CHAPTER TEN:

THE FIELD OF PROFESSIONAL LIFE

EDWARD TARABILDA: Most of us have an obvious need for a career or profession. American Indian youths used to go on a vision quest to discover their life mission, including career. Today we have career counselors to guide people in this area.

The trend in education today is away from traditional liberal education and toward vocational training -- job mills, really. Liberal education used to be seen as a way of creating well-rounded and cultured individuals. This was the seed idea that later grew into what we now call "holistic education". However, liberal education is being abandoned because it did not live up to its ideal. It could not, because it was fragmented and object-oriented. Our goal is to create holistic education that balances subjective and objective values and unfolds consciousness within a paradigm that integrates all fields of knowledge.

The knowledge of this field of living is straightforward. Each planet governs a particular archetypal career life:

Sun entrepreneur, physician, military leader, actor, and other positions of

leadership or shining in public

Moon motherly, nourishing activity like nursing; or selling household

products, or activity where one senses the needs of the public,

like marketing or public relations

Mars surgeon, policeman, fireman, metal worker, trial lawyer,

administrator, supervisor, military commander

Mercury teacher, broker, trader, envoy, postman, or other positions where a

keen intelligence is required

Jupiter all positions of ministerial dignity, including judges, bankers,

politicians, priests, and ministers

Venus like Jupiter, includes positions of ministerial dignity; all careers

related to the fine arts, biological and organic sciences, and geomancy

Saturn technical and detail-oriented careers, such as engineering and

computers; also hard physical labor, mining, and bodywork

Nodes of the Moon: outlaw activity, occult research, undercover activity;

also highly unusual and independent approaches to other careers

Further details are provided by the sign, house and lunar mansion of the planet related to career.

VEDIC ASTROLOGER: What determines which planet rules career? Rulership of certain houses?

EDWARD TARABILDA: This knowledge is structured in consciousness, as I have said many times. To try to judge career from rulership is impossible, although that is what is commonly practiced in astrology today.

VEDIC ASTROLOGER: I don't accept what you say. I give good career advice based on house rulership, plus other key astrological significators I have worked out for myself.

EDWARD TARABILDA: Now the verbal dance begins! But I don't want to dance anymore. Fine, do what you do, but I am here to tell people in no uncertain terms that such practice is a waste of everybody's time. Any objective, scientific critique of such astrological practice will prove that it is no more than career counseling in the name of astrology, and not as useful as that done by non-astrological career counselors.

ANTHROPOSOPHIST: The loss of the true science of the stars makes sense in the light of Rudolf Steiner's insights. You will have to read some of Steiner's work to fully understand why humans are fundamentally different today than in the days of the ancient masters of astrology.

THEOSOPHIST: We would also agree that humans are different today, and that this would have an effect on a science as deeply structured in consciousness as astrology.

So what is next?

EDWARD TARABILDA: When a planet governing the field of career is weak, then the person finds it hard to get satisfactory work, or he changes careers a lot, or he is unhappy in whatever career he is able to pursue. He finds it hard to prosper through his career. Either his income suffers or he is so attached to success and influence in this field of living that other fields suffer from neglect.

When the planet governing career is strong, the opposite effect take place -- the person loves what he does and earns good income form it. He seldom, if ever, changes his career.

When the Nodes of the Moon govern career, one is likely to have a career which results in outlaw activity. Richard Nixon and Adolf Hitler are excellent examples.

PSYCHOLOGIST: So one of the Nodes of the Moon governed Nixon's career nature?

EDWARD TARABILDA: Actually, both nodes together ruled his career. The North and South Nodes always work together, jointly governing one field of living. This is why Nixon was so shocked at people's reaction to his antics. To him it was just normal politics!

Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, had a strong Jupiter governing his career. This made him eminent in his career, a gifted speaker, and a "dispenser of justice", according to the ancient sages. What better description could we have of Lincoln?

