Charting the Soul blogs

You-tube video, with Ana Isable, discussing Liz green's book - Apollo's Chariot.

Rebekah Hirsch — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 13:08:08 +0000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyNaVfglVZg

2024: Living in a Time of Change with Psychospiritual Astrologer and Author Rebekah Hirsch

Rebekah Hirsch — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:28:12 +0000

Here's a link to my most recent astro-talk - "Living in a Time of Change"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzW-sHcuEJ0

2024: Living in a Time of Change with Psychospiritual Astrologer and Author Rebekah Hirsch

UK ASTROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE 2023 - LIGHT EMERGING FROM THE SHADOWS

Rebekah Hirsch — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 14:24:06 +0000

On Saturday, October 14th, at 4.15pm, I will be giving a talk at the UK Astrological Association Conference. The topic of my talk is 'Astrology and the Psychology of Selves', so my Voice Dialogue friends may be interested.

The 'Selves', also known as sub-personalities, are not new to astrologers; working with the archetypes of the planets is very similar to working with the selves.

The theme of my talk will be discovering how astrology can lead us to a state of Awareness that lies beyond psychological process, beyond our identification with any of the Selves and even beyond our connection with the planetary archetypes - Jung's concept of the ultimate Self, which does not appear in the horoscope.

I believe that astrology is sacred work, a way of opening to spiritual experience and the profound grace of Awareness.

https://www.astrologicalassociation.com/conference-2023/

AQUARIUS AQUARIUS AQUARIUS

Rebekah Hirsch — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 14:56:37 +0000

On January 21st 2023, I am giving a talk with the Caritas Centre - "Aquarius, Aquarius, Aquarius!"
So much talk about the Age of Aquarius, Saturn leaving Aquarius, Pluto entering Aquarius, etc etc etc. Now we begin to be able to access much deeper levels of awareness of the real gift of this cosmic sign!

https://www.facebook.com/events

The Archetype of Uranus and the Evolution of Consciousness

Rebekah Hirsch — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 01:07:13 +0000

'The Archetype of uranus and the Evolution of Consciousness'. This is the link to the recording of my most recent lecture at The Astrological Lodge of London, May 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040Hh2SIVhU

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.caritascenter.org%2Fvideo-library-for-rebekah-hirsch%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3QybTNpBpUI

Rebekah Hirsch — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 14:59:41 +0000

Link to my most recent talk on the astrology of 2022 and the April conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.caritascenter.org%2Fvideo-library-for-rebekah-hirsch%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3QybTNpBpUItXYssD8KhsejvGsfsS1sLka1y9mvWcW4713mt0i7mZ9DEY&h=AT0cML3T9j84Wy4hOgkHaod2rq55D-BfJc0E3LSwV2bhvsacnWegwe125BTIRYjqp90139Iyd0DqHOw-OQQC-HV93cz6lDZf1Hf18lvi79IVlC9f8uBoYyLuSTrEE8-DqA&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT04BIr0pVMmgbhA_CVD6H9ZSwtS688B0fHrMvCTWhHNk7naXmvmdL_NBnX8gcdbg4mK8qIuA2Eh3i0GR8z5GilUowTyktqqS3hxF7Q0aH1c89t3mEWsh9ujlpnZRevEoM9cVSf9S7yuw7GqOIUvELX7xC-pvQkXVhfy6g5YURiauyimmoLHA86CS5RAyHFecqRYsg_D

2020, AN EXTRAORDINARY YEAR: THE PLUTO, SATURN, JUPITER CONJUNCTION IN CAPRICORN

Rebekah Hirsch — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 11:23:46 +0000

Anyone who takes an interest in astrology will be aware that we are now experiencing the much heralded conjunction of Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter in the sign of Capricorn. Jupiter was the last to join the conjunction, entering Capricorn in December 2019. Since then, the three planets have been moving closer and closer together and this comes to a head on November 13th, 2020, when they will be lined up within 5 degrees of one another. (This means that they appear to be lined up one behind the other when viewed from the Earth.) The conjunction of these three planets, in the sign of Capricorn, is an extremely rare occurrence. The last time Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter were together in Capricorn was in 1285, at the time of the Crusades. Before that, the previous time they lined up was in 1894 BCE!

