Living Soul Astrology: Your Soul Sign

The purpose of any spiritual path, or practice, is to support us in integrating our Soul and personality, by developing Soul-awareness, recognition and identification. Soul Astrology supports us in this process, and our spiritual path, by helping us to discern which of our personal qualities, traits, and tendencies are expressions of our Soul-light, and which is learned behavior (personality-based).

When we begin to look at our natal chart from a spiritual perspective, it is important to remember that we are talking about energy. If you could see our natal chart in 3D (or better still multi-dimensionally) you would see a glorious rainbow-colored mandala – indicating all the dynamic energies that combine to make up your energetic field. If you could see that visually, you would be able to detect a core vibration, a pure essence, almost like a fabric into which all the other energies are woven. This ‘fabric’ would be your Soul Sign. A beautiful sight to behold!

Your Soul Sign
Your Ascendant (Rising Sign) is the essence of your Soul, because it comes in first. It is because your Soul is already resonating at that vibration, that it can incarnate at that time and place. Your Ascendant creates a window of opportunity for your Soul to incarnate at that precise moment, in that precise location, because it is the same frequency. So for example, it is because you are a Cancer Soul that you incarnate when Cancer is rising on the horizon. It is your ‘wavelength’ and so you are able to ‘beam in’ on this frequency!

It is important to be clear that it is not because Cancer is on the acscendant, that this makes you a Cancer Soul. You are a Cancer Soul already. Your Ascendant heralds the ‘dawn of your life’ and as such, is therefore the most important sign in Soul Astrology, and can be considered your ‘Soul Sign’.

One of my mentors, Soul Astrologer Errol Weiner in his book ‘Transpersonal Astrology’, explains how your Soul stays in the same sign for 7 incarnations, and it is possible, by measuring the degree of the Ascendant, to estimate how many lifetimes your Soul has been in this sign. So in our example, if you have 14º Cancer on the Ascendant, you may have been a Cancer Soul for 3 or 4 lifetimes.

So have you always been a Cancer Soul? No. Your Soul is growing, changing and passing through stages of development, just like your physical body does. When you were an infant you went through the ‘developmental stages’ of eating solid food, teething, sitting, standing, walking and talking. Similarly, according to The Tibetan in Esoteric Astrology by Alice Bailey (AB), your Soul also passes through ‘developmental stages’.

The Stages of Soul Development
For the purpose of understanding Soul development, we can think of the 12 zodiac signs in three categories:
The first 4 signs are the signs of ‘preparation’. This is where your ‘infant’ Soul is growing, developing qualities and taking shape. The next 4 signs are the signs of ‘crisis’ or ‘challenge’ where your ‘teenager’ Soul has to begin functioning and applying these qualities. The latter 4 signs are the signs of service, where your mature Soul recognizes it’s purpose, is skilled, and knows what to do in order to serve for the highest good of humanity.

The Signs of Preparation: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer
In Esoteric Astrology The Tibetan (AB) explains how your Soul begins in Aries as a ‘point of light in the mind of God’, in Taurus this point becomes a beam of light, in Gemini the beam splits into multiple beams of light, and in Cancer the light becomes the diffuse light in form.

The Signs of Crisis or Challenge: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
If you have one of these signs on the Ascendant, you will recognize that struggle and/or challenge, have been major themes throughout your life.

In Leo comes the first ‘battle’. Your personality has to ‘fight’ to individuate, and separate from the mass consciousness of Cancer. The light form has to individuate, and become a ‘Self’. In Virgo this Self turns to Service by flowing love and light into physical matter. In Libra there is an apparent ‘resting phase’ where your Soul exercises ethical choice to harmonize opposite polarities. It is a time of synthesis. (Similarly in childbirth there is also sometimes a brief resting phase after contractions, and before ‘pushing’ begins). This is important because there is a kind of ‘birth’ in Scorpio. As the final sign of ‘crisis’ Scorpio enters the battlefield: the ‘battle’ between the lower ‘desires’ of your personality, and the higher calling of your Soul. Crucifixion of your personality, and integration with your Soul, happens in Scorpio.

The Signs of Service: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.
In Sagittarius the true goal is recognized, and there is the potential for true liberation of your mind; Capricorn is the sign of the disciple – the goal is known and your Soul at this point begins the inner journey, walking the spiritual path that leads to the ultimate goal. According to Esoteric Astrology, in Aquarius your Soul becomes the ‘World Server’ and in Pisces the ‘World Savior’. These latter signs are the most mysterious and esoteric of all, because humanity has not yet reached an evolved stage of consciousness whereby we can fully understand the true spiritual meaning of these signs, and their Divine energies.

At the level of Soul vibration it is probably best to think of the 12 zodiac signs, as twelve Divine Intelligences, or Beings, that are working with us, at each stage of our Soul’s development. It takes us around 84 lifetimes to complete a ‘Soul cycle’ through all 12 signs. What happens once our Soul completes a full cycle? No-one knows for sure, but my guess is that we start all over again, only from a higher position on the spiral, and so we evolve.