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Chart for a newborn

Started by Daniel, Feb 04, 2015, 06:18 PM

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Daniel

Rad,

Did JWG ever discuss reading the chart of a newborn? Without having any context with which to determine evolutionary stage of the native, how would he go about interpreting the chart from an EA perspective?

Blessings and gratitude,

Daniel

Linda

#1
Hi Daniel,


Here are a few excerpts from

"EA Glossary" ~ Guiding Principles of Jeffrey Wolf Green's Evolutionary Astrology:


Evolutionary stage - baby and parents   NEW

Generally, any given Soul born into the evolutionary stages of its parents will either reflect that stage, be just beyond it, or just behind it. This is not always true of course, but generally true. Since the very essence of astrology, all of it, is rooted in the natural science of observation and correlation this then means it will take some time to specifically know the EA of any incarnating Soul in the form of a baby. In other words, one can't know until enough time has been spent in such observation/correlation of the baby unless certain Souls have the inner capacity to know such things independent of observation/correlation. (Rad)


Evolutionary state of children

Children come into life in a specific evolutionary state, and specific conditioning patterns set in later in life (as children grow up) that are not there as a small child. This tends to start happening at the first Saturn square (at about 7 years of age) because we start to become aware of the nature of the society/culture we are growing up in, and what that society expects from us in terms of conformity to it (Saturn). Of course, this is also true of the family environment (Saturn correlates to the authority figure in our life that tends to be the father, and the father will act as the parent who determines the accepted behavior that must be conformed to). So, this conditioning happens on a societal/cultural level and within the family (Cancer polarity point to Capricorn/Saturn). The way to determine the evolutionary state of a child is the same as an adult - observe the child's natural orientation and "bottom line." Some children are much more interested in art/poetry/individualist areas, than others who are mainly focused on material possessions and more "traditional" areas of life. Also, within the Individuated state you feel that the child is alienated from the rest of the group, and will hopefully seek out support for this in one way or another. (Deva)

In general, children are either in the same evolutionary condition as the parents, or sometimes a little ahead. But this is in general, not an absolute. (Rad)

If you want to get metaphysical about it, "children" (in reality, Souls inhabiting small bodies) are coming here straight out of the astral, where every thought/desire manifests right before your eyes. Is it any wonder they expect "instant gratification?" They are not yet (once again) used to earth reality, where the law of Time is present, where desires are not instantly fulfilled. To me the reaction of a child wanting "instant gratification" is not so much a function of a level of Spiritual evolution, it is part of an adjustment process that all Souls must go through. A difference between more evolved "Souls as children" and Consensus "Souls as children" is the more evolved Souls would be more conscious of the nature of this reality from past experience, and thus have more context/perspective, thus be able to more rapidly adapt and accept the inherent limitations of life in a three dimensional child body. Not too many Souls are excited about the opportunity of entering yet another body where they can feel limited and constricted - that's not too hard to grasp! It comes down to the capacity to accept the limitations, to realize WHY they are being imposed - to further that Soul's evolution, and hopefully that, along the way, also serves others. The more evolved Souls will inherently remember this and thus their behaviors may be more tempered than the more typical 3 year olds.

We also live in a consumer culture that feeds the immediate gratification impulse in children, on purpose, to create life-long patterns of consuming (feel bad? go shopping), to sustain our economic system. So children "get used to" that impulse being immediately fulfilled, and then they start to expect it as a right. Behaviors that are pretty common in adults too. That is an example of societal conditioning, of creating values that are not natural, that ultimately have an ulterior motive - to benefit someone else at the expense of the individual so conditioned. The hallmark of 1st stage Individuated is a feeling of being different and not wanting to be different, trying to hide the differences, compensating by acting "normal" (ie how everyone else does). Typically the true "normal" people can see there is something different about that person anyway. If the person is of a masochistic temperament they could blame self for their sense of alienation, "What is wrong with me? Why can't I be like everyone else?" whereas others would blame external forces, victimization (a Pisces attribute).

