Page 1 of 4 Planetary Meditations for Multi-Dimensional Living by Greg Bogart, Ph.D. In this article series (4 parts) we are going to meditate on the spiritual lessons of the planets, and reflect on how we can more impeccably and courageously fulfill the instructions that our birth charts encode and convey. This article will present basic meat and potatoes astrology -- no fancy techniques -- but from the perspective of how can we use every experience to become more fully enlightened beings. As we advance in our studies of astrology, we become centered and prepared to meet whatever comes. We also learn to use our will to shape what unfolds, acting in accordance with our planetary instruction manual. Astrology teaches us that there are infinitely varied ways to be an awakened human being, and it encourages us to embrace our own path. It reveals the yoga, the spiritual practice or life-road that best suits us, and the steps we need to take to come into greater balance.(1) It teaches us to awaken through every experience, meeting each moment with courage. Astrology teaches us there are moments of a specific duration that have a particular theme or tone. Certain types of experiences are likely to occur under the influence of the various planets: Mercury--the stimulation of new ideas. Saturn--work and responsibility; Venus--love, aesthetic enjoyment, and sensual pleasure. We develop a sense of how long these experiences may last. We learn not to freeze any moment or experience or emotional state into permanence. Everything is changing. Reflecting on the ever-changing celestial pattern, we start to live as the witness, the one who sees all with compassion. At the center of the chart is the Self, I Am, the field of consciousness. We are the purusha--the tranquil, eternal Being, not the constantly changing flux of events. Events change. We are unchanging Presence. Our awareness shifts and evolves through each experience; everything is given to us as a gift, a lesson. I witness myself going through a variety of experiences, some pleasurable, some boring or tedious, some exciting, some gut-wrenching. But none of these experiences is what I am. I am the consciousness that grows through the totality of all experience. I dispassionately witness what happens, and through each experience my consciousness expands. Essential to our cultivation of tranquility is the offering of gratitude: gratitude for all who have nurtured and sustained us and contributed to the formation of our character, values, and goals: parents, siblings, teachers, colleagues, children, and friends. And gratitude for whatever is happening in our lives, for the perfect way that things are unfolding. What else is astrology if not the study of the orderly unfolding of the universe? The planetary cycles proceed according to their intelligent and relatively predictable course. Our goal in astrology is to align ourselves with the larger rhythms of life. We experience disharmony when we are out of tune with these planetary cycles, with the natural rhythm in which things want, and intend, to happen. We want neptunian bliss at the moment when the universe is calling for attention to our feelings or relationships, or grounded attention to the home or workplace. Our task is to tune our beings to the vibration of each planet, responding to each, as needed, to fulfill the intentions and dictates of each planetary god and goddess. Sun The goal of astrological yoga is to become a more and more impeccable embodiment of each natal planet and their activations by various transiting and progressed planets. As we do so, we become more and more whole human beings, more multidimensional, until ultimately we become fully actualized on all levels. To do so, we need to understand and honor the intentions of each planetary principle. We learn to express an inner cohesion and attitude toward self that we call the Sun, our conscious identity, that way of being in which we are most fully alive, creative, and filled with light. A central goal of this incarnation is to be most fully and consciously a Taurean, a Libran, an Aquarian type of being -- and to actualize this way of being through the field of life in which the Sun is placed. Any approach to astrological yoga needs to begin here. So, for example, a woman with the Sun-Mercury in her 6th house has been working all her life. She has a baby while transiting Saturn is moving through her 5th house and thinks that she wants to have two or three babies and quit working. But when Saturn goes into her 6th house a year later, she decides to go back to work. She is racked with guilt and afraid that she is letting down her child by working. But the reality is that the family needs her income and she herself is restless to reenter the workforce. Her 6th house Sun needs this. We need to stay in alignment with the purpose and natural way of being indicated by our natal Sun. I have the Sun in my 4th house, and I can barely be budged from my home, a fact to which all my friends will attest. Understanding the placement of the Sun is fundamental to the process of astrological yoga. Moon We also must attend to the ever-changing wellspring of our emotions, our innermost needs and dominant feeling states -- our Moon level of being. Our feelings bubble and well up like hot springs in the desert. They moisten us, make us feel real and tender. A woman I counseled had a manic demeanor, laughing constantly as she described her struggles in life. As I explored with her the symbolism of her natal Moon conjunct Saturn and Neptune in Libra in the 8th house, she began to sob as we explored her underlying feelings of sadness, depression, desolation, and fear of abandonment in relationships. 