Contemplating the people

Contemplating the people

At first glance, contemplation doesn’t seem like a Gemini type of activity.

To contemplate is to pause and enter our own center. Through the calm and quiet state of contemplation we can bring our inner and outer lives into balance. We emerge better prepared to face life’s emotional ups and downs with equanimity.

I love how Henri Nouwen described contemplation: “It offers the freedom to stroll through your own inner yard and rake up the leaves and clear the path so you can easily find the way to your heart.”

By contrast, the bright, social, and analytical air sign of Gemini is speedy and curious about what lies ahead.

There’s more contemplative depth to Gemini than one might first realize, however.

For starters, Gemini is ruled by Mercury. Mercury was the only god who could move back and forth between earth and the underworld and is the psychopomp – the guide of souls in the underworld.

Also, Gemini occurs during the time of year where we reach the maximum amount of light in the year, which then hands off to Cancer where the light starts to decrease. Contemplation is especially important during the busy Gemini season where the increase of light in the spring prompts us to be busy and active in our outer lives. Contemplation will help us remember and prepare for the decrease in light right around the corner.

Why am I writing about contemplation on this first day of Gemini? Hexagram 20 of the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text that was a favorite of Jung’s, correlates to the first 5.3 days of Gemini season.* This hexagram is called Contemplation.

The image of Hexagram 20, per Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching (he was good friends with Jung) is:

The wind blows over the earth:

The image of contemplation.

Thus the kings of old visited the regions of the world,

Contemplated the people,

And gave them instruction

Let’s stay with that image of “contemplating the people.”

Listening is one of the best ways to contemplate the people and of my favorite descriptions of listening comes from James Hillman: “Inquisitive curiosity into the lives of others extends our lives. This is not sharing; it is artful listening.. The other person is a fount of lifeblood, which transfuses vitality into your soul if you can provoke the other with your listening.”

Astrology, typology, and artful listening are just a few ways to contemplate the people. Speaking of astrology, it’s worth noting that contemplation is a lunar activity.  Looking at where the natal Moon is in your chart can show the manner in which you like to contemplate.

A practical application of this hexagram per R.L. Wing in The I Ching Workbook: “Take this time of contemplating to move freely through society. Experience new ideas fully, then offer your advice.”

This sounds like an activity perfectly suited to Gemini, doesn’t it?

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*The 64 hexagrams of the I Ching are arranged along the ecliptic (the celestial equator) in Human Design. In astrology there are 12 zodiac signs along the ecliptic, so there are 5.3 hexagrams per zodiac sign. I’m contemplating these hexagrams as a way to engage with astrology, the I Ching, and Jungian psychology.

Sources:

The Force of Character by James Hillman

You are the Beloved: 365 Daily Readings and Meditations for Spiritual Living by Henri J.M. Nouwen

I Ching or Book of Changes translated by Richard Wilhelm

The I Ching Workbook by R.L. Wing

Continue ReadingContemplating the people

Your life as an astrological musical score (or, the anti-aging effects of astrology)

Your life as an astrological musical score (or, the anti-aging effects of astrology)

There is a lot of focus in online discussion about astrology on how to use it to describe future events, which overlooks one of astrology’s biggest benefits: it can help us live more fully in the present.

I thought of that when reading this passage in The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts:

There can be no doubt that the power to remember and predict, to make an ordered sequence out of a helter-skelter chaos of disconnected moments, is a wonderful development of sensitivity. …But the way in which we generally use this power is apt to destroy all its advantages. For it is of little use to us to be able to remember and predict if it makes us unable to live fully in the present.

The Wisdom of Insecrity, page 34

Thanks to astrology I often forget my exact age because I instead focus on which year I’m in astrologically. For example, in the current year I’m living since my most recent birthday, I’m in a 9th house of Leo year and the Sun is the highlighted planet of my year because the Sun rules Leo. That means 9th house topics such as astrology, higher education, religion, philosophy, and so on will be more pronounced. Planets that visit Leo during the year will speak more loudly as will my natal Gemini Sun. The last time I was in a 9th house year was 12 years ago and will be again 12 years from now. This helps me remember that time is circular, not linear, so focus on the present and not on next year’s 10th house of Virgo year.

