Evolutionary Astrology Charts The Soul's Journey
Over the years I saw that despite much therapeutic counseling and healing work many people didn’t seem to be able to get to the root of what ailed their mental, emotional and spiritual balance nor their physical well being.
Eventually I found Jeffrey Wolf Green’s work on evolutionary astrology. When I became his client and later on also one of his students, my own life began to change in a fundamental way.
According to Jeffrey, “As counselors, or just as friends, we will do our best if we can simply identify “reality” as it exists for those with whom we interact, and to give them what they need according to their own reality — not ours….So as we attempt to answer the questions “Why am I here?” and “What are my lessons?” we must attempt to understand the reality implied in the birth chart."
Within the psycho-spiritual orientation of evolutionary astrology the power of astrological symbolism is used to chart the evolution of an individual’s soul over many lifetimes. The soul is the immutable component of a person and can not be destroyed. It is not the body, mind, spirit or emotional substance, but rather the consciousness that gives rise to all of them. The soul is an energetic entity that merely changes form. As the soul progresses over a series of many, many life times it gradually becomes more consciously aware of its own nature and purpose.
We are living in a time/space reality defined by the law of opposites such as attraction and repulsion, night and day, good and evil, hot and cold, etc. On its evolutionary path the soul follows a dual motion pattern of wanting to separate from and at the same time also to return to the Source, the Creator, God/dess. The desire to return to the Source is similar to a newborn infant whose separation anxiety makes it want to be held closely by its mother. Likewise, when the Creator projected Itself into the manifest Universe of time and space, the souls thus created longed to merge again with the Source they originated from.
Spiritually this is also a metaphor for serving God/dess, a symbol for the sole desire to do good, and only good. This demands consciously being united with the divine life force at all times. It implies a universal shift from the wave to the sea, switching the focus from the ego to identifying with the soul. This process takes many, many lifetimes to complete, and is demonstrated in the lives of truly enlightened, self realized individuals such as Gautama Buddha or Jesus of Nazareth.
The necessity to be a separate and distinct individual, on the other hand, creates all kinds of desires that the person is drawn to fulfill. We are all in a perpetual state of becoming, which is what evolution is about. As long as there are desires other than the longing to unite with the Source, those aspirations create more attachments, resulting in even more desires that need to be gratified. Through satisfying them, experiences are generated, skill and wisdom is gained, and evolution can proceed. At this point it becomes important to understand that suppressing or transcending individual desires is not possible. Within the parameters of right action and respectful attitude these desires require fulfillment. Whatever desires, wants, aspirations or longings an individual suppresses will end up distorted. They will then find their outlet and expression through imbalance, complexes, compulsive behavior, addiction, rage, secret obsession, etc.
Understanding one’s life experience, past and present, from the standpoint of the soul’s aspirations and longings grants a deeper perspective. It also demands from us a different kind of responsibility. And this is that we are all accountable for the realities we create and experience. Only when all separating desires have been met and obliterated can the soul reunite with the Source. As stated above, once merged with the Source, there is no experience of separation, and no longer any necessity for a manifest existence in an individual life form.
This is the completion of the soul’s evolutionary journey.
Cosmic Memory Bank
Memories of the past including those from past lives are held in the long term memory bank of a person’s subconscious mind. Present circumstances and life situations including psychological make up and emotional constitution do not emerge randomly, but are rooted in the essential dynamics of the past. Longings, security issues, compulsive behaviors, deeper callings, irrational fears, inherent resources, talents, gifts, etc., are the result of past experiences and accomplishments. Through evolutionary astrology, a person’s inner and outer life circumstances are referenced, described and put into perspective by episodes and situations that took place not only during the formative years of childhood, but also in prior lives. These past life scenarios are reflected in the individual’s specific early environment.
They are relevant to the current life, because we all can only continue where we left off. Therefore, in order to fully comprehend the present situation, it is necessary to understand what preceded it. The soul carries its specific dynamics forward from life to life until the individual has a desire to become aware of them, to make them tangible, and to resolve or evolve them through conscious effort. Once aware and with sustained effort to complete these dynamics, the capacity for growing beyond them increases. Otherwise they will be repeated again next time around. In this context it is easy to see how evolutionary necessity will prompt certain fated conditions/events to occur.
