Experiential Astrology

Astrology is all about understanding cycles - both short term and longer. An understanding of the cycles of your life can help you to gain a clearer perspective of where you are at and where you are heading. This entails experiencing the energies that are unfolding in your psyche and finding your unique flow with these changes and cycles.

Outer planet transits to the natal chart pinpoint the overall theme for a time period. They highlight issues of activity, change and transformation. Inner planet transits to the natal chart showcase the energy that triggers events, happenings and realisations.

The energy manifested through an outer transit, although general in theme, subtly changes as the planets move through the zodiac.

As a map of all "our little personalities" and how they fit into the ONE personality, the nativity is not a static picture. At different times different parts or aspects of your psyche will be highlighted or activated. This requires a re-balancing in all other parts of your psyche.

A hypothetical example: under a heavy Saturn transit you may get morose at times, thus allowing the lunar function to become more dominant than usual, with Mercury more subdued.

The point is the psyche is always active in its totality. Just some functions work more up front at times than others.

When what is "up front" are death-rebirth type issues, such as signified by a Pluto transit, or wading through a myriad of tantalising and sometimes downright confusing possibilities to find the new vision or dream, such as a Neptune transit, then the whole psyche goes through this process; not just the planets activated in the nativity and what they represent.

An example is a conjunction formed between transiting Pluto and natal Mercury. Here the whole way of thinking and communicating will go through a "death-rebirth" process. The new vibration of Mercury will trigger a sympathetic new vibration in the rest of the chart. Whatever planet is up front, the rest of the chart supports in the background - including our "reborn" Mercury.

An understanding of your birth-chart will enable you to take responsibility for who you are. This is a movement towards self-realisation. By stepping into your birth-chart you are in flow or synthesis with the fundamental energies of your psyche. To do so you must start with the study of yourself. Learn the basic astrological language. Learn your chart off by heart and, over the years, gain an understanding of the cycles and rhythms of your life. That is the highs, lows and overall flow of these inner and outwardly reflected states of being.