Something a little different this week.

I am doing a lot of Natal Chart work with parents of young children at the moment – funny how things come around all of a bunch.

Children’s and babies’ chart are a special love of mine – my sole aim being to ensure that parents keep their hands off their Little Stars and let them be themselves, rather than attempting to mould them into something they were not born to be. It is so important that we allow our children to express their wonder, excitement and joy at being alive that liberates them to become magical human beings.

Each of us comes into this life to fulfil our own personal Destiny without being hampered by those around us to fulfil their Destinies for them. I think it was Astrologer Dennis Elwell who commented that if we ignore our Destiny then Fate is what will happen to us instead.

Plato said: “Being born, coming into this particular body, these particular parents, and in such a place, and what we call external circumstances … form a unity as if they were spun together.” Plato believed that each of our souls is guided by a personal Daiman, or companion, whose purpose is to keep us on track by reminding us of why we are here and what we came to do. Some of those reminders can come as hard nudges and even illnesses, so that we get the message.

Many of us are aware that we are being accompanied by a benign energy that is a little like a twin we can’t quite see. When I was a small child I had a little companion whom I called Jennifer who was always with me. I am now certain that Jennifer was my own personal angel coming along for the ride because I needed her to. I have no idea where I got the name Jennifer from then, but no matter…..

Both James Hillman and Rudolf Steiner suggest that instead of growing up, we actually grow down to incarnate – coming down into life from heaven instead of growing out of the earth like a plant does. It is our soul that inhabits our body, coming down to earth in order to do so. Don’t the 12 signs of the Zodiac work downwards from the innocence of Aries, the head, to the wisdom, beauty and peace of Pisces, the feet?  Says it all really – those ancients knew a thing or two.

In infancy our brains are more attuned to the bi-cameral way of thinking of early man, who could speak directly to the Gods and listen to their replies. As we have developed our left brain into the dictator that it can sometimes be, drawing us into a world of drives, wants and urges, we have been drawn away from the ability to think magically like earlier models of human beings.

The birth chart is much like the acorn that contains all the information it needs to grow into the best possible oak it can become. A newborn’s chart is exactly the same chart as an old person’s chart – the only difference being that the old person’s mind and habits are burned into trenches of beliefs and attitudes that come from their experiences through their lives. A baby has yet to start to burn its own pathways into its mind. This cannot be meddled with by parents but must be accommodated and welcomed as their infant’s own unique gift. We can learn a lot from our children by approaching them in this way.

Through my training in Psychosynthesis I learned to give names to the various things that I had learned through my astrological training a decade before. When I teach my Soulwork classes here in Scotland, I like to honour first how much each of us has struggled to make it thus far. As we delve more deeply into their own Soul Journey, my students come to recognise that they have had any number of inklings of why they are in this life, particularly during early childhood. And what do we all do with those inklings? We choose to ignore them and tell ourselves we are being – fill in the blank with any negative statement of your own.

The key question in Soulwork is: What makes your heart sing? I think this can be seen within our Sun Sign. The Sun on our birth chart is our “Droplet of God/Divinity” and it seems to be connected with the concept of a Higher Self within us. GI Gurdjieff, the Eastern Mystic, referred to it as our “Magnetic Centre”, as that which attracts us towards inner growth. I struggle with the idea of a Higher and Lower Self, to be honest; finding them somewhat hierarchical for my taste. I believe that for some the “Droplet of Divinity” can be found in the darkest reaches of a cave as much as on the top of a mountain.  Maybe we could refer to it as “the best possible me I can become.”

All the other planets in our Solar system play their part, obviously, in our development –  always reflecting and supporting our Sun and the qualities and drives of the sign it is placed in at birth. The light of the planets is reflected Sunlight – they do not shine on their own as they have no inner light with which to shine. Not even the Moon.

This is one reason why I always offer the opportunity to read your planetary readings using both the Sun, Ascendant and Moon signs – because each of them will reflect the Sun through our experiences. For better or worse.

When I look at the progress of the Sun after birth in a client’s chart, I can see how their journey unfolds. This is the same for both an infant or an adult. Sometimes the Sun can progress into another sign shortly after birth – particularly when the birthday is close to a sign cusp. I have noticed a difference between a person who is born at the beginning of a sign and one born on a cusp. The desire for change, lack of constancy,  or the fear of change, is imprinted onto those pathways in the psyche of the individual.

As this lifetime is our choice, then this must mean more than simply being a neurosis which gets pathologised by cod-psychology. In other words, a cusp birthday person must have chosen to be born at a time when within a year, or even months, major changes would occur that disturb the growing psyche. They will then either fear change or look for it within every experience they go through – for good or for ill through their adult lives.

The Moon’s Nodes are understood by most Astrological thinkers to embody the kernel of an individual destiny on a natal chart. Indeed, I refer to them as Destiny Points in my client work. I remind my clients that Karma is kind and aims to hurt no one. However, the road towards realising our destinies is always fraught with trials and tribulations if we resist the inner voices that urge us on. As Mary Oliver says “The only life we can save is our own.” And we do that by listening inwardly.

Remember – A Birth Chart is for Life.
Why not book a child reading for a new parent or for your own child/baby? Or book your own chart reading if that excites you. I also offer progressions, transits and Solar Returns. You can contact me through the website.

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