Celestial bodies in our solar system do not affect our life.Physical phenomena like light and gravitation are the exceptions. Mars as a astronomical object has nothing to do with our health (at least until we colonise it), and is completely indifferent to the human blood vessels, or wars, or energy level.

Why do we still consider that the planets above “rule” our “fate”?
Because “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate” (C.G.Jung)

Astrology works not because the human functions according to the stars, but because the human organised the stars according to themself.

Our body has the general anatomy, a homo sapiens prototype. Likewise, our psyche has its own anatomy. We perceive the world on its basis: we hear with our ears, smell with our noses and feel with the feeling function of our psyche.

Take math. All numerical systems of the ancients were created on the basis of either number of fingers or phalanges. But the very notion of a “number”, as well as the need to count and measure the world, is purely psychic. This need is genetic, but immaterial. We, Jungians, call it “archetypal”. All kind of science developed from this archetypal need for measurement. Astronomy deals with the cycles and movements of celestial bodies, while astrology deals with the cycles and movements of human psyche. Astrology works for the same reason that psychology does. It is a study of archetypal psychic contents and their [algo]rhythms. Astrology is a more ancient kind of anthropology. It is a comprehensive tutorial on physiology of human spirit. The ancients apparently spent quite some time investigating their own nature of mind: how it functions, what is the relationship between its “organs”; developing its the dynamic map.

And like every living creature on this Earth, a human being has their own cyclic biorhythms, unravelling in time, therefore it made perfect sense to “assign” the movements of celestial bodies to the inner processes.

Therefore, astrology is a product of a very deep self-research. In this sense, modern depth psychology has a long way to go if it wants to catch up with the vastness and depth of astrological knowledge. Unfortunately, we do not possess the same level of insight as did those who created astrology. This is why astrology appears mystical to us. And this is also why we’re doing an amazing job in misinterpreting it. Astrology is difficult to navigate, and I, as a contemporary analytic astrolger doesn’t pretend to navigate it on the level of an ancient sage. But I do my best to be a mindful astrologer; and a mindful astrologer is anthropologist, a person who’s research on anatomy and physiology of human soul never stops. Otherwise, astrology becomes “table-turning seance”, and a pretty dogmatic one.

In times, when we have direct access to countless tools of self-knowledge and search for one’s path (yet ignoring them all the same), the act of knowing oneself stops being revolutionary, and  becomes a necessary hygiene procedure. Self-knowledge as an act of directing one’s attention towards the unknown parts of yourself, is a psychic/somatic clean-up. French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet once said: "dirt is the element out of its place”. There’s nothing wrong or pointless or inherently “bad” inside of us. We do not need to be fixed, cured or converted. But what we do need is a re-arrangement. A feeling that’s out of its place, repressed in the dark, becomes a toxin. A fixed idea that’s out of its place, sitting on throne of our attention, becomes a toxin. Hormones and neurotransmitters that are out of their place, become toxins. And the toxins are destructive for the ecosystem. Especially, when disposed without being recycled.

Likewise, a person out of their place becomes toxic. And when a substance, feeling or person becomes toxic, is when the violence begins. Have you ever seen a perfectly realised and satisfied person passionately punching another person in the face? (apart from kickboxing, sure).

The only real method to stop violence is to give the parts of the (eco)system to come home to where they belong. Only then the “organ” becomes organic. But if we pretend to intellectually comprehend, what this organic order should look like, we do not stop the violence, but breed it further.

Only when we start to listen – truly, gently, with all attentiveness and care – to the deep necessities of our bodies, minds and hearts, only then the violence will start giving in.
 

Two important remarks:

1. being “on the right place” doesn’t mean to be always pro-creative, because without destruction no (eco)system can survive.

2. there can even be no visible or recognisable “whole” or “system” those organic parts belong to – organs without body.

When I talk about “organic place”, I do not mean the Cosmic Order or the Place in The Circle of Life. Because any perfectly completed system with a predisposed order is doomed. A closed matrix with a given algorythm necessarily comes to stagnation and dies. This is why, spare us, Universe Almighty, from those therapists, ecologists and political strategists, who pretend to know where the “natural place of all things” is.

Because it is not even a place.
It is an ever-changing state of movement. The taoists and Buddhists knew their math before the European paradigm conquered us all with its stagnant “Universal Harmony”.

When we try to find our “place in the Sun” (or Saturn) as some fixed coordinate in a predisposed unchangeable system, we squeeze our Being in the box. Or a mathimatical matrix with no development. The very idea of a fixed “Cosmic Order” can thus be violent. By the way, Hitler has fulfilled his astrological chart pretty well, and was obsessed with the idea of getting sh*t right in accordance with the perfect fundamental Order (Star Wars’ First Order suddenly comes to my mind).

