Symbols of the Soul: Discovering Your Life Purpose and Karma Through Astrology

SYMBOLS of the SOUL

Discovering Your Life Purpose

and Karma Through Astrology

GINA LAKE

http://www.RadicalHappiness.com

This book and others by Gina Lake are also available in paperback.

Symbols of the Soul was formerly published by Llewellyn Publications

Cover photo © Michael Angel | Dreamstime.com

Copyright © 2000 by Gina Lake

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Soul’s Plan

Return to Holism—Astrology's Spiritual Gifts—Astrology and Reincarnation—Fate and Free Will—Choosing the Chart—Karma—Reading the Karmic Debt—Delineating the Twelfth House

Chapter 2: The Life Task and the Life Lesson

The Moon's Nodes—The Chart Themes—The Life Task—The North Node in the Houses and Signs—The North Node in the Signs—The Life Lesson—Saturn and the South Node in the Signs—Saturn in the Houses and Signs—The South Node in the Houses and Signs—The Six Nodal Axes—Synthesizing the Information in the Chart—Twins and Astrology

Chapter 3: The Evolution of the Signs

Evolution and the Signs—The Seven Roles—The Relationship Between the Roles and the Signs—The Talents of Each Role—The Tendencies that May Need Balancing—Evolution and the Elements—The Cycles—The Elements in the Cycles

Chapter 4: The Role and Origin of Aspects in the Chart

The Four Roles—The Conjunction, Sextile, Trine, Opposition, Square, and Inconjunct—Aspects That Originate in Past Lives—Aspects with the Outer Planets—Aspects That Describe Psychological Complexes—Aspects That Describe Events—Aspects That Describe Gifts

Chapter 5: The Moon, the Emotions, and the Early Environment

The Twelve Emotional Styles—Soft Aspects Between the Outer Planets and the Moon— Hard Aspects Between the Outer Planets and the Moon—The Moon Signs and the Early Environment—Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, and the Early Environment

Conclusion

Bibliography

About the Author

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Preface

Some of the information in this book was obtained by non-ordinary means. By that, I mean that the approach presented in this book was received intuitively. But more than that, much of the information about the chart's relationship to past lives was obtained from channeling. Today this method of acquiring information is not nearly as mysterious or as suspect as even a few years ago, although it is still not routinely accepted. In fact, I would not be surprised if much of what we know about astrology came from supernatural sources when humanity was in its infancy. This cannot be proven, of course, but information from intuitives has often contributed to our knowledge and understanding.

Today astrology is being rapidly transformed. It is being elevated from its former fortunetelling status to the psycho spiritual tool it was meant to be. This is occurring through the infusion of new information, particularly through the intuition of astrologers and the diligent attention of many psychologists. Much of what is presented in these pages is new. It is up to you to evaluate these ideas, which have proven to me the profundity of astrology. I welcome hearing about your discoveries, for that is how the body of astrological knowledge will evolve with the times.

Note: I apologize for not always finding a way to avoid the pronoun he when I meant he or she. I am not comfortable using this pronoun alone, but sometimes it was too cumbersome to refer to both genders.

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Introduction

Astrology has reemerged after long being misused, misunderstood, and maligned. It is returning full force in this New Age, to be applied at last as it was meant to be—as a tool for understanding the soul's path and the personality, the soul's vehicle. Using astrology as a fortunetelling device is no longer acceptable if we are to face our lives responsibly. It is unacceptable to sit back assured that something will go our way because astrology says so. Nor is it acceptable to shrink back in fear, feeling hopeless in the face of fate. Both stances distance us from living in the moment. We must be willing to live fully in the present with confidence in the unfolding of our lives and free from the ego's need to be in control of the future.

Modern astrology, the astrology of the New Age, provides a perspective that helps us do that. It is both informative and philosophical. It informs us of our psychological needs and issues, our spiritual lessons, and our gifts, while supplying a framework within which to understand life. It demonstrates that we are connected to a Greater Whole—that we do not function separately but that we do function uniquely. And it demonstrates that life is meaningful, while explaining the meaning of each life. Astrology's symbols are the soul's language of life. They reveal not only the mysteries of the universe but also the mysteries of each of our lives. In studying them, we glimpse the marvel of the universe and our role in it. These symbols are deep and fathomless resources for psycho-spiritual insight, revealing our soul's agenda for this lifetime and the personality chosen to carry it out. The psyche (which means soul) cannot be understood separate from the soul because they are related: The personality is the vehicle through which the soul accomplishes its goals. Consequently, any complete approach to astrology must therefore be a psycho-spiritual one.

