Written by: Abby Starling, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Did you know your natal chart is the unique soul blueprint to unlocking your most authentic, abundant, and soul-aligned life?
Yup, it’s true. I know because I’ve experienced this and have seen myself and my life transform in ways that I never thought were possible. There is infinite wisdom and insight that comes from your natal chart. There is way more to astrology than horoscopes, memes, and fun facts. All of those are great, don’t get me wrong, but I want to shed light and awareness on how astrology can also be used for much deeper reasons ‒ soul evolution, profound self-awareness, healing, self-development, self-discovery, connecting to a deeper purpose, tapping into your highest potential, inner alchemy, connecting with and deepening your spiritual journey, personal transformation… and the list goes on.
To me, astrology and the spiritual journey are one and the same. A beautiful dance of cosmic insights and spiritual, soul evolution. This has been my experience and is why I'm so passionate about sharing this and using it to help others.
In the world of astrology, think of your natal chart as a “snapshot” of the solar system at the exact time you were birthed into the world with each natal chart being extremely unique. It’s like a cosmic fingerprint ‒ there is no other one out there like yours. I hold the belief that our souls intentionally chose our natal chart ‒ the specific and unique placements we needed for our highest fulfillment and soul evolution.
As an intuitive Astrologer, I take a very spiritual approach (not all astrologers do), but for me, astrology and diving deep into my natal chart was the catalyst to my spiritual awakening and my healing, self-discovery, and transformational journey which is why this is so near and dear to my heart.
Understanding my natal chart to the depths that I have changed my entire life. I hold a deep knowing that approaching astrology in this very unique and spiritual lens has the potential to create a massive impact in helping others in the same way.
Here are some specific examples with deeper insight into what these placements mean and how they can help you on your self-discovery, transformation, and spiritual journey.
North Node- The energy your soul came here to embody. Your destined path. Your soul mission and purpose. The path to unlocking your greatest potential. The path is challenging and uncomfortable, but extremely rewarding. Who you came here to become. The growth that happens outside of your comfort zone. The most powerful path of fulfillment and soul evolution in this lifetime.
South Node- Soul memories, gifts, skills, and habits. The energy that is comfortable and familiar. Your soul background. Past life energy and experiences you've mastered as well as certain past life traits, energy, and habits that you're being asked to release as it’s hindering your soul growth. Past life karma. When we release the shadow side of our south node and embrace the higher expression, we are then able to use the strengths of the south node to align with and support us on our north node journey.
Chiron- Represents unhealed karmic wounds from past lives and also our innate "superpower" healing gift once transformed. Your Chiron zodiac and house point to areas of triggers, pain, struggle, and things or topics we'd rather not face because it's all about inner work and soul level healing which is challenging and uncomfortable. Chiron is not only the wound but also the medicine. The key is within the pain itself. Think of Chiron as a representation of turning your pain into your purpose and/or how you can in turn help others heal. For example, my Chiron is in Leo which is wounding around shining my light, expressing my authentic essence, being seen, speaking my truth, inner child wounds, feeling worthy, etc. By acknowledging the pain and harnessing it to heal, I have unlocked this “superpower” and a big part of the healing work I do now is to help others shine their light, express their truth, embrace their authenticity, as well as inner child healing and shadow work, etc.
Sun- Represents your core authentic essence. How you express yourself best. How you shine your light. Your character, identity, core values, what you’re innately good at. Think of the sun (and the zodiac sign it’s in) as who you are at the core and most likely the energy, traits, and characteristics you identify with the most. Learning about your sun sign in depth can be an opportunity to accept and express your authentic essence boldly and can help you release any limitations or self-limiting beliefs you have around your authentic self-expression.
Moon- Represents your inner emotional world and emotional nature. Your subconscious mind and innate emotional reactions. It shows what you need to feel safe, secure, and happy. The moon is all about emotions ‒ how we deal with them, our emotional nature, how we feel them, process them, express them, etc. The moon also represents the inner child and our intuition. Learning about your moon sign in depth can be an opportunity to understand yourself deeper on an emotional level. It can give context to certain experiences or aspects of yourself in terms of emotional expression or processing that may help in your healing and self-development journey.
