Astropoetics

To recap, chakra patterns that resonate in the 4^th chakra start with an integration – signified by an aspect between one of six combination of inner planets: Sun and Moon, Sun and Venus, Sun and Mars, Moon and Venus, Moon and Mars, or Venus and Mars. The pattern is then completed by mutual aspects between these two planets and an outer planet with affinity for the 4^th chakra – Jupiter or Neptune, or sometimes the asteroid Juno. Other outer planets that form an aspect to a 4^th chakra base can sometimes create a more complicated, ambivalent, or conflicted planetary dynamic of the heart.

Ultimately all healing is a matter of opening the heart, and an open heart is the heart of the matter and the ultimate goal of any healing process. This makes the 4^th chakra central to the entire approach to healing that is encompassed by the astro-chakra system – as presented in my book Tracking the Soul and applied in intimate detail to the charts of participants in my Tracking the Soul Webinar Series.

If you are ready to pour your heart and soul into your own healing process, and use your knowledge of astrology to bring loving attention to your core patterns and issues, the 2017 Tracking the Soul Webinar Class may be for you. The class starts in January, and there are still a few openings left. Class size is limited, however, so if the inspiration hits, you might want to take the leap now. You can read more, and sign up here.

The Heart of the Matter - Part Fourteen

2016-12-12T12:09:24-06:00

THE FOLLOWING IS COPYWRITTEN MATERIAL

NO PART OF IT MAY BE REPRODUCED

WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR

This is Part 14 of a 15-Part Series

about healing and the 4th chakra

extracted from the 2016 Tracking the Soul Webinar Class

Previous posts in this series include:

Focused Attention

Unconditional Self-Acceptance

The Role of the Sun in the Healing of the Heart

The Role of the Moon in the Healing of the Heart

The Role of Venus in a Healing of the Heart

The Role of Mars in a Healing of the Heart

Fourth Chakra Patterns on a Sun-Moon Base

Other Sun-Based Fourth Chakra Patterns

Fourth Chakra Patterns on a Moon-Venus Base

Other Fourth Chakra Patterns

Outer Planets in the Fourth Chakra

Jupiter in the Fourth Chakra

Neptune in the Fourth Chakra

Juno in the Fourth Chakra

Along with Jupiter and Neptune, we can also associate the asteroid Juno with the 4^th chakra. Hera (the Greek equivalent of Juno) was the wife of Zeus, and the goddess of marriage. Aphrodite or Venus, is of course, the goddess of romantic love, which as most of us know, comes and goes. Juno, by contrast, is the goddess of the marriage vow and the marriage contract – “If you love me, prove it. I want a ring and a piece of paper. I want commitment. I want fidelity. I want until death do us part.”

The irony, of course, is that Hera and Zeus had one of the worst marriages imaginable. Zeus was constantly cheating on Hera, and Hera was quite ingenious at getting revenge, and at manipulating her husband to get what she wanted. She did not play nice, and neither did he.

So even though Hera can bring a certain stability to a 4^th chakra process with an intimate partner, it can also be an indication of complications. Ultimately, I believe at its highest possible expression, it presides over the hieros gamos, or rather provides the container of commitment and stability, in which the hieros gamos can take place, especially if Neptune is also involved in some way. But on the way to the hieros gamos, Juno also confronts us with every imaginable challenge.

As I wrote about in Tracking the Soul, using Bill Clinton as my 4^th chakra case study, the whole Monica Lewinsky episode – which was just the tip of a much bigger iceberg – was implicated in Bill Clinton’s chart where he has Mars, Neptune, Venus, Jupiter and Juno all in Libra in his 1^st house. In many ways, Bill and Hillary were playing out the Zeus and Hera script. Often in 4^th chakra patterns where Jupiter and Juno are both involved, fidelity is an issue. As in most cases involving Juno, even though the hieros gamos is there as a potential, you’ve got to earn it and prove yourself worthy, and you can generally rest assured, you will be tested.

