Though astrological wisdom extends far beyond the psychological realm, it can be used to facilitate and to greatly accelerate psychological therapy and healing. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the way in which astrology was used to facilitate the healing of a client whom I will call Grace. Grace made great headway with the challenges that she was facing, moving quickly through the tangled web of impressions that was preventing her from feeling whole and empowered in her life. When Grace came to me for hypnotherapy, she looked very thin and had a long history of anorexia and bulimia. At one point in her adult life, she weighed only 69 pounds. At the beginning of her therapy with me, she weighed 102 pounds, and showed up for all of her sessions wearing blue jeans and a blue plaid flannel shirt. (This was somewhat surprising, since Grace had a lot of money.) Her hair was very short. She usually shrank from physical contact and ran into the room before I could hug her. Working with Grace revealed that she had a deep dislike of being a woman. This was a bit surprising, since she has Venus, the planet that rules her "inner woman," conjunct her rising sign. Planets conjunct the rising sign or in the first house are usually planets with which we identify very strongly. Grace identified very strongly with her first house Mars, her "inner male." She had driven a motorcycle for years, and wore very boyish clothing. Her early relationships with her father and brother had been very difficult and abusive, and she shied away from any contact with men. Grace has Venus in the first house squared by Saturn in the ninth house, indicating that she came into this life with a belief system (ninth house) that was too limiting or negative. In this case, due to the square to Venus, her Saturn (a planet that sometimes controls things to excess) sought to control all of her feelings by judging them. Grace was cut off from much of the energy of her Venus due to a belief system that said that her feelings were wrong or should be repressed or ignored, a belief that her father, brother, and grandmother had instilled in her through their cold and critical behavior. Grace also has Mercury squaring the moon, so her mind tended to say one thing and her feelings another. When we began working together, Grace favored her mind over her feelings. Her ninth house Saturn continually passed judgment on her feelings or refused to acknowledge that they existed. This did not support her in fully identifying with her Venus, the planet that could have helped her to define herself as a woman and to know what she really felt. In The Development of the Personality by Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas, Howard discusses the early developmental phases of childhood and the planets and aspects that rule these phases. (My book, The Astrology of the Inner Family, gives a more detailed explanation of these phases.) According to Howard, the planet Venus rules the third developmental phase of childhood, often referred to as the Oedipal phase. During this phase, the child's experiences determine its sexual identification. Venus also rules the fifth and last developmental phase of childhood, adolescence. Erik Erickson, a well-known therapist and hypnotherapist, identified the key developmental task for the child in adolescence as "identity vs. role confusion." The Saturn/Venus square in Grace's chart indicated that at least one of these areas was quite stressed for her. It later became apparent that adolescence had been very confusing and difficult for Grace, resulting in much identity and role confusion. Continuous criticism from her father and her brother caused her to distrust what she felt. She felt very alone and isolated in her family of origin. Grace's Saturn/Venus square indicated that her karmic need was to learn to fully love and accept herself and her feelings. It revealed that part of Grace's spiritual path was to define for herself what it meant to be a woman. It indicated that she would not be able to use her mother as a role model for being a woman as many women do. Grace and I worked together for five hours per week over the course of a year. During this period, a past-life regression revealed a truly awful life in which she was captured and sold to a sadistic man who made her his "sex slave." He kept her in chains and beat her regularly. She finally refused to eat, and managed to escape. She died of starvation shortly after the escape. This life seemed to play a key role in Grace's fear of men as well as her fear of being a woman and looking attractive. After we had worked extensively on healing the fears from this past lifetime, and healing Grace's early childhood traumas, I explained to Grace about the meaning of the Venus/Saturn square in her chart. Over the course of time, Grace began to reclaim her Venus. She was able to use the information about her Venus/Saturn square, along with the other information about her chart, as a guideline for opening more fully to experiencing and expressing herself as a woman. Grace has the moon in Leo in her seventh house. The moon is the planet that rules feelings. It also tells a lot about one's early relationship with one's mother. Often we project planets in the seventh house onto other people. We need to fully own the energies of our seventh-house planets. In Grace's case, she needed to own her feelings and to claim the mothering, nurturing role for herself. With the help of hypnotherapy, she developed her own loving inner mother, bought a soft teddy bear, and spent a lot of time nurturing her inner child. Grace now freely shares her feelings and feels comfortable nurturing others. She ended a highly abusive relationship and is feeling more and more empowered. She also opened to a much deeper connection with Spirit. Astrology played a very important role in her healing process, as it helped me to know how to talk with her during her hypnotherapy sessions. Astrology is truly a profound tool that can accelerate the healing journey we all must go through by clarifying and defining the major issues and challenges we are facing. In the hands of someone who understands the psychological and spiritual implications of an astrological chart, it can provide a powerful and very important complement to any therapeutic situation. Nancy Kahn has 24 years of experience as a professional astrologer. She is also a clinical hypnotherapist and past life regressionist. Nancy's goal is to empower all of her clients to express their highest potentials and gifts, and to identify and move past the challenges that are holding them back. She can be reached at (206) 284-1143, or visit <http://members.aol.com/Nancykahn>. |
Astrology is a powerful and very helpful tool when used to facilitate emotional and spiritual healing. It can help to identify the core psychological issues and challenges that one must work through in order to progress along one's spiritual path. It can also assist people in moving into their soul's true purpose and acknowledging all of their strengths and gifts.