Tom Jacobs - The Souls Journey II: Emotional Archaeology

Some of my earliest memories in this life are of being curious about why people do what they do. I was intrigued with watching people do mundane tasks of all kinds but the scale went all the way up observing how a persons life unfolded. The psychology behind choices was fascinating to this Scorpio as a little one. After I found out that we are energetic beings with all that implies regarding our relationship with emotion and memory and how emotion and memory inform belief and therefore choice my observations of individual humans on small and large scales took on new importance. It didnt happen overnight but now its my profession to observe people and help them see themselves in new light, as energetic beings with all that implies.

These days I often find myself in wonderment at the life process we each go through. This human thing were each doing presents challenges and enticements to grow and we each respond in unique ways and at our own rates of speed to particular sets of stimuli presented. Each of us has free will to make choices that work best for us but its also true that each of us carries multilife memories and associated beliefs about why things happen. These memories and beliefs determine what we allow to be possible and very directly determine the choices that we make. My approach to evolutionary astrology has become rooted firmly in this conception of how a human creates a self based on the multilife journey and its related experiences, and my work in all its forms seeks to share this perspective.

I taught the workshop titled Emotional Archaeology over the weekend of September 10-11, 2011 in Yakima, Washington to a group of 7. A client of mine living there had built a yurt on her property in order to host and facilitate events such as this one and the timing was such that this workshop was the first hosted there. There was an intimacy about the proceedings as most of the workshop participants had known each other for years. The informal, friendly tone of friends and even family members (Candace and Summer are sisters) makes its way into the transcription as I felt it important to retain the quality of connectedness that a number of us felt doing this work together. Additionally, I had done work with 3 of the 7 participants as clients prior the workshop and 4 of us are members of Evolutionary Astrologer Steven Forrests Apprenticeship Program, so there were shared experiences and vocabulary among some of us on those levels, too.

Listening to the life stories of the participants while working with their astrological birth charts during the workshop was a special experience for me for a few reasons. In large part this was because I had the opportunity to help each one in turn change their minds about the course their lives had taken to that point. Many of us can sooner or later and in some way figure out how to find peace where we are but it can be another thing entirely to make peace with how we got here. Adding insights about the nature and path of soul to the soul-level intentions and wounding we each carry the normal purview of this niche approach we call evolutionary astrology can put us on a fast-track to embodying peace about the often convoluted paths on which our life journeys have taken us. The workshop was intended not only to teach the principles of my version of evolutionary astrology but also to put words to many experiences that the participants had in life that might not have been understood in terms of their multilife karmic journeys.

At the end of the process of transcribing the workshop for the present volume, I am even more deeply settled into that state of wonder about the human experience. A particular moment inspired me to begin writing this introduction. It was when I reheard Summer reflect on what she has learned in this life after radical path alterations that challenged her at different points along the way. But its not just her story alone that inspires me each of the participants reflects lessons learned that are in fact indicative of karmic healing. If I ever need inspiration to continue counseling clients, writing, and teaching about soul and evolutionary astrology, all I need to do is to talk to a human about what he or she has observed and learned about the self so far. People are amazing and if were paying attention and open to changing, maybe we dont need evolutionary or any other kind of astrology. It helps in many ways but humans are clever and resourceful. A bit of attention and awareness is all thats really needed to be in a state of healing the karmic past and understanding more about who we are.

My intention for this book is that it offer a unique glimpse into the human experience so that you can begin to transform your relationship with life, the Universe, yourself, and everyone else who populates your sphere. Sound like a tall order for a little old book, right? But given the perspectives on evolutionary astrology presented here and the impact I see them have on people all the time, I dont think it is. They were first in print in The Souls Journey I: Astrology, Reincarnation, and Karma with a Medium and Channel and are expanded upon here in depth. They open doors into understanding all facets of our life experience. Instead of arriving at the point at which we refeel that pain from another life and begin to traffic in vocabulary reflecting that we feel the way we do, with the information in these two books we can go several steps further and learn to relate to our souls as real entities with a definite, Divine plan. We can then see that our lives to date have reflected the Divine intentions of the soul. The birth chart reflects that plan and learning to read it in this way enables us to bring its wisdom into our lives. This not only helps guide our choices going forward to serve us better on all levels but also helps put the past into proper perspective: we can make peace with how we got here, wherever that happens to be .

What results can shift our experience of ourselves and of life itself and I argue that there is no more empowering exercise for a human. We can suddenly gain a new lease on life and/or an influx of optimism or faith by seeing things in a different light. Life isnt solely about happiness and fulfillment but each of us has the right and opportunity to create them for ourselves and, often, understanding and unraveling the past and our attachment to it is the key to doing so.

As mentioned above, the first volume in this series contains the core principles of this work with soul and astrology and the 4-step method of chart analysis I use and on which the Emotional Archaeology workshop was based. The material here expands upon the principles and method of analysis as it brings in the reflections and first-person stories of people living the charts out in the real world. Each of the individual stories contained here reflects that the chart holder has learned an important lesson in this life indicated in the chart as a vexing influence across many lives. This is wonderful, to be sure, but in fact necessary to real understanding: we cant know how a person lives the chart until we interact with him or her. If we use these or other astrological principles in a vacuum without listening to the person the chart belongs to we run the risk of getting academic and, perhaps, less than helpful to the real, live person in front of us. For this reason I feel this book is an important tool to support teaching the unique brand of evolutionary astrology I practice. The material has become the second volume in The Souls Journey series because understanding the depth of chart analysis and emotion that goes with this material is the next step in the longer The Souls Journey story that has formed in my mind.