Self-Understanding

There is a trend in astrology, and really in most metaphysical arts, where the practitioner pains to prove their metal by predicting a client's future. Some cultures and subcultures express this addiction to prediction more intensely than others, but the propensity to project and ALL-KNOWING understanding of the world isn't just reserved for fortune tellers. Everyone from financial analysts to political pundits to weathermen take their shot at the unknown, at describing a future that is yet to be, and we eat it up. But there is a funny thing about the future in all these predictions which is that the future is already here, to one degree or another. William Gibson, the science fiction writer, put it like this "the future has arrived - it's just not evenly distributed."

In March of 2009, at the peak of the Global Financial Crisis, XLK (Technology Select Sector Spider Fund) bottomed out near $10 per share. Fast Forward to today this ETF is trading over $236. That is a percentage increase of more than 2,000%. XLK is a stock fund better known as an ETF (electronically traded fund) which is a basket of stocks. In this case, the basket is made up of companies from the technology sector with Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Apple having the heaviest representation in the fund, or what the fact sheet refers to as the "highest weighting." This is an excellent example of not being evenly distributed. Most fascinating to me is the number of newsletter writers who were describing end of world scenarios back in 2009 and warning that we were heading for the abyss. In hindsight it appears that we were in fact already there - in the abyss. Today, these same authors, who have continued with their dire predictions, and who have collected their monthly stipend all along the way, are sounding the siren for an imminent crash once again. They will be right, eventually, but what is more intriguing than their gloating when they get their predictions right are the excuses and justifications when their predictions are wrong or go astray.

I don't mean to pick on the financial advisors out there, but the markets are not only at an all-time high, but they are also top of mind, which in the current zeitgeist does tend to coincide with major reversals. Time will tell! I could have just as easily picked on weather forecasters. The famed John Von Neuman worked on weather forecasting models while he was at Princeton, and although he applied the most advanced mathematical modeling formulas ever conceived of and combined those formulas with mainframe computing power to calculate and predict weather patterns, with some success, the takeaway from his gargantuan effort in anticipating what a system of chaos might do next was humbling: we cannot predict where every snowflake might fall. There are too many vectors of force and possibilities within the system's potential to bring accuracy up to 100%.

Back to XLK, pull up the fact sheet yourself and look at the distribution of the companies within the fund. The first two holdings (Microsoft and NVIDIA) represent over 40% of the fund. This is known as a top-heavy weighting. I look at the natal chart similarly ascribing the heaviest weighting to the Sun and Moon. In fact, the natal chart is even more top-heavy than XLK in the sense that the Sun and Moon can represent up to 70% of the personality. In the case of XLK, knowing the direction of the top holdings can indicate the direction of the fund, and the fund has proven to be a surprisingly good indicator of the direction of the market in general. There are exceptions to every rule, but this analogy holds for natal astrology. The Sun and Moon are by far the most significant planets in the horoscope. But individuals are like snowflakes in that each of us is original and unique. The Sun and Moon will be modified by aspects from the outer planets, and the inner planets affect the way we need to think and relate with ourselves and others. Outside of this framework the vectors of force and possibilities are indeterminate.

We can get a good sense of where XLK is headed if we can figure out the direction of the top two holdings (XLK has a rule that no other holding can exceed 5% beyond the first two holdings). Similarly, the Sun and Moon in a natal chart can provide a kind of litmus test for the overall gist of the horoscope, and often the other major constructs in the chart will simply echo the spirit and synthesis of the CORE (Sun and Moon). However, there is always something else, beyond the CORE that like XLK in 2009 defies certainty. Whether this be the Spirit of Individuality or what James Hillman called The Soul's Code that defines our ever-unfolding present remains something of a mystery, and why astrology of any stripe is merely one tool in a counselor's toolkit. Astrologers might do well to recognize this, and that not everything looks like a nail if all they have in their kit is an astrological hammer.

Jupiter moves into square Saturn in August and will be in aspect until next June. There are numerous ways of looking at this transit but first we want to see if it hits the Sun or Moon in our charts, next we'll consider whether it is aspecting an angle. If so, then we need to be aware of our career development and how responsibilities could be dampening our deeper aspirations. Our goals and hopes could be at right angles with our dharma, with our right way of living our lives. As a young astrologer I thought it was my responsibility to inform a client about their direction and destiny in life. I thought I was supposed to provide ALL the answers to life's most perplexing questions. With time I've come to learn that my role, not unlike a psychotherapist's role, is to simply hold a mirror for clients, enabling them to better see themselves, so that they can discover their own answers within. If my counsel is ever considered to be sage advice it is only because together, we've uncovered something inside the kernel of the chart. We've gotten to the CORE of the matter, which is rarely about prediction, because what proves to be much more valuable after all is self-understanding.