by Dana Zia
I started studying Astrology in the late 80s after meeting Daniel Giamario and receiving my first reading from him. At that time, he was living in Maui and was teaching one day classes on different aspects of this paradigm. I loved those classes! His way of perceiving and communicating Astrology was so digestible and usable to even those that hardly knew anything about it. I became a groupie.
Fast forward 30 years to present day and I am still studying Astrology with Daniel and now Cayelin Castell and other Shamanic Astrologers. Even though Shamanic Astrology (SA) is the most understandable and down to Earth form of Astrology I’ve ever studied, there is no lack of depth in it. I have found it is multilayered and as rich as the sky itself.
One of the foundational principles of SA is the opening lines to the Emerald Tablets “As Above So Below, As Within So Without”. This axiom is a reflection of the patterns of the constellations and the cycles of our Solar System and how it affects us transitory mortals spinning around on our beloved blue marble, Earth.
When I first heard Daniel and Cayelin use this statement, I understood the basics of it and thought it was quite clever to relate it to the stars but I really had no idea how deep this goes!
I have been doing Astrology readings for years and since 2012 when Saturn crossed my ascendant, I re-devoted myself to the studies of Shamanic Astrology and became a groupie again. One of the most profound observations that I have made in these many years of being an Astrologer is that the transits that dance with a person’s natal chart are indeed called forth by their higher selves. Not only are they exactly what each person needs for their evolutionary path in that moment but they are lined up to sweep clean a person’s path so they can walk upon it without stumbling. As Above So Below, As Within So Without.
The Milky Way over Herbert Lake, Banff, Alberta, near Lake Louise. Mount Temple is glacier-clad peak at left. A single exposure of 40 seconds at f/2.8 with 16-35mm lens and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. No Moon, and taken in late twilight.
A Personal Example
I will use myself as a perfect and willing example for starters. I have a Cancer Moon AND the Cancer job (based on house placement of the South Node). It is easy to over identify with my Moon because our culture loves a nurturer that will take charge and be responsible. Not only did I step up to the plate, but I’d hit a homerun every time I did, and the crowds would go WILD! Of course, I kept stepping up to the plate, everyone asked me to and I liked to please. But since my evolutionary path wasn’t Cancer, my responsible addiction to my Moon wasn’t feeding my soul and my body was breaking down due to years of overworking as a massage therapist and being a black hawk helicopter mom.
Then a series of elegantly designed transits occurred in 2016…. (mysterious music builds) It started with transiting Uranus in Aries coming into a conjunction with my Natal Mars that subsequently squared my natal Moon. At the same exact time, transiting Pluto squared my natal Mars, which of course, reflected in my busy bee Cancer Moon. On top of that, transiting Saturn opposed my natal Venus and Mercury conjunct in Gemini. My carefully built Cancer Moon world that I had been so rewarded for, crumbled and fell.
Overuse injuries in my body became so intense that I could no longer work, my adult children rejected me and my Sagittarius rising husband was so bored with our stable and responsible life that he was restless and distant. I had been trying so hard before this series of transits to change my life as I could clearly feel it was time, but had been dismally unsuccessful. I literally threw my hands in the air (well, actually just one as I had a shoulder injury) and surrendered to change and pleaded for help from the Universe.
The very next day, I received an email that looked like the perfect job for both my husband and me. I was tantalized but so very frightened of the change that involved a major move and career shift. But then I remembered, that I had asked for help and here was the rope dangling in my face. I sent in our resumes and in a series of astounding events, got the job out of 45 couples that had applied for it.
We accepted and moved less than 6 weeks later. It was pandemonium but my Cancer Moon life was over and I was freed! I felt like I got a “get out of jail” card. I received a reading with Daniel around this time and he shared with me, “You’ve been released from your life of service to your Cancer Moon. You are now free to explore the re-structured Venus and Mercury in Gemini. Your life has been transformed in an unpredictable, unexpected way.” You could say that again!
I had called this changed forth and as soon as I finally surrendered to the pressure that the Solar System AKA the Universe, AKA my higher self, had lined up for me, my dreams came true. I had a bright and shiny new life.
I was off the front lines of nurturing, had the time and freedom to explore creativity and play, had an excellent job and my children and I started to re-build our relationship without the helicopter mom trying to take control. (Well, I had to really work on that last one, but have been getting much better at letting go.)
Another Example
This is not a single example either; I see it in people’s transits most every time. I did a reading recently on an extraordinary woman for her 50th birthday. Lisa, as we will call her, has lived a life complicated with health issues (she has a T-square with Chiron opposing Pluto, Jupiter, S.Node and Uranus conjunct, square her Ascendant) that she pursued healing with the strength that reflects in her very dynamic chart.
In the last year, she finally found a major piece of the puzzle to her health issues that involved healing her wounding as a young girl by rape. Lisa had received an intuitive vision that directed her towards the puzzle piece at the same exact time as transiting Neptune squared her natal Mars. Then she did her work to heal her masculine wound during the transit.
At the same time that was happening, transiting Chiron was moving towards her natal Chiron squaring her natal Ascendant and opposing Lisa’s Pluto, Jupiter Uranus S.Node conjunction. She was being freed of the attachment to her unmastered wound and forgave the man and all other men that violated her in her past through unforeseen, transformative events.
As soon as transiting Neptune moved off squaring Lisa’s natal Mars, transiting Jupiter moved to conjunct it and she had a deep and powerful healing with men. This occurred right before her Chiron return started and certainly cleared the way for it! Now during her Chiron return she is enjoying a potent and fascinating rebirth into her life and a deep connection to her Cancer rising. I tell you, you can’t make this stuff up! It is magical.
As Above So Below, As Within So Without. We are not at effect of the Universe, we are in cahoots with it! Our higher selves carefully design assemblage point shifts with transits for our earthly selves that desire it.
It calls to mind the first reading I received from Daniel when he explained the views of SA on Astrology. I’m paraphrasing here; He explained the natal chart as a map that we punch out for ourselves at birth. Our higher selves create it and we have the ultimate gift of free will to either follow the map to our “best selves” or take radical detours in the rough. At any time, we have the freedom to get out of the rough, a bit beat up perhaps, and follow the map to our personalized evolution.
This brings us around to another statement that I’ve heard Cayelin say, “We inform the mysteries as much as they inform us!” She often follows that with: “It is meant to be a living relationship. One that we have lost and are now getting back.” We are all elegantly woven together with the Cosmos and informed by the Universe as we inform it. Take notice of the charts you study to see the unmistakable fingerprint of the Universe reflected in the transits there.