New EA Beginners Practice Thread 2020

[ari moshe]

Hi everyone!

I am re-starting the practice thread over here so that we can start on a fresh page so to speak. We have over 30 people so far who are participating, so the more organized the better! If you're just coming in now you are invited to join in. Just let me know on the other thread so I can keep tabs of who is here.
Other thread (now renamed: Roll call for new EA beginners practice thread) https://forum.schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/index.php/topic,1639.msg73998.html#msg73998

Since some of us are completely new to EA, I feel that the best approach is start with presenting all of the introductory teachings here from the ground up. I'll give us a few days or so to review this material before we start actual practice so that we can really devote our attention to this learning opportunity.

Thank you for joining and for this opportunity to share in community with you! As always feel free to ask any quetsions.

[ari moshe]

What qualifies EA as soul work is that the entire practice orients around the evolution of the soul. And so, I'd like to start by summarize the core teachings about the soul and evolution before I even bring in any astrology. In this post we'll learn about the soul, evolution, the nature and function of desire, involution, the relationship between the soul and the ego, the psychology of cooperation vs resistance and the four general ways evolution happens.

I'm sharing all this in my own words. I encourage you to read as well the intro to EA and coninue on to read the articles under The Essence of Evolutionary Astrology http://schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/

*****

Soul
If you consider yourself now in comparison to who you were 10 or 20 years ago, of course you'll recognize that you have changed in many ways. And yet, the one who is currently looking through your eyes is the same one who has always been looking through your eyes. That one is of course you. You've been the one looking through your eyes for your whole life. And yet this you isn't the "you" of your self-concept, because your self-concept has certainly changed over the years. Rather, this is the eternal you that has always been through all life phases, regardless of what you thought about yourself. This is the you that existed before you came into this life and will exist after your body dies.

We'll call you a soul. The soul manifests itself in this human life and forms a self-image (we can also call that an ego structure). It comes to know itself in human terms and to various degrees will identify as a human. This is the story we are all familiar with.

Buy why? Why this life? Why do we each come into the specific human bodies, self-concepts, lifetimes and circumstances that we each come into? Why the total nature of our lives as they are?

Desire
The causative factor for the totality of the life we each come into is desire. Consider that when you leave this body behind, what do you take with you? Not the body and not any of the relationships and things of the life you lived. What remains is the emotional resonance within you. Unresolved desire carries on. This sets the stage for what we come into in each life and points to the underlying "why" behind the totality of our life experience.

The fixation of desire is POWERFUL. It's an impelling force that literally brings us into this world. We cannot control it and most of us are dimly even aware of it.

What we are aware of are the manifestations: the people, places and things of our lives. We are also aware, but often to a lesser degree, of our emotions. What we are even less frequently aware of is the WHY behind the phenomenal experiences and the emotions that arise. To understand the "why" we have to acknowledge that everything in life reflects our own soul-level desires back to us. The soul is the program for our entire life. There are no exceptions to this. Understanding this is a matter of looking deep, behind the scenes, to a soul-level resonance of why we came into this life in the first place.

Acknowledging this is the source of empowerment because it means that we regard no experience as having power over us, but rather that we recognize the evolutionary potential; the potential for growth and greater self-knowledge inherent in every experience. Self-knowledge then becomes the determinant for the ability to make new choices.

To fully understand this teaching, we need to understand the relationship between soul and ego.

Desire yeilds self-image
As we focus desire towards new experience, our self-concept (or ego structure) naturally follows. The ego is like a satellite to the soul. Wherever the soul directs desire, an ego structure is formed accordingly.

The soul, via identification with the existing ego structure, will not necessarily understand the "why" behind all the life experiences. Ego structure is always limited in its capacity to self-reflect because its only existence is actually just to facilitate the desires emanating from the soul itself. Beyond that, ego has no innate intelligence on its own. This is important to understand because since all of us here are not 100% soul-identified, we will not always have immediate access to clear psychological self-knowledge and insight. It might not be clear for example, "why did I choose to be bullied in school?" or "why did I come into these parents." Obviously you didn't "cloose" your parents in the same way that you chose to eat pizza last night.

So it's important that we keep in mind that when we look for the "why", we are going beyond ego to the level of the soul where the context is far deeper and more relevant than what any ego structure can apprehend.

Let's consider an example of this that will help illustrate this teaching. This example will also introduce the idea of evolution.

A teenage boy who gets bullied in school develops a desire to become strong and resilient, so he begins working out and grows big muscles. What does this illustrate? It illustrates that as a function of desire, this soul made changes in its life and thus began to think of itself differently (desire yielding appropriate ego structure).

Over time, this boy becomes increasingly interested in achieving personal fitness goals and even finds that he has the ability to accel in fitness. He becomes increasingly interested in chiseling the perfect body and becomes more and more interested in how he looks. He even realizes that he can easily attract members of the opposite sex. As he grows older into his adulthood, he eventually becomes a well-known workout guru and even achieves a certain level of fame and wealth.

What next? Well many things can happen. Obviously, no experience or state of being is the end goal. For example, the caterpillar might be doing great but EVERYTHING has to go at some point. There comes a point where every form has played its course. This means that a part of the evolutionary process isn't just the becoming something new, but also the dropping of something when it is no longer needed or relevant.

Lets give two possible versions of what happens next to our self-made fitness guru.

In one version he ends up abusing his power and fame and takes advantage of women clients. Scandals come out about his behavior, and to protect his image he denies all of it. He eventually dies (leaving behind the body, the money, the fame) but carries with him the attachments, the vulnerability, the pride, the fear, the body identification, the distrust, the possessiveness.

So what happened in that lifetime? He learned that he had the power to change himself and prove to be what he perceived as strong and resilient. But he became so identified with it that he was unwilling to grow and evolve when evolutionary timing came knocking on his door.

In another version of this story, once the scandals come out he becomes self-reflective and realizes that he has in fact become the bully he used to be abused by. Realizing this, he starts to orient his consciousness towards a new understanding of power, resilience and invulnerability. He develops humility and desires to release himself of attachment to all external forms of validation. When he leaves this world he takes that inner reality with him.

Exhaustion of all desires
Lets formally introduce the principle of evolution. Jeffrey Wolf Green often described soul evolution as the progressive exhaustion of all desires until the only desire that remains is the desire to unite with God (the source of creation, love, NOW). Exhaustion of desire means just that. It has no fuel left, it's done. None of us jump to the Source - we all go through lifetimes upon lifetimes and phases upon phases of playing out our desires, growing from them, reaching the limits of growth possible, letting go (hopefully) and moving on to the next phase. Desires are the lifeblood of incrnation in that they affect growth and change as it propells the soul to osmose with new relationships and experience in order to find within what it perceives to be outside. But all desire must also be released at some point. You can tell that the fitness guru generated the desire to become more: to grow and develop strength and resilience in ways he otherwise felt he didn't have. So he set on the path to do that and created the kind of human life that he created. But as we saw, that is just a phase of experience, it's not the end goal. Nothing is except for God. In our second scenerio, upon letting go of the fixation on power and fame he began to set the stage for a new level of experience emenating from a new desire nature. This might create a whole new lifetime which will of course present its own challenges for growth and so on and so on...

