Evolutionary astrology

Evolutionary astrology is an astrological style or framework often applied within the context of a natal astrology reading. An evolutionary astrologer works from the belief that souls reincarnate and evolve over many lifetimes and are therefore born with pre-existing experiences and orientations that affect the soul's current incarnation. In the evolutionary astrology paradigm, the natal chart is believed to show the soul’s intent, the life lessons of a person's present life, and to give insight into lessons and learnings of past incarnations.
History
Evolutionary Astrology has roots in eastern religion and in the perennial philosophies of the west, such as Theosophy.
The concept of reincarnation and the birth chart did not originate in the West. In India, Vedic astrologers, also known as Jyotishis, have been practicing an evolutionary approach for much longer. They look to the natal chart for evidence of past lives (and karma), and future lives, offering various solutions to karmic problems, also known as upayas. In addition, Jyotishis can often perceive the length of life of the native. However Jyotishis look more to the houses, called "bhavas", than planets for evidence of past lives.
Traditional Jyotishis—including Westerners who have gone to India or who have studied this approach—do not use Pluto (they do not use Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto). Some neo-Jyotishis, especially Americans, do use the outer planets.
The 20th century evolved a new understanding and terminology in the field of psychology. Dane Rudhyar was the pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology. He led the way by integrating the in-depth psychology of Carl Jung into the work of astrology, giving birth to the Humanistic Astrology field. In 1971 Rudhyar published a phamplet titled "The Planetary and Lunar Nodes" as part of his Humanistic Astrology series.
The western evolutionary perspective of study began to coalesce in the late 1970s. The term "evolutionary astrology" was first used by Raymond Merriman in his book titled Evolutionary Astrology: The Journey of the Soul Through the Horoscope, published in 1977. In 1991, a second edition of this book was published, titled Evolutionary Astrology: The Journey of the Soul Through States of Consciousness, published by Seek-It Publications.
The evolution of the field was highly influenced by the human potential movement of the 70's and 80's. The coupling of psychological personal growth and spiritual evolution influenced a new in-depth understanding of the natal astrology chart. In the late 1980's and early 1990's authors like Stephen Arroyo, Martin Shulman and Tad Mann began to broaden the field of Evolutionary Astrology. Although they did not use the term, their work clearly reflects the evolutionary intention of psychological integration for the purpose of evolving the soul.
The current prominent authors in the field of Evolutionary Astrology are Jeffrey Wolf Green and Steven Forrest, who collaborated on two books: "Measuring the Night, Volumes One and Two (2000, 2001). Together, in the second volume, they wrote a set of principles to further define the field.
Subsequently, Green and Forrest individually started autonomous training programs for the purpose of training Evolutionary Astrologers. Each school has trained hundreds of new practitioners and authors. The two schools share common philosophical principles, based on the history and evolution of the field. Each school also varies in some of methodologies and interpretations of the various symbols.
Theory
Evolutionary Astrology is a movement within the larger field of astrology. Both fields contain the same core structure, which is based on the structure of an astrological wheel at the time of birth. The wheel is divided into twelve houses which are symbolic of twelve different behavioral areas of life. Ten planets are arranged in these twelve houses, dependent upon the time, place and date of birth.
As with all astrology, the planet placement reflects the position of the planets in the heavens at the time of birth. The ten planets represent ten different psychological aspects of the psyche (the emotional body, the mental sphere, relationships, etc.). The planets fall in various zodiac signs.
When asked what your astrology sign is, most individuals will report the zodiac sign of their Sun sign. This is one important sign, but there are also nine other significant planets. The planets are connected through various aspects (conjunction, opposition, square, etc.), representing various internal states of regulation/balance or dis-regulation/imbalance. These techniques of interpreting the chart are common to both evolutionary astrology and the larger field of astrology.
Evolutionary Astrology is a field that evolved from the union of modern psychological astrology and the ancient metaphysics of reincarnation. The field assumes the configuration encountered in a person's present astrological birth chart reflects prior lifetimes conditions, traumas, lessons and evolutionary stages of development.
The psychologist assumes that the issues encountered in the adult life are influenced by the conditions encountered in childhood. The assumption is that unresolved childhood issues reappear or influence adult patterns and conditions. They discuss the childhood templates in order to understand and resolve the adult circumstances. Similarly, an evolutionary astrologer studies the unresolved themes and developmental stages of previous lifetimes as represented by the symbols of the moons nodes in the chart.
The signs, house placement, and aspects to the moon's nodes, provide symbolic insight into historic developmental conditions. These past (South Node) conditions create a context of understanding and meaning regarding where the individual is evolving from. The North Node represents the evolutionary cutting edge of the soul. Not be viewed through a deterministic lens, it more like a north star offering guidance and the direction for soul development. Understanding and working with the North Node intention helps us to learn from and better navigate South Node's karmic patterns. The details of the psychological themes are held in the planets that aspect the nodes.
The use of the Moon's Nodes is the core axis of the evolutionary astrology work. Within the field, there are varying methodologies and approaches to understanding and psychologically working the nodal story.
See also
*Natal astrology
*Psychological astrology
*Jyotiá¹£a
*Karmic astrology

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