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Title:

The Counselor: Midwife of the Psyche Date Published: 6/20/2001 by Michael Erlewine
Bio: Michael Erlewine

Author Michael Erlewine Besides being the author/astrologer behind our top-selling Astro*Talk, TimeLine, and Friends and Lovers report programs, Michael is the man who founded Matrix back in the late '70s. Michael and his brother Stephen Erlewine (Stephen is still head of all astrological programming for Matrix) built Matrix into the leading producer of astrology software.

For many years Michael lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was much in demand as a counseling astrologer specializing in relationship and vocational advice. He also taught astrology at local schools and colleges, working with groups of as many as 1,200 people.

Michael is also known for his entrepreneurial drive which, in addition to Matrix, led him to create the All Music Guide - the largest music database in the world - and the All Movie Guide, as well as several award-winning websites, including ClassicPosters.com.

Michael also founded the Heart Center Library, the largest astrological library in North America that is open to the public. He remains curator of the works contained in this library, tapping this resource for one of his pet projects - a complete astrological encyclopedia.

Today Michael lives in the northern Michigan community of Big Rapids with his wife of 33 years and his family. He still does occasional private astrological counseling as people from around the world continue to seek his advice.

Those interested in a personal reading by Michael may contact him at: Michael@Erlewine.net

 

 

Many professional astrologers make a large part of their income from astrological counseling or readings, and yet, in the entire literature of astrology, there is only a mere handful of books that even mention the particulars of the counseling process. The subject matter of what takes place in a reading is seldom discussed by professional astrologers. the reading process is, in fact, an occult subject.

Michael ErlewineAstrologers are not the only professionals who offer readings of counseling sessions: psychic, tarot, and palm readers do too, not to mention the psychological profession. There are perhaps as many styles and techniques of giving readings as there are practitioners. In this article, I would like to describe what it is that goes on or happens during a reading, regardless of which of the many astrological techniques is being used. This is a very definite and physical process that takes place through the counseling session, and insight into that process can benefit us all.

Beneath all of the words and social conventions of a reading, something very akin to massage is happening, but it is the psyche or psychological body that is being exercised and not the physical. This process is seldom, if ever, referred to during the actual reading, and although most clients are aware of experiencing a strong change or release, the process of what takes place does not often reach the conscious level.

The popular image of what happens during a reading is that the astrologer's role is to tell the client something about the self, to give him some information, to "lay it on him," and so forth. An even more common image is that the astrologer will be able to pluck from the client's most intimate life some fact that no one could have known, as a sign. This will then work to make all of what they tell us true! This popular conception bears little resemblance to what actually does happen in the counseling session.

In trying to think of a way to communicate what does happen in the counseling process, I came upon what is almost a perfect analogy — that of a midwife. The function of the midwife is to assist both the mother and the child through the birth process. Her entire role is to facilitate a process that is already unfolding, rather than to initiate or do anything herself. The counselor, or reader, also functions as a midwife, a midwife of that psyche or soul, a midwife of the Spirit. It is not the function of the astrologer-counselor to embed or fill the client with knowledge, facts, or direction. Instead, the counselor, like the midwife, can but assist in the unfoldment of the natural process.

Keep in mind that what I am detailing here happens through or behind all of the social conversation and astrological technique that takes place in a reading. The reading process can be divided into several distinct phases. The first phase reflects the condition or attitude in which most clients arrive. Clients seek out astrologers when they find themselves in a state of inquiry or questioning (often confusion) in their lives. They have nowhere else to turn.

In general, clients find themselves locked into a routine or set of habits, and they have forgotten how in the world they ever got into their situations. Their commitments and circumstances have reached some crucial point and are so confining that their lives appear to be rushing towards a foregone conclusion with no further options, opportunities, or choices left open. They are not only uptight, but most are at their wit's end. The can no longer respond to their life situation. They have lost their ability to respond to events, their responsibility. The first step in any reading, then, involves dealing with this condition.

