Astrological Mythology

Elianah

Well-known member
Greetings everyone!

I have been checking out some other astrology boards over the past few weeks just to see what others were thinking about and came away with some brain ticklers that I’d thought I’d share and see what the board thinks.

This first thread is on Astrological Mythology. Before we go any farther, please let me give my definition of myth and mythology so everyone knows where I am coming from as the rest of this post unfolds. Here in the U.S., it seems that the popular cultural notion of myth is that it is a lie or untruth, Usually a book with the title of The Myth of… is trying to debunk something the author believes is false, from what I have seen.

I want to step back into a different meaning of the word myth that I think is important for astrologers to consider when doing readings for clients. A myth is a story a person (or culture) constructs to make sense of the world around them. This world can be the immediate world that the person usually consciously and purposefully interacts with everyday—family, friends, work, local chapters of organizations, etc.—, Then there is the indirect world which influences the person but the person usually does not consciously and purposefully interact with on a daily basis. Here in the United States this would most likely include state and national politics, the corporations that our workplace may be a division of, national organizations (business, religious, humanitarian, charity, etc.). The next is the global world which influences in the same way as the indirect but in a much more subliminal way since it is much more difficult for a person to interact in a one-on-one way with what is happening on the other side of the globe. The key, I think, is the level of conscious and purposeful interaction the person is able to steadily maintain in the areas.

For instance, there may be a few people on the planet that can hold all life and the Earth in the immediate world state constantly and consistently. A wonderous feat to be sure, but probably not in the cards for 99.999% of humanity at this time. It is something for all humanity to aspire to in its evolution, but most of humanity is not there yet by any stretch of the imagination.

Most of humanity, I think, works between the three states and emphasizes the one that matters most to them. Thus for some the global world might become the immediate world and vice versa. Again, this is due to the conscious and purposeful interaction the person has with the particular world. Whatever people intentionally set their minds on consistently becomes the immediate world for them.

Astrology works with a fourth world. This is the world of the hidden, forgotten, the world of long-term human mythology. This world is the collective wonderings of our subspecies of the hominid tree. The wonderings are based on the following things:

1) Why am I here?
2) How did I get here?
3) What am I supposed to be doing?
4) Who am I?
5) Where am I going?
6) When am I going to reach where I am supposed to go?
7) How do I know what it is I am supposed to be doing?
8) Who are the others around me and how do I interact with them?

The way each person, each family, each clan, each nation has tried to answer these questions adds a different strata to human mythological world. The thing I find fascinating is that we all plumb the depths of this world, whether we fully recognize and acknowledge it or not. Mythology is where we keep our hopes of a healthier world and our worries of those things that go bump in the night.

How a person draws from that mythology, consciously or unconsciously, will indicate how the person will most likely respond to the use of mythological images in astrology. For a person who has very little understanding of Greco-Roman mythology, the characters of the planets may have no voice because that person cannot relate to the image of a pagan God or Goddess. They are myth, in the modern understanding of the term, for the person. If it is myth then it has no meaning, therefore astrology has no meaning.

It is important, therefore, for the astrologer to understand the underlying archetypes of the planets and how they relate to the mythological wonderings of humans in order to translate for the client the symbology inherent in astrology in a way that is accessible for the client. In order to do that, the astrologer needs to step out of his or her own personal mythology and fully listen to the client’s personal mythology. Then the astrologer, guided by the client’s soul, will be able to give information to the client in such a way that it can either be thought about at a much deeper level or actually acted upon because it makes sense to the client.

What can be very difficult to do, as I have witnessed for myself and through others, is the stepping out of personal mythology to be that clear channel for the client’s soul and personal mythology through astrology or any other type of metaphysical activity. Why? I think it is because our personal mythology needs and wants its voice to be heard and any type of counseling situation can bring out the personal mythology’s authority side. A client is coming for help and our personal mythology is going to try to interpret from its experience and make it fit the client. And this usually happens at the unconscious level and we don’t even realize that this is taking place.

Which is why astrologers need to understand their own charts as fully as possible, I believe. This way astrologers can converse with their personal mythology and give it full voice on the issues they have faced, are facing and will face. The more personal time astrologers give to this, the more able they will be at stepping outside their mythology to be witness to and give voice to the client’s soul and personal mythology.

Elianah
 

Kite

Well-known member
Thanks for the post Elianah. My opinion is that the astrologer needs to start with a premise that the client can agree to. That premise in my mind is that one creates their reality from their beliefs. In other words we have free will in play if we can tune into the personal and collective beliefs in play.

