In 2025 millions of people wonder about who they are and why they have the life they’ve got; and many seek answers by checking out their ancestral past. They’ve been trained to think that they – the whole kit and caboodle – are a random arrangement of genes acquired from an ancestral gene pool and that by learning about the lives of their forebears they can glean insights into themselves. They don’t learn much.
Hermetic astrology teaches that character is built by experience and at the start of your soul’s grand evolutionary journey it had no feeling, no intelligence and no character. It did have the will to live and struggle on and an innate capacity to attract and repel experiences according to its polarity and right from the get-go it began to attract the experiences required to build its unique and special character.
Since then your soul has captured and saved in memory all the states of consciousness associated with these experiences and its birth chart depicts the results of its character building up to the time of its birth as a human soul when you – the objective self-conscious thinker – emerge.
Each planet in your chart depicts a dynamic thought-cell group that has been built into your soul consciousness by experiences of its particular type so your chart’s planet power summary which lists your planets in descending power order allows you to acquire some understanding of your soul’s backstory.
Your dominant planet maps a dominant, very frequent experience. A prominent planet indicates there have been many experiences of its type; and a low-powered planet indicates there have been fewer experiences of its type. And you can expect your life experience here and now to pan out in a manner that closely resembles your soul’s backstory.
Struggle played a big role in its evolutionary story. Food and water had to be acquired. Sex ensured species preservation; and there was play, social fun, grooming, territorial disputes, dangers, fire, disease and sickness. The animal kingdom is a harsh and brutal world. Surviving required strength, courage and speed. Communication and elementary reasoning exist in higher animals.
Hermetic astrology makes known the concealed occult energies that influence the inner workings of the natural world. It’s where souls on evolutionary journeys acquire intelligence and ability through experience.
Your soul’s backstory planet by planet
On its evolutionary journey your soul had some contact with members of its own species, and other life forms. It may have acquired positional power and exercised authority. Maybe it was obeyed and respected and these power-significance experiences built its power urge.
The Sun in your birth chart, by its relative power, reveals if these experiences were constant and dominant; frequent and prominent; or few and occasional. And your power-significance life right here and now will track a course that closely resembles that indicated by your soul’s prehuman life experience.
Your soul’s evolution involved experiences with family life, home building, providing sustenance and nurturing its young and these experiences with home and family life built its domestic urge.
They may have been many or few and the relative power of the Moon in your chart reveals if they were constant and dominant, frequent and prominent or less frequent and incidental. And the role of your domestic – home and family – life right now will closely resemble that indicated by previous experience.
In its evolution your soul had some experiences with alertness, judgement, remembering, communication and dexterity. It may have built nests that required the careful selection of building materials or traveled to find food and water and these experiences with judgement, recognition, remembering and communicating built its intellectual urge.
Mercury in your birth chart reveals if these experiences have been constant and dominant, frequent and prominent; or few and incidental. And your intellectual life here and now will closely resemble previous experience as indicated by the power of Mercury in your birth chart.
Your soul on its evolutionary journey had experiences with companionship, mating, socializing, courting, singing and grooming and these prehuman life social experiences built its social urge.
Venus, by its relative power, reveals if these experiences were constant, frequent or occasional; and your social-companionship life right now will closely resemble that indicated by power of Venus in your birth chart.
Your soul’s evolution involved experiences with fighting enemies, competing, overcoming obstacles and sex. It expended a massive amount of energy acquiring food and may have had territorial disputes and these experiences with combat, incessant activity and sex built its aggressive urge.
Mars in your birth chart reveals if these experiences were many, frequent and dominant; moderately frequent and prominent; or less frequent and occasional. And now as a human soul with self-consciousness and objective awareness your aggressive life closely resembles that depicted by Mars and your impersonal evolutionary journey.
Throughout your soul’s evolutionary past it developed deep regard and respect by obeying ruling authority. It trusted in a higher power to provide guidance and protection and these experiences with regard, trust, reverence, veneration and faith built its religious urge.
These religious experiences are mapped by Jupiter in your birth chart and its power reveals if they were extensive and dominant, frequent and prominent or infrequent and incidental. And your religious life as a human soul will travel a course that closely resembles Jupiter and your religious backstory.
In its evolution your soul had some experiences with preventing hardship, escaping enemies and avoiding harmful conditions. It may have fled when confronted with danger and hoarded food and these prehuman life safety experiences built its safety urge.
They may have been few or many and Saturn by its position on your charts planet power summary reveals if they were constant, regular or occasional. The role of safety in your life right now closely resembles previous experience as measured by Saturn in your birth chart.
Your soul on its evolutionary journey was confronted by an ever-changing environment and its ability to break with precedent may have improved its chances of survival. Maybe it made ingenious departures from established custom and these experiences with breaking with precedent and doing things differently built its individualistic urge.
The position of Uranus on your chart’s planet power summary reveals if these experiences were a dominant, prominent or incidental feature of your backstory and the part played by individualism in your life here and now will closely resemble that indicated by previous experience.
Animals dream, draw on their inner-plane experiences and gain information through feeling extrasensory perception and your soul did too. On its evolutionary journey it sought to escape harsh reality and have a more satisfying life. Maybe it employed tactical deception, camouflage or mimicry as survival strategies and these experiences with escape, deception and idealism built its utopian urge.
Neptune in your birth chart, by its power, reveals if these experiences were constant and dominant; frequent and prominent; or just occasional. And your utopian life here and now that dreams of idealistic conditions will closely resemble that indicated by previous experience and Neptune in your birth chart.
Specialization of parts and division of labor can be found among the cells and organs of all organic creatures and among the members of many plant and animal communities. Bees, ants and beavers cooperate for the welfare of the community in home building and the storing of food and your soul on its evolutionary journey had experiences with cooperation which built its universal welfare urge.
The relative power of Pluto reveals if these experiences with group cooperation were constant, frequent or ever now and then and the role they’re playing in your life right now closely resembles previous experience as measured by Pluto in your birth chart.
Elbert Benjamine’s words are scattered throughout this article.
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
