1 Ast r ology a n d NLP: Wor kin g in P ractice Case Study One A senior executive in t he MOD a ged 49. The pr esented issue/problem: The client is this case study required assistance in dealing with a fo rt hcomin g second operat ion for k idney st ones. I alrea dy had a n awaren ess of the client’s hist ory, as h e had been one of my students on a Practitioner training course in modern applied psyc hology two year s prior to th is work being un dert aken. I knew that he had lived a very healt hy lif e and tha t only now, in h is late fort ies, ha d he needed hospital treatm ent for th e first t ime. Typic al of people with S corp io risin g, he is a somewha t p rivat e individua l an d he ha d chosen t o only tell immediate r elatives an d t hose closest to him of his initial st ay in h ospita l. Having discovered th is some t ime lat er f rom a t hird par ty, I cont acted him and learn ed tha t n ot only ha d the whole experience been traumat ically painful for him, t her e was a lso, along with th e emotiona l cult ur e shock of experiencing hospita l for th e first time in his life, the a dditiona l an xiety of now ha ving to ret ur n for fur th er work. I calibra ted 1 distr ess in his vo ice, and casu ally arr an ged to visit h is home, which is close to my own village. When I ar rived it tran spired t her e were only t wo days un til h is retu rn to hospita l once more. The tension was almost palpable as he slowly began to settle, relax and relay his experience. The hospital ha d made an error with t heir previous work a nd now he had been recalled f or some rectificat ion. I listened a s th is u sua lly very privat e ma n spoke i n int imat e detail of th e pain, tear s an d sorrow of finding himself in the situation. He recounted he discovered one night, while visiting t he ba throom to pass wa ter th at, ‘It was coming out of my back for God’s sak e, you just can’ t im agine wha t tha t’ s like. I just sat th ere a nd wept feeling complet ely bewilder ed’ . Ha ving developed a degree of sens ory a cuit y 2 th rough my NLP tr aining I could in fact ima gine what it was like, an d I imm ediat ely took st ock of th e situation as I saw it:
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Astrology and NLP Working in Practice - 4 Case Studies
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8/7/2019 Astrology and NLP Working in Practice - 4 Case Studies
The client is this case study required assistance in dealing with a
fort hcomin g second operat ion for k idney st ones.
I alrea dy had a n a waren ess of the client’s hist ory, as h e ha d been one of
my students on a Practitioner training course in modern applied
psychology two year s prior to th is work being un dert aken . I knew t ha t h e
ha d lived a very healt hy life and t ha t only now, in h is late fort ies, ha d he
needed hospital tr eatm ent for th e first t ime.
Typical of people with S corp io risin g, he is a somewha t p rivat e individua l
an d he ha d chosen t o only te l l immediate r e la t ives an d t hose closes t t o
him of his initial st ay in h ospita l. Having discovered th is some t ime lat er
from a t h i rd par ty , I cont ac ted h im and lea rn ed tha t n ot on ly ha d thewhole experience been t ra um at ically painful for him, t her e was a lso, along
with th e emotiona l cult ur e shock of experiencing hospita l for th e first time
in his life, the a dditiona l an xiety of now ha ving to ret ur n for fur th er work.
I calibra ted1 distr ess in his voice, an d casu ally arr an ged to visit h is home,
which is close to my own village. When I ar rived it tr an spired t her e were
only t wo days un t i l his re tu rn to hospita l once more. The ten sion was
almost palpable as he slowly began to settle, relax and relay his
experience.
The hospital ha d made an err or with t heir previous work a nd now he had
been recalled for some rectificat ion. I listened a s th is u sua lly very privat e
ma n spoke in in t imat e de ta i l of th e pa in , tea r s an d sorr ow of find ing
himself in the situation. He recounted he discovered one night, while
visiting t he ba th room to pass wa ter th at , ‘It was coming out of my back for
God’s sak e, you just can’t im agine wha t t ha t’s like. I just sat th ere a nd
wept feeling complet ely bewildered’.
Ha ving developed a degree of sens ory a cuit y2 th rough my NLP tr aining I
could in fact ima gine what it was like, an d I imm ediat ely took st ock of th e
situation as I saw it:
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My client looked m e in t he eye an d ask ed if th is was one of those times
when h e really should r elax, an d th en closed his eyes before I h ad tim e t o
answer.
I h ad a lrea dy decided to allow th e ‘Rossi Pa tt ern ’ tr an ce indu ction
(meaning, to use the language patterns of trance that can have theiroriginat ion specifically att ribut ed to t he work of Ear nest Laur ence Rossi)
to allow my client t o dr ift inside a n ASC for a sh ort wh ile, which would
enable me t o furt her recall the work un dert aken on t he video clip for h im
in m ore deta il on th e level of his un conscious program ming.
After saying the wording Bandler used in the video clip I began to
enhan ce th e sta te of relaxation. The spacing repr esent ed by the t hr ee dots
in th is para graph is indicative of slight pau ses in speech t ha t a re used in
hypnosis to crea te m ild curios i ty as t o wha t will be said next , an d also
serves to enha nce th e impact of the m eanin g being delivered. In a slow,rh ythm ic an d delibera te pa ce an d t one I sa id , ‘And … becau se you a re
her e … inside your rela xing … experience … as you brea th e … an d dr ift
… deeper n ow int o comfort … hea ling … an d t hose deepening st at es of
hypnosis’.
I t hen began to mix up t wo words in r a pid succession so th at th eir
concepts would become a little confused. Akin to performing an audio
version of the Collapse Anchor technique12 linguistically, I carefully
calibra ted m y client a s t he word ‘hospital’ becam e conn ected in mea nin g
with the word ‘hospita ble’.
For exa mp le: ‘Ea ch an d every t ime you go in t hr ough en -tr an ce … you’re
going t o find your self … inside … a very h ospita ble place t o be ... th at ’s
right … how hospitable t o be inside, now, th ose feelings of rela xing more
an d more deeply … an d you can always r elax ... inside … more an d more
complet ely … each an d every tim e you move in th rough en-tr an ce … an d
find your self … inside h ospita ble healing d eep on th e un conscious level …
as you ar e relaxing … now, moving th rough en-tra nce … th at ’s right …’
After a bout 5 minu tes, I ended t he hypn otic session with an oth er Rossi
pat ter n th at t ime-binds th e person’s ret ur n t o norma l consciousn ess withth e inner -mind’s kn owledge tha t th e work initiat ed is complete in every
deta il: ‘And, a s soon as you inn er min d knows, your un conscious ha s
complet ed all of these inst ru ctions, in deta il, th en, an d only th en, will you
find yourself slowly emerging, from the deep trance state, feeling
refreshed, comfort able, alert and r elaxed kn owing, on a deep level inside
your un conscious kn ows exactly how to accelera te your hea ling as you
relax even m ore deeply.’
I wait ed for my client to open h is eyes.
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At t his point, immediately after th e work we had un derta ken, and without
a moment for r eflection, he still seemed a little un cert ain an d fear ful of
th e out come. I assur ed him I would repeat t he work ont o a cassette t ape
an d post it t o him imm ediately.
Observing th at he looked a litt le tired, I left h is compa ny with a s ma nyovert an d covert wor ds of comfort I could slip inside s ayin g our goodbyes
an d casua lly utt ering ph ra ses like, ‘It ’ll be easier t ha n you t hink ’.
Once home th at aftern oon, I immediat ely set t o work on h is casset te t ape
session. I h ad t o hur ry a s t ha t day’s post was t o be collected with in th e
hour. I insert ed a blank cassett e into the ma chine, pressed record a nd a d-
libbed a fifteen -min ut e hypn ot ic hea ling session, coverin g mu ch of the
groun d we had alrea dy explored ear lier th at day. My inten tion was t ha t
th is would serve to re -enforce th e effect of tha t a ftern oon’s work.
The timin g was such th at it would reach my client ’s doorst ep on t he day
before h e was du e to be admitt ed to hospita l.
He ha d agreed to listen t o th e tape at some point du ring tha t da y, and t o
call me t o let me k now what he experien ced. By 4.00pm th at after noon I
had not hear d from him a nd I r ightly guessed that because of having to
organ ise thin gs, saying last goodbyes, and his building an xiety, his m ind
ha d been t aken off the a ctu ality of going to hospita l an d he h ad a voided
th inking about it all.