Way back when I was in high school I played violin in the school orchestra and I also played in church bell choirs back in the day, I enjoyed how we would work on only parts of a muscial score at a time. If it was a part with a lot of rests sometimes I would get bored and lose track of the count, which was never good, because it could make me miss my entrance when it was time to play again (a bell or violin played at the wrong moment can be excruciating to listen to). Staying in that moment of rests contributes to the greater good of the musical score just as much as the extreme focus needed when playing a bunch of sixteenth notes for several measures. All of this is analogous astrology and our lived experiences.

Yes, it’s fun to muse about what Pluto in Aquarius will be like during the next 20 years. But what part of your musical score are you working on right now? Are you paying attention to the rests and practicing the complicated bits of melody? What type of musician are you (something your astrological temperament, rising sign, and more can give insight into)?

Alan Watts again:

If, then, my awareness of the past and future makes me less aware of the present, I must begin to wonder whether I am actually living in the real world.

The Wisdom of Insecurity p. 35

Continue ReadingYour life as an astrological musical score (or, the anti-aging effects of astrology)

The Moon and Your Personality Part 2: Needs

The Moon and Your Personality Part 2: Needs

Just like a fuller understanding of personality should include persona, it is also helpful to take into account the human needs.

Noel Tyl defines needs as follows in chapter 3 of Astrology and Personality about Abraham Maslow’s need psychology:

Needs make things happen. The tensions of development reflect the meeting of needs and environmental demands within experience. The personality develops in relation to the measure of success and failure of need satisfaction.

Astrology and Personality by Noel Tyl, p. 56

According to Tyl, the Moon sign shows us a person’s needs:

For Astrology, the Moon and its Sign tells us the reigning needs of the individual. …The aspects made with the Moon further modify the need profile and the House position of the Moon determines the experiences within which the drama of need fulfillment is principally played.

Here is a list of needs for each sign from Demetra George’s Astrology and the Authentic Self book. Look for the sign that the Moon is in in your chart:

Aries—the need to be independent and develop self-awareness

Taurus—the need to be resourceful and get productive results

Gemini—the need to communicate and make mental contact with others

Cancer—the need to give and receive emotional warmth and security

Leo—the need for creative expression and appreciation by others

Virgo—the need to analyze, discriminate, and function efficiently

Libra—the need to relate to others and create harmony and balance

Scorpio—the need for deep involvements and intense transformations

Sagittarius—the need to explore and expand mental and actual horizons

Capricorn—the need for structure, organization, and discipline

Aquarius—the need to innovate, be original, and create social change

Pisces—the need to commit to a dream or ideal

Maslow’s need psychology also includes the concept of “press”, which is an environmental factor(s) that put pressure on the personality. This includes things like danger, rejection, sex, betrayal, inferiority, illness, lack of family support, and many more.

Tyl says that “aspects made by the Moon would show the press upon the personality and its work to fulfill individual needs.” (p. 60). Squares and oppositions to the Moon bring tension and difficulties. Sextiles and trines are supportive.

Tyl goes on to state that each planet in the chart represents a need of its own in service to the overarching need of the Moon:

Mercury will suggest the needs of the mind; Venus, the needs of the emotions and the aesthetic sense; Mars, the needs for energy expression; Jupiter, the religious, ethical, and opportunity needs; Saturn the needs of ambition…The synthesis of the horoscope relates the support needs to the reigning need symbolized by the Moon. [emphasis mine]

Astrology and Personality by Noel Tyl, p. 61-62

To tie this in with persona, one can think of the persona as the mask we wear when attempting to fulfill our core need when interacting with the environment.

