Reflections on 40 years as a Huber Astrologer - Part 2

In 1987, with Diplomas from the English Huber School and the Swiss Astrological Psychology Institute, I embarked on a career as a professional astrologer. I was a qualified teacher and had taught age ranges from infant to adult in various schools and evening classes. I had 4 years experience as a social worker, had undertaken counselling training and for 10 years was a volunteer with Samaritans.

Entering the world of astrology as a qualified and practising astrological counsellor/consultant and teacher, trained in the Huber Method, I offered workshops for beginners and newcomers to astrology, gave lots of talks to local groups and saw clients. I'll share a few reflections on what this was like.

In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, astrology and other alternative practices were in demand and popular as people sought to understand themselves better, perhaps with greater interest than they do now. Because of this trend towards personal growth, which included Astrological Psychology, I started offering introductory workshops and giving talks on the subject. This created quite a lot of interest in the Huber Method as people realised that there was much more to astrology than Sun Signs.

At that time it was reasonably acceptable to mention astrology, along with a whole sheaf of burgeoning New Age alternatives, such as reiki, reflexology and massage, but astrology - in my experience -  has never been quite "acceptable", possibly because people were or are afraid of what it might reveal about themselves.

Telling someone I was an astrologer (if they asked what I did) it was quite common to get the response "Oh, you don't believe in all that stuff do you?" This, of course, was usually from someone whose sole experience of astrology was the Sun Sign columns in the tabloid press. They knew no further than that. Their ignorance shone through, along with their bad manners.

Sadly, this attitude towards the Huber Method and Astrological Psychology was often expressed in the astrological world - many traditional astrologers were sceptical and at times very scathing about what they viewed as "not real astrology". Yet all aspects of the Huber Method are firmly grounded in traditional Ptolemaic values.

 

The lack of acceptance of the Huber Method has, fortunately, changed over the years. Resistance  is less-marked and there is respect for Astrological Psychology. Many traditional astrologers now "get" Huber and want to know more about it and use it - not necessarily as a whole system/method/approach (as it's meant to be used), but by trying out some of the techniques.

But beware. Applying an attractive technique used in the Huber Method and using it/mixing it with traditional techniques will not necessarily work; you can't "cherry pick".

There will always be strict adherents to traditional astrological methods but on the plus side, the interest and acceptance of Huber has grown. There is room for all astrological approaches; you don't have to agree with them all.

I was personally told, back in the early days at astrological conferences that "Your lot are all wrong, saying Saturn is the mother" (go in a bit deeper you sceptics, and you'll find there's a lot more in the Huber Method to the interpretation of Saturn than that!).

Huber astrologers at conferences were asked "Why do you use all those funny colours for the Signs and the aspects? And why do you only use 7 aspects?" Interesting, how over the years traditional astrology has adopted the use of colour for some aspects in traditional charts. The use of colour in the Huber Method has an underlying reason and significance. Bruno studied colour therapy and it's significance in self-understanding and included it's use in the charts. 

You can read about Bruno's research into the use of colour and its use in Huber stye charts, plus much more about how the Huber Method was developed by Bruno and Louise in Switzerland in the 1960s.

Piercing the Eggshell tells how Astrological Psychology represented a revolution in astrology and a new approach to psychological and spiritual development.

 

 Want to find out how to get into a chart using the Huber Method?

 see this blog post - all the details are there, and they're also in my co-authored book

The Cosmic Egg Timer 

click on the links 

 Part 3 of these reflections to follow.....watch this space.....

Reflections on 40 years as a Huber Astrologer - Part 1

I post infrequently these days, but with 20 years of curating this blog since 2006, and with close on 40 years in total of working professionally using the Huber Method of Astrological Psychology since 1987, I'm sharing a few personal reflections about those years.

In 1985 I was studying the Faculty of Astrology's diploma course, learning various aspects of traditional astrology, when I attended the Astrological Association's annual conference at Exeter University. Amongst the speakers were Bruno & Louise Huber from Switzerland. I'd not heard of them before, but based on the positive vibe of the crowd  that was gathered round them one evening in the bar singing "The Happy Wanderer" (a 1950s song about Switzerland), I went to Louise's session next day when she talked about "The North Node in your Chart".

I was blown away by what Louise said and how she said it. At the time I was feeling stuck and slightly dissatisfied with the traditional astrology I was learning, and wasn't sure if I'd continue with the Faculty course. But listening to Louise I was excited to discover there was a branch of astrology which was more focussed on real life experiences, and concerned with psychology and personal and spiritual growth rather than with traditional techniques and prediction. I had to know more.

My Chart, Huber style

The Swiss Astrological Psychology Institute, founded by the Hubers in 1968 was already well-established on the continent. The English-speaking school teaching Astrological Psychology - the Huber Method - had been founded in 1983 and was still in its infancy. With my strong urge to know more, in November 1985 I attended a weekend introductory workshop run by the English Huber School, where the Huber Method was presented. It was an intense workshop and I came away seeing things in my chart which I'd never found using traditional astrology. My chart came to life as the Huber Method seemed to go deeply into looking at motivation and energy levels. It was an eye opener and I was able to relate my Huber style chart to myself and what I already knew to be true. How could this chart, with it's coloured aspects be such  powerful key which unlocked the door to the real me? That was it -  there was no going back to traditional astrology -  and in January 1986 I enrolled as a student with the English Huber School.

