The Hybrid Astrologer

The word hybrid is derived from a combination of some Greek and the Latin word, Hybrida,
meaning a cross-bred animal combining two similar but very different parts. This is an important word for these times of multifaceted possibilities, virtual technology, and rapidly moving time. One example is that of the ancient hybrid known as Chiron, a highly intelligent being whose animal nature could eat flesh!

He grew up in isolation in a cave after having been abandoned by both his mother and father at birth. Growing up in isolation deeply affects someone. The lonely individual is forced to fall back on his own resourcefulness to keep him interested, educated, entertained while struggling to stay alive. Left with only one’s basic instincts and genetic intelligence, there is no limit set as to what they can learn, achieve or even destroy. In addition, others often ignore those who are different, because they are odd, and though the angst of isolation is indescribable, this also provides a rare and unusual opportunity for this highly evolved spirit to express fully their creations and innovations.

In Chiron’s case, he taught himself – discovering healing herbs and the magic of his hands as healing tools, at which point he finally emerged from his cave. There is no literature that I have found that tells us why this half man, half beast, finally came out of his cave. My thought is that, perhaps, he just got too big and had to come out—just as we do as astrologers when we first tell that first person that we are an astrologer for the first time!

In addition, the one thing we must remember about a hybrid creature is that though filled with new and unique information, it is equally true that a hybrid is often not socialized due to the enormous isolation of his or her earlier years when he is unable to find himself rooted in either world from hence he came. This suggests difficulty for those people who identify with this archetypal energy. Over the years, as I have reviewed various charts, I have seen Chiron powerfully placed in the charts of people who work in holistic health, alternative medicine and astrology just to name a few of the professions.

Needless to say, this is a long lead-in to my idea that the astrologer of today is a hybrid of sorts and often very different from others in their surrounding communities. Consequently, they are faced with the dilemma of coming out of their theoretical cave, too, and are often pushed more forcefully out due to the advent of new technology and the increasing capability for instant communication throughout the world.

Just thirty years ago, it was only important for an astrologer to learn the mechanics of calculating charts and understanding the basic concepts of what happens when Saturn hits one’s Jupiter, or how long it takes for Saturn to orbit the Sun, or other such detailed measurement. Today, however, the astrologer must not only be adept at interpreting these planetary measurements and sharing that insight with the client that comes to the astrologer's "cave" for this holy knowledge, but he or she must also be aware of so much more – advances in technology, psychiatry, the immediate challenges of the global economy, recent medical findings, literary knowledge, and the list goes on and on.

As the world becomes smaller, our information base grows tenfold and we find ourselves in the position of translator, taking all of the information thrown at us, assimilating it - a good sixth house skill - and somehow conveying the cyclical expressions of the planets and their relationships to one another. After we do all that, we translate our findings, funneling them into whatever the client needs at any particular time gaining insight into current life challenges.

To not know the macrocosm of how things work and why they do and do not, while only focusing on the microcosm of a natal chart, ultimately leads to an incomplete "translation" for our clients, particularly as they explore their deepest transformative experiences. One example is that we see vast changes in how long people are living. One no longer lives to be only 45, or 60, or, 85!! (Btw, the US Social Security System was designed for people to die at 60 and reap their benefits at 65 and this ludicrous plan is being challenged as we speak!). The reality is that people are living far beyond their eighties – experiencing more than two Saturn returns; a complete Uranus return; three, rather than two, complete progressed lunation cycles; and possibly even four and not three Saturn oppositions! This is a TALL order for any of us. What do we tell them? The models for the way they work and live are not the same that they were even ten years ago!

Needless to say, this keeps us on our toes. As hybrid astrologers we see greater challenges and ideas presented in the form of questions regarding such things as elder care housing and medical care (depending on, of course, the country in which you live), long-needed education for those who have not had opportunities for education, a burgeoning world population that has doubled from 1950 when the world held 2.5 billion people to now when the world holds over 6.5 billion people! This is approximately a 260% growth in world population in only 55 years.

We are faced with rapidly changing currency values. The cold truth is that for every person that is born and one less that doesn’t perish, each dollar loses more and more of its value regardless of the currency denomination. In our short lives, we have seen major monetary markets change – the induction of the Euro, the rapidly declining value of the US Dollar, the crash of the Argentinean dollar and now, most recently, an announcement from China on July 22, 2005 that they will no longer base the value of their Yuan solely on the value of the US Dollar. These important changes demand a need to know what is going on in the world and think creatively as we work with our increasingly sophisticated clients who come to us for answers for questions whose answers have not yet even been invented nor discovered!