As the desire to return to Source predominates, it becomes like a focal point that accelerates evolutionary developments. It's progressively realized that now is always enough and God is all that's needed. Consider further that God doesn't exist in time, God only exists now. Desire is the bottom line that determines one's evolution.

Evolution is an ongoing process of the soul becoming progressively identified as itself. This reflects the growing desire within the soul to know it's oneness with the Source, which reflects the true nature of each soul.

4 ways evolution happens
JWG taught that evolution can be affected in 2 general ways. Cataclysmic and non-cataclysmic. Non cataclysmic can happen in two ways: slow uniform or more impactful. Slow and uniform is the boy is walking down the street and comes across a poster of a workout class. He never thought of it before but there is some kind of impression being made in his consciousness. Maybe he doesn't make any changes just yet, but after enough of these experiences he finds himself becoming consciously interested in fitness. He starts thinking of it more. This creates a field of greater attraction in which the soul begins resonating to itself more of what it is fixating on. Eventually these gradual experiences lead to him making a change. This is slow and gradual.

Another example of non-cataclysmic evolution is simply the experience of something manifesting in our lives that has a deep and empowering impact upon us. This can be a lover, a life changing lecture we attended, something that really penetrated our awareness deeply enough to result in an evolutionary process. An example of this might be attending a talk on the benefits of daily workout routine and subsequently becoming aware of latent skills, abilities or options to make choices that we otherwise did not perceive were possible.

Cataclysmic evolution can happen in two ways as well. The first is anything in our life that triggers our deepest vulnerabilities, fears, attachments and dependencies to what we perceive we need from the outside. This is often associated with loss and death in various forms. An example of this could be a well-known magazine that publishes an article about the fitness guru's secret sex scandal. This leads to a break down of the construct this soul had created: it challenges the existing self-image, which itself was the vehicle for whatever desires the soul was playing out. Such evolutionary processes are usually very challenging and take a while to integrate on the basis that the soul has to deal with letting go of its attachments, often before it "thought" it was ready. This points to the principle that evolutionary necessity doesn't care about our personal preferences. It's the will of life itself.

Another example of cataclysmic evolution is a far more internal process wherein consciousness becomes deeply reflective on the need to become self-aware but can't quite reach it. It's like being stuck in a life pattern, relationship dynamic, addiction, a mental state but not being able to escape from it. This can be incredibly difficult. Holding on to strong emotional attachments, in its grip but not quite able to get beyond it. The desire to evolve progressively creates a deepening point of concertation wherein the soul eventually gets to the core of it all and everything begins to unravel. This can be quite powerful and intense.

Remember that desire, being the program for our life experience, doesn't just mean we become more concentrated. It means that life itself becomes more concentrated with us.

Involution
When the caterpillar reaches its evolutionary limit that means it has to go. But it has not yet come to know itself in the new form. This is the involutionary phase, which always precedes evolution. For the caterpillar, the chrysalis phase is the involutionary process. It's the process of the old form ending. The invoutionary process isn't necessarily easy as it requires a total shedding and letting go. We can't hold on to what is dying, no matter how hard we try. The old ego structure/ self-reference doesn't hold the same weight anymore. What emerges next is the evolutionary change: the new form.

When a soul exhausts desires, the ego will follow suit because the ego does not exist independent of the soul's fixation of desire. Depending on whether it is resisted or not, whether it feels like it is being "forced" upon oneself in a cataclysmic way or is happening in a more gentle way, the soul will either hold onto it's known ego structure or shed it and move on. This leads us to consider the two basic ways a soul can respond to evolutionary necessity:

Cooperation vs Resistance
What comes will go. What comes reflects what is relevant to our own soul growth at the time. What goes reflects what is no longer relevant. Evolution is marked by the soul choosing to cooperate with evolutionary necessarily as opposed to resisting it. Resisting takes the stance of wanting to control what cannot be controlled. It requires a great deal of effort and manipulation. Resisting means not letting go when its time to let go. It means insisting on getting what you want and doing whatever you deem necessary in order to get it.

It's worth noting that the psychology of victimization is born from resistance to evolutionary necessity. The psychology of victimization, in virtue of its overt intensity, serves as a potential stepping stone to self-awareness and self-responsibility. However, based on the gift of free will which is given to each soul, a soul can in fact choose to resist indefinitely. Resistance is a particular focus of desire and thus creates its own kind of ego structure that will interact with the world in such a way as to give validity to its resistance. Since resistance is contrary to the universal law of evolution, life will continue to reflect back to the soul the truth of its inner reality which will provide for the soul ongoing opportunity to either become self-aware, or to dig deeper into resistance.

Cooperation on the other hand means accepting the inevitable and doing what is necessary. This might look many different ways because in the human experience the "next steps" are very individuated to each soul's journey. But the psychology of it is the same in each case. The psychology of cooperation is a stream line of concentration to do what one knows is necessary. It resonantes a true empowerment becuase the soul is taking their own growth in their own hands.

Two forms of desire
While desire is the bottom line, there is a limit to everything. The caterpillar is playing out its desires but it cannot do that indefinitely. This is the force of evolution which is impersonal and stronger than anything we can control. The force of evolution says everything changes except for the changeless. Nothing is eternal except for the eternal. This force is impelling and it is inherent within each one of us, within each soul, to recognize it's call. This force says that everything has its purpose and will not last indefinitely.

Jeff Green taught that there are two types of desires (and thus ultimately there are only two types of choices). One is the desire to return to Source, the other is the desire to separate from Source. The desire to return to Source reflects an orientation of cooperation with evolutionary necessity. These desires will reflect itself in a willingness to do what it takes, to move on to the next phase of life, let go when its time to let go etc. The desire to separate from Source reflects itself in a persistent fixation on what is ephemeral and the need to maintain control. It is resistance to evolutionary necessity.

We all know the flux between these two desires. We know what it's like to direct our attention towards what is evolutionary; it feels relevant to our own soul growth even if its hard. We also know what its like to invest ourselves in what is non-evolutionary; it creates a breeding ground for negativity.

The fitness guru evolved by way of realizing his power to become strong and resilient in his body. But in trying to set up shop there forever he breeds the psychology of resistance. These are separating desires: desires that are fixated on what the soul perceives it needs to control and maintain. However, in taking responsibility for the changes in his life by way of becoming aware of his own inner psychology, he demonstrates willingness to let go of his fixation on fame and power in the way he was attached to it. This allows the old form to die which allows the soul to continue to grow and move on.

The desire to return to source expresses itself via any desires that are relevant to our evolutionary needs at the time.

These two desires within the soul, the desire to return to Source and the desire to seperate from Source, are antithetical: they do not make any sense together and we can only choose one or the other. Remember that Source, God, Love, Truth is all right now. The path is always right now. And so the desire to evolve demonstrates itself in the present moment. The choices we make, not necessarily the external expression (i.e. deciding between penut butter or cream cheese) but the underlying inner orientation we bring to life is what determines the degree of our soul evolution. Again, desire is the bottom line.

[ari moshe]

Stages of Evolution
This is an essential teaching in Evolutionary Astrology. Please read about the 4 evolutionary states from the Essence of Evolutionary Astrology series: http://schoolofevolutionaryastrology.com/essence-of-ea/the-four-evolutionary-states

Later today I will post about Pluto and the lunar nodes as they relate to all these teachings on the soul and evolution.