I see my job, at least with myself, to identify the beliefs that harmonize with what I'd like in my life and to uncover/change/transmute those that don't. I think the natal chart, transits, progressions can all provide clues to the conditioning that has taken place (is taking place) both as a positive force and as a limiting or restrictive force.

I think there is a natural consciousness evolutionary process in place that we as "symbol readers" can help facilitate. This process, I believe, gets us to the place where we are co-creators in forming our reality. This is the approach I've taken with myself and the approach I find most comfortable with when engaging with other people's charts.

I think the points you make on understanding your own chart so you can understand others' are good ones..I would just go one step beyond that and suggest that understanding your approach is just as important if not more so.

In your post it sounds like your approach is to map the reading to the individual's mythology. I'm not sure if that is an approach or a style/method for translating your insights. What do you think?

Kite
 

Elianah

Well-known member
Hi Kite,

Thanks for your response!

I totally agree with what you say about starting with a premise that the client can agree with. Perhaps by asking the client what s/he thinks about when s/he hears the names of the planets is one way to do that. Another way might be by asking what type of information the client is looking for in his/her life at the time and what s/he is hoping astrology will provide to that end. The astrologer might also ask if this is the first time the client has had a full astrological reading (not a 20-minute psychic fair reading) and how what response did the client have to the reading, immediately and long-term. These all can help show how the personal mythology of the client works, and I am sure there are many other ways beyond these few ideas.

For example, if a client comes in wearing a well-worn Star Wars t-shirt, the astrologer might use it for an ice breaker on the first meeting and see how involved with the Star Wars saga the person is (depending, of course, how well-versed the astrologer is with the saga). If the person is strongly involved with the saga, perhaps casting some astrological precepts through the characters or incidents within the saga will work to help connect the client with the reading.

This is part of what I was speaking to when I was writing about personal mythology in the realm of astrological mythology.

Astrologers, I think, are facilitators for the co-creation of life between the client and the client’s higher self. Finding a common symbolic language between the client and the client’s higher self is important. The client’s higher self does resonate and understand the ancient astrological mythology, I believe, even when the client does not — whether that is through personal choice or ignorance. Astrologers help negotiate those symbols between the client and the client’s higher self in order to develop a shared language so they can communicate freely and easily with one another.

I also agree that understanding one’s own approach to both life and astrology is critical when guiding others’ co-creative processes of others through readings. For me, I see astrology as one of the tools the client’s higher self uses to heal and expand the client. In order to do that, a common language needs to be developed between the higher self and the client. This is where the personal mythology comes into play because the astrologer acts as an interpreter between both parties in a way that allows the client to more easily accept and act upon the messages the higher self is providing through the reading.

That is why it is important for me, as an astrologer, to step outside my own personal mythology the moment I begin reading for a client. I need to be as clear a channel as possible for the client’s higher self as possible, and fully present for that client in that moment. My personal story should not enter into the reading unless there is something that the client’s higher self is wanting to draw from to provide an example. And I need to make sure that it truly is the client’s higher self that is doing that.

Now this may still be clear as mud :( and I take full responsibility for that. My approach is a work in progress, just as I am a work in progress. :) It will grow and change as I grow and change. I also realize my approach may not work for very many people, and I can live with that.

Bright blessings,

Elianah
 

Natasha

Well-known member
There is a growing trend by astrologers for the first time to draw on mythology when understanding a transit or a chart. The actual mythology is being interpeted within our inner landscape rather than externally or literally.
I think this is an important part of the astrology for the new age.
It is said that as the heavens heave & groan into a new age the old gods die & new gods are born. We do not know who the new gods will be or how the old gods will 'die'. But it seems likely the new gods could have some connection to us being responsible for our own inner landscape
 

Elianah

Well-known member
Natasha said:
It is said that as the heavens heave & groan into a new age the old gods die & new gods are born. We do not know who the new gods will be or how the old gods will 'die'. But it seems likely the new gods could have some connection to us being responsible for our own inner landscape

Very well said!
 

C1

Well-known member
Elianah,
Well, hi from the galactic center...where've you been?

First, I liked the way the emoticon emerged here:

8) Who are the others around me and how do I interact with them?
:?

In establishing responsible inner myths
and working with clients who are not
greco-roman myth carriers (maybe they
are indigenous....for example)....maybe
it's a mutual story-telling regarding myths.

Maybe it's an opening-up to receiving previously
hidden true meanings of the function of the
planets in our solar system, (sparked by a re-membering
of the myths involving Venus or Pluto, Sun, Moon, Uranus....)

(am I making any sense here? :cry: )

...and now discussing the current client's chart in relation to
her responses, and to
the energies and actions astrologically connected
with the houses and signs....

