Codex of the Soul Astrology, Archetypes, and Your Sacred
Blueprint
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Copyright © 2012 by VerDarLuz. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for
brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
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Codex of the Soul: Astrology, Archetypes, and Your Sacred Blueprint is sponsored by the
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
VerDarLuz, 1978–
Codex of the soul : astrology as a spiritual practice / VerDarLuz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (this page).
eISBN: 978-1-58394-464-6
1. Astrology. 2. Spiritual life. I. Title.
BF1729.R4V47 2012
133.5—dc23
2012002219
v3.1
Dedication
To my father, a living saint. You always said that each generation should improve upon the
previous. This is my offering.
Special Dedication and Acknowledgment
To the true authors of this book:
Gabriel—archangel who assists messengers, artists, writers, and communicators
Saraswati—Hindu goddess of wisdom, learning, music, and the arts
Urania—Greek muse of astronomy and astrology
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all of my teachers and mentors, those met and
those still to be met on the path.
I wish to honor the lineage of sages, magi, stargazers, priests, and
mystics—all who have received the flame of gnosis from the
heavens and passed the torch of wisdom to future generations.
Thank you to Barbara Schermer for the use of her elegant
astrological cheat sheet.
And I wish to thank every reader for opening this book, for
answering an invitation from the Beyond to step into the mirror and
meet your higher self through the language of the stars.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
The Precious Gift
Preface
Introduction
PART 1
The Value of Astrology
A Sacred Language for Delicate Times
CHAPTER 1
Surfing the Chaord
Mindful Awareness and the Sacred Role of Astrology
Astrology and Interdependent Origination
Transits, Participatory Synchronicity, and the Dialogue with the Divine
Quantum Astrology and the Paradox of Time
CHAPTER 2
A Cosmology of Resonance
The Bardo of Becoming: Life Selection and the Descent of the Soul
Plato’s Myth of Er
Soul Contracts
Sacred Scripts: Contracts with Self, Other, and Place
Illuminationist Philosophy: Emanations of Light
Christ–Lucifer, the Feathered Serpent, and the Dual Urges of the Soul
The Being of Light and the Bodhisattvic Ideal
CHAPTER 3
Mystic Rhythms
Sacred Geometry and the Archetypes of the Zodiac
Archetypal Geometry
The Divine Divide: ShivaShakti and the Law of Polarity
Triangulation, the Modes of Action, and the Love of Christ-Consciousness
Spirit: “AUM” and the Three Modes of Divine Expression
Matter: The Four Qualities and Four Elements of Life
The Diamond Mind
Humanity, the Five, and the Breath of Life
The Seed of Life
The Vocabulary of the StArchetypal Theater
PART 2
AstroLogos
The StArchetypal Theater
CHAPTER 4
The Verse of the Heavens
Inscribed in the Human Heart
Magi, Sages, and the Song of the Sky
Holarchy and the Soul’s Fractal Identity
Psychoevolutionary Forces
Fashioned in the Image of Heaven
Planetary Mandala
How to Sing the Hymn of Your Soul with the StArchetypal Theater
CHAPTER 5
The Planets
Wandering Stars: The Evolutionary Urges of the Planetary Cast of Characters
Planetary Conditions: Retrogrades and Dignity
Personalizing Forces: The Inner Planets
Socializing Forces: The Asteroids, Jupiter, and Saturn
The Healing Bridge
Transpersonalizing Forces: The Outer Planets
Axes of Soul-Myth: The Lunar Nodes
A Planetary Prayer of Hope
Star Wars: The Hero’s Journey through the Planets
Supporting Actors in the StArchetypal Theater
CHAPTER 6
The Angles and Houses
The Map and Mirror: Your Cross of Incarnation, Your Realms of Life Experience
Angles and the Angels of Destiny
Houses: Experiential Realms of Life: The Stage and Scene
Quadrants: Major Life Themes
CHAPTER 7
The Signs
Archetypal Images/Styles/Costumes/Masks
Evolutionary Journey: Initiation through the Zodiacal Mystery School
The Signs: Archetypal Costumes, Energetic Expressions
The Archetypal Odyssey of Awakening
CHAPTER 8
The Aspects
Dialogue and Narration
CHAPTER 9
The Thema Mundi
Sacred Geometry and the Astro-Logic of the Ancients
CHAPTER 10
Introduction to Chart Interpretation
Examples of Interpretative Statements
Sun, Moon, Ascendant Key Phrases
Brief Astro-Biographical Interpretations
CHAPTER 11
Experiential Astrology
Practices for Archetypal Integration
The Horoscopic Soul-Collage
Solar Return Mandala and Transits
Astro-Drama
ChakrAstrology Meditation
PART 3
Archetypal Initiations
Planetary Rites of Passage
CHAPTER 12
Initiatory Cycles of the Planets
Sacred Life Cycles: Your Mythical Map, Your Archetypal Initiations
CHAPTER 13
Famous Examples of Planetary Initiations
Jupiter Return
Saturn Return
Pluto Square Pluto
Uranus Opposition
Chiron Return
Astrology of the Avatars: Planetary Initiations of Religious Icons
CHAPTER 14
The Planetary Cycles
Time Map, Path of Compassion, and Evolved Communication
Helping Spirits, Threshold Moments
Life Review
When to Do the Life Review
Points to Remember in Studying Planetary Initiations
CHAPTER 15
Harmonic Synchronization
Sympathetic Magic with Planetary Initiations
Evolutionary Parenting: Assisting a Child’s Rites of Passage
Art of Partnership: Planetary Initiations in Relationships
A Planetary Initiation Self-Portrait
Conclusion and Invitation
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes
Appendix: Astrologer’s Cheat Sheet
Bibliography
About the Author
The Precious Gift
From the Source of Consciousness
Your birth erupts:
an evolutionary intention.