My assumpt ion t hat he ha d dis tra cted him self from th e ta sk of playing
th e ta ped hypnotic session wa s born out when I called him at 6.00pm th at
evening. He pr omised t o listen t o th e ta pe immediat ely. After 30 minut es I
ha d n ot received a call an d, becau se t he cassett e session was only of a 15
minu te dur at ion I assu med his sta te ha d swung into a sense of, ‘Time’s
gettin g closer n ow’ an d he was bu sy gett ing rea dy and sort ing an y last
minut e details . I knew th e fear could be building as th e night dr ew on,
an d his lack of cont act cau sed me to conclude tha t m aybe th e ta pe had n ot
calmed his n erves or redu ced his a nxiety. I was pleased t o discover I wa s
wrong.
However, lat er t ha t evening, at 8.25pm, my client phoned me a nd sa id,
‘I’ve just come out of tr an ce’. The casset te ta pe session h ad rela xed him
deeply for two an d a ha lf hours. I ha d a st r ong feelin g it would be
successful.
Out of respect for h is privacy, I ma de no att empt to cont act him dur ing his
st ay in h ospital, and I waited unt il the second day after h is retur n h ome.
With a sense of an t icipa t ion I ca l led h im an d , as I h ad expected , was
greeted on t he t elephone by his pa rt ner . I ten ta tively ask ed, ‘How is he’,
an d I wa s am a zed t o discover h e ha d gone out t o social ise with somefriends. Th ree da ys lat er h e left a long ‘th an k you’ mess age on m y voice
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A single mother of three children, concerned about the behavioural
difficulties of her teena ge dau ghter .
The pr esented issue/problem:
I ha ve chosen to call th is person Sa ma nt ha for t his publicat ion.
Samantha lives with her mother and younger brother and sister.
Sam an th a’s mum recently separ at ed and initia ted divorce proceedings
from Sama nth a’s step father (the F at her of her br oth er an d sister).
Sama nt ha ’s mother cont acted me a nd a sked me t o look t o see if an ything,
ast rologically, point ed t o her dau ght er’s increa singly difficult beha viour
an d a ny solut ions ast rology may offer.
With out looking at Tra nsits or Progressions I went st ra ight to the Nat al
Char t a nd looked at Sama nt ha th rough t he lens of Astr obiography.
Sam an th a ha s just tu rn ed fifteen, so it is relevant to explore th e Venus
life pha se (seven t o fifteen year s of age) as well as t he Ma rs life pha se,covering t he p resen t position a nd her life between t he a ges of fifteen to
twenty-one.
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Venus a nd Ma rs life phases – aged 7 to 21 year s
Venu s is placed in th e Sign of Gemin i, in t he 11th House,
with T aurus in th e 10 th , and on the 11 th ,
with Libra in the 3 rd , and on t he 4 th House IC.
Th e Aspects t o Venu s are:
Decile the S un ,
Septile N eptune, Bi Quint ile Plut o,
Bi U ndecile MC, Square N orth N ode
Sext ile Part of Fortu ne.
Between th e ages of seven to fifteen Sam an th a will be highly cur ious an d
enjoy learn ing (Gemini). Dur ing this t ime her centr al ner vous system will
be more sen sitive th an usu al, so she will often become a ffected by noises
and movements in t he immediate en vironment . I t wil l be import an t for
her to ha ve periods of quiet an d seclusion, oth erwise she will find h erself
becomin g fra ught an d agita ted if she ha s to spend pr olonged periods of
time in busy populated places.
Dur ing th is period of her life she h as t he potent ial to excel in academic
work so long as sh e can resist th e distr actions of friends a nd h er social
circle (11 th house). Sh e could ha ve an a pt itu de for lan gua ges, a love of
litera tu re or a str ong desire to tell everyone all she knows thr ough wr iting
or dist ribu tin g inform at ion wit hin her social circle by gossiping or t exting
- a good idea t o keep an eye on t he h ouseh old telephone bill as t he pa tt ernth at is set at th is time may well rema in in place for m an y year s to come
(Gemin i & 11th house).
My overall impress ion of th e report is t ha t i t is am azingly
accur at e an d very good. Dur ing th is tim e of her life she was
alwa ys int erest ed in school. She often get s irr ita ble an d tir ed
with people who are making noise around her. She
somet imes sna ps, ‘Shu t u p everyone’. She often ta kes her self
off to bed, and th is was definitely more evident dur ing thisper iod of tim e.
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She is good at languages, though not really interested in
th em. She was good at writin g at school: she t ended t o write
th ings th at were ra th er adult, and she is always texting her
friends on her mobile and creat ing a high bill for th e house
phone.
Her cur iosity a nd need t o be ‘one of the crowd’ dur ing t his tim e ma y affect
her ability to rema in focussed on work she is set, an d even on lar ger, more
persona l goals sh e want s to achieve (Taurus 10 th house). This might well
ma nifest a s a t endency to fixat e on pr ojects, ideas an d am bitions a nd h ave
a st eely determina tion t o see things th rough to the end u nt il she becomes
distr acted. For a par ent t rying to keep up with th ese cha nges, it could be a
little frustrating. On a more positive note she is establishing here apat ter n of flexibility alongside a ten acity tha t could other wise be out right
stu bborn ness, so I would consider th is to be very useful later in life as sh e
will have th e ability t o complet e ta sks with out becomin g ent ren ched in
ideas, emotions an d concepts t ha t no longer ser ve her productively.
Sam an th a definitely want s t o be one of th e crowd.
Anoth er cont ribu tion t o the crea tion of flexibility could well be m ovement
in a more liter al sense. Dur ing these year s Sam an th a might find cha nges
within th e home, with in t he family, or just m oving house to be disrupt ive
enough tha t it impa cts h er sense of sta bility and security. Dur ing these
years, if these are house moves or changes within the immediate
environment she is well placed to learn how to adapt to changes in
circum sta nce and m ana ge stressful t imes. Alterna tively, having th e Sun
in Can cer , she could int erpr et t hese cha nges as being too disru ptive and
th e impact on her inn er sens e of safety an d sta bility could be bruising,
casting a slight shadow over her sense of identity and self-confidence
(Venus Decile the Sun ). There are a number of NLP techniques that
refram e th ese experiences for h er t o find th e benefits an d str engths sh ecan now draw upon as a resu lt of th ese changing times.
We moved house four tim es dur ing th is period of her life an d even
Sam an th a h as sa id she foun d it very disru ptive. I believe it was
very disru ptive and ha s somewha t br uised her sense of secur ity.
With Venu s being Decile to the S un , Sextile to the Part of Fortu ne and t heSeptile to Neptune, the a rts will have a marked effect on Saman tha
8/7/2019 Astrology and NLP Working in Practice - 4 Case Studies
dur ing th is period, se t t ing a t one for t he r es t of her l i fe . She wil l find
her self dra wn t o ar t, mu sic, dance or poetry as a doorwa y though which to
escape any disappointments and problems life holds, as well as using
crea tivity a s a form of self-expression.
Sama nt ha was very interes ted in the ar ts . Whereas she used to
play with pa int s at school before sh e was seven, along with a ll the
oth er children, du rin g this t ime period she began t o explore a rt on
her own m otivat ion. She would produce car ds for h er friends wit h
beaut iful pictur es rath er th an simply write a note. Samant ha had
some work present ed as well.
Music has a lways been importa nt t o Saman tha , and i t h as to be
said that during this time she learned piano and did a lot of
dancing.
This par t of th e report is also to the m ar k. She began smoking at
th irt een an d I’m su re she was drinkin g th en a s well. Oddly,
chocolate was someth ing th at becam e a big issue t hen :- I even
rem ar ked to her t ha t she was becoming addicted.
Life will seem difficult for Samantha during this time (Square North
Node) an d th ere will be times when Sa ma nt ha does not like her life and
th e pat hwa y she finds h ers elf on. Ther e is a possibility she might find
oth er m ean s of escapism (Septile Neptun e) t hr ough a lcohol or t oba cco or
oth er su bsta nces tha t pr oduce alter ed sta tes of consciousn ess (th is could
be cannabis or heavy doses of chocolate or coffee or other potentially
addictive substances). The Bi Quintile to Pluto indicates she will
experience life between s even an d fifteen a s if she can not a ccess th e keys
to her own personal power. It will seem to Sama nt ha th at th e world, or
cert ain people in it (God, teacher s, par ent s, bullies, fash ion designers,
policemen an d an yone wh o asser ts a ut hority) have some kind of sway or
influen ce over her life and her circum sta nces. Dur ing this time, Sama nt hawill lear n h ow to access her ability to influence event s via influencing th e
decisions of others – m ost usu ally by lear nin g how to be cha rm ing an d
at tr active an d ‘sweet’.
