One of the most common complaints made by modern astrologers about ancient or classical astrological language is that it feels prescriptive or heavy. Saying that a planet is in its “detriment” or “fall,” or that a planet is “exalted,” might seem to encourage an overly simplistic way of thinking about the various facets of life that planets represent within a birth chart, especially when they describe aspects of our character or psychology. However, with a little more careful and imaginative study of the ancient language of dignities it turns out that the dignities are in fact extremely subtle, archetypal, and sophisticated aspects of our astrological vocabulary. In this workshop we will attempt to re-vision their meaning and relevance by looking at the underlying logic of the dignities in comparison to some of the basic tenets of Taoist philosophy. After doing some thoughtful reframing of the dignities we will explore new ways to interpret their meaning in our own birth charts! Students should bring a copy of their own birth charts to class. *no slides