I’d love to hear what you think about your Moon sign and if the need associated with it seems accurate to you. Feel free to message me on Instagram or email me via the contact page.

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Sources:

Astrology and Personality by Noel Tyl

Astrology and the Authentic Self by Demetra George

Also see this post of mine with more information about the history of needs in personality types.

Continue ReadingThe Moon and Your Personality Part 2: Needs

Mercury in Taurus in the Personality

Mercury in Taurus in the Personality

A natal chart in astrology is about far more than one’s personality type, but looking at it can help give us insight about our type and show us more specifically how we are one-sided.

The location of Mercury in the chart is an important placement when considering personality. Mercury is the fastest planet in the solar system and goes into nooks and crannies that the other planets aren’t able to. The Mercury archetype is a messenger and correlates to that which helps us connect the dots and gives us those aha moments.

According to Jungian analyst and astrologer Liz Greene in Relating, Mercury “is a symbol of the way in which we not only perceive, but order our perceptions so that they can be comprehended and communicated.” He is primarily the symbol of the urge to understand, to integrate unconscious motive with conscious recognition.”

Greene also writes: “Mercury’s sign position at birth suggests the way in which the individual learns, how he perceives and categorises or digests what he learns…”

Currently Mercury is in Taurus, so my friend Joni McMillan and I made a video on our Typestrology channel about Mercury in Taurus in the personality. We use Bono, the singer in the band U2, as a celebrity example. Joni has Mercury in Taurus and talks about her personal experience with this placement. (We are newbies at making videos and have been shy about publicizing them, so bear with us as we continue to get better at this. Writing has always been my thing but I figure it’s time to try and get a feel for making videos. Feel free to subscribe to the channel if you’d like).

Taurus is a feminine, fixed, earth sign ruled by Venus. Mercury here is smooth, sturdy, productive, earthy, sensual, practical, and reliable. Because Taurus is a fixed sign, Mercury here tends to speak more slowly and deliberately. Taurus is methodical and measured and also stubborn, yet loyal and reliable. he Taurus symbol is the bull. The bull is slow to get started but once it does, it has great endurance. Taurus, because of its ruler Venus, has a focus on the arts, nature, the environment, food, tactile things, gardening, and/or singing. Mercurial activities are done in this context when someone has Mercury in Taurus in their chart.

For someone with Mercury in Taurus, I think it would be interesting to explore which of the four Beebe personality archetypes it matches up to: Hero, Parent, Child, and Anima/Animus. In Bono’s case, he is widely considered to have ENFJ tendencies. This makes introverted intuition (Ni) his parent function. It’s quite possible to see how Mercury in Taurus for him is used to “parent” others through his singing and philanthropic business activities (Mercury also represents business activities).

Do you have Mercury in Taurus? If so I’d love to hear what it has been like for you.

Sources:

Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet by Liz Greene

Continue ReadingMercury in Taurus in the Personality

Astrology and Personality Types

Astrology and Personality Types

As of this writing there are 56 posts on this blog focused on Jungian personality typology, with a heavy emphasis on John Beebe’s archetypal model. This is a topic I will continue to blog about.

Beginning next week I will start adding posts about astrology and personality types into the mix. This recent Instagram post of mine gives you an idea of what some of those posts will be like (please feel free to follow me on Instagram).

Part of what I want to explore is to see how the planet archetypes in one’s birth chart might match up with the archetypes in Beebe’s personality type model.

I recently completed the year two certification course in Advanced Hellenistic Astrology at Nightlight Astrology, so I feel inclined now to start writing a bit about astrology. In addition to giving readings for people, I want to use my astrological knowledge to enhance my Jungian studies. Insights from astrology can help us more specifically address and become more conscious of the one-sidedness that our personality types make us aware of. Jung used astrology with his clients, as Liz Greene writes about in Jung’s Studies on Astrology.

Speaking of Liz Greene I will draw heavily upon her writings in the astrology and personality posts. She is a Jungian analyst, astrologer, and an academic with a PhD. In time you will probably see her work referenced here as often as I have cited John Beebe’s.

