June is an extraordinary month in astrology terms. Jupiter enters Cancer for the first time in 12 years, where he is exalted and tremendously comfortable, Venus enters Taurus where she is also tremendously comfortable. There is a Strawberry Moon in Sagittarius, Saturn is in Aries for the first time in 26 years, and Neptune also drifts into Aries for the first time since the 19th Century for the next 13 years. So, significant change.
I can hear a lot of people thinking…so? And, in all honesty, for most of my life I did too. I would read my Sun Star Sign periodically, and always think ‘what a load of rubbish’ because what it portended didn’t appear to happen on the day it was supposed to. I distinctly remember the late, great ‘Mystic Meg’ of Sun newspaper fame saying that I would win the lottery if I bought my ticket with a significant other. I took my husband to the shop and probably won a few quid. Which was a win. It wasn’t the jackpot, but it was still a win! I had no idea for a long time about natal charts and what it all meant. I knew that in some ways, I was a typical Sagittarian but really wasn’t in other ways. And I didn’t understand how planets in our solar system could have any bearing on my life.
As I have gone through my spiritual journey, I have started to question a lot of the assumptions I used to hold. One has been challenging the feedback my five senses give me, governed as they are by my Reticular Activating System which is in turn, governed by my subconscious mind which has a myriad of limiting beliefs. It’s the same for all of us and we are, in short, seeing a version of ‘reality’ that we are programmed to see. If we have a limiting belief around lack, we will see lack. If we have a limiting belief around love, the world we see will echo that back to us. We can change that programming, when we are aware that it exists in the first place, but it is a process. A worthwhile one, for sure, but a process nonetheless. And the first way to identify what our inner belief system is, is to listen to our own language – I can’t afford that = lack mindset. Someone with an abundance mindset, someone without a lack limiting belief, would say ‘I will buy that another time’. It may not seem much, but it actually makes a significant difference in how we see the world.
One of the other things I have come to challenge my own thinking on is astrology. As I have said, I could never understand how the planets could affect my life in any way, shape or form. But that thinking comes from a total lack of understanding about connectivity. That we are a part of the universe as a whole, and it is a part of us. And that we are intimately connected to our own solar system.
I can’t remember why I did it, but I ended up with a free astrological natal chart that I had put the details in for. It sat on my laptop for a considerable period of time, and I would look at it occasionally and not understand it at all. It helped a little later on to realise what my Moon and Rising signs were (both Cancer) because in reading those as well, I got a better, more well-rounded look at what was coming my way. But I still didn’t understand that being top-heavy in my chart on Scorpio had an impact on me as a person, ways in which I suppressed through my upbringing. It didn’t mean anything to me for the longest time after I became aware of it. Until, one Saturday, I was guided to really dig into my natal chart. I went down a rabbit hole for the best part of the day but came out of it with a significantly better understanding of my drivers. I found myself nodding at the description of someone whose Mid-Heaven was in Aries at 0 degrees, because it echoed some of the experiences I had had. It allowed me to realise and accept that I am creative, I am intensely spiritual, and I have strong leadership qualities – these three things are repeated over and over in my natal chart to the point where I ended up ruefully rolling my eyes when I saw it for the umpteenth time. And it helped me to see that those three things, combined with this drive that I have to change things, to shake up the system and do things in a more innovative way is actually my purpose as shown in my Aquarius North Node.
But still, there was a large part of me that just thought…fine, I still don’t get how this is so. It feels a bit, well random really. Surely, I thought, lots of people were born at the same time as me, on the same date as me. But how many were born in the exact location as me? And it makes a difference to your natal chart which is the expression of the completely unique you who you are meant to be. Yes, you are changed and affected by nature and nurture, by the events in your life. But your natal chart highlights who you are as a unique individual. My son was born an hour earlier than another boy born to a couple in our ante-natal group, in the same hospital. But that hour will make a difference to his natal chart – slight, but potentially completely profound.
So, great I thought. That has given me terrific insight. But I was still thinking…how does this mean anything in my day-to-day life? How does the trajectory of a planet make any kind of difference? We know that, throughout history and especially in ancient times, there was a great deal of interest in the heavens, and an emphasis placed on how the heavens were formulated at any moment impacted their lives. So, what did they believe about it that we have lost in our understanding? I firmly believe that in ancient times there was a better acceptance that we are connected to the universe and it to us. And that, furthermore, we are intimately connected to our solar system.
We cannot be the only planet in the habitable zone in the entire universe. It just is not possible that that is true. As we are learning about its vastness, it is a supreme arrogance to think that our tiny planet in the limitless expanse of a universe teeming with energy, galaxies and who knows what else, is the only one to produce life. The fact that it is the only one in our entire galaxy is also, frankly, nonsensical. But it is likely that there is only one planet in the habitable zone of any solar system. So, I found myself asking – what is the point of the other planets? In a universe where there is no unnecessary expenditure of energy, where everything has a purpose, what is the purpose of these relatively lifeless rocks?
I remember seeing an image, quite recently, comparing the image above of the major planets with the reality of our solar system which is packed full of moons, dwarf planets, and asteroids. There are over 891 confirmed moons in our solar system. 891! Imagine if you plotted all of these additional ‘rocks’ along with the planets and the sun, what a relatively busy solar system it would suddenly start to look. Then, if you considered how many of those moons have gravitational pull on their planets as our moon does for Earth, imagine the energy exchange that is happening on a constant basis. And then what if we imagined that all of that exists in some way to support the habitable zone? Earth is the only planet in the solar system that is close enough to the sun to benefit from it, but is protected from the sun’s more harmful qualities along with all the other potential dangers in the solar system because of the earth’s unique atmospheres. What role do the other planets have in protecting that? I know this isn’t scientific thinking, but consider this. If everything in the universe is energy, if we are a part of the universe then it isn’t such a leap to consider that perhaps the other planets in the solar system do have a significant impact on earth and its inhabitants.
The universe does not create redundant things. It does not make mistakes. There are no coincidences and the chances of life on earth happening, and being sustained, are scientifically infinitesimally small, both before and after the dinosaur period. Yet, it happened and continues to happen. The chances of conception are millions to one…yet we have 7 or 8 billion people on this planet. Is it really such a leap to think that, perhaps, the chances of all this happening are greatly enhanced by the energetic pull of the myriad of planets, dwarf planets, and moons? Let alone the asteroids that zoom around? That in the energetic field, the ripples of their existence have no impact on us? Despite the fact we are a part of the same solar system? And that, consequently, their placements at the exact time and place we were born have no bearing on our personalities? And that their trajectory has no bearing on our lives at all? In a scientific arena that seems to be perpetually proven wrong as to how the universe actually works, can we say with any certainty that this isn’t something that is possible? I truly don’t think we can.
I am only at the tentative beginning of my thoughts on this, but I can safely say that this is something I will be pursuing. And I would be fascinated by anyone’s thoughts on this too.
Louisa Simpson 