What is presented here is just that—an approach that acknowledges that the life we live today is influenced and shaped by other lifetimes and other charts. We are more than our chart! We are spiritual beings and the sum total of all our earthly experiences and all our previous charts. The chart helps us understand who we are today, but it also gives us a glimpse of who we have been and where we are going. It is part of a larger journey—an evolutionary journey. Bon voyage!

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Chapter 1: The Soul’s Plan

Astrology has long been used by humankind to understand himself and the universe. Early Man gazed up at the star-studded heavens and asked Why? Is it so surprising that he also looked to the heavens for the answer? It seems that this is what he did, and astrology supplied the answers to both deep and practical questions.

Early Man felt a connection between himself and the life all around him. He saw himself as part of a Greater Whole in which he played a part, although insignificant. As Man's intellect grew, so did his sense of importance and separateness. He fell into competition with the life forms around him and sought to control them to suit his needs. Man lost his sense of interdependence with life, and astrology became just another tool for trying to control life. But astrology, which had once represented holism, can represent it again.

We need to return to the sense of wholeness that we once had. To do this, we will have to reintegrate the lost part of ourselves that provided this sense of wholeness and harmony: our spiritual Self. In fact, if we don’t do this, the human race may not survive. Our current direction is destroying our most basic resources and the earth itself. If we continue, there will be little left. Maybe this is what it will take before we realize that we can only survive by working together.

What role can astrology play in this? First, it can provide the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings that are missing. Second, it can provide guidance about how to fulfill our soul's Plan, our chosen path for this lifetime. Fulfilling our Plan is important to the Whole. First, let's examine these philosophical and spiritual underpinnings. In later chapters we will examine the chart as a means of providing individual guidance.

Astrology reveals the cyclical nature of life. It demonstrates that we are part of an orderly universe: the moon circles around the earth, the earth circles around the sun, one season follows another. Our lives imitate these cycles, being a microcosm of the great macrocosm. We can hardly notice these patterns and cycles without also conceding to the existence of a Higher Order, an organizing if not creative force—a Logos.

Astrology also suggests that life continues beyond death. What meaning would the chart have if it were not part of a larger process of evolution? And what meaning would our lives have if they were not part of a larger process of evolution? Reincarnation explains many of the mysteries of life: why people are different, why suffering exists, and why some people suffer more than others do. Reincarnation also explains many things about the chart that cannot be explained otherwise: some signs in our charts are more developed than other signs and some patterns run deeper than just one lifetime could explain.

Astrology also offers us a glimpse of the perfection and wonder of the universe. For anyone who has used astrology for many years, it is its own proof of the existence of something higher. It verifies the unseen like nothing else, providing a bridge designed of symbols between the spiritual realm and the earthly one. Astrology is the esoteric translated into symbols.

Astrology also teaches us of holism, that all of life is interrelated and interdependent. In a holistic universe, the parts synergistically combine to form a whole. The whole is more than the sum of the parts, and each part is indispensable to the whole. So it is with our charts. At the same time, the whole is reflected in each of the parts: As above, so below. The individual entering life reflects the energies present in the universe at the moment of birth. The energies of that moment can be read in the sky and are represented in the chart. Thus, the chart is a picture of the energies of that moment, which the individual born at that moment personifies.

These energies are like a costume donned for one lifetime to experience the lessons and develop the talents of those energies. Still, we are more than these energies; we are more than our charts. We are the sum total of all our previous lifetimes of experiences and their energy patterns (charts). In many ways, we are like actors on a stage: we know that we are more than the character that we are playing, but for the time being we dress up in our costume and play our part. The difference is that the actor has no freedom to choose his lines and actions, and we do. This is an important difference. While the actor lives the script written for him, we create the play as we go along. We have no script. Our future, our story, is created by our choices. But is that all? Is it all choice? Let's explore this further.

Just how much of our lives is predetermined and how much is created by our choices? Many of us believe that some events in life are predestined, such as certain meetings. Nevertheless, although some events may well be prearranged, how and when they take place can’t be. This is determined by the circumstances and events that we create by our choices. Free will and predestination interweave in our lives. The few events in our lives that are predestined are woven into the fabric of life created by our choices and by the choices of those close to us. If you stop a moment to think about the many possible choices you and others could make, you can only conclude that the specifics of the future are not predetermined. The lessons that our soul sets out to teach us must therefore be worked into the framework already created by our choices. The soul has to play it by ear and wait for suitable opportunities to deliver its lessons. As a result, predicting the future is precarious, to say the least. Therefore, the Plan described in the chart can only be very general. More will be said about reading the Plan in the chapters that follow.

