Kids of all Ages Don’t Come with an Instruction Manual, Or Do They?

by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA

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I have a bunch of kids (four) and they have a bunch of kids and they have even more kids. I am knee-deep in kids. The one thing I found out early in my life is that babies do not come with instruction manuals… or so I thought.  The most amazing thing about my having several kids (all from one pair of parents) is that while raised similarly, my kids are very different from each other. Oh, there are similarities to be sure – sense of humor, strong family instincts, they all love to cook and produce great culinary delights, and so forth, but each is a unique individual. As an astrologer, I would attribute that individuality to the constantly changing energy of our local solar system and the universe itself.

In other articles, I have described circles within circles on an increasing scale. I don’t want to repeat myself too much, but briefly,,,

  • we live on a round world
  • which rotates on an axis (circular motion)
  • which orbits (circular) our local star, our Sun,
  • which is located on an outer spiral band of our local galaxy, the Milky Way, which completes its circle in about 226 million years,
  • which in turn is part of a local cluster of about thirty galaxies orbiting a common center,
  • and the cluster is moving in an even larger, typically circular, pattern within the universe.

These are circles within circles like the dance of atoms our scientists have been exploring. The old Hermetic maxim, “As Above, So Below”, is appropriate here. Our gigantic cosmic dance reflects itself in the minute dance of the atoms. In spite of the measure, which is literally astronomical in nature, there is similarity in motion. These moving circles trace out spirals with ever increasing dimensions.

The distances are so vast it defies imagination. So let us bring the measure back into a more manageable scale, say within our solar system. Using the Earth’s North Pole as a pointer, our system traces out a circle in our local space that takes about 25,858 years to complete. This is called the Precession (because the trajectory occurs backwards) of the Equinox (point of the beginning of spring) and is measured against the backdrop of the traditional zodiac. This is a constantly changing energy system that completes one full cycle in just under 26,000 years.

During that period, the energy is not static – it is continually changing. Static would produce sameness. The energy of the Earth and its inhabitants is perpetually shifting and changing, so exact duplication is just not possible. The energy available at any moment is, to me, best described as a series of unique moments of energy in constant change. The heavens dictate uniqueness and diversity but man in his infinite (or is that word “infant”) wisdom insists on conformity. Just as in snowflakes, sand or leaves, no two moments of energy are exactly identical. Should someone or something live long enough in that cycle (26,000 years), repetition becomes technically possible. However, we will have shifted our position galactically within our 226-million-year galactic spin. Technically the moment of energy we choose to identify as the birth of a human being can never be exactly duplicated…ever.

Each human born in a moment of time is and always will be unique, never to be exactly duplicated. You are unique as is each child born on Mother Earth as she performs her cosmic dance through space. In 2009, there were four births somewhere on our globe for every second on our clocks. Each is unique and does not come with an instruction manual, or so I thought as a very young, bewildered and at times beleaguered mother of four Type-A kids. Then I discovered astrology. Oh, there really is a map. Thank you, universe!

About a year ago, my youngest daughter made a remark that fits with this article so well that I just have to insert it here. Her two young sons did something that made absolutely no sense, and she and I were discussing their actions. She remarked, “Mother, I don’t explain them, I just give birth to them.” I wish I had known that way back when I was raising my kids. What a great explanation for a conundrum called a child. We are so very unique, not even your mother can explain you or your actions. Do not give up on ever understanding them because the universe did provide us with a map. That map is called an astrology chart. Upon being read properly, that map becomes a blueprint for an individual instruction manual.

I discovered astrology somewhere in the middle of raising my own children. As soon as I got some astrological knowledge put together, I cast my children’s astrology wheels and started to study their individual energy patterns. As we encountered the expected blips in their growing up processes, I would study the activations to their patterns to understand what was happening, what the purpose was and how to handle all that in the most positive fashion. Considering that I was a single mother raising four Type A kids who were turning into typical teens, this new information source became very handy. I discovered that the early versions of my own kids left home at age thirteen, and total strangers moved into their bedrooms. Who were these new people who called me Mom? Did I do all this successfully? No. Did I do better with this system than I would have done on my own with absolutely no clue what was happening? Yes. What really appealed to me was my ability to view them as individuals to work my way through each blip. My kids are now all adults so we did make it with only a few bumps and bruises.

Your astrology wheel is a map of the energy that was available at the moment of birth. Since no two objects can occupy the same space at the same moment, each birth is unique. Yes, in the case of multiple births, the energy pattern is strikingly similar, but such births are rare and there will always be some minute or unique difference. The children that grow out of a moment like that become their own persons with their own experiences and perceptions of experience. I don’t think we have yet developed the skill to deal with such minute changes, but change did exist and will appear in the life of that individual. As with all fields of endeavor, astrologers will develop better methods of reading such minute changes with time and practice.

I look to the natal (birth) wheel as a unique map of cosmic energy in a readable format once you have developed those skills. The first map is of an individual moment in time that comprised the birth of a human being. The map reflects the energy potential of that moment in time. That newborn grew, developed, became, experienced and changed just as in any other evolutionary process. If the universe were invested in a static state of being there would be no change because static would not allow for change. The changing energy patterns can be read for that individual throughout their lives by various astrological techniques. Astrology provides a map that has the capacity to be extended, revised and read as needed just as our modern online Google-type maps can be moved and expanded and reworked. It takes some skill, but it can be done.

We did come with an instruction manual; it was just called something else: an astrology wheel. We can take advantage of this original instruction manual any time we choose by having our natal wheel cast and read and we can cast and read its progressions. It is ageless and timeless. It can be read for a newborn or for any age desired. You can learn what your purpose or intention was at birth and what you have done with that potential and that intention as you have progressed through your life. Not everyone develops or expresses all their potential, but some actually succeed. You can look at your lessons, your skills and talents, your strengths and weaknesses and your current status. To me that is one handy instruction manual.

First published on Ezine website April, 2010, republished with slight editing.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.