Hooray! Myths can change and so do we transform!

--my dos centavos

PS>Natasha -- brilliant insight, I agree with Elianah!

C1
 

amzolt

Well-known member
Elianah, C1, Natasha, and Kite,
I found your posts very interesting!
My 2 cents is:
1 cent:
The Collective Unconscious is a shared "territory" that is invaluable for astrological consultation.
1 cent:
The exact origin of the deepest myths is very debatable and I've recently found some mind-bending "new" information at the Kronia site...

~ Alex
 

Elianah

Well-known member
C1 said:
In establishing responsible inner myths
and working with clients who are not
greco-roman myth carriers (maybe they
are indigenous....for example)....maybe
it's a mutual story-telling regarding myths.

I agree. And even those who would have typically come out of the G-R mythos, I think for some Westerners, whose heritage may have been the G-R mythos, have lost the mythos in a way that heros have been lost over the last few decades.

I think the mutual story-telling is key here, in a respectful and non-discounting manner. It's within the mutual-story telling that we are able to find the deeper commonalities between the stories that appear so different on the surface.

C1 said:
Maybe it's an opening-up to receiving previously
hidden true meanings of the function of the
planets in our solar system, (sparked by a re-membering
of the myths involving Venus or Pluto, Sun, Moon, Uranus....)

And understanding that there are many smaller truths within the larger truths...and there is no one "truth" because each of us carry a different piece of the greater truths of the multiverse, all the dimensions, etc. No one mythos, whether religious, metaphysical, political, cultural, or any other type one might think of, has the "lock" on truth.

C1 said:
(am I making any sense here? :cry: )

Don't cry, you make perfect sense! :D :D

C1 said:
...and now discussing the current client's chart in relation to
her responses, and to
the energies and actions astrologically connected
with the houses and signs....

Hooray! Myths can change and so do we transform!

Exactly!

Elianah
 

C1

Well-known member
mmmmhmmmm
:wink:
so...Elianah...I wonder,
since you are probably
an integrationist, like me,
who has opened her psyche to
plenty of powerful myths and stories
from many cultures and "times" (though
our techniques probably differ...you are probably more
scientific and accurate in your re-membering than I am)...

W h a t * i s * t h i s * A q u a r i a n *A g e *m y t h?

(I'll stop crying, *if* you reply.)

:mrgreen:

C1
 

Elianah

Well-known member
C1

If you want a short, sweet, "billboard" type slogan, I'm not the person to give it to you.

If you don't mind a very long, thoughtful answer, I will try to answer tonight.

And the caveat, as always, is that these are my ideas. Feel free to disagree where you feel the need to disagree and support where you need to support. And release what doesn't work for you.

Elianah
 

amzolt

Well-known member
myths and Myths

Since I have Leo rising and since I feel like committing an astrological "sin", I'll blame my repeating of an announcement of the website Kronia on my Ascendant... :wink:
It discloses information on a new paradigm on the connection between Myth and planetary changes in our solar system--Radical changes...
These aren't a bunch of crackpots. We're talking about serious scientists and comparative mythological experts...
O.K., I've sinned and exposed my need to have my interests noticed...
:oops:
Blood rushing to the face actually feels good...
~ Alex
 

Lapis

Well-known member
thumbsup3xb.gif
That was great amzolt.

It feels to me like the 'Energy' just got turned up another couple of notches over the past few days, and because of this I can hardly keep up with all the reading I want to do! Time is shrinking aaaaahhhhhh! It's the end of the astrological year and I suppose this is adding to everything else.

About 3 or 4 days ago I too started getting little thoughts dropped down into my head from a higher place. This usually means that its just time for this info to come through to all of us. What I've been getting impulsed to talk about :| is something like "Who are the Gods behind the Gods behind the Gods........?" and how this is connected with the Aquarian Age. When I run across 2 or 3 other people bringing up the same subject or very nearly, I know we're all getting nudged by our higher aspects to pull this information into our consciousness now and ground it in this realm by talking about it all, as best as we can, through our posts. In some ways its like we're discovering the next layer of 'myths' through ourselves as all these energies change. Isn't that very like the beginning of the Aquarian Age? :)

This reminds me of something the P's said awhile ago about this. "The Aquarian Age asks you all to realize that the gods have become the visible; they are here and they are you, 6 billion-plus on planet Earth."

Anyone else have any dreams of 'gods/goddesses' waking up and walking the earth now? Anything similar?
 

C1

Well-known member
8) Elianah,

If you don't mind....

