Using
Your Intuitive, Psychic, and Counseling Abilities in a Reading
(Excerpted from "Lifting the Veil; Becoming Your Own Best Astrologer" on amazon.com in paperback and Kindle)
A lot of astrology is
based on an intuitive understanding of the chart that happens after the
astrologer has taken the chart apart—like a puzzle—and puts it back together
again. The first part of the preparation is the left brain rational note taking
on what is seen, and the second part is the pondering, the synthesizing, and
the allowing of images to arise….
So what happens to me is
that after pondering a chart for a couple of hours before a reading, I usually
get an “aha” about the client’s questions, and the planetary symbolism comes
together into a little epiphany. Not huge. I do mean little.
But I wait till there’s a
nugget of something there that feels very right, and it’s my hope that in our
session together we can swim down together into the symbolic underworld and
pull out what you, the client needs to hear. And I’ve found that the more my
clients know of astrology, the better, because we’re speaking the same
language.
And again…you can do the
same: spend a few hours with your own chart, take notes, come back to it later,
and see if you can swim in those realms and find treasure…or at least the
answer to your question(s).
Most of us don’t know how
intuitive or psychic we may be, but I believe we all have some of this ability.
(… a little “private information” about me—I’ve been testing this idea lately
by going to classes at a Spiritualist Church in Santa Barbara…and I’m coming
away believing that most of us are more psychic than we allow ourselves to be.)
It seems to be a matter of quieting the mind, asking Spirit for guidance, and
allowing images and feelings to arise. We can prepare ourselves for this, but
we can’t command the information to flow. It’s a gift of grace. The chart
anchors us like a map, as we explore the terrain of these realms.
There is room for the
intuitive and psychic realm to enter into a reading although you may not wish
to say it, as the client has asked for an astrology reading, not a psychic
reading. I use the impressions that arise intuitively to ask my client
questions. I won’t jump to conclusions, but I will ask questions related to
that intuitive feeling I have. Sometimes it’s correct, sometimes only partially
correct. I think it’s a natural tool that most astrologers use whether they
realize it or not.
If you have done the work
on the chart—analyzing it—take a few moments to sit with it and allow
impressions to arise. Listen to what the client is asking from you—even what he
or she has not written. Listen to your psyche and make a few notes about what
you sense so that this can become part of the reading too.
As for the counseling,
well, we can all use good listening skills and counseling techniques, such as repeating
back to the client what they’ve just said so that they understand that
you’ve really heard them. Clients need to know that you are following their
train of thought and that you “get it.” And sometimes that just takes a pause,
and perhaps a request for more information, or to ask them how they feel about
what was just said. Many counselors like to go back into the client’s history
to remember the first moments some complex or wound occurred, but we don’t
often have time for that in one counseling session, except for a brief mention
of past transits that may have triggered something that is now repeated…and
that can be significant. For example, I have a friend who almost always gets a
skin rash or skin irritation around the time when she has Uranus transits. So
she’s come to almost expect it. Perhaps this isn’t a good thing, but she
accepts it more easily because she’s noticed that when the transit has passed,
so has the rash.
However when we use our
intuitive, psychic or counseling skills there’s still one very important point
to remember: free will choices. Do you remember me mentioning the equation:
“Fate + Free Will=Destiny”? Assuming
too much is a mistake many astrologers make; we see signs in certain houses
and signs and aspects and we don’t ask or don’t listen well enough to know how
the client is living out those tendencies that are seen in their birth chart.
Their choices—their free will choices—if used wisely will over-ride any
negativity in the chart. (excerpted from "Lifting the Veil; Becoming Your Own Best Astrologer" on amazon.com)