As is always this case with my blog posts here, it is not about me having answers, but exploring and combining the ideas from Jung, Beebe, Greene, and others. I think we need their insights more than ever these days. Thanks for reading!

Continue ReadingAstrology and Personality Types

Personality types and the rising sign in astrology

To help you narrow in on what your personality type is, or to start getting more specifics about your personality type and how to work with it, your natal chart in astrology can help give this kind of insight.

John Beebe’s personality type model, which I’ve written several posts about, works especially well with astrology because his model is archetypal.

Your personality type shows you where you are one-sided. The chart gives context and points to the areas of life where that one-sided tendency occurs. It can also help you understand why, for example, your third function seems stronger to you than it does for others you know with that same personality type.

Astrology is nuanced and the archetypes are multi-valent, so it isn’t as simple as saying, “You have four planets in Taurus! You must be an ESFP!” The alchemy between personality types and astrology goes deeper than that.

When looking at a chart from the perspective of personality, the first thing to look at is the rising sign, which is the first of the 12 houses on the zodiacal wheel of your chart. The rising sign is what was rising in the east at the moment of your birth.

The rising sign, and the planet that rules it, is the one part of the chart that is personal and all about you. The other 11 houses are areas of life and much of what is there is outside you.

Ancient astrologers called the rising sign the “helm.” The ruler (or host) of rising was described as like a helmsman. They viewed life as like a journey across the sea and the helmsman helps steer the ship.

There are 12 zodiac signs and therefore 12 rising signs. There are 12 different versions of each rising sign when you take into account the location of the example, Virgo rising with helmsman Mercury in the 1st house. Virgo rising with Mercury in the 2nd house. And so on. So only 1 out of every 144 people would have the same rising sign combination as you.

As an astrologer one of the first things I look at is the rising sign and location of the helmsman. Right away that tells you some of the characteristics of the person and the area of life that is a focus for them.

I’ll have some examples in upcoming posts. Stay tuned.

Continue ReadingPersonality types and the rising sign in astrology

The Sacred Language of Personality Types

The Sacred Language of Personality Types

A way that personality typology can be unhelpful, and maybe even harmful, is the temptation to have an excessive focus on the externals of traits and behaviors.

In his book Compass of the Soul, John Giannini, who was a Jungian analyst, mentions the Celtic poet John O’Donohue, who wrote that “if we become addicted to the external, our interiority will haunt us…To be wholesome, we must remain truthful to our vulnerable complexity.”

Giannini reflects on O’Donohue’s insights by saying:

Since typology is so easily useful as a practical system, we can “become addicted to the external,” to a stereotypical language of traits. So most typologists treat the types as purely outer behaviors and cognitive traits. However, typology is also a sacred language that describes “our vulnerable complexity,” and encompasses a far-reaching theory with its multiplicities of human understanding and complex behaviors.

Compass of the Soul by John L. Giannini, p. 3

The sacred language of type, and acknowledgement of the vulnerable complexity of the psyche, tends to be glaringly absent from much of the online discussion about type, particularly the infotainment variety. The infotainment is fun, and I get a good laugh out of it sometimes. But type has something more to offer as well.

It’s reductionist to try to quickly fit a person into a type label. A typologist should interact with the person, ideally over a period of time. It’s a process and the language is sacred. A typologist should never forget the vulnerable complexity of the person before them.

Even when there is clarity between the two people that, say, ENTP is the best fit type, the ENTP-ness will be unique to that person and manifest a bit differently from others who have that same type.

Each type has imbalances between the dominant function and the inferior function. One way to address that imbalance in a way customized to that person is to use the sacred language of astrology and take a look at the person’s birth chart. I now have an offering on my Services page for a 30 minute consultation about your personality type using the language of your astrology chart.

I have been formally studying astrology the past two years and have a certification (all described on my Services page). In the weeks to come you’ll see more posts on this blog that combine type with astrology. The two can work together in meaningful ways.

