The Inner Sky: How to Make Wiser Choices for a More Fulfilling Life

Astrology is like that. It is a map. It describes the terrain of the human mind. But the map is not the territory. To really experience what the astrological mind map represents, we need to lace up our boots and start exploring. We must put the birthchart away and confront the mind itself. There is no other way. Staring at the chart gets us nowhere

Woven into the compass rose, the cartographer had written the words, The Map Is Not the Territory.

Growth and change are the lifeblood of their philosophy. To them, the north node, with its emphasis on potentials and possibilities, is the most important symbol on the birthchart. Everything else – signs, planets, houses – are the means. The north node is the end.

What we are getting at is this: In comparing the south node of the moon to the birthchart as a whole, we determine what particular tensions exist between all that the person “has done before” and what he or she is attempting to accomplish with the present chart.

the moon’s south node is a symbol of the time before the birth and its impact on a person’s subsequent development. It can be viewed as a symbol of one’s karma – one’s residual personality left over from previous physical incarnations – or as a clue to the formative pressures brought on us by our hereditary or genetic background. Either way, the so

What focalizers help us do is to organize our approach to the planets. They tell us which phrases are most vividly present in an individual’s character, and which ones play secondary roles. All we seek in determining focalizers is a sense of priorities. Of these eight phrases, which ones are cornerstones? With which ones is the person most strongly

The stellium itself becomes the focalizer, and the needs of that sign or the events of that house become dominant features in the individual’s experience.

Analyzing the ruler of the ascendant is usually a straightforward procedure. We begin by approaching it as we would any other bit. Understand its operation in terms of sign and house. Recognize any aspects it forms to other planets, especially to the primal triad. Then take the interpretation one step further: emphasize that the functions you have

From an evolutionary viewpoint, the ascendant advises us about how best to organize a social personality for ourselves, one that works well for us, giving us a sense of poise and grace, a sense of “centeredness.”