Each breath initiates you
into the prismatic Theater of Light
Your body is a rite of passage,
and you have come to translate the celestial map:
You have come to proclaim
the Zodiac,
the Codex of the Soul
You are the director, the soul memory
You are the audience, the watcher
And you play every role
The Houses are the stages and scenes, the fields of life experience,
The Planets are the players within these scenes,
The Signs are the roles they play,
And the Aspects are the wondrous dialogue,
the narrative of the tragicosmic drama
where display the technicolor dreamscape of spiritsong
and incarnation’s passionplay.
So embark
upon this relationship
As souls entwined in density
still you sail
the sacred angles of intimacy
While the Fates who weave the fabric
of humanifestation
sing out
your destiny.
Your birth is a precious gift.
Your birth is the ultimate
present.
Open it.
Preface
As long as you consider the stars as something above the
head, you will lack the eye of knowledge.
—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
I n late 2005, I visited Guatemala for multiple reasons: to further
understand the long count and day count of the Mayan calendar
by working with Mayan elders, to participate in the Maya activation
ceremonies over the winter solstice at the ceremonial center of
Tikal, and to help the survivors of the horribly destructive Hurricane
Stan, which decimated villages near the sacred lake, Lago de Atitlán.
I planned to assist them in recovery, to document their struggle, and
to share their story and their rich cultural heritage upon my return
to the United States.
I arrived amid the post-earthquake rubble in my own internal
state of crumbling. Just days before I arrived at Lake Atitlán, I had
nicked my camera on a stone in a cave I had been exploring. Over
the week that followed, the camera would not turn off, and
eventually would never turn on again. This fated event would
transform my life and serve to teach me certain astrological truths
over the years that followed, helping to heal the wounds inflicted in
the ensuing months in Guatemala.
In my zeal to experience a culture I felt so kindred with, I did not
understand then that I was about to experience the threshold of the
most formidable planetary rites of passage in the entire life cycle—a
triple initiation that occurs around the tender age of 27–28—the
Lunar Return, the Nodal Reversal, and the early stages of the Saturn
Return.
I was also unaware that I had traveled to an area on the Earth
where the evolutionary forces of Mercury and Pluto cross. There,
the messenger, communicator, traveler, and storyteller Mercury
would be forced into a Plutonian initiation of surrender, loss, grief,
despair, and transformation.
Quite literally, the Plutonian symbol of destruction surrounded
me. The rubble from the earthquake was slowly but steadily being
cleared from various buildings in the village of San Marcos, where I
rented a small house. At 6:30 a.m. each morning except Sunday, I
would hear the young Mayan workers banter and laugh in an
ancient language, and then suddenly I would hear their
sledgehammers plunge into the piles of stone.
During the months that followed, I felt my own soul pummeled as
well. I watched as I became obsessed with my “role.” How could I
“identify” myself as a photographer and a documentary storyteller
without my camera? Without my technology or tools, I was stuck
and unable to fulfill this role. And the more attached I was to this
identity, the purpose for which I thought I was there, the more I
seemed to suffer.
While I waited to see if my camera could get fixed so I could begin
my documentary journey, I let myself connect with the heavens in a
way I never had. I began to tell time by the position of Orion, aware
that when the Hunter was directly overhead, it was roughly 8 p.m. I
could also “clock” the nearby dance of the Pleiades, those “Seven
Weeping Sisters” to the Greeks, the “400 Boys” to the Mayans, more
commonly experienced by the average American as the Subaru logo.
At that time, I was unaware of the depth of astrology’s history, its
ubiquitous use in the world of the Renaissance and the heights of
the Islamic Empire, its beginnings with early humans recording
menstrual cycles by carving notches into stones, and the depth and
breadth of the monolithic monuments anchored around the planet,
testaments to our ancestors’ sacred relationship with the patterns
and revolutions of the heavens.
I did not know that my ability to tell time by Orion had been
mirrored on a famous journey by a man who had taken a last name
that translated to “the dove.” This man’s name was Christopher
Columbus, and on his journey across the Atlantic, he would tell time
by studying Ursa Major, the constellation of the Great Bear. His
name, “Columbus,” was taken from the Italian colombo, “the dove,”
another name the ancient Greeks often used to refer to the Pleiades.
On his journey, Columbus would take with him an astrolabe and an
ephemeris, both essential tools to discern the planetary positions, to
guide his journey across the seas. In fact, Columbus was just one of
many oceanic explorers, all of whom navigated the vast oceans by
the map in the stars above (Bobrick 2005).
In that period of twelve weeks I stayed at the lake, I learned
roughly twelve to fifteen constellations, and many of the stars
within each celestial being, including some of the world myths for
each of the constellations. I prided myself on learning the names of
every star in Orion. I would create meditations where I would form
a telescope with my hands and block off all sky but a single star. I
would then inhale the light energy and ask for the blessing from
those star tribes. With each exhalation, I would chant the name of
the star and send my consciousness out to that system of entities.
I was not told or taught to do this. Rather, I was compelled. I was
called by the luminous pulse of the stars themselves. Without TV,
radio waves, or the global internet to distract me, I thought of the
ancestors as they must have communed with the night. As Plato so
eloquently communicated in The Republic, “It is clear to everyone
that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and
draws it from the things of this world to the other.”
The following poem was delivered by a celestial angel to me in
those moments:
The Journey of Your Soul
Once upon a night, you were mountaintop,
a child of awe,
humbled by the majesty
