Esoteric Astrology is astrology from the Soul's point of view.  It is a way in which we can gain some understanding of what the Soul is attempting to accomplish by being in a physical body in this time and place.

Esoteric Astrology is part of what is termed the Ancient Wisdom.  This Wisdom was brought to our planet eighteen million years ago when the Lords of the Flame from Venus ushered in the birth of Humanity on Earth by implanting the Divine spark of Mind into certain animal souls, individualizing them and equipping them with human Monads.

In the last 125 years there has been a resurgence of the Ancient Wisdom, which can more properly be termed the Ageless Wisdom because it is applicable to all ages.  This resurgence began in the form of the writings of Madame Helena Blavatsky and the establishment of the Theosophical Society.

In the first half of the twentieth century Alice Bailey, an early member of the Theosophical Society, began telepathically transcribing esoteric teachings from the Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul.  Over the course of many years, she authored 24 books as a result of this work, the last five of which were the five volumes comprising A Treatise on the Seven Rays.  The book, Esoteric Astrology, is the third volume of this Treatise.

Alice Bailey's Esoteric Astrology is quite comprehensive, but very abstruse.  Today's esoteric astrologers are just beginning to scratch the surface of the wisdom contained in this book.  The Tibetan Master states in this book that Esoteric Astrology will be the astrology of the future.  Therefore, it is easy to understand why the masses of Humanity at this time have little or no interest in this subject.

Esoteric Astrology partakes of principles that were once secret and taught only in the ancient mystery schools.  However, today that is changing.  With the advent of the Aquarian Age, these secrets are becoming available to all who are open to receiving them.

Much of Alice Bailey's Esoteric Astrology is written in symbolic, almost cryptic, form, rendering it difficult to comprehend.  There is a reason for this.  The reason is that human intuition plays a substantial role in grasping esoteric principles.  These principles cannot be understood by the logical mind alone; there must be present the element of Love and the willingness to serve Humanity in an effort to facilitate the manifestation of the Divine Plan for our planet.

Esoteric, or soul-oriented, astrology recognizes different rulers of the zodiacal signs from the rulers used in ordinary astrology.  This is because the signs take on more refined, service-oriented meanings and are thus conditioned by higher, more spiritualized energies.  For instance, the normal, everyday energy of Jupiter is associated with the sign of Sagittarius.  However, the higher energy of Jupiter is associated with the sign of Aquarius, of which Jupiter is said to be the esoteric ruler.  As a person becomes more attuned to his or her Soul, that person begins what will become an increasing response to the esoteric rulers of the signs.

An esoteric interpretation of a horoscope is based on the premise that the sign of the zodiac that was rising on the eastern horizon at the time of birth gives a certain coloration to the spiritual purpose of the native of that horoscope.  For a simple description of the significance of each rising sign in a soul's purpose context, see The Esoteric Meanings of the Rising Signs.

However, there is so much more to interpret when viewing a chart esoterically.  The first factor coming into play is the house and sign placement in the horoscope of the planet which is the esoteric ruler of the rising sign.  The meaning that this planet conveys modifies the basic description of the rising sign.

Also taken into consideration is the meaning of the esoteric ruler of the sign on the cusp of the house containing the esoteric ruler of the rising sign.  This even further modifies and makes more concrete the previous meanings.

As you can see, the esoteric interpretation of a birth chart is quite complex.  If you are interested in having a typed esoteric, soul's purpose report on your horoscope, one which is not computerized, but issues from the mind and intuition of an esoteric astrologer, please click here.

Princess Diana and Mother Teresa both had the sign of Sagittarius rising in their birth charts.  Sagittarius is the world traveller who becomes the world inspirer.  If you would like to read a soul-oriented interpretation of Princess Diana's and Mother Teresa's charts, please see Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, Portraits of Sagittarius Rising.  Or perhaps you would be more interested in the esoteric meaning of the chart of William Blake.

Since the early 1980s I have been writing and speaking on esoteric astrology, based on the results of my research on the esoteric meanings of the charts of great contributors to Humanity, past and present.  By reading and pondering biographies of these famous people in light of their astrological charts, I  have expanded and elaborated upon Djwhal Khul's principles.  In 1996 I gave a presentation on these principles to the Astrological Association of Northern Virginia, using examples of notable people to illustrate each rising sign.  After this presentation, I decided to organize my notes into a book giving information on the soul-oriented meanings of each zodiacal sign in the context of human evolution, planes of consciousness, and spiritual initiations.  For more about this book, see An Esoteric Journey through the Zodiac, the Inner Meanings of the Signs.  To view an excerpt from this book, see The Esoteric Meaning of Scorpio Rising.

For a list of articles on esoteric astrology based on the work of Alice Bailey and Djwhal Khul, see the Astrology Harvest article list.