The Inner Sky: How to Make Wiser Choices for a More Fulfilling Life

by Steven Forrest

We must learn to grasp the birthchart as a whole, just as a good doctor learns to see the body as an interacting system. That is the first law of interpretation: to see wholeness.

A birthchart is an intricate arrangement of multidimensional symbols. No two are alike.

we must react to the chart the way we react to a living person. Intellectually. Emotionally. Physically. Intuitively. We must react to wholeness.

A birthchart is a unique arrangement of astrology’s primary elements:

A birthchart is a particular combination, taken to represent the individual.

a birthchart is simply a map. It shows the way the sun, moon, and planets were arranged in the sky at the moment a person was born.

All signs are the same size – 30 degrees, or 1/12 of the 360 degrees of the circle. Not so the houses.

Occasionally, a house that happens to be wider than 30 degrees gets lined up with a sign in such a way that the sign is completely swallowed – it does not touch either house cusp (beginning) at all. This is called an interception

Each planet falls into both a sign and a house. We can tell its house position just by looking – which pie slice does the planet occupy? To determine the planet’s sign, consider the notation right next to it.

houses are linked to the local horizon, while signs are linked to space itself.

In our hemisphere, the sun is more or less due south when it reaches the peak of its daily arc. So the uppermost point on a birthchart is a southerly point,

The natural inversion of the birth map puts east on the left and west on the right.

planets rise on the left side of the chart. We call that point the ascendant.

the right end of the horizon line, is where they set. It is ca...

Midheaven is the name given to the high point of the birth chart – where ...

the astrological nadir is the opposite point, where we would find the...

In the course of a day, the sun, moon, and planets all rise and set once. In other words, they move through each of the twelve houses.

If we followed planetary motions over a period of years, we would discover that they all stick to the same track.

This track is called the ecliptic and it is divided into twelve equal segments. Those segments are the signs.

planets move in relation to the backdrop of stars and we measure that motion as changes in their sign positions.

the time of birth is such a critical factor in astrology. The date alone would be enough to establish the relationship of signs to planets. but we need the time in order to add the crucial birthchart element of the houses.

Signs have a fixed relationship to one another. Taurus always follows Aries. Gemini always follows Taurus and so on.

astrology paints a portrait of the individual.

The sky. That is astrology’s prime symbol. The sky is the bedrock from which the elaborate language of the birthchart arises.

astronomers seek to know the form of the heavens, while astrologers pursue their meaning.

Astrology is the poetry of astronomy. It is not so much a study of structure as of significance. Not what the sky is. But what it says to us.

astrology is not a study of the soul. It is a study of the personality.

Two physical motions, both circular, lie at the roots of astrological symbolism. One is the rotation of the earth on its axis. The second is the revolution of the earth in its orbit around the sun. The first motion produces the houses. We discuss those in a later chapter. The second circle gives rise to the symbolism of the signs. And it is through the signs that the prime symbol comes down to earth.

In modern times we call it the ecliptic, but it has a far more ancient name: the zodiac.

The zodiac is a two-dimensional translation of astrology’s prime symbol, the sky itself.

Seasonal changes, then, not stars, are at the heart of sign symbolism.

Infinity is broken down into four finite phases, each with its own distinctive character. We call these four phases elements.

Fire, earth, air, and water. The elements. Images from antiquity. Four primal states of being. Four faces of the universe. Within us they exist as states of consciousness. Beyond us they function as templates for all physical and metaphysical processes.

Astrologically, the vernal equinox symbolizes the birth of the element fire. This is the principle of action. Like springtime, its spirit is one of outrushing energy, charging into the cosmos, shattering all that stands in its way. Uncompromising invincibility of purpose – that is fire.

Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.

Earth follows fire in the traditional order of the elements. This second life principle emerges out of the heart of night. It is ...

a spirit of grim, enduring determination. Earth symbolizes stability and continuity. Its emphasis is on making peace with a hard, unyielding world. Practicality and resourcefulness arise here. Earth is the sustainer, the giver and maintainer of form.

Embodied in Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn,

endlessly building, crystallizing, an...

After earth co...

We call the moment the autumnal equinox.

a feeling of foreboding

In air, we find perceiving, reasoning, connecting – the mental functions. Its tone is one of unending curiosity, of detachment and clarity of perception. More than any other element, air is aware that beyond itself lies the unknown.

The questing spirit of air animates Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.

Water is the last of the...

the summer solstice.

Water is the principle of nurturance and protection. Outwardly, its spirit is one of warmth: inwardly, of imagination and intuition. With its penetrating, sensitive quality, water’s prime function is to feel.

Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are the signs conditioned by water.

When a man or woman is born under the predominant influence of the fire signs, he or she is developing will. Courage or willpower is simply the translation of the fire principle into the language of psychology.

a person conditioned by earth is here to learn patience and self-discipline;