Socrates then likens the philosopher’s experience to that of one of these prisoners suddenly freed from the cave and coming to understand that the shadows on the wall do not comprise the complete picture of reality at all.
Our entranced ego ascribes meaning to the shadows of life, engaging in the drama as if it were the most gripping soap opera, and yet ignorant of the source that creates the shadows before it – the light of the spiritual Sun. Whereas the soul sees change as an adventure, the ego sees the same change only in terms of what might go wrong, what might be lost. This fear of the loss of the known compels the ego, even paradoxically, if the known experience is actually a burden. The burden is at least familiar, and less frightening than the unknown represented by freedom. But in that freedom lies the essence of the true identity – the more complete picture of who we are, including the source of the light within us.
The Course in Miracles teaches that all decisions can be essentially boiled down to the choice between Love and Fear. Similarly we can think of each life choice as one between ego and soul.
The Pluto complex is a paradox of dualism between the ego and the self which can only be ultimately transcended through the realization of the non-dual nature of reality.3 From the vantage point of the ego which sees before it a linear world of cause and effect, the polarities of astrology (Aries-Libra for example) appear to be real. The apparent dualism of ego and self (or Samsara and Nirvana) also appears to be real. But as the Buddhist Heart Sutra beautifully teaches, Samsara is Nirvana and Nirvana is Samsara: they are both the same. This is the radicalism of non-duality, which we will explore throughout this text. In non-duality, the kingdom of heaven is already here. There is no need to strive after it, and like the prodigal child we can return whenever we chose.
While it is important to contextualize this work within the field of non-dual truth as the highest expression of enlightened insight, it is equally important to remain grounded in material reality. Within the relative world, the astrological polarities are relevant to our divided experience and they are explored in this section as the critical indicator of the fundamental starting position of the individual coming into this life. The aim of astrological counseling is to help generate the energy required by the individual to resist the gravitational pull of the compelling but destructive material Pluto points to in the birth chart.
With that, let’s take our first steps toward understanding the Pluto complex by taking a closer look at Pluto’s expression through each archetype.
Pluto in astrology (1)
Pluto in astrology (2) Pluto complex
Pluto in the 1st House/Aries (3)
Pluto in the 2nd House/ Taurus (4)
Pluto in the 3rd House/Gemini (5)
Pluto in the 4th House/ Cancer (6)
In the practice of Evolutionary Astrology an analysis of the Pluto placement of any given chart provides the baseline understanding – the context – for the entire birth chart. From its Greek association to Hades and the underworld, Pluto represents the idea of hidden riches and treasure (Hades being the brother of Zeus and ruler of the depths as his brother ruled the sky). With Evolutionary Astrology, we can identify the source of these riches in each chart, as Pluto relates to each soul’s unconscious security needs and the issues held within.
By deepening our understanding of this complex in each person’s chart, we can not only see the chart as a whole from a rich foundation, we can become aware of the specific content of the subterranean wealth guarded by the Lord of the underworld. Pluto adds the capacity for depth and compulsion to the range of expression signified by its sign and house placement. To identify the Pluto complex is to establish a foundation from which we can understand the entire birth chart. Through Pluto, we become aware of the central evolutionary concerns stemming from deep within the soul. When we register these potentials and underlying motivations, we can experience the rest of the chart in its naturally profound complexity.
Pluto relates to our deepest unconscious security needs and as a result, those behaviors that we (primarily unconsciously) default to under stress. We build a feeling of security on the foundation of what is most familiar, those experiences which have occurred before. Our deepest unconscious security needs are linked with repeating clusters of prior life and early childhood feelings and experiences. For instance, if a person is raised by cold and distant parents, their adult relationships might take on that same (familiar) form. If this pattern repeats, the unconscious gets used to the pattern and will require great energy to change. Pluto symbolizes the gravitational pull of the past. Green writes:
From a purely psychological point of view, Pluto correlates to the deepest emotional security patterns in all of us. These security patterns are unconscious. Most of us automatically gravitate to the path of least resistance. The patterns in identity association that are carried over from the evolutionary past are directly linked to the path of least resistance and, therefore to our security needs at an unconscious level.
