A client calls for a consultation and among the important worldly concerns is a feeling of non-participation in a spiritual relationship. The degree of the feeling of lack of spiritual connectedness is important to determine. Often it will have originated in a split from the ordained religion of the family. The reasons for this disconnection will be personal and also to do with the decline of numinosity in the religion itself. There are many occasions on which the individual needs to go back to the origins, the roots of the religion to discover if there is any remnant within it that might offer understanding, if not belief.


People who come out of old, established orthodox religions such as the Roman Catholic church, Judaism, Muslim and all sects of those have the most difficult time in this culture because the god is detached, punitive and separate from the world and its activities. The advent of the sky-gods was long ago, and is mythologically associated with Zeus, who arrived from 'the north' bringing thunderbolts and war. . . demolishing the earth religions within a couple of centuries.


Sky gods are not merciful, nor are they mutable - they find the life-forms on earth inferior and imperfect - mortal, in other words. Spirituality has little to do with dogma or what the Greeks called doxa - opinions. There are 'right opinions' - ortho-doxa, then, there are 'other opinions' - heterodoxa. And, so are people along with it. Seeking out soul through astrological symbols means wading through the orthodoxies of astrology to find the sophia - the truth - after all, astrology also is a system along with all systems and its orthodoxies will evolve with the times, as they have and will continue to do.

Extricating one's own personal path from the organized defined paths is the work at hand.


Sky gods and earth matters

Traditionally, the planet Jupiter is associated with religion and beliefs along with the ninth house and, archetypally, the sign of Sagittarius. Jupiter was the 'old' ruler of the twelfth house and Pisces, but since 1846 Neptune has been assigned matters of spirituality, thence the twelfth house and archetypally, the sign Pisces. Now, Jupiter remains on as the holder of dogma and the knowledge of religions but Neptune more aptly acts as a symbol for the ineffable and transcendent which underlies the soulful longing for the experience of the divine. As the River Lethe was in the myth of Er, Neptune is the amnesia of the soul, and the degree of amnesia one has, is the degree of soulful distress found underlying the horoscopic symbol. It is not enough to analyze only Neptune and Jupiter and their realms in the natal horoscope, because they are not the whole. We need to understand as much of the human as well as the divine. The split between soul and body needs to be healed through the archetypes in the horoscope which includes all planets, signs, aspects and house positions.


If we were to call Neptune 'spirituality', then we would be committing the Cartesian sin - singling out a particle, acknowledging its separateness from the whole and declaring it independent. Spiritual soul is not separate from matter, thus, we need to explore how it is integrated, not how to 'find' it somewhere out there, and catch it and put it inside. We need to find spiritual integrity as it is, within the whole of the self. The spiritual path is just part of life's journey, without burning bushes, thunderbolts or heavenly stairways leading to biblical skies.


Thus, a point of origin on the quest for spirituality through the horoscope might begin with the way Neptune is configured, and secondarily how Jupiter figures into the chart, thence to all the other arrayed planets and their interrelationships. Neptune's placement is the point of oblivion to previous soul experiences, and its involvement with the rest of the planetary array says a lot about the degree to which recall of soul-life is possible.


Some individuals with the Sun, Mercury, Venus and the Moon in aspect (any aspect) to Neptune have powerful longings to return to the blissful, undifferentiated state of pure soul. I find that these people are the ones who are most terribly disappointed with the mundane aspect of life, but by that very characteristic simply must find soulfulness in their ordinariness and in the plod of daily work and life routines.


From the tomb of the womb

Full circle, from the tomb of the womb to the womb of the tomb, we come: an ambiguous, enigmatical incursion into a world of solid matter that is soon to melt from us, like the substance of a dream.

Joseph Campbell.

From this viewpoint, Neptune in the horoscope is the River Lethe - it is the point of passage from soul to womb to body, hence it holds memory of our archetypal past, our intrauterine experience and the shock of birth.


Whatever our own personal 'enigmatical incursion' is, our soul both is enveloped in and surrounds that path. Hence, soul is within and without, and our capacity to recall our soul's intent may or may not be overwhelmingly conscious. It takes work and recollection to bring the soul's intent into consciousness. Socrates called the process of a philosophic life anamnesis, which simply means recollection - or more literally, against forgetfulness.