When I mentioned this to a friend, he told me that 1894 BCE might have been around the time of the birth of the civilisation of Babylon. Intrigued, I went to Wikipedia and looked up "Babylon" and went straight to a sentence which said: "Babylonia - A small Amorite-ruled state which emerged in 1894 BCE" Wow! Is it possible that in November 2020 western civilisation may be completing a great cycle of time that began nearly 4,000 years ago in Babylon?
Babylon does not get good press in the Bible, but it was here that some of the earliest known sets of laws were created - rules for regulating trade and settling disputes. In those ancient times, the idea of establishing rules to better manage human behaviour was a precursor for the development of the Judaic, Christian and Islamic civilisations that emerged from the Middle East.

I think that the wheel has NOW turned full circle and we are living in a time when a new kind of civilisation can emerge, better aligned with the humanitarian values of the Age of Aquarius. (Sometime around the Millennium we entered into the Age of Aquarius, which will last for the next 2,000 years. The archetype associated with Aquarius is that of Prometheus the Fire Bringer - the spirit of social evolution and revolution and the guardian of the human race.) Right now, in 2020, we have an exceptional line-up of planets pointing towards the potential for humanity to make a giant shift of consciousness - equal to that which was birthed back in 1894BC.

So what is the meaning of this transit and what is being asked of us? This is where astrology is so valuable. If you want to understand the challenge that confronts the human race, first of all, you need to understand the sign of Capricorn; and then you need to connect with the archetypes of Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter.

CAPRICORN
In Western astrology, Capricorn is the 10th sign of the zodiac and it belongs to the element of Earth. The focus of Capricorn is all about living here on planet Earth, with the emphasis on practical, human concerns and the challenges of making a good life, stable and secure. Capricorn is associated with worldly ambition and achievement; intention, responsibility, hard work and discipline that leads to the manifestation of tangible material results. In Brennan terms, I associate Capricorn with the wounds and the gifts of the Rigid characterology.

One of the main themes of Capricorn is the need for structure. In the body, Capricorn represents the skeleton, the underlying framework on which the body is built. Out in the world, Capricorn is associated with work like engineering, architecture, carpentry and construction. In the bigger picture, Capricorn has to do with the frameworks that underpin the functioning of society - the law, politics, banking, trade and all the infrastructure of civilisation.
In 2008, Pluto entered the sign of Capricorn in the year that rocked the world with the disastrous global financial crash. Since then we have seen a series of upheavals during Pluto's slow journey through Capricorn, exposing the decay eating into the foundations of 21st century civilisation.

PLUTO
Pluto is the Lord of the Dead. In astrology, Pluto is one of the most feared of all the planets for when Pluto is active in the horoscope it often heralds a time of death and destruction. Pluto is not only about death - this archetype is also associated with healing, transformation and re-birth. But there is nothing frivolous about Pluto, it represents the most fundamental challenges of living and dying - the primal root of things and the raw power of the life force. In ancient mythology, Pluto was the Lord of the Underworld - the gloomy place where the souls of the dead were sent. In psychological terms, the underworld represents the unconscious where we find the gut level, basic instincts of survival and procreation. As healers, we know the immense value of body-wisdom and a different kind of consciousness, which we can access through cellular awareness.

The unconscious is the place of the dream world and it is also home to aspects of the psyche that have been repressed. This includes taboo emotions such as murderous rage, cruelty, unbridled sexuality and greed. But along with the extremes of uncontrolled behaviour we also repress other aspects of our authentic nature - often including our gifts and talents. These are our 'disowned' energies - aspects of self that we learned to conceal because they seem to meet with disapproval. We refer to this as 'the shadow'. One of the key aspects of self that we repress is our vulnerability.

Vulnerability is met with disapproval in many cultures. A child, particularly a boy child, learns to feel ashamed of tears or any other behaviour deemed a weakness. And yet our softer feelings are closest to the sacred human heart and human beings are often at their most radiant and loveable when they express their vulnerability.
What, then, is the connection between Pluto and these lost aspects of soul?