[ari moshe]

Pluto
Pluto represents the desire nature of the soul itself. Pluto in our charts reflects:

-   The kinds of desires the soul has had in the past that has lead to the creation of this lifetime. Pluto can thus be understood as the bottom line; the program that gives rise to the totality of our life experiences.
-   In the current life, Pluto thus reflects the bottom-line evolutionary dynamics that are manifesting. Pluto is our dna.
-   Pluto represents evolutionary necessity: it says everything that comes is relevant and everything that goes is not. The need to commit to experience and play its course (caterpillar needs to do its thing) until its time to let go (until its time to not be a caterpillar anymore). How we either cooperate or resist evolutionary necessity is up to each one of us.
-   Pluto reflects the two kinds of desires inherent to the soul: the desire to separate from Source or the desire to return to Source.
-   Pluto implies cycles of evolution and involution: the need for the old to completely die before the new can come.
-   Pluto corresponds to cataclysmic and non-cataclysmic evolutionary processes.  
-   Pluto represents our deepest fears, insecurities, attachments and psychological limitations.
-   Pluto points to where the greatest fundamental changes can happen in our lives.

Cooperation and resistance
The two antithetical desires of the soul: the desire to separate or return to source, point to the very heart of free will, of each soul's ability to choose to cooperate or resist evolutionary necessity.

Relative to our conscious sense of self (ego-structure), most of us are dimly aware of the evolutionary directive of our lives and are thus dimly aware of "why" certain things have manifested and are currently manifesting in our lives. We cannot control evolutionary necessity any more than we are able to control the conditions of our human birth. The only thing we really can control is whether or not we will cooperate or resist. From the point of view of Pluto, of evolutionary necessity, those are really the only two choices we can make.

Consider the implications of that. To cooperate means playing along with the intelligent force of creation that has its own agenda so to speak. The Caterpillar isn't in charge of its destiny, but it needs to do what has it do. To cooperate points to an acceptance of inevitable change that is beyond our conscious making, and doing what is necessary, shedding the old, merging with the new. The soul is designed to recognize and move towards the Source. Our determination to trust and progressively put soul identification first sets a focus for accelerated evolutionary growth.

Relative to the psychology of cooperation, Pluto corresponds to where a soul can develop or come into this life already with a strong sense of empowerment: the ability to withstand change, challenging circumstances, loss, meeting their deepest fears and attachments with agency and the ability to glean self-awareness. Such souls embody the capacity to share, to be vulnerable, to face their darkness and that of others. To deeply honor the process of involution where one knows that death is something that just has to happen.

In general, Pluto type souls are often very psychological adept: understanding the psychology of attachment and control, craving and aversion. They are often keen at perceiving the deeper psychological root for what's going on in people's lives behind the scenes.

Relative to the psychology of resistance, Pluto corresponds to where there is the potential or existing tendency to live in fear and control. To resist evolutionary necessity means refusing to take responsibility for one's inner reality and fundamentally distrusting the natural law of evolution. Death happens, loss happens. To let go means one is willing to move on, knowing that true power lies just on the other side. Resistance can also take the expression of resisting getting out of unhealthy dynamics or relationships which will result in giving over one's divine agency to something or someone outside of oneself.

Pluto points to the psychology of manipulation, being manipulated and entanglements where sovereign life fore energy is "held up" in something external to oneself. At worse, the Pluto psychology of resistance can express as souls that have chosen over many lifetimes to chronically live in a state of victimization and thus believing that they need to manipulate others in order to get what they feel they are entitled to.

Pluto polarity point
While natal Pluto represents where the soul came into this life and where all the evolutionary activity will be, the polarity point to Pluto (the point opposite Pluto) is the evolutionary purpose of the current life.

Consider that in virtue of being opposite the very place where we tend to hold on the most and resist change (Pluto), the Polarity point represents the greatest threat to the psychology of resistance. To consciously direct attention towards the Pluto polarity point is to defacto choose to evolve because it immediately takes us out of the place we tend to resist the most.

Let's illustrate this with an example. To generalize, what is the psychology of resistance to evolution relative to a Pluto in the 7th house signature? This can be dependency on other people, pleasing others, entangling one's energy in relationships rooted in the obsessive need to source security from others' approval or to manipulate relationships such that others are dependent upon oneself.

In this case, what's the Pluto polarity point? The 1st house. The 1st house represents self-direction, independence, autonomy, personal individuation. For consciousness to be directed towards the 1st house means letting go of the obsessively "other" oriented 7th house attachment and directing attention to one's own freedom to choose, independent of others.

To be really clear, this doesn't mean you're supposed to become a Pluto in the 1st house. It means that each house in astrology offers the possibility to become hooked and entangled in the psychology of resistance via attachments, cravings, aversions obsessions etc. to that which is ephemeral. When we evolve, no matter where Pluto is, it means turning towards the soul itself and away from the perceived outward object focus.

Embracing the polarity point in the 1st house can play out in many ways throughout a soul's lifetime. For example, it can reflect itself in saying "no" in an otherwise entangled relationship or differentiating one's life path from one's partner to whom one was otherwise dependent upon. It can express as a conscious choice to do what one needs to do for oneself for their own growth regardless of other people's opinions or approval or regardless of what others are wanting of them or projecting onto them.

Some Pluto in the 7th house souls have a compulsive need to always be in relationship as well as a compulsive need to be needed. In such cases, the 1st house polarity can represent the conscious choice to go it alone, to free oneself of the need to be dependent on others.

The 1st house polarity can be a very scary place to move into for a 7th house Pluto soul. It means the soul will not be able to control others. If I will be liked, if I will be left, if they will stay or leave, what they will think of me. This is why the polarity point is so powerful and signifies cooperation with evolution: it creates a focal point through which what is meant to stay will stay and what is meant to go will go. Cooperation with evolution means we let go of controlling outcome.

Ultimately, embracing the 1st house polarity point has the potential to evolve an existing relationship where deep and authentic listening and giving can occur. It can create the space for a new experience of relationships that orient to listening and intimacy on a much deeper level than what one has previously known.

Interestingly, the more we hold on, the less we have. Whereas the more we let go, the more becomes available. Who would you rather share your deepest most vulnerable self with? Someone who needs you to depend on them so that they can feel secure in themself or someone who knows themself to be whole and sovereign within? The former cannot truly listen because they are bound by their desires. The latter, free of desire to make you something for their purposes, can truly listen because they have no personal agenda involved.

When we embrace the Pluto polarity point it implies empowerment and agency relative to the natal position of Pluto. Pluto in the 7th house souls that are embracing the 1st house polarity point will generally and progressively develop a deep and penetrating ability to listen, to understand other people's soul path and to engage in relationship consciously in a way that allows each individuals soul growth to be the predominant importance. These people can grow immensely and share in deeply powerful and healing relationships via their capacity to take responsibility for their own feelings and to understand that their wholeness can ultimately only come from within. These souls are learning that evolution is more important than attachments to other. These people can be soul counselors be very skilled at listening deeply.

Of course you can be a really skilled soul counselor and still have a whole lot of relationship issues. Evolution is an ongoing process. The four ways that evolution happens can occur throughout a person's life in various degrees.