Yes, ever yone says, ‘She’s so sweet’, and th en , when sh e gets
indoors she can completely cha nge, like J ekyll and H yde.
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Between th e ages of fifteen t o twent y-one, life for Sam an th a will ta ke on a
different , and somewha t more cha llenging tone.
Her sense of ident ity an d endu rin g inn er-confidence will, dur ing this t ime
begin to ascend and make itself known, though the sense of feeling
vulner able an d of being someh ow ‘sma ller t ha n oth ers’ will cont inu e to be
present (Su n in Cancer ).
For Samantha life during this period will be different, to an almost
sta rt ling degree. She will experience situat ions t ha t dema nd she a sserts
herself an d ta ke action ( Mars in Aries ), rath er th an hesitat e inside a shell
of vuln era bility (Su n in Cancer ).
Sama nt ha has certainly been more assert ive since she was ar ound
four teen a nd a ha lf. Where before sh e would be a bit h esitant an d
shy, th ere seems t o be no holding her back now.
Before t his summ er (when Sa man th a t ur ned fifteen) if I sa id she
couldn ’t go out she would sulk an d ma ybe th row a ta nt ru m, but
now, she just goes out without lettin g me k now where sh e is. She’s just off on her own.
I’d say she has become more independen t - an d inconsider at e and
bloody selfish quit e fran kly. She seem s t o have n o conscience, as if
she h as n o awaren ess of oth er’s feelings a t all.
Ph ysiologically, Sam an th a will have an abun dan ce of energy and a desire
to express h erself immediately. Her perception an d r elationship with t imewill cha nge in such a way th at as well as needing to act out every impulse
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‘right her e an d now’, it will seem t o Sam an th a a s if tim e ha s slowed down
extern ally, while her subjective per ception of time’s m oment um h as
actua lly accelera ted int ern ally ( Mars in Aries ).
Int ern ally, Sam an th a will experience th e world ar oun d her as if someone
ha s slowed everyth ing down: queues seem longer, ket tles t ake m ore t imeto boil, a m ont h t akes a decade to pass. Simulta neously, Sama nt ha will
process inform at ion more ra pidly, so, to Sam an th a, when sh e has finished
ta king her t ime t o lis ten t o someone i t will seem u nreasonable that th e
oth er person appears to want to keep on t ak ing for a ges an d ages and
ages.
Ha h a, this is so right. She swear s at t he kett le an d keeps asking,
‘When’s din ner rea dy’ every t wo minu tes, even th ough she’s just
been told the answer. The other day we were in a queue in a shopan d it was just a normal queue. Sam ant ha wa s pacing up and down
an d mu tt ering, I thought sh e was going to walk out . It was only a
norma l shop, she’s become pret ty u nr easonable.
Sam an th a will want to get to the point an d move on quickly during th is
life ph ase ( Mars in Aries in th e 9 th house). To some people it will seem as
if Samantha has become tetchy, or even downright rude. Behaving in
ways that others interpret as her being impatient, irritated or even
a ggressive could well initiat e conflict with oth ers du ring t hese years.
I t would be wise for Sam an th a t o cha nn e l these vola t i le energ ies an d
impetu ous u rges int o productive compet itive out let like sport s or a r egular
fitness routine. Directed through the muscles in a disciplines way
Sam an th a will develop a healt hy and vibran t r elationsh ip with life an d it
will seem as if she ha s a glow about h er ( Mars in A ries in t he 9 th house,
Trine the S un , Trine th e Moon and T rine the Ascendant ). The altern at ive
is to allow th e exubera nce to find m or e idle han ds (Squ are Mercury ) an d
the resulting tension could ma nifest a s str ess or out burst s of temper an d
har sh a ngry words.
In ter ms of sport s, well this side of Mar s in Aries is dorm an t. She
began horse riding recent ly, but t ha t’s about it as far a s being
active is concern ed.
While her r e la t ionship with her fam ily an d par ent s could be on a very
good footin g dur ing t hese year s (Trine the S un and Trine the Moon ), with
th e people she meet s, and a ny places she tr avels to, encour aging her t o be
more open m inded an d to ta ke on board t he view of life in a lar ger pictu re
or ph ilosophical fra mework ( Mars in t he 9 th house Sextile Jupiter ), ther ewill be cha llenges of a difficult possibly very un pleasan t na tu re.
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We will now explore ea ch of th ese in tu rn , looking first at th eir genera l
significan ce an d th en focussing on th e positive benefits a nd lear nings t ha t
can be obta ined from t hese experiences:
Mars in A r ies in t he 9 th House Square Sa tu rn in Sagi t tar ius in t he 5th
House:
T h e S qu a r e t o S a t u r n i n t h e 5th House indicat es a nu mber of possible
problems Sa ma nt ha will ha ve to face and r esolve.
One of these is her relationship with her fat her, father figur es, auth ority
an d even h er per ception of men in genera l. Dur ing th ese year s (fifteen t o
twenty-one) Sama nt ha ’s inn er-Self may a llow t hese issu es t o be resolvedby ma king decisions (often un consciously) tha t allow t hese very issu es t o
become a focus of at t ent ion.
Sama nt ha may, for example, ha ve to spend t ime with her fath er in order
to work th ough a ny relat ionsh ip difficulties or to heal a ny old hu rt s an d
emotional woun ds. Then a gain, it m ay be th rough other m en her m oth er
becomes involved with, people who take on a father figure role, that
become t he lens th rough which an y un resolved issues can find equilibrium
an d a sense of inn er peace.
Talking and appreciating the perspectives of other people (or just
respecting th em - even if th ey ar e tota lly boring) is a k ey to imp r oved
relat ions h ere. In displaying a r espect for t he opinions an d rights of oth ers
th en t hey ha ve the space and psychological per mission to respect your s.
We tend t o receive what we give out , so it’s your call Sam an th a (assu min g
you’re readin g t his, of course).
Alter na tively, it m ight well be thr ough th e rea lm of society’s auth ority
figur es th at Sam an th a lays an y old fat her ly ghosts t o rest . This of cour se
implies tha t Sa ma nt ha might experience a series of ups a nd downs withauthority figures from school-teachers, head masters, social workers,
tr affic war dens, ma gistr at es, judges or, th e police.
Obviously, the watchword here is to proceed with caution and maybe
adopt th e viewpoint t ha t r ules ar e made for some reason. We may not
always under sta nd t hose rea sons, so, in a r easonable way we can a sk th e
appropriate people (those with the correct knowledge, or wisdom) and
discover wha t t hose rea sons are. In ta king our selves along t he pat h of
legal discovery, it is possible to find oneself becoming knowledgeable, and
even pr oficient , in ma t ter s of law a nd a car eer could possibly blossom fromth is. People involved in crimina l defence or h um an right s all need t o work
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within th e law, in order for th e law t o become t ru ly just . It is possible for
Sama nth a to tak e part in t his import ant unfolding social process.
When Saman th a read this par t of th e report she said, ‘Th at’s tru e’,
an d sh yly hid h erself by cur ling up in a ba ll. It’s n ot often th at softCancerian par t of her n at ur e reveals itself th ese days and yet it did
her e. I th ink you touched on a welcome n erve here.
Sa turn’s placemen t in t he 5th house does ca r ry a n im pl ica t ion h ere of
meetin g a challenge of life th rough t he a ren a of teena ge pregnan cy.
This is so un can ny. Saman th a was fifteen in J uly and isabout t o go on th e pill an y week now. She’s definitely
been h aving sex sin ce she was fifteen, over t he last two
mont hs, th ough sh e says it’s not often . We began ta lking
about this a couple of months ago, yet, with all the
tr ouble, we ha ven’t got ba ck t o talking about it . It was
the fact t hat you m entioned i t in the r eport tha t got us
ta lking again an d now she is definite ly ta king a m ore
responsible at titu de.
