Finding Direction with Astrology

1. Know Your Strengths

The gifts, inheritance, "flow" of a chart are there for you to cultivate. In the chart, they're places of ease, like trines, sextiles, conjunctions and so forth. It's easy to get into grooves in life, and over-use some skills and ways of being, while neglecting others. For example, perhaps you've been favoring the mind, at a desk job, to the detriment of a fiery Mars, or experimental Venus. Suggestion: Set intentions at the new or Full Moon that activate a dormant planet, house or area of potential (ex. Mid-heaven, North Node) in ways that fix your eyes on inspiring goals. Is your Jupiter in Pisces bogged down in the mundane? When the Moon is new or full in Pisces, set intentions that show you're willing to grow in that direction.

2. Know Your Challenges (recurring frustrations)

Become intimate with your squares and oppositions. These are places in the chart where discordant energies come together, tension builds, and something has to give. Usually there's a trial and error process of getting it right, before learning how to channel that intensity in the right way. Where you find squares, you find sparks, and that makes it a point of vitality. Knowing where those stressful pressures are in the chart helps you become more aware of how they play out in your life. Drama without conflict is boring! Your squares are pockets of energy that form something new, an expression of your character that's hard won.

4. Know When to Act

The trends and transits of astrology can help you act when you're at your best, and the timing is right. It tells you why your vitality is low due to a Saturn transit, or that a Mercury retrograde is jamming the communications circuits. But it's very important to know yourself, and the ways you thwart your own progress, like procrastination, self-doubt and risk-aversion. The current transits to your birth chart, as well as collective trends, can be weighed against your own sense of knowing when you're ready to take steps forward.

5. Know Where You've Been

The Moon and the South Node are two points in the chart that are a doorway into the past. The Moon is a foundation of the Soul, and hints at what treasures and baggage has come from the family line. Suggestion: At the new and full Moon in your own lunar sign, open to healing, wisdom from ancestors and guidance. Where is your South Node? The South to North node path is one that takes a lifetime, during which the lessons of the past are used to bring balance, and settle into the new foundation of this life.

6. Know Where You're Going

The Sun and North Node can be like beacons to what you're becoming in this life. The Sun is your basic nature, and expressing its traits fully are a key to realizing your potential. Know your Sun sign, its house position, and its relationship to other planets. When it comes to the long view, of your destiny as a spirit, the North Node also holds clues to what lessons you're learning. It's a gradual process, and it can be tempting to rest on the laurels of the S. Node inheritance. But the unfolding of your life is set up, so you'll follow the path toward that destiny.

7. Know Your Mind

Among intuitives I've known, a big concern that we always shared was the desire to "stay clear." That meant keeping the mind, and in turn the body and spirit channels, free of distractions, random static, noise pollution. This keeps an intuitive from picking up on what's trying to come through on subtle levels. We're vulnerable now to all kinds of frequencies and waves that can interfere with our mental-spiritual clarity. Try to detach from the more limiting and toxic aspects of "shared reality" of what's considered the mainstream. Make "staying clear" a top priority! Suggestions: Minimize use of cell phones. Don't feed your mind poison. Understand your Mercury sign, and keep your mind challenged and clear.