[ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 ] ness of our desires. In India this form of yoga is called Gyana, or the yoga of knowledge. Astrology is a form of this yoga.
Karma Yoga [ definition ]- The yoga of selfless action; yoga through the selfless performance of duties.
When we translate our feelings of love of life and our understanding of values into personal behavior we enter the path of action. This is Karma yoga. Service to something larger than one’ s self is another way of breaking down the limitations of the small self. When you join the life of public service you are deciding to put the interests of the whole unit that you serve, ahead of your own needs. This is a brave act for most people... If you have had many lifetimes of doing this it is second nature. It is instinctive and automatic for someone to step forward to serve the larger unit when they are on this path for spiritual development. For the Karma yogi, behavior in our daily life is the spiritual practice aimed at bringing us closer to the goal of creation. Through putting the needs of a larger unit ahead of our own small self we get closer to reality; personal concerns are sacrificed for the needs of the group.
In one sense, everyone has a temperament for Karma yoga in the spirit that everyone goes through sacrifices in order to grow in consciousness. We all sacrifice for others, for our various groups, and for some ideal or cause. But some people have a special temperament for Karma yoga and this is shown by the circumstances of Saturn in their chart. Elsewhere I have written in detail on the meaning of the signs, houses, and aspects of Saturn to describe how this temperament for service manifests. 1
Necessities are ruled by Saturn; desires are ruled by Mars. We have certain needs that must be fulfilled in order to sustain life. We have desires, which give us energy, but also create complications which slow our progress down. The path of action, Karma yoga, not only requires us to deal with the principle of limitation( Saturn) but also we have to harness and finally raise the vibration of our own personal desires( Mars) in order to grow spiritually.
In order for our lives to progress we have certain requirements or necessities e. g. food, clothing, and shelter. These things are shown by Saturn. We also have things that we want. These things are shown by Mars. The interplay between these two conditions in our chart shows something of how we progress in our spiritual journey. Being able to correctly channel the energy of our desires in a constructive way requires discipline. This discipline or lack of it is shown by the level of functioning of Saturn.
We all have things that we must do, we have things that we must have, and we are faced in life every day with things that must be accomplished.
When we think of Saturn we think of discipline, limitation, structure. Saturn is hard, it is the law of gravity, it is karma. But, Saturn has a special role to play in Karma yoga, as Saturn rules sacrifice. Because Saturn presents us with limitations, we have the task of prioritizing when presented with many courses of action. Because of the limitations of time, money, and energy; we go through the process of saying no to ourselves in order to work for the good of something or someone else. When a mother only has enough food to feed her children, she is able to go through the sacrifice of giving up her own dinner to feed them. We have all had this experience, even if it normally presents itself in less dramatic ways.
We need to put time and energy into our personal lives in order to survive, in order to be alive to make sacrifices. A mother who only feeds her children and never eats herself, starves to death... and then her children starve as well, unless someone else takes them in and also makes sacrifices for them.
Astrologers must have a professional practice in order to generate sufficient resources to be able to give to an astrological organization. Yes, the astrologer can have an alternate source of income, a different job, a working spouse, large savings or inheritance; most astrology organizations run on the backs of people who are in this category. But what about OPA, an organization for professional astrology? It is important that we have astrologers working in the field who are capable, visionary, and generous enough to donate to the organization. This requires that we astrologers involved are successful enough, are self sustaining. From this we have been able to craft
[ CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 ] o P A ❥ The o rganization for Professional Astrology 5 T h e C A r e e r A s T r o l o g e r s P r i n g 2 0 1 2