Relat ionsh ips will be import an t t o Sam an th a in th ese year s ( Mars S extile
Descendent ) and t her e is a h igh possibility she will tak e physical a ction on
any strong desires she m ay h ave ( Mars in Aries). So, expect roma nces to
be more t ha n m erely inn ocent , and you will find th at event s will mat ch
the expectation you may have of Samantha being a young lady who,
between fifteen a nd t wenty -one, likes to get on with life in h er own way …
NOW !
Oh yes, this is so right .
Advice her e will, hopefully be un necessar y. If it’s n eeded th en it might go
un heeded anyway, or might even be too late. Tha t advice which mu st be
followed is, of cour se, alwa ys play r esponsibly an d t ak e full r esponsibility
your self to always only have pr otected sex: ‘no pr otection mea ns noth ing
ha ppens between us’ - mak e it your golden rule !
Raising a child, for those with Saturn in the 5 th House, is usually a
difficult affair 13 an d t he r esponsibili ty of parent ing bears heavily upon
th em. The best advice here is to only s ta rt a family after very car eful
consideration and planning and, meanwhile, to do everything in yourpower t o avoid un-plann ed pr egnan cy.
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awar eness could develop int o the kind of hu ma nita rian ism t ha t facilita tes
cha nges in society an d pr omotes impr ovement for all.
J us t r emember t ha t no mat te r wha t t he cause or t he pass ions a r oused ,
deep breath ing and allowing your ha nds t o relax, along with honest t act
an d diploma cy are, as Howar d Sasporta s would say, universal an tidotes toa bad case of Mar s 14
Mars in A r ies in t he 9 th House Square Neptu ne in Capricorn in t h e 6 th
House:
Here, a soften ing of the ha rsh par ts of the psyche is int roduced th roughth e suffering of disappointm ents a nd t he sha tt ering of dream s. Or, th e
healing of th ese hu rt s is met th rough th e compa ssion, the spiritu al quest,
th e art s and t hr ough being of service to oth ers.
There will be times between the ages of fifteen to twenty-one when
Sama nt ha just seems to aimlessly drift with out seeming to have a lar ger
organised plan . While the Squar e to Sa tu rn is demandin g a p lan a nd
coherent strategy to order life with, the Square to Neptune pulls
Sam an th a’s focus into th e opposite hem isphere of nebulous day dr eaming
an d a desire t o just go with wh at ever pr esents it self an d comes a long …
after all, isn’t it all just mean t t o be ?
Life might be order ed by some k ind of grea t divine plan … an d, well ,
ma ybe not. Maybe it’s mea nt to be tha t I writ e th ese words n ow, and you
ar e reading th em la ter ins ide your now … an d as you r ead th ese words
now, as you ar e mean t t o, tha t pa rt of your min d, maybe conscious, or,
maybe your unconscious can go ahead and begin to explore the
possibilities of crea tin g a life plan , new pa th ways t ha t will develop a sense
of growing confidence an d of lookin g after your self in all s it ua tions, of
working to build a sustainable quality of life and good health and
prosperity. Maybe you a re m eant to be inspired t o acknowledge th e hur tsan d pa ins you’ve exper ienced, even t his far in life, and cons ider wh at you
might a lready be able to do to assist other s who have walked similar roads
t o you. Maybe i t’s mea nt th at you t hin k of th e feelings of oth ers , an d
especially th ose close t o you, a nd ta ke t hem int o accoun t before you speak
or t ake a ction. Then a gain, maybe there isn’t - ma ybe you a re m ean t t o
simply drift int o a crisis you can prevent … or, m aybe you just drift inside
a bot tle of booze - or wor se. Maybe you cou ld float in t o an oblivion th a t
mean s you loose everyt hing you wan t to hold on t o, and ma ybe not. Since
it r eally is your choice Sam an th a, begin to write down exactly what you
want from life, the kin d of lifestyle you r eally wan t a nd creat e a plan , withth e help of other s, ma ybe, to go for it .
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There is , i t h as t o be said, a potent ia l her e for you t o experience th ese
times between fifteen an d twent y-one, as t hose of being fra ugh t wit h a
series of health issues - or just one big health pr oblem. There is a very
high chan ce th at your hea lth wil l be seriously affected by your use of
alcohol or oth er dr ugs. Please ta ke t he grea test of car e with both of thesear eas as, typically of Neptu ne, you will be un awa re of an y dangers at th e
time. So, the eas ies t way t o ensu r e your safety is t o adopt a policy of
leaving th ese substa nces alone un til after you a re t wenty -two year s of age.
I’d t ak e a guess th at th e likelihood of you following th is adv ice is very
rem ote an d yet, it is still possible you can sur prise me - is it not ?
On a Sa tu rday n igh t sh e goes in to town a nd d r inks Vodka a nd
smokes, somet imes grass or wh at ever it is. I hear d once th at she’d
tr ied cocaine an d I went rea lly mad at her . She said she was t oosmar t t o ta ke th at road but sh e doesn’t seem t o realise the dan ger
yet. These lads give the girls free smoke and then get them
emotiona lly dependent on it . Before t hey kn ow it t hey’re h aving to
s tea l to get i t an d th en i t’s cocaine an d lord k nows wha t n ext . I t
scar es me.
Mars in A ries in t he 9 th House S quare Chiron in Cancer in t he 12 th House:
The fina l par t of your four ma jor life cha llenges dur ing th ese year s is one
th at could be seen to represent a su mm ery of all we have said so far :
Chiron square t o Mars in t his place in t he char t ind icat es you will have
th e opportu nit ies to hea l some very deep woun ds her e, an d you m ay also
ha ve experiences th at crea te deep emotiona l an d psychological wounds.
I would r ecomm end you focus on gener at ing an at mospher e of peace an d
calm ness a roun d your self, with in which you can find privat e space andbasically ‘chill’.
To do th is, you will need to r educe th e am oun t of conflicts you ha ve in life
by foster ing a greemen t an d co-operat ion with oth ers. Kindness, respect
an d considera tion ar e all qua lities tha t will cau se oth ers t o desire your
compa ny in peace – r at her th an conflict.
These years could be a great healing time for you if you adopt an
appropriate at titude a nd a llow your nat ur al sensitivity to car e for oth ers
an d look a fter t heir feelings. You will find t ha t as you do th is your own
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seemed quite distur bed by this an d I believe the m essage sank r ight
inside her. I would say sh e took t he war ning. Than k you.
Fin dings for Ca se Stu dy Two:
I wan ted t he r eport to be a basic Pa ce an d Lead exercise th at would bring
Saman tha to a na tur al underst anding of the larger pictur e of which t hese
present times play a significan t an d yet const ant ly cha nging part . There
were certa in cha ra cteristics and probabilities tha t I int uited she ma y now
be allowing to ma nifest or blossom t o fru ition, a nd I gat her ed, rightly as it
t r an spired, tha t she was pleased t o be able to re-access the l ight er an d
more car ing sides of her n at ur e.
This pa rt icular configur at ion in h er as t rological bir t h cha rt carries the
poten tia ls for experiencing some of th e har sher an d more ar duous sides of life. Since everyt hin g within ast rology, at least from a n Astr obiogra phical
perception, has more than one path to follow then I knew it may be
possible to inspire Sama nt ha to decide to cha nge cour se in cert ain ar eas
an d begin t o build a life of grea t wort h a nd secur ity for her self.
Fr om a youn g teenager a bout to fully emba rk on h er ener getic, and a lmost
totally internally referenced, journey of life through an Aries lens I
received the following accolade: ‘I’m im pressed by it’.
Postscript:
Sama nt ha h as reta ined steady employment in a h air salon for m ore th an
18 month s at th e time of writin g. She is comm encing dr iving lessons a ndhas been awar ded the oppor t un i ty for a photo shoot for a wel l known
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After my client ha d re layed th is to me at th e onset of her consu lta t ion
th ere were a n um ber of pat hwa ys open for explora tion. For exam ple, I
could:
1. Tak e a m ore t ra ditional psychological r out e an d explore t he client ’shist ory with a view to bringing to the su rface her ‘inter na l saboteu r’
for resolut ion an d t ra nsform at ion. Th e opinion, t ha t th e client’s
current situation is created by the decisions influenced by an
unconscious ‘internal saboteur’ is, in one sense, a logical conclusion
to form, taking into account the very short time-scale she had
plann ed for h erself while being in full knowledge of her st u dy
schedule a nd knowing th e t err itory of her chosen cour se very well.
