Here's a great article providing more depth about her spiritual life.
(I lost the link to this article!)
Similarly to fellow Catholic theologian/scientists Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry (among others), and in a way not unlike the “spiritual science” of Rudolf Steiner, Montessori looked carefully and deeply into the world of nature and found, not isolated material entities interacting mechanically, but a living and purposeful Cosmos. “All things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity” (Montessori, 1973, p.
. She was deeply impressed by he harmony she discerned in the natural world, the ecology of existence that gives every living thing a meaningful function in the larger system. Every species, indeed every individual organism, contributes to the good of the whole by performing its inherent “cosmic” function. This harmony has not emerged randomly, but expresses “a pre-established plan” that is “of divine origin”; she was convinced that “the purpose of life is to obey the occult command which harmonizes all and creates an ever better world” (Montessori, 1989b). The Cosmos is engaged in a process of evolution toward ever greater harmony—toward the fulfillment of God’s mysterious purpose.
The guiding belief of Montessori’s educational philosophy, the fundamental point around which all her principles and techniques revolve, is her conviction that humanity has its own special function to fulfill in this divine evolution. The human species is “God’s prime agent in creation” and it is our responsibility to “learn to do more effectively our share of work in the cosmic plan” (Montessori, 1973, pp. 26, 33). Evolution is not yet complete; God’s purpose has not yet been achieved, and the mission of human life is to give expression to the formative forces within us that are yearning to complete the cosmic plan. We are called to work in partnership with the divine. This understanding of our existence places all our endeavors—our cultural, political, economic, and even our most personal strivings—in an entirely spiritual light: “The world was not created for us to enjoy,” Montessori proclaims, “but we are created in order to evolve the cosmos” (Montessori 1989b, p. 22). In an earlier essay (Miller, 2000), I argued that this striking statement is consistent with the teachings of great moral sages such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Heschel, and Krishnamurti, who all similarly asserted that we are on this Earth to contribute to the unfolding of divine justice, harmony and wisdom, not merely to amuse ourselves or satisfy our many material and sensual desires. In this light, education is not to be seen merely as preparation for a successful career or any sort of social or intellectual distinction; rather, education is the process of awakening the divine formative forces within every person’s soul that enable the individual to make his or her own unique contribution to the cosmic plan, to fulfill his or her own destiny.
Montessori wrote that humanity’s role in evolution is to construct a “supra-nature”—a social, cultural and technological extension of nature that calls forth ever greater dimensions of human creativity and understanding—a notion very similar to Teilhard de Chardin’s “noosphere.” This is humanity’s task because we, more than any other living species, “can receive the emanations of the Godhead” and
transform divine plans into physical and cultural manifestations (Montessori, 1972a, p. 35). But she repeatedly observed that our material and technological progress had far outpaced our psychological, moral and spiritual development, and in the twentieth century it was imperative that we make a determined effort toward remedying this imbalance. Modern societies, due to their pervasive materialism, have neglected the spiritual forces that animate the human being, and our institutions, particularly schooling, have become repressive and damaging, turning people into “slaves” of the machine rather than cultivating their spiritual sensitivity, she wrote. Modern people are ill prepared to deal with the great moral challenges of our age, and are unable to resist the demons of nationalism and war that threaten to engulf the world.
To address this imbalance, Montessori envisioned a curriculum for elementary school students that she called “cosmic education.” The purpose of this approach is to provide the young person with an expansive, inspiring vision of the grandeur of the universe and one’s personal destiny within it. This is an education that gives life meaning because all aspects of creation are shown to fit into a complex, interconnected whole that is far larger than our customary limited worldview. Aline D. Wolf comments that The value of cosmic education, as I see it, is that it places the child’s life in a spiritual perspective. No one can be confronted with the cosmic miracle and not see that there is more to life than our everyday experiences. Fast foods, designer sneakers, video games and sports heroes all pale beside the wonder of the universe (Wolf, 1996, p. 97).
Cosmic education lifts the young person’s consciousness out of the mundane, materialistic concerns of modern society and instills a sense of awe, touching a receptive and searching force within the soul. This is exactly the sort of “spiritual reconstruction” that Montessori intended when she spoke at several international peace conferences in the 1930s, and asserted that only the spiritual renewal of humankind through education, not any superficial economic or political effort, could alter the violent course of human history: “The real danger threatening humanity is the emptiness in men’s souls; all the rest is merely a consequence of this emptiness” (Montessori, 1972a, pp. 44, 53). In recognition of her efforts, Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949, 1950 and 1951.
To me, this soul seems to be later parts of spiritual state. Perhaps early third
spiritual.
Wow, what an amazing chart example of a fruition condition. Her sn and its ruler are all conjunct various planetary south nodes, plus all the nn planets conjunct the lunar north node. This soul has come in with a particular purpose to do this work and has in fact been very much in preparation for this prior to this life.One of her purposes was to dissolve the social constructs that create gender differentiation (Nepune in Aries on the MC, first quarter square to Capricorn sn).
