Beginner’s Corner with Sheridan
Send your questions to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com.

See Your Birth Chart In The Sky

At the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School we are all about the sky and communing with the planets and stars. That is part of what makes Shamanic Astrology shamanic, going directly to the sky for personal one on one teaching and learning.

It’s easy to get caught up in astrology charts and lose sight of this all-important bigger picture – the sky! Becoming myopic in our learning and understanding, we quickly reduce the vast three-dimensions (and beyond) of the cosmos down to a little two-dimensional piece of paper or an image on our computer or phone app.

Today’s Beginner’s Corner is a reminder to see the charts in the sky. Start with your own birth chart. All those glyphs and lines are simply a representation of the sky at the moment of your birth. The sky is truly what astrology is all about. Yes, your Sun is in Aquarius, but that’s because THE Sun was in the seasonal sign of Aquarius when you were born. Your Mars is in Libra because Mars, the planet in the sky, was in Libra. We want to always remember the real live planets in our astrological explorations, not just what Mars in Libra or Sun in Aquarius means for us. It is so much bigger than that. We are so much more than that!

Learn to see your chart in the sky

What did the sky look like when you were born? You can get a clue from your birth chart, but a way to get a better visual is through using a free astronomy software program, called Stellarium. You can get it here: http://stellarium.org/ for FREE. Looking at the time of your birth, in the sky, is a powerful tool that connects you much more deeply to your birth chart and opens endless doors of deeper exploration.

Looking at my birth chart below you can see I was born when both Venus and Mars were in the Underworld, hidden from view in the beams of the Sun. Looking at the Stellarium image you can’t even see Mars and Venus, right? That’s because they’re hidden behind the light of the Sun. That is a visual and visceral image that deepens my previously intellectual understanding of those planets being in the Underworld.

I was born just after the Summer Solstice and you can see the Sun has just moved beyond Orion’s hand, where the Summer Solstice occurs. Again, it’s something we can’t see with our eyes due to the Sun’s brightness, but I can feel the connection to that point in the sky when I see it in the astronomy software. Even more importantly, it leads me into earnest discovery of what that means for me.

Now, go check our your own chart in the sky!

Look into the stars in prominent places at your birth. Regulus, the heart of the Lion constellation is exactly on the eastern horizon at my birth, right at my Ascendant. There are some powerful teachings for me in that and you can’t see that on my birth chart. Jupiter is just under the horizon, ready to rise next, so that is obviously adding some Jupiter expansive juice to this heart of the Lion messages.

I encourage you to do your own explorations. It is incredibly moving to see your chart in the sky, which is exactly what your chart is all about. Go back and forth between your chart and the astronomy image. Dive deeper into those constellations and stars around the highlights of your chart. Research the stories around those. I promise you will gaining a more profound understanding of why you are here. I start all of my readings using Stellarium, so we can see the moment of my client’s births. It always brings an aha moment. The sky reflects your intent for being here, not just the glyphs on a piece of paper. Let’s all remember that.

Send me your questions by emailing me your questions to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com and I’ll answer them next month.

Sheridan Semple
https://sheridansemple.com/

Beginner’s Corner with Sheridan

Send your questions to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com. 

Questions on Orbs and the 144 Storylines

We have two questions this month! HUGE thanks go to N and C for submitting your questions!! I LOVE getting questions, so please fill me up with love by sending your Shamanic Astrology questions!

#1 What orbs do we use in Shamanic Astrology?

N asks: “What orbs are generally used in Shamanic Astrology for two planets or points to ‘dance with each other’? Are there differences between personal planets, outer planets and angles / nodes, as well as between natal and transit aspects? 

Great question N! 

Wondering what an orb is? It is the number of degrees used between planets where there is an impact between the two planets involved, or to use N’s words, where they “dance with each other”. For example, my Moon is four degrees away from Pluto on my birth chart. That’s a four-degree orb between my Moon and Pluto. 

In Shamanic Astrology, we generally use a 10-degree orb between planets, angles and nodes on a natal chart. It really all comes down to what distance does a planet need to be from the Sun to potentially be seen by our eyes in the sky. Remember in Shamanic Astrology we are all about the night sky and what we can see visually. There are some exceptions, in certain circumstances, but going with the 10-degree orb is our norm.

Adding another layer in for you more intermediate astrologers, in Shamanic Astrology we only focus on the relationships between outer planets (Jupiter and beyond) to inner or personal planets (Moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Sun) as well as angles (Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven and home and roots) and nodes.