Evolution is dynamic
I want to provide one more example to illustrate how dynamic evolution is.

Returning to the Pluto in the 7th example. This person might meet someone and gradually develop a relationship with that person. The caring touch, deep listening, sharing and being given to according to what they actually need can have a profound affect on the Pluto in the 7th house soul. The soul might find themself living with greater self-trust and self-permission to be who they are because of the gift of being so deeply accepted.

And yet this can easily set the stage for a cataclysmic evolution type situation. It's possible this relationship can become one of dependency where one partner is the counselor and the other is the patient. If this dependency becomes a habit it sets in motion the evolutionary necessity for that pattern to be broken up one way or another. If this pattern is being played out unconsciously and neither partner is willing to take resopnsibility for their own role in this, it can lead to conflict.

This is where embracing the polarity point is really important. 1st house polarity point: I'm not dependent on you to make me feel loved and acceptable to be myself. If I have the perfect relationship, I will remain comitted to my soul evolution. If I have a challenging relationship, I will remain comitted to my soul evolution.

A Pluto lesson is to not give too much heed to the comings and the goings. Some things will make us feel good, other things will make us feel bad. They both come and go. If our security depends on what makes us feel good and avoiding what makes us feel bad then we remain vulnerable to the inevitability of loss, abandonment, betrayal, death. If our security is directed towards what does not come and go, progressively unconcerned with gain or loss, then we can move through the cycles of change in our lives with greater ease and grace.

*****

I'll end this section on Pluto with an appropriate quote from Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell.
"Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations."

[ari moshe]

Lunar Nodes and the Moon
Before we talk about the lunar nodes we need to start with understanding the nature and function of the Moon.

The Moon correlates to the ego structure the soul manifests in the current life. Again, the ego simply refers to our self-image. It's who you know yourself to be, what makes you know you are you and that I am me. Ego function is incredibly personal and intimate to each soul. Consider that when you are a child that your sense of security and wholeness depends entirely upon what is known, safe and familiar. A great spiritual teacher can incarnate and this soul will still have an ego structure and require to be held and loved like all souls that come into baby form.

Moon represents home and our emotional imprinting. The emotional memories that have imprinted our consciousness become the reference point for how we emotionally integrate our experiences moment to moment. If you grew up in an environment where you were told you are safe, welcome, loved and worthy, then you will more likely than not project a reality of safety when you leave that environment. If you grew up in an environment where your basic human needs for care and tenderness were neglected, you will most likely feel unsafe and insecure in most environments.

The Moon teaches us that NOTHING in life is real to us until it is integrated through the emotional body. An example I like to give is that of a dog. Have you ever walked into a room and with good intention extended love to a dog only to find the dog react in fear? Perhaps the dog hides its tail and runs away from you.

How to create a sense of safety with that dog? Certainly, being direct and confrontational would not make the dog feel safe. The only way to reach that dog is by respecting its existing ego structure. We would need to appreciate that there's no getting through to the dog if there is a mechanism of protection set up in its consciousness. And so, the thing to do is to be gentle, to create an environment of exposure wherein the dog can begin to acclimate to your presence and associate it with safety. An example of that might be just sitting in the same room but with your body faced in a different direction. This creates the imprint of "I'm here and I'm safe, I'm not trying to hurt you" without overwhelming the dog with too much exposure.

We are just like that. For us to be able to adopt to new experiences and learn from them we need to be able to feel safe enough to disarm and let it in.

Our Moon indicates this. If you have a Sagittarius Moon for example there is an emotional need to understand yourself and your life in a greater cosmological/philosophical/spiritual context. This context thus provides a reference point through which one is able to emotionally integrate its experiences. If there isn't a sense of safety, a tendency for a Sagittarius Moon might be to endlessly seek, wander, leave the emotional body in place for abstract thinking. If there is safety, the Sagittarius Moon can glean wisdom and insight from all experiences thus further informing their sense of self and their place in the world.

Wherever your Moon is, is the way we will emotionally integrate our experiences and thus find that we can live and grow right here where we are.

Relative to the core Pluto program: the program of evolution, we can understand the Moon in terms of how the soul is focusing itself as an individual human and thus serves as the subjective reference point through which the soul will integrate its evolutionary purpose.

Another way of saying that is: There's a reason, from the point of view of the soul, why we each received the specific emotional imprinting that we received. The Moon creates a very specific emotional filter through which the soul is integrating everything on its journey to make it real and personal.

Perhaps we'll have a chance to apply the Moon more in our practices later on. I only want to introduce the Moon now as a way to appropriately introduce the lunar nodes.

The reason why we must understand the Moon in order to understand the nodes, is that the nodes carry the same meaning of the Moon except they imply a context not just limited to the current life. Moon is THIS life, and thus is our present moment to moment point of emotional integration. But none of us come from nowhere. Before you were born from the mother you were born from, you existed in other incarnations, other lifetimes where you had a sense of self.

The emotional memories of these past identities are within the soul when it is born into this world. The soul comes into this world already with a sense of emotional familiarity relative to the past.

The south node of the Moon
The south node represents just that. It is who the soul has been, how it has consciously known itself prior to this life.

In the signature of the south node contains a holographic picture of many lifetimes and many expressions of a singular archetype. To have the south node in Taurus or the 2nd house doesn't mean that in all your past lives you were self-reliant, resourceful and that you have only emotional memories of being a hermit and living simply within your means. It can also reflect lifetimes of struggling with resources, karmic struggles with self-esteem and self-worth, a masturbatory/self-interest orientation to life, someone who maybe held onto their wealth or refused to let go of the familiar world they are used to because of the Taurian need for stability and continuity.

The south node, in the most basic way of understanding it, is the soul's pattern of self-identification. In total, the south node* points to the basic context for who the soul has been in past lives and thus the emotional familiarity and emotional memories the soul carries with itself into the current life.

*To be accurate, for a full understanding of the south node ego construct we would look at the south node by sign, house and aspects to other planets including the sign house and aspects of the planetary ruler of the south node. For those who are completely new to this work it's not necessary to know what aspects and planetary rulership is just yet. We'll get there.

The south node is not all bad or all good. It's at its core neutral and just says "this is what is known and familiar".

The south node is neutral and contains within it a plethora of lifetimes, identity expressions and possibilities all contained within the archetype of the south node (by house sign, aspects and house sign and aspects of the ruler of the south node). Jeffrey Wolf Green taught that the south node (as well as planets on the south node) manifest in 3 general conditions:

1.   Fruitive. Gifts from that past that are being brought forth to be used.
2.   Karmic re-live. The need to re-live unresolved dynamics relative to the south node
3.   Combination of both fruitive and karmic re-live.

The south node for most souls reflect the third condition.

The "why" behind the south node
As we have learned, nothing in life is superficial and there's always a reason for why things manifest the way they do. When we look at the south node we have to ask, "why that south node? Why that particular ego structure?" The answer is Pluto. The answer is the desire nature of the soul.

The ego is the satellite to the soul. Thus, the south node represents the way the soul has come into this world to enact experience as a way to pursue its evolutionary intentions. Thus within the south node we have implied both where the soul may have become empowered (south node as a vehicle for Pluto relative to the psychology of cooperation) as well as where the soul may be stuck in karmic sticky patterns (south node as a vehicle for Pluto relative to the psychology of resistance).