This is one of the signatures in the chart that explain why she came into this life as a female. Prior to this life, this soul's underlying intention has been to devote itself to a form of service that would provide a solid foundation and structure for society that is more aligned with natural law. It's clear that she has been highly involved in participating in the social outlet and is well accustomed to operating within the current structures of the status quo to actualize her special purpose. However, the key in this life has been to pay attention to HOW the current social reality is structured, and meticulously apply herself to that. All this is implied by Sn in Cap in the 6th, ruled Saturn in Sag in the 5th which is a full phase inconjunct with Pluto in the 10th. Her soul knows patience and tenacity, and has lived prior lives at ceaselessly working towards her cause, and sacrificing what personal desires were necessary in order to
fulfill her purpose (Pluto in Taurus in the 10th, sn in Cap in the 6th).
The nature of this purpose has been to revolutionize the understanding of social conditiong and create new forms based on a higher intuition of what human potential is all about (sn ruler Saturn in Sag in the 5th ruled by and in a full phase opposition to Jupiter in Gemini in the 11th). She has been participating in
society, interfacing with the current status quo in order to do this, for a long time now.
The question for her soul has been how. How to make these changes. Again the full phase inconjunct between Saturn and Pluto. How to introduce these new ideas, collect the right information such that her special purpose can be accepted into the social sphere. This is the nature of the evolutionary requirement to create new structure. However the point of this chart, also given her evolutionary state, has been to do the work that is necessary in order to bring forth a divine plan into social reality. The Neptune skipped step implies the unresolved intention to do just that. In prior lives, she was not able to achieve the necessary social credentials to succeed to the extent that the soul has been guided to do so.
Another spin on this, is simply that the skipped step implies that prior lives have been building to this point, and she simply hasn't been able to/ prepared enough. and in the life of Montessori the soul was ready to embrace constructive action (square) that will enable her special purpose to unfold for the masses.
As to the connection between natal planets and planetary nodes:
The sn of Pluto and Saturn conj the sn in Capricorn all retrograde, and the ruler of the sn, Saturn conjunct the south nodes of Venus and Jupiter, also retrograde in Sag in the 5th. All of Saturn activity is trine natal Neptune in Aries in the 11th, and except for the sn of Jupiter, is also trine natal Venus in Leo in the
1st.
This all implies that she has been a mentor in the past, and has come in with the special purpose to teach and educatate the masses. Focusing on Saturn first, its sn is conjuct the sn of the Moon. Thus this soul's prior life identity was gravitated and centered around working within and fitting into the current social reality in order to express her vision. With the NN of saturn conjunct the lunar north node, this also implies that she comes from a very rich past during the matriarchy of having been a leader and educator of sorts. The linkage to the 5th house Saturn says something about her relaitonship to children, raising them, guiding them in the context of natural law.
The sn of Jupiter is retro in Sag in the 5th conjunct natal Saturn. It is the past of the current life Jupiter in Gemini in the 11th to which it opposes. This corresponds to a soul that has had an expansive vision as it relates to the underlying comsmological understanding of creation in general- and thus children- and has been developing this understanding by way of teaching for a long time now. The challenge has been to share this with the community, to actually apply the understanding in a way that is concrete and logically sound. The gibbous phase opposion implies she has been working on just that, culminating to this life such that she can communicate the intuitive ideas in ways that are both inspiring, expansive and empiricle to the best that she can. Note that the nn of Jupiter is exactly conjunct the lunar nn. Such a powerful chart!
The south node of Venus on that saturn, also retrograde, as the past of the current life Venus in Leo in the 1st implies that she has valued and found personal meaning in her life through her unique purpose and has been highly self focused as a result. The combination of Fire and Neptune (trine) imply a passionate comittment to do god's work. The fact of it being retrograde again points to there having been an over doing it- relative to Saturn, the question has been, did it work? Did she succeed in the way that she wanted to? There is such a LARGE and expansive quality to her soul, has she been tactful enough to execute the spiritual purpose? It seems that the challenges in the past have been about that. Like some sort of teacher, mentor who was not seen and entirely succesful, and clearly persecuted, though still had a great impact.
I'm going to stop here and allow some time for this information to integrate.
I think it'll also be a great practice to create a cosmogram with her sn and then another with Saturn. Given the strong connections to her sn, this would in fact indicate where she has been- and pivitol lifetimes prior to montessori that were pivitol in the life of montessori.... i'll try to make some time for that, though it may be later in the next week that I can actually focus on this again. I'm super busy, ironically with astrology that I can't practice astrology too much right now. Thank you for this amazing learning experience Rad. I look forward to reading your feedback and Linda's work.
With Love,
Ari Moshe
