Essays on Evolutionary Astrology

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• Publisher: The Wessex Astrologer Ltd
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781902405520
• eBook ISBN: 9781910531099

When Jeffrey Wolf Green retired and went into seclusion he left his daughter Deva with everything that he had ever written which included drafts of various manuscripts which he had intended to publish at various points. This also included every audio tape, video, dvd, and transcript of his lectures delivered over a lengthy career. He also gave Deva his business and asked her to carry on with it. This book refl ects her desire to continue to disseminate his work as widely as possible. In Essays on Evolutionary Astrology: The Evolutionary Journey of The Soul there is a combination of transcribed lectures with parts of various manuscripts, most of which has never been in print before.

1

A Review of the Key Principles in Evolutionary Astrology

For most of you a review of the key astrological principles involved in Evolutionary Astrology will be useful. And, again, I highly recommend that you read the first two volumes of Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul if you have not already done so. The key principles that we will be reviewing are (1) the natural law of evolution and the two primary ways it manifests, (2) exactly what is a ‘Soul’, (3) how the natural law of evolution manifests from within the Soul, (4) the ‘ego’ that the Soul manifests in each life and (5) the four natural evolutionary conditions or stages of a Soul’s evolution.

Evolution

The simplest way to validate the natural law of evolution is based on the universal human experience in which all of us know that we are in a continuous state of becoming. This is not a function of belief, or needing to believe it. It is simply a fact. Of course any of us can observe the natural law of evolution in countless ways as applied to the totality of the Creation. We can observe it relative to the evolution of the human life form, we can observe it in the life of plants and animals, we can observe it through the fundamental changes over great lengths of time to the Earth itself as an evolving planet. We can observe it through our telescopes pointed out into the universe, we can observe it even at a molecular level of life. Evolution simply means the changing of form, the changing of structure, the changing of energy, and the change of anything. The very word change implies evolution.

Evolution is always preceded by another natural law called involution. What this means is that for a change, or evolution, to occur relative to some structure, form, energy pattern, dynamics etc., it is always preceded by the ending or destruction of something that pre-exists. That which preexists, when evolution or change becomes necessary, is promoting a state of stagnation or non-growth. In all life forms, in anything that exists as phenomena within the totality of the Creation, there exists another natural law called survival. When this natural law is ignited or stimulated, for whatever reasons, it will always cause the natural law of involution leading to evolution to occur, so that the ongoing survival of a life form, structure and so on can occur.

The natural laws of evolution and involution have two ways of manifesting. One is as a slow, progressive, non-cataclysmic process of change that Darwin called uniformity. The other is cataclysmic change in which the very nature of involution leading to evolution is intense and abrupt. These two natural ways of evolution are observable by anyone as facts and do not require any belief at all. The natural law of evolution and involution correlate astrologically to Pluto.

The Soul

‘Soul’ has been a word in almost every human language system that has ever been on Earth. So what is it? Can we open up the brain and find it? No, obviously we can not. We can not open up the physical body and find emotion either, yet we know we all have emotions. Can we open up the brain and find thought? No. Yet, we all know we at least have a thought or two in our heads. Can we open up the body and find sadness, or depression, or happiness, or love? No. Yet, we all know that these things exist within us. So obviously we are dealing with the nature of energy. The Soul is energy no different than the energy of consciousness itself. Again, we can’t open the brain and find it. Consciousness is one of the greatest mysteries of all to scientists for they can not explain its origins or even how it came to be. Consciousness correlates astrologically to Neptune. This is exactly the starting point for what we call religion and philosophy: the human need to contemplate and consider, within the desire to know, where we come from and why. In turn this becomes the causative factor for ‘beliefs’ where beliefs are the result of the human pondering upon the origin of life itself. But is there a difference between beliefs and actual knowing? Is there a way to know the answer to the big cosmic questions versus the need to believe in an answer? The happy news is that there is. By the sheer fact that there is a manifested Creation that exists as fact there must also be truths that inherently exist because of the fact of the manifested Creation in the first place. By the fact of its existence most of us can reason that there has to be something that is the origin of the Creation. In generic language we could call that something the Origin of All Things, or The Source, and in religious terminology it is called God or the Goddess.