It is this deep source of unconscious security that forms the essence of what I call the “Pluto complex.” To the extent that we form our deepest security on what we already know or have been, we rest on the past. To the extent that we feel comfortable evolving into new forms, we leave the past behind and grow towards the future. From this paradox arises the Plutonian problem of attraction and repulsion. We are attracted to people, places, and ideas that symbolize our evolutionary intentions just as we are repulsed by them if they threaten our pre-existing security, which is formed through identification with the past and what we already are. This conflict, or process, is symbolically portrayed in the birth chart by the natal position of Pluto and the point opposite to that (whether a planet is there or not). The polarity point of Pluto (the point opposite) represents the promise of the Pluto level of identification to evolve towards the future.
Pluto represents the core psychological realizations of what occurred in the past: the events of highest intensity that have marked the development of the self. Pluto represents the behaviors and orientations in consciousness that allowed the self to manage or cope with what occurred before. If a person is too attached to a prior orientation because it provided a feeling of security, then compulsion or obsession can arise as one possible expression of the Pluto complex. In this way, the compulsion to repeat old patterns is born out of resistance to the evolutionary impetus to grow or transform. Such resistance can become a source of major stress, illness or dysfunction. The way this might manifest can be explored through the birth chart.
The Pluto complex also relates to the deepest level of attraction within the soul. To the extent that the needs symbolized by the Pluto complex are understood and approached by the individual, there are consequent attractions to people, places and ideas that symbolize the soul’s desires. However a conflict can arise between ego and soul as the awareness of the Pluto complex comes into consciousness, because the ego can become afraid of its own non-existence in the face of the awareness of the greater depth of the deeper self. If this conflict arises, there is subsequent resistance, and a person may experience a corresponding repulsion towards the very thing that they had been drawn or attracted to. This attraction/repulsion dynamic is a core part of how the Pluto complex expresses itself in an individual’s life.
The Pluto complex revolves around the tension between ego and soul. The nature of the soul is freedom, infinite love and gratitude to the divine. The nature of the ego (an aspect of soul unaware of its origins) is that it is in love with its own bondage. In The Republic, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” provides an excellent image of the ego’s self-imposed imprisonment, symbolized by shadows on a cave wall. In the allegory, which is an imagined conversation between Plato’s brother and his teacher Socrates, Socrates tells the story of a group of people who have lived all of their lives chained to the wall of a cave, in which their only view is the blank wall before them. The people watch the shadows that are projected on the wall by the changing light and begin to ascribe forms to the shadows. The shadows account for the entirety of the prisoners’ limited experience of reality. Socrates then likens the philosopher’s experience to that of one of these prisoners suddenly freed from the cave and coming to understand that the shadows on the wall do not comprise the complete picture of reality at all.
Our entranced ego ascribes meaning to the shadows of life, engaging in the drama as if it were the most gripping soap opera, and yet ignorant of the source that creates the shadows before it – the light of the spiritual Sun. Whereas the soul sees change as an adventure, the ego sees the same change only in terms of what might go wrong, what might be lost. This fear of the loss of the known compels the ego, even paradoxically, if the known experience is actually a burden. The burden is at least familiar, and less frightening than the unknown represented by freedom. But in that freedom lies the essence of the true identity – the more complete picture of who we are, including the source of the light within us.
The Course in Miracles teaches that all decisions can be essentially boiled down to the choice between Love and Fear. Similarly we can think of each life choice as one between ego and soul.
The Pluto complex is a paradox of dualism between the ego and the self which can only be ultimately transcended through the realization of the non-dual nature of reality.3 From the vantage point of the ego which sees before it a linear world of cause and effect, the polarities of astrology (Aries-Libra for example) appear to be real. The apparent dualism of ego and self (or Samsara and Nirvana) also appears to be real. But as the Buddhist Heart Sutra beautifully teaches, Samsara is Nirvana and Nirvana is Samsara: they are both the same. This is the radicalism of non-duality, which we will explore throughout this text. In non-duality, the kingdom of heaven is already here. There is no need to strive after it, and like the prodigal child we can return whenever we chose.
While it is important to contextualize this work within the field of non-dual truth as the highest expression of enlightened insight, it is equally important to remain grounded in material reality. Within the relative world, the astrological polarities are relevant to our divided experience and they are explored in this section as the critical indicator of the fundamental starting position of the individual coming into this life. The aim of astrological counseling is to help generate the energy required by the individual to resist the gravitational pull of the compelling but destructive material Pluto points to in the birth chart.