The myriad methods of anamnesis are all quite valid - there is only one spiritual truth, but it is manifest in as many ways as there are people to recollect and express it. A highly configured or prominent placement of Neptune in the chart amplifies the desire, the longing for reconnection to the divine, and the planets or angles that are involved with Neptune are the agencies for recollection.


This requires more work on anamnesis than a 'relaxed' Neptune, or one that isn't assigned huge or personal tasks in the natal chart. As I said earlier, the more contacts Neptune has from the personal planets the more likely the person is to have drunk too deeply - hence, the overwhelming desire to go back to that place of ouroboric unity with the divine, and find it.


Because birth itself is shocking and painful and Neptune holds the memory of birth-trauma in its point in the chart, it means that penetrating the bodily/psychic pain of the birth - the loss of the divine unity - is also part of the twelfth house work


Twelfth house planets are implicated in the loss of soul-memory, too, thus the tendency for individuals to go inordinate lengths to recollect the soul's purpose - usually by focussing on the agency of the planet(s) that are in the twelfth house. (8)


But, by focussing consciously or unconsciously on the Neptune/twelfth house condition, we are not recollecting . . . we are responding to the forgetfulness, but not recalling the purpose.
Anima mundi - soulful life on earth


This is all in aid of finding our life-path on the planet and experiencing the infusion of soul simultaneously. Ideally, the world soul and the human soul are entwined. . .and as we sleep, eat, work, argue, play, falter, arise, and simply live, we are fulfilling the soul's path; conversely, our life-path will also define our soul's intent. Discomfort with soul path results in a somatic condition, where the twelfth house soul-call is not heard, and it then polarizes into the body and becomes a symptom, symbolized in the sixth house.


Symptoms are often related to soul-sickness, and discomfort, disease and illness become a means of soul-retrieval. To blame an individual for his or her own illness, however, is simply not on, because we are now in a time of endemic global symptoms which enter individuals regardless of their psychological and spiritual health. Some of us are victims of the collective loss of soul (for example, HIV and all immuno-deficiency illnesses and most cancers are related to the loss of systemic ecological balance on the planet). However, within this global codicil on illnesses, each of us will manifest the collective ills in our own personal way.


Now, back to soul-searching. . . because the horoscope is a unique array of planetary agencies, all demanding participation in the psyche, we need to consider our life-path as part of the soul-path. Therefore, there is nothing more spiritual about arranging meals-on-wheels for shut-ins than selling real estate. Nor is there less spiritual value in merchant banking than there is working for the disenfranchised. But, there could be - it depends on the underlying motive, the intent of the work.


Altruism, at best, helps others just a bit more than one's own self - at worst it is just another vehicle for the ego. So, one cannot measure soul by activities. When talking about a chart to a client, I tend to try to uncover the degree to which the person finds excitement, passion, interest and value in their life-work, whether it is child-rearing, managing a shopping centre or serving as an analyst or therapist. If there is a fairly even balance between the stressors of the 'work' and the imagination and good-will that the work generates, I tend to think the person is spiritually sound.


Some astrological signatures for pondering


This doesn't mean that the horoscope doesn't indicate how the individual can more effectively process the world-split and their own split. In part, we look at the planet Neptune and the condition of the twelfth house for the 'calling', or the obligation to the collective from a personal viewpoint. People with a strong Neptune need to be aware that they can be so overly desirous of spirituality that they can accept substitutes for soul - drugs, stimulation, distractions, sleep, compulsive relationships and so on, thereby fulfilling the amnesis, the forgetful part of the path. They might think spirituality is found in the seeking of it. It is not, it is found in the doing.


And the doing is found in the totality of the horoscope - not one single unit of it.


We mentioned Jupiter as an agency for religious expression of soulful longing - and thus, it should be considered in relation to other natal planets. A strongly configured or singleton retrograde Jupiter signals the astrologer that there are a lot of notions about how spirituality should be expressed. Ideally, a 'good' Jupiter is a free-thinking, unbiased philosophy, but that is hard to achieve when social, cultural and familial wisdom is overwhelming. Jupiter's role in seeking earthly methods of containing the divine is not to be underrated!


