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Astrologer's Notes:
Humanistic Astrology - The Process of Becoming
Part 2
by Basil Fearrington
Ev ery person is born into an environment and to a parental influence of some kind whether the biological parents are there are not. Every person grows through the influences coming from that environment and the parental influences during the formative years of development. We all have a "story" of development, circumstances that are of particular relevance to the life that we live For some, that story is more dramatic than it is for others but we all have a life story.


When a person makes a decision to consult with an astrologer, it is incumbent upon the astrologer to get in touch with that person's "story" because it is what defines the path that the individual has taken to bring her or him to the point where they are today. The "story" is life-significant and the astrology should address the factors of this development. Nothing is more important than this understanding.


Here is an example of a life story: A baby girl is born in a charity ward as a result of a one-night stand between her mother and a man. Her mother, a manic depressive, is incapable of taking care of her. She (the mother) pays a couple a paltry sum to take care of the baby, a baby-sitting chore that ends up lasting for 7 years. The young child is eventually placed in an orphanage and is shuttled around from foster home to foster home where she is sexually abused repeatedly. The girl makes a valiant attempt to communicate with the man who is her father but he denies her existence. He will not even come to the phone when she places calls to him. Finally, the girl, now a teenager, drops out of school and marries unsuccessfully at the age of 15."


This is really a very dramatic life scenario. In the absence of solid parental authority and an environment that victimized rather than rewarded, we can surely expect concerns with the formation of identity and self-worth as a manifestation of the environmental victimization and lack of parental endorsement in the formative years of development. We deduce that the girl becomes a woman and carries these concerns into her adult relationships with everyone. Perhaps there are concerns about how lovable she is. Maybe sex is unfulfilling because sexual fulfillment is especially challenging for a woman when the sense of worth is in question. These deductions are facts of life that have nothing to do with astrology. However, if this person goes to an astrologer for a consultation, the astrologer must be aware of the process of becoming that has taken place in this life because it is the foundation upon which the woman's life is based upon. This is true for every human being. There is always a process of becoming in every life.


In the beginning stages of study, astrology requires that you learn about the symbolisms of the planets, Signs, Houses, and aspects. In the process of learning more, there are various techniques taken in that enable an astrologer to "make sense" of the horoscope. The astrology student reads book after book after book after book and learns technique after technique after technique. Consequently, what happens is that the approach to the analysis of a horoscope is weighed down in and mired in the mud of measurements, forgetting that there is a life being lived and that there has been a process of becoming in that life.


Our report writers in astrology are fabulous inventions that do a good job with a discussion of the parts of a horoscope. What they usually do is synthesize each planet in its Sign and House, adding the aspects in order to explain the horoscope. While this process is good for starters, it cannot adequately address the process of becoming in a human being. These concerns have to take place in a discussion, not from words on paper. And what happens with so many students of astrology is that they get bogged down in these "report writer-like" measurements, forgetting that the measurements, the Signs, planets, and Houses are to be used to define the process of becoming in the life.


If I say to you, she is 5-3 with arms that are 35 inches long, she wears a size 2 dress and her eyes are brown, you don't know very much about the life of the woman. There is no description of character, personality, or heart. The astrological equivalent of this would be, "She has the Sun in the 7th House so she likes relationships. But the Sun is bi-quintile the south node so…." This kind of language by the astrologer describes the horoscope but does not say anything about the process of becoming that is the real life of the person. The "story" is avoided, usually because the reliance on measurements undermines the ease of synthesizing everything together in an artistic way that reflects a human life.


The life story that I wrote in the 3rd paragraph of this essay describes Marilyn Monroe's beginnings. The formative years of her development were extremely challenging, setting the foundation for all of her failed relationships, her ambition for stardom, and everything that we know about her. The foundation of her life is what's important, not her stardom. The idea has to be, with every horoscope, to find that life story and talk about the process of becoming so that it can be seen objectively and is freed in order for the life to have more efficiency.





What we want to try and stay away from are statements such as, "You have Jupiter in the 7th House so you are going to marry a wealthy man." Or, "Your Venus in the 9th House means that you love to travel." "My goodness, you have a Yod and ……" These are report writer statements, not descriptions of a life that is in a process of becoming. While it is true that Marilyn traveled a lot and did marry wealthy men, these facts have nothing to do with the chemical makeup of Marilyn. They do nothing to describe the story of her life.


My book, "The New Way To Learn Astrology," as well as my correspondence Course in astrology, describes the steps that are important in seeing a horoscope not as a bunch of measurements but rather as a reflection of a life that has been in a process of becoming. Any of my students, after a minimal number of lessons, would be able to look at Marilyn Monroe's horoscope and, in seconds, be able to begin to describe her process of becoming. The key is in knowing what's important, being able to see it and being able to synthesize all of the measurements into a story that doesn't just describe the measurements but rather reflects the life that has been lived and the things that make that life happen. The planets don't make that decision. The person does.


If Marilyn Monroe was alive today and came to me for a consultation, this is how it would begin: "Good afternoon, Miss Monroe. Please have a seat. We are going to have a good discussion today. The focal energy of your horoscope is in terms of diversification and communication. This focal energy expresses itself in a personality that needs to be humanitarian, socially aware, or innovative and unique somehow. All of this is projected to other people through a dramatic image, full of charisma and idealism. I think you would agree that you project something to others that is other than it seems, and I am referring to your off the camera behavior."