As the Soul evolves into the higher forms of the Individuated stage it learns that feeling alienated is part of the price it must pay for being an individual, since at least 70% of people (Consensus) are not individuals (don't think for themselves). To a person who follows the herd, a person who thinks for self is perceived as threatening. People follow the herd because they believe that brings security - acceptance by the mass of the group. The Individuated person has begun to notice that this acceptance is dependent on conforming to the collective's (conditioned) beliefs/values, that when one's views are contrary, the acceptance disappears. Thus that is not real security at all. The ultimate lesson is that the only true security is within. Most of us have been conditioned to look without for security. That becomes the source of the alienation - "so few see things as I do." At first it feels lonely and limiting. Through following that path one becomes increasingly aware of their own uniqueness - which becomes increasingly liberating. Thus the price of alienation is balanced by increased self-awareness. Souls making the transition from Consensus to Individuated don't yet have that increased self-awareness. Thus they may experience more of the detrimental aspects of that process, and so resist it.

To tie this back to the evolutionary condition of children, when you see signs in a child of a capacity to be an individual, to not let the need for approval from others limit its forms of self-expression, who seems to understand in some deep way some essential things about the nature of life, is described by others as being wise beyond their years, these are signs of a Soul that is in a more advanced evolutionary state. Signs of this can be seen from early childhood. They are going to FEEL all that alienation - it does not go away in the Spiritual state - if anything it intensifies - but it can be better accepted in the Spiritual state - the Soul has come to take it as a given. Whether they LIKE it is another issue altogether - acceptance is required. The same sort of questions or signs you would look for in an adult in terms of determining evolutionary stage can be applied to a child - they are just going to express these words or attitudes in ways aligned with the way a child will think. They are still a child, even if the Soul is very highly evolved. The working of these things is what EA calls Natural Law - it is the way that life is, that life actually works, regardless of what I think about those ways. It's simply What Is, self-evident. (Steve)

There is no one explanation for it [Consensus child of Spiritual parents] as all evolutionary and karmic conditions are unique and specific to each Soul including the parents who would have such a child. It is not common for parents who themselves have evolved to the Spiritual condition to have children in the Consensus. I don't think I would use the word "˜rare' to describe this, but simply not common. It can be quite difficult to know the evolutionary condition of a child when very young. As ever it does come down to observation and correlation but that normally requires some time to assess correctly. There are no magic techniques to employ: only observation over an amount of time can lead to the right understanding. (Rad)

Confusing the natural innocence of children with their level of Spiritual evolution: they are not the same thing. It takes many lifetimes to move along the evolutionary scale, even a small amount in the great majority of cases. This measures the evolutionary stage of the Soul itself, not the personality. To the Soul each new lifetime is just one more opportunity to advance itself at least to a small extent. The basic nature of a Soul is pure, and we see this reflection in early childhood. But soon enough we start seeing the places within that Soul, brought in from the past, appearing. Because that is the actual nature of that Soul, operating in its actual state of self-awareness - after all, evolutionary stages represent degrees of self-awareness vs externally defined expectations of who one is and is supposed to be. I don't see it as Souls "diminish" into an Individuated state. If you think about it, 70% of Souls haven't even reached the Individuated state. Thus how can they diminish into something they don't even know in the first place? We are born here, and as we fully enter the body in the first years of childhood, we find ourselves operating from the same m.o., the same self-reality, self-identity we left with, perhaps in old-age, in the last go round. In other words, we start exactly where we left off, literally. Which explains the so-called rebellious child, who simply is more evolved than its parents.

It's a pretty strange feeling to be 3 years old and realizing you understand way more than your parents do. Whereas other children, perhaps even siblings, are quite content to simply accept the reality put forth by the parents. Nothing is inherently stated that a Soul in an Individuated state is not going to have the same desires for immediate gratification that other humans have. It comes with the territory. I would say the difference is, as a Soul evolves, the nature of its relationship with the desire for immediate gratification changes - it becomes more okay with the reality that it's not going to get everything it wants when it wants it. It matures in that way - more inherent acceptance of the laws that define human life in a body. Again, a child starts where it left off. An Individuated child is going to display a sense of alienation from an early age. It will feel different. In some cases it will be born into a family that cannot relate to that child's reality at all, which has the effect of throwing that child back on itself, to further deepen and develop that necessary individuating process. In other cases the child will be born into a family that itself is in an individuating process, or beyond, that will validate that child's natural ways and teach it that what is right for that child is what that child knows is right for itself, no matter anyone else's opinions on that matter.

