Читать книгу Astrology: The only introduction you’ll ever need - Charles Harvey - Страница 31

The birth chart has been described as ‘a map of the soul’, so a grasp of the concept of soul, or anima, is crucial to understanding the position of astrology. Soul is often used interchangeably with spirit; in fact, the two are quite different concepts. To put it simply, spirit is undifferentiated essence, that eternal ‘god-stuff’ which substands the whole world and everything in it. Opposite to spirit is matter, the temporal stuff which is ‘informed’ by spirit and which we see coming in and out of manifestation throughout our lives, e.g. bodies are born and die, forests grow and then burn down (but yes, as Einstein told us, matter is indestructible – it just changes form). But between spirit and matter there is soul, that mysterious principle that brings something to life and personally animates it. The soul is the guardian and channel of our individuality. As already mentioned, the late astrologer John Addey referred to the horoscope as the ‘soul’s contract with time and space’, which emphasizes the uniqueness of each individual life, and that uniqueness is bestowed through soul. The poet Keats spoke of our life on earth as ‘the vale of soul-making’, which illuminates and makes realizable the precious potential with which we are each born. The birth chart, for those who learn to read it, is an encoded image of every detail of that specific potential. And it is the soul that brings it to life.

The whole world is en-souled; that is, it is alive, growing, dying, and being reborn, all creatures within it being in relationship with and influencing each other. But man is en-souled in a quite unique way, for via the soul he is endowed with the powers and virtues of the whole cosmos. Through soul man forges an individual relationship with the gods and makes a journey through life discovering what he is. Through soul, man has choice and becomes the protagonist in his life drama.