“THERAPEUTIC ASTROLOGY”
LINKING THE SOUL AND THE PSYCHE
Maggie Kerr (AAT.Dip.Couns.)

It’s interesting how we find our little niche in this fascinating field isn’t it? When I began studying and loving Astrology I had no idea it would lead me on a journey of wondrous discovery and healing, and that Grace had sent me the tool which would unlock the door to understanding at last the fascinating and complex reasons to “the meaning of life”. Why? has always been my favorite word!!
The co-incidence of Astrology arriving in my life at the same time as a period of great upheaval in my personal life is something I’ve seen happen many times to others in my 15 years of counselling and teaching. As I began to awaken and realise that I was unconsciously enacting recurring themes in my life, I began to seek out therapies and tools, which, could help me, change this unconscious material within me. I also continued to “play” in as many Astrological teachings as I could get my hands on, and discovered the powerful “esoteric” teachings of Bailey and others. And so has emerged over the years my fascination for the relationship between the esoteric or “Soul Centered” ideas in Astrology, and the many wonderful models, which come from the Psychotherapeutic field in healing.
So how does the SOUL interface with THE PSYCHE? Now this to me is a big one! I consider this question falls into the realm of a “Great Mystery”, and this of course makes a gal like me very excited!! My search for some kind of answer has become the basis of my work and teaching, and so I offer a few ideas as you read on which are extracts from a book, which is currently taking shape to be titled ‘THE SOUL AND THE PSYCHE’.

WHAT IS THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS?

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CORE SELF (OR TRUE SELF) & THE FALSE SELF.
We are born as a perfected Soul carrying DNA encoding which programs the Super conscious & Unconscious states, to set up the necessary familial, societal & environmental conditions to create our psychological matrix. From this matrix evolve our belief systems & resultant behaviors, so ultimately our Soul may grow through the necessary lessons for the lifetime & synthesise these into the overall Soul's journey toward atonement.
The Soul's decisions for growth are able to be identified as the themes & issues of challenge, which are contained in the Planets in relationship to each other on the 3 Crosses (Alice Bailey & Ingrid Naiman).
The Perfected Potential Soul Self is known as the CORE SELF or TRUE SELF.
Because of early experiences up to the age of 7 certain natural & instinctive characteristics and behaviors become modified or adapted (i.e. from Parent responses, permissions & injunctions or don't messages.... in other words there are no such things as perfect parents). As a result a series of protective armoring & encasings gradually build & develop until the Core Self becomes surrounded by a wall (Saturn) of false or unnatural behaviors. This is known as the False self and is in place by the Age of 7 (First Saturn square), and re-enforced up to age 14 (Saturn opposition ).
Most of us then go into the world attempting to get our needs met, get loved, safe, happy and secure operating from this conditioned False Self and then wonder why our goals for happiness, joy and success are not met! Most folks stay in this state for all of their lives playing out the scripts of a conditioned experience complete with unconscious games, favourite bad feelings & alienation from society and themselves in some form.

THE TANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS.
The goal of the Transformational Process is to release the cellular encoded unconscious conditiongs, which the Soul has set up to be created in the first place to meet the challenge of the lifetime's growth - thereby enabling the limitations to be made conscious, healed, & integrated and a conscious union between our inner instinctive & creative potential (Soul), and outer energetic expression (Spirit) becomes possible. This is the goal of the Alchemical process known as the Grand Conjunctio or Divine Marriage or Union of Opposites.
Whether this process is ever triggered and what provokes it is indeed a great mystery, & it appears that many lifetimes in the unconscious ego state are lived before the Soul makes it's impression felt. Indeed the Esoterisists say that the single greatest point of evolution that the Soul experiences is when it becomes aware of itself! Once it knocks on the door of our consciousness and triggers the journey of the Self home to its Self , a series of "initiations" must be passed through before perfection is achieved. Along the way the old conditioned, negative & restrictive Ego qualities begin to break down, to enable the True and Core Self to be revealed and gradually given permission to exist in it's true power.

