Fate along the Journey of Life

In life everything occurs through cycles. Even if we do not realize that the circuitousness of events is actually harmonic, the underlying reality points to a series of ebbs and flows, rather than mere linearity. Through modern thought, it is perhaps much appreciated that life is a one-way journey, which returns as much as we give out in the limited time which we have at disposal. This is commonly visible in our modern way of “racing” through our existence, because we want to make the most of it. Not only does this generally manifest through our often destructive monetary greed, or through conformist relational formalization or ambitious professional achievement; perhaps, to the spiritually-oriented astrologer, these are all by-products of society’s modern-day “development“…

Let’s get deeper into the core of this issue, exactly where it becomes quite difficult, if not almost impossible, to clearly discern the boundary between what we want and what life is meant to reserve for us. It is nowadays difficult to let oneself dip into the darkness of the Unknown with faith, or at least the hope that everything unfolds in the way it should. This is not to either deny or demean the reality of suffering which often so strongly characterizes the wretchedness of human life. It seems that the very faculty which we call “intellect” can either drive us into wonderlands or underworlds. Why does the human psyche have to encounter such extremes in life? What lies beyond our discontentment or sorrow? Where does aspiration originate from? Perhaps we will never find clear answers to our questioning of the complexity and uniqueness of the human realm, yet a deeper truth seems to have emerged since immemorial times. This relates to the fact that there is strong evidence of our individual nature being linked to more grandiose realities, which we might normally consider insignificantly distant and unconnected. Spiritual awareness resides where understanding of such intrinsic grandeur emerges. If there is a blueprint to individual and collective life, what does it consist of? Who has decided its form, and where has it been planned? Again, these questions might take us nowhere at all, because they simply represent a human attempt at “rationalizing” the irrational mysteriousness of life. Perhaps we should just say that intrinsic purpose is at the basis of everything which occurs within and without the human being. There is often excessive identification with “events” as if we were entities who navigate the stormy seas of “outer life”, battered by enormous waves which constantly endanger our inner and outer balance. This is only partially true and it remains a mere perception of reality, in my humble opinion. Through years of astrological research and self-exploration, a journey which I only consider to be at its very beginning, I have understood that even the most painful of experiences comes for a reason. I have been searching for an explanation to that reason in the immensity of the cosmos, but there are many ways of doing so. The key here is to understand which way is the most suitable to us for the purpose of searching for a “code of life“. We might think of this as a “de-codification process” or “spiritual research”, yet it just remains a mere human attempt at understanding something which goes way beyond our rational grasp. Though science has been trying to prove everything through “deterministic” methods, we are now approaching a time in history which faces us with a pressing issue: the cause-effect link seems to break apart when we get closer to the “bigger picture” of life. The long-term trends of individual or collective existence do not respond to clear determinism, and so it is for what we would call “fatality” in personal, day-to-day life.

Beyond the threshold of time…

Is there a reason for those most unpleasant stories which unfold in so many people’s lives? Ancient civilizations, and perhaps many people still do the same nowadays, have traditionally found self-assurance in the possibility that “cursing” or even “bad karma” might have the potential to impede the harmonious flow of life. If we step beyond any belief, and try to look at it from a purely humanistic perspective, we might just need to say that we do not know for certain whether past lives exist, and it might be more accessible and perhaps useful for the modern-day individual to explore familial or societal dynamics in order to understand a lot about himself. I would like to give you an example. Let’s take the current year in consideration, because of the intensity of pain, sorrow, restriction, difficulty and darkness which have been tackling society at large. Those mothers who are due to give birth soon, therefore with their babies being “incarnated” during these months, are experiencing their pregnancies at a historical phase for humanity as a whole. The same obviously applies to those who have given birth in the previous months, since January 2020. Those children who are to be born soon (or who are just a few weeks or months old), despite any deterministic attempt at denying such, will definitely carry a powerful psychological, energetic, sociological imprint of these times within themselves. For instance, if the Moon will be placed in one of the four Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn) at the time of birth, they will be born to mothers who have been the most deeply affected by the current situation. This may involve a myriad of factors the entire enlisting of which would be pointless in this article, if not impossible. This consideration about the Cardinal Moon refers to the fact that it will be forming “hard aspects” with the ongoing Saturn-Jupiter-Pluto congregation in Capricorn. Even if Saturn has taken a quick trip into early Aquarius, it will be back into Capricorn soon, reinforcing the still ongoing dismantling process. If the child is born with such a personalized connection with the ongoing slow-planetary configuration, such as that of the Moon aspecting the relevant planets, his or her long-term emotional life will be strongly connected to the ongoing influence. Yes, for some mysterious reason, birth occurs under a space-time configuration (birthplace and birthtime) which uniquely carries planetary placements and configurations which are accurately in resonance with the child’s personal identity. What is important to understand here is that this connection occurs at the level of meaning, therefore symbolically and not factually. If the child is born when the Moon was transiting just past the ongoing Jupiter-Pluto conjunction for example, astrologers of the future would very accurately retrace a specific “event” or “situation”, most probably dramatic and intense, in the mother-child relationship during the pregnancy. This relates to the “secondary regression” of the Moon; which is about retrograding the Moon’s position in the personal horoscope by a degree for each month prior to birth, as if time were running backwards. There is strong evidence in astrology about the cyclicity of time, which in this particular instance translates into an all-out, invertible resonance between time cycles such as a year, a month, a day, and hour and so on. This is a very complex and vast subject, but it remains equally fascinating to the spiritually-oriented individual who is keen on exploring the depths of life. This fascinating, yet very basic example takes us beyond the “determinism” of nowadays science. This is not to undermine the importance and respectability of scientific thought, which has allowed us to elevate our knowledge of the world we live in; the question here is whether we know everything about the causality of life or not…

