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
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