What Your Astrologer
Doesn’t tell You~ What is “beneath the veil” in the astrologer’s art?
“When
an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate.” C.G.
Jung
What
doesn’t your astrologer tell you? What doesn’t your doctor tell you? Or your car
mechanic? They tell you as much as they think it would be good for you to hear
or what—in their judgment—is best for them or you to know. It’s a little tricky
at times.
Most
astrologers do their best and I’m not implying that there is some gypsy fortune
telling going on “beneath the veil” of astrology, but I am saying that there’s
a lot more under the hood of your car than your mechanic has the time or
inclination to tell you about. And doctors? Well, you tell me. Most of us
search for a doctor who will listen to our unique story and not give us the
same old answer we received last time.
We
also don’t want astrologers who assume all Jupiter transits are good and all
Saturn transits bad. We don’t want astrologers who are super-technical geeks
(they should be computer programmers!) and, who like “bad husbands”~grin~ don’t
listen to you.
What
your astrologer doesn’t tell you is that you and your astrologer are going to
be exploring the unconscious together—yikes!—and he is hoping that “the
gods” of this realm are going to be with you both at the time of your session.
He or she is wondering how deep you want to go in these waters. Believe me, if
you have a really good astrologer, then he or she is going to be almost as
anxious as you are…and most astrologers won’t tell you that, because sometimes
the gods speak through us, and sometimes they don’t. You will be swimming
together in deep waters where ethics and truth-telling and compassionate
listening are crucial.
***
So
with that in mind, the first unveiling of what astrologers don’t always
tell you—is the hard part of the Truth: your shadow, the repressed
unconscious part of you that’s contributing to your problems. Astrologers
struggle with how much of this to share, and most won’t do too much talking
about this on your first reading with them~or you’re likely not to come back!
The
shadow is like the dragon we see here in this print, as the woman sees the
reflection of her negativity—the dragon—in the mirror. We see—and project—these
annoying “dragons” onto other people, but it’s harder to see it in ourselves.
This is the area where you are somewhat responsible for the difficulties
in your life, and it relates to the problematic question you’ve brought to the
astrologer. It’s what Carl Jung called the unconscious shadow and it’s often your
unknowing complicity in the problem you’ve brought to the astrologer. It’s
about where you are wounded. Can you learn to love it? Can you learn to feel
the compassion for yourself that you see in this painting of the dragon and
maiden?
Most
astrologers don’t want to poke at your wounds but rather want to encourage you
like a coach. If he dwells on what you’re possibly doing wrong you’ll regret
having paid good money for an uncomfortable session, and you may end up in a
defensive mode. Most people say they want the Truth but what they really want
is to be affirmed and to know more so that they can make better
decisions—this is fine, and is truly enough for many readings. But the
deeper problem may not be explored. This is where your knowing of yourself
and of astrology gives you an advantage. You can dare to look at your shadow
(in the mirror) by looking at Saturn, Pluto, and the South Node in your chart,
and pondering their meaning by sign and house. You can also look to what may be
hidden in the 12th house. If you’re fairly new to astrology you’ll
understand the last few sentences better in the next few chapters.
Sharon
Russell, an artist from Ojai, California, painted the “shadow dragon” as a
series of dragon pictures—and in the one we see here, the “dragon” is finally
understood, and accepted; there is a feeling of great compassion here. The
dragon and the maiden are in an embrace, and she has stopped negating and
rejecting the dragon because she realizes that he is a part of herself that she
has not loved. This is my favorite painting in the series, but you can find the
whole dragon-shadow story in Sharon’s book: “Innocence to Wholeness.” ~Elizabeth Spring elizabethspring@aol.com