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If you find what you are reading here of interest, you may be inspired to want to go to the heart of the matter in your own life. If so, and if you have a working knowledge of astrology, the 2017 Tracking the Soul Webinar Class may be for you. The class starts in mid December, and there are still a few openings left. Class size is limited, however, so if the inspiration hits, you might want to take the leap now. You can read more, and sign up here.

The Heart of the Matter - Part Thirteen

2016-12-08T15:49:45-06:00

THE FOLLOWING IS COPYWRITTEN MATERIAL

NO PART OF IT MAY BE REPRODUCED

WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR

This is Part 13 of a 15-Part Series

about healing and the 4th chakra

extracted from the 2016 Tracking the Soul Webinar Class

Previous posts in this series include:

Focused Attention

Unconditional Self-Acceptance

The Role of the Sun in the Healing of the Heart

The Role of the Moon in the Healing of the Heart

The Role of Venus in a Healing of the Heart

The Role of Mars in a Healing of the Heart

Fourth Chakra Patterns on a Sun-Moon Base

Other Sun-Based Fourth Chakra Patterns

Fourth Chakra Patterns on a Moon-Venus Base

Other Fourth Chakra Patterns

Outer Planets in the Fourth Chakra

Jupiter in the Fourth Chakra

Neptune in the Fourth Chakra

Like Jupiter, Neptune is a natural catalyst to an opening of the heart, but in a slightly different way. In the 4^th chakra, Neptune naturally erases the barriers of separation between us, and allows us to find our common ground. I mentioned earlier in this series Pema Chodron’s idea that compassion is the understanding that we’re all in the same boat. Here I can add that this is the kind of understanding that Neptune can facilitate. All those clichés – love is all you need; love makes the world go round; we are all one – these are all Neptunian sentiments. Of course, any cliché can be just that – superficial, artificial and trite. But this can also be an actual experience of something real.

At its best, Neptune allows us to feel our way into the world dream, the idea that the world itself – Gaia – has a soul, called the anima mundi by the Greeks – that we can both engage, and contribute to; the idea that we are part of something larger than ourselves; that life is spiritual journey; that what we do matters, that every ripple in the pond touches every part of the shore; that a butterfly beating its wings on one side of the world can set an earthquake in motion on the other side; that we are all connected; that we are not alone – all of these ideas and more importantly, the actual experience of them – are strong catalysts to the opening of the heart.

When I think of Neptune in the 4^th chakra, I think of the Sufi poets: Rumi, Hafiz, and Kabir, to name the most famous. These were ecstatic beings in love with God, with life, and with love itself, living in a drunken universe, saturated by love.

Rumi said:

Do not feel lonely; the entire universe is inside you.

This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.

Dancing is not just getting up painlessly, like a leaf blown on the wind; dancing is when you tear your heart out and rise out of your body to hang suspended between the worlds.

Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad.

Neptune in the 4^th chakra is a kind of divine madness, an ecstasy that melts away everything else. This is the wild healing power of love. It is also an experience that can’t be faked, for if the heart is not open, then divine madness is just madness – and we are subject to all the delusions and illusions of which Neptune is capable. As with all things Neptunian, it is tricky – and Neptune can also be a complicating factor in the 4^th chakra. But when Neptune is involved in a 4^th chakra pattern, there is this call to see things a different way.

As Hafiz put it:

You have been invited to meet The Friend.

No one can resist a Divine Invitation.

That narrows down all or choices to just two:

We can come to God dressed for dancing.

Or be carried on a stretcher to God’s ward.

Or as Bobby McFerrin once advised, us, “Don’t worry. Be happy.”

Neptune in the 4^th chakra is also a call to deeper intimacy and ultimately to what Carl Jung called the hieros gamos – the divine marriage between inner Masculine and inner Feminine. This is where the hero is tempered by a deep concern for the welfare of the whole and a deep love for the world, as well as fired up by divine inspiration, the fertilizing power of the imagination, and a keenly intuitive awareness.

