by Robert Wilkinson
Each of the parts of our lives, inner and outer, has a rhythm of its own. Our bodies, feelings, mind and higher Self all have their rhythms of appearance and disappearance, increasing and decreasing, ebbing and flowing. Our relationships have their own rhythms of coming and going, merging and doing one's own thing. There is no part of our lives that doesn't have fluxuation, except for our Inner Flame. Astrology is the art and science of examining these changes, and noting what is happening and when, one is able to estimate the next time we will be in major change and what factors are involved. This helps us evolve our response-abilities, and lead to a more natural and perfect self-expression.
Every major change we confront in our life is showing us what is ending, and what is beginning. Even in the middle of a larger process, every significant change in any area of our life affects other areas. These changes show us how we must change to restore harmony in our life. Ultimately every part of our being is seeking to be in harmony with every other part of our life. That's what we call "happiness." When everything works in harmony in our lives, when our inner self is in harmony with our world and our relationships, we feel that harmony and want it to continue. Our heart's deaire for our lower self is for it to have abundance, love, and perfect self-expression. Major changes show us the way to these things, but our lower self has habits and opinions and fears that often obstruct our heppiness. Then the points of change are more difficult, but we can still learn a lot from it all.
When we clutch or cling to what is already passing, whether people, jobs, self-images, or ways of relating to others, we create disturbances in our life rhythms. All forms of fear, including an imbalanced focus on things, inevitably lead to disruptions in our lives. Often a disruption in one part of our lives leads to major disruptions in other parts of our lives. Some of these disruptions are consciously brought forth, others come from unconscious factors erupting into the field of personality. Astrology observes both factors, and by knowing the relative relationship between these two forces in a life, we can come out of misunderstandings and illusions into a greater awareness and a more perectly functioning life.
In the article "Dealing With Planetary and Psychological Dysfunctions,” I explained how the “sacred seven” planets all have two fundamental qualities, one harmonious and healthy, one disharmonious and dysfunctional. These are the parts of our inner nature that we use to express our personality in all the areas of our life. The signs, on the other hand, are the filters through which these “inner lights” shine, and give them their specific quality. The signs should always be seen as pairs, a balanced axis of two opposite and complementary energies.
Aries and Libra are an axis, one of relatedness. Taurus and Scorpio are an axis, one of magnetism. Gemini and Sagittarius are the axis of mind, with Cancer and Capricorn the polarity of primality. Leo and Aquarius are the axis of love, and Virgo and Pisces are an axis of healing. When any of the signs energies are out of balance relative to the other, we see one-sidedness and out-of-balance behavior. When they work together, we see a harmony of function in those areas of our life, and feel good about how we are doing our being in those areas. Some of the areas don’t naturally work well together, but by mastering those forces within us, we become able to respond more effectively and excellently in our relationships with others. When we are in harmony, there is almost always an absence of fear, replaced with a greater capacity to love as a result of our sense of well being.
We may not be able to end the eternal changes in our world, but we can become more adept at mastering the changes, and find relative peace, harmony, and effectiveness in the midst of the changes we and others are going through. Our higher life is always a demonstration of our capacity to learn and give forms of love to ourselves and others. We each have a personality that is in eternal process of change. The point of the entire exercise of having a higher consciousness occupying a human form is the perfection of function of that form. There are lots of ways to become your higher Self, and our life changes give opportunities to fulfill old karmas while embracing higher possibilities of self-expression. As we practice these positive responses to life’s challenges, we transmute our future karmas into opportunities of service to self and others promoting a greater “altruistic intention,” or goodwill. We no longer fear the changes, and become our greater potential.
Beautifully said Robert, I excerpted it and added art. :)
Posted by: Lynn | September 06, 2006 at 04:23 PM
Robert, thank you for this timely reminder of this article. As I mentioned, I'm preparing to move house for the first time in 20 years. One of my friends pointed out that I'm doing a Baby Boomer downsizing -hadn't realized that, but it's true. I feel as though I am moving from "the Householder years" to "the Wandering Sage years" --- moving towards my 2nd Saturn return and it feels like the Crone is just around the corner for me. While I DO welcome change and growth & transformation, I simultaneously grieve what is passing, who is passing, the sense of loss. Your article was SO timely for me tonight. I'm preparing to put my house on the market, a big garage sale, etc and it feels like letting go. "All shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well" as Julian of Norwich said. Thank you for your beautiful writing and good reminders. YOU are a blessing.
Diane
Posted by: Diane Scholten | September 06, 2006 at 08:18 PM
Hi Lynn - I checked it out, and the art is beautiful! Glad you found the article worth offering to your readers. We are moving through a rhythmic dance!
Hi Diane - Downsizing is a good thing, since the coming times require we become more efficient in how we spend our time, energy, and money, and transform what we have into utilizable resource. I believe if we can grieve what is meaningful but passing, we carry less repressed emotional baggage into the new life. That opens us to the wonder of what is to be, and allows us to move freely into new ways. Thanks for your praise. May you find the perfect place to settle into, so you can enter your next life chapter with effectiveness and a sense of adventure.
Posted by: Robert | September 07, 2006 at 08:39 AM
HI, wonderful article and totally enlightening. thanks again Robert for you great wisdom and amazing insights. I am currently researching my own progressed charts and trying to learn things and perhaps predict thing a bit if possible. But I am stumped because there is very little information on the following and since I live in Japan (and do have a credit card getting books is a bit tough) but I found that progressed part of fortune and vertex are now in pisces and I have chiron in pisces and they are all conjunct. What does this mean in a nutshell? Thanks Micheline
Posted by: Micheline Cloutier | April 24, 2007 at 03:58 AM
Beautiful Robert. Thank you for bringing me this mornings wisdom and meditation.
For me, in order to "find relative peace, harmony, and effectiveness in the midst of the changes we and others are going through" it's so important to do ceremony and remember that We Are All Related. In that reality, with that power, we bring balance to all our relations as do they for us.
Thank you for your devotion and wisdom.
Posted by: Charmie | April 24, 2007 at 04:12 AM
Absolutely brillant article Robert. I must have missed reading it. It was definitely inspiring to me this morning. Thanks. You're an eloquent writer. I'm very impressed. :-)
Posted by: Phyllis | April 24, 2007 at 07:31 AM
Hi Robert - Love this written piece on life being a rhythmic dance! You write with such elegance and meaning. Thank you! Pepper
Posted by: Pepper | April 24, 2007 at 08:49 AM