Being acutely aware of world events and understanding various knowledge bases like history and business trends, while understanding the difference between "then" and "now" are just as important as knowing when an eclipse hits your natal Sun in your eighth house. What does that eighth house really mean and how does it fit both the macrocosm of the world surrounding your client while working within the microcosmic framework of that specific chart?? The hybrid astrologer must flow seamlessly between these two worlds with an eye and ear on what price the client is willing to pay the ferryman at the end of his journey while not imposing our value system onto our client!

The working astrologer of today contracts to ride and then hold firmly onto the wild horse known as the ‘fastest learning curve in history’. This learning curve will only increase over time as more information is revealed, translated, and taught. The astrological student of today who hopes to make astrology his or her life work is not only faced with learning Modern 20th century techniques either. The increasing availability of ancient texts, expansion of cross-cultural education at such hybrid learning institutions as Bath Spa and Kepler College, and an increasing interest in Vedic, Hellenistic, and Medieval astrology – makes this challenge vast.

Re-learning one’s craft requires tenacity, curiosity, and appetite. It forces us, regardless of how uncomfortable, to challenge our beliefs, which are based on what we have either gleaned from books or been taught. The truth, we are finding out, is that what we learned in the last sixty years is only the tip of the iceberg! These new discoveries force us to understand the roots of those techniques, practices and histories – and whether they have legs or not.

Along with all of this newly discovered knowledge, the roles of people are changing markedly as well. The roles of men and women are reversing every day. It is not necessarily true that the Moon is always the mother principle and this even challenges the idea that certain archetypes are STILL the same. (Is it really true that Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus??) The changing roles of men and women have broadened and include larger reference points and vocabulary for such things as partnership, vocation and even sexual preference. New rules are drafted daily.

The ultimate challenge for the hybrid astrologer is to know many things while traveling seamlessly from one construct to the other while still maintaining flexibility, openness and, above all, humility. The surrounding communities in which we hybrids live or where the hybrid learning institutions attempt to grasp a foothold are also challenged to really think about what is being asked of them and it is difficult for them to let go of old values set in concrete.

It’s a tough place to be, yet someone has got to do it. To enter these various arenas requires not only vast amounts of knowledge but also courage! Living within these communities where we raise our families requires our participation in the same communities – to be "normal" citizens, with "abnormal" jobs!! We work in our communities, but many of us do not enter the "circle" of that community – save for our professional organizations – for fear of being outcast and abandoned – again the theme of Chiron.

Today is a very different time. Our position as astrologers is to act as bridges between two worlds – the traditional and the non-traditional. Nikos Kazantzakis once wrote that "the ideal teachers act as bridges over which they invite their students to cross after which they joyfully collapse." Hybrids are unique – there aren’t too many of them and they are not often found in concentrated numbers in any one particular place (except for conferencesJ). Chiron never traveled with the herd, but the herd was never far away calling him back.

Our jobs as hybrids are to connect the dots, enlighten, wake-up, and present tools that help our clients recognize those doorways of other dimensions hidden within their current reality. In a world forcing many into more isolation due to economic unrest and a rising religious zealotry, it seems safer to retreat, but, in reality, it is time to do just the opposite – to return to the "worlds" of traditional business, academia, economics and politics, trying re-entry into a new study, a new occupation, or a new community activity.

Time moves quickly now and what used to be five years is now equal to what happens in twenty. For example, as tropical Pluto soon parallels the Galactic Center in late 2006, there are new possibilities that we can’t yet envision. The Galactic Center is precisely placed between the tail of the constellation Scorpius and the point of the arrow of the Sagittarius archer pointing towards the Scorpion’s heart.

Recall the late 1980’s to early 1990’s as Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all passed this 27th degree of tropical Sagittarius. Cell phones, which were massive in size became portable and along with the Internet opened up new highways of communication. Markets crashed and recovered as we rode the evolutionary roller coaster at warp speed. The Galactic Center is the entry point of the zodiacal sky constellations where all the entities begin becoming half-animal and half-human – all hybrids – suggesting the challenge of choice – the eternal struggle between our animal instincts and our higher consciousness. As we travel this rare journey over the course of the next few years, which road will each of us choose? This part of the sky is where a large portion is filled with sea creatures living in the Sea of the Unconscious and suggests that our conscious and unconscious minds must join forces to weather the challenges of this very important time in history. My best to you all as 21st century hybrids. ?

Georgia Stathis©2005