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LESSON 2
How do I relate to Transits?
Many who are interested in the mundane level of astrology focus almost solely on the transits. This focus can lead to allowing “the stars” to control you rather than developing your own inner power to determine for yourself how your life will unfold. The mundane predictions for each Sun Sign often found in newspapers are based on the planetary transits.
The transits can be very helpful if we accept them as guidelines for understanding instead of believing: “This is the way things will be.” You, as an individual spark of the Divine Source, are sovereign.
Thoughts are the energy by which we create. If, for example, one of our transits presents the possibility of an accident within the coming year, we can determine the actual outcome by our thoughts. Dwelling on the possibility of an accident literally attracts it to you. On the other hand, intending that you will drive carefully, with no distractions, like cell phones or drinking, and intending that you will be alert to your intuitive promptings—and follow them—will likely erase the possibility. Surround your car and self in a protective shield of white light each time you drive, knowing that your guardian angels will protect you in accordance with your highest good. The chart below depicts “who you are” and reveals how a protective shield is always around you IF you choose to recognize and intend it to be present. It is your freewill choice.
Divine Self Chart (depicted by the late Elizabeth Claire Prophet)
We evolve spiritually as we develop the capacity to direct our thoughts. The transits act as potentialities only; we can be in charge of the outcome.
I do not teach the transits because I see so many people allowing them to control their lives. I simply include this statement as a means of warning and/or a means of spiritual development—according to how we react to the transits.
The goal of esoteric astrology is that we complete and rise above our natal chart and the transits that occur. We, as sparks of the Divine Source, are to be the Captain of our ship.
REMEMBER: Intentionally striving to grow spiritually can eliminate much suffering because suffering was included in our soul contract to “ensure” that we wake up and learn.
REMINDER: We limit our spiritual growth by clinging to man-made religious dogmas to the exclusion of recognizing that we are responsible for achieving spiritual maturity. No external ritual or person can do it for us.
A BALANCED LIFE INTEGRATES ALL 12 ASTROLOGICAL HOUSES
Your astrological chart is in the form of a circle with 360 degrees. This chart is divided into 12 houses, each representing a particular phase of your life’s development and each being ruled by one of the 12 zodiac signs containing 30 degrees each. The exception will be “intercepted houses,” which we will cover later.
The flow of your chart is counterclockwise—moving around the circle from the 1st to the 12th houses.
WORK CHART
You may want to make copies before writing on this form.
ASSIGNMENT
1. Place your name on the line: The soul of _______________________ in the center of the circle.
2. If you have not memorized the symbols, have your symbol sheet handy so you can determine which zodiac sign is represented. A nice summary of the astrological symbols may also be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_symbols
3. Using your natal chart, copy the name of the zodiac energy located on each of the 12 house cusps of your chart onto the cusps of the Work Chart.
For example: Using the sample chart (found in the INTRODUCTION to this course), the symbol of Gemini is located at the 1st house cusp (within the narrow band encircling the chart).
4. Once you have copied the zodiac sign name on each of the 12 cusps from your natal chart onto the Work chart, you are ready to begin your interpretation.
5. The meanings of the 12 houses are listed on the “A balanced life integrates all 12 houses” chart and described in more detail below. Study the meaning of the houses. Each house represents a part of your life’s expression.
6. Place keywords in each of the houses on your Work Chart signifying the meaning of the zodiac energy on the cusp of that house as it relates to that particular house. This will represent just one of the layers of chart interpretation. Examples of how to make the interpretation are given following Dane Rudhyar’s “Meaning of the 12 Astrological Houses” below.
7. Astrology is an ancient exacting science – AND - an intuitive art. Your intuition must be used in answering the question for each house by becoming familiar with the characteristics of each zodiac sign energy as well as what each house represents in your life.
MEANING OF THE 12 ASTROLOGICAL HOUSES
ACCORDING TO DANE RUDHYAR
With “Additional Information” by Nancy Detweiler
FIRST HOUSE: The types of experiences through which I may discover who I am as a unique individual. How can I best demonstrate my unique potentials?