"Now, Miss Monroe, with your worldwide celebrity and everything, there are concerns here that are difficult for me to discuss but I would not be doing my job if I left these things out. Your horoscope suggests that there is great potential of being shaped by your environment, to being thrust into life experience and therefore, open to victimization by it. I see this taking place because the anchor, the attachment to home that is desired by all of us, was not there early on. This would appear to be related to a difficulty in your early development, probably regarding your father. There is a suggestion that he was out of the picture somehow and, through his absence, or in relationship to it, you have absorbed tensions, especially when it comes to relationships, sexuality, and some very real concerns about your identity. One could say that your mind is obsessively focused with the parental dynamic in your life."


"Through it all, you manage and have managed, with great creativity, to build a name for yourself through your career. I am sure that people see you as being unique, special, ultra prominent on your level. But there is this tendency to overdo things in terms of your need to present yourself in a unique way. It contributes to the upsets that you have in relationships. Your accomplishments and achievements are noteworthy. But we need to get underneath the public persona and begin our discussion today with your parents, with the formative years of development."


There was no mention of a planet, Sign, House, or aspect. There was no mention of anything trivial. There were no "report writer" statements. What was addressed is central to the life's development. It was not an exercise in how much I know about astrology. This is modern, humanistic astrology discussing a real life through the reflection of astrological symbols. The great majority of people in the mainstream of society have no clue that astrology is capable of this kind of analysis.


Here is yet another real life story example. A baby girl is born to ambitious parents in an upper middle class environment. Her parents are public servants who go on to become extremely prominent politicians. Through all of it, her father, a very charming man, proves to be quite unfaithful to her mother. In fact, he is so unfaithful that his affairs come before the public and threaten his status in the world. This, of course, makes the relationship between the parents disastrous. Nevertheless, there are no financial worries. The family becomes wealthy and they exist through all of these tensions. This, of course, is a description of Chelsea Clinton.


Think about Chelsea's story. Imagine being in her shoes, especially during the, "I didn't have sex with that woman," "I did have sex with that woman," period of time in her life. What must that have been like for a young girl? What are the possible effects? For starters, we would expect concerns of trust in relationships that probably manifests sexually in an over or under-compensatory manner. The tensions from the formative years of development, even through the late teens would fill her with deep-seated concerns that she would need to resolve within in order to be productive with others, especially on an intimate level. These and many other concerns are likely to exist within Chelsea. So when she goes to an astrologer, that astrologer had better address these concerns because they are key to who she is. Her horoscope reflects all of this very clearly. It is up to the astrologer to be able to see it and communicate it clearly in English like humans communicate, not like a computer prints out a report.





Through the methodology explained in my book, you can look at Chelsea's horoscope and see that there is a suggestion of unfinished business from the formative years of development (lower hemisphere emphasis) centered upon her father (Saturn retrograde), that caused many upsets within the home (quindeciles in the parental axis). We see a strong maternal influence upon her strong sense of individuality (the Moon squaring the Nodal Axis coupled with an unaspected Uranus). Her horoscope shows that these tensions are likely to manifest in difficult relationship perspectives that will couple with difficulties giving and receiving love (Pluto opposing Venus in the 5-11 axis with Venus ruling the 7th House). There is an uncertainty of worth in relationship to giving love (Neptune in the 2nd House ruling the 5th House), clearly related to the parental tension (focal point of T-square squaring the Saturn-Mercury opposition in the parental axis). There is also a suggestion of a tendency to depression seen through this that manifests in questions about how lovable she is, how attractive she is to others (Mercury rules the 11th House). And there is more. The point is that all of these astrological parts, the positions of the planets in Signs and Houses with their aspects, begin to say the same thing over and over again, all relating to a central theme that is the person's process of becoming.


In a consultation setting, a holistic approach to communicating Chelsea's horoscope to her might proceed in this way: "Chelsea, the first impression of your horoscope suggests and emphasizes the formative years of your development in relationship to your parents. While it is clear that your mother has a powerful influence upon your individuality, the unresolved tensions within you center upon your father and the upsets in the home that have occurred in relationship to him. Your horoscope suggests that these tensions have impacted you in terms of your sense of esteem, in terms of the perspectives that you have regarding relationships and sexuality, and how you see yourself in terms of being lovable."


Do you see how the astrology is developed as a reflection of the life that a person is actually living and has lived? We KNOW that a difficult childhood is likely to manifest in self-worth concerns. We don't need astrology to know that but we should expect to see it in the horoscope when the life's reality supports it. When we bring the symbolisms of the horoscope to the life of a person, we give life to the symbols in terms of the life that has been lived. It's not, "Chelsea, you have the Sun in the 4th House so your home is very important to you," It isn't, "With the Moon in the 9th House, you change your philosophy all the time." Again, these are report writer statements, not descriptions of a person's life path.


A horoscope is a reflective portrait of a life being lived, not a map of what a person is fated to experience. No matter how much astrology is learned, it must always, always be applied helpfully to the life being lived, to a person's process of becoming. Doing so makes you a better astrologer and gives your clients, friends, and family a sense of fulfillment because your skill illuminated the most important concerns of the life they have lived.
Basil Fearrington,
Astrologer
Basil Fearrington is the author of "The New Way To Learn Astrology." He has been a professional astrologer for 22 years.


Basil's articles have appeared in the leading astrological publications around the world. He was the Inaugural Chairman for the MilleyDome project in Johannesburg, South Africa and taught astrology there for one year.


Basil has twice been a faculty member of UAC and spoke at Astro 2000. In addition to his work in astrology, Basil is a professional musician who has toured with and/or recorded for artists such as Stevie Wonder and George Benson.


He was on a team of composers who did the music for a network show called "New York Undercover." The same team won a Grammy award in 1980.




bfearr@aol.com



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