It is unique for each child/Soul - there are no generic rules. It's all dependent on the nature of that Soul's past, and the nature of the life lessons that Soul has planned for itself in the new incarnation. A principle that in EA is called Evolutionary Necessity - certain experiences are simply necessary to bring about the desired growth. In some cases those experiences can feel painful, lonely, and difficult, in others more inclusive nurturing and warm. It all depends on what that Soul has decided is the most effective method for bringing forth the insights it wants to develop in the present life. In terms of a child exhibiting signs of both 3rd stage Consensus and 1st stage Individuated, that is what would be described as at the cusp of a change in evolutionary stage, which itself can take several lifetimes to really settle into the new stage. The person will go back and forth, exhibiting signs of both. Yet they will be predominantly in one or the other, which reflects the place of actual evolutionary stage.

At some point the actual crossover occurs, and then it progressively shifts forward from there. This phenomena is quite similar to having Pluto at the exact cusp between two houses. One archetype is culminating, a new one is being birthed. Prior to the actual conjunction to the cusp, the dominant archetype is the old one. Once the conjunction to the cusp has occurred the dominant archetype is the new one - in that case there will still be traces of the old exhibited at times, as it is familiar and has been the prevailing m.o. for a long time. Over time the imprint of the old progressively weakens and the archetype of the new progressively strengthens. We can't measure the shifting in evolutionary stage by looking at a two dimensional birth chart, as we can to chart the oncoming conjunction of Pluto and a house cusp, but the phenomena is basically the same - the old is slowly yet progressively replaced with the new. The issue is, new always feels insecure, unknown and uncertain, old feels safe, known, familiar, comfortable. Thus our tendency to stay with what we know. But it becomes like a child whose growing foot no longer fits comfortably in a favorite sneaker - it's becomes too small to contain the foot, so ultimately it must be released and move forward into a new pair of shoes, shoes that need to be broken in, gotten used to, made my own so to speak. Which does gradually occur.

The Soul comes to whatever family can provide a chance to learn the appropriate lessons for that Soul's evolution. Every possible combination [of evolutionary states of family members] can occur, as necessary for the evolution of the Souls involved. Remember, it's not just the evolution of the child - the Souls of the parents have their own evolutionary intentions. When an "advanced" child is born into a Consensus family, something within the Souls of those parents has also desired this situation, as it will result, at some point, in their own evolutionary advancement, even if they strongly resist it. The work of the EA astrologer is to look at the overall dynamics of all concerned and try to discern why these experiences have been necessary for both the child and the parents. I seem to remember however (not positive) Jeffrey saying that in the majority of cases the evolutionary stage of the parents will be close to the evolutionary stage of the children, as in the same or one stage higher or lower - 1st stage Individuated and 3rd stage Consensus, etc. The parents' stage can be more advanced than the child's, which has its own reasons for being. Every possible combination occurs. (Steve)



Daniel

Thank you Linda, and all those who are quoted here. These are all beautiful and useful insights. What I am hoping to get is a better perspective on specifically providing a reading of the chart of a newborn at the time of birth.  This is not the first time in my practice that the circumstances have arisen to offer guidance to the parents of a newborn. There is not always provision to be able to observe the child as he or she grows. Certainly one can blend the themes and signatures of the chart and offer the parents a range of how these core themes might be expressed as the child's life unfolds, however is this really applying EA principles to the chart interpretation? The most direct answer seems to come from Rad who suggests that our inherent intuitive faculties are to be trusted.

My intuitive sense of the children currently being born is that many will work to actually manifest the visions we had in the 1960's. Some will be born into a consensus birth point of entry, and some will be born into individuating and/or spiritualizing families, but in all cases these will serve as launchpads for personal evolutionary and potentially dramatic generational planetary growth. IMHO the Pluto in Cap generation is going to build the New Earth.

Prayers for peace,

Daniel

Rad

Hi Daniel,

I would suggest in this case that you talk to the parents about the relevant archetypes that are present in the chart of birth for the child starting with the foundation of that chart, any chart: the EA evolutionary axis. In that kind of talk/ discussion the proviso to the parents would be one of 'the child's evolutionary condition, i.e. is ea state, will orientate to these archetypal dynamics in his/ her own way.

God Bless, Rad

Daniel