A horoscope is a chart of the geocentric positions of the planetary bodies at the time of one's birth. The word "horoscope" is derived from the Greek words hora meaning "the hour", and skopos meaning "watcher". It refers to the act of watching for the arrival of a particular moment of time. The ancient practice of watching the position of the zodiac sign rising at the horizon in the sky at the moment of one's birth is based on the tenet that the individual's personality will assume the characteristics of the moment of his genesis.
When astrologers watched the exact degree of the zodiac sign rising at the horizon, they were in fact observing for the Rising Sign. As there are twelve zodiac signs in the sky, the Rising Sign at the horizon changes two-hourly. The Rising Sign has been labelled as "watcher of the hour" in the past. In fact, the earliest meaning of the horoscope was equated with that of the Rising Sign. Today, modern astrology has expanded the defintion of the horoscope to encompass all the planetary information in the birth chart.
In its graphic form, the horoscope is a cartwheel map of the heavens that charts the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets as they appear at the time of the individual's birth, in relation to a given place on earth. Analyzing the planetary positions and their relationships to each other in the birth chart enables the astrologer to get a glimpse into his natural characer and life potentials.
The earliest form of astrological practice pertains to the characterisation of historical cycles and the fate of nations. Particular attention was paid to famines, natural disasters and wars. In ancient times, astrology was largely a system of celestial omens by which the fate of kingdoms and their rulers could be judged. Modern astrology has since developed the personal horoscope into a study of the individual's character and his relationship with time and the cycles of nature. This discipline has now become an art of understanding how a peron's life path fits into such cycles. In the same way as we use the hour and the minute hands of the clock to correlate with the passing of time, the horoscope can be perceived as a cosmic clock that correlates with the unfolding of our individual life cycles.
Whenever we say an astrologer "casts" a horoscope, we mean that he "freezes" all the positions of the moving planets in the sky at the moment of choice and converts that snapshot into a graphic representation of the heavens. This graphic representation is known as the birth chart. It maps our inner psyche.
The horoscope also charts our life intentions. It starts with the birth chart and thereafter flows with the natural planetary cycles. It shows what we intend to experience and choose to do at different times of our lives. It describes what our potentials are and what shape we give to our individuality as we grow. It guides us to connect with that part of ourselves which we know we will eventually become.
In astrology, the Sun and Moon are regarded as "planets". There are thus ten planets in the horoscope. The "clock" of the horoscope indicates teh timing of the ten planetary cycles. these cycles overlap and start ticking the moment a person is born.
The Sun's yearly cycle indicates a person's will, his being and short term goals. The Moon's monthly cycle depicts his emotional tide. Mercury and Venus cycles are roughly a year long each. Mercury describes his mental disposition and communication patterns whereas Venus paints a picture of his relationship and values. Mars has a two-year cycle that characterizes his drive and medium-term goals. The Jupiter cycle is 12-yearly in duration. It reveals his reward and recognition patterns. The Saturn cycle is even longer, about 29 years. It helps the individual to understand his maturity, responsibilities and challenges in life.
The cycles of the three outer planets are very much longer. A Uranus cycle is 84 years, a Neptune cycle 164 years and a Pluto cycle is 248 years. These three cycles work together in the horoscope and require the individual to let go, to accept and to redefine his life. Each of the three outer planets does that in a different way. Uranus redefines one's life by recognising his individuality, uniqueness and freedom. Neptune however perceives the individuation process as more than just a series of realizations about oneself. It redefines one's life by re-seeing the world through questioning the meaning of life. So, the Neptune cycle is about reality and illusion, aspiration and disappointment. However, a person's spiritual crisis is more than just an issue of the meaning of life. Pluto helps the individual to ask the question: "how much of this is really up to me?". Hence, Pluto in the horoscope symbolizes the individual's struggle with the forces of fate.
Showing posts with label Astrology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astrology. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
What is an Astrological Archetype?
The word "archetype" is derived from the Greek word archetypon which is made up of two root words. Arkhe means "first or original" and typos means "a model or a type". So the word archetype basically means an original model after which similar things are patterned. The concept of the archetype dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks. Plato's ideas for example were pure mental forms and they embodied the fundamental characteristics of a thing rather than its specific uniqueness.
Archetypes can be applied to many areas of life. In particular, the concept of psychological archetypes was advanced by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist in the early part of the 20th century. His notion of an archetype is that it is an innate, universal prototype for an idea which may be used to interpret observations. He considered archetypes as psychological organs that are analogous to physical organs in that both are morphological constructs that came about through evolution.
Jung has shown that archetypes are the primary life-motivating agents in the individual human psyche as well as in the overall psychological patterns of entire cultures. These archetypes are inherent in the psychological layer of human life and Jung called this psychic substratum the "collective unconscious".
Each person has an unconscious. Part of it is very personal and part of it is shared by all human beings. The personal unconscious is the part that contains personal memories and experiences that have been forgotten or repressed. The rest belongs to the collective unconscious which is a shared domain. This is simply that part of the unconscious that does not come from personal experience. This is also where archetypes are supposedly stored.