Squares and oppositions to Jupiter are a flag that there may be a lot of ideology attached to spiritual longing, and the anxiety about not being spiritual can block or stifle the creative spirit toward true soul recollection. This individual needs to talk through and understand his or her need to contain spiritual longings in an ideological vessel, replete with dogma and concepts. That is normal - what might not be healthy, however, is the underlying motive for the particular vehicle - be it a cult, science or religion.
In this way, delving into the motive - the psychic underlying cause - behind the particular conscious choice of spiritual vehicle will help tease out which is the 'real' spiritual thrust, and which is the mind overwhelming the soul with its ideas. In other word, what is an experience and what is a concept - the two things that differentiate a numinous experience from a worldly concept.


The earthy parts of ourself find a great sense soul and peace doing things of the world - practical, helpful, organized activities promote a sense living a calm, soulful life. Our earth ruled houses, as well as the natural earth houses are areas in which we can find great satisfaction - Saturn and Venus (the Taurean Venus) as well as the Virgo-Mercury are the main earth planets. Saturn has a major role, here, being the only single ruling earth planet, so its task is to embody all things.


The airy, mercurial parts of our charts symbolically point to reaching spirit through movement, action, relationship and sharing. Finding inspirational reading, teachings and exemplars/models are important in achieving a sense of peace-in-the-world, just as well as the inner search. Being 'out there' and dynamic with personality is also part of soul-work. The houses that we have air ruling, as well as the three natural air houses hint to where we will find the most intellectually and spiritually stimulating material. The Gemini-Mercury, Uranus and the socialized Venus (Libra ruled) are the planets to look to for understanding the social, extroverted path to recollecting soul-purpose.


The most interior and spiritually restless signs and symbols are found in the watery regions of the chart. It is there we swim from one pond to another, and suffer empathic global anxiety - Weltschmertz - world pain. Paradoxically the greatest solace and soulful gratification comes through the water houses and houses ruled by water signs (and planets therein). Planets such as the Moon, Neptune and Pluto fall into this deep, soulful interior search, along with the fourth, eighth and twelfth houses. There reside our dreaming and imagination, the soul and its deep recesses. Soulful things like music, poetry and rhythmic movements, rituals and prayers are yet another link to our memory.


It is the fiery parts of us, the animated and questing houses where inspiration simply must be externally activated - here, and in the houses that are ruled by fire signs and contain planets like our Sun, Mars and Jupiter, soul-work becomes active, extroverted and playful - experimental too. Wildness and will, power and stamina, courage and innovation are vital agents in the quest for soul - there is nothing about soul that says one cannot seek it loudly or actively!


When our parts are at one, there is a sense of smoothness, calm and peace, as if all parts are running well together. . . spiritual peace is not a quantity of power, but a quality of power. And, from this place, there appears to be no single way, but a myriad of ways - indeed, if we really are 'all one', then it stands to reason that the 'one is all', as well.

Endnotes for "Recollecting our Soul"

1. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. pp. 10 - 11. passim. Mircea Eliade. Harvest/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, London/NY. 1959.

2. Republic. Plato. pg.. 371. para 614a. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press. Classics. 1994.

3. Ibid. op. cit. p. 379. para. 621b.

4. from: A Vision of the Last Judgment. para. 130. composed in 1810. Selected Poetry and Prose. Ed. David Punter. Routledge. London. 1988

5. The Second Coming. fr. third line in the poem, composed in 1921. W.B. Yeats. fr. The Collected Yeats. Papermac edition. MacMillan Publishers. London/Basingstoke. 1982

6. The Moment of Astrology. Geoffrey Cornelius. First Edition, Arkana, CAS. 1992.

7. The Hero With a Thousand Faces. p. 12. Joseph Campbell. Bollingen Series XVII. 1949.

8. The Astrology of Family Dynamics. page 170 - 180. Erin Sullivan. First Edition, Arkana, CAS. 1992. Now with: Samuel Weiser, Inc. York Beach, Maine. 2001.