Choosing the Chart

The soul is the vehicle of the Higher Self, that part of us that we know as God. Under the Higher Self's direction, the soul arranges and delivers our lessons. It does this by choosing a chart (choosing a moment of birth) and by arranging events. The soul will reenter life when the energies will provide the necessary lessons. A soul may have to wait decades before the energies it needs to attain its goals are available. However, sometimes, the soul might have to be born at a particular time and place when the energies (signs) aren’t quite right in order to take advantage of certain opportunities (e.g., to reunite with someone who is important to the life task or the balancing of a karmic debt, or to become part of a particular family). When that is the case, reentry can be planned so that the chart reflects the energies that are needed in other ways.

One way is to reenter life with an Ascendant that would put the Sun or several other planets in the house ruled by the sign desired. For example, if Piscean lessons are needed and no planets are in Pisces at the time needed to reenter life, the soul could arrange to reenter with an Ascendant that would put the Sun or several other planets in the twelfth house (ruled by Pisces). Reentering with a Pisces Ascendant or with the Sun conjunct Neptune (the ruler of Pisces) would also add Piscean energy. Another possibility would be to reenter when the ruler of the sign that is needed is conjunct one of the angles, which would magnify its importance in the chart.

Once we are reborn, the soul must present its lessons within the context that we have created by our choices. It cannot follow an exact plan because the context is always changing with every choice we and others make. Consequently, the soul's Plan must unfold as our life unfolds, and the specifics of how our lessons are delivered are left up to the moment of delivery. Nevertheless, some things are predictable, at least at certain points in the Plan's unfolding, because once a set of circumstances is set in motion, it often plays itself out predictably. Let's look at some examples, which show how the soul works in our lives.

Let's suppose someone needs to learn patience. Besides choosing Aries or Taurus as a theme in the chart (either sign teaches patience), the soul might arrange for that person to meet someone whose Mars falls on his Uranus. This person is likely to stimulate the Uranus individual's need for change and excitement and provoke impulsive and dangerous acts. This could teach the Uranus individual to be more patient by causing him to confront the negative consequences of his impatience. Patience can be taught many ways. The point is that the soul's involvement reaches beyond choosing a chart to ongoing participation in creating whatever lessons are needed.

Here is another example, this time about a mother and her son. In a previous lifetime, the mother was the son, and the son was the mother, an exact reversal of current roles. In the past, the mother had harmed her son by neglecting him. Currently, the mother, who was the son previously, will have the choice of either caring or not caring for her son. If she doesn’t care for him, the karma would not be balanced and her own growth would be marred because two wrongs truly do not make a right. She is likely to care for her child rather than neglect him, however, because of the compassion she gained from her own experience of being neglected. How, then, is the child to learn his lesson? Through love. Although it may seem that most learning comes from pain, this is not always true. In this instance, the son, who had neglected his son in the past will learn to care for others by being cared for. We learn to love by experiencing love.

The astrological chart's role in this is simple: the chart represents the personality (or energy pattern) chosen to bring about the lessons. More specifically, the personality is chosen to help balance a karmic debt, to learn basic life lessons, and to complete a life task. More will be said about the last two objectives in later chapters. For now, let's concentrate on understanding how the chart in our example was chosen to help balance the karmic debt.

The son's soul selected a chart that would help him learn compassion and repay the debt owed the mother from harm inflicted on her in the past. To develop his compassion and desire to serve, his chart had a strong Pisces theme. And to create feelings of loyalty and responsibility toward her, he reentered life when the Moon was conjunct her Saturn.

Out of nearly infinite possibilities, the soul must find a chart to fit the karmic lessons, the basic lessons, and the life task. However, the lessons, particularly the karmic lessons, are the first priority in choosing a chart. In our earlier lifetimes this job is simplified because our lessons and our life task are usually one and the same. In these lifetimes, we are busy learning the basic lessons of life. In our later lifetimes, when the lessons and the life task are different, the life task is usually chosen to fit with the lessons. This is helpful to keep in mind when trying to identify the lessons and the life task in the chart. One way a more specific lesson or life task can be facilitated is through a chart with a strong theme, since it will not lend itself as easily to divergent paths. Those with charts with strong themes find themselves following a narrower course, allowing for greater opportunity to encounter certain people or experiences needed for their growth.

The Higher Self guides us through intuition. It speaks to us intuitively about our Plan and what we need to learn. We may or may not listen, but we all can intuit these messages to some extent. Our Higher Selves also can communicate with each other and often do when enlisting each other's help in our Plans. But because people do not always listen to their Higher Selves and because people's choices are unpredictable, each Plan is both general and flexible.

Karma

Karma is often thought of as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This is simplistic and doesn’t take into account the complex processes involved in human growth and evolution. "As you sow, so shall