One of the most empowering ways of viewing astrology and your birthchart is to see it as a mirror of the synchronistic events occurring in your external world.

Richard Tarnos author of  Cosmos and Psyche and Passion of the Western Mind views it as a profound method to understand how you as an individual fit into the whole.

Big synchronicities often happen with life crisis, births and deaths or when falling in love. They do happen regularly at other times in life but often we only pay attention to the big ones and miss the smaller ones.

Astrology is very useful as it can make you more consciously aware of synchronicities and what they mean once you understand more about your birthchart and view the planetary movements as a dance that is highlighting them for you in your life! That's what makes it such a profound tool in living at a higher consciousness level and making sure you don't miss opportunities. So pay attention and you will learn from the gift it offers you. Its an interactive and dynamic mirror of how you are being acted on by the Universe and your role in the expansion of yourself!

So lets look at this in more detail and start with the houses.

Houses;  The 12 houses are  like 12 classrooms you move through in your life and each one offers a different arena for your learning.

The signs and there are 12 of them too, are the lessons so we look at which houses are occupied and which planets as this is the teacher (ie. Sun,Moon, Mercury,Venus,Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and Chiron) land in them as this will show the backdrop or stage for your experience.

For example if you have Sun in Aries in your seventh house. You will learn how to assert (Aries) yourself (Sun)through your most intimate  relationships (7th)

So Aries will have lessons on assertion.

The Sun is the teacher of how you express your individuality

The 7th house will be the classroom and this rules intimate relationships and marriage

In a birthchart the 12 houses are described briefly as follows:

1st house which relates in the natural zodiac to Aries ; Personality expression, ego, the mask that you wear to the world &  appearance, environment, soul’s purpose.

2^nd House which rules Taurus and is concerned with your money, values, talents, sense of self worth, security.

3^rd House which rules Gemini and is the arena of communication, education, lower mind of the personality, speech

4^thHouse and the very root of your chart naturally rules Cancer which is concerned with your inherited characteristics and your home and family, roots, childhood heritage, Father image (or hidden parent.)

5^thHouse which  rules Leo and governs Creativity, children, love, romance and lovers, recreation and fun.

6^th House and the natural home to Virgo is concerned with the area of Work, health, self-purification, daily routine and tasks, habits, service,pets.

7^thHouse is the one opposite your ascendant sign and show who you are not. It naturally rules Libra and is the classroom to look at for lessons in Relationships, marriage and/or business partnerships, your awareness of others and even open enemies!

8^thHouse is the ruler of Scorpio and overlooks your Partners values whether in marriage or business, money, sex, death and transformation, crisis, regeneration.

9^thHouse rules Sagittarius and is concerned with your philosophy, belief systems, Higher education, travel, Higher consciousness and the very beliefs that hold your world together

10^thHouse rules Capricorn and this is the sign of initiation, Status, goals, destiny, career, Mother image, social values. Life direction and Highest potential.

11^thHouse rules Aquarius and is related to group awareness, social conscience and service, hopes & wishes, friends and groups -like twitter!

12^thHouse relates to Pisces which is the last sign of the zodiac and is concerned with dissolution of the ego into the oneness of life, Unconscious, hidden strengths and weaknesses, spirituality, sacrifice, past-lives, surrender experiences and miracles.

We all have to learn lessons from these 12 classrooms but depending on where your planets land in your own birthchart either natally i.e.when you were born, or by transit; which is when a planet apparently spends time in the classroom to teach you about a specific lesson will give an indication of the lessons you are working on in your life (life lesson) or at this point in time which is about growth to evolve you!

The Soul incarnates in each of the 12 signs of the zodiac many times to unfold its qualities. The Soul sends a part of it (the personality) into the lower worlds of existence for the purpose of gaining new experiences and thereby expressing and developing its latent qualities. To make contact with the Soul the personality must begin to tread the spiritual path and seek to re-connect with the spiritual part of it, which can lead it home to its source. We have come from the One Source and become the many and through love, wisdom and magnetic attraction we learn about ourselves and are lead home to the One-the Divine source. This occurs through love and relationships and helps us to heal the opposite qualities (dualities) inherent within us so that we are whole (again).

This may occur after one undergoes a period of difficulty or ‘Soul searching’ and a deeper need to understand one’s life occurs. As soon as we start searching for answers or look out with our previous boundaries of belief we begin to tap into a higher level of power that can assist us. Some people call this God or feel it is a higher power or spirit. In essence it is irrelevant what we call it, as it is really our own inner power and love (which is within our own Soul) that is available to us, if we are willing to tune into it and follow its wisdom and guidance. This often leads us to meet with the ‘right’ person at the ‘right’ time or to have coincidences, which propel our lives in a new direction. It also connects us to the guides and angels, which are operating in another invisible, dimension but are always available if we ask them to help us. 

Each person’s Soul has a part (or Soul’s Purpose) to play in the Divine plan for humanity and the more evolved and conscious you become the more you can tap into this for guidance and access previously unavailable resources or help. The rising sign or ascendant can identify the purpose and intention of the Soul. An accurate time of birth is essential to calculate this point as it changes sign every 2 hours. Once we have calculated this point you can say that this is the 1^st house or sector and place the other 12 houses in a circle in an anti-clockwise direction. You are then able to ascertain which area the planets fall in and the emphasis or life pattern is in place. It is a blueprint and although it may appear that you are fated to have certain experiences you always have the ability to flow with your destiny and inner divinity or to obstruct or challenge it. Thus you have free will to choose to grow through joy and release struggle. This can be an important turning point!

Ultimately you are here on Earth to become the master of your own destiny and understand that the lessons you are learning are for your highest good and were chosen by your Soul so that you could be empowered to experience all you came to do in your Sacred Contract and to ultimately fulfil your destiny.

Next time I'll be looking at transits and what on earth is happening to us all at this time of great transition! This can help you to align with the Universe and flow with Divine order more easily.