The Whole-System Approach
"The seeds of future events are carried
within ourselves. They are implicit in us
and unfold according to the laws of
their own nature."
Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet: Cleo
Increasing numbers of people now are using astrology to better understand themselves and their relationships, their place in the world, their deep inner self and their ancestral legacy through family dynamics. Typically, a client does want to maximize their potential and realize their goals, but most importantly, they want to know what is going to happen to them and when. To what degree can astrology address these natural concerns?
There is still no coherent answer to the ages-old inquiry into how astrology 'works' – after a long, slow, deep evolution of my own work, this wonder has “cooked” in my mind but never caused me much alarm, since I know it works, and that is what matters. On a purely intellectual level, there are some reasonable conjectures I have about how it works. It works like any integral system with a core focus and surrounding satellites.
In the Theogony, dating from the 6th century BCE, the origins of the Greek hierarchy and theocracy are found. Hesiod begins this wonderful poem with the origin of the world in Chaos. Chaos means literally a gap, a 'yawn', a state of animated suspension. The Greek state of chaos implies unboundedness, an open, undifferentiated state of being. In other origin myths there are parallels - in Egyptian, Sumerian and Babylonian stories, as well as Native American, South American, African, Tibetan, Hindu exist a state of chaos out of which is born matter. Hence from this cosmic prima materia are born various deities - often elements of nature or necessary precursors to life itself. Therefore, chaos is a rich array of elemental forces all in place, but without form or differentiation.
