Justice Inside, Justice Outside

Working with astrology as a practice of self-connection and self-reclamation can be transformative, both individually and collectively.

How we are with ourselves often translates to our way of being out in the world. So, intentionally bringing more love and justice to our internal world through astrological inner work can subtly shift the culture we belong to.

As above, so below, as within so without.

We've been conditioned to see ourselves in narrow, one-dimensional terms. We define ourselves based on roles we play, labels others have given us that we've adopted over time, and the reactive patterns that we’ve adopted to survive. 

These defensive, self-protective mechanisms we call our "personality" (which are enacted to keep us safe, and certainly have a biological imperative and intelligence) overstay their usefulness. They become reflexive. And, when that happens, these ways of knowing ourselves - these thoughts, feelings, sensations, beliefs, behaviors are on auto-pilot... they aren't conscious choices; they're unconscious habits that actually keep us disconnected from our our essence. They keep us separated from our whole, true, authentic self— our Soul Self with a capital S.

The astrology signs give us a symbolic framework for exploring the full spectrum of human being-ness. Each sign symbolizes a set of qualities, drives, and patterns of being - both the most radiant, empowered expressions of that sign energy, as well as its wounded, dysfunctional shadow expressions when left unchecked.

When we start seeing ourselves in all of the astrological signs, and working with them as guides for knowing more of ourselves, we become in touch with our own center.

We expand our sense of self. We welcome diversity. We usher in equality. We promote inner justice.

We are no longer entrenched in just one facet of who we are - a prisoner of our fears, wounds, the ghost mechanisms of the past still echoing inside causing these familiar knee-jerk reactions. We aren't constraining our identity, and over-coupling who we are with rightness or wrongness anymore. Instead, we have access to more of who we truly are. We are more connected, clear, calm, curious, compassionate, creative, confident, and courageous. We have more capacity and more skill to respond to the needs of this actual moment we are in, with presence and purpose.

As we come to know ourselves through the placements in our own birth charts, we restore ourselves to wholeness.

In exploring our own inner space, we bring wonder and awe to our inner relationship. We create a level of intimacy with ourselves that perhaps wasn’t available to us before. We recognize ourselves as many, not just one— not “this” or “that,” but both/and. We realize that we really do contain multitudes. In fact, we are the light and the dark of every color of the rainbow, every archetypal manifestation of every zodiacal sign. We drop the harsh judgments of those parts of ourselves we couldn’t bare to acknowledge, never understood or approved of. We learn to make peace with our own internal polarities. We reclaim lost gifts from childhood that we had to tuck away for safe-keeping. We forgive ourselves for what we did to survive. We stretch out into our full range of expression, expanding to include and honor all of these different parts of us.

As we learn to relate with ourselves in this new way, we naturally develop greater empathy and emotional intelligence. This newfound capacity and competency is available to us as we relate with the people in our lives. We begin to engage in our relationships with more sensitivity, attunement, and awareness of complexity and nuance. We are more understanding and accepting of difference. We become more skilled in honoring the parts of others and parts of life that may have been hard to love and stay present with before.

We are changed, and so the world around us changes. This inner work ripples out… informing how we live every day, how we relate with others, how we do what's ours to do. It becomes a bridge between the individual and collective. Personal liberation in service of liberation for everyone.

However you choose to work with your astrological birth chart, whether simply for self-discovery or shadow work and self-integration, please do check in with yourself before you begin. The quality of your approach will affect how you feel and what you're able to uncover and recover, so please bring your compassion to this work. Be sure you're in a place of openness and curiosity with yourself. If you can, approach yourself honestly and lovingly. No shame necessary. Your humanness is not a problem to be fixed.

If this topic stirs you, consider this little introduction an invitation to engage with astrology in a new way. Not just as meme-i-fied personality descriptions and predictive parlor tricks. Rather, as a dynamic, living guide that can help you see what's blocking you from presence; help you embrace your contradictions; be more flexible and spacious; show up in the world as a fuller, richer, more ensouled version of yourself; and, be more gracious toward all that is unknown and "unlike" the you you've identified with (so far).

No aspect of you is expendable.
You are innately whole and holy.
Justice inside, justice outside.
No parts left out.