In each article here on the WokeAstrology blog, I point out two kinds of astrological information:
Current World Transits
Your Ability To Act Within Those Transits
The information in each post is to help you make sense of the feelings, dreams, or discomfort you might be feeling during this very active and intense time on the planet. You aren't imagining things, all you have to do is look out your window or go to a grocery store or drive through a main street with boarded up windows on your favorite shops, and you see that things just aren't "normal." 2020 is an extraordinary year, and it is one that professional astrologers have been look at for decades. It is a time of massive systemic change, we are in the beginning of that change and it's important to be aware of it so you can make decisions and choices for you, your family and community.
Freewill vs Destiny
As an astrologer and writer, I walk a fine line between invoking fear and equipping people with knowledge to help them navigate challenges and opportunities. Yes, there are opportunities even in these unusual times. Thank you to those of you who reached out with concerns and questions after the post on the Aquarius Full Moon. This post is to help allay any fears and empower you with the knowledge that you can ALWAYS make a choice and exercise freewill. You are not at the mercy of fate, chaos or conditions, when you understand how to consciously respond.
Notice in the posts, there is the frequent use of the term "mass consciousness". Mass consciousness is instinctual, it's the consciousness driven by the primal brain. When you react without thinking (we all do it) you are acting on the mass consciousness level. It is from this space that you are most prone to experience what feels like destiny or fate.
When you take pause before reacting instinctually, you are able to make a deliberate choice and respond to what is happening around you. This is more deliberate behavior, it's employing your frontal lobe and it leads to a more self determined path.
There are two consciousness that can be at play when you pause before reacting:
Transactional (Social-Cultural)
Transcendent (Self Actualized)
When exercising the Transactional state of being (consciousness) you will respond in socially and culturally accepted norms. It's not always "positive", but it is more deliberate. This is the consciousness from which you consider consequences and relationships. "What will people think of me if I say/do this thing?" Co-dependent behavior falls into this area, as does the need to be seen as a good person or virtuous. It's where we act on obligation vs true compassion or martyr ourselves instead of tending to our needs.
Under Transactional consciousness you will have a better shot at navigating the upcoming high energetical tides than if you were purely reacting instinctually. The problem in 2020 is that society and culture are rapidly changing, so it leaves you a little bit at a loss. (This is due to Saturn and Pluto transiting Capricorn - the rules are changing.)
Transcendental consciousness or self actualized consciousness is where you make deliberate choices for yourself that might look a little "nutty" to the outside world, your family or friends... It's where you go inward and consider which way to go when there's a fork in the road and everyone is going right, but your gut tells you to go left. You might not be able to explain why, but you know it's the right decision for you. It doesn't mean it's always comfortable, this state of consciousness can be very uncomfortable when you are "well trained" by society, culture and family. But, it is the state of consciousness that will help you stay on your "path" regardless of the apparent chaos in the world around you.
In each post I give strategies for the individual to take actions that will aid in navigating these times. Read them carefully, my goal isn't to scare anyone, but to offer strategies and hope.
World Transits vs Transits to the Natal Chart
World transits equal mass consciousness. When we look at the global transits (planetary movements in the here and now) astrologers know that the energy is most likely to express at the base level of energy. This is physical and tangible stuff going on, it's conditions we're looking at and these conditions can and do effect every individual differently depending on their nativity (birth chart).
When astrologers make global, political, or economic forecasts (and not all astrological writers do) or discuss the energetical trends they are describing the current conditions that we as individuals are to face. How we as humans face them is up to us; thus freewill.
When astrologers look at transits to the natal chart, we see how you can meet circumstances and deal with relationships (to the world, friends, family, lovers, children, pets, jobs etc). We can show where you express at the highest energy and the lowest, then it's up to you what you choose to do with the information. I prefer showing people how to harness their abilities and their strengths to overcome issues, challenges and limitations. That's why I made the astrological cheat sheet for planets for you to see how each planet can express energy. Read the article here
Throughout human history there have been those who have been swept up by the tides of violence, war, pestilence and poverty and those who have risen above conditions to find happiness, security and contentment. Abraham Maslow's Transcendence theory "Theory Z" (1969) amended his earlier work on the Hierarchy of Needs. In his work studying people who transcended the worst imagined circumstances, Maslow discovered that actualization could happen regardless of circumstances and across a wide cross section of the population.
When we look at how energy expresses in a natal chart or as a result of transits to natal planets, knowing how to "raise the vibe" (something neuroscience is starting to prove) is essential. You are not fated or doomed to any experience, but in order to have the best possible experience you must take charge and control of your responses to the world.
It's not about being better or getting an enlightenment award, every human can and does express all of these consciousnesses on any given day. Even the Dalai Lama stubs his toe and grunts or curses, he has said as much himself. The difference is he manages to course correct rapidly and shift into a response faster. Neurologically you can wash anger out of your system in 90 seconds, this is brain fact. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor explains it here, everyone can learn the skills to harness their own brain chemistry. It just takes practice, sometimes a lot of practice. For example, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor recovered from a brain aneurysm that left her in an infantile state, it took eight years for her to regain her full speech, mobility, and functionality in the world. Thanks to her being a brain scientist before the stroke, she has influenced the neuroscience community to study the brain more solidly. What does this have to do with astrology? Everything.
How you react or respond is shown in the birth chart. How you communicate, love, grieve, transform and fight is in the birth chart, so too is how you actualize and transcend through challenges and opportunities.
Strategies To Weather The Storms
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune
Fear is the mind killer. When you experience fear it causes the amygdala to act out in fight or flight. Fear is only a good thing when in the face of immediate threat to your life, like a mountain lion chasing you. Fear over possible future events is futile and disempowers you. Again, here on the blog, the goal is to empower you with the heads up necessary to assist you to take action. Knowing your own astrology chart and how you can rise above conditions is one of the best tools in your tool box. That's why I've started offering very beginning astrology lessons in the newsletter. You might wonder why it's just the novice lessons, well there are a good many readers who have studied planets and signs but haven't delved into reading charts. That is something that needs addressing as we move forward into the next decade. Each lesson will move you forward and since these are weekly newsletters it won't take long before you are able to review your own natal chart (birth chart) and have a greater understanding of self. That knowledge is going to be imperative as conditions shift over the next 5 years.
Don't fear the changes, prepare for them. You have freewill, use it.
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