In astrology, the archetype of Pluto is about power, the raw energy that drives the life of the body and the immense power we can access when our instincts go into action. In essence, Pluto presents that miraculous gift from Spirit - the primal upwelling of the life force. (For Brennan healers, Pluto symbolizes the Tan T'ien, an immensely powerful centre of energy located in the pelvic cradle.) The dimension of the Hara lies beneath the aura and the concerns of the personality where there is no judgement, no good or bad, just immense creative potential for living.

Pluto helps us with boundaries, and knowing how to stand in our own individual power is exactly the aspect of self that we need to support the expression of our vulnerability. Perhaps the greatest expression of what it is to be human is when we can feel our tenderness and vulnerability at the same time as being in touch with our personal power. But to be able to span the two extremes of vulnerability and power requires mastery - a lifetime of learning how to hold both. So what we often find, in human behaviour, is that the expression of Pluto becomes distorted into a mission to avoid feelings of weakness by seeking 'power over' other people, a quest for dominance. Whether it is expressed through outright bullying or through secret manipulations the negative expression of Pluto is about seeking to gain control in abusive and dysfunctional ways. When Pluto is 'active' in a horoscope it always raises issues around power struggles and that which has been hidden from consciousness in the world of the shadow.

Since 2008, Pluto has been travelling through Capricorn, digging down into the shadowy workings of society, exposing a range of abuses of power that appear to be built into the very foundations of our civilisation. Over the years we have become aware of the rise of the oligarchy, a world dominated by the influence of wealth and power. We have seen the secret exchanges of world leaders exposed by whistle-blowers so that many, including some of our most cherished democracies, look more and more like plutocracies. We have seen the flourishing of the arms trade alongside war-mongering, the rise of extreme terrorism and appalling acts of cruelty committed in the name of fanatical religious or political dogma. We have also seen the exposures of sexual abuse in the 'Me Too' movement and growing concerns about rape and the prevalence of abuse in marriage. We have learned of sex trafficking and modern slavery. We see sexual abuse happening everywhere including paedophilia in powerful institutions such as the Catholic church and alongside the revelations on the internet, we dimly see the shadowy world of the Dark Web. We have seen ongoing struggles with racial abuse and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. And we see the onslaught of corporate power hell-bent on exploiting our environment and trampling on vulnerable indigenous people, animals and nature in the name of profit.

So here we are in 2020, with the rotten underbelly of our civilisation exposed and an unprecedented line-up of planets in Capricorn. As an astrologer, I have been watching this conjunction building for a number of years; seeing the potential for profound, even cataclysmic social change and casting around for political movements that might initiate some kind of revolutionary shake-up.

Coronavirus - COVID-19. I did not see this coming! This year the planet Mars has also been moving through Capricorn, joining with the big three. I was only seeing Mars in his role as the God of War, overlooking the fact that Mars also rules infection, fever and plague.

The virus brings tragedy on a grand scale and nothing can diminish the grief of losing a beloved family member or friend. But alongside his role as the Lord of Death, Pluto is also associated with healing, transformation and re-birth. In a time of suffering and confusion, it is also possible to see the virus as an agent of change; the hope that in this great disturbance we may find a doorway to a different way of being, social and political renewal.

And there is more - from a spiritual view, the planets bring a message that goes beyond politics and speaks to the journey of the human soul, the evolution of consciousness.

The very highest expression of Capricorn goes beyond worldly ambition and material success. The planet that 'rules' Capricorn is Saturn, (for Brennan healers - I associate Saturn with the profound energy of the dimension of the Hara Capricorn is like a field emanating from the Hara Line.) Saturn and Capricorn bring unshakeable strength and commitment of intention to fulfil life's purpose.

Saturn is known as Rex Mundi, the Lord of the World. He is also the Bringer of Old Age and Capricorn comes into its own in the second half of life. The gift of Capricorn is wisdom born of experience - maturity and authority that emerge through the passage of time. As the years go by a person will inevitably encounter suffering and periods when life seems hard as well as joyful times when they are able to harvest the fruits of their hard work. The effect of passing through the sunshine and the storms of life is that an older person develops powers of endurance, patience, loyalty, responsibility and a way of understanding how things work, that a young person simply cannot know.