“The Divine incarnates only in the individual He/She. It [the Divine] overshadows the group.”
Additional Information: The cusp of your 1st house is your ASCENDANT. Be sure to check your chart to determine in which sign your Ascendant is located, then study it on the appropriate Sun Sign page under the Section Entitled “ASCENDANT IN _____.”
SECOND HOUSE: What is mine; what do I own? What do I possess to use in order to fulfill my potential uniqueness?
“Unused capacities or wealth are impediments to human growth. [You] are to dedicate what [you] have to what [you] are, for it is being which alone gives meaning to having.”
Additional Information: The 2nd house reveals the talents, values, and other resources you chose to bring into this incarnation to use in accomplishing your soul mission.
THIRD HOUSE: How will I come to terms with my environment, with the individuals in my environment? How will I communicate with others? How may I best use who I am and what is mine within my environment?
“Any organism must first conquer its “living space.” [How may I best use my unique individuality and the talents/material substances within] “the environment in which it has to be used?”
“When…the person is driven in this search for knowledge by socially determined goals and pressures, the knowledge he acquires ceases to have real significance for himself as an individual. His intellect may become bloated, filled with meaningless data which he cannot assimilate. If he does not retrace his steps or “drop out” from the environment which substitutes a false ideal for his true individual selfhood, then some kind of tragedy may be unavoidable.”
Additional Information: The 3rd house signifies your immediate environment and your extended family and how you will tend to relate to them.
FOURTH HOUSE: How will I become rooted, centered, and grounded? What is the best way for me to reach a state of integration and build a solid foundation for my personality? My foundation expresses what I am.
“There can be no secure foundation except [as you] reach a state of unshakable centeredness …. As a truly individualized person [you] become centered in the unique rhythm and power of [your] individual selfhood and destiny.”
Additional Information: The 4th house relates to your family-of-origin and the family/home you create. It is in the 4th house that you establish the roots of your being—what is the foundation of your being?
FIFTH HOUSE: How can I enhance my own nature by being original, by creating?
“To be pure is to be exclusively what [I am] as a unique individual in terms of [my] own destiny.” Sex, at this level of wholeness, becomes a process of attunement and giving to the other.
Additional Information: The 5th house is the house of creativity, children, and love relationships (not marriage). How will you relate to each of these?
SIXTH HOUSE: How may I go about the necessity for self-improvement in order to ensure the best possible results? How will I meet the challenges in my life?
“To grow is to become, actually and effectively, what [I am] potentially, as a spiritual being …. It is to achieve the essential purpose of [my] life as a whole—God’s purpose for [me] …. The message of the sixth house is: Be ye transformed!”
Additional Information: The 6th house represents your work environment, natural healing, and your approach to caring for your holistic self—body, emotions, mind (thoughts), and spirit.
SEVENTH HOUSE: Who and what am I within cooperative, purposeful relationships?
“The quality of [your] relationship to others at the functional level is the foundation upon which [you] will achieve or fail to achieve whatever has been the inherent purpose of [your] existence since [birth], whether or not [you have] been aware of that purpose…. The keynote of these experiences is participation …. It is in this field of human experiences [marriage and partnerships] that [I] can be most basically transformed.”
Additional Information: The 7th house is the house of marriage and business/working partnerships. It can reveal the type of individual you will tend to marry or select as a business partner. What do you hope for in a marriage?
EIGHTH HOUSE: What are the possessions of my relationships—what do my partner and I bring to our relationship that can be mutually beneficial? What are the situations that my relationship must face in order to achieve its potentialities? What is available to my relationship that will allow it to be functional in relating to society? How can I best approach the opportunities and restrictions involved in bringing my relationship to a fruitful state?
“The cooperative activity of a couple or a group produces various results, releases new energies, or creates new wealth. How are the fruits of this activity to be used? This is the basic 8th house question.”