Example 1: Pluto in the 7th, south node in the 11th
Lets move right in to an example so that we can illustrate this as clearly as possible.

Lets return to our 7th house Pluto soul and give this soul a south node in the 11th house. What does this mean? On the level of identity, this soul comes into this lifetime with a history of being an 11th house person, living out 11th house experiences, playing the human game via the 11th house orientation.

On the level of identity 11th house south node can speak to past lifetimes were the soul knew itself through developing an objective consciousness that allowed them to see reality through the mind of observer. This can also speak to past lifetimes where a soul in various ways was liberating from known constructs that set them apart from friends, communities and groups of people that they were otherwise identified with. In the same way, the south in the 11th house can point to having been a part of exclusive communities or social groups that are elitist by the very nature. The soul may come into this life with unresolved trauma relative to having a been excommunicated, kicked out of the group and all kinds of experiences imprinting upon the soul the emotional memory of being different and not belonging. This soul might be strongly identified with fitting in and belonging. As a way to suppress their own individuality, they may have developed a habit of dissociation: to coast along with the crowd but to not be fully present as the result of suppressing their own individuality. Conversely, the soul can come into this world with a strong sense of individuality and genuinely not care what other people think.

All of this is very abstract and general at this point. Until we add evolutionary state and learn how to understand the reasons for the 11th house south node we won't know anything about how this south node has and is currently manifesting for the soul. So, let's apply Pluto to this. How do we understand the south node in the 11th house relative to a Pluto in the 7th soul program?

The Pluto position gives the underlying why, the underlying soul level context and reason for the soul's past incarnations leading up to this one. If in past lives the soul has had 11th house type identities and life experiences that have shaped who they know themselves to be, in order read a chart from a soul level place of understanding, you'll have to look to Pluto to understand the underlying reason behind that 11th house south node identity construct.

Since soul context is everything, we must give this soul an evolutionary state. We'll put the soul in the very beginning of the individuated stages of evolution - in fact really just transitioning out of the consensus stage and putting its toes in individuation. In the consensus stage the soul's desires are linked to social belonging according to consensus values. So, at this point this soul has been exhausting desires linked to concern with social judgment/ need to achieve success and stability relative to the consensus definition and accepted values of what that is supposed to look like. Their sense of security is shifting from external social acceptance focus (consensus state) to resting progressively secure in their own individuality, who they are on their own terms (individuated state).

So in a very general sense we can deduce from the south node in the 11th relative to Pluto in the 7th that this soul has known itself through their known community associations (11th house) and has needed to be belong to the point that they do not risk the possibility of being rejected, disapproved of or displeasing to others (core Pluto in the 7th fears). This soul may be a great listener, open minded and accepting of all people (7th house, 11th house: trine, social, inclusive, sharing) but will feel an inward need to suppress their own individuality on the basis that they are attached to what others think of them.

At this stage of evolution there is a natural pull of the soul towards individuation and the soul thus finds themselves often at a juncture between fitting in vs being themselves. It's a scary place for any soul. The fear of differentiating oneself from the community can be devastating. 11th house also corresponds to one's extended family. Do they inwardly feel like they can be themselves in their community/extended family? Are they conforming to a construct of relationship that fits the boxes of what is appropriate?

For example, if this person is a part of a traditional Chasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn New York, the 11th house south node will struggle with its identification with its community versus a calling to find themselves outside of the known context. Maybe they want to wear different clothing or maybe they have a desire to experiment with non-traditional relationships.

The initial impulse here is to try to individuate within the closed circle (11th house) of what is acceptable so that no one is displeased (Pluto 7th house). This of course is possible to an extent within the consensus state but if the soul's program is to evolve beyond that then there will be a limit to how far a the soul can go until they simply have to liberate beyond the limiting context.

There may be subconscious soul memories within this soul of having been rejected based on following their own soul individuality and not fitting in. This imprints a sense of trauma and fear relative to the idea of branching out. This soul might be interested in astrology (especially because they are naturally wired to look at people in objective and rational terms: 11th house, 7th house) but will be afraid to do so because astrology is not regarded as a valid practice in the consensus stage and will really set them apart from others.

This soul will be drawn (Pluto) to other people that they feel they can talk to openly without needing to conform to their expectations (a deep Pluto in the 7th house need relative to the 11th house suppression of individuality). They will be gradually attracted and attract to themselves opportunities to experience relationship that is outside of the known.

The juncture for evolution rests in the north node and the Pluto polarity point. I will take a break from this example and define these terms before continuing on.

North node and the Pluto polarity point
As a polarity to what is safe, known and familiar to the soul as signified by the south node (known identity construct), the north node represents an evolving context for self-identity for the soul to embrace throughout their evolutionary journey.

Note, there are many many cases where the north node as well as the south node represent known identity constructs that the soul brings into this life. As/if you continue to study EA you will come across these situations and continue to develop a more holistic understanding of the nodes.
Ultimately, we are not leaving the south node behind and moving towards the north node. We are leaving attachment behind and continuing to evolve. This is an important distinction. Evolution isn't just replacing one nodal identity for its opposite; it's resolving the past (which translates to not taking it with us in the present moment) and growing beyond our previous limitations. When the past is resolved, we keep what is true and eternal and move on according to our soul program.

To keep it simple for now, the north node represents the soul's evolutionary trajectory. It's how the soul is learning to see itself and thus view their life. The north node is a direction in life for the soul to consciously choose. For many souls the north node can be a point of emotional resistance since the south node is where the soul will feel the most comfortable (at home) and tend to default towards.

From this point of view, we can understand that the north node defacto activtes the Pluto polarity point. The north node, being opposite the south node, implies conscious choice to think and act differently beyond what is known, safe and familiar, which implies that the soul is not grabbing onto the past and resisting evolutionary necessity (south node relative to natal Pluto). When this happens, a soul can embody the gifts of the south node without identifying with them.

The best way for me to illustrate this is to return to our example chart and look at the north node in the 5th house.

Pluto in the 7th, south node in the 11th, north node in the 5th
The 5th house north node is about becoming self-expressed, developing pride and confidence in who one is. The 5th house identity construct shifts predominant importance from fitting in to community (11th house) to claiming one's own unique creative expression (5th house). This soul will feel a calling to open their hearts to life in a fuller, more courageous way.

Thus, instead of dissociating (11th house) and becoming agreeable (relative to the 7th house Pluto) this soul will be learning to love themselves, to be excited about life and their own creative potential. They may decide to start wearing more colors, which will of course make them stand out from the crowd.

In this case the north node in the 5th house (creative actualization) activates the Pluto polarity point in the 1st house: making choices according to one's own soul directive and forgoing concern and attachment with approval. This thus sets in the Plutonian evolutionary lesson of watching what comes and watching what goes. As this soul gives conscious attention to their evolutionary path, relationships will change and new evolutionary dynamics will be set in motion.

This soul may ride the subway and see an advertisement for rehearsals for one of those America's Got Talent type TV shows. After seeing this advertisement enough this soul finds a strong pressure in themselves to go and finally rehearse to go on the show. They love writing pop songs but have kept most of it to themselves because they don't know anyone who would really appreciate it and see what they are really expressing.