PSYCHOLOGIST: In your outline the Sun is the physician, but wouldn't a person have to be a member of the warrior caste first before this would be an ideal profession for him?

EDWARD TARABILDA: An excellent point ! We must match up the career nature with the caste nature to come up with the ideal career. If the Sun govern's someone's career, and he belongs to the business caste, then he should be an entrepreneur or leader in business. If a brahmin, then he should be an independent, self-sufficient innovator in knowledge or religion. If a shudra, then he should serve others in an independent way, either through leadership in some craft, or with knowledge that comes from others -- perhaps as a seminar leader or other position of public exposure. If an outcaste, then he might be a rebel leader of some sort, perhaps leading the way to correct the flaws of some institution.

An example of someone with a strong Moon governing the career nature was Bruce Lee.

PSYCHOLOGIST: That surprises me! I would think that it would be Mars or the Sun.

EDWARD TARABILDA: No, and this is why he turned to movies to display his craft. He excelled in public relations and marketing.

PSYCHOLOGIST: What was his caste nature?

EDWARD TARABILDA: You would assume the warrior caste, would you not? He was not. What caste he was a member of I'll leave for your contemplation. Lee's love of the martial arts grew out of his play nature and his spiritual nature.

When the Sun governs the career nature, it can often bring one into the field of acting, because the Sun relates to displaying of oneself in public. Then acting comes naturally.

Karl Marx had a strong Saturn governing his career nature. Its particular placement made him averse to traditional law and knowledge, and ill-tempered, yet eminent.

When a strong Venus governs the career nature, it makes for great fame and prosperity in one's career. Bobby Fischer, the great chess player, had a strong Venus governing this field of living. The sages predict that such a configuration would enable him to destroy his enemies, be successful in litigation and disputes, earn great fame through career, and be endowed with knowledge and wisdom.

What happens if one has Mars governing the career nature, and Mars is poorly placed in the twelfth house? The sages say he will have "diseased eyes, will be fallen in moral judgment, will kill, will be a talebearer, be fierce, and will contract humility and imprisonment". One might perform some criminal activity, especially if one were unstable psychologically. This describes Arthur Bremer, the man who tried to assassinate George Wallace, leaving him paralyzed for the rest of his life.

I hope these examples give you some feel for the field of career.

PSYCHOLOGIST: They are useful and interesting, to say the least.

EDWARD TARABILDA: Although I cannot go into all the reasons, this field of living also dictates the ideal place for one to live -- the place where one is likely to feel most at home. But this will only hold true when the planet is strong and well-placed. Otherwise, one won't like to live in the place designated by that planet. It will present obstacles and difficulties. Then one will choose a place ruled by a planet which is more favorable in the horoscope. For example, if the planet governing career is in the twelfth house, then the person tends to be a wanderer who feels trapped or imprisoned when he has to stay in one place too long, but who also feels shut off from society when he has no permanent abode.

PSYCHOLOGIST: What a Catch-22! What does such a person do?

EDWARD TARABILDA: Grin and bear it!

I haven't yet talked about the career nature in relationship to the world horoscope. The Sun governs this field of living in the world horoscope, and the Sun is average in strength and character. The Sun means that governmental leadership positions hold prestige and value in the society, as do leadership positions in the military. Physicians are greatly honored, as are entrepreneurs.

In general, people in the world today have courage in pursuing their careers, but they are also prone to Type-A behavior and the heart disease it leads to. They are not firm in friendship -- business comes first. Often they work hard without earning much. They may even engage in fraud to keep the business afloat. The successful ones can be miserly in terms of sharing their career wealth with employees and the society as a whole.

In summarizing, the effects of career life in the world horoscope are mixed, with some happiness and prestige and some disappointment and lack of wealth flowing out of the career.

I think that is enough about the career field. In the next dialogue let us try and put all these fields of living together and show how they create a science of holistic living. Okay? (All agree.)