Newsletter/magazine of the Astrological Psychology Association
Issue No. 58 July 2013
Review by Ghislaine Adams
Using Astrology to create a Vocational Profile: Finding the Right Career Direction
by Faye Cossar
As the title infers, this is a book about career profiling and discovering one’s vocation with the use of the birth chart. Its scope, however, is much broader and is about identifying one’s personal qualities, strengths, values, mode of operation and blocks to success and well being.
The book follows a very clear structure. It is divided in three broad sections:
• Who am I?
• What can I do?
• What do I want?
Each section is sub-divided into three chapters and the whole corresponds to a process. The author shows us how to use this process with clients and provides a full-length case study. She also identifies the benefits of selecting the appropriate parts of the process to help with specific issues. All the chapters can therefore be used as stand-alone which adds to the relevance of the contents. For instance clients may feel they know what they can
do but may have blocks stopping them achieving what they want. So a session on defining goals and identifying blocks may be all that is needed to bring about a new awareness and the change of approach necessary to go forward.
The writing style is straightforward and easily accessible with plenty of examples to support the theory. Before the first session, the client is asked to produce a biography and this will be used alongside the birth chart to show the impact of conditioning as well as the life journey so far. As Huber astrologers we of course have another resource in the House Chart.
Astrologically the elements covered are:
• Sun: exploring vocation and calling.
• Mars and the 4 elements: recognising style and
drive
• Venus and 2nd house: discovering talents (and ways
to make money)
• Mercury and 3rd house: defining communication
skills
• Saturn, 12th house (+ Chiron): identifying Blocks
• MC: determining goals
• Venus + Jupiter: defining norms and values
• Moon, Venus, Sun (+ Ceres): finding the ideal
environment
Faye Cossar is familiar with the Huber approach and she makes several references to it. In fact she dedicates most of her last chapter ‘Age matters’ to the Age Point and quotes directly from Lifeclock to explain the concept of timing and progression. She describes herself as ‘a big fan of this technique’ that allows her simply by knowing a person’s age to know which phase they’re in. With the focus on career and vocation and using Keywords for the houses and Ages of Life and Fig 2.4 (Lifeclock pp44-47), she considers Phases 3 (age 12-18) to 10 (age 54-60) in turn and provides useful suggestions at each phase.
Faye is both a business astrologer and a therapist and the book reflects her knowledge, skills and expertise. It contains a wealth of information and its contents aim at personal development as much as career development. Her belief is that the work of astrologers is to help their clients be authentic and happy and she takes an interactive approach to chart reading based on involving the person in active dialogue.
This book provides a practical structure for psychological astrologers to use in response to the universal questions of ‘who am I?’, ‘what is my potential?’, ‘what do I want?’. It does not give answers but lays a clear path of exploration. Overall I have found it interesting
and rewarding reading and I intend to delve deeper into the process for my own benefit and that of others.