Living Cosmos - Spirit

Spirit and Consciousness

Each of us has a direct line to Universal Life Energy - spiritual experience applied in daily life creates a circuit of Living Knowledge and Grace

Like Art and Science, Spiritual knowledge offers us guidance in how to experience Universal Life Energy from those who have successfully done so. Just to be clear on our perspective, Spiritual experience is all of life, the way each of us and all of us respond to whatever happens. Spiritual knowledge, also known as moral behavior or just stories about how to live right, is a repository of other peoples' experiences in navigating Life, potentially useful as we are learning to navigate Life ourselves. At best it is like a pair of floaties as you are learning to swim, it will help you when you need it, but will slow you down once you don't.

The simple guidelines for spiritual knowledge is find a source that resonates with you, try it out in practice and then decide whether it is worth using on a regular basis. Continue to keep an open mind towards what works for other people and continue to try on new ideas when you are called to. Avoid systems of knowledge that require an all-or-nothing approach or are too certain about their conclusions. Observe the people who practice a given system and how they apply it to themselves - a few stubborn or extremist individuals shouldn't block you from using a given system, but if most of the people you meet who are involved are narrow-minded and self-righteous, it probably isn't worth going against the stream.

I have three specific areas where I have focused my own spiritual journey. First is the general practice of kindness, tolerance and patience towards myself and others. This is by far the most important focus. Second is my own daily practice of meditation and prayer - attuning to the Universal and channeling some of that energy towards people who are in my consciousness - both those who are an integral part of my personal life and those who are causing me frustration in some way. Third is my 30+ years of Astrological study, helping me to maintain this internal balance, to make sense of unfolding events and to help others to do the same. I make a point of mentioning this progression whenever I talk to someone about healing or spiritual problem-solving through Astrology - it is a system that provides an overview of all areas of human life, so it can come across as seeming to have all the answers. Because Astrology is all about putting things in perspective, it is critical that Astrologers apply this sense of perspective to their own work and the use of Astrology in general. Astrology is an excellent tool if used at the right time, for the right person in the right way.

Since I am just one person, I have to define this rightness in my own way. Just as meditation can help people to be more patient in dealing with people and other challenges, my purpose for using Astrology is to help people get attuned to the Universal in order to get in flow with their own unique rhythms and get on with their Life purpose. A good doctor knows that the body heals itself and offers medicine only when needed to assist in the process. A good Astrologer knows how to respect the Life Path of the individual they are reading for and use their knowledge of timing and collective archetypes only when the person in front of them needs a nudge to remember what they already know.

This brings us to what may be the most important use of Astrology - a set of archetypes and Cosmic cycles that help us to understand the collective soul of our planet as we evolve in consciousness. The last 250 years in particular have been like an especially intense and stormy adolescence for humanity, facing ourselves as we have managed to unleash powerful forces and energies in every area of life, yet just now learning how to steward these energies for our own good. The discovery of the 3 outer planets (Uranus (1781), Neptune (1846) and Pluto (1930)) has coincided with a quantum leap in consciousness - Astrology can help us to incorporate these new and powerful energies in a constructive way. This information is particularly relevant to the generations born between 1995 and 2010, when all 3 outer planets were in the collective section of the zodiac (Sagittarius-Pisces). Many of these 'indigo' souls are here to lead us to new ways of interacting and are facing particularly challenging circumstances in their own personal lives, being treated as children by adults who have been playing along in a world of questionable priorities. In order to live up to this potential, Astrology as a system of knowledge has to come of age itself, focusing on how it can work in harmony with other systems of knowledge to help individuals and our planet as a whole evolve in the quality of how we live.