Jung believes that archetypes exist and remain in some kind of a human awareness independent of time and space. The collective unconscious in humans is something like an imprint, along the same lines as animal instincts. In animals, instincts tend to adapt and progress as evolution takes place because their needs change in response to changing forces in their environment. Human instinct is believed to undergo a similar process of evolution. The collective unconscious of humans is considered a more refined set of instincts and is filled with archetypes.
Within the collective unconscious, archetypes function as universal principles underlying the motivating force of psychological life. In both astrology and mythology these universal principles constitute the main field of study. The main difference is that in mythology the emphasis is on the various patterns of cultural manifestations of the archetypes whereas in astrology the essential archetypal principles themselves are used as language for understanding the fundamental forces and patterns in both individual and cultural life.
What then are universal principles? Many scientists believe that there is an invisible formative tendency or organizing principle within living things. Form is one of the oldest ideas of mankind. In the Middle Ages, each class of things was said to possess an essence, and essence is considered a source of activity. To understand anything one must penetrate sufficiently its essence or the ultimate pattern in which formless energy is organised into functional wholes. This formal pattern of the whole is always seen to determine the properties of its constituents.
In astrology, every individual is considered a whole with a unique expression of universal principles, patterns and energies. The zodiac was considered by ancient astrologers and philosophers as the soul of nature in that it gives form and order to life. Astrology is the language through which universal principles are expressed. It is also a way of perceiving form and order in the life of an individual person and it works by symbolizing each individual's oneoness with universal factors.
One of astrology's greatest value is that through an understanding of the universal forces operating in each of us, we can better understand the universal principles of life itself. While Science accepts fingerprints, electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms and genetic sequences as unique representations of physical energies, patterns and rythms, astrology uses the birth-chart as the tool to understand personal energies and rythms, and how they operate through the individual. No matter what label is used to designate these universal principles, the fact remains that such forces influence each of us from within and from without, and are best expressed through the vehice of archetypes.
Since archetypes are the foundation of all psychic life, they can be too subtle for immediate conscious comprehension. Therefore it becomes important that we have a language to describe their reality and understand how they function and what they mean to us. There is only one type of science that deals with such forces, and it is astrology.
Archetypes can be applied to many areas of life. In particular, the concept of psychological archetypes was advanced by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist in the early part of the 20th century. His notion of an archetype is that it is an innate, universal prototype for an idea which may be used to interpret observations. He considered archetypes as psychological organs that are analogous to physical organs in that both are morphological constructs that came about through evolution.
Jung has shown that archetypes are the primary life-motivating agents in the individual human psyche as well as in the overall psychological patterns of entire cultures. These archetypes are inherent in the psychological layer of human life and Jung called this psychic substratum the "collective unconscious".
Each person has an unconscious. Part of it is very personal and part of it is shared by all human beings. The personal unconscious is the part that contains personal memories and experiences that have been forgotten or repressed. The rest belongs to the collective unconscious which is a shared domain. This is simply that part of the unconscious that does not come from personal experience. This is also where archetypes are supposedly stored.
Jung believes that archetypes exist and remain in some kind of a human awareness independent of time and space. The collective unconscious in humans is something like an imprint, along the same lines as animal instincts. In animals, instincts tend to adapt and progress as evolution takes place because their needs change in response to changing forces in their environment. Human instinct is believed to undergo a similar process of evolution. The collective unconscious of humans is considered a more refined set of instincts and is filled with archetypes.
Within the collective unconscious, archetypes function as universal principles underlying the motivating force of psychological life. In both astrology and mythology these universal principles constitute the main field of study. The main difference is that in mythology the emphasis is on the various patterns of cultural manifestations of the archetypes whereas in astrology the essential archetypal principles themselves are used as language for understanding the fundamental forces and patterns in both individual and cultural life.
What then are universal principles? Many scientists believe that there is an invisible formative tendency or organizing principle within living things. Form is one of the oldest ideas of mankind. In the Middle Ages, each class of things was said to possess an essence, and essence is considered a source of activity. To understand anything one must penetrate sufficiently its essence or the ultimate pattern in which formless energy is organised into functional wholes. This formal pattern of the whole is always seen to determine the properties of its constituents.
In astrology, every individual is considered a whole with a unique expression of universal principles, patterns and energies. The zodiac was considered by ancient astrologers and philosophers as the soul of nature in that it gives form and order to life. Astrology is the language through which universal principles are expressed. It is also a way of perceiving form and order in the life of an individual person and it works by symbolizing each individual's oneoness with universal factors.
One of astrology's greatest value is that through an understanding of the universal forces operating in each of us, we can better understand the universal principles of life itself. While Science accepts fingerprints, electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms and genetic sequences as unique representations of physical energies, patterns and rythms, astrology uses the birth-chart as the tool to understand personal energies and rythms, and how they operate through the individual. No matter what label is used to designate these universal principles, the fact remains that such forces influence each of us from within and from without, and are best expressed through the vehice of archetypes.
Since archetypes are the foundation of all psychic life, they can be too subtle for immediate conscious comprehension. Therefore it becomes important that we have a language to describe their reality and understand how they function and what they mean to us. There is only one type of science that deals with such forces, and it is astrology.
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