With that, let’s take our first steps toward understanding the Pluto complex by taking a closer look at Pluto’s expression through each archetype.
Pluto in astrology (1)
Pluto in astrology (2) Pluto complex
Pluto in the 1st House/Aries (3)
Pluto in the 2nd House/ Taurus (4)
Pluto in the 3rd House/Gemini (5)
Pluto in the 4th House/ Cancer (6)
Pluto in astrology (1)
Pluto: The Poet’s Cookbook
The mast of a ship, a gallows, a cross at the cross-roads… may be made of the same kind of wood, but in reality they are different objects made of different material… They are nothing but the shadows of real things… The shadows of a sailor, a hangman and a saint may be completely identical… Nevertheless they are different men and different objects… A poet understands… the difference between a stone from a wall of a church and a stone from the wall of a prison… He hears the voice of the silence, understands the psychological difference of silence, realizes that silence may be different.
- Peter D. Ouspensky
The mast of a ship, a gallows, a cross at the cross-roads… may be made of the same kind of wood, but in reality they are different objects made of different material… They are nothing but the shadows of real things… The shadows of a sailor, a hangman and a saint may be completely identical… Nevertheless they are different men and different objects… A poet understands… the difference between a stone from a wall of a church and a stone from the wall of a prison… He hears the voice of the silence, understands the psychological difference of silence, realizes that silence may be different.
- Peter D. Ouspensky
The Infinite Field and the Karmic Dimension (2)
In Along the Path to Enlightenment, Dr. David Hawkins describes “the field”– a foundational concept in this work.
The infinite field of consciousness is All present, All powerful, and includes All of Existence. Thus nothing can possibly happen outside its infinite domain because it is the Source of Existence. Within this infinite field of power, there are decreasing levels of energy fields. As they are expressed progressively in form (linearity), their relative power decreases all the way down to the individual.
The giant field could be compared to an immense electrostatic field in which the individual is like a charged particle that, because of the infinite power of the field, is automatically aligned within the field according to its individual “charge.” The charge of the karmic spiritual body is set by intention, decision, and alignment by intention.
It appears to naïve perception that what is not intellectually explicable seems to be “accidental”, especially when the event is unpredictable. Inasmuch as the infinite field of consciousness is unlimited in dimension, nothing can happen outside of it. All that occurs within it is under its influence, and therefore, nothing “accidental” is possible in reality.
The ultimate origin of this field is that of spirit, the inherent presence, the silent awareness burning within the heart of life. This is divinity and from that ultimate presence manifests the field of reality. The idea that within this infinite field there is no such thing as an accident is an expression of the law of karma as it operates as a universal law: what happens to us, what we experience, think, feel and act upon is an expression of who we really are and have ever been. From our true nature reality aligns to our intention and provides a perfect opportunity for us to evolve through observing the experience of who we really are being mirrored back to us by reality.
This is the perspective that informed Sri Yukteswar, astrologer and guru to Paramahansa Yogananda, when he explained that an individual is born at the moment of the perfect correlation of their individual karma with the movements of the heavens.3 From this perspective the birth chart is a symbolic representation of our karma. Karma, from the perspective of the infinite field is simply the nature of who we are returned to us through our experience of our circumstances and our consciousness.
There is no outside agency manipulating our fate. The stars, as Plotinus ruminated upon so splendidly, are not causes of our experience, merely they correspond to our nature as the potential that we contain as we are born into this field, or into life.4 There is no personal God that is somehow, like a powerful Santa, sitting apart from creation pulling the strings. This conception of God is merely an anthropomorphic projection onto the multidimensional field of potential that contains and enfolds us. God is the infinite field. This is the profound insight found in non-dualist teachings from Buddhism, the Hindu Vedas and even Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart. This revelation does not deny one a personal relationship with God, for the infinite field is all-knowing and one can relate to that knowingness in a very personal way.