The majority of clients have not only lost all flexibility, they are into seeking to escape from a particular set of circumstances. They have replaced whatever flexibility they may have had with a series of musts, ultimatums, or conditions that must be met if they are to go on. They must get out of this marriage, they must find a better job, they must find some sympathetic someone, and so forth. Most are seeking some release or relief from what they feel to be an unbearable situation. They have lost all the appetite or "gameness" that led them to take on their responsibilities in the first place. They have ceased to respond to the demands of their own particular set of circumstances. They have had enough, are fed up, and are in the process of closing down their minds. Beneath whatever social veneer that is necessary, this is the state of mind of the average client.

It should be clear why the first stage of most readings involves allowing the client to vent some of this pent-up material.

It should be clear why the first stage of most readings involves allowing the client to vent some of this pent-up material. Criticism, complaints, and outrage are at a peak here. The air can be filled with complaining, criticism, and anger as the client expresses dissatisfaction, as he or she gets it out. In time, tears and welling emotion can replace the more acrid, bitter, and even venomous outpourings. It is very important that the counselor know how to facilitate this emptying process. The basic idea here is that the client has moved (in the life situation) from an open, game, and inquiring attitude, to a closed and concluding frame of mind. The client is passing judgments and jumping to all kinds of conclusions at the expense of the process.

The situation that leads most individuals to make an appointment with an astrologer is a crucial, pressure-filled period in their lives, during which they have ceased to respond to the demands of their particular circumstances and cannot seem to get any response or reflection pertaining to their present condition. They no longer know what is happening to them, and they are reaching outside for some response, feedback, or confirmation (one way or the other) as to what is going on. The important point here is that, in the majority of cases, the clients are at a breaking or turning point in their lives. Something has to give since they have nothing more to give and have ceased to respond to their conditions. They are at the point of saying, "the hell with it," and are forcing themselves to continue with whatever situation or responsibilities they may have. With exceptions, this is the condition of average clients when they enter my office. This condition dictates or defines my approach. The average client is in no mood to benefit from any "words of wisdom" that I might have about the possibilities of their natal configurations. They are not quite ready for philosophy.

Given these conditions, the obvious first stage in a reading is the venting of this pressure. Let them blow off some steam. The last thing clients need at this point is for me to lay something else on them. What I do at this point is to ask the clients to detail the general questions or areas of their lives (and selves) in which they would like me to work. What I am saying is "talk a bit." My concern is to get them talking, and to let them talk long enough to unload some of this built-up pressure. As a rule, I do not confront the client at this point with any particular demands. I don't question them. They may describe several areas of interest, some of which are obviously filled with intense concern. I do not focus on these areas at this point, but instead pass over them. I acknowledge each question and area of interest and pass on. By not confronting them with the areas of real question, and by offering them no resistance, I do not enforce whatever defensiveness they may feel or expect.

For example, I am not opposing their decision to leave their husbands and children and run off with the local musician. I am not shocked that they cheat on their wives or have hit their children. I am taking it in and accepting what they are presenting me — and that's all. When they push, I give. In general, my passiveness or listening has the effect of drawing them out further, often in a bitter criticism, complaints, and the like. The lack of opposition or resistance tends to induce them to spill out more than they have intended, and this spilling over is very important and marks the end of the first stage of a reading.

The reasons for the above process should be clear. Clients have been under great pressure and, as often as not, are very defensive of their right to do whatever they are doing or thinking of doing. "I'm going to leave my kids and no one is going to say otherwise." They have lost their balance and flexibility and have replaced these with a hard, resistant attitude. They are desperate to some degree. When I don't oppose them, but instead accept whatever they say, this tends to throw them off balance, and the result is an even greater release of unloading. During all of this, I am telling them nothing and keeping our conversation to the social minimum — astrological or otherwise — needed to assist in the emptying process. I can be talking all the while, but I am saying nothing. It is a simple fact that they are, at this point, unable to listen or hold a dialogue as long as they are holding their breath, so to speak. I am coaxing them or allowing them to breathe out, to expire, and to let go of whatever they have locked into with a death-like grip, whatever that may be. This emptying process takes about 10-20 minutes in most cases, but may take an hour or more! The process must be allowed to take its course, until (like vomiting) there is no more forthcoming. Only when this stuff has been expelled or let go will they be in a position for inspiration, ready to take a new look or grip on themselves. Only then can I get their attention.