For transits the orb degree is different and gets complicated beyond the scope of this article. Anyone questioning what transits are… they are the current planets moving through the sky that sometimes align with planets on your natal chart. Using the example above, I have my Moon conjunct Pluto on my natal chart. The Moon was four degrees away from Pluto at the moment of my birth. Currently, Pluto is at 26 degrees Capricorn (as of writing this) and is nowhere near my natal Moon, but it could be opposite your natal Venus or square your Ascendant. That would be a transit: a planet’s placement in the sky, right now, being in a dynamic relationship with one of your natal planets. Dynamic relationship means: conjunct (close together), square (90 degrees away from) or opposite (180 degrees away from). Also, the outer planet to personal planet/angle/node rule above applies here as well.

As a huge generalization, Shamanic Astrology uses a 1-degree orb. It’s really much more complicated than that. Here’s one simple example, say Saturn gets within one degree of your natal Saturn, which starts a Saturn return for you. It then passes over your exact Saturn degree and then gets one degree away and does not ever return to that degree. You think, whew, I had the shortest Saturn return ever. I got so lucky! Well… not so fast. Not diving into the technicalities too much here in our Beginner’s Corner, let me say that Saturn’s retrograde loops are going to come into play. Your Saturn return is going to be about nine months long, even if it appears to move out of that 1-degree orb. No one gets a one-month Saturn return. These outer planet initiation cycles are just too important for our evolutionary growth to get shortchanged in the time we need to understand their teachings. This depth of configuring the length of an outer planet transit cycle applies differently to each outer planet. To better understand the orbs and transit cycles I suggest you take a look at SAMS’ Shamanic Timeline Course here. It goes in depth into all of the cycles and orbs and all that good stuff.

#2 How do the 144 Storylines affect C’s chart?

If you missed last month’s article Drilling Down Deep into Your Chart Using Shamanic Astrology’s Unique 144 Storylines, you can read it here.

C asks: “I was very interested in the post on south node and north node in the houses. I have natal moon in Libra along with south node in Libra in the 3rd house. North node in Aries in the 9th joined with Chiron, Mercury, Venus, Sun and Saturn, all in Aries. I would love to hear more about these placements as discussed in the fb post today.”

Another great question because it’s all about what does this information mean for me? How does this help me understand myself and why I’m here better?

For starters, we say that C had the Gemini job (south node in the third house) in the Libra (her Moon) tribe. Another way we could say it is she majored in Gemini in the Libra mystery school. I’m using past tense because the Moon and south node teach us about her lineage and where she came from. With her Moon in Libra, she has been getting an advanced degree in personal relationships. This is the area of expertise she has come into this lifetime carrying. Having majored in Gemini, she was the person in that Libra tribe who liked to shake things up, push the envelope of their understanding of what relationship even means. She wouldn’t have been bound by any Libra rules and would have expanded the very definition of relationship within her Libra Moon group, challenging the status quo by sharing the messages she received from Spirit through stories or plays.

For the flip side of C’s 144 Storylines, we know her north node is in the ninth house. She has the Sagittarius job or major this time, but now in her Ascendant mystery school. She didn’t mention her rising sign, but based on knowing she has Libra in her third house and Aries in her ninth house, she has either a Cancer or Leo Ascendant (depending upon degrees and which house system she used). This means she majoring in Sagittarius in either a Cancer or Leo mystery schools. She’s learning to hold the Sagittarius job in her current life purpose. This is actually a great example to follow up from last month’s article because the Cancer and Leo mystery schools are dissimilar, so we can really see how this north node in the ninth house would play out differently for each.

The Sagittarius job is about being the adventurer, the explorer, striving to know the truth about and find the meaning of life itself. No small undertaking! Within the Cancer tribe, she would be a pioneer in what it means to nurture and unconditionally love her people. She would be exploring new ways to mother her children or community. For Leo though, she’d be on an adventure to discover what it means to be the Creatrix herself. How far can she go with her own creations and simply making up her life as she’s inspired day to day. She would also be learning the divine truth of radiantly loving herself. Reminder, the north node and ascendant are new things we are learning about, so it’s a journey to get there that lasts our entire lifetimes. One step, one day, one year at a time.

See how these expressions can make all the difference based on the players involved?

Send me some love, by emailing me your questions to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com and I’ll answer them next month.

Sheridan Semple

https://sheridansemple.com/

Question from E from last Beginner’s Corner on Archetypes

What is the difference between the feminine and masculine archetypal energies? 

The more I have been studying the archetypes, the more rich and whole they seem, but also more alike. It is becoming more difficult to see the difference between them. Can you explain a little bit more. 