Consciousness is certainly part of the manifested Creation. It exists. And that which is the origin of consciousness, of itself, must also be conscious. Thus the totality of consciousness emanates from this Source. As an observable fact we know that consciousness is in all living things: all life forms. And all of these life forms have the appearance of being separate from all other life forms yet are simultaneously connected to them: two plants next to each other appear separate yet are connected by the sheer fact of being plants. So, on the one hand there is the individualizing aspect of consciousness, and, on the other, the universal aspect of consciousness which binds all the individual aspects of consciousness together.

Another way of illustrating this is the famous story of the wave and the ocean. Most of us would agree that it is the ocean that is the origin of the wave. Yet from the point of view the wave, if the individualizing aspect of consciousness were centered there, the wave appears and seems separate. In other words if the center of gravity for consciousness were within the wave then from that center of gravity the wave appears, and is experienced, as something separate from its own source: the ocean. On the other hand if the center of gravity within consciousness were the wave itself then the ocean simultaneously experiences its totality while at the same time experiencing the individualizing aspects of itself as manifested in the waves that emanate from it.

In the very same way the Universal Consciousness, which is the origin of all consciousness, has created and manifested the totality of the manifested Creation, which includes the human being and the consciousness within it. And within human consciousness there exists a natural individualizing aspect that occurs as a natural result of the human life form having distinct and individual forms relative to its root: the human life form as a seed, so to speak, that produces many other branches.

Thus, each human life form has its own individualizing consciousness that is called the Soul. The Soul, then, is an immutable consciousness, or energy, that is naturally part of the Universal Consciousness that created it in the first place. Immutable here means that which can not be destroyed. Why? Because energy can never be destroyed, it can only change form. To evolve.

So how does the Soul evolve? What dynamics are inherent within it that are the cause of its own evolution? Within all human souls there exist two antithetical desires where desire is the determinant of evolution. One desire is to return to that which is the origin of us, of all of Creation, in the first place. The other desire is to separate from that which is the Origin of All Things. This simple inner dynamic within the Soul is also the natural cause, or law, of free choice, or free will.

The evolution of the Soul is simply based on a progressive elimination of all separating desires to the exclusion of only one desire that can remain: to return to the Origin Of All Things. This does not require any belief system at all, or any religion that one must belong to. This simple truth, because it is a function of natural law, can be validated by anyone through their own life experience. Is it not true for example that any of us can have whatever separating desire that one can imagine? For example a desire for a new lover, or a new career post, the new possession, and so on. And we may have the ability to manifest that which we desire. And when we do there is in fact a sense of satisfaction of actualizing that which we have desired. But what soon replaces it? Is it not the sense of dissatisfaction, the sense of something more? It is precisely this sense of dissatisfaction, the sense of something more, that ‘echoes’ the ultimate desire to return to the Origin Of All Things, the only desire that will bring to us that ultimate satisfaction. All of us have this universal experience.

So how can we know, independent of belief systems, that there in fact exists an Ultimate Source? The human being knew long, long ago, before the manifestation of religions and complicated cosmologies, that through inner contemplation, inner ‘looking’, that when the breath in the body, inhale and exhale, became very, very shallow, even stopped, that there would appear within the interior of their consciousness a light. This occurred as a natural function of the breath becoming shallow or stopping. Naturally. Much later in human history this became known as the famous ‘third eye’. And it is this very Light that symbolized and connected the individual consciousness reflected in the Soul to the Universal Consciousness that is the Origin of All Things. The human being also learned long ago that by merging its own individual consciousness, or Soul, with that Light, that its consciousness would expand in such a way that the individual consciousness itself became Universal and was able to consciously experience that Ultimate Source of All Things: the wave had returned to the ocean.

The point here, again, is that any human being can know and validate these natural laws through their own actual experience that does not require belief systems of any kind. The key to do this, again, is to progressively shallow and stop the breath all together. Any one can do this. If you doubt it, or wonder how, simply try the following natural method. On your inhaling breath mentally affirm the number one. On your exhaling breath mentally affirm the number two. The secret here is to concentrate as hard as you can simply on the numbers one and two. It is this act of concentration intensified by desire manifesting as will that progressively your breath will begin to shallow and even stop. Remember that consciousness is energy and can not be destroyed. It can only change form. When the breath is stopped it does not mean that you have to die. Consciousness is not dependant on the human form. So when the breath is stopped the inner light which is intrinsic to consciousness will soon begin to appear. And as it does so, simply move into it with a conscious act of surrender. Surrendering to it will allow for a merging of your own consciousness with that Universal Consciousness as symbolized in the Light. Anyone can do this and then know for themselves this natural truth.