After this emptying has taken place is the time to begin to draw attention to the various areas of concern and to ascertain the "facts" of the matter. The client has achieved some release at this point, has let go of things. It is here that a real dialogue can occur between client and counselor. Around this time, the bitter accusations and criticism often turn to tears and sobbing. There is a letting down, a getting down from the "high horse." At this point, something very interesting happens. Let me try to put it into words.

Clients have let go to some degree. They have stopped trying to insist how it must be and are somewhat relaxed and kind of floating or out-of-the-body of their circumstances. They are free and out of the pressures of the moment. Somewhere along here an event of great importance occurs.

There will come a point in time when the client is no longer letting go or going out, but instead begins to return or come down. My teacher used to say, "We know how to take the rabbit out of the hat, but do we know how the rabbits gets into the hat in the first place?" It is not enough for the counselor to assist the clients in getting away from their problems. Getting some release from their situations is something clients were dying to do anyway. Clients will also require assistance in going back — in re-entering the body of circumstances that is their life and taking a new grip on those circumstances.

If there is any art to counseling, it is in assisting clients toward a more realistic or natural attitude toward their situations as they come down or begin to re-enter their bodies. The counselor can facilitate a better attitude or approach — a better way to take these very same circumstances and turn them to some advantage. It is not enough to help clients out of their circumstances onto some lofty plane where their life somehow falls into perspective. Like the spaceman orbiting earth, about the only thing that is absolutely obvious when we leave the body is the body itself. The spaceman sees earth as never before. What goes up, comes down, and what goes out, comes back in. When we stand back or get outside our circumstances we have an opportunity to see our condition in a larger context. It is at this point that philosophical discussion is possible. And it is here that the astrologer may facilitate a clear or more comprehensive vision and an acceptance of what is. It is at this time that some sort of insight or imprinting takes place. We can see to set our sails towards more worthy goals, assume a different attitude or stance, prepare to take our life in a different way. It is at these clear moments that we take or retake our vows, never to forget what we are now seeing. No doubt this is a beautiful and favorite part of any reading.

The resistance in clients to returning to their body of circumstances and to accepting their particular situation will vary. At one extreme is the individual who has seen the light and obtained enough insight into his own self to feel responsible for his own condition. He is glad to go back armed with this new vision. He can't wait to "have at it." Many of these types of individuals may require some form of therapy before they can come around to feeling responsible and take possession of their own life's affairs.

The critical idea here is that the future of any client will depend to a very great extent on what he or she can do with the present personal situation. It is an age-old maxim that one cannot change or even work with what one refuses to acknowledge — or accept what one ignores. So, the idea and experience of what takes place in a reading is simple. There is a letting go and an accepting or taking hold. It is similar to releasing one grip to find a more natural one. This is what happens in most readings. The client is able to let go and suspend his hold on things and to find a more acceptable attitude or way to accept or take these life situations. There is a release and letting go. There is a new acceptance. There is a new grip.

The client must find a way to accept his very conditions, because this is all that he has got.

We need to say something more about this new grip, this process of acceptance. Of course, we mean self-acceptance, but that acceptance must be extended to include the conditions in which the self happens to be. The client must find a way to accept his very conditions, because this is all that he has got. This is what is happening. We Cannot Change What We Refuse To Accept. We must ascertain and accept the facts of our life in order to change them. We must acknowledge their existence, whatever that may be. Acceptance is the very essence of what counseling is about. Not the acceptance of a lousy situation for its own sake, but the acceptance of what-have-you as the only means or vehicle we have to alter that condition. We must respond to the situation in which we find ourselves. The crucial part of any reading has to do with this acceptance of what is and not what might be or what ought to be.