If you want a good animated illustration of what I’m trying to say about mechanical approach to the meaning and purpose of life, watch Soul (2020) or Ergo Proxy (2006), depending on your personal preferences: the former is simple, short and cute; the latter is a pure intellectual gore to your eyes and brains (purely genius though!). We are no mechanisms to have a defined “raison d’être” that serves a purpose in the “substantial whole”.

We, especially we Europeans, do love to brag about “Universal Order” of all things. But our Universe expands and changes every second, according to what scientists tell us. Therefore we say about its “parts of the whole” only conditionally. Because there is no fixed whole. Any “existing” system, be it an ecosystem, society, body, psyche or Universe, is an ever-changing thing that cannot be completely defined. Therefore I call its “organic parts” I mentioned earlier – “organs without body” (I know that Žižek did it first, so I’m not taking about his interpretation, even though it’s somewhat close).

Gilles Deleuze spoke of the body without organs – a virtual potential of every system or a “body” to be changing, creative, insane, undefined. I am, however, talking about the organs without body – conditional parts that can temporarily constellate in a form of a “body”, as a virtual whole. Like a shoal of a fish, that has no defined borders, changes its directions and consists of separate fishes that temporarily aligned.

But If the “whole” is not really something that we can pin down as even “existing”, how do we talk about its parts being on their own “organic place”?
If I were a white-bearded zen master, I’d tell you to look for answers in the ocean.
But I'm no zen master.
 

So, if there’s no “whole”, how do we even speak of its parts and their organic place? How do we know where’s the right place for us? Wouldn’t it be better to say: to hell with all that “purpose of life” bullsh… gobbledygook; and just live one’s life like there’s no tomorrow?

The answer is: it definitely would!

With a tiny little mini elaboration on that: you won’t be able to be truly satisfied in what you do unless you feel a deeper value of it, which is born out of love to what/how/with whom you do it.

You can compare it with sex: a fast distracted handiwork or a quickie with a person you don’t really feel for is incomparable with a deep penetration and engaging all of your erogenous zones with a person you love. It’s the job of the psychotherapist, astrologer or any other depth work specialist to help you to switch on all the “G-spots” of your life.
 

Our brain is a meaning-making machine, it organises our experience according to the meaning and value of different events. The problem is, we often misinterpret “meaning-making” as nailing it down to a very concrete activity, thing or person. It is indeed crucial to ground one’s inner experience with the outer one, being an indicator of psychological maturity. One thing is to know what you love, but we shall also understand how to organise our time, resources and attention in order to manifest it concretely.

But it is precisely why the so-called “purpose” is so beautiful and intriguing in its nature – it’s dynamic, ever-changing, and once we concretise it, it demands further development. If we approach our “purpose” without this readiness for further development, our life becomes a series of fails. “Oh my god, my then-dream job now bores me to death!” or “Why couldn’t our marriage stay the same as 20 years ago!”.

Heavy spoilers to “Soul” (2020) ahead!
Do you remember that moment, when Joe walks out of the club after rocking his first big gig he dreamt about for his entire life? Instead of being satisfied he feels completely empty. He finally realises that being attached to his own “purpose” as a fixed idea of a very particular thing, he nearly killed off his own Soul and the Soul of his protegé. Under his influence, 22nd becomes a lost Soul, fixed on nailing down her purpose instead of living it. The movie ends with the realisation that the “permission to live” is granted not when they find a proper activity that “fits”, but when they find joy for it.

Our “purpose” isn’t written down in a book; neither we find it pinned down in our astrological chart. There’s no Cosmic Order in which we’re obliged to “fit in” like the good little puzzle piece. A good astrologer is not the one who knows what Mars in 10th house stands for and is eager to tell you have to become a cook or join the military, but the one who helps you to find the voice of your own love.

In a sense what we, astrologers and psychologists, do, is guiding you towards your own “hall of everything”, so you can find what hits THE spot.
Because only when we feel that connection to that longing and joy in you, is when we’re all ready to live.

Acknowledging the physical reality

Embodiment starts with seemingly simple things, which nowadays are at high risk of becoming the most difficult. That is: acknowledging your physical reality. “Being in one’s body” doesn’t necessarily mean doing a split or having ripped abs. It starts from acknowledging, noticing, registering, tasting, recognising. Those are not simply mental operations I’m talking about here. Embodiment means recognition of the reality, recognition of what is required here-and-now. Are you thirsty, do you need more water? Is it time you change your body position?
And then it extends to whatever surrounds your body. Is the air in the room stale? Is there too much dust? Does your car needs cleaning?
And then it extends even further. How healthy is the air in my town? Does this garbage belong here? Am I aware of the toxic emissions in my area? Recognising the cycles of nature also belongs to the basics of embodiment. Is it the right time of the day/month/year to do what you’re doing?