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Sources:

Compass of the Soul by John L. Giannini

Continue ReadingThe Sacred Language of Personality Types

From Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Jungian psychology and Hellenistic Astrology: my debut as a podcast guest

From Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Jungian psychology and Hellenistic Astrology: my debut as a podcast guest

My friend Sam Torode, who is an author and an artist, interviewed me for his Living From the Soul podcast. My podcast debut!

Per his description: “First, they talk about their shared history joining the Eastern Orthodox Church in early adulthood, and their reasons for leaving. They discuss the paradigm shift from a literal reading of religious language to a metaphorical, symbolic understanding. Anita then delves into Jungian psychology, the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator, and Hellenistic astrology. This quote from Jason E. Smith summarizes her theme: “Religious institutions should not be seen as repositories of truth, but instead as opportunities for the individual’s own experiments in truth.”

You can find the podcast on your favorite podcast platform, such as Spotify or Apple podcast. Or you can listen to the YouTube version.

The show notes are below, which have links to the books, resources, and people I discussed.

Show notes:

Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas

Religious But Not Religious by Jason E. Smith

Nate Craddock (see especially his interview on the Astrology Podcast about Christianity and astrology)

James Hillman and the Peaks and Vales essay is from Senex and Puer

James Hollis

CG Jung

Nightlight Astrology classes and YouTube channel by Acyuta-bhava Das (Adam Elenbaas)

As for the personality typology, you can find many posts about that here on this blog, of course.

We didn’t get around to mentioning it on the podcast, but there is a Facebook group called Exodoxy for people who are former Eastern Orthodox Christians, or current members with one foot firmly out the door. It’s a private place to discuss our past struggles with the church and our current spiritual and philosophical interests. If you meet the criteria (there are a series of questions you have to answer to gain admittance to the group) you are welcome to join.

And, finally, please check out Sam’s books. I especially like Everyday Emerson, Living From the Soul, his translation and paraphrase of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and his translation and paraphrase of Tao Te Ching.

Continue ReadingFrom Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Jungian psychology and Hellenistic Astrology: my debut as a podcast guest

On astrology, therapy, animals, and the blessings of the broken parts

You know, people come to therapy really for blessing. Not so much to fix what’s broken, as to get what’s broken blessed. – James Hillman

Dream Animals, page 2

There is so much emphasis on “fixing” in our culture.

We think we are broken and need fixing. Or we put pressure on ourselves to help others solve their problems or give them “actionable takeaways” (ugh, I hate that phrase).

It’s easy to forget that feeling seen by another person is sometimes the greatest gift they can give us.

The past five years of Jungian analysis has helped me discover ways to listen to and feel seen by my soul, because a Jungian analysis isn’t about fixing. You aren’t “in treatment.” As Hillman wrote about in The Soul’s Code, one’s “symptoms” can sometimes point you in the direction of your calling; if you listen to the symptoms carefully, they can show you what it is your soul would rather attend to.

Since starting to study ancient astrology a year ago, I’ve discovered that an astrologer can bless someone simply by showing them the breathtakingly intricate ways that they are seen by the cosmos in their birth chart. It helps flip one’s inner narrative from marinating in regrets about certain past events to compassion towards self and others. As Hillman said at an astrology conference in 1997, ” The astrologer reverts events to their sources in the heavens, thereby taking the person out of circumstances and into heaven. Hence the revelatory feelings when a striking interpretation is made. Heaven’s gates open and a connection made between the two spheres.”

And let’s not forget the blessings of animals! The Hillman quote at the beginning of the post was from the book Dream Animals, in which Hillman says blessing by the animal occurs when they wake up our imagination when see them in nature. And when they enter our dreams. He also said that pets were the first psychoanalysts and make us aware of ourselves. I also can’t help but add that astrology reminds us of the blessings of animals, too, as several of the zodiac signs are animal symbols. “The planets are largely stabled among beasts,” as Hillman said.