Further, they feared being rejected and outcast if they shared their music too openly. Eventually, this soul decides to rehearse, dressed in orthodox garb but perhaps a bit more color, and sings their own original music. This soul gets chosen to go on the show and perform!
In this whole process, this soul meets people they never expected to meet. Their comfort zone is pushed - but they are exposed to people who are interesting and creative and open minded. This creates an imprint on the soul to learn progressively that they are safe to be themselves and that there are those who can accept and love them for who they are. At the same time, members of their community might respond with disapproval which can certainly set in motion a more cataclysmic evolutionary process depending on how solid this soul is in their own choice to evolve.

Relative to the Pluto in the 7th house attachments, being rejected for something that this soul loved so much can be incredibly devastating and set in motion an involutionary process of unraveling that may not be entirely comfortable.

In time, this soul learns to trust their own inner directive and begins living life more on their own terms. For a while they might not have any close relationships and might feel like there is no place for them. They will meet new people but feel isolated and alone since no one shares the same Chasidic context as themselves. The loneliness might impel them to get into a relationship with someone from their community who will be incapable of loving the soul for who they actually are. This in turn will ultimately serve to bring greater self-awareness to the soul of who they are and what their true soul needs are, thus enabling them to make choices from an empowered place, not from a place of seeking security from others. Then, once again the soul embraces their polarity point in the 1st house. In choosing to follow their own sense of special purpose (5th house) they claim the freedom to follow their own soul directive, free from entanglement with the "other" object focus of the 7th house (Pluto polarity point in the 1st).

Switch nodes: Pluto in the 7th south node in the 5th, north node in the 11th
Lets use this same example but switch the nodes so that we are learning this from various angles. Lets keep Pluto in the 7th and put the south node in the 5th house, north node in the 11th. Same evolutionary stage.

In this case the south node in the 5th house symbolizes a soul that has been focused on creative actualization, being seen, knowing themself as special, perhaps being the center of a group. Relative to the 7th house security rooted in other people, this soul has had a need to be adored, liked, respected and appreciated by others (5th house). This soul may have had a pattern of withholding love from those who did not respect them as a subconscious way to gain power over them (because for this soul, their own power can be entangled in needing other people to like them all the time), or on the other hand will know how to make others feel special so as to feel like they are being given to. All of this equaling dependencies on other people as the basis for their own security/ need to be needed. This soul might also be very generous, affectionate and loving. Perhaps good with children, playful, open hearted and one who shares freely and openly.

Now lest say this soul is a parent and one of their children announces that they are transgender and would like to begin hormone therapy. What do they do about that? That is certainly unacceptable according to consensus values, but it's just sort of culturally accepted enough that there are enough known parents out there who have been in similar situations.

At first this soul may react with indignation and disapproval of their child. Pluto in the 7th through the vehicle of a 5th house identity construct might have difficulty really seeing people according to their own unique natures because of a strong ego-centric sense of importance that clouds true listening. This 7th house Pluto soul might feel a deep sense of rejection and betrayal. This is because their own self-concept has been deeply entangled with the identity of their children to the point that there has been an expectation (7th house) that their children will always be a source of pride according to how this soul has projected their children to be.

This soul might angrily think to itself, "I gave you all this love and attention, I adored you, I poured all of my heart into you and now you want to throw it all away". That kind of thing. Ultimately, however the weight of separation and rejection might just gnaw at this soul's heart. Over time this soul may find themself researching parents of transgender children - not necessarily because they think they'll accept it but because they feel a draw to hear how other parents have dealt with this.

At some point this soul meets another parent who is incredibly open minded and tolerant. This parent expresses willingness to talk with this soul and share dialog. Through exposure to this other parent who is non-confrontational (thus vibrating a quality of acceptance and approval) the Pluto in the 7th house soul begins to relax their possessiveness of who their child should be.

Eventually this soul accepts their child's own path and even finds themself getting more involved in an online community of parents that support transgender children. This soul is learning to be detached (11th house) and not think of everything in terms of their own self. They are also learning to participate in community where giving, sharing, mutual help and support is the bottom line.

The 11th house north node activates the Pluto polarity point in the 1st house by way of this soul becoming objective enough (11th house) to separate their own soul path from that of others (1st house polarity point) and thus not identifying themselves with their child. This in turn affects the possibility for deeper intimacy, giving and true listening which are empowered expressions of a 7th house Pluto.

[ari moshe]

Hi commutniy,

Before we start practicing I feel it would be most helpful to offer a series of review/reflection questions. This is offered in mind specifically for those who are entirely new.

1. Explain the inherent relationship between soul and ego.

2. What are the two antithetical desires of the soul?

3. Why is cooperation or resistance with evolutionary necessity the only two choices a soul can make?

4. What is involution and why does it always preceed evolution?

5. Pluto can reflect evolutionary processes that we don't understand at the time. In retrospect, after the dust has settled, we are often able to glean insight and perspective of evolutionary necessity. Can you think of a time in your life where there were powerful Pluto type cataclysmic experiences that you only later were able to understand?

6. What is the relationship between Pluto and the suoth node of the Moon?

7. What is the relationship between the Pluto polarity point and the north node of the Moon?

8. Why is it necessary to connect first with the inner soul realy; where they are at in their own evolutionary journey before interpreting the chart?

Just a reminder, for those that aren't yet clear about this guidline pinned on the home page - we do ask that you abstain from asking questions about your own chart. Tune in and make sure your orientation is one of understanding the material. This way we will all benefit from everything that is shared here.

If you'd like feedback on any of these review questions, go ahead and post and of course feel free to ask any questions.

[lindabolley]

Ari, I can already tell this is going to be a great learning experience! I've read all the review and reflection questions (been studying EA for 5 years).  Just wanted to comment that the way that you word this very deep material is already helping me to communicate this material to others in a way they will understand. Am so ready to put this into practice! Thank you.

Linda

[ari moshe]

Now that we've layed down all the basic teachings I'd like to share some additional thoughts and personal reflections on the material.

As someone who has been practicing and teaching for about a decade now there are certain areas where I feel students get the most stuck or where I find the strongest preponderance of misunderstanding. Further, I find it important to be transparent about how I personally work with this material in my own practice. So I'd like to informally speak to this right now.

Evolutionary Stages
- The more a soul gives attention to their soul, to the desire to evolve, the deeper this affects evolutionary progression. Our actions and choices in life ultimately point us back to what it is we really want.

- Each of the evolutionary stages and their three substages can be further divided into 3 substages and so on. Just entering it, stabilizing in it, dissolving it. This is naturally reflected in the flow of energy in the zodiac from cardinal, fixed to mutable.

- Talent, skills, intellect etc have nothing to do with evolutionary stage. You can also be a jerk or kind at any level of evolution. What determines a soul's evolutionary stage is desire.

- Struggling with Saturn type issues does not mean a soul is in a consensus stage. Likewise a soul can be very Neptunian by nature (psychic, empathic, open crown chakra etc) but not be in the spiritual stage of evolution.