This is the gift of Capricorn, the benign wisdom of the Elder. Whatever storms life brings this person remains unshakeable, even in the face of death and disaster they stand strong and offer protection and leadership to those who are lost. Not everyone achieves this state simply by virtue of being old. But a true Elder has learned how to embody states of consciousness that transcend everyday thinking. Such a person has developed the ability to stand in Hara with an energy field like an oak tree of light - rooted deep into the Earth and reaching up to the stars.
So Capricorn teaches us to learn to be still and only to act when an authentic impulse arises; to be sure that our actions are in harmony with nature and in keeping with the needs of all including future generations. Capricorn is also the sign of the Cornucopia, the Horn of Plenty, bringing the abundance that comes to us when we know how to listen to Wisdom that has nothing to do with greed.

There are many people speaking of the virus as the hand of destiny bringing a halt to the frantic treadmill of 21st-century life. What else could have brought the entire world to a standstill in this way, demanding exactly that which Capricorn requires, patience, stillness, space and time for reflection?

And if the gift of Capricorn is the strength of an oak, what is the essence and the gift of Pluto? In the first place, we cannot ignore the awareness that Pluto often comes to us as the Angel of Death.

The saddest moment of my life was being with my father as he stood at the end of my mother's death bed singing her a little song of farewell. Unbearable. And yet, in that very moment, as the tears poured down my face, I felt my mother's spirit expanding out of her body like a supernova, filling the house, a golden cloud of joy, bursting with love for us, the ones she now left behind. And all of us, my siblings and my father entered into something of an altered state, wandering through the house, crying, speaking, silent, singing, touching, separate, together. Not every death is like that, my father's was not. Sometimes there is just silence. But every encounter with death is transformative and even in our grief, it brings us into the presence of Love.

Like Capricorn, Pluto slows down time, almost to a halt. If we can tolerate it, and sometimes even if we can't, each moment expands so that we descend into the dark, sinking down to levels of consciousness we never normally reach. Pluto rules birth, as well as death, and woman who have been through childbirth speak of how time slows right down until we can breathe through the pain to access those necessary instincts that will bring about the birth. The essence of Pluto requires us to go beyond the safety and comfort of our familiar daily existence and for most of us, this makes us afraid. But heroic Peter Pan says, “To die will be an awfully big adventure.” When we have no choice, when the beloved is dying or when this baby must be born then we enter into a place which is also wonderful, the place of mystery, the infinite beauty of the void - the place from which we all come and to which we will return.

Whenever a person experiences this state of being, alchemy occurs and they returned changed, transformed. Perhaps some youthful hope has died, something we longed for has been lost but something new is born. Through these difficult journeys, old shadows are released and new awareness emerges into the light, liberated from the memories and beliefs that have been blocking us. Pluto opens a pathway to a profound depth of connection with the source of our creative personal power, which is why I associate Pluto with the Tan T'ien.

In mythology, the hero Perseus took the sword of Pallas Athena and cut off the head of Medusa, the Gorgon who had snakes for hair and a gaze that turned a person to stone. Perseus seized the head and fled from the scene but as he glanced back into the cave of the Gorgons he witnessed a moment of transformation. Out from of the cadaver of Medusa came Pegasus the winged horse, who struggled free and flew up into the sky. Pegasus, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, represents the liberated creativity of the life force that is also the gift of Pluto.

So much of life is beyond our control; we cannot avoid suffering, we cannot avoid death, we cannot halt the advance of the Coronavirus. But perhaps the greatest gift of Pluto, Lord of Death and Capricorn, the Lord of the World, is that they teach us how to live, no matter what is occurring.

Now that the virus has struck, can we learn from experience and use this time to transform our societies and change the way we run our world? Can we create a society grounded in the wisdom of Capricorn - reverence for the Earth, respect for the laws of Nature, accountability to future generations and support for the well-being of all?

And can we come to know Pluto - learn how to access that raw instinctual energy at the root of our being - our legitimate personal power. Even in the face of death can we know the power of transformation, the rising of the Phoenix, the creative energy that is our gift from Spirit - the life force that is ours, and ours alone?