2. Adopt a m ore hea lth -orien ta ted ap proach and seek t o resolve the
physiological symptoms that were currently being expressed asmigraines, insomnia, stress and high blood pressure. A
psychobiological methodology would probably produce the best
results here in th e fastest t ime fra me.
3. Work from t he N LP viewpoint th at , ‘every behaviour ha s, on some
level of conscious nes s, a positive int ent ion’.15 Takin g this direction
would mean pacing th e client’s pr esentin g problem a nd then
leading her t o a spa ce where a ny deeper issues, drives an d motives
can be explored and resolved, while always maintaining the
integrit y an d a ccessibility of th e positive int ent ion.
The NLP a ppr oach would ena ble the client t o feel th at her decisions, even
if th ey have lead t o the present discomfort , are being respected a nd t ha t
the integrity of her overall sense of value and worth remain un-
cha llenged. This position would foster ra pport, an d also play a ma jor r ole
in t he opening sta ges of creat ing an a tm osphere a nd environmen t wh ere
cha nge is welcomed an d accepted.
A fundam ent al par t of th e remit expressed by the client is the creat ion of
a skill in r apid learn ing, inform at ion r etent ion a nd t ha t of being relaxed,healt hy a nd ‘ta king it all in m y str ide’. Accelera ted learn ing techniques
share certain basic principles for success: relaxation at the point of
receiving inform at ion a nd being in a re laxed s ta t e when r ecall ing tha t
inform at ion. A clear s ense of th e pur pose or rea son for wan tin g to obta in
the in form at ion is import an t in order for th e psyche t o s to re th e new
learning in reference to its appropriate context. With this in mind I
decided to work with th e client ’s existing st ra tegy an d a llow an y of her
own shortfalls to reveal themselves in her conscious awareness as we
progressed forwa rd t hr ough t he th era peut ic process.
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Init ia l ly, I asked a bout her s tu dying technique. I foun d she h ad a tr ied
and tes ted rou t ine of la te a t n igh t s tu dy , be tween 10pm an d 2am, an d
took a shor t b reak every 25 min ut es or so to re fresh her min d . I was
pleased th e client ha d instin ctively crea ted a st udy met hod along th ese
lines for t wo r easons. Fir st ly, ha ving crea ted a work period of twen ty
minu tes a lready mea nt th ere would be no res is t an ce to an y addit ionalactivities proposed at t went y-min ut e inter vals. Secondly, it r evealed the
client ha d an instinctive att unement to her nat ura l body rh ythms an d had
the common sense to respond to these rhythms, rather than override
th em. This is very useful inform at ion for a consu ltan t u s ing hypnosis ,
because it demonstrates the client will respond more favourably to
unconsciously driven ins t ructions a nd s tr a tegies ra t her t han a t t empt t o
override th em with th e tra nsit ory decisions an d desires generat ed by th e
conscious min d.
On a less op t imis t ic note I a lso found th a t th e cl ien t s tu d ied wi th t hetelevision a t a ll times, eith er with t he volume set a t a m inimum or with
the sound turned down completely. This would serve not just as a
distra ction, which is a large enough issu e in its own r ight, it would also
increase t he a mount of general st imulat ion of her cent ra l nervous system.
This is entir ely coun ter -productive to ma ster ing the a rt of relaxat ion a nd
accelera ted learn ing. The subsequen t effects of such stim ulat ion might
well be a redu ced at ten tion span a nd a n u nder lying low, yet const an t level
of anxiet y.
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The insight s gained from using th e client ’s ast rological birt h char t as ama p of th e psyche:
At th is moment of th e consult at ion, I t ook a br ief look at clien t ’s
ast rological birt h char t a nd observed the following factors th at seemed
most relevant :
The client ’s Mercur y Squar e Mar s bore out m y pre-supposit ion t h a t a
problemat ical issue tha t a ffects t he way the client ma na ges her t hinkin g,lear ning and comm unicat ions is the int erna l measurement and plann ing
of time. As I right ly concluded, th is issue ten ded to ma nifest as her being
a fast learner who was impatient to get on with things: she could
somet imes speak a brupt ly and skip over words in conversat ion a nd a lso
when reading. There is also a secondary frustration within this
configuration that manifests as a resultant social coolness and
detachment emanating from her th at serves to separ at e her from th ose
slower t hin king an d ta lking people th e client h as spoken over or become
overtly impatient with.
The Moon being pla ced in t he sign of Gemin i at th e tim e of the client ’s
birth signified an emotiona l need to lear n a nd a bsorb kn owledge, an d also
a ten dency to absorb k nowledge un consciously. Over stim ula tion of th e
central nervous system would cause the client to feel emotionally
vulner able an d vice versa: vulnera bility would be a caus e of stress a nd
an xiety. Becau se th e client experienced, as symbolised th rough her
ast rological Moon, h er r elationsh ip with her mother as being sometimes
open an d expressive, an d th en at oth er t imes closed’ and withdrawn, the
astrological map revealed a pattern of vacillation and resultant
rest lessness tha t might h inder t he developmen t of relaxat ion skills.
The Sun in Scorpio with th e Ascenda nt also in Scorpio and P lut o in t he
10 th House indicate th e potential for an extr aordinary inner strength and
willpower, and a very powerful tenacity and potential for intense
stubbornness.
Mercury conjunct Jupiter indicated a desire for knowledge and
un derst an ding tha t could leave th e client sensing ther e is always more to
learn , an d th en , based on t ha t per spect ive , she might eas i ly form th e
conclusion t ha t sh e doesn’t know enough. Dra wn t o a desir e to lear n a nd
understand the workings and meaning of life, this particular chartplacement was also acting as an educational amplifier: increasing the
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capa city to learn along with t he awa reness of how far away t he client is
from h aving read an d hea rd en ough t o cat ch glimmer s of the ‘Tru th ’. Her
ta les of extensive tra vel bore t his out, alth ough since her st udies, she had
solely read only accountancy text-books, and this in itself was
underpinning her intern al fru str at ion with her cur rent situ ation.
Much of th e pressur e th e th at client was experiencing was mirr ored in t he
cha rt by the Virgo MC an d ha ving Plut o in Virgo in t he 10 th House. The
err oneous concept th at th e world a nd h er society would expect her t o be
‘perfect’ an d work wit h gr eat efficiency an d a ccur acy at all t imes wa s also
contributing to her current health problems. Her migraines and high
blood pressure would stop if the client relaxed and giver herself
permiss ion t o le t go of the extra ordina ry pr essure t o perform at such a
high level each an d every day.
Fin ally, in su ch a brief overview as t he spa ce in th is paper a fford s, theSun Opposing Satu rn in the 6th House indicat ed th at th e client identifies
with t he t ype of success th at brings social s ta tu s an d she is sometimes
motivat ed by th e opinions an d values of th e society in wh ich sh e finds
her self. Har d work would be an eth ic she would be likely to adh ere t o, and
th ere is a high potent ial for h er pr ima ry motivat ions being th ose of guilt
and obligat ion. This placement ma y also ma nifest beha viour ally, like an
emotiona l pendulum , swinging from light -hea rt edness t o pessimism in a
cycle th at could be only minut es, or days or even m ont hs long in dur at ion
The way the client expressed herself with her choice of words, body
postures and tone of voice confirmed out these conclusions. Now, primed
with some deeper insight into the u nderlying patter ns of what bought her
to the consultation, the next step was to begin a process of steadily
seeking to resolve and transform each of these issues into new and
productive behaviours that would work towards bringing success and
rewar d for th e client .
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The a bove conclusions came im mediat ely to mind a nd I a sked th e client aquest ion not often a sked of her : ‘Do you like the idea of being an
accoun ta nt an d, also, th e idea of ‘doing a ccount s’ every weekda y for th e
next decade or so ?’16 Her head recoiled slight ly back as a frown began to
domina te h er expression. Calibra ting17 her r eaction was very easy as she
rem ar ked th at ‘accoun ts’ was not a favour ite past ime. It t ra nspir ed she
only undertook this career path as an economic safety-net, as an
assu ra nce should th ere ever be a t ime wh en sh e needed a ‘pr ofession’ t o
tu rn to for financial support .
While the a bove may well be a good st ra tegy for ensur ing futur e secur ity,enjoying t he pa rt icular subject in question is a key feat ur e in accelera ted
learnin g. In m y experience, the resent ment th at can bu ild up inside the
pr ocess of forcing oneself to r ead a su bject one dislikes, in pr actice, slows
down the speed of learning considerably.
