Check out our Practices & Tools page. The best place to start for getting your head around your true, accurate natal chart is the Cosmic Cognates report. From there you can explore astro-archetypal meditation, starting with the Universal Archetype known as the Inner Guide. This is the Universal Archetype who everyone should work with first, before diving into the specific archetypes emphasized in your natal chart. We strongly do not recommend meditating with the specific archetypes of your chart without guidance. This is one of the principles you will learn when you meet your Inner Guide!
Absolutely not! You don’t need to know anything about astrology, depth psychology, tarot, or have experience with meditation for this method to work for you. It is fully guided, engages your imagination, and is designed to fit you and your personal, unique mind.
Well, the answer is in the question. If the stars matter at all in relation to the earth and the solar system, we should use the actual stars in relation to the planets as they are right now. That’s how astrology originated, and for various historical reasons, the West lost touch with the actual sky. See our series Tropical Vacation: How Modern Astrology Drifted from the Stars for an in depth answer.
So are we, man! So are we. Though we started with tropical astrology because it resonated in some general way, we eventually transitioned to sidereal astrology and found it significantly more accurate and impactful. But, as with all matters in life, in astrology an open mind and critical thinking in equal measure is a good protocol. Our motto is: “Not science OR magic, but MORE Science, MORE Magic!”
Astrology originated with humans observing correlations between patterns in the stars and patterns in human life. Let’s get back to using the actual sky and then reassess, eh? Using true cosmological time and ancient wisdom provides a framework for understanding inner patterns, and many skeptical clients have found it practical and insightful (see Testimonials).
First, we provide a sidereal perspective on your chart, which yields your true rising sign and anchors the major angles of the chart based on what is happening at the moment of birth in the actual sky. Your sidereal chart is your true birth chart. Then, we translate your chart into the core archetypes and themes that are most active in your life pattern, and identify the strongest healing archetype in your chart for astro-archetypal meditation (should you want it).
Not necessarily. You approach astrology as a symbolic system of organization for the psyche, regardless of your existing spiritual or religious beliefs – and even if you have no spiritual inclination at all. What some people might call spiritual you might think of as personal growth and another person might call religious.
However, one idea we do strongly push back on is the general pop culture attitude that astrology is a selective “belief system” (eg, “Well it works for me and this is my reality–you do you and I’ll do me”).
Oh boy yes! Soul Figures will amplify, help organize, and create a much greater context around any existing work you do with your esoteric tools. All of these tools come from the same place, after all. The one catch is that Soul Figures might ultimately make you feel like you can transcend a lot of the limiting beliefs you might have inherited from studying your “personality” in various systems – but that ain’t a bad thing, is it?
No. This is not a replacement for therapy. These exercises can support your emotional well-being and deepen your self-understanding, but they don’t take the place of working with a trained mental health professional. The archetypal meditation and Inner Guide work can complement therapy beautifully — they can even make the inner work you do in therapy feel richer.
If you’re currently struggling with mental health concerns, or have in the past (as most of us have), it’s wise to use this method alongside a counselor rather than instead of one. Think of it as one tool within a larger self-care ecosystem.