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Giant in Your Footsteps, Part I

Giant in Your Footsteps, Part III


The Giant In Your Footsteps

Part II: The Picture On The Seed Packet

Astrologers have been around for as long as humanity has searched for the meaning of life. We have lead a gypsy's existence, wandering from master to master, serving everywhere: From the royal courts of antiquity to the great cathedrals of Christendom, from the monasteries of Tibet to the palaces of India, from the trading desks of Wall Street to the White House itself. Astrology has fallen in and out of favor more than once, but it has always endured. Today, at the close of our too often nightmarish century, it shines as a brilliant beacon -- demonstrating that we are part of a coherent universe: a cosmos in which each and every life is significant, inescapably imbued with meaning, value and purpose.

Astrology speaks eloquently to the challenge of the three questions. Through the metaphor of the natal chart it offers a focused, three dimensional perspective of what British astrologer Dennis Elwell describes as "the picture on the seed packet" -- a symbolic map of the whole we might credibly become if we have the courage to shake off the chains that shackle our authenticity, and follow our star wherever it leads.

Astrology identifies the great ideas or themes that infuse our consciousness, and ultimately inspire our greatest achievements. It describes our innate talents, and the obstacles we need to overcome. It can forecast the emotional, psychological and spiritual opportunities that are available at any given moment in a life. It can even point to places on the planet where heretofore hidden parts of our wholeness can be more easily expressed.

But it is only a tool. It no more guarantees that we will manifest our potential anymore than the musical talent of child prodigy guarantees a great career for the adult artist. The chart remains "the picture on the seed packet," nothing more. Let me return to Elwell's analogy. Before you plant a vegetable or flower garden, you must buy the seeds. The packet they're sold in will feature a picture of the full-blown, perfected plant. That image is the ideal, the fullest manifestation of everything that seed can become. But very often our own early efforts at gardening yield scrawny, unimpressive plants. We can stop there if we want, and decide that this is the best we can do. Or we can give up gardening for good. But if we keep working at it, we can eventually grow a perfect rose or cabbage. Our lives are a lot like this. Each one of us is born with the potential for a rich and rewarding life. There are specific talents we can develop, and perspectives only we can express. The natal chart describes these. If we do nothing to nurture our gifts, they will never grow. Yes, they will always be with us -- but they will remain largely undeveloped, and only hint at what we might have become. Having abandoned our own best route to happiness, we will end up living someone else's life -- or worse yet, not really living at all.. And however successful we might appear to others, inside of us the light will be growing dimmer and dimmer. The world is immersed in darkness. It needs our light, the radiance generated through our realized potential, every bit as much as a flower needs the Sun.