- A soul cannot be in two stages at once. You can't be in the spiritual stage when it comes to how you do relationships but consensus stage when it comes to how you deal with finances. We need to differentiate between a soul's level of evolution and specific karmic dynamics that are being resolved. The level of evolution is where the soul is at. Caterpillar is exactly where it is at on its journey. Karma on the other hand is diverse and very individuated according to the unique journey of each soul. Within each evolutionary stage, there are an infinite number of karmic conditions that might be manifesting for a soul.

- Further, the possibility of resisting or cooperating with evolutionary necessity is available and equally possible at any stage of evolution. A soul deep in the spiritual stages can create some messy karma for itself due to its resistance to evolution.

- A soul can be at a certain level of evolution and either not realize it, be hiding it, or simply be manifesting itself in an environment that does not seem to reflect its evolutionary stage due to all kinds of possible karmic or evolutionary reasons. It is pretty common in fact for souls who are in individuated or spiritual stages to grow up in a consensus environment. So we have to look behind the scenes and not judge according to appearances.

- In general, souls tend to incarnate in families with similar evolutionary stages. But this is not always the case.

Pluto polarity point
I feel inside to be transparent that this is something I don't generally work with in my own personal work. Sharing this allows me to be 100% here and authentic with you all.

Regardless of what you personally practice or resonate with, while we are here, my earnest suggestion is to stick with the core EA material you are being taught and to sincerely endeavor to do your best to apply it and practice it. This will yield immense benefit, as it has done for me and so many others. Beyond that, we all find our own way with astrology which is of course natural.

The Pluto polarity point is true in my experience, and of course I wouldn't be teaching it if I didn't feel that way. It just hasn't stuck as a construct I generally use in my own work and personal teaching and it feels important for me to be honest about that.

Looking forward to getting starting with our first practice soon!

[ari moshe]

Practice: Pluto in the 10th house
For our first practice we will start with Pluto in the 10th house.

The first thing I'd like everyone to do is read the Pluto in Caprciron/10th house section in Jeffrey Wolf Green's book Pluto the Evolutionary Journey of the Soul. This will provide a foundation to understand this archetype. Then to practice thinking critically about the material, please answer the following questions. For our first round we will ONLY be thinking about Pluto in the 10th house in a general way. Of course without evoltuioanry stage or the nodes, everything at this point is super generalized for our learning purposes.

Pluto the Evolutionary Journey of the Soul can be found in hard copy as well as on kindle if you search on Amazon.

Me and Kristin Fontana also recorded a talk on Pluto through the hosues which is good to know about https://www.arimoshe.com/teachings.html just scroll down a bit.

When answering these questions, the more thoughtful you are with your words the better. Take your time. I will be reading each post and responding according to your efforts.
The aim of this first practice assignment is not to be very indepth and thorough, so don't try too hard! It's simply to open the doors to connect with the energy of Pluto. Very soon we will move on and add the south node in the 2nd house.

Also, what would be helpful for me and support the general functionality of this thread for all of us, is to get in the habit of quoting the post or the specific questions from me that you are resopnding to before each response you give. This allows me to know exactly where you are at withuot needing to scroll back and forth and makes it easier for everyone to follow. You can do that by copy and pasting my words, highlighting it and clicking on the quote icon above.

Pluto questions
1. What is the evolutionary theme of soul growth this soul has been playing out in all lives relevant to this one? Consider that the evolutionary journey of the soul implies cycles upon cycles of change. Manifesting a phase of life experience, setting up shop there, learning and growing from it and eventually needing to dismantle it and move on to the next.

2. What is the evolutionary intention of the current life as signified by the Pluto polarity point in the 4th house?

****

In my next post I'll sample answer these questions for Pluto in the 7th to help get the mind in line with this assignment.

And as always, ask any questions you need to about anything in this assignment. There's no doubt that your questions will also benefit others.

[ari moshe]

Here are my sample answers for Pluto in the 7th for those who might benefit from seeing an example.

1. What is the evolutionary theme of soul growth this soul has been playing out in all lives relevant to this one? Consider that the evolutionary journey of the soul implies cycles upon cycles of change. Manifesting a phase of life experience, setting up shop there, learning and growing from it and eventually needing to dismantle it and move on to the next.

Evoltuioanry cycles of being in balance with others, not being in balance, being pelasing to ohers, not pleasing others, core needs being met and core needs not being met, empowering life altering experiences in relationship that lead the soul to find more wholeness and acceptance within and cataclysmic catalysts through relationship that push the soul to return to itself. The comings and the goings of all things "other" and how that impacts upon the soul's own evolutionary growth to find ultiamtely security within.

2. What is the evolutionary intention of the current life as signified by the Pluto polarity point in the 4th house?

To act and live according to one's own soul directive; to claim the freedom to act and follow one's path as a bottom line regardless of concern with gain or loss relative to relationship.

[lindabolley]

1. What is the evolutionary theme of soul growth this soul has been playing out in all lives leading to this one? Consider that the evolutionary journey of the soul implies cycles upon cycles of change. Manifesting a phase of life experience, setting up shop there, learning and growing from it and eventually needing to dismantle it and move on to the next:
Pluto in the 10th house signifies a new cycle of evolutionary becoming, as it is in a cardinal house.  The soul has been learning how to be its own authority within the society or culture it is incarnated into.  Society/culture has established rules, laws, customs and norms in which humans must comply in order for the society to function.  The soul is learning to take its own authority into society and function well within it. Discipline, self determination and maturity is required in order to do this, and so this soul will program experiences for itself that will foster these qualities within itself. Depending on evolutionary state, the soul will use its power and status gained within society to lead others into their own power, or will manipulate others in order to remain powerful over others.

2. Explain how this soul might struggle with craving and aversion. Craving and aversion are of course the two expressions of desire: we either want something we perceive will make us secure, or we want to avoid something we perceive is threatening our security:  
This soul may crave power within society to the point that they will do anything to keep it, because the power/status they have within society is their emotional security point.  This would normally manifest in their career choice, or possibly the "head of the family" type. Of course this is a separating desire. Aversion to rocking the status quo in some way may serve to keep the soul secure within society at its own or others detriment.  This is also a separating desire. This may manifest in a soul who has not found their authority within society yet, and is suppressing themselves emotionally in some way in order not to question authority for the purpose of remaining emotionally secure.

3. What is the evolutionary intention of the current life as signified by the Pluto polarity point in the 4th house?
The 4th house signifies gaining emotional security within oneself regardless of anything outside of itself.  If the 10th House Pluto has identified too much with its career, or power status in some way within society for its emotional security, the polarity will be inviting this soul to gain emotional security from within first, regardless of status or career. The career or status can come and go, but the emotional security from within will always be in tact as a result, thus giving the soul a natural and empowered authority within society. 10th House can be emotionally suppressed, leading to depression, due to an inability to access their emotional content. The 4th house will invite the soul to go into its heart and feel its emotions, in order to actualize the next step in evolution.

[ari moshe]

Hi Linda! Thanks for your work. I'll respond tomorrow morning.

For now, just want to let everyone know that I've simplified the practice questions from 3 questions to 2. This is to keep these first steps really simple and to the point.