I chose, for t he first par t of th e work with h er t o an chor an up-beat a nd
positive stat e int o the word accoun ts , an d int o the a ct of ‘doing account s’.
As for wh ich positive experience th e client was t o use a s a r esourceful
memory, it wasn’t r eally importa nt for t his par ticular exercise, what
memory, or experience the client chose: from eating chocolate, to watching
a favour ite film, ridin g a bicycle, an yth ing would su ffice, jus t so long a s
th e memory ha d an overwhelming th eme of fun a nd ‘good t imes’. The
pur pose of this pa rt of the work wa s n ot necessar ily for th e client to ma ke
accoun ts become fun , but ra th er, to neut ra lise her emotiona l response to
the idea of accounts.18 This worked very well with the additional
applicat ion of a ‘Swish P at ter n’19 techn ique. After only one ap plicat ion of
th is highly visual technique, th e client could na tu ra lly see her self inside
th e examina tion experience, being relaxed with slow, st ead y an d deep
breathing.
When a sked t o describe her new pers pective her words were optimistic,with ph ra ses like, ‘Yes, th at looks good … I can see m yself r elaxing’, an d
yet , I observed her tone of voice was hesi t an t a nd h er sh oulder s were
slight ly hu nched forwa rds. This showed th at fur th er work wa s needed in
ord er for th e client t o feel a sen se of pr e-determ ined su ccess. To bring t his
impr oved st at e to th e sur face, I adopted t he ‘Visual Squash ’ technique
becau se, while it ut ilises a visua l style, it r elies on t he client ’s experience
of how th ey feel th roughout th e pr ocess . This technique a lso acts a s a
demonstr at ion of the independent power of th e un conscious a s it cau ses
th e ar ms an d h an ds t o ‘move all by th emselves’, an d a ddition th is
techniqu e serves a s a n a id t o ‘pr oving’ hypnosis ha s occur red. F rom aperspective of possibly needing to offer a placebo experience in hypnotic
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term s to th e client, th e Visual Squash 20 techniqu e provides th is more tha n
adequately.
I wa tched very closely as my client felt the weigh t of ‘the old self’ an d ‘the
new self’ in ea ch h an d. Then, sh e wat ched, as an observer of her self, her
own un cons cious decide wha t it need ed t o do to get t h e ‘old position’ t ona tu rally flow int o being ‘th e new position’. As her un conscious did t his for
her, she found her hands slowly moving towards one another, while
ha ving t he experience of ‘not being th e person t ha t is moving th em.’
I checked t o ensu r e she could n ow feel her self being successful and t ha t
she was now satisfied she h ad experienced hypnosis.
Now th at she h ad lear ned, even just at th e un conscious level, to cha nge
her physiological st at e in order to cha nge her emotiona l experience, I next
decided to help her further develop the skill of relaxing deeply andquickly21. The cl ient ha d already t old me, a nu mber of t imes dur ing the
consulta tion, time was very import an t a nd t he pr essure was very high. I
knew the relaxation would enable her to re-connect with feelings of
emotiona l stability and r educe her blood pressu re, an d th erefore, bring
almost insta nt relief to her heada ches 22.
She r esponded well to th e slow conversa tional r elaxat ion t echn ique I used
and I was s t ru ck furt her with a n idea. I rem embered Milton E rickson’s
ability to use t he client ’s lan guage as a m otivat iona l tool23, so I inform ed
th e client t hat she risked failing her final exams in th e most embar ra ssing
way ima gina ble if she cont inued to stu dy with th e television switched on.
I recoun ted stories of people on television quiz sh ows who failed to an swer
th e simplest quest ion becau se th ey were ten se and a nxious. Becau se of
th ese very public displays of mem ory failur e th e conclusion we can easily
form is th at relaxa tion is an import an t k ey to efficient m emory r ecall24. I
told her t ha t sh e would r eceive a casset te t ape, ma de especially for h er, in
th e post exactly th ree days from th e consu lta tion. Mean while she was
instr ucted to only stu dy to the m usic of Mozart , playing const an tly in t he
background.
In Th e M ozart E ffect , Don Campbel recounts:
Mozart ’s m usic “ma y war m up th e bra in,” suggested Gordon Sh aw,
a t heoretical physicist a nd one of the r esearches at th e Centr e for
th e Neur obiology of Lear nin g an d Memory in I rvine. After a set of
result s were ann oun ced in th e ear ly 1990’s he is r eport ed to ha ve
said, “We suspect t ha t complex mu sic facilita tes cert ain complex
neuronal pat tern s involved in high brain activi t ies l ike math and
chess. By contrast, simple and repetitive music could have the
opposite effect”. Other resea rcher s on t he pr ogra mm e l ikened th e
Mozar t E ffect t o a Rosett a S tone for t he ‘code’ or in ter na l langu ageof higher br ain fun ction.
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That night, after our first consu ltat ion, I wrote an d creat ed th e Advanced
Learn ing Systems: a n au dio coaching pr ogramm e th at involved two vocal
tr acks over t he t op of gentle r elaxing music.
The first vocal t ra ck, ta lked softly, and led t he way t hr ough a gentle slow
rela xat ion over t he 45 min ut es of th e ta pe. The second echoed vocal t ra ck indu ced mem ory r egression t o babyh ood: th ose tim es when we lear n t o
walk and speak and un ders ta nd language and gra dua lly become more
awar e of th e world ar oun d us an d our ability to man age it.
The programme ended with multiple post-hypnotic suggestions. These
positive an d opt imist ic su ggestions were stacked with in one anoth er to
induce greater increased memory speed, the anchored response of her
physiology being in a relaxed state when studying and recalling with
suggestions for all knowledge to be thoroughly integrated and available
when appropriate 25.
The client was instructed to write a short piece, no more than three
sent ences, th at defined specifically, wha t she wan ted to lear n. This was
th en r ead by th e client each time, just before playing th e ta pe. The client
was th en ask ed to keep a sm all jour na l of th e cha nges she experienced.
The n ew rout ine of playing t he Advanced Lear nin g Systems for fort y-five
minut es before a ny stu dy period an d th en listening to Mozart const an tly
was initiat ed immediat ely, an d cont inued for t he rem ainin g five weeks
unt il her exams.
The r esults of work ing with t his system ha ve been r eliably good, and in
th is par ticular case st udy ha ve shown th emselves to be highly effective in
being a ble to assist a stu dent to achieve a defined leaning outcome. It is
now, at t his point in th e paper, th at I would like to intr oduce th e results
we ha d achieved in t he client ’s own words:
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function of repr ession 38. In t he f ie ld of NLP, Practi t ioners a re t aught to
deal with r epressed mat erial by pacing the client’s present ing rea lity an d
th en using tra nsform at iona l gra mm ar t o bring about a resolut ion of th e
un derlying issues39.
However, when issu es ar e repr essed, the ind ividua l concerned is often notconsciously awa re of th e existen ce of the u nr esolved m at erial, or th at th eir
inter pret at ion of the world ar oun d t hem ma y be colour ed or prejudiced by
emotions t ha t a re boun d up with t he issues seeking expression 40.
In Th e Psychobiology of Min d Body H ealing, Rossi sta tes:
Milton H . Er ickson (1902-1980) th en dem onst ra ted how am nesias
cau sed by psychological sh ocks a nd t ra um at ic event s ar e psycho-
neuro-physiological dissociations that can be resolved by “innerresyn th esis” in hypn othera py (Erickson, 1984/1980). One of
Er ickson’s ear ly studen ts , David Cheek, M.D., systema t ized a n
ideomotor signa lling appr oach for in vestigat ing emotional tr au ma ,
stress, and psychosomatic symptoms. Over a 25-year period,
Cheek’s clinical case stu dies led h im t o form ulat e th e th eory t ha t
stress invariably causes an altered state, identifiable from
spontaneous hypnosis which encodes state-bound problems of
system s. He r ecent ly expr essed h is view as follows (Cheek, 1981, p.
88):
Hypnosis occurs spontaneously at times of stress (Cheek, 1960),
suggesting that this phenomenon is a state-dependant condition
mobilising information previously conditioned by earlier similar
st ress (Cheek, 1926b).