I studied deep and hard, and completed the Diploma Course in Astrological Psychology in 17 months, attending 3 weekend training workshops in the UK as part of my studies. In August 1987 I went to Adliswil in Switzerland for the final training and assessment weekend for English-speaking students. This was taught personally by the Hubers, and it was a privilege to be there with them, learning from them at first hand. They were kind, welcoming, humorous and wise. They brought to their method of  Astrological  Psychology a depth of knowledge and experience of traditional astrology, along with an understanding of esotericism and the Ancient Wisdom. They also brought a deep knowledge of Roberto Assagioli's Psychosynthesis, sometimes called "a psychology with a soul"; they had worked with Assagioli and were trained by him at his Institute in Florence. 

Whilst in Switzerland that weekend I, along with 4 other students, had to present, discuss and talk about our life experiences in the context of our own chart, using Astrological Psychology. We were assessed by Bruno and Louise, who asked several questions relating to our charts, and offered additional comments to enhance and deepen our understanding of the Huber Method. This was a challenging and memorable experience; both Bruno and Louise were kind, encouraging and understanding of the nervousness we all felt, putting ourselves and our charts in the spotlight.

Bruno & Louise present me with my Swiss Diploma

On 16th August 1987 - coincidentally the day of the Harmonic Convergence -  I, along with the other students present, was awarded the Swiss API Diploma. I had already successfully completed the English Huber School's Diploma course and to be awarded the Swiss Diploma was the icing on the cake. 

 

But there was more to come. Soon after I was awarded the Swiss Diploma, Richard Llewellyn, then Principal of the English Huber School, asked if I would become a tutor for the English Huber School. 

Humbled, proud, excited and delighted, I accepted.

To be continued......more reflections to come.....

Twenty years of astro blogging

Chart for this blog, started 4.3.2006 at 16.14 in Knutsford, UK 

Twenty years ago, I set up this blog site, noted the time, and looked at the chart. I noted the chart's shaping/motivation was dynamic and linear (one complete triangle, an edgy, active figure and various disconnected linear aspects). The complete Efficiency/Performance figure has probably been instrumental in keeping it going for 20 years (Jupiter opposite Moon on the IC/MC axis and Neptune in 6th the apex). It's all red, is primed to be active, and doggedly slogs on.

The edgy, active figure, known as a Runner, Jumper or Dancing figure is attached to and entwined with the Efficiency figure. Trace it's shape from Moon to Neptune, then to Jupiter and then to the Sun/Uranus conjunction . This figure uses the red aspects for energy and reacts strongly to external pressure with movement and action. Attached to  the Efficiency figure, this works well, speedily springing into action. This accurately describes how blog posts have been created in response to external global events with shared thoughts on the charts of people or situations in the news.

I wasn't too keen to see that the chart contained only red and blue aspects - ideally there should have been some green aspects too, to give a rounded balance between red/doing energy and motivation, green/thinking motivation and the enjoyment and stability that the blue/being aspects confer.

So much for the "ideal" balance of these colours- with only red and blue aspects, it seemed at the time that this might turn out to be an experience of either on or off, of energetically writing it or letting it lie still and do nothing.  With no green aspects to prod me into awareness to keep up it's momentum, I might just forget about it and let it fade lazily away into the background of my life. Sometimes it's felt like this, especially as there has often been a low level of feedback, comments and interaction from readers.  But blog stats speak otherwise, and the most popular posts stand out statistically.

I accepted having a red/blue blog start chart, and realised that creating some of the green awareness it appeared to lack, would depend on what I did and how I did it. This has worked reasonably well; the posts seemed to flow fairly well, but I only write when the need or the interest or the spirit moves me. I'm aware of not leaving too long a gap between posts and initially aimed for around 3 or 4 a month, which felt comfortable. I now do less, and in a way this reflects, to some extent, the on/off motivation of a colour balance or ratio of

6 Red: 0 Green: 5 Blue.

It's a "You" sided chart, with the majority of planets on the DC side. Sun is placed in the 7th House, eager for contact with the world and is appropriately conjunct Uranus, the planet often associated with astrology. But the Sun is on the Low Point of the 7th House, meaning it is eager to get out there and be noticed, yet often is not. It can be frustrating, for sure, not knowing if anyone ever reads this blog, although the stats suggest otherwise.

Moon is on the MC. It's the highest planet in the chart and it wants to be recognised, stand out and shine. It's very strongly placed in the 10th House, is quite strong by Sign too, and during those 20 years it would certainly have liked more comments to be left, but being strongly placed in Fixed, Earthy Taurus it's hung in there.

