Community Spirit, March 2018

Yet, cultural frameworks and universal recipes are less and less convincing to
modern men and women who are drawn towards self-realization and individuation.
They no longer seem to work, at least not for everyone. ‘Find a well-paid job, buy a
house, have children and you will be happy!’ Not necessarily. Your journey may be
focused on so many different roles in so many different areas of life. What about
personal vocation, for example? This certainly doesn't mean the same thing for
everybody. For some, it’s a specific career, for others – a kind of service to the
community or participation in a group cause. Yet for others, it is the development
and expression of a skill or talent. And in some cases, equally valuable, vocation
lies in homemaking and the raising of children. There can be as many options as
there are people on this planet. And that’s what’s confusing.
Approaching from such a philosophical angle the day-to-day issues and demands of
the stressful and competitive times we live in may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Digging deep in search for answers to pressing personal problems can be scary and
too impractical for most people who are looking for quick resolutions and concrete
recipes to alleviate their emotional pain. Anything that helps simply keep them
functional and in constant motion. Anything that ensures efficient action, but does
not demand change. Why overcomplicate things when they are already
complicated enough?! Because oversimplification can be even more destructive in
the long run…
So, in our search for inner balance and fulfilment, a realization starts to emerge -
that an individual path is to be sought. One that calls for self-discovery and deeper
knowledge of our individual make-up. It also means a renewed sense of relatedness
to everything that surrounds us, so we can find our place in the ‘big play of life’.
Something that will make us see more clearly what our individual role in that play
is, without confusing it with somebody else’s. A starting point for forming a
strategy and vision.
The study of astrology, and the personal birth chart, in particular, can be a way to
orient ourselves in the mess of clashing inner moods, complex human relationships
and the very common tendency to sabotage ourselves by adopting lifestyle
practices that are completely incompatible with our own nature. It is only one of a
myriad of possible ways. But to me, astrology is the most comprehensive, allencompassing
and person-specific tool for psychological analysis.