What is the counselor's role in this process? It is not his or her role to tell the client what to do. Clients must and will do what they can see clear to do. I am reminded of the Eastern religious text The Tibetan Book of the Dead in this regard: this document consists of a series of verses that are read by a priest to the dead or dying. I don't make claims to understand all of what it means, but what interests me is that the text consists of a whole series of levels, called "bardos," that extend from the "clear, white light" of perfect understanding, through all of the shades of material existence, and end at the door of a womb, ready for another birth. Apparently, each soul experiences this clear, white light in all of its fullness, but many souls are unable to hold on to this experience and, instead, begin to slip back into their old ways and habits. If the soul slips far enough, it ends up at the door of a womb, ready to be reborn again and to face the same questions it was unable to grasp before. What is remarkable is that at each level the priest proceeds to assume that the soul has experienced the clarity at that level and has embraced this light and prevented any further backsliding down the bardos, toward the womb. However, at the beginning of each lower level and verse, the priest states something to the effect that if the soul has been unable to keep the clarity of the experience of the previous level in mind, then they will begin to have certain experiences that are signs that they have slipped into the next level and are taking on the qualities of this level.

This is fascinating because each of us goes through something like this in everyday life. We all experience cycles in our lives of ups and downs. When we feel up and are clear, we can see the why of who we are and why we are doing what we are doing. We embrace our life and retake our vows, so to speak. But when the clarity fails or wavers, we often find ourselves slipping back into previous habits out of which we thought we had risen, and we are forced to go through and repeat the cycle all over again. In this way, each of us is reincarnated in a continuous fashion throughout our lives. This is not something that happens at the tail end of our lives, but something that is happening repeatedly now, here in the middle of life.

What has this to do with the counseling process? After the release experienced in most sessions, clients are often free enough from some of the pressures of life to see and consider their lives in broader perspective. There is often a moment when they perceive that this is their life, and that they are the authors of it and the only ones who can do something about changing it. In other words, they accept or respond to what is happening and are responsible. The counselor, like the priest in The Book of the Dead, may be in a position to facilitate acceptance of what the client now sees. It is here that the astrologer may describe some of the many possibilities the natal configurations suggest. If the clients are, for some reason, unable to grasp these opportunities and accept their actual situations and use them, ignoring what are the real cases, the counselor can proceed to read from the next level of alternatives.

Let me give an example:

Let us say that a man wants to leave his wife and family because he feels that he is in a one-way rut leading towards the grave, out of which he may never extract himself (not uncommon these days). In the first stage of the reading, he empties himself of all his anger and complaints about his wife and the impossibility of his situation. When he has let go of all this and is able to take another look at what is going on, he may have an opportunity to perceive that this is his wife and his situation, and that the situation is speaking to him and giving him a message. He may be able to see with clarity and to accept the situation as of his own making and work with it towards some better solution. If, however, he persists in ignoring his part in this — his responsibility — if he cannot respond, then a variety of alternatives appears, i.e., he may, for instance, live with his wife in a kind of stalemate for the sake of the kids, they may agree to separate, to have affairs, to get a divorce, and so forth. My point is that there will be a whole series of levels of activity that will appear that depend upon how much responsibility the client is able and willing to assume. I am not saying that a full acceptance or response to the situation is the way to change that same situation into something else. WE CANNOT CHANGE WHAT WE CANNOT ACCEPT.

The role of the counselor is very like that of the priest who reads from The Book of the Dead. Hopefully, clients can see why it is to their advantage to accept a situation, to take their lives into their own hands. But, if the clients cannot accept the situation as is, it is not the place of the counselor to pass judgment on this eventuality, but only to proceed to read from and to make clear the next level of alternatives, all the way down to (if need be) the door of the womb, and — using our example from above — complete divorce and the inevitable remarriage. The role of the counselor is to serve and to facilitate the natural process.

Once there has been release, the only subject worthy of consideration is the terms for re-entry or return. This is a matter of attitude or approach and depends, to a great degree, on the imprint or clarity that the client has been able to achieve through the process of the reading. A clear vision or imprint can guide one through hell itself, offering strength all the way!