PLUTO AND FRAGMENTATION
The term for the breaking down function from old False Self complete with over-compensations, sabotage mechanisms etc., is FRAGMENTATION, and is an extremely painful & dis-orientating process. In Astro speak we can pinpoint this potential by observing Pluto transits to personal planets, especially the Sun & Moon, And the Cardinal Axis points of the chart. However, the Pluto transit does not of it's own accord guarantee the death/re-birth principle will be enacted, as an unconscious Pluto transit can just be loaded with pain & loss, without the higher principle or transpersonal awareness being gained - hence the "great mystery". i.e. How do we know when Pluto will shift from wholly unconscious & operating only as an agent of the collective disempowered, to potentially conscious. The great transformer can also be the great destroyer as we well know, and being able to begin to use Pluto's power as an agent for conscious transformation, requires a great degree of self-mastery & self-acceptance.
During Pluto's transit through Scorpio over the past 12 years, we have witnessed large groups of humanity passing through this fragmentation process - some consciously - most not, and the themes of abuse, misuse & attempts to begin to correctly use the Power Principle have been up for all of us. We have all been in this alchemical process in some form, & it appears that large Soul Pods or groups are ready for further initiation into higher states of conscious, empowered, creative awareness, by the very nature of their choice to be incarnate on the Planet right now. Earth is indeed a 2nd Ray Planet (Love Wisdom) offering the Spiritual opportunity for acceleration of Soul growth through "Calcinatio" or the Firing Process of the Material Plane. The goal after all is to open the Heart and know the joy of Love as the key to empowerment.
Meanwhile back at "Fragmentation"... as I've said this is usually quite painful, & involves the exposing of the vulnerable True Self to the light ,so that cleansing and healing may occur. The Healing Journey is essentially a very feminine affair, as the Goddess is the prime feminine and offers us a sense of the true self-love & nurturing, which is required to support others and ultimately ourselves in this great process. Persephone's descent into Hades underworld realm (the unconscious) is the Archetypal principle here. Ultimately the Horoscope itself is a powerful symbol of the Feminine, as it is a metaphor for the journey toward wholeness, from latent potential to fullest expression after the Ego has been brought under the influence of the Soul.
The gradual development of the new Self needs to be treated very tenderly. The ego will fall back into its old ways very easily, and re-enforcement of the new awareness & ability to come from truth in each moment, requires the use of tools, which strengthen the new belief systems. In time the old ego goals are sublimated into the Soul's true goals, and we begin to live in our true flow, with the magical opening of our path without effort or stress from the ego.

We must remember that the new Self or the TRUE SELF is the goal of the raising of consciousness. The Self in its true power does not mean some sort of easy, perfect, constantly joy filled expression. This is an unfortunate assumption by many... that if I let go of the past and my old goals then somehow I will magically become a perfected being. The truth is that we learn to tolerate and honor the emotions of loss, pain and grief and are willing to have them as they occur, knowing that they are a perpetual part of life and existence. By coming into our truth we allow space for pain and depression, and have the trust to experience them fully and know that on the other side of the "Dark Dream" is the "Light Dream"...the joy and excitement of movement and growth.
The grand irony here is that when we submit the ego to the Soul life, that we begin to experience the very ego fulfillment which we always somehow desired...it all comes from the Soul in the first place, and the happiness and contentment of our true potential can begin to be realised, when we simply move into trust and faith that our Higher Self knows the path we must travel. All we have to do is get out of our own way, so we may allow ourselves to find it.
Conclusion: -
As an Astrologer in these changing times we have the wonderful opportunity to support ourselves & our clients to know and understand the reality of the transformational process. By recognising that we are all in a state of transitioning from old limited belief systems, to new empowered ways of seeing and perceiving our selves and our world, we can become agents of change and transformation for others, whilst coming into the truth of our own power.

Copyright © Maggie Kerr