But right now, twenty years on from the  blog's beginning, the Age Point is in intercepted Sagittarius in the 4th House, and it feels like it's time for this long-running blog to retire and be a well- filled source of information about Astrological Psychology & the Huber Method.

In this long-running blog you will find 20 years worth of chart interpretations of real people, descriptions of aspect patterns, and details of the numerous techniques used in Astrological Psychology, and much more which is covered in a total of 301 posts.

Take a look at the topics on offer in the Labels Cloud and the Archives search in the sidebar, and visit the Astrological Psychology website for more info as well as visiting the Pages bar under the blog header. 

Astrological Psychology: Back to Basics

One of the easiest and most important things you can do when starting to look at a natal chart, drawn up in the Huber style and vibrant with colours and shapes, is to do simply that - to look. Setting aside and perhaps even temporarily “forgetting” any astrology you already know, or maybe you don't yet know as you're an absolute beginner, the first way into the chart is via the senses, the eyes and the intuition.

Look for an intuitive picture or image, and you can do this by looking at the overall aspect structure which fills the large central area of the chart. In the context of astrological psychology, this area relates to the unconscious motivation of a person. Often the very essence of the person is contained within this area of the chart, and through developing the intuition we can gain a sense of the person simply by looking at this central core of the chart and absorbing and reflecting upon the pictures or images that we see there.

The chart shown here is for the start of this blog, on 4th March 2006, at 16.14 in Knutsford, UK.

Take a look - is there an image? What about the colours of the aspects? Which area of the chart is filled with aspects? Or are there empty areas? What might this mean?See what I wrote about this chart here for more suggestions, and see my first book, The Cosmic Egg Timer, where the first steps into understanding and interpreting a chart using Astrological Psychology are set out clearly in the introductory chapters, particularly in Chapter 4 - Looking at the Whole Chart.

 

 The Cosmic Egg Timer is an introduction to Astrological Psychology and is available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle format. Both versions are in full colour.

Moon in 7th House

 

Moon & house, Bruges

 

"When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

 

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius..... "    

 

(Lyrics: Galt MacDermot ,Gerome Ragni, James Rado)  

 

 

 

 

The lyrics are from one of the songs in the then-controversial stage production of "Hair" which was first performed off Broadway in 1967. Wikipedia describes it thus: "The musical's profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag and its nude scene caused controversy.The work broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of "rock musical", using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a Be-in finale."

 

I saw "Hair" performed on stage in Liverpool in the early 1970s. The songs were great, yes there was nudity, and I went on stage at the end and danced with the cast - a memorable opportunity not to be missed.

 

So, what does all this have to do with the Moon in the 7th House? It's a good line in the song, which anticipates the coming of the Age of Aquarius, but the astrologer in me wonders about the chart the song refers to. Who's chart is it? And where is the location and the time and date of these events? In reality this info would be needed. And having the Moon in 7th House is a reality in astrology; in astrological psychology the Moon in this position brings some interesting life experiences. 

 

The Moon represents our ability to express our emotional responses. When we're in touch with our feelings, we're expressing the energies of the Moon. It's concerned with changes of mood, the ebb, flow and fluidity of our feeling nature. We gain a sense of ourselves through our feelings, most specifically in relation to the people we encounter and the situations we find ourselves in.

 

Take a break, read here what I've previously written about the Moon and watch the short video I made, with suggestions on how to discover more about your own Moon. 

 

Back to the 7th House now - in astrological psychology the 7th House is on the "You" side of the chart, opposite the 1st House, and it's cusp is the DC. It's the area of life experience where we meet others on a one-to-one basis and form friendships and partnerships of all kinds. In the 7th House it's difficult to avoid eyeball-to-eyeball encounters as it's where we meet the world head on....and the world (in the form of those we meet) somehow recognises that here is someone I can talk to, get to know and share some of my problems/life stories/experiences with.

 

Take a break and read here about the 1st and 7th House - the Encounter axis of the chart where  the "I" (me!) meets the "You" (that's the rest of the world around us). This will give you some idea of how the Moon (feelings, emotions, contacts etc) might operate and be expressed in the 7th House.

 

A couple of examples of Moon in 7th House:

 

 

Isolated Moon on the "doorstep" of the chart - likely to be the first thing people pick up on when meeting this person as the Moon is "up for grabs" there and in full view. But note it's in the sign of Aquarius, so is able to keep some detachment if needed - and it's opposite both Pluto and Venus. If Venus kicks in, all may go well; if Pluto kicks in there may be a few surprises in store!

 

 

 

 

Moon in 7th House along with Pluto and Saturn - that's quite a reception committee!    All in Leo, so there's a potential demand to be noticed and recognised, and possibly a challenge to all comers with mixed messages. Moon and Saturn are in aspect to Venus, so there's a dash of a stylish and cultivated flair about this person. But Pluto, note, is aspecting Sun/Mars in Capricorn, so maybe you wouldn't want to push this person too far!

For more on the Moon and other planets, on Signs and Houses, see my first book, The Cosmic Egg Timer which covers the basics of astrological psychology and the Huber Method. Available on Amazon, full colour edition.