Sun and/or Mars – the Masculine planets – are often the planets that undergo this kind of initiation, while Neptune is, in this case, the agent of initiation. When Moon and/or Venus are in a 4^th chakra pattern with Neptune, the challenge of the hieros gamos might involve learning how to actualize divine inspiration and make it real in the physical world; and/or learning how to see the real person behind the anima or animus projection; or maintaining a sense of autonomy and individuality even while working toward greater intimacy in our relationships with real life, flesh-and-blood partners.

Ultimately, the 4^th chakra is about who you are in relationship to the rest of the world. Do you stand alone, and keep the world at bay; or do you dive into the drunken celebration of everything that matters? This can be a trick question, and the answer may not always be the same in every situation, but having the flexibility to do either or both when it feels right may be the key to this process.

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The Heart of the Matter - Part Twelve

2016-12-06T14:49:29-06:00

THE FOLLOWING IS COPYWRITTEN MATERIAL

NO PART OF IT MAY BE REPRODUCED

WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR

This is Part 12 of a 15-Part Series

about healing and the 4th chakra

extracted from the 2016 Tracking the Soul Webinar Class

Previous posts in this series include:

Focused Attention

Unconditional Self-Acceptance

The Role of the Sun in the Healing of the Heart

The Role of the Moon in the Healing of the Heart

The Role of Venus in a Healing of the Heart

The Role of Mars in a Healing of the Heart

Fourth Chakra Patterns on a Sun-Moon Base

Other Sun-Based Fourth Chakra Patterns

Fourth Chakra Patterns on a Moon-Venus Base

Other Fourth Chakra Patterns

Outer Planets in the Fourth Chakra

Jupiter in the Fourth Chakra

Unlike Saturn, Uranus and Pluto (discussed in Part 12 of this series), Jupiter naturally facilitates an opening, and an expansion of the heart. There is a natural buoyancy to Jupiter, as well as a generosity of spirit, an altruistic bent, a desire to include and celebrate life that fits well with a heart-centered worldview. The phrase, “my cup runneth over” is a description of Jupiter in the 4^th chakra.

There is also a very strong progressive spirit to Jupiter that facilitates a natural expansion, increased opportunity, and the fulfillment of creative promise for everyone. It’s the idea that all are welcome at the bountiful feast, and there is plenty for everyone.

Before Zeus assumed his position as the chief deity within Greek mythology, he had to earn his spurs by dethroning his father Cronus – or Saturn. The rest of Zeus’ siblings – including many of the other gods and goddesses in the Greek pantheon – had been swallowed by Kronus (Saturn), who feared that they would usurp his power. Zeus set them all free, and then waged a ten-year battle against Kronus and his allies, the earlier generation of gods known as Titans.

Through this battle, Zeus made possible the evolution of Creation. He cleared away the obstructions and opened a space in which all of life could thrive. After a long stretch of gloomy darkness, the sky cracked open, and the fertilizing rain fell to the earth, allowing all things to bloom. This is what happens when Jupiter works through the heart. No one goes hungry; no one is left behind; hope is kindled; and spirits run high. There can be a natural sense of leadership here, as the person who has a strong 4^th chakra pattern involving Jupiter – especially Jupiter/Sun – is in many ways a natural born leader.

Sometimes when Jupiter kicks in as part of a 4^th chakra pattern, there can also be a bit of that impulsive Fool in us, ready to leap over that cliff with deep trust in the ultimate buoyancy of life. Sometimes we do fall on our face. But life is for living, and the heart is for opening. That old song . . .

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,

Love like you'll never be hurt,

Sing like there's nobody listening,

And live like it's heaven on earth.

. . . is a description of how Jupiter functions at its best in the 4^th chakra. Or as an old mentor used to say, “You’ve got to dance your dance full out – and not hold anything back.” If you’ve ever done that, you know that this can be a heart opening experience.

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