In The Meaning of the Creative Act, Nicholas Berdyaev, the Russian mystic and philosopher said “freedom is love.”5 By this he means that the creative act in its true potential transcends the world of necessity, the linear notions of cause and effect. The idea of non-linear, non-literal meaning and significance is central to the understanding of the context in which astrology works. The natal chart is not a cage from which we must be released. It is not a reality imposed upon us from without. The natal chart is the symbolic expression of the infinite field as it has been translated into human form and it is the expression of our karmic potentiality as held within that field. That potentiality emerges from the nature of who we really are. Karma in this sense is the creation of reality from our nature, not a punishing or rewarding system of pulleys and levers.
So the planetary aspects in our birth chart that we might see our struggle in do not cause our struggle. The planetary bodies are symbolic correspondences to the inner struggle we already experience as played out into the Cosmos, of which we are a living part. To understand the karmic potential within the birth chart is to approach an astrology in which the individual reality of the person whose chart is being examined is validated and given a deeper context from which the process of understanding, healing and surrender can proceed. From this perspective astrology becomes a powerful tool for generating awareness about the most difficult questions in life: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing?
It is with great pleasure that I share with you these profound techniques that I have so often seen aid others in healing the soul.
Pluto, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes - Connecting With the Deep Self (1)
The Infinite Field and the Karmic Dimension (2)
The infinite field of consciousness is All present, All powerful, and includes All of Existence. Thus nothing can possibly happen outside its infinite domain because it is the Source of Existence. Within this infinite field of power, there are decreasing levels of energy fields. As they are expressed progressively in form (linearity), their relative power decreases all the way down to the individual.
The giant field could be compared to an immense electrostatic field in which the individual is like a charged particle that, because of the infinite power of the field, is automatically aligned within the field according to its individual “charge.” The charge of the karmic spiritual body is set by intention, decision, and alignment by intention.
It appears to naïve perception that what is not intellectually explicable seems to be “accidental”, especially when the event is unpredictable. Inasmuch as the infinite field of consciousness is unlimited in dimension, nothing can happen outside of it. All that occurs within it is under its influence, and therefore, nothing “accidental” is possible in reality.
The ultimate origin of this field is that of spirit, the inherent presence, the silent awareness burning within the heart of life. This is divinity and from that ultimate presence manifests the field of reality. The idea that within this infinite field there is no such thing as an accident is an expression of the law of karma as it operates as a universal law: what happens to us, what we experience, think, feel and act upon is an expression of who we really are and have ever been. From our true nature reality aligns to our intention and provides a perfect opportunity for us to evolve through observing the experience of who we really are being mirrored back to us by reality.
This is the perspective that informed Sri Yukteswar, astrologer and guru to Paramahansa Yogananda, when he explained that an individual is born at the moment of the perfect correlation of their individual karma with the movements of the heavens.3 From this perspective the birth chart is a symbolic representation of our karma. Karma, from the perspective of the infinite field is simply the nature of who we are returned to us through our experience of our circumstances and our consciousness.
There is no outside agency manipulating our fate. The stars, as Plotinus ruminated upon so splendidly, are not causes of our experience, merely they correspond to our nature as the potential that we contain as we are born into this field, or into life.4 There is no personal God that is somehow, like a powerful Santa, sitting apart from creation pulling the strings. This conception of God is merely an anthropomorphic projection onto the multidimensional field of potential that contains and enfolds us. God is the infinite field. This is the profound insight found in non-dualist teachings from Buddhism, the Hindu Vedas and even Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart. This revelation does not deny one a personal relationship with God, for the infinite field is all-knowing and one can relate to that knowingness in a very personal way.
In The Meaning of the Creative Act, Nicholas Berdyaev, the Russian mystic and philosopher said “freedom is love.”5 By this he means that the creative act in its true potential transcends the world of necessity, the linear notions of cause and effect. The idea of non-linear, non-literal meaning and significance is central to the understanding of the context in which astrology works. The natal chart is not a cage from which we must be released. It is not a reality imposed upon us from without. The natal chart is the symbolic expression of the infinite field as it has been translated into human form and it is the expression of our karmic potentiality as held within that field. That potentiality emerges from the nature of who we really are. Karma in this sense is the creation of reality from our nature, not a punishing or rewarding system of pulleys and levers.
