Elements at Birth

The natal birth chart is the map of the sky at the moment of an individual’s birth, fixed to the horizon by the specific place the birth occurred. I always like to return, in my mind, to the fact that it is a specific location on earth which tethers the ascendant of a horoscope—showing which stars are ‘rising’ on the eastern horizon at birth. Even if we move from our place of birth we are wedded to it always in the way it determined the layout of our horoscope, fixing us to a specific set of personality traits, inclinations and quality of intelligence based on the rising sign.

Sometimes features of the landscape or weather at a birth can show up in a divisional chart called the Navamsha, or D-9 which shows a deeper level of the individual. For example, I was born across the street from a very large lake called Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. I have the Moon (a water planet, which can signify lakes and rivers) placed in the rising sign of this Navamsha chart, showing that I came in with that body of water somehow imprinted on me.

Nikola Tessla was born during an electric storm, a fact which can actually be used to rectify his birth time since it requires a specific combination of planets in specific places in the Navamsha chart. It is this same combination of planets that, later in life, gave him the ability to work with and famously develop electricity.

The environmental context at birth attaches to us in other ways, also. The presence or absence of the father and the overall quality of light at the moment of birth will be indicated by the strength of the sun in the navamsha, which will have other effects later in life. You can imagine that a traumatic birth is also inscribed into the chart in such a way that the individual will carry that trauma with them throughout their life, unless it is actively addressed.

And birth circumstances are no accident. The karma we come in with needs a particular context in which to manifest, You can imagine that the sky and the earth wait for the right circumstances—the right star configuration, the right weather pattern and place— to bring each and every soul in so that they can properly work (and be worked by) their karma. So it’s really not just the people in the room during our delivery that are present for the birth: all of Nature is watching as well, and some of the prominent features of that Nature will be carried through the life, manifesting in all sorts of unexamined ways.

Nikola Tessla was one example of the way that a lightning storm can turn into facility working with electricity. A strong Moon in the rising sign of the Navamsha (which may also indicate that there was a storm or lots of water around at birth) can bestow singing ability. When people with pleasing voices sing we may be enjoying an echo of the water that was present at their birth.

Not only astrologically, but ayurvedically also, the elements we are born into infuse our constitution with their qualities. Those born into a cold, wet climate will carry more kapha (earth and water) in their bodies, while the dry desert will lend more pitta (fire and water) and Vata (air and ether) to a body. And ancestry is a factor as well, with different cultural groups deriving their shared constitutional tendencies from the place(s) they called home, historically.

This is why the ‘one size fits all’ diet, lifestyle and even spiritual practice does not work. What is helpful for one person can be extremely destructive for another, and even what is helpful at one time in a person’s life can be destructive later on, depending on age, climate, lifestyle and more. Navigating toward health, we can see, requires quite a bit of attention. AND what is helpful to one person with a certain approach can be destructive with a very subtle change in approach the next day. A good example is a yoga practice approached with a desire to enjoy the movement and breath-body connection vs. a practice approached masochistically as some kind of punishment. The effects will be completely different.

Health is found by aligning with your own nature which shows up in the natal horoscope as a map of tendencies, desires, strengths and vulnerabilities and in your constitution in different factors that bring you into or out of balance. Space has to somehow be made for all of it, or there will be neuroses and (maybe worse:) a fundamental sense of being lost.

There is an indigenous belief that if one is sick, they need to return to the place of their birth for rejuvenation. The place that they entered the world is the source of some deep cellular memory which is linked to health. There may be many ways to return home, though I’m not sure any of them can really be a replacement to setting foot on the physical ground of one’s birth.

On a daily basis, tuning into your inner ecology and what it might be asking of you is a good start to getting home. Dropping the habits that keep you off balance, and developing an unflinching honesty with yourself are other ways you can close the gap between the current version of yourself and your inborn nature. It’s heartbreaking to think that we can spend most of our lives estranged from ourselves, wandering in various halls of illusion about who or what we ‘should be’ and completely ignoring who we actually are, which is always a gift.

It’s generally easier to align with yourself when your physical constitution is in balance. I recommend checking out the Ayurvedic guidelines of the season. There’s probably no better way to get yourself out of whack than eating consistently out of season and against the recommendations for your dosha, period of life, habitat and lifestyle. Once you’re balanced physically you can work on more subtle levels toward balance.