Rather than taking the initiative to act from a self empowered standpoint, a common reaction is to feel victimized by what is happening. Without a deeper perspective a person is likely to experience these challenging times, situations or relationships as nothing more than stressful, uneasy or traumatic, while trying to dismiss, or deny them, or simply be bewildered by or lost in them. When one knows how challenging circumstances or relationships fit into the broader context of one’s unfolding evolution, it becomes easier to cooperate, and consciously flow with life. With this acquired outlook of graceful surrender and self reliant/empowered initiative, new opportunities and more relevant experiences will manifest magnetically for the individual. He/she is free to begin relating to self and subsequently also to others in a new way. Now the ability arises to draw with increasing ease more appropriate conditions and healthier relationships to him/herself.
Evolutionary astrology is invaluably helpful when determining the necessary next step to be taken for evolution to proceed. In the case of karmic patterns it is possible to realize the consequences, to adjust one’s attitude and to take the correct action. Once the sincerity and tenacity of the effort has been demonstrated sufficiently, the person at some point will be liberated from his/her karmic condition. In some cases it is possible to determine astrologically what the time frame of this resolution would be. With the realization that the present circumstances are a consequence resulting from previous actions and choices, a person now takes responsibility for his/her actuality while simultaneously adjusting the attitude. The sense of being the victim of unremitting defeat, continuous lack of power, or perpetual frustration is removed.
Evolutionary astrology is also very helpful when unresolved past life trauma dictates an individual’s behavior despite all psychotherapeutic intervention. Every experience of the soul in a body is recorded on a cellular level as cellular memory. Prior life experiences are not only recorded in the subconscious mind, but contained within the physical and emotional body. This means that past events with unresolved traumatic content continue to negatively influence a person’s experience of his/her reality for lifetimes after the trauma occurred. Once a person knows that there is such an unresolved trauma, he/she can become aware of its influences and effects. People often experience relief once this perspective is opened up to them. Then he/she may utilize a suitable method such as past life regression, hypnotherapy or natural tantra. Thus the content of a particular trauma can be accessed, remembered, then expressed and released. This will clear the effects and its undesired influences in the person’s life from the subconscious mind and from the cellular memory of the physical and emotional body.
Our Spiritual Evolution
Evolutionary astrology is based on natural principles which cultivate an inclusive view of life, accepting all of its aspects and expressions as equally valid. This is how our ancestors lived for a couple of hundred thousand millennia before the shift to the patriarchy occurred a mere eight thousand years ago. They cultivated an acceptance of life and its expression that was based on natural laws, the manifestation of life through the senses. Human beings as well as animals were perceived as originating from and returning to Mother Earth. A deep respect for all life and its natural cycles abided. It was accompanied by equality between all people and a tendency to share and give.
When the patriarchy took over, this was replaced with a self righteous attitude. The resulting actions based on superiority and greed led to exploitation, war and conquest. This historical fact is well documented by the research findings of archeologists and evolutionary biologists. The sense of superiority stemming from mental concepts and man-made religions encouraged the exclusion or persecution of others with different values, of which the Inquisition during medieval times is but one example. These self righteous, distorted attitudes judged that native civilizations still directly rooted within the cycles of Nature and its rhythms were inferior and impure. The greedy and narrow-minded thinking of the “ruling race” became the pretext for unspeakably violent behaviors towards fellow humans. Even Nature itself was perceived to exist for the purpose of serving humanity. True humility and respect for organic, earthly living was replaced by love of convenience, comfort and luxury.
Apart from people living in isolated indigenous cultures, human consciousness at this point in time is conditioned and dictated by patriarchal structures and concepts, ideas and notions. Although reinstating pre-patriarchal circumstances is far from probable, a return to natural laws in some form is urgently called for. On an individual level this means that patterns which dictated behavior over many lifetimes need to be re-evaluated and released. When the light of consciousness is shed into all aspects of human reality, the direct experience of natural laws through all the senses will replace the existing unnatural rift between mind, spirit and body. The pressure to change and grow past imbalance, distortion and suppression has reached an urgent level for many individuals, let alone the planet.
Katharina Wehrli, MA, CAGS, RPP is a practicing astrologer, body worker and yoga teacher. She has been involved with holistic health and healing for the past 25 years. Her private practice is located in Wayland, MA. Katharina can be contacted by phone at 508.651.2648, email at info@earthlit.com or visit her website at www.earthlit.com.
