The Planetary Magic of Soul Figures

Planetary Magic is the practice of "petitioning" the planets for their favor. We work with a given planet depending on which area of life each planet rules. The ancients called the planets and the area of life they ruled "gods"; today, we more commonly call them archetypes. Planetary Magic is a way of improving either the specific conditions of a given event (say, planting a crop, tying the knot) or enhancing the ongoing conditions of one's life (improving the themes of love, connection, and relationship by petitioning Venus, or enhancing one's competitive edge, fitness, and discipline by working with Mars), and so on.

Each of the planets in our solar system has a rich history of archetypal meanings from mythology, cosmology, psychology, and handed down from the various sky cultures that have gazed at the constellations and the planets throughout human history. Many folk magic traditions involve some form or another of planetary magic, and recently modern Wicca and paganism has revived and amplified the practice of sharing the correspondences for each planet; the  various gems, colors, plants, scents, foods, words or intonations, and other means of "coaxing" the planets to do our bidding.

While planting, harvesting, and rotating crops in general according to the waxing and waning cycles of the Moon is one more well-known type of planetary folk magic, planting and harvesting particular plants according to the signs that are especially beneficial for a that plant specifically is a finer degree of planetary working. This requires a more nuanced understanding of the current position of the planets in the sky (or, in the instance of the Western zodiac, their symbolic position along the ecliptic) as well as a knowledge of which herbs, crops, and flowers are associated with which planets. 

Similarly, in the case of Planetary Magic for the themes of human life, there is also a much more specific way of approaching Planetary Magic that is individually tailored to the human being: Astro-Archetypal active imagination, the kind we do in Soul Figures. Tailoring our Planetary Magic to our natal charts can greatly enhance the efficacy and success of any workings - not to mention, help burn some stubborn karma while we're at it.

For example, if you are about to do a "Venus working," you would be wise to check out the conditions of your natal Venus (not to mention any transits she might be currently enduring). Our natal charts are like a record of a conversation that our soul and psyche are having with the planets - a conversation that we started, by being born. To return to the planets "asking for more" without any acknowledgment or sensitivity to the existing conditions we are working with is rather like starting up a "new" conversation with someone while having forgotten you are already in one with them, along with everything you've already talked about. It's rude! Furthermore, when you start sending waves of new petitions and "favors" towards this planet, like a fatigued caller having to restate the purpose of their call yet again after being transferred to a new clerk, the planet is obliged to reactivate and intensify their existing conditions in your natal chart. You're giving them energy without awareness of the ways their energy is already aspected in your chart, whether it finds itself in conflict, well-supported, weak, or strong. 

Let's say our friend who wants to petition Venus has a very "sharp" square between her natal Venus and Pluto. Sure, if you send Venus some lovely chocolates and burn rose incense and so forth you might get a few Venusian glimmers of eyelash-batting serendipity in response - but you may also find that some of your core, hellish themes related to painful, obsessive relationship patterns will intensify. The answer here is not to simply do Venus magic asking for love and kisses, but to do Venus AND Pluto magic, asking for Venus and Pluto to work out their differences with each other and with you. This is the type of magic we do in Soul Figures, in our meditation and workbook that is adapted from the Inner Guide Meditation by Edwin Steinbrecher. The Soul Figures approach differs from The Inner Guide Meditation in several ways, one being that we encourage the use of the sidereal zodiac system, and we break the meditation down into simpler steps for learning. We have also created a custom tarot deck and audio meditations to enhance the active imagination experience. 

The Astro-Archetypal Planetary Magic we teach in Soul Figures is a powerful system that combines astrology, Jungian active imagination, and tarot. It is informed equally by Western astrology's archetypal symbolism and Vedic astrology's insights about karma and the larger holistic "purpose" of the chart. See the Soul Figures app, available on iOS or Adroid, or, you can learn the full method in the Soul Figures course.