The Biological and environmental influences in the natal chart

by Christos Archos Msc

Christos Archos M.Sc is an Astrologer, holding an M.Sc in Psychology. He has been a Professional astrologer since 2003. He has been engaged in astrology for more than 16 years and has mostly worked in Psychological astrology, synastry, relations and personal development. Counselor of many people, he was the first to introduce the 1st four year program of studies in astrology in 2006. He holds a Diploma in Cognitive Behavioral TherapyC.Dip. He believes that every human has the ability to get rid of his bondages and change his life. “Astrology is the path for the discovery of our real self and the way we can create a life we deserve”.

Since 2003 as a professor of astrology he has taught a lot of seminars in Greece and in other countries. He cooperates/writes with many sites and magazines all over the world as myhoroscope.gr,eportal.gr, drosostalida.com, 4women.gr, omertanews.gr, omtimes.com, ascendinghearts.com. He is head of research in VAF institute and also an editor in Omtimes Magazine for the Humanity Healing foundation.

He has written 14 researches and more than 200 articles in astrology. Finally he is a founding member of the 1st astrological association “Pame astrologia” and a member of NCGR.

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INTRODUCTION

Unlocking the mysteries of the natal chart is something people have been trying to do for centuries. The most common problem towards doing so is that astrologers cannot usually distinguish between environmental and biological influences. That is not only because of limitations of astrology but because of the very nature of life itself.

Looking at life itself we find that environmental and biological influences do not function separately. They rather “dance together” in the universe. Their bondages are sometimes so strong that it is hard to distinguish if something is a result of a biological influence or an environmental one. Nevertheless, if we are dealing with a problem, we still need to understand the root cause of it, if for example this is a result of an environmental factor or of a biological one. Knowing this allows us to better help all these people who come to us to receive consultation.

A psychological problem may sometimes be a result of an environmental reaction to a root cause which is biological. For instance a person who is not faithful to his relationships because of a genetic predisposition still encounters severe criticism from the environment because of our society ethics. Another case is the case of a homosexual person, whose psychological problems do not come from biological influences - which along with some environmental factors determine his sexual preferences - but from the criticism and the lack of environmental support he has, once revealing these preferences.

So, looking deeper into the roots of the problems will also help us become better counselors. This also minimizes the threat of “educating” the client to be in a constant need of support. This is important, if we consider the fact that thousands of people after their treatment become attached to the therapeutic process, although they have learned how to overcome their problems; and thus feel therapy being transformed into a suffocating bondage, inhibiting them from flourishing, discovering their own nativity and utilizing their environmental opportunities in order to develop.

Understanding the biological and environmental factors of the natal chart make us able to understand which of the biological talents have a chance of growing within the current environment. We have seen hundreds of people in our private practice with great talents and with the ability to change the route of humanity but because of the environmental inhibitions or the environmental needs they unfortunately lack the ability to use them and thus these talents remain inactive.

There is of course the possibility of helping the individual get over these inhibitions, using transpersonal psychology and especially one of its techniques, which is called “the empowering of the Will”. But educating EVERY astrologer in transpersonal psychology is not something realistic; instead an astrologer could and needs to be familiar with at least a way to tell the differences between the environmental and biological factors on the natal chart.

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

Our basic argument when examining the biological factors in a natal chart is that the basic biological factors lay in the zodiac signs. It would not be a mistake to say that the zodiac circle is the biological basis in the world. While the tropical zodiac addresses the fundamental evolutionary needs of humanity on the planet, sidereal astrology and its zodiac circle help us look at the development of these biological factors through ages. This is a point to keep, but we will not analyze this further because it is not our subject. Human life is not very long; the great changes of the sidereal zodiac circle are not of immediate interest for a person, because the years that need to pass to see a difference are several hundreds. What is interesting at an individual level is the tropical zodiac because it reflects the fixity of the environment a person lives in.

Planets in Signs reveal several inherent characteristics. A person with Venus in Taurus is inclined to be more faithful to relations and more sensational than a person with Venus in Gemini which is more intellectual and perhaps less faithful. These differences are very important especially at synastry, because when we come across them, it is sometimes hard for them to work in a harmonic way with each other, since we are not able to work with them constructively; they are after all naturally inclined characteristics.

The same can be said about all the Planets in Signs. Furthermore, the specific decanates, dwadashamsas and degrees of the zodiac, give us more specific pieces of information about the person’s biological influences. And with biological influences we mean everything that comes as a result of previous factors from the external and internal world until the time of birth. On the contrary, from the time of human’s birth forward the human starts having direct influences from the environment. His parents’ behavior, his family, the region he lives in, his country and the specific age in history affect him. Even if we compared the same horoscopes with the same time birth, the lives of the people who had those horoscopes would be completely different according to the demands of the environments they lived in. A person in Constantinople in 1100 A.D would have a completely different life from a person who lived in the Amazon forest.

Biological factors can be categorized into “the great six chapters”. Each chapter is an axis which in our own primitive way of thinking is an opposition, but in fact it includes two sides of the same thing.

The Aries and Libra axis has to do with the concept of “Encounters” and how the person is genetically constructed to react to those encounters. Looking at Venus and Mars (the rulers of the signs), we understand how the person is constructed to interact with people. Encounter axis helps us understand if the person is biologically able to fight for his own existence and if he can compromise and make alliances with people.

