Have you ever wondered how dreams and astrology are connected?

There are many ways we can connect dreams to astrology, and many don't require that you know all about your Natal Chart. In this column we will be exploring the symbolic rather than predictive aspects of astrology. Symbolic astrology attempts to use the images of astrological to give meaning to one's life and empower choices rather than predict paths. We do this by imaginal overlay. In this process we impleach, (poetically interweave) dream, image, feeling, life and symbol in a way to evoke a felt sense of the dream's imagery and its position in our life.

This year we are focusing each month on a different House. The inner circle of the Natal or Birth Chart is divided into 12 distinct regions know as Houses. They relate to everyday activates. One will be about physical appearances and temperament, while another relates to possessions, for example. Planets and signs fall within these Houses and influence the areas of focus. We will be watching for images of planets, signs and other celestial events and hopefully begin to see the emergence of an astrological chart that dips into birth charts, dreams, and our waking life.

The Sixth House traditionally includes such areas as work, health, servants, and now employer-employee relationships. Thus we are moving into an individual's work habits, the situations one is likely to attract to the work situation and one's attitude toward routines and service. Today's servants are more likely to be the waiter, the repair person, the toll booth collector, the customer service agent. Health may be seen as the body vehicle of service.

Dream: I am in a coal (?) mine and we are sending buckets of rocks up to the next level. I notice one fellow who is weaker than the rest and kind of sneaky and seems to put something other than coal in the buckets. A foreman catches him when a larger worker tilts his head in the little guy's direction. The foreman doubles the load he must dig and send up to the next level.

Dream: I am trying to get the washing machine repair main to fix the washing machine. He continually complains about the color of clothes that are being washed, that yellow clothes clog the machine and should only be used with fabric softener. I ignore his suggestions and ask say its the spin cycle that needs to be fixed regardless of the cloth's color. His attitude really bugs me and I know he thinks I'm stupid.

Dream: There is an assembly line were we have to put several items together to make a musical instrument. Its kind of like a xylophone but different items are used for the keys. I find it odd that there are so many different ways to put the instruments together. We are allowed to let some items go by if we feel someone else needs them. I'm surprised when I see on the assembly line toys from my childhood.

Dream: I notice a man working on a train track. He seems to be hammering in spikes, but stops every once in awhile to do something. I see is continually pushing bulges in his body. As one bulge goes in, another seems to pop out. I'm especially disturbed when his head bulges.

The first six signs and houses of the Zodiac are often associated with one's personal development, while the last six are associated with one's participation in group life. This make the sixth house a kind of turning point. While traditionally it is seen as weak or not very important (*), it may be seen as important in the integration of the first five houses in preparation for the last six and in group life. Work and relationships therein become a symbol of how one has integrated the first houses and is able to use them. Compare, for example, the coal mine dream to the assembly line dream. In the coal mine, there is an unintegrated shadow and a sense that the work is more like slavery. What may need to be integrated is the ego, not the shadow - so to speak. The weak resistant miner shows signs of creativity and may offer some new paths to the dream miner. The assembly line worker also has some stuck-in-a routine issues, but seems better integrated, building musical instruments that include personal items from an earlier stage.

The body also is a place of integration. Note that in the Rail worker dream the poor fellow's bulges might correspond to chakra's and energy centers in the body. Often when we have earlier issues unresolved they come out during work.

Thus sixth house dreams may be a kind of testing and turning point where we can look at the ways in which we work and are worked, our inner and outer habits and patterns and the ways the elements of earlier houses have been integrated. Habits and personalities that may have worked in the family or school may not work so well in the public sphere. Finding ways to express and unfold these personalities will be the work of the next six houses.

Note on Virgo
(*) This may be due to the interpretations of Virgo, who is connected with this house. Virgo's virginity is often literalized, thus being seen as a form of naiveté and inexperienced and lack of sexuality. However, these interpretations don't hold up mythologically. The Virgin goddesses were often prostitutes and ruled over the mysteries of sexual union and birth. Later patriarchal pairings gave these goddesses over to various gods and diminished their powers. More currently the virgin goddess has been restored as the feminine archetype that can mate and give birth, but is never fully under the dominion of any male deity or power.

M. Aionia