I'mmmmno...mind....
:wink:

....if you don' mind considering this...moment

integrating Sun, Uranus & Eros...in Pisces....

"I've got a feeling...
A feeling
Deep inside....

Oh, yeah...."
(The Beatles)

When a school of fish turns direction together as one....
is it initiated by a feeling, a predator, a current, or something un-
conscious (....can we say it's something akin to the power at the
depths of our myths in our human psyche)?

....and that the Pisces New Moon is
THE new year's
new moon? Happy New Year, Elianah!

C1

PS. Seen Kim Falconer's web site?

http://www.nrg.com.au/~d-falcon/Guide.htm#top
This resonates with me, and then....some story lines in
these myths just
fly by like so much detritus in the sea....
I let 'em go.:wink:
>>>>>


<<<<<<<

BTW,

...These aren't a bunch of crackpots. We're talking about serious scientists and comparative mythological experts...

Your own writing is not exactly chopped liver, y'know?AlexmZoltai, and feels to me like it's coming
from a collective unconscious heart place, unlike the site you linked :|

...just my vho
 

amzolt

Well-known member
C1 said:
Your own writing is not exactly chopped liver, y'know?AlexmZoltai, and feels to me like it's coming
from a collective unconscious heart place, unlike the site you linked :|
...just my vho
My own writing?
Oh, my...
What to think . . .
...
...
...
 

amzolt

Well-known member
C1 said:
...did we myth thomething?
C1
Thome folkth would thay we only myth thomething if we fail in underthtanding...
I feel we myth thingth when we don't even thtrive for them...
:|
 

Elianah

Well-known member
Myth goes mything as Mercury stations today and goes retro tomorrow in Pisces?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

And now a word from our sponsors: THE BEATLES Let It Be Album.

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.

Okay, here is my take on the forming Age of Aquarius myth. I do not ask anyone to agree or disagree with it. If you find something that resonates with you, please take it with you and ditch the rest. If nothing resonates, that's fine—we have similar interests with different takes and all sides can be explored respectfully through thoughtful, honoring discourse.

First off, the mythos really has not been created for the Aquarian Age yet because we are still in the twilight of the Age of Pisces and Age of Aquarius. This period is neither fish nor waterbearer and yet is both and beyond both.

Look at the two glyphs for the signs for a moment: fish and waves. Pools of feeling and waves of activity, to paraphrase John Lennon above. 99% of all fish must live in the water (compared to their elemental cousins, the scorpions and the crabs). The element of water speaks to matters of the conscious: unconsciousness (Cancer), twilight consciousness (Scorpio, which produces our day-to-day consciousness) and full consciousness (Pisces).

Since the greater majority of the world's inhabitants have not reached full consciousness, Pisces also contains the collective unconscious (the other consciousnesses are as follows: Aquarius, personal unconscious; Capricorn, collective conscious; Sagittarius, the personal conscious). It is where the hominid species has created, stored, refined, hidden, etc., all its emotional responses to the world. These have, in turn, become the basis of the world's mythology systems and the resevoir we draw from to create art. When full consciousness is obtained by homo sapiens, the four subgroups of consciousness will be unite in Pisces.

It is important to remember that Pisces has co-rulers: Neptune and Jupiter and that Jupiter had greater conscious influence over Pisces during the Piscean Age than Neptune did. This has brought things like dogmatism in religious, spiritual and political thought—the school of "If you do not believe like me, you are wrong." Its axiom is: and if you do not believe exactly as I do, then you are a heretic and lunatic and will be cast into Scorpionic hell for your beliefs.

Jupiter also acts like a bridge between two signs that square each other: Sagittarius and Pisces. This has allowed the personal conscious to work with the collective unconscious and understand how collective myths form, how they impact the collective and individual, and how they can be consciously changed at the personal level.

I will pick up on this when I return from work. Feel free to comment in a respectful and honoring manner.

Elianah
 

amzolt

Well-known member
Some more fodder for discussion:
Dane Rudhyar claimed that the symbols {from which Myths emanate} for the new Age would be the "Globe" and "Heat"...

~ Alex
 

Kite

Well-known member
When full consciousness is obtained by homo sapiens, the four subgroups of consciousness will be unite in Pisces.

Elianah, might this be the basis for the Aquarian myths? That of consciousness waking up and becoming one and poured out by the newly annointed human? Might this article about the Mayan 5th world contain elements of what you are saying with evolving consciousness?
http://www.kachina.net/~alunajoy/2006march.html
 

C1

Well-known member
:p
The gravitational pull is getting stronger....

what a thread...

connecting the threads,

Thanks!
C1 :lol:
 
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