Thanks for having this space to clear our doubts. Blessings, E

The Archetypes Beginner’s Corner article is here, if you missed it or want a reminder.

What is the Difference between the Feminine and Masculine Archetypes?

Great question E! It has made me think and dive into this topic more deeply. At first, I wondered if masculine and feminine are even archetypes? There are many archetypes that fall into masculine or feminine energies, such as the crone, maiden, grandfather. There are certainly ones that cross into both, such as warrior, mystic, shaman. But, are feminine and masculine archetypes themselves?

Then, I went back to the definition of archetypes from Dictionary.com: 

1. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern or thought, image, etc. universally present in individual psyches.

I would definitely count feminine and masculine in this definition, both the Sacred Feminine and Sacred Masculine, as well as the patriarchal overlays on these energies that we have all been subjected to for the past several thousands of years. This is just like the essence vs. current cultural content that I wrote about last month, where we project present day misunderstandings onto the original essence of the astrological archetypes. We definitely do this with the feminine and the masculine – big time!

I think the best way to approach this topic is to think about the Chinese Yin and Yang symbol.

Yin, the black half, is the feminine energy. Yang, the white, is the masculine energy. With our vast patriarchal overlays on the masculine and feminine, I find it easier to ponder the energies in terms of Yin and Yang, as I don’t have the same charges around these words. The latter help me get to the essence more easily.

Traditionally in Chinese medicine and religion, Yin is receptive, dark, negative (in polarity, not disagreement – even here we start to see our societal projections rise up) and Yang is active, light, positive (again in polarity, think electricity, not better). Right away we can see these definitions challenge our views, such as light is better than dark, positive is better than negative. Neither of these statements is true. They are just new age concepts that most of us have fallen victim too. As patriarchy took hold we turned our backs on the Sacred Feminine (and really the Sacred Masculine) and banished the dark aspect of the Goddess. Darkness became unsafe. We ran from the all-important shamanic death and rebirth cycles. Luckily, we have Shamanic Astrology to bring us back into the beauty of the darkness, where so much of the juice lies, in the underworld! 

I believe the concepts of the energies of the feminine and masculine taught in the Yin Yang symbol give us the best understanding of the immense powers of these two primordial archetypes. It is just in our judgements that we think one is good or better than the other. We need both, always. And, we are not limited by our gender to be one or the other. We are both, always. It is a complicated topic for sure. Look at how we subjugate women in our society and in the backlash to that how we are so down on men equating them erroneously with the patriarchy. Or, try this on… substitute Black for dark and white for light and see how quickly we subscribe to racist ideas. Yet, when we look at the Yin Yang symbol we see beauty in its wholeness. We find life by dealing with our shadow. We grow and find ourselves more deeply in a Pluto cycle. Light polarization is just another way to support the patriarchy and racism if you really get down to it.

We need both for balance

We need both for balance and that brings us back to the archetypes. I love how the Yin Yang symbol has small dots of the other energy present within each half, showing there is not a clear-cut difference. It isn’t linear; It’s a circle where each contains parts of the other. Just like the systems of the body, you can not truly separate any one out from the others. They are completely intertwined and connected to each other, within the whole. Just as E has posited in her question. Following one thread, say the feminine or Yin circles us right into the masculine or Yang, which then circles us right back into the Yin, continuously, forever. They are two sides of the same coin. Just like women and men can both be Pisces, Cancer, Aquarius or Aries. We are both at the same time in our wholeness. Yet, each can be experienced individually.

For example, we just moved out of yang energized Aries into yin energized Taurus. You can feel the shift, right? I experience it as moving from activity and doing into being and receiving. For some of us on a more masculine or evolutionary journey, shown within our charts, Aries season might feel better to us. For others on a feminine or involutionary journey, Taurus might be a welcomed respite. The point being we are complex creatures, with layered paths and experiences that challenge our perceptions of the archetypes as we search to find the essence of the energies within and without.

These are just my musings on E’s question, by no means the definitive answer or truth. What are your thoughts on the topic? Comment below. Send me your questions or thoughts for next time at the email above. Until then, sending you wholeness and love in your explorations of who you are.

Here are two additional resources from Daniel Giamario which discuss gender and sex specifically: Spring Equinox course and Daniel’s Sex and Gender vlogcast.

If you would like your questions answered, send them to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com.

Sheridan Semple

https://sheridansemple.com/

Send your questions to beginnerscorner@sheridansemple.com. 

Archetypes and Signs

Shamanic Astrology is archetypally driven. We see the signs, such as Libra or Scorpio, as an archetypal energy. What does that mean? What are archetypes? What do they have to do with you and your chart? That’s what I’m diving into today.