Additional Information: The 8th house is the house of regeneration, sexual energies, and metaphysics. The goal of the 8th house is to merge the lower self with the Higher Self (or Soul)—to become a Christed (anointed) being.
NINTH HOUSE: What will expand the scope of my mind or the field of my activities? How can I find and understand the meaning in life?
“Understanding is a far more complex process because it involves the synthesis of many factors and known data…. In the deepest sense, to understand something or someone is to take into consideration the relationship of this thing or this person to the whole universe…. The ninth house is the house of symbols…. The birth chart is a symbol as well. It symbolizes the complex relationship existing between a newborn organism and the universe.”
Additional Information: The 9th house relates to higher education (as contrasted with the 3rd house focus on grades 1-12), philosophy, international travel/living (in contrast to the 3rd house domestic travel/environment), Hidden Wisdom, Higher Mind (meaning the Intuitive Mind in contrast with the 3rd house lower mind or intellect).
TENTH HOUSE: How and what may I achieve? How will I use my power? How will I integrate myself into the Greater Whole?
“When [I] reach a state of true individualization and [am] able to operate as an autonomous and authentic self, [my] consciousness should be able not only to function or participate in a life-oriented community and in biospheric activities, but to contact a transcendent field of experience and a superphysical type of energies.” Then, my star [my spiritual self] will stand tall, as I fulfill my role in the cosmic plan.
Additional Information: The 10th house deals with the contributions you make to the public domain through your career and vocational/amateur interests.
ELEVENTH HOUSE: How will the power of society or the group be released through me? What new goals or social objectives will I set for myself? What is my vision, my destiny for the world?
In the Eleventh House, “it is creation, not of the individual, but through the individual…. It is action without personal concern for the fruits of this action…. The individual becomes a clear lens focusing Light” and projecting it outward to the world.
Additional Information: The 11th house is your house of dreams for the world at large—your planetary interests. It also signifies friendships and volunteer group activities.
TWELFTH HOUSE: What are my successes and failures? What is my karma? How will I synthesize the past with a creative future? How will I consciously prepare to return to Spirit? How can I reach perfect fulfillment? How can I end this cycle of evolution with a creative beginning of the next?
“Every cycle of activity … should become transfigured into a new beginning of activity at a higher level …. The twelfth house is a most profoundly important field of experience.”
“Only by letting go of the lesser is it possible to be born into the greater.”
Additional Information: The 12th house reminds you of past lives’ influences that are impacting your present incarnation (as does the location of your Moon). It is the house of institutions, monasteries, and living in solitude—withdrawal from the world.
EXAMPLES of INTERPRETING THE HOUSE CUSPS
EXAMPLE: Using the sample natal chart found in the INTRODUCTION to this course, we find Aquarius is on the 10th house cusp.
1. Study the characteristics of Aquarius – symbol = Waterbearer
2. Remember the 10th house relates to careers and contributions we make to the world-at-large.
3. Interpretation: This individual’s soul plan is to enter a career in which relating to the world (or planet) is required. She will relate in a humanitarian manner and share what she knows (Aquarius Keyword – I Know) with the world.
EXAMPLE: Using the sample natal chart, we find Virgo on the 5th house cusp.
1. Study the characteristics of Virgo.
2. Remember the 5th house deals with creativity, children, and love relationships.
3. Interpretation: This individual’s soul plan is to use her creative talents for analyzing (Virgo’s keyword is: I analyze), organizing, paying attention to details, seeking to achieve perfection---all in the name of service to others.
Spend some time with the above assignment.
Don’t be overwhelmed … you can learn thousands of facts about yourself by interpreting your chart, but it does require patience and persistence.
STUDY YOURSELF … YOU ARE WORTH THE TIME & EFFORT!
THE GOLDEN RULE
OF
INTERPRETING THE NATAL CHART
Helpful chart interpretation is a combination of knowing the science of astrology and possessing the wisdom to use your intuition in an objective, loving manner.