Inside every one of us, there is a great star - our Core Star, a huge radiant source of life and love. The Core Star brings our unique essence through into the manifest world. In living, we can become conscious of that which stands between us and our great light, of that which we hold in shadow. One day, this life or another, each of us will master the Earth wisdom of Capricorn, each one of us will embody the tremendous depth and power of Pluto and we will know how to live from that place. The archetypes of the planets are Divine, living beings and they also live in each of us. The only thing we are asked to do is to turn to the planets and say "Yes". And even if you think you are not able to do that they will still find you and show you how.

SATURN AND JUPITER
I feel the need to include this addendum because in this article I have not spoken about the transits of Saturn and Jupiter who play an equally important role in what is unfolding this year. My next article will focus on Saturn and Jupiter but I feel the need to add something here.

Jupiter is the principle of expansion and it seems that it was when Jupiter entered Capricorn in December 2019 that the coronavirus first emerged and started to spread across the globe. (Another little cosmic joke - in January a large asteroid named Asteroid Wuhan also entered Capricorn and will remain alongside the big three all year!)

In the last few weeks, on March 22nd, Saturn has actually left Capricorn and entered the first degrees of the sign of Aquarius. However, between April 24th and May 14th, all three planets, first Pluto then Saturn then Jupiter, will slow right down and turn retrograde, (appear to travel backwards). This means they will be retrograde all through the summer - from May until late September - and a retrograde period like this will sometimes give the feeling that everything is completely stuck. The best way to get through a period of powerful retrogrades is to use it as a time for deep reflection and coming to terms with what is occurring, without pushing for everything to immediately return to the way it was.

Then in mid-September, we will feel the change coming as the planets start turning direct and move into their closest conjunction in November, just in time for the American presidential election! Immediately after that - the faster planets, Jupiter and Saturn will move swiftly on coming to the end of their journey through Capricorn, (Pluto has not finished, it will not leave Capricorn until 2024). On the day of the Winter Solstice, Jupiter and Saturn become exactly conjunct at 0° of Aquarius. Aquarius is a very different energy - humanitarian, idealistic, revolutionary and far-seeing. The Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Aquarius has the potential to initiate the creative visioning of a completely different future for the human race.

MEETING VENUS

Rebekah Hirsch — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 11:40:13 +0000

Over the weekend I had an extraordinary experience around a Virgo New Moon meditation that I held at my home. This is what happened - I hope this gives people the awareness of how a simple evening of focused meditation, can bring unexpected healing into everyday life.

Three of us gathered for the Virgo New Moon meditation at my house. We started by sharing together, much sadness coming up around the fires burning in the Amazon rainforest and the devastation of our Earth. I spoke of my childhood years growing up in East Africa in a time when wildlife was abundant and I never thought it would be possible to witness the loss of iconic species that we are seeing today.

When we started to meditate I soon felt the presence of Spirit - with a physical sensation in the middle of my head as my 6th chakra opened up to my Higher Sense Perception. We stayed for a long time in silence and then began to give voice to our prayers. As I spoke of my sorrow for the Amazon forests I felt that the giant trees were with us in the room, surrounding our little circle. Then Sima spoke and she called upon the Hindu god of the wind Pavan Dev, to come and work with Indra Dev, the god of rain, to push the clouds over the forest and bring rain. As she named to gods, I felt the rain falling in sheets as it does in the tropics, running down the tree trunks and into the Earth. When we closed the circle I felt happy to have had this small gathering and to have felt such a powerful connection with the Earth spirits.

The next morning I woke up and, very unexpectedly, found myself stuck in a place of deep personal pain. I am at the beginning of a year of transits from Pluto and Saturn to my natal Venus in Capricorn and I was sinking fast into all my personal issues around Venus the goddess of love, happiness and prosperity. Soon I was inescapably locked into feelings of being unloved, rejected, unwanted and opening up deep old wounds around failed relationships. Failed is the key word - I spent the whole day sunk in relentless unyielding feelings of failure and worthlessness, in Voice Dialogue we call this a 'Critic Attack'. I realised I was not able to shift out of the pain and by the end of the day I was reaching out to friends asking for help. It was not until the next day that I got to speak to my dear friend Fern. Speaking with Fern I found stillness in deep acceptance of the pain of old wounds, neither of us making any effort to 'fix' these feelings, just allowing myself to own the grief and pain of my experience. The only affirmation that came out of that sharing was a deep commitment that I would continue to meditate with the New Moon and Full Moon, to create sacred space, deepen my relationship with the Earth spirits and with the spirits of the planets, archetypal gods and goddesses, especially to heal my relationship with Venus.

