iVillage

Here in the West, this awareness of cycles or life beyond physical death is not self-evident to most of us. As astrologers, we may attempt to bring it to the public’s attention. Yet as a society, we have yet to come to such a conclusion, much less push toward making this a part of our day-to-day beliefs.
Buddhist countries, long trained in the analysis of emotions and desires, have little interest in re-examining emotional and personality issues, which have already been clarified in ancient times. Instead, the interest in expanding the awareness of the person (happy or sad) beyond such personal issues and focusing on the actual root of our problems and sufferings is assumed. Everyone over there in Asia knows this from childhood.

Any Western astrologer can easily check this out for himself by doing an astrological reading for an East Indian. They are not remotely interested in our psychological observations. Concepts that fascinate us here in the West like: soul, spirit, unity, are already their old friends.

Their response to our psychological pap is ‘Yes, yes, yes … please get on to something of importance, like exactly how many children will I have, and what will their sexes be.’ Or, ‘How much money will I make this year and when.’

There is no point in hinting to a Tibetan or Hindu that consciousness may extend beyond this life or that he or she is somehow ‘one’ with the creative forces. That is for them already a given, a fact upon which they have depended all of their lives. The psychological crib out of which we Westerners are just learning to climb (when it comes to the mind), the continuity of consciousness, and all that these thoughts suggest, is old news in China, India, Tibet, and most of Asia for that matter.
The fact that the whole world is, in reality, our personal mandala and that everything that appears to us is a sign from the cosmos may be a revelation to a New Yorker, but not so for a resident of Katmandu or Delhi. While in this country we continue to explore our psychological infancy, this holds little interest for those from the East. With this said, let us look at some of the main elements of Tibetan astrology.