We must be honest in order for the individual to comprehend his/her soul plan and to know both the positive and negative characteristics. However, the goal is NEVER TO HURT with our words and interpretations.
For example: Instead of saying: “You are a liar” … explain that such and such configuration indicates that he/she may have a tendency to lie. This way, you present the possibility rather than an accusation. The door is left open for the person to choose between lying and recognizing that the tendency to lie is present. Being mindful of the tendency can be all that is needed to empower the person to resist the temptation to lie. You, then, have interpreted truthfully while empowering the individual to make a conscious, positive choice.
TIDBITS
1. Each chart includes thousands of pieces of information … for decades, I have read every new astrology book with my natal chart beside me. There is always more to learn about yourself.
As you delve increasingly deeper, you will find some characteristics are stated repeatedly in a variety of different configurations. Those characteristics most often stated will be the strongest; those stated one or two times are weaker and may have no real need to find expression in this lifetime.
For example: If artistic talent is stated repeatedly—through all sorts of configurations—that individual will need to allow that artistic energy to flow forth in some form within the life expression. Otherwise, that artistic energy is stifled and can manifest as physical or emotional dis-ease.
Illustration: As soon as he could crawl, my grandson began banging on the furniture with any object he could find. This continued beyond the age of natural boyish banging. After several years, my daughter gave him a set of drums. He is Taurus; thereby indicating the strong likelihood of musical talent, which he has demonstrated by playing percussion in his middle and high school bands. His innate talent for drumming was given the correct channel and encouragement.
The alternative to using his musical talent beneficially would be to punish the child for banging on the furniture, require him to stifle his urge to beat out the music he hears in his head, and eventually express this energy in harmful ways to himself or others. A part of knowing our soul’s plan is having the opportunity to choose either a positive/beneficial expression of energy – OR - a negative/harmful expression of that same energy. Energy will be expressed—one way or another. It is up to each of us to choose a positive outlet.
Another Illustration: A young person spray painting on walls and fences in the city slums is expressing artistic talent, as is very evident in the beauty of these paintings. Instead of punishing the young person, find a way to enroll him/her in an art class. Don’t frustrate the young person by punishing him for expressing artistic talent in the most obvious manner available in the slums—he has no canvas. Artistic talent is energy that will find expression one way or the other, just like my grandson’s talent for percussion. All energy seeks expression.
2. How can people having the same Sun Sign be so different?
1) The natal chart consists of thousands facts … the Sun Sign is but one of them. For example: As noted in Lesson 1, the decanate in which the Sun is located will influence how it is expressed. A Sun Sign in the 1st decanate will be expressed differently than the same Sun Sign in the 2nd or 3rd decanate.
2) Even identical twins will response differently to the same Sun Sign, based on the unique individual past life experiences of both twins.
3) The overall natal chart configurations of people with the same Sun Sign may differ greatly.
4) We most often attune to the Ascendant of the person, rather than to the Sun Sign. The Ascendants are very likely to be different.
3. What is the Rainbow Bridge?
Divine Self Chart - created by the late Elizabeth Claire Prophet http://tsl.org/2009/10/chart-of-your-divine-self/
The Rainbow Bridge is that beam of white light extending downward from the individual’s I AM PRESENCE at the top of the Divine Self chart >>>through the High Self/Soul/Christ Self in the middle >>> through the crown chakra at the top of the physical head to the inner temple in the heart area of the physical person. We create the Rainbow Bridge by attuning to our High Self & I AM PRESENCE. The rainbow color circles represent the permanent positive karma we have achieved. It is to be used in service to others.
This building of the Rainbow Bridge is often symbolized by the 6 pointed star. Lessons I & II of my Basic Metaphysics may be helpful in understanding and building the personal Rainbow Bridge: http://www.pathwaytoascension.com/lessons.html
End of Lesson 2