Karmic Astrology is the astrological discipline that relates the configurations in a chart with the past lives of an individual. It considers every point of the chart as a significant of some type of past experience. I am not a karmic astrologer, and, although I agree with that premise to a certain point (the person we are today is an offspring of the one – or ones – we were yesterday,) my opinion is that we should be very cautious with any type of system that proposes to uncover our past. With my respects to the karmic astrologers – I know that some of them do a really excellent job, - I am especially suspicious of readings that reveal your profession, sex or even the time your lived your last life. The reincarnation of a soul is the result of a complex and delicate planning, and nobody is supposed to know its subtleties.
In the astro chart, some points can be considered to have a most intimate relation to our past experiences as a soul. I'd like to bring forth the Moon Nodes, Planets Saturn and the Moon, the water houses (4th, 8th and 12th), the Moon Nodes, the retrograde planets and intercepted houses, and some of the major aspects and planetary configurations.
Moon Nodes. Probably the most meaningful of the configurations related to our past lives, the North and South Nodes (also known as Dragon's Head and Tail) express, according to their axis, qualities acquired in our past lives (South) and others that need to be stimulated in the current one (North). The characteristics of the South Node are so easy to express that we sometimes may become too “tied” to them, while we should use them positively in order to develop the potentials of the North Node. Therefore, if our South Node is placed in Cancer, or in the 4th house, it means that we learned so well how to give value to the family and the intimacy of our home, becoming sometimes so attached to the security of our “nest” that, in this life, when we feel inclined to “cut the umbilical cord” and seek our place in the world (Capricorn, or the 10th house) – and we'll feel that urge quite strongly - it may bring a lot of anxiety. While we are not able to learn how to integrate our public and private life, we may remain confused about our actual role is this incarnation.
Saturn. “Father Time”, the “Lord of Karma”, Saturn represents, by house and sign, where the results of past lives patterns will show with more intensity. It points out the nature of the main experiences we’ll must live in order to turn or karma in dharma, where we must assume responsibilities for how we live our lives. Saturn is work, and only through disciplined and patient work we’ll be able to overcome old habits. Thus, if Saturn is placed in the 4th house, it’s in the sphere of the family and home that we’ll be presented with experiences that will sound challenging but will teach us important lessons for our evolution. If placed in the 6th house, health and work areas will play the role as “purifier” of our current experience.
The Moon. The Moon is the significant of our past conditionings and instinctive reactions. It shows emotional needs and factors that can influence our emotional security, either from our current life or the past ones.
Trines. Strengths we’ve built in past lives, and that enable us to do things easily in the current incarnation. Especially strong are the grand trines, which mean a closed circuit of energy flowing easily between the planets involved and the element they are placed in. It means we have built, in past lives, self-sufficiency in the matters of that element.
Squares and Oppositions. These aspects represent lessons that we failed to learn, or that we learned only partially. In this life, they arise as challenges and difficulties we must struggle to overcome, energies we must integrate in order to get the best of them. The grand cross (4 planets in square to each other with 2 oppositions crossing them) means an accumulation of karma, or negative conditionings cultivated along several lives that need immediate repair.
The water houses. The conscious mind is only a least part of our psyche, the tip of the iceberg, while its huge, covered part is nothing less than the unconscious mind, built out not only of our early experiences but also of the register of many lives. Since the water houses – 4th, 8th and 12th – are intrinsically related to our psyche and unconscious predisposition, compulsions and patterns, they may keep precious information about what moves us below the surface.
Retrograde planets. For their retrograde nature they are believed to contain information about certain qualities that were not adequately worked on in our past lives, resulting today in a difficulty to express the energy of that planet. A Mercury retrograde, for instance, may indicate that our capacity of communication was poorly or inadequately used in the past, and today we may struggle to make verbal connections or develop our mental capacity.
Intercepted signs. They indicate a difficulty to express their energy in a physical level, as a result of past limitations. However, they own a potential of success if the individual apply efforts towards their development.
Differently from what many can say, the mechanism of reincarnation does not consist in punishment. It's rather a wise, ingenious and merciful way used by the Superior Power to teach us who we really are: heirs of life, co-creators of the universe. The Christ said "You are Gods". But until we fully develop our divine potential, a long road must be followed through many stars and many ages.