To me, ecology and embodiment are close to being the same thing. They both deal with the right time and space, those basic physical dimensions, for doing what we do.

Even professional dancers can live dissociated from this basic physicality time to time. We might try to train a separate group of muscles, completely unaware of how much pollution we absorb from our own apartment. Pursuing the goal of apparent “embodiment” in training, we might forget to drink clean water, to have enough sleep, to empty the stinky garbage bin.

Communication with physical reality is the first and very fundamental step towards embodiment. Communication requires relatedness. And relatedness requires courage to give in. Relatedness is something different from pursuing the goal or hunting the enemy down (whether this “enemy” is a rival, addiction or unwanted fat tissue). To be “related”, to become one family with the body, means to respect the time, the space, the situation and other bodies involved. To have a clear sensation of what is needed at this exact moment. Those are the things they don't train in fitness centres.
 

One might say it requires a high amount of vigilance, but awareness doesn't equate vigilance. Also, you cannot muscle your way to embodiment – there's nothing to do but to dwell in it. The real discipline of body and mind relies upon surrender and registration rather than "doing" something. Being embodied is simply to give the right answer to life in the right moment. But, as one of my teachers, Imre Thormann, likes to say: "Don't give the answer by yourself. It's too complicated".

Remember, reality is ready to welcome you back at any moment. And so is your body.

On neurophysiology of losing ourselves

We're born with billions of neurons, but little communication between them – their "branches" (axons, dendrites) are way too short. This means having a huge unrealised potential for all kind of physical and mental operations, which can only come to live once the connection between necessary cells is created.

Once kiss our mother's womb goodbye, those branches of the brain cells begin to spread out, axons growing rapidly towards each other. For an obvious reason they're programmed to build long-distant connections first – say, between the spinal cord and the tip of the toe. It is much easier to establish this kind of connection while the body length is at its smallest – it would be a greater challenge to connect the toe to the brain later. Thus we can see how effortlessly the infant moves each of their toes and fingers, long before they can coordinate their spine and larger body parts. Due to the dominance of these long-distant connections, babies cry, sneeze and digest their food with the whole body.

As we develop into adults, the focus of brain wiring shifts towards building much more sophisticated structures, specifically inside our cerebral cortex, which is, our consciousness and mental capacities. This is something that is not primarily dictated by anatomy of the body itself, but is a mechanism of adaptation to the culturally conditioned environment. Our cultural values shape the development of our brain and nervous system, and therefore, our relationship to our bodies and sensitivity. Since the priority now is given to the synaptic development in the cortex, every year of our life we become more and more detached from the far-away regions of the body. Symbolically speaking, we lose the attention in the longer axons of the lower body to the the faster, shorter synapses that administrate our mental activity.

Some people I worked with find it hard to even properly feel what's going on below their belly button. At the very best, we concentrate on our sexual organs when they're being stimulated – yet we often find it hard to own this pleasure in its fullest. And when the itch of anxiety, fear or sexual frustration hits us in the stomach, we do not know how to get rid of it. In Tibetan tradition, we talk about the system of "winds" which is somatically represented by the number of systems (primarily nervous system). Anxiety is described by the inability of the "wind" to move upwards, creating tension, usually around abdominal parts. We all know too well how it feels: the unpleasant tingling sensation in your guts whenever you feel unsettled, afraid, uncertain. We all know how it feels to stress eat or be unnecessarily sexual in times of anxiety in order to quieten, to slow down the "wind" inside our lower body. Now what if I told you that establishing a better connection between the lower and the upper part of your body would actually help you with overcoming your anxiety?

The trick is to give your longer axons, your more distant neurones connections some value again. To feel how it feels on the tip of your toe. To explore movements of each place in your body you completely forgot about. This can be done by doing some sort of "toe yoga" (for example this one), massaging your feet and consciously shifting the weight on different parts of your soles. Feel how your ankle is connected to your ear, how your soles are connected to the skin on the top of your head. One more trick is to apply imagination. I often ask a person to really feel what does their left pinky toe want to tell to their right nostril, etc. How does it feel under their knee? Even as dancers, we often treat our feet only as a means to achieve a certain posture or to make a certain move, which is: purely instrumental. Thus detaching ourselves from whatever message the periphery of the body might send us. It is extremely important to feel our soles and treat them as equals to our eyes, palms and ears, which normally "steal the show" of our attention. When any system become too centralised, it become authoritarian, and as much as it might be needed times to time, a prolonged state of authoritarianism is never good. This is true for the history of the human, this is also true for the history of the human body. Regressing into the state of the newborn who's enjoying their whole new world of receptivity, spread throughout their whole body, might be just the right pill if you struggle with anxiety, backpains, insomnia and stiffness. And generally, "what's going on down there?" is the right question to ask at any time of the day.