Ascendant (aka Rising)- Represents the energy you embody to the public and how you interact with the world. It represents your "first impression" energy and how the world sees you initially. It's the lens through which our sun, moon, and other planets are filtered through and expressed outwardly. It's how you see the world and your general approach and attitude towards life. It also represents your body and how you like to express yourself physically aka style or appearance. It’s a key player in your personality and how you generally present yourself to the world. It represents an overarching life lesson your soul came here to master (which lies in the zodiac it's placed in). Learning about your ascendant aka rising sign in more depth helps you understand your chart more cohesively as it's all filtered through the energy of your ascendant sign. Your ascendant also gives immense context to and is a key player in your soul mission and purpose in this lifetime.
… and that’s just to name a few. There’s still your MC, DC, and IC angles, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto as well as the houses these are placed in and the aspects created between these placements which adds even more insight and context. When you put it all together, it creates a story and is the cosmic mirrored reflection of our divine blueprint in this lifetime which contains the roadmap to our highest potential and soul destiny.
I'm so passionate about utilizing astrology in this way because it's what helped me get to where I am today. It's what helped me break free from my limitations. It's what helped me decondition a belief system that did not serve me which then allowed me the space to rebuild a connection with a Higher power that felt true and authentic to me. It’s what helped validate so many of my own life experiences, traumas, and challenges that I’d gone through in my life. It's what also helped give further validation to my inner knowing and clarity around what I came here on this planet to do. My soul mission. My purpose. My destiny. It’s what helped me embrace my most authentic self. It’s what helped me realize that I’m MEANT to be different. To break the status quo. To trailblaze my own path… and to OWN IT.
It's what shed light on traumas, wounds, and inner healing that needed to be done so that I could then turn my pain into my purpose and a means of helping others. It’s what helped me see that my fear of being seen, shining my light, and expressing my authentic self was valid BUT no longer served me… and gave me the awareness to start healing and releasing it. It’s what helped me learn to stand firm in my truth and express it boldly. It’s what helped me connect to myself on such a deep level that I had never experienced before. It’s what helped me feel understood for the first time in my life. It’s what helped me transform in more ways than I can express ‒ mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It's what helped me decondition everything I was conditioned to be only to uncover my true, authentic essence and divinity that was there all along. It's what helped me come home to me, to my soul.
…and it’s also what helped me realize I’m here to help others on this same journey. To be that person for someone that I needed when I was going through all of this alone. It is my passion to help others break free from the chains of the status quo so they can unapologetically embrace and embody their most authentic essence. It is my passion to help others unlock their highest potential and purpose. It is my passion to create a safe space for others to heal and connect with themselves deeper than they ever have. It is my passion to use astrology as a means of liberation, self-discovery, transformation, and soul evolution.
I believe everyone is so beyond worthy of a life fully in their power, their truth, and their purpose and it is my mission to spread this vision throughout the collective in hopes of creating massive positive impact, inspiring others, and serving as a reminder that you are worthy, you are a divine infinite being, you are powerful, and you are deserving of your most epic, magical, abundant, fulfilling and soul-aligned life.
Abby Starling, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Abby Starling is a leader and expert in the field of astrology, energy healing and deep transformational work. The majority of her life she experienced feeling like the black sheep, she was disconnected from herself and her emotions, she was afraid to express her authentic essence, she was afraid to be seen and shine her light, she felt chained down by societal expectations and projections of who she "should" be, she was confined to self-limiting beliefs and mindsets... among many other things. Fast forward to 2018 when she was introduced to astrology and her life changed forever. Astrology was the catalyst to her spiritual awakening ‒ it opened her eyes to a whole new world and perspective that catapulted her on the path to her own inner alchemy, healing and transformational journey. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, she awakened to the remembrance of her soul's calling and mission in this life ‒ to help lead, guide and support others on this same journey. Her vision and passion is to use astrology as the framework to help others also transform, reach their highest potential and unlock the path to their most authentic, abundant and soul-aligned life. Something she coined, "Transformation Through The Stars." Abby is a certified Spiritual Life Coach through Dharma Coaching Institute, a certified Reiki Level II Practitioner and a professional Intuitive Astrologer with years of accumulated knowledge and expertise in natal astrology. Her spiritual approach to astrology and life coaching has shown to be a unique and effective way to make a massive impact and support others in their soul evolution and transformational journey.