It is this natural law of breath, when stopped or becoming very shallow, that validates what all the great teachers of relatively recent centuries, (when compared to how long the human being has actually been on the planet), have said; including Jesus: “When thy eye is single one’s whole body is full of light”. Symbolically speaking our two physical eyes correlate to the two motions of breath: inhale and exhale. It is the inhaling and exhaling of the breath that keeps one’s consciousness utterly involved and enmeshed in the duality, or polarity, of life itself. Likes and dislikes, happiness and sadness, love and hate etc, correlate too and demonstrate this natural law. The numbers one and two illustrate the natural law of finitude and duality: cause and effect. Yet between one and two there exists an interval, or zero. The interval or zero correlates to the Universal Consciousness or infinity. Thus when the breath stops or becomes very, very shallow the interval is perceived. And what is perceived in the single eye, or what has been called the ‘third eye’ that naturally exists within the interior of consciousness, can be accessed and merged with our Soul. When this occurs the law of duality ceases to exist. The ultimate satisfaction is then realized. The Soul correlates astrologically to Pluto.

From the point of view of natural laws it is interesting to note, historically speaking, that advanced mathematics like algebra, trigonometry, quantum physics and so on, could not have been realized unless there was an ‘idea’ or conception called zero. This occurred in the third century AD in India. It was the Indian mathematicians that conceived of the number zero. And from the point of view of Indian cosmologies this occurred as a direct extension of their natural understanding of the origin of Creation: out of nothing, or zero, the manifested Creation occurred: the un-manifested/ manifested, or the causeless cause.

The Ego

Coming into human form the Soul will then manifest what is known as the ego. The ego correlates astrologically to the Moon. The ego is also pure energy. We can not open the brain and find it. Unlike the energy of the Soul which is sustained from life to life until the final merging with the Source occurs, the energy of the ego in any life is dissolved after each life is lived. The analogy of the wave and the ocean again serves to illustrate this point. The ocean can be equated with the Soul, and the wave can be equated with the ego. Of course the ocean, Soul, is manifesting the waves, ego, life after life. And just as the waves can rise and fall, any given life that the Soul creates, the ocean is sustained. In other words the egos that the Soul manifests in each life rise from birth but finally dissolve back into the ocean, Soul, upon the completion of each life. Its energy is not destroyed but simply absorbed back into the energy that created it in the first place.

The ego created by the Soul thus allows for the individualizing aspect of the Soul in each life. In each life the ego is created by the Soul in such a way as to serve as the vehicle through which the evolutionary intentions of the Soul in any life occurs. Each ego that the Soul creates is oriented to reality in such a way that the very nature of the orientation serves as the vehicle through which the life lessons occur and are understood by the Soul. In each life the ego allows for a self image of the Soul to occur relative to the individualizing aspect of the Soul.

An analogy to a movie projector will suffice to illustrate this point. If I have a movie projector, a reel of film on the back, and a screen in front of the movie projector, and then turn on the machine generating light from it, I will have no distinct imagery on the screen unless I also have a lens within the projector. Without the lens what manifests from the machine is simply diffuse light. Thus the lens serves as a vehicle through which the inherent images on the film can be focused and given distinct shape and form. In the very same way the ego that the Soul generates in each life allows for a vehicle, or lens, through which the inherent images that exist with our Soul to take form. This natural law of consciousness is thus the cause that allows for individual self perception and the word ‘I’ itself.

The Soul, Pluto, also correlates to the genetic code, RNA and DNA, chromosomes, and enzymes. In each life the Soul is the determinant for the entire genetic code of the life, human form, that it is being born into. Each life that the Soul chooses is a continuation of that which has come before where each new life taken correlates to the ongoing evolutionary lessons or intentions of any given Soul. Thus the body type, including the race to be born into, the appearance, the culture, the parents, the specific and individual nature of the emotions, feelings, psychology, desires, and so on correlate to the Soul’s intentions reflected in the genetic code in total in each life. This is all then given individual form via the egocentric structure, Moon, that the Soul creates in each life. Any person can then say things like “this is who I am”, “this is what I need”, “this is what I am feeling”, “this is what I am trying to learn”, and so on: the individualizing aspect of the ego that the Soul creates in each life.