So the planetary aspects in our birth chart that we might see our struggle in do not cause our struggle. The planetary bodies are symbolic correspondences to the inner struggle we already experience as played out into the Cosmos, of which we are a living part. To understand the karmic potential within the birth chart is to approach an astrology in which the individual reality of the person whose chart is being examined is validated and given a deeper context from which the process of understanding, healing and surrender can proceed. From this perspective astrology becomes a powerful tool for generating awareness about the most difficult questions in life: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing?
It is with great pleasure that I share with you these profound techniques that I have so often seen aid others in healing the soul.
Pluto, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes - Connecting With the Deep Self (1)
The Infinite Field and the Karmic Dimension (2)
Pluto, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes - Connecting With the Deep Self (1)
Conventional medicine and therapy all too often fail the client by not acknowledging the meaning of their suffering, the potential insight behind the apparent struggle in the ordinary world. It is far too common for over-extended medical professionals these days to hand out unnecessary medication or simplistic diagnoses. In an effort to ameliorate our symptoms in the easiest way possible, we have turned away from the language of soul, the true meaning of psychotherapy, towards a confused marketplace filled with promised cures for our ills.
The deep self is the true nature of psyche or soul. By focusing on the deep self within the individual the astrological approach I outline here serves as a corrective to this collective imbalance. From the reality of the deep self we can see that our depression, anxiety, existential confusion and despair can be linked to a loss of soul perspective – a loss of the capacity to see through to the nature of the field, the underlying reality from which we can never be truly separate (though we may experience the suffering of seeming to be so). The reality of the deep self is multi-dimensional. It includes all of our past experience as well as our potential for the future. From this perspective the soul is viewed through the lens of Pluto, in all its incarnational history, with its stored potential and wounding, without taboo, without judgment, but with absolute honesty, necessity and intensity. The idea of intensity is of central importance: the innermost psyche measures prior experience by impact not by duration.
Time itself is not just a quantitative phenomenon. It also has a qualitative dimension, measurable in terms of intensity. An experience that only last a few seconds might be of sufficient intensity to vibrate through space and time for millennia whereas an event that took centuries to unfold can be easily forgotten. This paradoxical language of intensity is the domain of Pluto, Uranus and the nodes of the Moon. They speak to us of what has mattered most to the deep self of the individual into whose natal chart we are gazing.
The focal point of the psyche may include events, memories or feelings from early childhood, from life in the womb and from events in prior lives or in-between lifetimes. For the deep self does not seem to hold to the boundaries of the body, mind or specific arc of just one lifetime. Events may be of such importance or high impact that they echo throughout the psyche without limit.
Pluto, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes - Connecting With the Deep Self (1)
The Infinite Field and the Karmic Dimension (2)
The deep self is the true nature of psyche or soul. By focusing on the deep self within the individual the astrological approach I outline here serves as a corrective to this collective imbalance. From the reality of the deep self we can see that our depression, anxiety, existential confusion and despair can be linked to a loss of soul perspective – a loss of the capacity to see through to the nature of the field, the underlying reality from which we can never be truly separate (though we may experience the suffering of seeming to be so). The reality of the deep self is multi-dimensional. It includes all of our past experience as well as our potential for the future. From this perspective the soul is viewed through the lens of Pluto, in all its incarnational history, with its stored potential and wounding, without taboo, without judgment, but with absolute honesty, necessity and intensity. The idea of intensity is of central importance: the innermost psyche measures prior experience by impact not by duration.
Time itself is not just a quantitative phenomenon. It also has a qualitative dimension, measurable in terms of intensity. An experience that only last a few seconds might be of sufficient intensity to vibrate through space and time for millennia whereas an event that took centuries to unfold can be easily forgotten. This paradoxical language of intensity is the domain of Pluto, Uranus and the nodes of the Moon. They speak to us of what has mattered most to the deep self of the individual into whose natal chart we are gazing.
The focal point of the psyche may include events, memories or feelings from early childhood, from life in the womb and from events in prior lives or in-between lifetimes. For the deep self does not seem to hold to the boundaries of the body, mind or specific arc of just one lifetime. Events may be of such importance or high impact that they echo throughout the psyche without limit.
(extract from Mark Jones - Healing the Soul)
Pluto, Uranus and the Lunar Nodes - Connecting With the Deep Self (1)
The Infinite Field and the Karmic Dimension (2)