The next day I felt somewhat recovered and got on with some practical work setting up the workshops I will be running this autumn. At the end of the day I suddenly remembered that I had promised a friend that I would go along to a little gathering happening at a community garden at the end of my street. I hurried along to the garden and when I arrived I could see very small group doing a walking meditation around the little garden and I quietly slipped in to join them.

The workshop was being led by three beautiful young women. The first one was leading the meditation and asked us to sit in a little circle around a rose bush baring one red rose. The woman invited us to meditate on the rose, focusing on the real sensual experience, the delicacy of the petals, the perfume as well as the thorns.

Then the second woman, who was a herbalist and flower essence practitioner talked about the properties of the rose, how it is connected in many ways to the heart. She told us how the rose provides medical remedies for physical heart conditions, she also spoke of the historic poetic connection with the heart as a symbol of love and gave me a little jolt when she mentioned that the rose is the flower of Venus. She passed around little cups of rose hip tea and also gave each of a rose hip - asking us to get the sensual experience of the beautiful red seed pods. I broke open my rose hip and when I saw the little collection of seeds the thought suddenly came into my head - these seeds are the people who are coming to my workshops this autumn.

I was aware that I was beginning to shift into an altered state and then the third woman invited us to find a comfortable seat or a place to lie down on the grass. She had some big sounding bowls and soon the gentle musical tones of a sound bath were ringing out. And then I went into a profoundly altered state. There I was lying on the grass in a very humble garden, surrounded by three blocks of social housing flats and looking up at the sky through some dusty but determined silver birch trees. I could hear the big London buses rumbling to the bus stop about a hundred yards from where we were, I could hear the ordinary working people chatting as they walked home. The musical tones from the singing bowls mixed with all the everyday sounds, with the wind in the trees and even with the sounds of jet planes flying through the pink evening sky. And all of it was utterly beautiful. It was like a fairy tale that such humble, non-glamorous surroundings became completely luminous with the beauty of life, that every sound was music, and that I should be lying there feeling myself 100% present with each moment, each breath of the wind in the trees, each rumble from the buses in the street, the distant laughter of children mingling with the heavenly ringing sounds from the singing crystal bowls.

Of course it came to an end. I made a lovely connection with the three women, helped clear up and walked slowly home, still amazed by the synchronicity of what had occurred and profoundly grateful to have had this experience. Three young goddesses, London girls, bringing spirit and connection to a rag bag collection of random people in an insignificant garden in the back streets of London. When I looked back at the garden, I knew that I had been given a great gift, welcomed into the presence of Venus. I saw the humble square lit up with the goddess light of love, peace, beauty and the oneness of all life.

Writing in my journal afterwards, one thing stood out. That extraordinary blessing did not come from "me", not from little everyday "Me". I had not consciously been seeking this but I felt it connected straight back to the New Moon meditation as well as to the intense grieving process I had the next day. In my process of grieving and accepting I had cleared a space and this utterly beautiful moment of grace flowed through from the essence of Venus, allowing me to enter into another dimension where all is one and there is only Love.

I am just going to say a bit more about this experience. This is not the first time this has happened to me. Back in the 20th century, before I went to BBSH I used to meditate regularly on the New Moon and the Full Moon. And now I am remembering that often, in the days after the meditation a big healing would occur, often something completely unexpected, like my experience in the garden.

So I felt called to share my experience, to encourage people to remember that the gods and goddesses are right here, right now, waiting for us to reach out to them, just a breath away from consciousness. Wherever you are, the Goddess is walking alongside you and she is within you and our only task is to make ourselves available for grace.