A “synchronized” universe…

Many scientists are keen to explore what is being perceived as “synchronicity” all around the universe. In quantum physics, phenomena which still remain rationally unexplained are observed, and it is worth citing the work of David Bohm, who managed to reintroduce philosophical and mystical thought in an increasingly determinism-oriented scientific community. His fascinating approach includes the individuation of a “universal flux“, which is often referred to as “holomovement“. He formulated ideas of an Implicate Order and an Explicate Order. In 1980 he published his most famous book called “Wholeness and the Implicate Order“.

In Bohm’s work we encounter important glimpses into the intrinsic correlation between seemingly unrelated elements, with such interaction crossing beyond the realm of physical manifestation. For millennia the spiritual world has been aware of the intricate reality of life, yet it has mainly approached this concept on an instinctual level. In fact, I am quite inclined to believe that humans – and perhaps all other living beings are even more open to this – possess an innate capacity to instinctively perceive synchronism. This could be understood as humans, who belong to the explicate order of things, being instinctively able to tap into the implicate order of the Greater Whole of Existence“.

Our perceptions are often overshadowed by the business of life, which can be both distracting and unfriendly towards any attempt at savoring the underlying beauty of Creation. If you get a feeling that everything is going to be well, even if the current events are being quite disastrous, you may have just witnessed an inner manifestation of your connection with the cosmic Oneness in instinctual, or mental form. If you get chills when you visit Ground Zero at Lower Manhattan you are perhaps connecting with the same invisible, unquantifiable, immeasurable force. It would perhaps be too easy or reductive to connect the chills with mere psychological suggestion; it could obviously be the case, but the nature of such “suggestion” would be psychic indeed.

There are deep correlations between events, which are quantifiable manifestations, and the more mysterious dynamics which are AT THE BASIS of any of such situations, which are made available to us in their visible forms.

These correlations, as already specified, can be traced via the astrological analysis of the skies, which easily individuates the recurrence of specific dynamics in accordance with the cyclicity of planetary movements. Every time a specific planetary configuration appears in the skies – by relative motion because we are observers placed on Earth – something happens, but not necessarily in the world of “form”. The shift definitely occurs at a subtle level, in a realm where “feelings” dominate, both individually and collectively. For a while, this year’s alignment of slow-moving planets in Capricorn has been seen by astrologers as a sign of upcoming change. It has been evident that both the most pleasant and unpleasant features of Capricorn would reemerge this year, and that we would need to deal with the “heaviness and stucture” of this Earthy sign. Capricorn’s force relates to method, ambition and responsibility, but the more negative side of its power presents us with fears, restrictions and oftentimes oppression. It is worth referring to the image of mythological Kronos, whom we generally prefer to call Saturn (Roman nomenclature), to better understand the immense level of psychic force being liberated right now all around the world and in every speck of society. Saturn rules Capricorn, therefore its essential meaning is being called to action, throughout a whole year when Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto are to make single or repeated conjunctions with one another. If tyrannical measures, oppression, fear, depression, darkness, hopelessness, sorrow and despair were to emerge this year, was it “written” somewhere that this “inescapable” set of circumstances would need to be met? Perhaps yes, or maybe not; this is not important, anyway.

Any actual manifestation of these cosmic encounters is to be regarded as a byproduct of the ongoing wave of change.

A much deeper transition is being made these days, and it will represent a thorough transformation of humanity’s most basic structures. Despite the difficulty, we should perhaps try and find ways to embrace change, every single day fighting to find the light of reason during a seemingly endless struggle which will definitely have an end, and a prosperous one. Hopefully we will all reemerge wiser, more considerate and desirous of life.

Cover image: Group of interacting galaxies called Arp 273 – Hubble Space Telescope – Wikimedia Commons