Why have an astrology reading? Why engage with the stars at all?
Most people come to astrology looking for answers: some kind of clarity, a sense of direction, maybe even reassurance that their struggles mean something. And they’re not wrong to look. Astrology does offer guidance; it shines a light on the patterns of our lives, helps us see the bigger picture. But that’s not its deepest gift.
Astrology doesn’t just tell us where we’re going - it tells us who we are. And more than that, it tells us our story. Because at its heart, astrology is about meaning. It’s about turning the raw, often messy experiences of our lives into something that makes sense, something we can live inside of rather than just suffer through. It’s not about fixing or transcending life’s difficulties, but about understanding them, as seeing them as part of something bigger, something rich with purpose.
And this is where astrology speaks directly to the soul. Because the soul doesn’t need explanations; it needs stories. It needs myth. It needs to see itself reflected in the unfolding patterns of the cosmos, not as a problem to be solved, but as a journey to be lived.
So how does astrology address our soul’s needs? By giving us a way to see ourselves. Not just as minds that think or spirits that transcend, but as souls that feel, that struggle, that long for meaning. It shows us that our lives aren’t just a series of random events, but part of a larger story, one in which we are both the main character and the co-creator.
And when we see ourselves that way, something shifts. We stop fighting against life, trying to make it neat and logical. We start living it. Fully, deeply, with all the beauty and mess that comes with being human.
'Astrology isn’t about transcending life; it’s about being in it. It’s not an escape hatch; it’s a map.'
Knowing and Feeling - A Bit of Background
Carl Jung and James Hillman both explored the delicate interplay between spirit and soul, offering us a way to understand the human experience beyond the material world. Jung saw soul as the deep, feeling, imaginal part of us, the aspect that connects to myth, to the unconscious, to the rich, symbolic language of dreams.
Hillman expanded on this suggesting that our lives aren’t just a series of random events but stories - “soul stories” - that help us find meaning in our experiences. When discussing depth psychology he challenges the idea that psychological case histories should be seen as objective, scientific records. Instead, he sees them as deeply personal narratives that allow us to step back from our everyday struggles and view our lives as something more symbolic, something mythic.
When we frame our experiences as a story, we shift our perspective. Life stops being just a series of things happening to us and becomes something unfolding through us. It allows us to make sense of where we’ve been and where we’re going.
In continental philosophy and semiotics, poiesis (/ pɔɪˈiːsɪs /; from Ancient Greek: ποίησις) is the process of emergence of something that did not previously exist.
This is what he calls “soul-making.” We don’t just live life; we shape it through the way we tell our story. And this isn’t about escaping reality, it’s about seeing reality in a deeper, richer way.
Hillman even suggests that maybe we don’t go to therapy just “to be loved or get cured, or even to Know Thyself.” Maybe, at a deeper level, we seek a narrative, “a plot to live by.” We long to understand ourselves as part of something bigger, to see our struggles reflected in myth, to recognise ourselves in the stories that have existed for centuries. “In myths, Gods and humans meet.”
This is exactly what astrology offers. A birth chart isn’t just a list of planetary placements; it’s your soul story in symbolic form. It’s not about diagnosing problems or predicting the future - it’s about helping you see the mythic patterns at work in your life, the recurring themes, the lessons, and the deeper purpose behind it all.
Astrology moves us beyond a purely external view of life. It invites us to step into our own story. To see where we are in the journey, what challenges we are facing, and how the Gods are in conversation with us, shaping our experience. In this way, astrology doesn’t just tell us who we are; it helps us become who we are meant to be.
We talk a lot about transcendence, about rising above, finding peace, trusting the bigger picture. And we need that; we need something to illuminate the path when we get lost in the weeds. But we must never forget why we’re here.
We are here to live: To feel, to love, to be.
Spirit & Soul
James Hillman wrote about Spirit and Soul as two opposing forces:
Spirit is fire, Soul is water.
Spirit seeks clarity, truth, and the grand design; Soul sinks into the depths, feeling everything along the way.
Spirit soars, looking for meaning; Soul remembers, carries wounds, and embraces the mess.
Astrology tells the same story. The Sun symbolises our spirit, the part of us that shines with purpose, that sees a path forward, that knows. The Moon, though, is our soul. She holds our emotions, our instincts, our memories. She doesn’t seek to understand; She just is.