For people in London, the next meditation will be on the evening of Friday 13th at my place in Walthamstow, all welcome. Full Moon in Pisces conjunct Neptune, the planet I associate most with the Goddess and square to visionary expansive Jupiter.

THE ARCHETYPES AS 'EIDOS'

Rebekah Hirsch — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 13:54:23 +0000

THE ARCHETYPES AS 'EIDOS'

The other day I gave a teaching on the astrological archetypes. Like many astrologers, I help people understand the nature of the planets by telling the myths and the stories associated with the Greek gods. Today I listened to a recording of the session. At first, I was just casually listening from an analytical head space but when the story-telling began I suddenly noticed that my whole way of listening had changed. Even though it was my own familiar voice that I was hearing - something else was starting to happen. Without any conscious effort, my higher sense perception had woken up. I became aware that I could feel currents moving through my human energy field, currents that came from the living, active presence of the archetypal energies of the gods and goddesses, the heroes and heroines of the story.

The realm of the archetypes lies beneath our everyday thinking and it requires a shift of consciousness to access that level. When we enter into the presence of the archetypes then we awaken to a transformational realm where we find new understanding, new possibilities, an expanded state of awareness.

Sitting here at my computer, I am wondering, "What just happened, what is occurring when I sense this mysterious connection?" I am a double Aquarius, and the astrologers among my readers will understand that I always enjoy it when I notice something that makes a bridge between science and spirituality. Here goes...

The physicist David Bohm theorised that we live in a 'holographic universe' i.e. that the world of our human experience of space, time and causal events is like a holographic projection emerging from a deeper level of existence. The "explicate, unfolded order" of our human experience emerges from the "implicate, enfolded order", an underlying dimension in which an entirely different arrangement of things exists. That is to say, this vast "implicate order" is the ground from which our reality emerges.
The concept of archetypes goes right back to the early Greek philosopher Plato who spoke of the "eidos" - pure mental forms that he thought were imprinted on the soul before it was born into the world. It seems to me that Plato's "eidos" and Bohm's "implicate order" are connected. Thus, in our encounters with the archetypes, they lead us beyond the "explicate order" of our familiar world towards the underlying realm of the "implicate order".

Bohm's theory provides an explanation for the puzzle of Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' - the fact that particles separated by vast distances can remain in instantaneous connection. The idea that things remain in some way connected even when separated by distance is also the explanation for energy healing. Bohm developed his theory of the "implicate, enfolded order" using objective, logical, complex, mathematical formulae. And, as a healer, I am saying that we can find our own personal doorway to a lived experience of this dimension through a subjective, non-rational, intuitive, shift of awareness. This experience cannot be achieved through mental analysis. In fact, it requires the ability to bring a halt to mental activity, to find stillness, to slide through the silence between the dimensions. It always entails a step into the unknown, always a willingness to surrender to whatever awaits.

In the Greek myths, the Gods and Goddesses are often described as hostile, fickle and merciless in their dealings with mortal beings. We humans are inclined to try to get through life without acknowledging our connection to the archetypes, to the non-physical worlds of spirit. This leaves us very alone and in childhood, as a coping mechanism, we try to gain protection by forming a little crust, a shell around the terrifying truth of our extreme vulnerability. But inside our shells, in our own essence, we are not separate from the archetypes, they are the 'eidos', elements of soul, living at the core of us. The archetypes seek consciousness and when they emerge from the place beneath then the eggshell gets broken.

Into every life, sooner or later a moment arrives when the Gods make their entry bringing a time of crisis, difficult choices, breakdown, loss. Someone dies, we suddenly find ourselves without a job, without a partner, or we get seriously ill. We dread these moments and I have experienced too many of them myself to underestimate the pain of those dark times. Yet they are the substance of all our stories and it is often these times of personal crisis that bring about awakening. In our struggles with adversity we search for a deeper awareness, engage with the essence of the archetype and this is a doorway that can lead us directly into the presence of Spirit.