We have asked students to refer to the book Pluto the Evolutionary Joureny of the Soul by Jeff Green as we do this practice work together. The reasons for this is the Pluto book describes in detail the evolutionary dynamics of the soul relative to Pluto in all the houses including the evolutionary intentions as signified by the Pluto polarity point. Furhter, in reading the appropriate chapter(s), students will gain a comprehensive understanding of each of the house archetypes from an EA perspective. It's a solid way to get oriented to this work if you are new to EA.

So for now try your best to get a copy of it! We'll keep this first practice stup up for a bit so that we can all get oriented together.

[Julia8]

Hi Ari,

I tried to respond to your questions based on both the first Pluto book, the recording of you and Kristin Fontana, and also a little bit of my own experience, which of course is very little. I found some difficulty in responding to the second question, though. I would say that both questions were not exactly easy, but the second one was a little more difficult for me.

I also didn't read the answer of linda, that answer previously, in order to don't be influenced by the answers of other members.

1. What is the evolutionary theme of soul growth this soul has been playing out in all lives relevant to this one? Consider that the evolutionary journey of the soul implies cycles upon cycles of change. Manifesting a phase of life experience, setting up shop there, learning and growing from it and eventually needing to dismantle it and move on to the next.

This is a soul that has been experiencing and learning the aspects connected to rules, social structure and order. This could be a soul that has been knowing, through life circumstances in previous lives, the meaning of being part of a significant role in society. It's possible that they were in positions of authority, being for example governmental leaders. Through these experiences of being an important figure, the soul naturally acquired, by experience, a clear perception of "how the society works", so to speak. In other words, an ability's to "look beyond", in the sense that they developed, through time, the knowledge about certain attitudes someone could have in order to be more easily accepted by the status quo and the society they are part of. On the bright side, this is someone that learned and certainly mastered the art of being someone that can indeed change (or at least affect) people's lives. On the negative side, we can say that this could be a soul that ended up doing things over prioritizing the focus in being accepted - forgetting and ignoring their personal motivations, their personal sense of value, of what is considered by them, there in their internal structure, to be right or wrong. It's as if there was a voice inside of their mind that is always saying that their focus, their major focus, should be always doing and acting in certain ways as long as this so-called certain ways means to follow and to respect what already exists and what has been already established - putting their internal needs and sense of self-security always in the second place.

2. What is the evolutionary intention of the current life as signified by the Pluto polarity point in the 4th house?

In the current life, the soul would possibly create situations in which they would feel forced to follow their own needs, reflecting about their own way of act and feel. This "shock" could occur through situations in which they repeatedly are repressed or unaccepted by society, for example. The "pressure" to change and to be evolving could also manifest through an internal feeling, not necessarily coming from external circumstances, as for example feelings that would pop up, in different moments of their lives, of emptiness, of lack of purpose, even after being able to conquer everything they wanted, in order to be what is socially considered to be right, and correct.


Julia

[Kulrika]

Hi Ari!

Thank you for your work and so comprehensive material

1. What is the evolutionary theme of soul growth this soul has been playing out in all lives relevant to this one? Consider that the evolutionary journey of the soul implies cycles upon cycles of change. Manifesting a phase of life experience, setting up shop there, learning and growing from it and eventually needing to dismantle it and move on to the next.

If we take as an example the Soul at consensus stage of development, the position of Pluto in the 10th house would manifest itself as a desire to gain insight within societal structures but maintaining one's own position at the top of those structures (the desire of domination).
Generally speaking, the Soul's growth had been taking places through- sort of- exhibition to the external reality. In such process the Soul, might have searched a validation through its societal roles, the power but at the same time through a respect received from others.
If the Soul, for example, has reached to individuated or even spiritual stage, its experienced gained in the previous lifetimes could serve as guidance to other "less-advanced" Souls.
   

2. What is the evolutionary intention of the current life as signified by the Pluto polarity point in the 4th house?

The intention is to turn the validation's needs (the security impulses) from external position within society to inner sense of security; to find oneself at peace no matter what societal role we are currently playing without the need to constantly prove oneself in the outside world.
****

And as always, ask any questions you need to about anything in this assignment. There's no doubt that your questions will also benefit others.

- Is it possible to the Soul to move from one evolutionary stage to another in one incarnation, or it is rather process requiring many lifetimes?


- Knowing that the Soul needs a big amount of experience in order to pass from one stage to another, is it only the one archetypal axis (i.e. Leo-Aquarius) that the Soul is working on during all its lifetimes scenarios in order to may peacefully, without any attachments return to the Source?
 
( Example: We can assume that the Soul of Pluto-Leo individual have already had many incarnations
  regarding Leo-Aquarius Archetypes and their mutual interactions..., does it mean that the desire to return to the Source will be ALWAYS manifesting through this particular dynamic??)


   Thank you, and God Bless,

    Kasia

[ari moshe]

Hi Linda

1. What is the evolutionary theme of soul growth this soul has been playing out in all lives leading to this one? Consider that the evolutionary journey of the soul implies cycles upon cycles of change. Manifesting a phase of life experience, setting up shop there, learning and growing from it and eventually needing to dismantle it and move on to the next:

Pluto in the 10th house signifies a new cycle of evolutionary becoming, as it is in a cardinal house.  The soul has been learning how to be its own authority within the society or culture it is incarnated into.  Society/culture has established rules, laws, customs and norms in which humans must comply in order for the society to function.  The soul is learning to take its own authority into society and function well within it. Discipline, self determination and maturity is required in order to do this, and so this soul will program experiences for itself that will foster these qualities within itself. Depending on evolutionary state, the soul will use its power and status gained within society to lead others into their own power, or will manipulate others in order to remain powerful over others.

Excellent, and to clarify one thing. The evolutioanry state will not determine whether the soul will use their social status to lead and guide others or if they will manipulate others in order to maintain their status. A soul can orient towards either in any stage of evolution.

2. Explain how this soul might struggle with craving and aversion. Craving and aversion are of course the two expressions of desire: we either want something we perceive will make us secure, or we want to avoid something we perceive is threatening our security: 

This soul may crave power within society to the point that they will do anything to keep it, because the power/status they have within society is their emotional security point.  This would normally manifest in their career choice, or possibly the "head of the family" type. Of course this is a separating desire. Aversion to rocking the status quo in some way may serve to keep the soul secure within society at its own or others detriment.  This is also a separating desire. This may manifest in a soul who has not found their authority within society yet, and is suppressing themselves emotionally in some way in order not to question authority for the purpose of remaining emotionally secure.

I've since taken this question out, but since you caught it ...
Everything you wrote reflects true possibilities.

3. What is the evolutionary intention of the current life as signified by the Pluto polarity point in the 4th house?

The 4th house signifies gaining emotional security within oneself regardless of anything outside of itself.  If the 10th House Pluto has identified too much with its career, or power status in some way within society for its emotional security, the polarity will be inviting this soul to gain emotional security from within first, regardless of status or career. The career or status can come and go, but the emotional security from within will always be in tact as a result, thus giving the soul a natural and empowered authority within society. 10th House can be emotionally suppressed, leading to depression, due to an inability to access their emotional content. The 4th house will invite the soul to go into its heart and feel its emotions, in order to actualize the next step in evolution.

Really well articulated Linda! You understand the nature of the Pluto polarity point very well. I hope other students will read your answer once they have completed the assignment themself. Thank you for your work.