At such times, the individual tends to revert in memory and
physiological beha viour to an ear lier moment of grea t str ess. The
formal induction of hypnosis may suddenly release disturbing
memories of experiences associated with spontaneous hypnoidal
states.41
In a ddition, my client’s avoidan ce, being perfectly un ders ta nda ble when
seen in t he light of the qua nt ity of Scorpionic an d P lutonic placements in
her astr ological cha rt , reminded m e of a pa tt ern I ha d encoun ter ed with
others who have a s imi la r empha s is in t he i r na ta l cha r t s . There i s an
indicat ion her e for my client to potentia lly have ha d experiences of sexual,
physical or em otiona l abuse.
I would like, at this moment, to draw attention to there being anempirical 42 history behind t he t hink ing th at form ed th is conclusion, for it
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As we were n ear th e end of the first consu ltat ion, I delivered my str at egy
covert ly un der t he gu ise of looking at wha t work we ma y be able to cover
dur ing th e fort hcoming s econd consu ltat ion.
I looked her in t he eye and said, while gesturin g and cas t ing a f leet ing
glan ce at t he cha rt 48, ‘We ma y not h ave fully explored wha t you can do toencour age this ma n t o pay at ten tion t o you, and n either h ave we finished
explor ing a ll of your car eer opt ions . We ha ve th ough, an d I’m s ur e you’ll
agr ee, touched on t he su rface of some very powerful feelings you h ave just
below th e sur face ther e … do you n ot ?’
Her eyes looked up a t me from t he chart with t ha t kind of look of sur prise
tha t is p leas ed t o find someone who can ‘see’ an d ‘kn ow’ somet hin g of our
inner na tu re with out our needing to say lots of words.
As I expect ed, my pacing led her slight ly int o an ASC49 and a r esu l tan ttea r began to well in t he corn er of one of her eyes as I cont inu ed t o pace
her experience, only leading n ow int o the objective r at iona lisation of using
th e cha rt . I said, in a soft a ut hora tive tone of confident kn owing, a flow of
sent ences along th e following lines:
‘All of your cur ren t issues a re in fact conn ected to a single issue th at is
deeper t ha n we h ave tim e to explore h ere. I’d st rongly recomm end t ha t for
your next consultation you consider having an Astrobiographical life
rea ding. This will enable us to explore your life fully, in a grea t deal of
depth an d you will be able t o place all you ar e experiencing now in a wider
cont ext. The bigger pictu re will be a wh ole lot ea sier t o ma na ge tha n t he
disconn ected par ts you ar e experiencing now, believe me, I know becau se I
can see it. You ar e on th e way t o now feeling m ore a nd more confident a s
time goes and you grow thr ough your th irties. There ar e th ough, cert ain
issues th at rea lly do need to be resolved an d h ealed before you can ta ke
full advan ta ge of a futu re full of more fun th an you can im agine now. If
you t ak e th is rout e we’ll be able to resolve thin gs more easily th an you
th ink , which is h ow come I was r ecomm ended t o you I guess’.
She found herself agreeing with t he las t s ta tement of referra l , an d was
quite unawa re of just how often sh e had nodded her head in agreemen tduring my flow of words. This was due to my having peppered my
recomm endat ions with sta cks 50 of embedded comm an ds which I an alogue
marked with head-nods and subtle changes in tonality and tempo, to
encour age her to slip a litt le into an ASC and dr ift in side th e ‘yes’ mood.
Fr om t he a bove exam ple, so typical of the h ypnotic lan guage I em ploy,
there are embedded commands, presuppositions and hypnotic suggestions
such a s:
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For the second consultation with my client I decided a complete
Ast robiogra phical life-readin g would be of the great est ben efit for h er.
For a wh ole day I took her th rough t he jour ney of her l i fe us ing herast rological cha rt as th e only sour ce for my conclusions. Sh e was pleased
enough with t he result t o volunt eer a test imonial to appea r in a pu blicity
leaflet that I use to promote my astrological works, as well as being
delighted t o assist in being a case st udy for t his pap er.
Her test imonial for my busin ess publicity is worded:
I just wan ted to let you kn ow tha t t he recent Astr obiograph y I ha d
with you was a bsolutely mind blowing.
There were t hings in t here t ha t a bsolutely no-one knew or could
know.
I would t horoughly recomm end t ha t a nyone who wishes a to have a
100% accuracy life-reading should definitely have an
Astr obiogra phy, I will recomm end it to fam ily an d friends wh o wish
to kn ow about life, love an d t he cha llenges we a ll face in everyday
life. It has helped me to un dersta nd a great deal an d cha nge th e
way in which I per ceive life - which ma kes da ily living m uch bet ter .
This is a once in a l i fe t ime r eading and a grea t opport un ity with
such grea t value.
My client was very pleased with t he r esult of th e Astr obiogra phy rea ding.
The a bove test imonial, however, pays no reference to an y of the work we
un dert ook r egar ding her deeper life issues.
I began th e reading in m y usua l fash ion by comm encing with h er genera l
cha ra cter istics, indicat ed by her a str ological Su n. It was when I came t o
the next stage of describing her birth experience and its subsequentpsychological effects that she realised just how deep the waters of
astr ology may ru n.
Her Scorpio Ascendant and her eighth house Moon placement both
indicat ed th at my client m ay encoun ter th e kinds of Scorpionic cha llenges
ment ioned a bove. In order t o avoid an abrea ction, I u sed eu ph em ist ic
language, because, this would give her t he opport un ity t o discuss an y
tr au ma tic event s if she wished to , an d she would be able to ma inta in a
sense of poise an d simp ly move along in t he conversa tion a s well if she
wished to.
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At t his sta ge of th e readin g my client chose to rem ain em otionally neut ra l
an d non-responsive when I offered th e int erpr eta tion tha t, ‘During the
first th ree year s of life you could h ave encoun ter ed th e exter na l world a s a
place th at seems to push you ar oun d in some way. This could h ave been
emotionally, physically, psychologically or even sexually’. I carefully
calibrat ed her rea ctions, paying att ention to her skin t ones an d breat hingpatt ern a nd was pleased to note that my car efully worded sta tement ha d
not indu ced an xious feelings or p rovided an y repr essed emotions wit h a n
opportunity for conscious and immediate expression.
It was to be much later in the reading, when the theme was to be
intr oduced to my client once more tha t t ha t t he repr essed emot ions I h ad
intu ited made t heir way to the sur face, and she t hen began her jour ney of
deep inner healing.
My client ha s J upit er placed in Scorpio in h er a str ological birt h char t, an dfrom a viewpoint of Astrobiography, this indicates that at some point
between the ages of twenty-one to thirty, an opportunity for her to
experience Scorpionic challenges may present itself once more. The
probability of this occurring is, as always with this Astrobiographical
model of as tr ology, very high.
I offered my car efu lly worded euph emistic sta tem ent in th e same m an ner
as in our previous discussion a bout her ear ly childhood condit ioning. My
client sudden ly had eyes full of tear s a nd recoun ted th e following incident,
told her e in h er own words:
In J un e 1997 I wa s d r ug raped by a boy fr i end a t th e t ime in a
secluded car par k a nd left th ere t o recover. Somehow I ma de my
way home. I was una ble to remember anyth ing a t f irs t and t hen
from t ime to time flashbacks cam e an d went and bad dr eams slowly
were suppressed …
I pa ced h er emotiona l expression a nd created a n en vironment where she
felt sa fe enough t o simp ly sit an d cry for however long sh e wished t o.
At t he t ime of th e readin g, which t ook place in t he su mm er of 2001, myclient was thirt y-one year s of age. This means th at her J upiter life phase
would ha ve begun in 1991 and passed over t o the Sat ur n ph ase of her life
in 1999/2000, at th e moment of her Satu rn retu rn .51
As my client r eleased a gr eat deal of bott led up feelings an d an xieties, I
made cups of tea and encouraged her to talk more about the whole
experience. By this, I m ean not t he fine deta ils of the r ape its elf, for, t o
me, tha t is a very bruised, tender an d private place tha t only those closest
to her ma y visit, if ever at all. It is t he en tir e period of recovery a nd post
healing tha t for m e is of th e grea test int erest.
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This sense of growing and developing implies that, as with most
Astr obiograp hical life ph ases, t he level of developmen t at th e beginn ing of
th is time would be lesser in comp ar ison with th e level of developmen t sh e
will exper ience by th e end of this period in 2012.