It is paradoxical. When the archetypes make a forced entry into everyday life they seem relentless and cruel. Yet it is also true that when we meet them with expanded consciousness and sink down towards the depths of the implicate order then we discover the archetypes as beings of immense beauty, power and the harbingers of Love. My personal experience of making many journeys into the archetypal realm is of being welcomed into the presence of benign conscious beings, immensely powerful, immensely loving spiritual life forms; of entering into another dimension of consciousness in which Love is the only reality.

More and more, these days, I am feeling that my work as an energy healer and facilitator of consciousness is to be a guide to those wanting to make that sacred journey to the world of the archetypes and beyond, into the presence of Spirit.

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

1 Corinthians 13:2-7

Narcissistic Wounding

Rebekah Hirsch — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 17:56:48 +0000

CHARTING THE SOUL WORKSHOP
MARCH 2ND, 3RD 2019
OKEHAMPTON, DEVON

The framework for the Charting the Soul workshops is a synthesis of child development theory and the experience of working with the aura and with astrological archetypes. On each week-end we will look at two of five developmental stages - from a psychological view, a spiritual view and through encountering the astrological archetypes related to each stage.

MARCH 2ND 3RD - WORKSHOP 2: INTEGRATION
ESTABLISHING A SENSE OF SELF

WOUNDING AND DEFENCE IN THE MASOCHIST AND PSYCHOPATHIC STAGES
GIFT AND PURPOSE IN THE BUDDING AND FLOWERING STAGES
ARCHETYPES OF PLUTO, MARS, THE SUN, JUPITER

NARCISSISTIC WOUNDING
In the previous Charting the Soul workshop we looked at the first two developmental stages, known as the Schizoid/Germination stage, and the Oral/Rooting stage. These extend from conception through the first eighteen months of life. This period is characterised by extreme vulnerability, when the infant is totally dependent on adult care. The energy field of a baby is completely open and so they need to get protection from the energy fields of their parents - to a large extent they remain 'merged' with the parents and carers.

By the age of one the baby will be crawling, making sounds and attempting to communicate in words. As they learn to walk and talk and feed themselves, they begin to separate from the merging of infancy, to experiment with self-reliance and independence. This is sometimes referred to as the rapprochement phase, when the infant is dealing with the initial challenges of separation and individuation. This is the foundation of the 'individuation' process - the start of a lifetime's exploration of what it is to be Me!

A child in this stage is still incredibly fragile and they need the love and support of their families to reflect back their newly forming sense of an individual identity. Problems occur when the parents are not able to celebrate the 'Budding' or 'Flowering' essence of the child but have an agenda of their own, which oppresses and overrides the child's authentic spontaneous expression of self. When the infant's fragile sense of individuality is not mirrored and welcomed by the parents, the child starts to experience self-doubt and shame and this is the basis of narcissistic wounding.

Narcissism is a term much banded about these days and seems to have quite a wide range of interpretations. So it may help to read the myth of Narcissus and notice the images that it evokes.

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful youth whose mother had never allowed him to see his own reflection. One day he saw his image reflected in the surface of a mountain pool and he became besotted with the face mirrored in the water. He lay gazing into the pool for days until he was overcome by the pain of his obsessive love and killed himself.

In the place where his young blood soaked into the earth, a flowering narcissus sprang up – symbol not so much of Narcissus’s tragedy but of the human need for self-knowledge.

The infant in the rapprochement phase needs the family to see them, welcome their unique qualities of essence and affirm their worth. When this healthy 'mirroring' does not occur the confused child becomes increasingly, obsessively bound up in the difficulties of establishing their sense of identity.

In the myth, Narcissus is loved by a nymph called Echo, but Echo is unable to speak, she can only repeat what others say to her. Echo can be said to represent Narcissus’s anima, the numinous voice that speaks from Essence – but the narcissistically wounded child can no longer hear that inner voice of guidance.

In the upcoming Charting the Soul weekend we will be looking at two character types associated with this phase - the Masochist/Budding type and the Psychopathic/Flowering type. We will be exploring the impact of trauma leading to the Masochist and the Psychopathic defences and we will also be celebrating the qualities of creativity and courage - the gifts which are longing to shine through the Budding and Flowering souls - and we'll be connecting with the radiance and creativity associated with the archetype of the Sun.

CONTACT: chartingthesoul@gmail.com