The therapeutic power of Astrology in times of difficulty and suffering.

 

Everyone goes through hard times in life. These periods of difficulty can be seen in a persons birth chart one way or the other, and usually in many ways; through the natal chart placement of planets in signs and houses and nakshatras, through the planetary periods and sub-periods and through the planetary transits operating at that time. During such times, it can be easy to lose hope; to project one’s current state of difficulty into the future in perpetuity; to imagine that things will remain difficult for ever, that there is no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. This feeling is particularly characteristic of intense Saturn transits, which we will all go through all different times. For a deeper insight into the nature of Saturn, please see: ’Saturn, the ‘Inner Critic’ and the importance of humility’.

 

Having one’s suffering recognised and seen accurately by an astrologer, can often validate and confirm our inner feeling or intuition that we really are in a period of our life that is extremely difficult. From consulting with an empathic and competent astrologer, we can feel ‘seen’, with our experience understood and validated on a deep level - a level that standard talk therapy may not always be able to reach, due to the acknowledgement of energetic influences and cycles that the western materialistic conception of life is not willing or able to recognise. We can feel the deepest parts of our inner world are understood, and in being understood, on some level know that we are not alone.

 

The “Why is this happening to me? Everyone else around me is fine!” perspective can become entrenched during difficult astrological transits if we do not receive some kind of confirmation or validation that what we are going through at that time is unusually difficult. Sometimes a partner, friend or family member can fulfil this function if we are fortunate enough to have empathic, perceptive people around us. But at other times the difficulty and suffering can be so profound, that a need may arise in us to use archetypal, transpersonal symbols to understand our experience; symbols that completely transcend us, in order to understand our experience and gain a perspective that can be life-changing or even life-saving.

 

The reason why I am focusing on hardship and suffering in this article is due to the fact that most often, both in therapy and astrology, it is a persons suffering, and its overwhelming nature, that causes them to look for help. Generally speaking, when things are ‘going well’ in a persons life, they are too busy enjoying and relishing those good times to engage in deep introspection or soul-searching. The profound role that suffering plays in the development of the human spirit is thoroughly recognised in all the worlds spiritual traditions. If one ponders on this deeply enough, the question becomes “If everything was easy in my life, how fortunate would I really be?”. If our lives were a constant stream of pleasurable and happy experiences, the drive to understand the deeper reasons for the purpose of life and why we are here as human beings wouldn’t be ignited to begin with.

 

The explanatory power of astrology, in my opinion, is unrivalled by any other system of understanding human life. How can planets in space possibly affect us in such an immediate and intimate way? Most astrologers would say the planets don’t literally ‘do things to us’, with the level of causal agency we experience in human relationships. Although, in traditional Indian astrology the planets are said to cast their ‘rays’ on human affairs, and are intelligences in their own right, so even this idea is up for debate. 

 

But, the planets do move in archetypal synchrony with the events and themes playing out in our lives and the wider world – the events and themes that they are known to represent within established astrological symbolism. This ‘as above so below’ mirroring between the micro-human and macro-cosmic, occurs due to the interconnected nature of existence. The Greek sage Plotinus said the following in relation to this cosmic web of being: “The stars are like letters that inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky. Everything in the world is full of signs. All events are coordinated. All things depend on each other. Everything breathes together.”

 

Both Western and Eastern astrology ascribe the same fundamental qualities and meanings to each of the planets, with a few minor differences in emphases. If they didn’t, and disagreed on what each planet represents, then that would indeed create just cause for scepticism in the validity of astrology, but they do agree, profoundly and consistently, across time and space. This should bring a level of reassurance and confidence in astrology and its ability to decode the mechanics of creation into a universal language. The Sanskrit term for Indian astrology - “Jyotish”, when translated with a bit of artistic license, could be said to become “the divine light through which the will and wisdom of God are revealed.”