At the Taurus and Scorpio axis we find the Possession and Self-preservation ideas. If this axis didn’t exist, the ability to look after ourselves and fight for our lives would not have existed and as a species we would already have been extinct.

At the Gemini and Sagittarius axis we find the evolution of understanding, from basic neural messages to complex philosophical thought. Here the human is able to develop and get further through a series of mental steps. An astrologer can understand a lot about the intelligence of a person and his natural abilities of learning from such information. Learning is a basic need for surviving, because through learning we can avoid dangers which may even put an end to our lives.

At the Cancer and Capricorn axis we find the idea of tribalism. The ability to construct new ideas and identities socially and the feeling of belonging to a cultural group, which shares common interests and ideas are found in this axis. If you want to lead, you need to belong to a group. In this axis we can learn more about the ability a person has, in communicating with groups and leading them. This is also of great importance, because the genes need to have a chance to be transmitted to the future generations and one way to achieve this is by having strong leadership.

The Leo and Aquarius axis is the axis of manifestation of personality. This is a significant axis especially for the human species, which has a complicated personality system. In this axis we learn to form secure and stable personalities that will assist us in working with groups of people. We also have to dissociate between two ideas of the group as they are formed, one in the sign of Cancer and one in Aquarius. While Cancer has to do with tribal grouping the Aquarius has a more developed idea of groups that are based on more abstract ideas.

Finally at the axis of Virgo and Pisces we find the need for biological continuity. Here we find a manifestation of the ultimate act of continuation; through genes and even at the cost our lives. This is one of the greatest biological abilities, because even when a person is not able to transmit his own genes, by sacrificing himself, he may be able to help another person close to his genes (his family) to continue his life. This axis also includes the ideas of altruism and morality.

ENVIROMENTAL FACTORS

As we know, when an astrologer tries to construct a natal chart it is important to know the exact time and location of birth. Time and location of birth are in fact the central core of understanding the environment we live in. When we attempt to understand the society and its influences, we have to know the time and the place we’re talking about; for instance in 1998 social structures were different from those in 1234 A.D. Without the specific location we are unable to find the Ascendant and in most of the house systems we are unable to find the rest of the houses too. LOCATION is ENVIROMENT and the houses are the environmental factors that influence us. For that reason many astrologers identify the ASC with the Persona, the mask we wear to face people, although I disagree with the way they understand the Persona. Persona is not a fake idol that has nothing to do with the real person; even the mask we wear can give us HUGE information about ourselves and about the needs we have and which we have ended up adopting. Still in 2012 we should not be talking about the Persona anymore, but about the Social Identity Theory and the Social Constructed Phenomena.

A planet in a house brings very important pieces of information about the way the environment affects us (in natal, progressive and direction charts). Our identities don’t remain fixed through time but they change. Severe lifetime events for example can change our lives rapidly and make us take a completely different course.

While the personal planets cause personal events, the outer planets, especially the planets beyond Saturn’s orbit, are usually connected to great events in society, which influence people’s lives. For example the recent aspects of planets like the 2008-9 opposition of Saturn and Uranus, the 2011 opposition of Saturn and Eris and the 2012 – 13 square of Uranus and Pluto will certainly affect people in various ways through the huge social changes that they cause. But people’s lives will not change in the same manner; instead they’ll change in several ways depending on the houses influenced during those turbulent times. On the other hand, changes can also happen in society through actions of an individual. A strong personality with outer planets in his angular houses usually affects society because the houses bring severe power from the person's inner self or individuality to the outer world. According to this, Napoleon was a product of his historical period but the period was also a product of his own actions.

The houses share some common keywords with the zodiac signs but they do so in a different perspective.

The 1st and the 7th houses have to do with the way a person acts in his life in his relations and as an identity in his environment.

The 2nd and the 8th are connected with money and personal reserves; money influence is here intense because our society considers money very important.

The 3rd and the 9th houses are not like Gemini and Sagittarius, which, have to do with the ability to learn, but they are connected with the appropriate institutions such as schools and universities.

The 4th and the 10th houses have to do with the country and our social role in it.

The 5th and the 11th have to do with our creativity and our belonging to groups.

And finally the 6th and the 12th houses have to do with our service to the society, isolation and the possibility of being a scapegoat.

IS THERE ANY “I” OR SPIRITUAL POWER?

Having said all that, we come across an important question: are we just a by-product of our biological and environmental influences, having no ability to change our future? Are we just passive receivers? Do we have any real freedom of choice? What about the spiritual factor? What about the power of the soul and its destiny? What about the concept of reincarnation?

Of course these questions are philosophical and they are not easily answered. I think these questions can only be answered from the individual’s personal perspective. A spiritual person will believe in a spiritual influence and will see a reason behind all things; a teleological philosophy will run all over his astrology. On the other hand an atheist or an agnostic cannot see the need to put a spiritual power behind astrology. I am sure that both sides have their arguments but this conversation is not the point; although we could actually give an answer to the first part of the question. We know that somehow during our evolution humanity managed to obtain something we call Consciousness; this as a result means that we also have personal freedom and despite our influences we can actually change our lives. Of course we do not have absolute freedom to do what we want; we have limitations which we need to respect. This is actually the role of Saturn. But through recognizing biological and environmental limitations and opportunities, we can have effective results during a session with an individual. We can help people change their lives in a better way and help them unleash their true power.

PS: The above has been published in english in the 1st issue of NewAgeAstrology Magazine.. See further for a preview...