I t ook h er present position of having a poten tially deeply woun ded self-
esteem a nd poor self-ima ge int o accoun t wh en deciding which t her apeu tic
path t o take.
As we moved on in our explora tion of her life pat h sh e inform ed me t ha t
one manifesta t ion of her having Satu rn in th e s ixth house tha t she was
enjoying was a self-defence class called ‘comba t t r ain ing’. Whilst n ot
ha ving th e spirit ua l discipline or lear ning str uctur e of a more tr aditional
ma rt ia l ar t , her Satu rda y morning combat tra ining was providing her
with an import ant physical outlet for her daily fru str at ions.
As we cam e to th e end of our second consu lta tion I su ggest ed we end wit h
some ‘inn er h ealin g’ works .
In t he first par t of our work I wan ted t o ignite an in ner flam e of growing
str engt h a nd h ope. My client felt psychologically and em otiona lly tr app ed
by th e const ra int s of ha ving to deal with a h usba nd who didn’t u nder sta nd
her difficult ies, an d a fam ily th at she h ad comm un icat ion difficult ies with .
These we would deal with in our next consu lta tion. For now my client
needed, a nd I believe th e word ‘needed ’ is appr opr iat e her e, to receive
assista nce and t o enjoy relaxing in th is time for h erself.
We began the first of these two short and effective transformational
techn iques by re-visiting the self-rela xation technique I h ad t au ght m y
client in her first consu ltat ion. U sing a thea tr e stage as a meta phorical
environm ent I a sked m y client ’s u nconscious t o present ont o the st age, in
its own fashion, a represent at ion of th e par t of her that is hurt, and scared
an d bru ised by th e shocking event of the r ape.
The hur t pa rt present ed itself, and I began a pr ocess of encour aging tha t
par t of her to want to grow in size and st ren gth a nd t o become willing tomeet t he challenges of life an d tu rn ar oun d th e impa ct t he ‘na sty ma n’ ha s
ha d on h er. Discovering she could st ill win, th at she can chan ge things
within her self which m ean s he didn ’t destr oy th e core of her being, was
very illum inat ing and inspirin g for h er.
By th e time we ha d finished this techn ique the par t of her t ha t u sed to be
fright ened of her past , and fear ful of oth ers r ejectin g her ha d become big
an d st rong an d was now in cha rge of the pr ocess of expelling t he fear a nd
pain she h ad st ored up th rough h er perform ance in combat tr aining.
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As I privat e ly predicted, she report ed after t he next Sat ur day tha t t he
bur st of ener gy which h ad pour ed out of her ha d un ner ved her fellows in
th e room.
We finished this six-hour consultation with some time-line work 52 to
inst all a sen se of bright hope ahea d in her futu re. Becau se, unconsciously,she n ow knew t ha t a ll would be well, her an xiety levels would begin t o
reduce, giving her an immediat e sense of improvement in h er qua lity of
life.
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Ha ving th e abil ity , though t he use of as t rology, to gain a n imm ediat e
insight of th e un derlying issues behind m y client’s presen ted pr oblems
proved to be, in t his inst an ce, invalua ble.
While it m ight be said t ha t m y client would ha ve resolved th ese issues for
herself in t ime, or , th at in a th erapeut ic cont ext perform ed with out th e
use of ast rology, th e resolution she sought would h ave been a chieved, it is,
I would like to suggest, demonstrably verifiable in this case that the
rema rka ble speed with which m y client was a ble to ma ke progress was
due t o the added assist an ce of ha ving an astrological ma p of her psyche
and the accompanying timetable of her unfoldment and development
present ed th rough t he per spective of the Astrobiograph y model.
Moreover, it can be sa id th at th e Astr obiogra phy m odel of ast rology ha s
an au th ent ic, practical an d useful par t t o play in th e tool-box of th ose who
work in th e field of modern psychology.
Postscript:
In th e spr ing of 2003, two years a f te r th e consu l ta t ions of case s t udynu mber four , this loving couple present ed th eir first ba by to the world.
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21 ‘Pacing and lead ing in t o t r an ce’ - John Gr inder & Rich a rd Bandler , Trance-
form ations, Real People Press, 1981, Pa ge 35
22 ‘Hypn osis inn t he tr eat men t of physiological problems’ - Robin Water field , Hidden
Depths – The S tory of Hypnosis, Macmillan 2002, Page 337
23 Meeting th e client a t his model’ – Richard Ba ndler a nd J ohn Grind er, Patterns of the
Hypnotic Techniqu es of Milton H . Erick son, M.D., Volum e On e, Grinder an d Associates,
1975, page139
24 ‘Building new learn ings in hypnosis’ - J ohn Grind er & Richar d Bandler , Trance-
form ations Real People Press, 1981, Page 22
25 Anchoring’ - Richa rd Bandler and John Grinder, Frogs into Princes , Real P eople
Press, 1979, Page 84
26 Tad J am es & Wyatt Woodsma ll, Tim e Line th erapy and th e Basis of Personality, Meta
Pu blicat ions, 1988,
27 ‘Refram ing’ - Richa rd Bandler an d J ohn Gr inder, Frogs into Princes , Real P eople
Pr ess, 1979, Pa ge 137.
28 ‘The Basic Accessing formu la’ - Ea rn est La wren ce Rossi , The Psy chobiology of Mind-
Body H ealing , W.W.Norton & Company Inc, 1986, page 100
29 Pacing an d leading int o tra nce’ - J ohn Gr inder & Richa rd Ban dler, Trance-
form ations, Real People Press, 1981, Pa ge 3530 Richar d Bandler & John Gr inder , Pattern s of th e Hypn otic Techn iques of Mil ton H .
Erickson, M.D., Volume Two, Grinder an d Associat es, 1977, p.103.
31 Micha el Har r ison, The M aster Pract i t ioner S ui te Volume Three, Tao Te Pu bl ishing,
2001, p.52.
32 Steve Andr eas , Virginia Stair the Pat t erns of Her Magic, Rea l P eople Press 1991,
p.161.
33 Richard Bandler and J ohn Gr inder , The S tructure of Magic Volum e One, Science an d
Beha viour Books, inc 1975, p.24.
34 Howard Sa sportas, The Twelve Houses, The Aquarian Pr ess, p.244.
35 Tad J ames an d Wyat t Woodsmal l , Time Line Therapy and t he Bas is of Personali ty ,
Meta P ublicat ions 1988, pp.155.
36 David Rowan , Ast rology and N LP W orking in Practise, P aper for Psychology Module
MA Cultural Astrology and Astronomy, Bath Spa University College, May 2003.
37 Howard Sasporta s, The Twelve H ouses, The Aquar ian P ress, p.309.
38 Howard Sa sportas, The Twelve Houses, The Aquarian Pr ess, p.311.
39 J ohn Gr i nde r an d Richa r d Band l e r , Trance – form at ions , Rea l People Pr ess 1981,
pp.91.
40 Liz Greene, Barriers and Boundaries – T h e H oroscope and th e Defences of thePersonality , Cent re for Psychological Astr ology Pr ess 2002, p.75.
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41 Ernest Lawrence Rossi, The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing, Norton & Compa ny,
Inc, 1993, p.49
42
Emp ir ical is defined here a s mean ing, ‘Guided by practical experience an d n ot th eory,especially in medicine. ’, sourced in the internet 23 rd September 2003, at
http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/e/e0117100.html
43 Ellen Bass an d Laura Davis , The courage to Heal, Ha rper & Row, 1988, p.43
44 A term I privately use to describe the ar t of using astr ology as a tool of modern applied
psychology in pa rt ner ship wit h oth er ps ychological disciplines.
45 Howard Sasporta s , The Tw elve Houses , Aqua rian Pr ess, 1985, p.180.
46 Howard Sasporta s , The Tw elve Houses , Aqua rian Pr ess, 1985, p.54.
47 Howard Sasportas , The Tw elve Houses , Aqua rian Pr ess, 1985, p.330.
48 Michael Ha r r i son , The Master Practi t ioner S uit e Volum e One, Tao Te Publ i sh ing ,
2001, p.139.
49 Robin Wa ter field , Hidden Depth s – The S tory of Hypn osis , Macmillan 2002, p.329.
50 Michael Harr ison, The Master Practi t ioner S uit e Volum e One, Tao Te Publ i sh ing ,