The Birth Chart - Self versus Others

Recently, I have begun trying my hand doing readings using Natal Chart Astrology.  Over the years, I’ve learned a bit here and there to get myself started, and now primarily employ my “intuitive research” to take it further.  By not studying too much, I allow my guides to bring to me what they want me to know about a person’s chart.

Looking at birth charts is like looking into the Akashic Records.  There is information there concerning a person’s gifts, purpose and potentials in this life. Allow me to paint a picture for you to help you better see what I am discussing.

A birth chart, on paper, looks like a circle divided into 12 segments. Your chart is therefore a 2-dimensional snap shot image of the sky the moment you were born.  However, rather than it being the view of the sky from the ground looking up, it is a view from the North looking towards the Southern horizon.  To the far left is the Eastern horizon and to the far right the West.

If you were born at sunrise, the sun would be on the far left just on the horizon.  If you were born at noon, the sun would be directly above at the top of your field of vision.  Since the birth chart looks at the whole sky and not just what we see from the earth, if you were born at midnight, the sun would be directly below at the bottom of your field of vision.  If you now draw a circle from the left, up to noon, down to the West and around the bottom, you have the birth chart.

With each passing minute, the whole circle rotates clockwise rising in the East and setting in the West.  Along that circle are the 12 zodiac signs. Within the circle are marked each of the planets, the sun and the moon based on where they were the moment you were born and what sign they were in.

This circle is also divided up into 12 houses.  The difference between the signs and the houses is that while the signs rotate based on what time of day you were born, the houses do not. The 1st house, for example, is always just below the Eastern horizon. The next 6 houses are those below the horizon counting from East to West.  Just above the Western horizon is the 7th house, and then the 8th through the 12th counting from West to East.  So the sky rotates clockwise, but the houses are numbered counter-clockwise.

Most recently, my attention has been place on two houses in particular, the 1st house and the 7th house.  The 1st house is ruled by Mars, modeled after the sign of Aries and is primarily concerned with Self include self-expression and potential. The 7th house, which is directly across from the 1st, is ruled by Venus, modeled after the sign of Libra and is primarily concerned with Others, especially partners and spouses.

As I mentioned earlier, if we are on the earth looking South at the moment of a birth, we can only see the top half of the sky.  Also notice that this means we can clearly see everything in the Others house, but we cannot see anything in the Self house. A part of my mind questioned why this is and then on Sunday, while participating in some readings, I receive the following insight.

This “setup” is by design!

It is human nature to not easily see aspects of self. Yes, we think we know ourselves, but how well do we really know ourselves?  Have you ever had someone tell you something about yourself that you never noticed prior to them telling you?  “Oh my God, you are right!” you might say, “I never realized that before!” And yet it is also human nature to see Others easily.  How often have we thought, “her problem is so obvious, if only she could see it!”?

Why would it be setup this way?

I believe it is setup this way for a reason.  It is the same reason we are all here together, rather than being in a realm of our own.  Surely we could learn what we need to learn about ourselves by being in a separate reality of our own making, but we aren’t.  We are all in the SAME reality, yet making up our part of it.  Surely it takes a lot more work for the universe to maintain this combined reality than the separate ones.

Let’s look at how things work here.

Let’s assume we (you and I) are more aware than most people.  We have studied the Law of Attraction and we know, or at least are coming to know, that we create our own reality.  We also know that we are not doing as well as we would like, and so we began a study of self in order to improve our results.  We figure if our thoughts (and nothing else) create our reality then to better understand our thoughts is to better understand our creating.

Through observation, we notice something is missing from our life (or notice that something is not the way we would like it to be).  So we ask (in prayer or meditation) to better understand this.  What are we then shown?

Well, we are shown Others.  It is just like the birth chart.  Self is hidden under the horizon, but Others is not hidden.