What is an Archetype?

Dictionary.com defines archetype in two ways: 

1. the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or based; a model or first form; prototype.
2. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern or thought, image, etc. universally present in individual psyches.

In Shamanic Astrology we are more interested in the Jungian definition, but the first one works too. An archetype is the original pattern or prototype of an energy we all have in our unconscious. It’s a power that speaks to us inside, beyond conscious comprehension, yet we still know and understand it. Common examples include: the hero, the sage, the lover. Images and feelings immediately come to mind when you read those, right? That’s an archetype. 

We may all get a different feelings or images, but that is due to cultural teachings and overlays placed on top of the pure archetypal essence. The same happens with the signs or archetypes, but we’ll come to that later. For now, we just need to understand that there are universal symbols and spirits that speak to our Souls. We understand these energies whether we are conscious of them or not.

In Shamanic Astrology we see the twelve signs of the zodiac, as archetypes, a dozen energies we know and experience internally, often completely unconsciously. There were certain archetypal energies present when you were born, based on where the planets in the solar system were in relationship to you. Your birth chart is the map of these archetypes and these powers. It shows us the archetypes you already know or are newly learning about and exploring as part of your Soul’s evolution in this lifetime. Pretty cool huh?

If you have an Aries Moon, you have a level of expertise in the Aries archetype. You naturally know about your inner strength, your individual expression and feel centered when you have a committed path of action. If Aries is your ascendant or rising sign, then you are here to learn lessons that help you step into the Aries archetypal energy.

Each sign is an archetypal energy, not just some personality trait. It runs so much deeper than that and takes us back thousands of years in our ancestral heritage. Our mission is to simply do our best to step into the archetypal spirit we are here to investigate in this lifetime. The more we do that, the more we feel we are on our true path and experience more fulfillment in our lives. It is not always easy, but it ultimately feels good as we arrive there more and more. The trick is in discovering the true archetypal energy and not the current cultural overlay.

Archetypal Essence vs Cultural Overlay

This is a deep topic that can take us down many worm holes, so I’m going to explain the basics and keep this in our collective Beginner’s Corner language. Doesn’t all the astrology-speak in so much astrological writing frustrate you? It’s like legalese – if you’re new to the language you can easily get lost in esoteric and lofty ideas.

The gist is there is the true essence of the archetype that has existed for thousands of years, the original form or prototype (if we go back to the dictionary definition). After that comes the culture’s interpretation or biases overlaid on that original pure essence. We could instead say the culture’s misinterpretation. 

Let’s take the sage archetype example from above. The essence is wisdom, elderly, profound knowledge, been around the block. The current cultural overlay is old, crone, used up, out of touch, dispensable. We feel the beauty of the sage within us, but as a culture we do not value the elderly. How often over the past year have you heard, “Well, it’s just killing the elderly” like that’s ok or not a big deal? 

Getting into the astrological archetypes, let’s use Virgo as an example. Virgo’s archetypal essence is the earth priest or priestess in service to Gaia, sensing and showing us all the patterns of the sacred wheel of life in nature. The current cultural overlay is nitpicky, anal-retentively organized, great at being accountants. When did the druid become a CPA? I saw a post from my stepson once around his Virgo-ness, assuaging people of their fears that he won’t be coming over to organize their sock drawers. It’s funny, but demonstrates society’s misunderstanding around the deepest earth-connected archetype.

Certain archetypes or signs are in fashion in a culture and some are not. Take Pisces for instance. We love Pisces-type women who are healers, have compassion and hold space for our pain, even to their own energetic detriment. But, we run from Pisces men, saying they’re weak or overly emotional. This is all about cultural overlay and nothing to do with the incredible power of the archetype of Pisces. We need more men to step into their healing power, completely communed with Spirit in our world. Or the reverse, we love a stereotypical Aries man, grunting warriors who sacrifice themselves for our protection, but an Aries woman is just flat out a b*!&#. Again, cultural overlay on the beautiful protector archetype who is all in committed to a mission and purpose to make this world a better place. 

It is the archetypes we’re trying to embody, and ultimately heal from the cultural overlays. It feels like swimming upstream if the archetypes on your chart are out of the current fashion, but WOW when you embrace the essence of your archetype, you feel like you’re floating back home on the lazy river. It is the feeling of, “Oh, there I am!”

For more Information on your individual archetypal energy, check out The Shamanic Astrology Handbook by Daniel Giamario with Cayelin Castell.

Sheridan Semple

https://sheridansemple.com/