And if we forget to nourish the soul. To feed it with experience, with feeling, with raw, unfiltered life. Then all the wisdom of spirit becomes dry, detached, and empty.
We’re Not Here to Embody Spirit, We’re Here to Live Soul
A lot of spiritual teachings push the idea of transcending suffering, rising above it, detaching from the messiness of being human. But the point of being here isn’t to escape our emotions; it’s to live them. Spirit may know the answers, but soul is here to feel the questions.
There’s a temptation to escape into spirit, to intellectualise, to ‘rise above’ our emotions. It’s safer there. It’s clean. It makes sense. But the whole point of being here is to be here. Soul doesn’t need us to be enlightened; it needs us to be human. It needs us to grieve, to rage, to desire, to ache.
'I feel that deeply in my own life. I don’t want to float through existence in a state of untouchable peace. I want the mess and the chaos. I want to cry and love and break. I want to smell the roses and eat the delicious food. I want to bleed when the knife slips. I want to feel it. And equally, I want to know that it all has a purpose. That this chaos is somehow designed. That it’s leading me somewhere.'
Spirit Learns From Soul
We often think of spirit as the teacher, but soul is teaching spirit, too. Spirit may know everything in theory, but soul is the one experiencing it first-hand. It’s through soul. Through pain, love, mistakes, and mess, that spirit truly understands.
Spirit learns what it means to be alive through the soul’s journey.
Your Sun may know your purpose, but your Moon feels its way through the story.
Your Sun may shine with confidence, but your Moon carries the memories that shaped you.
Your Sun may see where you’re going, but your Moon reminds you of where you’ve been.
When we let spirit and soul work together. When we let the Sun illuminate the Moon rather than ignore it, we find true balance. We trust that spirit knows, but we honour that soul feels. And that’s the whole point of this wild, chaotic, beautiful human experience.
So let yourself feel it all. Let yourself be human. Because that’s exactly what you came here to do.
The Elements & Our Unique Blueprint
All of this is reflected in our birth chart. We are not just spirit and soul, we are earth, fire, water, and air. Each element brings its own way of experiencing life. Air is lofty, intellectual, able to grasp the bigger picture and see the higher perspectives; fire burns with passion and instinct; earth grounds us in the physical, in what’s real and tangible; and water, the realm of soul, is all about feeling. We need all of it. We need to embrace the whole of our chart, to work with what we have rather than against it.
If we’re not naturally strong in one area, we might have to put in more effort to develop it. I have only one water placement in my chart, and it’s Saturn, The God that restricts. It’s easy for me to see the expanded view, to live in air and fire, but I have to consciously remind myself to feel it. To sink into it. And we all have our own version of this. Our own unique blueprint, designed with both advantages and limitations. But we are all here to get into the richness of it all, through whatever mix of elements we arrived with.
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."
At the end of the day, it's a balance
This is the dance: spirit and soul, Sun and Moon, knowing and feeling.
We want to understand, but we also need to experience.
We need to believe there’s a grand design, but we also have to let ourselves live inside the chaos of it.
We need myth, not as a way out, but as a way in, a way to make sense of ourselves in the mess of the world.
Astrology doesn’t separate us from life; it immerses us in it. It reminds us that our struggles, our longings, our joys, they all belong. They all mean something. And they all make us who we are.
So we dance. We stumble, we fall, we rise again. And in doing so, we live the story our soul came here to tell.
If you’d like an astrology reading to explore the stories written in your chart - the myths, the patterns, the unfolding journey - I’d love to help. Astrology isn’t about telling you who you are; it’s about helping you see yourself in a deeper, richer way.
You are unique. Your story is fascinating. And it’s still being written.
Learn more about me and my approach here.
Love Jenny x
A note on AI & my writing:
I use ChatGPT as a writing assistant—not as a writer. These are my thoughts, ideas, and words, shaped by my lived experience and deep love for self-work, self-awareness, the spiritual journey, and astrology. AI helps me refine, structure, and occasionally nudge me toward better phrasing, but the voice you’re reading is mine. I use it as a tool to help me put into words everything I believe is valuable in sharing my insights. Honesty matters to me, and this is simply one way I bring my thoughts to life.
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