While there can be no blame attached to changing one's life situation — leaving the husband or the kinds, ignoring responsibilities — most experienced counselors will agree that, in most cases, this amounts to an escape and a temporary putting off of a responsibility that will assert itself again. I cannot forget one client who divorced her husband because he beat her, only to marry a second and a third time, and in each successive marriage, the new husband beat her even more. And in each case, she attempted to find the most gentle man possible! Somehow she never faced up to the violence in her own self, her own fear of violence.

I repeat: it has been my experience that all readings have some kind of turning point when what has been going out (like the tide) begins to return or turn inward.

I repeat: it has been my experience that all readings have some kind of turning point when what has been going out (like the tide) begins to return or turn inward. It is this point in a reading that I consider to be pivotal or crucial, and the rest of the reading can be seen as leading up to this point and moving away from this point. This is the moment of imprint or vision, and it is here that a deeper acceptance occurs or is ignored. This is the point in the reading when clients rediscover their game-ness or appetite for life. Often clients become aware of how they really feel, of their actual biases. In other words, clients perceive that they are, in fact, already committed, and they accept this fact. The reading is effectively over at this point, for the clients have just managed to respond once again and have taken possession of themselves and their situations. Although most readings do proceed on for some additional time, nothing of equal importance will be achieved. It is all over but for the talking! I get the impression that the clients are back in their drivers' seats and are no longer struggling to escape.

When some such acceptance does not occur, the reading is far from over and you, as counselor, have a problem on your hands. The client may require professional help and even extensive therapy before he can come around to accepting his situation. These individuals are resistant to change and have a learning problem in this regard. What they may need is to repeat this same kind of session again and again before they can find acceptance. This is not the province of the astrologer-counselor, but rather of a trained psychological therapist. Often, clients will value the process on a regular basis. I seldom will see a client more than twice in any short period of time. If they wish to see me on a regular basis, I am usually getting along with them well enough to explain that what they need is therapy, and that they should be prepared to pay someone to go through the consuming and laborious process of working with this sort of learning difficulty.

To me, it is a very simple thing that takes place. A letting go and a taking hold again. I should remark once again that this process takes place through all of the many words that are exchanged between the client and counselor and with the help of whatever astrological technique is found useful.

Contrary to the popular belief, which pictures the astrological counselor with the very easy life of making a lot of money telling people the obvious, the life of a professional counselor is not without its pressures and even dangers. The counselor repeats the reading process with many hundreds and even thousands of individuals. In most instances, the reading is an important even in the life of the client. The client will not only consider carefully what transpires in the course of a reading, but he has the right to try and to test these insights. And, the clearest of insights can fade in the bustle of everyday life. Often, the client cannot keep those insights in mind and even begins to doubt the validity of the insights and of the entire counseling session. It may be more convenient to forget what was seen, or the client may wish to turn the whole reading around to some other way.

What I am saying is that the counselor is under continual test and even attack from perhaps dozens and hundreds of individuals on any given day. The counselor is protected from such doubts only by his or her own dedication to what is true or real. The counselor's only refuge is in the living of his or her own life, looking neither to the right, nor to the left. I feel it takes several years for the beginning counselor to become acquainted with the various kinds of pressure and problems of this profession. Perhaps this is the straight gate through which every real counselor must pass.

Another consideration is that in these times, the counselor has taken on many of the activities of the priest or minister. One of the main functions of any counselor is to serve as a welcoming committee for souls coming through to greater self-discovery. There are very few refuges in our modern world where individuals can act out the rituals of the self. Again, here is where the analogy between the counselor and the midwife is so very complete: an individual just opening up and coming across into a greater understanding is as fresh and precious as any baby. Each of us deserves some kind of welcome and an opportunity to act out a process as old as we are, that process of self-discovery. The process of unfoldment that is possible in the counseling session is very like the physical birth process. The modern-day counselor is, in reality, a midwife of the spirit.

 

© Copyright: Michael Erlewine

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