'Yes', she said, 'this is the dominant feeling state I return to again and again.' So we utilize astrology to understand our emotions and inner needs. Mercury We also operate as beings of the mind, vibrating with the mental perceptions, insights, and conceptions of Mercury, searching for new information and learning to communicate our ideas, our emotions, our desires. For example, one woman with a natal Mercury-Neptune conjunction spends much of her free time reading metaphysical books and writing poetry. A man with transiting Saturn conjunct natal Mercury is struggling with writing his doctoral dissertation, learning how to organize his ideas, and present them in an acceptable academic form. Venus Attuning to Venus, we realize that we are also beings of the heart, desiring to share our inner beauty, our touch, to delight in each other's presence, to give and receive love and affection. Venus is the planet of the tastes, and represents the enjoyment we get through appreciation of whatever is refined, cultured, pleasingly formed. A woman with transiting Saturn conjunct natal Venus in late Aries in her 4th house recently bought a house with her boyfriend. She is so happy, they have made such big commitments in such a short time, and she just loves fixing up her home. Venus is the focus of her evolutionary path at this time. Mars We also vibrate to Mars, our needs as animals for strenuous physical movement and exertion, for rutting and humping, for release of energy through the body, through uninhibited expression of our drives, our desires, our anger. Mars is the root energy of motivation, initiative, the vital energy we need to pursue our varied ends in life. A woman with progressed Sun square Mars became incredibly combative for a while. She became obsessed with karate and weightlifting, and had numerous angry disputes at home and at work. But she felt she was growing tremendously by becoming more direct, blunt, and assertive. She said, 'I am very angry lately, very into my body, and into being like a wild, fierce animal. I cruised a bar the other night and took a guy home, totally out of character for me. What is happening to me? Why am I fighting with everyone in my life? Why can't I meditate?' Apparently her wholeness of being requires integration of the Mars principle, which was rapidly transforming her way of being. There is a time to be quiet and yielding, and there is a time to directly go after what you want. Jupiter At the level of Jupiter we become more intellectually cultured and aware of the broader issues that give life meaning. We seek knowledge, wisdom, truth, and aspire to a more expansive living -- drawn toward travel and adventure, learning, and the company of the learned. Under Jupiter's influence, we learn that there are brief moments of opportunity when we can expect some helpful opening of doors, where we are gracefully shown the way forward to a better future. Jupiter is fortuna, life as cornucopia, a garden of delights, always fulfilling our desires in some measure. A schoolteacher who had been ill for several years and not working asked me, 'Are there any signs of luck for me in my career?' I noted that transiting Jupiter was passing through his 10th house, stationary retrograde squaring natal Jupiter in Sagittarius. Within two weeks he had several excellent job offers in the field of education (Jupiter in Sagittarius). Jupiter often brings improvement of some condition of living, and it causes us to reach higher and aspire to a more expanded condition.   Book by this author "Astrology & Spiritual Awakening" by Greg Bogart Info/Order this book   About The Author   Greg Bogart, Ph.D, MFT is a Bay Area psychotherapist, and an astrological counselor who has taught and practiced professionally since 1981. He the author of four books, including Astrology and Spiritual Awakening, Finding Your Life's Calling, and Therapeutic Astrology: Using the Birth Chart in Psychotherapy and Spiritual Counseling. You can order these books online, or directly from the publisher, Dawn Mountain Press, PO Box 9563, Berkeley, CA 94709; Tel: (510) 412-0486. This article was first printed in the April/May 1999 issue of The Mountain Astrologer. For subscriptions or back issues, call 800-287-4828 or go to www.MountainAstrologer.com Additional articles by Greg Bogart, reviews, and book ordering info can be found at the Dawn Mountain website: www.jps.net/gbogart/dawnmtn.html To contact Greg Bogart, please call (510) 412-0486, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 Next > End >>

 

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