Astrology on a New Turn of the Spiral
My Journey into Astrology and Beyond
I first began my journey into astrology 35 years ago. I started serious full-time astrological research and consultations, in tandem with a daily shamanic practice, from 1991.
My research went ‘out of town’ into the trans-Neptunians, centaurs and other minor bodies. From 1994, I was heavily into Chiron and, by 1997, Pholus and Chariklo. From about 2000, I started to map the scattered disc objects (SDOs).
Then, about 13 years ago, I cut off from the astrological community, stopped reading astrology books, took on board the criticisms of the ancient art of astrology and got rather cynical about the clichés. My astrological research, however, continued throughout this time, as did my consultancy work and my shamanic energy practices.
This coincided with a pretty much full-time exploration of psychology and integral theory. I read all of Ken Wilber and investigated Spiral Dynamics. I then read everything I could find by Dr Clare Graves. I also looked at the work of Jean Gebser and many others. What did I find?
I was experiencing the holographic nature of the energy field in my daily practice, a visceral and literal connection to the old adage, ‘as above, so below’. I knew that the explosion of planetary discovery meant that, like our astronomical view of the solar system, astrology had access to not just a lot more information, but an entirely new system for understanding that information.
Tuning into Chariklo opened the door for me to the holographic nature of the plasma field, or the plasmic ocean we call space. My Enchantments of Life model emerged from my experiential awareness of the fractal relationship of my energy field, the planetary energy field and the solar system (aka the energy field of the Sun).
The Enchantments of Life adds a whole new contextual understanding to astrology, without negating the traditional art or the modern neo-Jungian perspective.
A New Map of Reality and Therefore a New Reality
The staggering implications of the new view of our solar system
Astrologers are uniquely privileged with an insight into reality that no other paradigm or socio-psychological mapmaker possesses. The flip side is how to convey the mysterious four-dimensional language of astrology to non-astrologers.
Everyday language and linear-mind explanations always fall short of the experiential nature of astrology.
As alien and complex as astrology can be to the lay person, the astrological paradigm itself is being challenged by an enormous leap of understanding. How can we accommodate the newly discovered planets and large rocks, of which there are now hundreds of thousands, into the ancient system of astrology? Traditional astrology is based on an altogether different astronomical view of the population and make-up of our solar system.
Astrology follows astronomy; the astronomical view of the solar system has been revolutionized. We now see a vastly populated, chaotic space around the Earth, teeming with thousands of planetary bodies. Despite this, the central tenets of astrology—‘as above, so below’ and the ‘quality of the moment’—not only hold true, but are all the more relevant. If what is above is a reflection of life on Earth, and as an astrologer I say it is, then the implications of the new astronomical data are extraordinary—and not merely for astrologers.
Astrology is the meta-map of reality and what the map now suggests about the direction of human progress and potential is truly dramatic.
The three points I want to introduce here are:
1. Multiple Levels of Astrology
Classical astrology utilized only seven bodies (the two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon; and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). This system still holds true to a degree; in fact, some skilled astrologers can say a lot about an individual and their reality simply from the Ascendant and placement of the Sun and the Moon.
Contemporary neo-Jungian astrology has grown to include the planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, often some asteroids and, increasingly, Chiron. Neo-Jungian astrology is more complex than Classical astrology and has a greater truth, since it adds depth—neo-Jungian astrology opens the door to the soul and its reality within the world. The rise of modern astrology parallels the upsurge of non-traditional spirituality such as Theosophy, the New Age, mind–body healing and so on, which is in marked contrast to traditional religion or material scientism.
2. Archetypes Are Not Fixed
Planets are evolving principles that we are co-creating, rather than fixed archetypes disconnected from the human domain. The planets are gods who live amongst us and whose expression is flavoured with human creativity.
Astrology teaches us that our natal chart is a template describing who we are; it also teaches us that there are archetypal energies we will encounter during transits and progressions. I am introducing a subtle but profound adjustment to this astrological cosmic view.