 

If we are ready and mature enough to receive it, an astrological reading can even show how the difficulties we are currently experiencing, whether in relationships or any other area of life, may well be due to actions taken in past lives, or in our current life. This is the Vedic view; that we are all the authors of our own existence, which is a process taking many lifetimes, changing bodies in the way that actors change costumes, and that we are sowing the seeds for our future existence with every moment that passes. This perspective of total ‘karmic accountability’ isn’t punitive, it’s freeing and empowering, as we understand that the root cause of things that are ‘happening to us’, whether pleasurable or painful, trace their origins in ourselves and our own behaviour. 

 

I feel it would be absurd to assume that, as ensouled beings, we come in to the world as blank slates, and all the worlds pain, injustice and horror emerge out of an existential vacuum with no deeper meaning or explanation. When seen and understood from the perspective of the soul, and evolution over inconceivable time-scales, the world, the cosmos, becomes a “vale of soul-making” in the words of John Keats, or, more bluntly put by the great Indian bhakti saint, Swami Prabhupad, a “correctional facility”. The idea of our wider cosmic environment being a ‘gnosis-driven universe’ has been explored thoroughly in Christian and some Buddhist traditions, suggesting a holding environment of meaning and purpose underlies all events that take place in and around us.

 

In this understanding, human life was never meant to be ‘easy’. If we can really get onboard with this perspective, then the energies brought into our lives by the planet Saturn, for example, can be seen not as coming from a malicious or vengeful authority figure, who is constantly punishing us for our transgressions, but as the ‘firm but fair’ wise elder archetype who is bringing to us the consequences of past actions, in the form of different challenges and hardship, in order to facilitate our spiritual growth and evolution. My article ‘Planets, archetypes and sub-personalities’ goes into the resonance between planetary and psychological archetypes in more detail.

 

Once we are aware that Saturns very nature is to bring difficulty, limitation, obstacles, obstructions, delay, hardship, endurance, suffering and responsibility, and are then made aware by an astrologer that Saturn is transiting a particularly sensitive area of our birth chart at that time, this information alone can bring immediate relief and perspective to a time period that might otherwise feel too difficult to endure. 

 

Of course, life isn’t just about hard times, and neither is astrology. Astrology is just as useful and accurate in forecasting future times of ease, abundance and success as it is future difficulties. If the client has trust in the astrologer, the affirmation of easier times ahead can help the client weather the ‘storm’ they may currently be in. An astrologer reflecting back to the client a confirmation of a skill, talent or ability they have, that they may only have suspected privately, can be hugely validating – when the astrologer has perceived this in the chart of the client, independently of anything they may have volunteered in the reading.

 

Our experience gets plugged into a deep cosmic system, that transcends national, cultural, ethnic and religious boundaries, a system far bigger than any of us or the groups we belong to. Our pain can shift from being ‘my pain’ to become ‘the pain’; an experience of pain which is just a small part of a much bigger stream – the suffering of the world as a whole, and is free from rigid grasping and the psycho-emotional strangulation that comes from being over identified with suffering.

 

This is not dissociation, deflection or a defence; it’s a liberating release into the deep experiential knowing that we are ultimately not alone or separate from the rest of existence, that nothing – whether it’s things we’ve done, or our very being itself, is irredeemable. Astrology confirms to us over and over again, that everything we experience has meaning.

 

To expect to be able to discern the meaning of every experience we have is perhaps too ambitious; it would be to presume omniscience, but certain major life experiences carry an obvious meaning that even the most rationally minded would struggle to ignore.  In the words of Viktor Frankl, who dedicated his life to the study of meaning and the role it plays in people’s lives: “This is the core of the human spirit ... If we can find something to live for - if we can find some meaning to put at the center of our lives - even the worst kind of suffering becomes bearable.” Astrology shows us very clearly that we don’t have to ‘invent’ meaning for ourselves – the meaning of our lives and all our varied experiences can be decoded with a system that has existed for thousands of years and will continue to exist long after we are gone.