Yesterday, while getting ready to write the draft of this post, the Lutheran benediction that I heard hundreds of times during childhood and early adulthood came to mind. I was able to recite it without difficulty and it goes something like this:

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you… and give you peace.

I put ellipses in there because I seem to remember the pastor pausing before saying those final four words. Then afterwards the pastor made the sign of the cross, not by touching his or her forehead and chest with their fingers, but with their arm extended from their body, Blessings aren’t meant to be kept clutched to ourselves.

Of course it’s not just a pet, priest, therapist, astrologer, or God that dispenses blessings. All of us can lift up our countenances upon each other and give each other peace.

Continue ReadingOn astrology, therapy, animals, and the blessings of the broken parts

What sermons and horoscopes have in common

What sermons and horoscopes have in common

The best of sermons afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. The same can be said of horoscopes. Even when they don’t meet this high ideal, they can remind us of heaven.

There a line that I can still recall from a sermon I heard over 30 years ago, back when I was in college.

The Lutheran pastor began the sermon in a voice as loud as thunder: “Unfulfilled desires prove the existence of heaven.” He was paraphrasing C.S. Lewis and went on to explain that if a desire exists, the fulfillment of that desire must also exist.

My imagination thrilled at this and it fed my soul. Out of the many hundreds of sermons I would go on to hear in the years to come, this is the only line I remember out of all those sermons.

Zoom ahead 30+ years to today, and it is astrology and horoscopes that I partake of regularly. I recently listened to an audio of James Hillman, who was an archetypal Jungian psychologist. It is a one hour talk he gave at an astrology conference and he quoted Paracelsus:

Hillman kept repeating the words “Heaven retains.” He said he takes those two words quite literally. When I heard that I had the same thrill as I did 30+ years ago when listening to that sermon,

You only get a half truth or partial understanding of others or yourself if you neglect heaven. The ultimate meaning of heaven is unknown. It is defined simply as the place beyond the sky, the unknown. It connotes the divine.

Hillman says: “Paracelsus is insisting on the invisible path of our lives. This half is not directly graspable by any natural methods of science, any kind of naturalistic or mundane thinking or understanding. […] We humans, aware that we only live in half truths, and see only through a glass darkly, turn to astrology to find a way back to heaven, to the invisible source of our bodies and maladies.”

Horoscopes and sermons can point us to heaven because it is heaven that makes them possible. It is the arrangement of the planets in the sky during a particular day or period of time that serves up the topics an astrologer must address when writing a horoscope.

For many pastors and priests, it is a lectionary, based on the church calendar, that provides the scripture reading the sermon must address.

Of course there is always the danger that a sermon or horoscope can become too prescriptive, too mired in literalism and fundamentalism. One must choose one’s purveyors of sermons and horoscopes wisely.

In my years of listening to sermons, I noticed that, even when following a lectionary, a pastor or priest would still tend to repeat the same themes over and over again, as if it was the lesson they needed to hear. This can happen to astrologers too. Jung said that teachers, ultimately, don’t teach their subject. They teach themselves (i.e. the teacher is the subject).

Astrologer Adam Elenbaas also steers us away from a literal view:

“I find that thinking too much about when to do stuff with astrology generally gets in the way. If you meditate on something in your heart, and  […] have a good intention that’s not going to harm anyone … then you [should] just go with what feels right.

Part of astrology is trying to get us off the training wheels of astrology. That’s a big part of astrology, actually. We all have the inherent sense of divine timing built into us.”

Ultimately, true healing and comes from within, and not from horoscopes and sermons. But the astrologer and the pastor/priest can help transport us out of our circumstances by providing insights that remind us of what is above. Then we can find a way back to heaven, where the fulfillment of our desires, and comfort for our afflictions, awaits.

Sources:

Adam Elenbaas 9/15/19 video.

RIP Rev. Jerry Knoche

Continue ReadingWhat sermons and horoscopes have in common