Astrological DNA

A symptom is not made in an instant; it is a story with an origin that is often obscured from view. These days, almost everything seems like a symptom of a larger dysfunction or disease we are all suffering- a sort of cultural dysmorphia with an amorphous beginning.

Inside the cultural disease that I would call collective amnesia, or dementia, that structures our lives and to a large extent our psyches—we inevitably develop our own forms of dysfunction in order to survive the insanity of the cultural void that begets an almost unbearable sense of emptiness in the absence of the buffers of addiction, mental illness, numbing and ‘checking out.’

In other words: your personal symptoms are not separate from the larger symptoms of the diseased culture you were born into. You personal symptom—whatever it may be (whether physical or psychological or both)—may have been planted before your birth. And from the astrological perspective this is absolutely the case.

There is something like astrological DNA which shows up in the charts of families, and even cultural groups, that shows inherited patterns. I often see the charts of family members, and without fail I find the ways in which certain planetary strengths or combinations are passed down. This can be seen from comparing the birth chart of both parents and the child, or it can be seen from within one chart as I examine the divisional charts inside that one chart which show maternal and paternal lineage. This allows me to see where either a curse or a blessing is coming from.

Countries have birth charts, too, which show what that locale as a whole is working with, karmically speaking. But I have also noticed planetary patterns in specific states that tend to repeat in the chart of individuals born there. There are a lot of Venus issues in California, for example. Venus shows relationship, beauty and enjoyment, signaling that those who were born in or have been attracted to California have a tendency to have something to resolve here. I have noticed in Utah a lot of 9th house issues: 9th house being the place of worship, religion, and authority. There is a depressing influence there in many charts I’ve seen in the state. One can easily see the connection between this being the headquarters of the Mormon religion and the concomitant issues with authority and religion.

My suspicion is that these planetary patterns which show up in places are not a result only of cultural dynamics within that place, but also reflect some aspect of the landscape that is having a subconscious influence. Venus, for example, is exalted in Pisces which is the ocean, and is the planet ruling the water element. The presence of ocean along the coastline of California must be influential to the psychology of Californians—particularly those born and raised in that state. Saturn (The planet I have often seen show up with the 9th house issues in Utah) is an air planet which dries things out. Utah is a desert, and certainly has a heavy air influence due to the low moisture content in the air and land. This is not something we would frequently consider as having a psychological effect, but I believe it does—especially for those who dwell in a place over time.

In this view, we can place the root of symptom not only in our cultural history but also in the landscape we inhabit. And as our environments begin to deteriorate as the result of pollution, exploitation and disregard, the planetary influences derived from them will hit us harder. Another example: Salt Lake City, Utah often has some of the worst air quality in the nation. This causes the influence of Saturn to act in a more negative fashion, probably combining with the other air planet: Rahu, who is the polluter of the zodiac. And as the oceans become more polluted you can bet that Venus will also begin to act more like Venus-Rahu which is essentially the perversion of all things Venus.

Rahu, by the way, is also the forgetter of the zodiac. He causes a thick blanket of tamas, or inertia, to come over us so that we can not remember. So the stronger he becomes in the sky by way of environmental pollution, the more we will tend to forget. This is a dangerous trend which can cause us to lose our sense of what is important. Please take a moment to allow the possibility that you are missing something very big, that you are so saturated with the numbing and dulling influences of generations of forgetters that you cannot remember what it means to be a truly vital, creative human being on this planet. Wonder into what it would mean if you had so deeply adapted to the dysfunction of the culture you’re embedded in that you are barely able to be aware that something is wrong OR you attribute all the ‘wrongness’ to a personal failure.

Now that everyone has been thoroughly disturbed, I’d like to suggest that the supreme disturbance we are living through—which is facilitated by the aforementioned forgetting and pollution (the type of pollution that’s occurred could only be allowed if we had collectively forgotten quite a bit about how to live on this planet in good relationship to Nature)—is part of the chaos necessary to rustle us from our forgetful torpor of comfort-induced complacency. It is inside chaos and upheaval that a true change in course is possible—not when you’re sitting comfortably inside the regularity of your deeply carved routine.

It is a probability that those in positions of power will attempt to use this opportunity to their own advantage—Rahu also shows corruption, after all. This is another hurdle we will have to navigate—in Kali Yuga (the age of man we are currently in, filled with corrupt leaders and moral degradation) it is extremely rare to have a leader that is honest and has good intentions. Best to assume that anyone in a position of real power is somehow obscuring the truth or has ulterior motives.

On a personal level, you can do your best to stop resisting the change and discomfort and actually lean into the possibility that it contains. You can become suspicious of your own comfort and begin to carve some space into your life where genuine change can occur (if your life is filled with work, social media, and worry, then there isn’t much space for anything new to grow). You can also become suspicious of your own inner authority, if they have slyly taken over the show and turned your life into a dry and depressing regimen (from: regime) then you might start to question who or what is really in control. This brings us full circle back to the astrological DNA, because many of those inner voices that often come to eclipse us are inherited. It is from these neuroses that our various symptoms often derive.

The main point of this article is that context is important. The Western Mind is made to think that ‘personal freedom’ means we can be somehow independent of influences and carve a life for ourself without being impacted by the generations preceding us, the culture always pushing in on us and the landscapes we inhabit. In reality there is probably only a very tiny fraction of us that is independent of these influences, and attempts to bring something new into the world in spite of the continual weight of habit and pattern pressing down from all angles. This part of us is like a fragile little flame, in danger of being blown out by the myriad influences just described. Guard your flame, and do your best to elbow some space around you inside which it might grow.