On our Soul's journey, through which we reach our full potential as human beings, we will all pass through the stage of ego. This stage of our process has been described by many spiritual traditions in different ways. For example, the Indian mystic OSHO spoke of ‘doors’ in childhood development where our ‘ego’ becomes established. So as usual it is important to take a look at what we mean by ego or ego-personality. 

Ego is not some terrible disease that we need to be rid of, but is rather a natural ‘illusion’ (a bit like an optical illusion) in which we become identified with our mind, while losing sight of our spiritual and energetic reality. This ‘ego-illusion’ arises naturally as part of our normal healthy intellectual development and, as we grow in our Soul awareness, we reach a point where we release our identification with the illusion, and re-align with our essence. In psychological terms we might think of ego as our ‘personality’ (ego-personality).

In a previous newsletter we explored personality (ego) as a collection of drives, traits, talents and impulses, that result from our conditioning in this and past lives. It is very possible that character traits and behaviors which appear at an early age, like Mozart playing the piano when he was two, are skills that have been learned in past lives and are still held as memory in our energy field. Many of our fear-based reactions could have been established in the same way. In astrology, we use our natal chart as a two-dimensional symbol of our pre-existing energy field, our personal ‘mandala’. Learned behavior from past lives will show up in a natal chart as character traits and predispositions, largely indicated by our most personal planets: the Sun and the Moon.

Astrology is a vast topic, yet you can begin very simply if you know which sign and element your Sun and Moon are in*. Once you know this, by observing your thoughts, words and actions closely, you can relate those qualities to your own life. The elements are the foundation of astrological understanding. Before scientists discovered physics, chemistry and created the ‘periodic table’, ancient people understood the world by thinking of everything in it (including us) as a combination of four or five ‘elements’. Western astrology uses four elements: fire, earth, air and water, while eastern astrologies such as Tibetan Astrology include space or ether as a fifth element.

A basic understanding of the dominant elements of your chart can give you a simplified 'snapshot' of your own ego-personality. For example, generally speaking:

• Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius), think their way through life;

• Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) feel their way forward;

• Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) focus on action and

• Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) approach life practically, organising  physical resources and putting infrastructures in place.

Few of us will be dominated by one element (although some people are). Most of us will be a mixture. We can already see the combinations of ego-personality types that are possible. For example if our Sun is Gemini and Moon is Cancer, we will basically be a thinking-feeling type. The combinations are many depending upon the various Sun-Moon signs, such as thinking-thinking; thinking-feeling; feeling-action; action/practical and so forth. 

Similar to OSHO, we might also think of the four elements as ‘doors’ through which our ego-personality becomes established and is maintained.  In this series we’ll look at the elements at a fundamental level, relating the elemental qualities to our own personal development, and see how they can assist us in understanding and transcending our own individual ego-personality.