The gods, the archetypes, are enduring and consistent, but they are not fixed—they are fed by us and mutate through us. Archetypes evolve. The Greek and Roman archetypal myths are still relevant, but new levels of their expression are coming forth into existence on Earth. As you proceed with this study, especially through the Enchantments of Life, you will see this for yourself.
3. Orbital Realms and Levels of Consciousness
Planets are also levels of reality. They have different orbits; this obvious fact has not been fully incorporated into the present astrological paradigm. It is worth repeating—planets have their own orbital parameters; they travel at different distances away from the Sun and are not all in the same plane.
When we look at the visible planets in the night sky from Earth, they appear to travel on the flat plane of the ecliptic. This is how they are represented in an astrology chart, as if they all move within the same circular parameter. This is indeed adequate for our understanding of the archetypal dimension of astrology; in fact, it is an empirical truth. The planets do move around us, as viewed from our own centre on Earth. However, to understand the revolution in astrology, we need to take the orbital realms into account. This adds a whole other dimension of truth, where the different spatial parameters of the solar system represent different levels of consciousness.
The revolution in astrology is a shift in awareness to accommodate the vast number of planetary bodies that populate the inner solar system, as well as those in the outer solar system way beyond Pluto.
The knowledge of our solar system beyond Pluto, which has only truly come to the forefront since 1992, reflects the concomitant expansion and the radical evolution of consciousness. Thousands of planetary bodies whose orbits move beyond Neptune, often called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), have been discovered in the Kuiper belt alone since 1992. To this we add the scattered disc objects (SDOs), whose orbits are vast, plus a whole family of centaur-like objects, whose orbits intersect those of many of the main planets.
It is now time to group planets together, classifying them into ‘families’ based on orbital considerations. For example, what I call Pluto Enchantment is the level of consciousness associated with the whole Kuiper belt, where Pluto is the leader of the pack. Although now ‘downgraded’ by the astronomical community, Pluto remains an enigma with its five currently known orbiting moons. The Kuiper belt—and all the planetary bodies within it—is to some extent the Underworld; as we wake up on this Enchantment level, the collective unconscious starts to become the collective consciousness.
The expansion of consciousness is an expansion into greater novelty and complexity, as reflected by the increased orbital expanse and number of planetary bodies that are in play in the later Enchantment levels. When we get to Chiron Enchantment, which is based upon the planetary crossers, we are dealing with some of the SDOs and many of the centaurs, Chiron being the leader of that particular pack.
Integral Astrology: A New Adventure Awaits You
I remember feeling the thrill of adventure when I first opened the door to archetypal astrology—a vast mysterious and rich landscape appeared before me. The mythic terrain is a seemingly never-ending enigma of the universal mind, full of evocative beings whose lives are played out through us.
The traditional astrology of karma and fate, with its fixed mechanics, was expanded exponentially by the esoteric and neo-Jungian approaches that began with Alan Leo (William Frederick Allan, 1860–1917, considered by many ‘the father of modern astrology’) and progressed through the work of many, including, perhaps most famously, Dane Rudhyar (1895–1985) and Liz Greene.
Could there possibly be more to discover?
Indeed there is. Astrology now takes a quantum leap with what I call the Holosphere, or the holographic approach to astronomy/astrology, where distance from the Sun (the orbital realms), as well as the orbital parameters of the planetary bodies, describes a frequency of consciousness. The map of human evolution that I have derived from this approach is what I call the Enchantments of Life. The Enchantments of Life map outlines the deep structures, or primary ‘Enchantments’, of human development. The multiple levels of human consciousness—more commonly called evolutionary developmental levels—all coexist within our environment. My map can be described as a form of integral astrology. The genius Dane Rudhyar was the first to stand at the door of an emerging integral astrology.
I now propose a new landscape is emerging and is awaiting you, starting here on this website with the Enchantments of Life.
Take the next step in the journey and go to the Enchantments of Life page.
© Copyright Laurence James Lucas; September 2014
Website design: Carey Vail