When ‘death’ occurs in any given life, the ego that the Soul has created dissolves back into its origin: the Soul. Since both are energy, and energy can not be destroyed, where does the Soul go upon the physical death of the body? In other words where is it on an energetic level? Most of us have heard the words the ‘astral plane’ or heaven and hell. Obviously these types of words refer to other realities or planes of existence, and there are in fact other energetic realities or planes of existence. Simply speaking, the astral plane is an energetic plane of existence that all Souls go to after the completion of physical lives on places like Earth. Energetically this plane is much less materially dense than places like Earth. After physical death the Soul ‘goes to’ the astral plane in order to review the life that has just been lived, and to prepare for yet another birth on places like Earth. Upon the completion of a life on Earth the ego dissolves back into the Soul in such a way that the center of gravity within the consciousness, within the astral plane, is the Soul itself. For most folks living lives in the material plane we call Earth the center of gravity of consciousness is the ego itself. This is why the vast majority of people living feel within themselves that they are separate from everything else: the center of gravity being the egocentric ‘I’. In the astral plane the center of gravity shifts to the Soul so that when death occurs in any given life the memory of the ego of that life is sustained.

This memory of the ego is necessary for the Soul for it is the memory of the ego that allows the Soul to not only review the life that has just been lived, but also to serve as a basis for the next life to be lived relative to the continuing evolution of the Soul itself: in each life we pick up where we have left off before. Thus, this memory of the ego in each life serves as the causative factor of what type of egocentric structure the Soul needs to create in the next life. In essence it is the memory of the ego that the Soul draws upon, the ‘images’ contained therein, that serve as the basis of the next ego that the Soul needs to generate in each successive life that promotes its ongoing evolution.

Astrologically speaking this is symbolized by Pluto, the Soul, and the South and North Nodes of the Moon. The South Node of the Moon correlates to the prior egocentric memories of the Soul that determine the natal placement of the Moon in each life, the current ego; whereas the North Node of the Moon correlates to the evolving ego of the Soul: the nature and types of inner and outer experiences that the Soul needs and desires to facilitate its ongoing evolution. In turn this will constitute the new egocentric memories and images that the Soul will draw upon when a life has been lived and terminated at physical death.

Most of us are aware that the Moon also correlates to one’s family of origin in any given life. It should be clear then that upon the death of the physical body the Soul ‘goes to’ the astral plane and meets again important family members, and others close to the Soul. This is also why, for many Souls, we meet again those family members upon rebirth into yet another physical life on places like Earth. It is the memory of the ego now combined with the memory of family that is the determinant in this phenomenon. And this phenomenon is sustained until there is no longer any evolutionary or karmic need to sustain such relationships.

The Evolutionary Conditions or States

A very, very important principle to review concerns the four natural evolutionary conditions, or stages, of a Soul’s evolution. One of the great problems of modern astrology is a total ignorance of this natural law. As a result, much if not most of astrological understanding is the ‘one size fits all’ approach, which does a total disservice not only to astrology in general, but to the very people it attempts to help. This approach flies in the face of common sense, not to mention life itself. It’s like saying if I have Venus square Pluto then the meaning of that astrological pairing would be the same for all. It never takes into account the individual context of anything. Let us remember a core truth about astrology: it only works relative to observed context. If the ‘one size fits all’ approach were in fact true then, for example, when Uranus transited Pisces in the 1920s the same social themes would have existed all over the planet. In reality they did not because of individual context. In Germany, for example, following World War One it manifested as an almost total breakdown in the social order where literally one had...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword Kristin Fontana
• Introduction
• 1 A Review of the Key Principles in Evolutionary Astrology
• 2 The Leading Edge of the Soul’s Evolution: The Mars and Pluto Interface
• 3 The Role of Mercury in Evolutionary Astrology
• 4 The Planetary Nodes and Evolutionary Astrology
• 5 Understanding the Sexual Archetypes and Evolutionary Astrology
• 6 Saturn, Capricorn and the 10th House: Chaos and Dark Eros
• 7 Evolutionary Transitions
• 8 Medical Astrology: Anatomy, Physiology, and the Chakra System
• 9 The 6th House and Issues in Self - Improvement that allow the Soul to Grow
• 10 The Planetary Method of Evolutionary Chart Analysis
• 11 Trauma and the Outer Planets
• 12 The Evolutionary Meaning of Retrograde Planets