Allow me an example.  Spirit started doing something for me a few years ago.  They started giving me “double vision”.  Most times that I had “drama” with another person, I would have the same (or very similar) drama playing out with two DIFFERENT people.  What is the only thing in common to those situations?  ME!  By having the same drama twice at the same time with two different people, I couldn’t help but accept responsibility.  I couldn’t even try and blame the others.

So, in looking at my relationship with these others, I could figure out what was happening within myself that was causing (attracting) the situation.  We could summarize it this way:

By objectively observing our relationship with others, we can better come to know ourselves.

Right now, someone is saying this to me:

“Know thyself!”

I think Socrates is here with us guiding this understanding!

If you Google “Know Thyself”, you will find some very inspirational writings.  The Greeks caught on to this concept a long, long time ago.  They considered it the key to happiness.

So how does this subject fit in with other things I’ve discussed in this blog.  Well first, you may recall when I’ve spoken about The Lovers card.  To review, The Lovers card signifies the choice between two paths.  It also means romantic love.  How does it mean both?  By signifying the ultimate choice, the choice to experience God within Self or to experience God through Others.  It is the same God either way.  Really, the only option is to experience God because we cannot not experience God with God being All That Is.  So the choice is an illusion, yet so is this entire realm.

Looking at the birth chart again, consider this.  The birth chart shows the heavens that surround us (at the moment of birth).  This plane of existence that we live on is the surface of the earth. It is the line running through the center of the chart, the horizon. We are here, walking the surface of the earth and are facing West. We come from Self and head towards Others.  This is again the Fool’s Journey.  As time passes, more of Self emerges behind us rising from the Easter horizon while more of Others descends to the West.  Why would these coincide?  Because as we come to know an aspect of ourselves, we no longer need that aspect to be reflected in others.

Think of it this way, when I have a "button”, I don’t know it until someone else pushes it.  However, once it is pushed, it gains all of my attention! That’s what pain is.  So when others “hurt” me, they are merely pushing a button to get my attention.  Once I “figure it out” (intellectually and/or emotionally), which could take an entire lifetime, I only then allow that experience to set, to stop happening within my plane of existence because I “learned” what I needed to learn.  The button goes away and even if others do the same thing, it will no longer bother me.

Here is another correlation to recent blogs.  The 1st house (Self) is ruled by Mars.  Thus Self is related to the Male Force.  Why?  Because Self is what we do!  We express Self.  We cannot express anything else.  We may express a false self, a believed self, but that is still an aspect of Self until it isn’t.

And, of course, the 7th house (Others) is ruled by Venus and represents the Female Force.  It is through Relationship with Others that we receive, at least in the most noticeable ways.  As long as we are in tune with the illusion of separation, we are Self and everything else is Others and thus we fulfill our Self by connecting with Others. 

However, we can always shift that perspective.  When we move beyond the flat surface of this reality, we can see the entire chart; we can see all of Self and thus fulfill ourselves from the inside.  And one way to do this is to commune with God through mediation.

And, since space is an illusion as much as time is, there is no difference between inside and outside. When we move to this greater perspective, All That Is is as much here and now as anywhere and ever.  Thus everything we desire is here and now and accessible to us.

Your nighttime dreams feel real until you wake up. This reality here on earth feels real until you wake up (also known as dying).  Some day, you’ll know just how much of an illusion this place really is.

In the mean time, play!  Imagine!  Pretend!  And that is all it takes!  It is an unseen shift on the inside (below the horizon) that creates shifts in what we see, and what we touch, out there!

We are meant to interact with Others on our journey to discover Self.  Others is not just other people, but things, everything.  We are meant to be in this physical realm and playing this physical game.  There are all kinds of evidence to answer any question we can come up with.

Ask and you shall receive.

And I hope you have been enjoying these weekly blogs. It was my intension for 2010 to publish an entry every week and so far, I have done just that.  I will soon be heading out of the country for a while, so will not publish another entry until sometime in March.

Until then, happy manifesting...