Guest blog by Alison Chester-Lambert
Astrology has come a long way from the magazine horoscope
column to high tech software, Jungian analysis and a new department for the
study of astrology within the School of Archaeology at the University of Wales.
In fact, it was studied extensively by Carl Jung and finally blended into a branch
called Psychological Astrology in the 20th century by Dr L Greene.
Okay, it still suffers from the cynicism of the rest of
academia, but it is fast making its mark in a number of ways within the healing
and medical community. Member of Parliament David Tredinnick has recommended
its use for counselling in the NHS, and medical trials to test astrology's use
in helping infertile couples to conceive are underway in the USA.
But there is yet another way that the serious research side
of astrology can help. It can help us to understand the inner world of those
who cannot communicate. This is because the birth chart can describe the basic
motivations, likes, dislikes and desires of the person. And it can describe
these things better than we can describe ourselves in most cases.
So therefore a consultation with a psychological astrologer
will reveal much about your child that you didn't know. It can help identify
what will grab their attention or what makes them feel most comfortable. It
will describe personality traits and what irritates them. In short, it will
describe the inner world of your child down to a tee.
How will this help? Because knowing how to attract their
attention or switch them on will open a window into their world. It enables a
shared moment, or perhaps a rare exchange.
And as any therapist in this field will tell you, finding out and then
developing what gets their attention gives the best results.
But it also makes a mother feel better. It gives you something of your baby. Understanding can
be the greatest gift to the troubled mind. How many times have you exclaimed
"If only I could understand him/her! If only I knew what was going on in
their world."?
I have personal experience of this because I have a 23 year
old daughter who was diagnosed with tactile defensiveness, sensory integration
deficits, dyslexia, dyspraxia and ASD at the age of 4. She was seriously `out`
of this world for the first few years and it seemed nothing could reach in. I
had to give up work and care for her as Mary Poppins never appeared and child
minders only lasted a day. I was separated from my husband by this time, but
the State waded in with financial support and that was it…. me and my daughter
against the world. Actually, make that me and my daughter against each other,
and both of us against the world!
But every cloud has a silver lining and mine was the ability
to seriously study something I'd always been interested in…. psychological
astrology. I lived in London at the time and this was taught at Regents College
by the legendary Dr. Liz Greene. I was mesmerised by it. It became the most
important activity in my life as understanding unravelled before me. Nothing in
all my 44 years of living had ever made so much sense. It was like opening up
Aladdin's Cave and finding all the answers to every question I had ever asked.
I was hooked and I still am. Years later, I am as much in love with the
practise of using Jungian analysis and the structure of the Solar System to
understand the fundamental drivers in a person's psyche as I have always been.
More in fact. It has been the most faithful of my life's fascinations!
How does it work? How can the position of the planets at the
moment of a person's birth describe so much of their personality and
individuality? The simple answer…..because we live in an invisible,
3-dimensional web which connects everything up. Or perhaps our Solar System is
just like a brain cell in some giant entity's head. Whatever `state` the Cosmos
was in at the time of a baby's birth is reflected in the new life that has just
emerged. The baby inherits that moment as a record in its epigenes. It will
grow up to develop that moment as its life path, using those strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and challenges as its tool kit. The baby was born
with the `personality traits` of that moment as its blue print. And it can be
understood by looking at the patterns which existed at the time - a map of the
planets reflects this pattern and is called a birth chart.
Slowly but surely, my daughter made the breakthroughs, and
now she lives a reasonably normal life. She can now talk about the past and
happily describes how her world had been and what had made her want to make the
leap into ours. Why she came `over the bridge`. And the answers had been in her
birth chart all along. She did it because of fantasy, theatre, performance and
drama. But it could just as easily have been gardening or horse riding; it just
depends what is in the birth chart - we are all different.
At the very least, astrology could be considered a placebo….
Something that imitates a therapy but is still very effective. (In research it
was found that a placebo cured a headache in 55% of the patients.) Perhaps it is the focus of the consultation
that clears the mind, perhaps it is the psychotherapy. But in my experience,
astrology goes further than that. It really does uncover many things that were
well and truly hidden, revealing information that is so useful when trying to
manage mental disability.
Users report a wonderful sense of enlightenment and meaning.
They say it helped them understand their child in a new light. That it reduced
frustration and increased patience. It gave new richness to their relationship.
As it only requires one session, it is worth a try surely?
If you would like to have a reading please get in touch.
I am actually looking for a Mum who would be happy to write
a testimonial of her experience of a psychological astrology session with me.
It is for a British weekly magazine and the purpose of writing the covering
article is to encourage mothers to think about engaging with astrology as a
tool to help manage their child.
Email: alison@alisonchesterlambert.com
Alison has BBC radio and American TV credits and has had 2 books published by Findhorn Press. She is the founder of the Midlands School of Astrology and has a Masters Degree in cultural astrology. www.alisonchesterlambert.com
